John C. Reilly

Summary

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Podcast Summary: You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes

Episode: John C. Reilly

Date: April 3, 2024

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Overview

Pete Holmes sits down with celebrated actor John C. Reilly for a deeply personal, funny, and insightful conversation. They explore the weirdness of being human, the craft of acting, spirituality, creativity, and the navigation of a nontraditional path in show business. Reilly opens up about his upbringing, career milestones, philosophies on art, and personal stories—from losing his dad, to backstage rituals, to collaborating with cinematic giants. The discussion is playful yet profound, laced with laughter, vulnerability, and keen observations about art and life.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Childhood, Imagination & Family Background

• Imaginative Upbringing (03:31 – 04:33)

  • Reilly reminisces about buying Steve Martin's comedy album as a child and sharing laughter with his mom, noting, “It was fantastic…we sat and listened to it and she loved it. She was just cracking up.” (John C. Reilly, 04:00)
  • Speaks on how, as a kid, “the idea of crossing over into an imaginary place…it was just like, yeah, this is where I am most of the time.” (26:20–26:58)

• Working-Class Roots & Early Challenges (28:45 – 34:47)

  • On growing up in Chicago: “I come from a very working class, blue collar kind of life...I didn’t have any examples in show business.” (28:58)
  • Addresses being told "Who the fuck do you think you are?" by his community regarding his ambitions.
  • Mentions the impact of seeing neighborhood friend Kevin J. O’Connor land a Coppola film, realizing that “it is possible.”

• Family Influence & Sibling Dynamics (34:46 – 36:31)

  • Discusses being the fifth of six children and how sibling order influenced his need for recognition: “When you’re in a crowd like that, you learn ways to have some self esteem or whatever.”

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2. On Acting: Vulnerability, Craft, and Collaboration

• Embarrassment & Presence (25:23–26:58, 96:32–97:22)

  • Reilly claims acting was never embarrassing for him: “It was just seemed to be a natural thing…this is what I'm supposed to be doing."
  • Stresses the importance of "being in the moment" as “everything. Being in the moment, the eternal moment.” (96:35)

• Improvisation & the Power of Partnership (37:23–39:42, 99:16–101:09)

  • Reilly attributes his career to "continually believing in myself," challenging himself, and key relationships with directors like P.T. Anderson and Martin Scorsese.
  • “If I really give you all of my focus and I find this moment with you…we may succeed together. A rising tide lifts all ships.” (97:22–98:38)
  • Shares he’s done more duo projects than solo roles (“Sisters Brothers, Stepbrothers, Wreck-It Ralph…”).

• Improvisation Behind Iconic Roles (52:12–56:29)

  • Tells the origin story for his Magnolia and Boogie Nights characters, collaborating closely with Paul Thomas Anderson, improvising cop monologues, and "goofing around on videotapes before we even knew Magnolia was in the future…it all came from just goofing around.” (56:30)

• Memorable Advice & Practical Wisdom (76:05–78:02)

  • Shares acting advice: “Make sure you go to the bathroom before you act. If you have to pee…go pee…you want to be relaxed and in the moment.”
  • On stage: “If you ever have to fart on stage, make sure you fart during your line, not during the other guy's line.”
  • Recalls Michael Caine's “pick an eye” focus tip and Brian Dennehy’s warning (which Reilly disagrees with) to put career above family.

• Philosophies of Performance (91:01–92:32)

  • Explains the futility of being fixated on acting “methods”.
  • "You have to find your own way towards honesty in your work."

• Learning from Peers (93:18–95:48)

  • Recounts competitive, respectful relationship with Philip Seymour Hoffman.
  • Shares story about Hoffman getting laughs through subtle, real human behavior (feeling if the toaster’s working): “He wasn’t trying to be funny. He was trying to be exactly real.” (95:34)

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3. Spirituality, Meditation, and Metaphysical Experiences

• Transcendental Meditation (08:53–13:40)

  • Reilly meditates daily, credits TM with bringing “a lot of peace.”
  • “There is no dogma…all you have to do is just do this on a regular basis and it works whether you believe it or not.” (10:03–10:12).
  • Shares story of needing peace due to “mental pollution,” stressing the non-habitual yet essential role meditation holds for him.

• Unexplainable Experiences & Dreams (19:50–23:46)

  • Shares a poignant story of dreaming of his father right as his dad passed away, matched by similar dreams from other family members:
    • “I have to memorize the details of his face because this is the last time I'm going to see him. And literally the phone rang…dad just passed.” (21:32–21:57)
  • Reflects: "There's a lot that we don't understand…how much about space, or the brain, or our bodies we don’t understand.”
  • Considers the possibility of metaphysical phenomena and the unexplored depths of the human mind.

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4. Industry Realities, Representation & Changing Standards

• Nontraditional Lead – Breaking the Mold (30:02–37:45)

  • Talks about not fitting typical leading man standards, mentions Dustin Hoffman’s claim (“you guys have a career because of me”) about opening doors for unconventional leads.
  • "You have to have more than just a pretty face if you're really gonna contribute something. And [DiCaprio] does." (36:13)

• Outlasting the Brat Pack, Perseverance (37:23–38:29)

  • On the Brat Pack era: “I thought, well, that's it. I'll never get a shot because I don't look like Emilio Estevez…”
  • On his own path: “You believed in yourself and you outlasted a lot of that.” (37:45)

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5. Notable Career Stories & Behind-the-Scenes Moments

• Winning Time & Improv (17:22–18:06)

  • Recalls improvising the iconic “I gotta wash this butter off” pool jump as Dr. Jerry Buss, emphasizing the importance of spontaneity and physicality.

• Step Brothers & Autobiographical Touches (46:53–47:20)

  • Says many Step Brothers stories, like being possessive of a drum kit, come from his or collaborators’ real childhoods.

• Magnolia’s Cop Character: Born from Play (54:27–56:29)

  • Details how his character’s monologue and the "lost gun" moment in Magnolia evolved from improv skits with P.T. Anderson and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

• Boogie Nights: The Burt Reynolds Irish Accent Saga (59:29–66:53)

  • Tells the now-legendary set story: Burt Reynolds, at one point, wanted to perform his character with an Irish accent, prompting a behind-the-scenes scramble. (“He just told me he wants to do the character with an Irish accent…I was like, what?” 63:29)

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6. Art vs. Life: Marriage, Family, and Fulfillment

• On Family & Having Kids (79:00–83:07)
  • Reilly counters Brian Dennehy: “Getting married and having a family actually made me become who I was meant to become…anything that we do for love only builds us up, only makes us bigger and more fully realized versions of ourselves.” (81:46–82:59)
  • Reflects on generational gaps and how his own father missed out on much by not being present.

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7. On Collaboration, Competition, & Ego in Showbiz

• Relationship with Phil Hoffman & Differences in Approach (99:16–101:09)
  • Describes a competitive but respectful relationship and learning curve regarding who to “partner” with—audience or scene partner.
  • “Almost everything I’ve done has been in concert or partnership with someone else. That’s how I understand acting.” (100:36–101:04)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "It was just seemed to be a natural thing to me…this idea of pretending and this idea of crossing over into an imaginary place.” - John C. Reilly [25:45]
• “People always undervaluing you…who the fuck do you think you are?” - John C. Reilly [32:03]
• "If I'm an actor, I can do all of that stuff. I could play a lawyer one day, I could play a priest one day." - John C. Reilly [44:51]
• “All you have to do is just do this on a regular basis and it works whether you believe it or not. Which I was like, oh, great. No dogma, no guru.” - John C. Reilly, on TM [10:10]
• “Make sure you go to the bathroom before you act…you want to be relaxed and in the moment…” - John C. Reilly [76:05]
• “Being in the moment, the eternal moment…that’s everything.” - John C. Reilly [96:35]
• "Anything that we do for love only builds us up, only makes us bigger and more fully realized versions of ourselves." - John C. Reilly [81:46]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:31 — Reilly’s comedy influences as a kid, family memories
• 06:16 — On sex, vulnerability, and comedy as adulthood
• 08:53 — Spiritual practice, transcendental meditation
• 19:50 — Dream about father’s passing and metaphysical connections
• 25:23 — Acting and embarrassment, naturalness in performance
• 37:23 — Outlasting Hollywood’s “pretty face” archetypes
• 52:12 — Origin of Magnolia and Boogie Nights roles, improv tapes
• 59:29 — The Burt Reynolds Irish accent incident on Boogie Nights
• 76:05 — Mundane but impactful acting advice
• 79:00 — Reflections on family, legacy, and fulfillment
• 96:32 — The importance of presence in acting
• 100:36 — Acting as partnership, not competition

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Tone & Style

The episode is warm, earnest, humorous, and deeply reflective, blending Pete Holmes’ enthusiastic curiosity with Reilly’s humility and candidness. Listeners are treated to an honest peek behind the showbiz curtain, the philosophy that sustains great artists, and the importance of authenticity and connection—in art and in life.

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For More:
See John C. Reilly live in Mr. Romantic (tour info at mrromantic.com).
Follow Pete Holmes and his live shows at peteholmes.com.

Transcript

[John C. Reilly]

You made it weird. You made it weird.

[Pete Holmes]

You made it weird.

[John C. Reilly]

Oh yeah, you made it weird. Made it weird. Yes, you did. You made it weird with Pete Holmes.

[Katie]

What's happening, weirdos?

[Podcast Host]

This is a big one. This is John C. Reilly, who I've been a fan of for decades. What is it? Magnolia. Stepbrothers, a movie I watch every year. Boogie Nights, the Sisters Brothers. He's in. He's in everything. He's incredible. He's amazing. Gangs of New York. I can't believe he's here. And he pays out. He gives us so many wonderful stories. Changed my view of acting forever. Honestly, our conversation about acting just shifted how I even think about acting, which was awesome. So I'm so glad you guys are here. You can go see John C. Reilly. He is on tour with a show called Mr. Romantic where he plays a character on a mission to fall in love with someone, anyone, at every single show. He's backed by Grammy winning musicians and a Cracker Jack band. He's amazing. It's so fun. Go see Mr. Romantic. Mr. Romantic.com. spell it out.

[Katie]

M I s t r. Romantic.com. definitely give it a go.

[Podcast Host]

Definitely.

[Katie]

Check it out. Everything he does is amazing.

[Podcast Host]

I'm so glad you're here. You want to see me, go to peteholmes.com I'm doing the Denia improv in Florida coming up very soon.

[Katie]

I'm also doing my show here in.

[Podcast Host]

Los Angeles on May 4th on Star Wars Day. May the 4th be with you.

[Katie]

Tickets to that@pete holmes.com as well. Got my Largo show.

[Podcast Host]

Beck was at the last one.

[Katie]

They're always so awesome.

[Podcast Host]

Go to largo-la.com I do that monthly.

[Katie]

It's called Pete Holmes Living at Largo. So whenever you hear this, I will be at Largo this month which is one of the great joys of my life. So hope you can be there.

[Podcast Host]

And [e-mail] we are selling the last remaining vinyls of dirty clean and 100%.

[Katie]

Of the proceeds are going to Homeboy Industries, a charity very near and dear to my heart.

[Podcast Host]

So that is an album and a special that has the bit like that doesn't make any fucking sense.

[Katie]

You can get the vinyl of that.

[Podcast Host]

While they last last vinyl maybe I'll ever make. So go get that vinyl.

[Katie]

Go do it.

[Podcast Host]

Petehomes.com in the meantime, so glad you're here. Enjoy the wonderful, the incredible, hilarious, the thoughtful, the thought provoking John C. Reilly. Get into it. Here, hold this like a stand up comedian.

[John C. Reilly]

The one Thing I haven't done.

[Katie]

Yeah, that's true.

[John C. Reilly]

Last. The last frontier. I will one day.

[Pete Holmes]

Will you?

[John C. Reilly]

I think so.

[Katie]

Here would.

[John C. Reilly]

I mean, I kind of do it.

[Katie]

Are you do it with you.

[John C. Reilly]

To reveal much of my actual thoughts, my actual personality. So I'm a little careful about that. But yeah, I think I could tell some fun stories.

[Katie]

If it's okay.

[John C. Reilly]

We're just gonna. Yes.

[Katie]

Is that okay?

[John C. Reilly]

Sorry, Your name?

[Podcast Host]

It's Katie. Such a genteel man you are.

[John C. Reilly]

I'm always matter, Pete. People matter.

[Podcast Host]

No.

[Katie]

Can I say one more? It's all we got.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah, that's it. That is what I. That is what I say during Mr. Romantic. This is all we have. The machines won't save us.

[Katie]

That's right. This is all we have. But like even this, like, that's why I'm glad to have this show as a. As an excuse to dial in and just make it small just for the next. Whatever. It's just us. It's all we got. There's a lot going on, but that's enough.

[John C. Reilly]

It is gonna have to be enough.

[Katie]

It's gonna have to be enough.

[John C. Reilly]

I'm just looking at your Steve Martin cover there. That was like. I think that one of the first records I actually bought.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

As a kid was last stole some before that, but I kind of think I stole a Rolling Stone album before that, but. Oh, I bought that one. And I have some amazing memories of listening to that record. I was obsessed with it. Like everybody, like a lot of people my age at that time. But I remember sitting with my mom and on the bedroom floor, she heard me listening to it and she's like, what is going on in here? What are you laughing so hard at? And I was like, oh, mom, you gotta hear it. You gotta hear it. And she was of another generation. Her and my father both. Like almost like a World War II generation. Even though they weren't of that generation, they kind of thought like that they co opted it. I was wondering how she was going to respond to it. And we sat and listened to it and she loved it. She was just cracking up. And like, it was fantastic. It was like that scene in Alice B. Toklas when they. When the in laws accidentally eat pot brownies and they're just cackling with laughter.

[Katie]

Yes. Because if that had gone the other way. I remember listening to comedy with my mom. I remember Ace Ventura. There's that sex scene. Do you remember? Have you seen Ace Ventura recently?

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah, not recently, but yeah.

[Katie]

You know, it actually holds up.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

I don't mean to say. Actually there's some stuff that doesn't hold up.

[Katie]

Don't get me wrong, there's a whole.

[Podcast Host]

It didn't age well kind of sequence.

[Katie]

But there's, you know, a lot of it does. And there's a part where they're just going at it like a hardcore. It's like comedically big sex scene. And I remember my mom like covering my eyes and stuff. It can be.

[John C. Reilly]

I did one of those. I did a comedically over the top sex scene with Jenna Fisher and walk hard.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes.

[John C. Reilly]

And even though we're trying to be comedic and over the top, it was like, you know, we're just. The whole movie is a satire on one thing or another. But the satire in that scene was animalistic sex scenes between like long lost lovers or whatever. So we're doing all this stuff. We're like almost kissing and then not kissing, almost kissing. Not like breathing really close to each other. And it was like, this is turning into a real sex scene. Like it's kind of hot. Even though we're trying to be funny, it's kind of hot. Like throwing each other around the room and stuff.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

Do you charged?

[Katie]

Sometimes as a. As a silly boy, when I'm actually having sex, it's tempting to be silly because you know what it is. Every night I get in bed with my wife just to sleep. And I'm tempted. We'll cuddle a little bit. I'm always tempted to be like, like, just like, like because it's so vulnerable and so quiet.

[John C. Reilly]

You can't avoid, you can't resist.

[Katie]

And in the same way, sometimes when you're having sex, it's really hard. Not always, but sometimes I'm tempted to like reference something or something that had happened that day.

[John C. Reilly]

I wish I was one of those people that could be kind of funny about sex. But I don't think I am like.

[Katie]

More of a silly being in that way.

[John C. Reilly]

I think I'm more like. It's a sacred bond moment. It's almost like a spiritual connection to me. That's why I was never like very good at like sleeping around. I've been married for 31 years now, but when I was younger, like I'd always had to be friends with the person and know them as a friend. And then it would move into sex or romance or whatever.

[Pete Holmes]

But.

[Katie]

And none of that, it wasn't like religious or anything. It was just kind of like.

[John C. Reilly]

I mean, I grew up Catholic, but not really. No. That. Not what I was thinking about it Was just more like, how could this be casual? Yeah, this is not casual.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

I'm revealing my soul to this person.

[Katie]

And even biochemically, you know, neurologically, there's so much going on during sex that is intensely bonding. As an actor, have you ever done like gazing exercises?

[John C. Reilly]

Oh, yeah, stuff like that.

[Katie]

Well, you see how quickly.

[John C. Reilly]

And clown in clown workshops too.

[Katie]

You clown?

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah, I was a clown when I was a kid and I've been getting back into it lately because this Show I do, Mr. Romantic Ostensible Reason I'm here, Edit that out is kind of a clown show. I don't wear like clown makeup, per se, a little rouge, but not full clown face. But it's a vaudeville act, you know, it's kind of like an emotional magic act all about love. And have you seen it?

[Podcast Host]

I've. We were work trying.

[Katie]

I know. Come on, just walk out.

[John C. Reilly]

It's not like.

[Katie]

Do you want me to listen?

[John C. Reilly]

I get it. You don't get to Largo very much. You're not over there. I understand. I understand.

[Podcast Host]

You're the first.

[Katie]

I've been out of town, seven day spiritual retreat. I'm like a non dual retreat. You're the first episode and this is how much I was excited to have you come on. Because of course you take a day to integrate. Right. You can't just come back from like all that meditating and stuff. But this is the only day you could do, so.

[Pete Holmes]

So here we are.

[Katie]

And that is my commitment and love and excitement for you. But had I not.

[John C. Reilly]

I could do it any day this week, honestly.

[Katie]

I know.

[John C. Reilly]

I don't know who told you that.

[Katie]

Well, they. They didn't.

[John C. Reilly]

They're all just trying to slot him into one day or something. I did a few other interviews earlier today, but have you been chatting away a little bit? Not too much, not too. You're not burnt and I'm not really. I mean, talking about Mr. Romantic, the show, Edit that Out is really like a labor of love. It's like my own thing. It's this thing that just came out. Mean. So it's different than doing like press for.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

A film that someone else directed or.

[Katie]

That would be so beautiful if we left that in the show.

[John C. Reilly]

But I'm curious about your spiritual retreat because I meditate every day. I do transcendental meditation.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

What was this? What was like silence or.

[Katie]

It wasn't a silent retreat. In fact, I went in. I was just telling my wife this. I went in chewing nicotine gum. I got like nicotine and Day one, I was just like, I'm not feeling like I need it. And it's so interesting. And my wife joked it was like, yeah, cause you were in rehab. Like, she was like, that's why rehab works. Like, all your meals are communal.

[John C. Reilly]

So like so much of it, your wife is not there stressing you out.

[Katie]

Like, take that, take that, sweetheart. But like so much of it was being sharing, not being silent, was having time with like minded people that are interested in, you know, having a firmly established center, for lack of a better way to put it.

[John C. Reilly]

Sounds like a cult, but.

[Katie]

Well, there were some.

[John C. Reilly]

No, I'm kidding. But I've been studying cults lately.

[Katie]

I love cults. And which one's yours?

[John C. Reilly]

Well, you could. I mean, I would imagine some people think transcendental meditation is a cult, but it doesn't have some of the hallmarks of occult.

[Katie]

Okay, well, remember the ceremony? You've been doing it a long time. But there was that ceremony with the rice and the incense and there's the foam.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah, but that's the thing about it is there is no dogma about transcendental meditation. There is nothing you actually have to believe.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

There's no God. There's no. None of that stuff. All you have to do is just do this on a regular basis and it works whether you believe it or not. Which I was like, oh, great. No dogma, no guru. There is a guru because the. Yeah, the Maharishi, like sort of put it together for modern audiences or whatever. But.

[Katie]

And the Beatles.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah, but for thousands of years before that. You know, it's not like it's really his. He just.

[Katie]

How did you turn on to that? I did it too, by the way.

[John C. Reilly]

I needed it. Yeah, I needed it. I needed. I was. I was just having trouble. My mind was just too much traffic in my mind, you know, and the. I'm not really an anxious person, but I was having a lot of mental pollution. There's just agitation and I don't know. I don't know exactly why it came to me. I remember I asked a friend, I was like. Because I assumed he was all into this New age stuff. It was Mike White, actually. I asked Mike. I was like, mike, you do TM right? Can you tell me about that? And he's like, actually, no, I don't do that. I was like, whoa, why did I think you did it? And then he told me about someone else who did. And they hooked me up with this teacher and I learned it and. But that's really the last interaction I Had with the Organization of Transcendental Meditation. Yeah. Was just meeting.

[Katie]

Was it here in la?

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah.

[Katie]

Who taught. Do you remember?

[John C. Reilly]

Her name is Penny Hintz. She taught David lynch to do it like years ago.

[Katie]

Did he take to it?

[John C. Reilly]

Oh yeah. He's a super devout.

[Katie]

100% JK.

[John C. Reilly]

Oh, sorry. That's the thing about me. I don't. I don't traffic so much in sarcasm.

[Katie]

Yeah, it wasn't sarcasm, but I did or whatever mug to the, to the camera that was to include you to let you know that I was joking. But you were off.

[John C. Reilly]

It's okay. Yeah. So.

[Katie]

But do you find it not. This is a leading question. Do you find it as just a stress life improvement?

[John C. Reilly]

Just found that in your couch, by the way.

[Katie]

Could have been Marianne Williamson's. We like to blame her if people.

[John C. Reilly]

Find stuff in the couch.

[Katie]

Did you do it for higher purpose reasons or just kind of.

[John C. Reilly]

No.

[Katie]

Wrong answer. Kind of like regulate stress, quiet your mind sort of thing, or was it.

[John C. Reilly]

Needed it. I just somehow I need it. I was like, I need. I need more peace. Like the things I was doing to get peace for myself were not really delivering.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

After a while and.

[Katie]

Well, that's, that's.

[John C. Reilly]

And I did it really devote. I was devoutly for a long time and then, then I had this sort of mini crisis in my head where I was like, why are you doing it? This is stupid. You're just sitting here saying a mantra to you. This is. You could just do this by, you know, just being more mindful or whatever. And I kind of got off it for a while and then I. And then I needed it again. Then I was like, no, this is not. I'm not a very habitual person. I'm not a very disciplined person. I'm not someone that does anything on a regular basis. But doing TM on a regular basis really has. It's given me a lot. Yeah, it's really given me a lot of peace.

[Katie]

No, no routines whatsoever.

[John C. Reilly]

I have like patches of routine and then just. It just goes to the wayside. But miraculously, meditating has been something I do every day.

[Katie]

Been able to take.

[John C. Reilly]

I really. It's the first thing in my life other than like taking care of my kids or whatever, where, where, where when I wake up, I'm like, oh no, I need to do that for sure. And if I forget, I'll go, oh no. Oh my gosh, I forgot. Every once in a while I'll forget.

[Pete Holmes]

But yeah.

[Katie]

Have you ever been doing it and someone thinks something's wrong?

[Pete Holmes]

With you.

[Katie]

That happened to me a lot. I was on a film set actually, and I was like, looking, I was really into it at that time, so I was like, I'm not going to miss. And I went, it was lunch. And I went and found a little corner and I sat down, closed my eyes. Like, four people checked on me. They were just like, are you okay? They thought I was having, like, I don't know.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah. Like a psychic break. I usually tell people I'm 20 minutes.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Katie]

But it's never been mistaken for psychosis.

[John C. Reilly]

Giving me a lot. No. And Penny actually told me, she's like, people will. If you're in your car by yourself doing it, put your sunglasses on.

[Katie]

Yeah, that's a good tip.

[John C. Reilly]

Because then it just looks like you're just sitting there. Whatever.

[Katie]

That's a good tip. I, I, I wonder if this, your schedule listeness helps you flow and merge into a film set, because that is really giving your life to another schedule.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah.

[Katie]

You know, you never, every day is different and you really have to be.

[John C. Reilly]

Like, to be completely. My favorite day, ever since I was a little kid, as long as I can remember, my favorite days are, like, waking up. What should I do now? Eat when I'm hungry, go outside when I feel like walking around, you know, like, just letting days unfold. That's really like, my personality. I actually don't like to figure out things ahead of time or analyze things too much or. Yeah, that's just kind of like how I am. And that you reminded me of something, though. This is kind of course, but when I shoot a movie, sometimes I'm convinced that there's like a detector in the trailer.

[Katie]

What do you mean? I asked her to turn the air on.

[John C. Reilly]

Oh. Oh. It was a good story for that. Because whenever I have to go to the bathroom number two, I'll be like, check things out. All right. I definitely have time. Nothing around, not going to be needed, etc. Etc. I go into the trailer, you sit down on the toilet and bump, bump, bump. Like, almost without fail, an ad comes when you're pooping. Yeah. And you're like, I. And then you have that awful thing where you're in the bathroom, I'm in the. You have to yell really loud to be heard.

[Katie]

Like, I've noticed that phenomenon. By the way, if you're sitting on the couch in a trailer and someone knocks on the door, I'll yell, come in. They've never come in. Have you noticed this? I don't know how thick these doors are. You Go.

[John C. Reilly]

Come in.

[Katie]

And they just.

[John C. Reilly]

Well, in order to be heard over the air conditioning or something, it sounds like you're already mad, like you're yelling. Like, there's one day I just did this TV show where I had winning time where I play Dr. Jerry Buss. And super stressful life, as it turns out, you know, especially the first year he had that team. So a lot of my scenes were, like, raising my voice or being passionate about something or whatever. And I would run my lines in the trailer with someone before I had to go. And one day I was like, what is going on? What? I thought they said they were ready. What is going on? Like, can you find out what's going on? They finally, like, the ad wasn't even near the trailer. And finally, like, this person who I asked to help tracked down the ad, and she's like, I didn't want to knock. It just sounded like it was a bad moment. And I was like, what?

[Katie]

She.

[John C. Reilly]

Like, you were really screaming at somebody. I was like, I was doing my lines. I wasn't screaming at it. What? You think I would yell like that at somebody? Like, I don't know. I don't know.

[Katie]

Can I tell you my favorite Jerry Bus moment in season one? Just if it meant anything to you, I thought it was so funny and so novel, was you're eating lobster by the pool, and then you go, I gotta wash this butter off. And then you jump in the pool.

[John C. Reilly]

That was, like, improvised. It was, yeah. I improvise a lot when I work.

[Katie]

Well, then I'm glad your hat's off, because hats off. That's incredible. It felt like the perfect summation of that character is.

[John C. Reilly]

And I did have a lot of butter.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

Hands on my face and my belly. Like, definitely needed to get rid of the butter.

[Katie]

But doesn't that seem like a character trait, like, of Jerry Buss? It would be like a guy who eating lobster by a pool would just jump in the pool to wash it off. Like, that felt perfect.

[John C. Reilly]

I love that there was. There was a. Yeah. Anyway, I haven't seen the show, but weirdly, I haven't watched it. But I do remember shooting that scene and jumping into the pool and there's, like, this fantasy moment with all the girls around me in the pool, and I'm supposed to be going, I'm fucked, or whatever. I say something like, oh, my God, I'm fucked. Like, I scream underwater because I just find out that, yeah, yeah, this paperwork was bad news. But there's all these girls around me in the pool. A whole circle of them and their legs. And they were like, you guys should be laughing and having fun. Like, all of you should be laughing. And underwater I could hear this ghostly like, like mermaids. Underwater was incredible. I was like. I came up and I was like, you guys, we got to get a microphone in the water somehow. You won't believe what it sounds like under there. Like all these legs going like this. Then he waters.

[Katie]

Laughter it turns out. Have you ever seen a ghost? You seem like a guy that's seen a ghost.

[John C. Reilly]

I thought I saw a few ghosts, but I think it was sleep apnea.

[Katie]

What did it look like? Difficulty breathing?

[John C. Reilly]

No, it was always like I'd wake up with a start, like a noise. I thought I'd heard a noise and then I'd see something like going out of the room or I would have these like hallucinations or whatever.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

And I realized I had sleep apnea and needed.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

A CPAP machine that was literally my body saying, you're dying, wake up.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Katie]

And your brain misfires.

[Pete Holmes]

Ufo.

[John C. Reilly]

Ufo? I don't think so.

[Katie]

What about something you can't explain? You ever go to a psychic and they knew something really impossible?

[John C. Reilly]

Well, yeah, I mean, no, I've never been to a psychic, but something unexplainable? Well, when the. My father was sick, he had a brain tumor and eventually died from it. And. But it was. I was off doing a movie and checking in with my sisters and my family about what was going on with him. And it wasn't looking good, but he wasn't. They weren't like, you should think about coming home to Chicago. It was just sort of like, things are not great. And I was sleeping and in the dream I saw. So I won't explain the long dream, but basically I was in like a rooming house trying to fall asleep in this big room full of beds. Like an old wood floored rooming house with beds all over the place. And I came in at night with my wife in the dream and everyone was already asleep in the beds. And we're like, oh, thank God there's at least there's a bed somewhere we can stay. We get under the covers and we just have to relax and close, you know, fall asleep. And then with my eyes closed, all of a sudden there's like rustling, people getting up from beds. I'm like, oh my God, I can't believe it. With my eyes closed in the dream. I can't believe people are now getting up. We just got here. We're trying to fall asleep I can't believe it. And all of a sudden, I sense people right near our bed. And I opened my eyes and my father was in line, slowly moving in this line out of the room. And I remember staring at his face and he was talking to the person in front of him, like, can you believe we're in this fucking line? I couldn't really hear what he was saying, but in the dream, I was staring at his face, somehow knowing this is the last time I'm going to see his face.

[Pete Holmes]

Whoa.

[John C. Reilly]

I knew in the dream, and I'm staring, I'm like, I have to memorize the details of his face because this is the last time I'm going to see him. And literally the phone rang and woke me up from this dream. And my sister said, dad just passed. Whoa. I can't explain that. I had no. There was no. I'm telling you, I know what was going on at the time. And it wasn't like any kind of emergency thinking or anything.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

It was, like, sad that he had this tumor or whatever and there was an operation, et cetera, et cetera. But. Whoa. But then two other people in my family that night, the same thing. One of my sisters had a dream where he was packing up his boat to leave. She was laying down in this house and could see him out by this dock packing up his boat to leave. And then he did. And another, an aunt of mine, that same night. So I can't explain that. I mean, how could you explain that?

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Katie]

That's incredible. Thank you for telling me that. That's awesome. I mean, not awesome what happened, but.

[John C. Reilly]

That experience was awesome.

[Katie]

My dad loved awesome.

[John C. Reilly]

But I think there's a lot we don't understand. If you think about, like, just for an analogy, how much of the ocean is unexplored? Or how much about space we don't understand.

[Katie]

Or the human mind.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah. Or the brain, how much we don't understand even about how our own bodies actually work. And it wasn't that long ago before it was like leeches and stuff were the answer.

[Katie]

You know, like they say that's that. We're going to look at this time as a leech time with the advent of AI by 2030 or something. 2035, I think.

[John C. Reilly]

Well, I hope we get some stuff figured out with the help of AI. That would be good. But I do think there's metaphysical things. There are metaphysical things that exist that we don't understand yet. The way matter behaves and plasma and all this.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

There's a lot of Things that we just conceptually, we don't understand yet. So how could you assume that we've got it all locked down and there's no such thing as ghosts or dreams.

[Katie]

Or visions really, is what kind of what we're talking about.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah. Or a metaphysical aspect of human life, you know.

[Katie]

Have you had any contact, kind of with your dad, emotionally or supernaturally? Is there a connection there?

[John C. Reilly]

Well, there's been a lot of times when I was, like, hoping for a miracle and I literally, dad, if you. If you can put it in a word, like, I mean, the. The day of my dad's day death, what is the anniversary of the Irish Peace Accords in Ireland. And I was like, maybe he had something to do with that because he was super ardent Irishman. Irish American, anyway. Yeah, I think there's. I think there's a lot that we don't understand.

[Katie]

Of course, I think famous psychologist said we. We don't understand 99% of how the mind works or how the brain works. Not even just the concept mind, but the brain. They're like.

[John C. Reilly]

That said, there's not much to be. I don't know. I don't go around thinking a lot about how I don't understand most. You know, you just have to go with what you have. Like. Like in the 1800s, leeches, what they had, you know, the best. We got Tylenol.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, I guess Tylenol is where it's at.

[Katie]

It's going to be crazy to see where it goes. It really is going back to what you were saying about doing your lines in the trailer and yelling.

[Podcast Host]

I was really excited because I'm such.

[Katie]

A fan of your acting, all the different styles. I know it's all acting, but I think you're hilarious. And I. I'm a big fan of your dramatic work as well. Here's my question. How much of acting is getting over that? Acting is sort of embarrassing. Like, how much of that is. Would you consider your job? And to preface it a little bit, you know, everyone knows you're pretending they're filming you now. You're very calm. And three, two, one. You have to be yelling. So there's something kind of like.

[John C. Reilly]

To you.

[Katie]

Not just me, it's a. It's a Ted Danson quote as he did a scene.

[John C. Reilly]

Well, you and Ted Danza. But I'm saying, like, you don't find it embarrassing. It's like, how much of acting has to do with, like, drinking a gallon of water beforehand. Like, well, I don't. I'm not. I'm not embarrassed by it. Like, yeah, you know what? Actually, what is kind of.

[Katie]

That's a fascinating answer. You. You. You're not embarrassed?

[John C. Reilly]

No. Ever since I was a little kid when I plays, it was never. It was just seemed to be a natural thing to me. Like, this idea of pretending and this idea of crossing over into an imaginary place, it was just like, yeah, this is where I am most of the time. This is just like when I first did my first acting class when I was a little kid at the park near my house. I remember thinking, like, at first, oh, this is kind of weird. Like, the teacher was having us be pieces of bacon on a. In a pan, and I'm gonna turn up the heat now what happens? He was just. It's like an exercise to get you kind of in touch with your body and your imagination firing. But I remember thinking, like, at first, like, oh, this is kind of weird. A piece of bacon. No one's ever asked me to do this before, like, when I was 8. And then as it started to happen, I looked around the room and everyone was doing these. This bacon stuff. I was like, I have found my people. I knew at that young age. I was like, oh, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. These are the people that understand me. This is what I'm like, yeah. And what do you mean, spent most.

[Katie]

Of your time there? Like, you were like a big fantasy kid, like, just kind of.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah, just, you know, like, I think most kids, especially younger than, say, six years old, there's still a little bit in the world of the pixies, you know, they don't. They don't see. Like, I realized this from doing animation. Like, I did these two movies, Wreck It Ralph.

[Katie]

My daughter, she's five and a half. She loves Wreck It Ralph.

[John C. Reilly]

Well, if you. If I were to meet your daughter, if she's five and a half, I bet if you said, honey, this is Wreck It Ralph, she would look at me and go, no, it isn't, because he doesn't look anything like Wreck It Ralph. Yeah. Like younger than 6 years old. You realize they think cartoons are real.

[Katie]

Oh, I've shown her cartoons that I'm in. And I don't think she knows what's going on.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah, so they don't quite.

[Katie]

And she's like, so.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah, that's what I mean. Like, I. I was always in that place of imagination. Like, being involved in fantasy was something that just came really naturally to me. I just always. That said, I didn't. It's not like when I was a little kid. I wasn't one of those kids. Like, I'm gonna be an actor. I'm gonna be the world's greatest actor. Like, I'm made for the stage or movies or whatever. Like, I. I had no reference points for that, for it being a life or a job or anything like that. Yeah. It wasn't until I was almost done with college, where I went to an. A conservatory of acting school, that I was like, oh, maybe. Maybe this could be my job. Like, I literally didn't consider it because I come from a very working class, you know, blue collar kind of life in Chicago where I grew up. And I didn't have any examples. I didn't know anyone who was in any kind of show business, music or anything else. Like, so I. I remember just watching, like, Gene Hackman in the French Connection or Gene Wilder and, you know, Willy Wonka and just thinking like, that's what they're like, that's who they are. I didn't understand it as a craft. Yeah, as a craft.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

And then a friend of mine got cast in a Francis Ford Coppola movie. Kevin J. O', Connor, who was from my same neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. And I was like. And he went to the same acting school as me. So as soon as he graduated from the acting school, he got that part. And I was like, oh, man, it's possible. It is possible to come from the south side and someone would ask you to be in a movie. It's possible. I have to consider this now.

[Katie]

That's how I felt about Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Because when I was in high school, just leaving high school, Good Will Hunting came out and I would see them, like, at Harvard Square, I had friends that went to high school with them. And I was like, what? Like, it really. I wasn't in the land of the Pixies, but I would go see a movie and I was like, these are the. The gods of our time, you know, Like, I was really reverent, like, literally biolocating. They're on all these different screens at the same time. They're huge. They're making my father cry. You know what I mean? It's just like.

[John C. Reilly]

And you need huge somehow. You need these con. I need it anyway, this concrete example that it is possible. You know, of course I've been acting for years, 12, 15 years at that point, but to see someone do it, it actually happened. I needed that concrete.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

Reference point.

[Podcast Host]

Would you talk a little bit?

[Katie]

Because when you were saying that Like Chicago, working class. And when you think of an actor like a, like someone who is going to be like, I'm going to be the best actor in the world, do you think of someone who maybe looks like Tom Cruise? You know what I mean? That type.

[John C. Reilly]

I don't know. I don't know what Tom's journey was. Maybe not, you know, there's a lot of people that look like Tom Cruise that don't feel that way.

[Katie]

I'm saying like today, if there was an influencer that was like, I'm going to make it big, well, maybe I'll finish the question. If somebody's really classically, you know, down the line, good looking guy, white teeth, winning, hey, personality, like, oh, there's an actor. And what's interesting is here's you interesting person. Gene Hackman, interesting person, Gene Wilder, interesting person. These aren't just models that talk, you know what I mean? They're complex. And then this working class Chicago thing makes you a rare and special commodity in la, where every headshot is like a V neck, white T shirt, tan. You know what I'm saying? You are a handsome man. I'm just saying, like, isn't it funny that the things that.

[John C. Reilly]

I was at a party one time with Dustin Hoffman and I think Joaquin Phoenix was there. I think it was the first night I met Joaquin. And Dustin Hoffman literally said, you know, you guys have a career because of me.

[Katie]

That's so funny.

[John C. Reilly]

Before me, people that look like regular people did not get the leading role in movies. When Nick, when I got the Graduate and Mike Nichols forced them to cast me, I paved a way, you know, like. Yeah, and he wasn't just being like, you know, vain or whatever. He was just telling the truth. And we were like, wow, you're right. It does kind of track back almost exactly to him or his generation right around then.

[Katie]

Yes.

[John C. Reilly]

So I forgot what the question was exactly.

[Katie]

I'm just saying, isn't it interesting that here's little Johnny C and he maybe decides he wants to be an actor. There had to be people in your life that were like, but you're not, you're not.

[John C. Reilly]

One of those whole neighborhood was like, if you come from the working class on the south side of Chicago, in the era that I was in, the main thing people said was, who the fuck do you think you are? Yeah, that's what I was raised being told, you know, get a job, what are you doing? You know, like, it was always, people kind of always undervaluing you, you know, and you asked like, do you Think the journey is the same for someone that looked like Tom Cruise? Well, I know Leo DiCaprio really well. Like I've known his. I did a movie with him when he was 17 years old and I think I've worked with him three times since then and I. And he's also one of the only people I've ever seen do an accurate, I think, impression of me. When he was 17, I was like, holy sh. You little. You realize he's been observing me this whole time. You know, Leo's really a character actor. That's the truth about him. I think he actually has the constitution and the personality of a character actor. He's not someone who co spy in his looks. But, but I will say this about him, he is. He even. He didn't have any of that self doubt stuff or at least he didn't show it that I had. He didn't come from a place where they were like, who the fuck do you think you are? He came from a place where they were like, whatever you want to do, you can do it. We believe in you. You keep going, keep going. Yes, dream big, dream big. And I was just like, what a gift to give a kid from the very beginning that, yeah, you people could say something, oh, he's just this golden boy and he doesn't know what it's like. But that's not true. He grew up with like not much money and you know, he had this whole thing when he was younger, when I started working with him when he was 17, of this whole Tiger Beat thing of girls from him being on the TV show when he was younger, swooning over him as this hunk, as this, you know, kind of flavor of the week good looking boy. But he knew he had more in him than that, so he was embarrassed by that stuff, all that kind of attention or whatever. But I remember looking at him like, man, this is a guy. He's never been told, who the fuck are you? He's always been told like, no, you can probably do it, you should try, you should keep trying.

[Katie]

Isn't that nice?

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah. And I thought like, that's how I'm going to raise.

[Katie]

And he still did it. It kind of goes against the idea that the success actually comes from the frustration of people telling you you can't do it. And that's why John C. Reilly said I'll show you. And he kept at it. Or though, is there some truth to that?

[John C. Reilly]

I think there's something truth to being like a middle kid, like I'm fifth of Six.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

So like when you're in a crowd like that, in the middle of a crowd, you're like, hey, hey, I'm over here. Like, you learn ways to like, I don't know, have some self esteem or.

[Katie]

Whatever, but, and did you want to stand out? I have to imagine, fifth of six, you want some identity, some recognition.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah, I, I don't know. I, I suppose that, I guess that one may have been subconscious because I, I, it wasn't like I was ever consciously thinking that, but I was the.

[Katie]

Second child and I was like streaks on the china, like trying to do two things. I was trying to calm the house down and I was trying to be special.

[John C. Reilly]

I've seen that with the second sibling where they're like a politician, like, get a major head. I want your vote, you know, like, like running for office from the, from the time they come out of the wom. This other competition, I'm the new one, but.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

Won't you love me?

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Katie]

Well, can't I be the favorite?

[John C. Reilly]

But I think the truth is, if you really take a really empathetic view of the way people are and the way they look and what they have to offer as artists, you just never know what the dark night of the soul for Leo DiCaprio or Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt or, you know, Marilyn Monroe or whatever. People that look a certain way, who you make certain assumptions about, you just don't know what, what it takes to, to do what they do. And in Leo's case, you know, there's a, there were a lot of guys of his generation that were really cute that were in those Tiger Beat magazines. And how many of them ended up doing what he did?

[Katie]

The curse of Tiger Beat, man. You don't want to be a Tiger Beat.

[John C. Reilly]

I'm just saying, like, you have to have more than just a pretty face if you're really gonna contribute something. And, and he does.

[Katie]

Yeah, yeah, I hear that. As we'll happily have. You just be in Tiger Beat. Like the business will gobble you up and spit out your bones. Just with Tiger Beat.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah.

[Katie]

It's not like now that you're in Tiger Beat, we have a relationship. We want to see what else you've got. No, he had to work that much harder.

[John C. Reilly]

In fact, it's the other way is like, if you get held up in that way, people just can't wait to.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, of course.

[John C. Reilly]

Smite you.

[Katie]

That's right. They want to, they want to put you out like a cigarette.

[John C. Reilly]

I've always thought, like, I remember when I was coming up in the 80s and, you know, doing plays and stuff and thinking, like, you know, kind of secretly dreaming, could I be an actor? And there was this group of actors called the Brat Pack who I thought, well, that's it. I'll never get a shot because I don't look like Emilio Estevez or Charlie Sheen or Anthony Mike, even Anthony Michael hall, who was like, more of a character actor. Excuse me, back then. But I remember looking at those guys and thinking, like, well, that's it. Those are the people that got picked from my generation to be the actors of my generations. I just. There's no room for me.

[Katie]

It's a depravity.

[John C. Reilly]

I'll never be in the Brat Pack. Yeah, I won't be invited. The membership's full. So.

[Katie]

Something that somebody made up at a magazine, and you're like, that's it. The Brat Pack's been decided.

[John C. Reilly]

I was just talking to Ione sky about this the other day, who's a friend of mine. She's like. And look what happened, John. Look what happened. You believed in yourself and you outlasted a lot of that, you know, like.

[Katie]

Yeah, well, that's kind of what I'm saying is, like, isn't it interesting that a career. I hope you feel this way about your career. It's an enviable career. It's a magical, wonderful, diverse, interesting thing. And, like, going back to the south side of Chicago, who are you? Get a job. And also, even people like my mother, who in the 80s would have been like, that's Snow Leo. She's reading Teen Beat. And here you are outlasting and bringing something earnest and real that people relate to on the stage. Meaning it's not just show business, isn't just getting discovered at the Roosevelt Hotel swimming with your shirt off, and some producer goes, that kid's a star. You know, it's not just that.

[John C. Reilly]

Well, there is a certain thing about movies where sexual charisma is one of the key things that sell movies. It's love stories. And that just is a fact of storytelling. You know, Romeo and Juliet, it's like, there's guys who play Friar Tuck and there's guys that play Romeo. Like, yeah, that's just the way it is, you know, But I think actually I'm kind of an anomaly, and I don't really credit my staying power with the audience saying, oh, no, we want to elevate that kind of person. We want someone who looks like that. Actually, that's not. I don't think how it happened for Me, how it happened for me, I think, was continually believing in myself and thinking I had. I could bring something. And challenging myself and then key relationships with directors.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

People who. Like Paul Anderson or Terrence Malick or Martin Scorsese, who were like, no, no, no, no. It's got to be that kid. Yeah, it's got to be that guy. Yeah. But he doesn't mean anything better that he doesn't look. He doesn't look. I don't care. It's going to be that guy because it's something about him is honest and sincere and seems right. Seems real.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

I want it to be real. Like, even Rob Marshall in that musical Chicago, he was like. I wanted. I don't want this character to be a joke. I want it to seem real. That you really love Roxie Hart. And that's why I picked you, John, because you could sing. You do these things that most musical theater can. People can do. But because I believed you.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

And I always think about, like David Byrne said, you know, people don't really believe a singer that is too perfect and beautiful. I use my flaws to my advantage and. And I think that's true. I think that's really why I have had staying power, is because I. Because of my flaws, you know, it makes me more relatable in a way.

[Podcast Host]

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[Katie]

You can throw it in with some.

[Podcast Host]

Tequila, agave, and a squeeze of lime, and you have an amazing cocktail that has electrolytes and nutrients in there, which means a better feeling morning after. It's also wonderful for mocktails and because of the electrolytes, coconut Water can help bring you back to life after a night of partying as well. So take 25 off and get Vita Cocoa shipped to your door. Which is how I get it shipped to me by using code [e-mail] or if you prefer to shop in storefighting Vita Cocoa at most big name grocery stores in your city as well as superstores like Walmart, drugstores like CVS, your local convenience stores in Bodegas. That's Vitacoco.com get 20% off with code WEIRD20 at checkout. We're also brought to us by our friends at Ritual. As you guys know, my pre post and probiotic and my multivitamin for Men for years has been from our friends at Ritual. If supporting foundational health was a sport, trust me guys, you would want Ritual on your team. They made Essential for Men a multivitamin that is based solely on science and designed to help fill common nutrient gaps in your diet with 10 key nutrients. According to the CDC, fewer men than women meet the minimum daily intake requirement for fruits and vegetables. And men are more likely to overvalue exercise and and undervalue nutrition. So enter Ritual. They are here with a multivitamin scientifically developed for men to help fill those gaps in their diets. I've been taking it for years. Two pills in the morning, actually three because I take the multi and I take the Symbiotic plus probiotic every morning. It's got a minty essence and you don't just pee it out like predator blood because it has a delayed release effect. So it breaks down in your low intestine where these vitamins can actually be absorbed. 10 key nutrients in those delayed release capsules per day designed to dissolve later in the small intestine, which is great for fasting, gentle on an empty stomach and a minty essence in every bottle. That makes taking your Multis actually enjoyable. So Essential for Men is a quality multivitamin from a company you can actually trust. Get 25 off your first month for a limited time at ritual.com weird. Start ritual or add Essential for Men to your subscription today. That's ritual.com weird for 25% off I.

[Katie]

Would add to that. I was researching you. I didn't really have to because I'm such a fan, but I was, you know, giving it a look over and I was like, oh yeah, the, the, the Sisters Brothers and I loved that movie. But I had that moment of like and this is actually a compliment. It wasn't that I forgot that you were in it. It's that. I thought that was the sisters brothers. I forgot Joaquin was in it, too. I didn't go, that's a Joaquin John C. Reilly movie. I was like, no, there were these two cowboys.

[John C. Reilly]

Like, when I was younger. That was the litmus test, really was when my own brothers or sisters would say, I forgot it was you.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Katie]

Like, I was like, no, that's exactly what happened is. And I think that's part of what's going on. And I also agree with you. I don't think people are going like, let's give this kid a shot. Like, as a. As a ruse.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah.

[Katie]

I think they're just enjoying the world in general.

[John C. Reilly]

Is kind of a popularity contest. And.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

You just have to find your way in anyway somehow. If you feel like. If you feel like it's all you really can do. And that's really what. You know, I tried. I thought about other things. That being a priest or being a lawyer or, you know, I thought about these other things. But then eventually I just came to this conclusion, like, well, if I'm an actor, I can do all of that stuff. I could play a lawyer one day.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

I could play a priest one day.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes.

[John C. Reilly]

And I get to do the most exciting and interesting parts of that occupation. And then when it gets boring, move on.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Katie]

Everyone who listens to this show knows I'm going to say this, but I remember being a kid and I was obsessed with movies, and I wanted to make movies, I wanted to act, I wanted to be a comedian. All that stuff was early on. And I would remember being like, I can't wait till I'm 30. Because then people would believe it if I wore a police officer's uniform and said, I'm a cop. But for a long time, I didn't.

[John C. Reilly]

Have enough ever interacted with cops these days. There's some pretty young ones.

[Katie]

Is that like, yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

Wow. That guy's in charge. Because a lot of cops and soldiers, different people come up to me and are like, thank you for I love stepbrothers or whatever. And you're like, yeah, man. You are very young.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes.

[Katie]

Ever get out of a ticket? I know it's kind of a dumb question, but I have to.

[John C. Reilly]

I'm Irish, and I come from the south side of Chicago. So in Chicago, I mean, better for better or worse? I suppose mostly for worse, if they looked at my license and thought I was. Saw I had an Irish last name and I was from Marquette park, they were like, get the out.

[Katie]

Oh, no.

[John C. Reilly]

What are you doing? That is the red light. I would just only get out of tickets, you know, just.

[Katie]

But not because of Step brothers.

[John C. Reilly]

Oh, no. Oh, now. No, no. I'm a very good driver, so I very. I actually, you don't get. Don't really get into much interaction with the police. Knock on wood. But I'm talking about when I was younger, you know.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Katie]

What? It's interesting when I think of you, for what it's worth, I was actually going to ask you. A guy like me comes up to you and I go, I love you. What's your guess if I go, john, I love. I'm such a huge fan. Do you have a guess on what.

[John C. Reilly]

A guy like me movie you might have seen? Yeah, that's like a game I play in airports.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

It's hard because I kind of know you a little bit.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

Now. But I would probably say stepbrothers. I mean, that's. That's usually the go to. Yeah. Especially anyone who's in comedy or whatever.

[Katie]

Like, we watch Step Brothers once a year. We absolutely love it. It's like a weird.

[John C. Reilly]

It's a lot of myself into that movie. A lot of my personal stories.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

Are in that movie.

[Katie]

Like what?

[John C. Reilly]

Like one of my brothers played the drums and was really possessive of his drum kit.

[Katie]

No.

[John C. Reilly]

Getting jumped by a bunch of kids in a playground.

[Katie]

The dog shit.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah. The dog shit was McKay's.

[Katie]

The white dog shit.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah. But almost all the stories in that movie were stories from the. One of the three of us from our childhood. You know, kind of. We hashed it all out together.

[Katie]

I just think about the opening shot of the. The tortilla chips with just shredded cheese in the microwave. I was like, that's what it felt like. 18 years of my life felt like. Just like, that's nachos.

[John C. Reilly]

Oh, I remember I didn't have nachos. That was too exotic for the south side. But I would. I would sit in my underwear and watch Green Acres and eat a whole lemon meringue pie from the grocery store. You're like one of those boxed lemon meringue pies that was just normal, the whole pie. I love lemon meringue pie.

[Katie]

Because it wasn't sliced. So that's one pie. That's a pie. That's a serving.

[John C. Reilly]

That and French onion dip was the big.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Katie]

French onion dip. It reminds me of talking about eating when you're younger. Judd Apatow, who we both know would say, like, he used to get off stage at a comedy club and have a double Fettuccine Alfredo. That was like his.

[John C. Reilly]

Go to a double.

[Katie]

Bring me.

[John C. Reilly]

Make it a double. What does that mean? Like twice as much sauce or. No, no.

[Katie]

Two orders in one bowl. That's you with a pie, I bet. Calorically Pretty similar double. Make it a double. But he says it in the same way, like, we didn't know what we had. The superpower.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah. When I was a teen, I was super skinny for most of my, you know, I didn't really start to pack on any weight that stayed on until right around I did the Perfect Storm. I, like, just deliberately tried to gain weight and it was a little hard to get off.

[Katie]

Oh, really?

[John C. Reilly]

But before that, I was mostly skinny and whatever. And I remember coming home on the bus from the boys Catholic High school where I went. And at the transfer spot where I would go from one street to another, there was a McDonald's and I would stop and eat two Big Macs, large fries and a Coke, then get on the bus and only 30 minutes later, my mom would have dinner ready when I got home. And an hour later I would have, like, pot roasts and mashed potatoes. And like, it was incredible the amount of food I could put away.

[Katie]

I feel the same way. It was a golden time. It was a golden time. You mentioned Paul Thomas Anderson, which, by the way, for me it would be a coin toss. I'd either say, I love stepbrothers, or I'd say I love Magnolia. And talking about being a priest. The image of that character praying how he intercut that with your. With your. Your personal ad, the audio. And there's just something so vulnerable about it. Like, you really like this guy. And it has. So who else.

[Podcast Host]

If I can butter your bread, who.

[Katie]

Else could have done that?

[Podcast Host]

It's really tricky.

[Katie]

You know, you and Phil Hoffman kind of had that in common. Like Phil Hoffman, maybe. It would have been different for sure. But there's like a tender, like, when you lose your gun in that movie. I can't handle it. Like, I'm. I'm dying for you.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I could go on to a long story about Magnolia.

[Katie]

I would love it.

[John C. Reilly]

We came out with.

[Katie]

I've seen it a thousand times.

[John C. Reilly]

But when we were trying to get Boogie Nights made and I was like running Ride or Die with Paul at that point for many years, actually, where I was like his. I was his Reed Rothschild.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

And so I was like, just every day, I was just with him every day, we just go, what are we gonna do today? You know, like. And we were getting. Was getting really Frustrated because there was this taboo about porn, which is hard to even imagine now.

[Katie]

Oh, yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

When we're trying to put that together, it was like, what? You know, regular actors did not do anything about porn. And, like, managers and agents were really dead set against it.

[Katie]

Yeah, it's pre Internet. We had the Internet, but it was pre fast Internet. So if you liked porn, you were still, like, putting in your time.

[John C. Reilly]

I don't even know if there was Internet at that point.

[Katie]

It might have been dial up, but that it was. It was still a niche market, but.

[John C. Reilly]

We were struggling trying to get that movie made. And. And at the same time, Cops came out around the same time, and I had grown a goatee, and Paul was just teasing me mercilessly about the goate. He's like, what are you, some kind of fucking hipster? Shave that thing off. I was like, no, it looks cool. I like it. You know? And then one day, I finally, like, just. I was like, he's right. I should shave this stupid thing off. And, like, I'll shave off the bottom. First I shave it off. Then I have this perfect cop mustache. And I was like, oh, my God. I called up Paul, and you're not gonna believe it. I got the most amazing cop mustache now. And he's like, we have to do Cops. We have to do our version of Cops. Because at that point, Cops had just come out, and it was on one of the first reality anything things on tv. And he and I were obsessed with it. We'd call each other and be on the phone watching the episodes together.

[Katie]

Like, oh, my God, like, When Harry Met Sally.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah, we just thought it was so funny. Sir, Sir, Sir, Sir. You know, like, crazy things that they used to.

[Katie]

Snake in the apartment. There's always a snake.

[John C. Reilly]

He's like. He saw the mustache. He's like, we have to do our own version of Cops. I'm gonna get your uniform. We got the costume person, got us a LAPD uniform, and I got these Oakley Blade sunglasses. And we would drive around in Paul's car, which was like an old Oldsmobile, but from the inside. That's the thing about cop cars. They only look like cop cars on the outside. So when you're inside it, he was videotaping me driving around. And a lot of the monologues that end up in Boogie in Magnolia are from those videotapes.

[Katie]

No way.

[John C. Reilly]

Which we were just doing to entertain ourselves. So we do, like. We drive around, and then he. We would call, like, Phil Hoffman on the cell phone and be like, phil, someone called the cops. Because your music was too loud. We'll be there in 10 minutes. He's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Just be ready. Hang up. And then on the way over to Phil's house, I mean, well, apparently this individual wants to listen to their music real loud and, you know, like, talking. Talking to myself or whatever. We get there, and then we'd start improvising and then film would. Paul would film us improvising our way through, like, a police call at this house. And with the funniest part of them was always, like, when they would chase people and have to climb fences and clank, clang, clank, clank, clank. And hear their gun and all their equipment. We just, for some reason, thought that was so funny. And. Yeah, so we did a bunch of those. Where are they? Oh, there. I think they might be on, like, some DVD of that movie or. Anyway, Paul has them all, but we did one with Jennifer, Jason Lee and, like, all these different people. And then when we f. Then we made Boogie Nights, that finally came together. And then after that, Paul went back and he's like, what should I do now? He's like, oh, those tapes that we made of Cops, I'm going to go through those. And so he went through and, like, kind of created the character of Jim curring from those tapes. So that whole monologue is always bad news. People never call you when their baby's born. They only call you when something bad happens, you know, and it weighs on you, you know, like all that stuff that I.

[Katie]

And then it widens to reveal you're alone.

[John C. Reilly]

I'm talking to myself. Yeah. So cool. That was so he.

[Katie]

It's from that.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah.

[Katie]

And it's from pure creativity, pure fun.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah. So there's so the kids running, but the one thing I wouldn't do is carry an actual gun because I knew, well, it's a felony to impersonate a cop. And if we get caught, even though we're not doing this for any reason, but fun. If for some reason someone thought, you know. And one point where there was, like, an altercation at Eat a PETA, and I was sitting there in this uniform, like, we just stopped for lunch. And the people are going, arrest him. Arrest him. And I was like, I'm wearing a costume. It's not.

[Katie]

That is so funny. I wonder if a cop's ever done that. I'm going to a costume party. Like, something really dangerous. This is la. I'm an actor. I just run away.

[John C. Reilly]

But just to tell you where the lost gun bit comes from, in that movie, there was. At one point, I was this long extended improv with Phil Hoffman and I. Where I finally got him in the car and I was gonna arrest him. And at one point, he's like, I'm having a heart attack. I'm having a heart attack. And I was like, oh, my God. Oh, my God. And pull him out of the car, and I set him on the ground. I'm like, what do I do? And all of a sudden, he hops up and runs away. Ha. Fuck you, cop. Ha. And he's like. And I go to reach for. This is when you would reach for your gun if you're a cop. And I go to reach it, but I don't have one. But we're in the middle of an improv, and I go, I lost my gun. I lost my gun. This is one of the worst. This is the worst thing that could happen to a cop. You lose. It's the one thing I'm supposed to keep track of. And I just started going on and on about this gun, how upset he was. And Phil's in the background. Ah, fuck you.

[Katie]

How.

[John C. Reilly]

Laughing at me. And it's this total humiliating moment that I can't chase him. I don't have a gun. And Paul took that. He took all this stuff that happened in those tapes that we were doing just to make each other laugh and deepened them and added this romantic thing with Melora Walters character. And the whole thing of the gun. Losing the gun is this personal crisis that the guy has.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

And made it super sad and real.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

Wow. But it all came from just goofing around on videotapes before we even knew Magnolia was in the future, you know, like.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Katie]

Something pure, though. Isn't it fun that, like, we're. I feel like we're trying to trick ourselves back into those pixie times, like when we were kids and doing something for its own sake.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah. Well, that's what Paul and I were definitely doing that. And he was smart enough to know, you know, the genius of Paul was he knew, like, oh, I should go back to those videotapes because. Because there were true things that emerged that were real and were emotional. And that is a character.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Katie]

They emerged organically, too.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah. The la cliche, like the name Jim Curring. I just made it up the top of my head. We're driving around. Yeah.

[Katie]

Wow.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah. Anyway, so if there's a gym. Took it and turned it into this beautiful thing that was very personal for him, too, I think. A lot of issues in his own Life at the time, he was exploring in that movie.

[Katie]

It's so beautiful. It's such a special movie to me.

[John C. Reilly]

Thanks.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Katie]

And you're wonderful in it. My favorite Magnolia thing that I read.

[Podcast Host]

Was that when Paul sat down to.

[Katie]

Write it, he said to himself, I'm gonna write a great movie, which. Which just seems so meaningful to me, you know? It's like, I'm not gonna write a movie. I'm not gonna see what it's like. He's like, I'm gonna write a fucking great movie.

[John C. Reilly]

I feel like there's another. There's a scene in that movie where, I mean, like I said, I was like, really? Ride or die with Paul in those days. You know, we see each other. Each other less now because we have families, etc. He's made a bajillion movies since. These movies we're talking about. But at one point, we had done Boogie Nights, and before he started writing Magnolia, we were both obsessed with this early film from the 1920s called Sunrise. And it's a romance, and it's all about this guy falling in love with this woman. It's this kind of tragic love story. And I was like, oh, man, that's the kind of. I want to do a romantic part like that. I want to do a movie like Sunrise. And I said to Paul, dude, write me a sunrise. Write me a sunrise. Thinking he knew exactly what I was talking about. That movie we'd already been talking about, right? But he didn't hear it as that. And in the movie, after the whole rain of frogs and everything, when there's this whole monologue where I'm in the car, it's kind of like in a weird way, like an emotional catharsis in the movie where I say, you know, sometimes people need to be forgiven and sometimes they need to go to jail. And that's a tough call for me to make. And I'm in that car after I've dealt with Bill Macy's character and the rain of frogs has happened and the sun is rising. And that's what he wrote.

[Katie]

Because you said, right?

[John C. Reilly]

Because I write me a sunrise. That's what he wrote. Sunrise in Magnolia, the sun, that sunrise scene as that. After all the mess of that night.

[Katie]

Just a beautiful mistake.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah, that's kind of a really cool.

[Katie]

Misunderstanding is what I mean.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Katie]

Oh, I love that so much.

[Podcast Host]

Can you confirm.

[Katie]

And you can just say pass, but can you confirm a Boogie Nights story that I heard, which is that Burt Reynolds was going to do a Scottish accent, not Scottish?

[John C. Reilly]

No, Irish.

[Katie]

Irish.

[John C. Reilly]

Well, you know, you shouldn't speak ill of the dead. And. And Bert, really. I do have a lot of respect for Bert, and it was an important person to me personally, as an actor. You know, and people forget this now, but Bert saw himself. And in the 1950s, the rest of the world saw him this way, too. As a contemporary of Marlon Brando.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

You know, like.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

So he became Hooper and all this other crazy. He's. He was good at comedy, Bert. So he became kind of more than Marlon Brando in a way, as his career went on. But I think it's important to remember that about him. So.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

Even though I'm going to tell a silly story about him.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

As an older man, trying to understand what these weird people, Paul and me and, you know, all of us making Boogie Nights, how we were thinking. It was a generational gap there.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure.

[John C. Reilly]

So.

[Katie]

Well, that's.

[John C. Reilly]

I love that he. Bert had various things that made him feel insecure. I think. True. True parts of his personality and who he was that he didn't share with the world were very private and I think made him very insecure in some ways. So I'll just preface this story with that. But he comes in one day. We're gonna shoot this scene in the. All the disco stuff. Oh, no. We shot a scene in the van on the way to Vegas. Everything was kind of out of order, but we shot that van where he's like. We was like. Where we pitch him our names. I'm going to be Brock Landers. He's going to be Chess Rockwell. We shot that scene, but Burt was. Had a cigar the whole time, and he kept putting his hand up by his mouth. I thought it was because he had dentures, which he did, and he was adjusting his dentures, and he was embarrassed about that.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

He's, like, covering his mouth a lot. And I was like, oh, that's weird. But then the next day, we're shooting in the discotheque, and Paul comes up to me and says, you gotta help me. You gotta help me. Because I was kind of like Bert's little buddy on the movie. Like, he just. Whatever. He. Older people often kind of take a shine to me for some reason. Like, a lot of my girlfriends growing up, their moms liked me more than. But so I was like Bert's little buddy. And I was like, crisis management for Bert, who was. He had a lot going on in his life. He had a lot of pain from injuries, taking pills and whatever. He's struggling in certain ways, like older people do, I now know. But Paul comes to me. He's like, you gotta help me. You gotta help me with Bert. And I was like, what. What happened? He's like, he. He. He just told me he wants to do the character with an Irish accent. And I was like, what? How did that conversation happen? He goes. He came to me this morning and he said, you know, I was sitting with my lady last night and trying to. I couldn't memorize these lines. And I couldn't understand why I was not able to memorize these lines. And my lady said, like, well, who wrote it? You know? Like, he said, this kid, Paul Anderson. He's like, well, what's his ethnic background? I think he's Irish. Which that's not entirely true of Paul. He's part Irish, but, yeah, I think he's Irish. And then my lady says, well, why don't you do with an Irish accent? And he's like, so I cracked your code. I cracked your code. Those are the rhythms you write in. It's Irish. And Paul is like. He doesn't know what to say. And he's like, you have to talk to him. You have to talk to him and talk him out of this. And I was like, paul, I can't. I. He's gonna flip out if I try. Like, I don't. I don't want to say that. I don't know what to say. Like, what about that scene we shot yesterday? He wasn't doing an Irish accent in that. He's like, no, no. He said, I got you covered on that. I was covering up my mouth most of the time. So we can just loop those lines in. Because I think he already had the idea, but he hadn't presented it yet.

[Katie]

That's why he was covering his mouth.

[John C. Reilly]

He's covering his mouth up with a cigar so that he could dub his lines with an Irish accent later. And then all of a sudden, and I was just like, I don't know what to say. But you better tell Mark, you know. Cause they're supposed to shoot this scene, the scene where they meet in the dishwashing area of the club later that day. And Paul just freezes. He just. For some reason, he can't do it. We're all kind of afraid of Bert, you know, because he had this. He was older than everyone on the movie almost, you know, like, it was just like this. I don't know.

[Katie]

It's got gravitas.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah. And he was like, yeah. So Paul does not tell Bert, and he does not tell Mark. And he just. He thinks, like, well, he'll just forget about it. You know, he'll just stop doing it maybe, you know, he just goes into denial mode.

[Katie]

Oh, my God.

[John C. Reilly]

And they go to shoot the scene and. And Mark has not done a lot of work on film at this point. He's one movie called Fear before this.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

And maybe that's it. He doesn't have a lot of experience on the set himself. And Bert is like, ah, Eddie Adams from Torrance. And Mark's like, bert and just laughs. And Bert's like, not happy that he laughed at it. And he's like, bert. And then. And Paul's like, he doesn't know what to say. This is just, let's do it again. Let's do it again. And they go, you know, Eddie Adams, I think there's gold in those pants or whatever. And Mark's like, now Mark's like, you're with me. And Mark is a pretty street dude at that point, you know, like. And he was like, are you trying to with me? You know? And he starts getting this serious look in his face like.

[Katie]

Like he's pranking him.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah, you don't prank me. Like, we're doing a scene now or whatever. And then Paul's like, oh, shit. And that was a two shot. And he's like, let's cool. We got that. It's awesome. We got it. We're gonna be playing the coverage anyway. And he just skips past the two shot and he films Mark's part and then he films Bert's part when Bert keeps doing this Irish accent through it, and it's not a great Irish accent. It's slipping all over the place and it's not. It's not consistent. And it just seems like really out of left field. They finished that scene. And then eventually. What eventually happened was Paul just figured out if I just do enough takes, he'll. He sort of stops doing it. And then Bert just kind of forgot about it.

[Katie]

That's what happened.

[John C. Reilly]

Yes. Eventually there were many days until the next scene. And I think Bert just maybe intuited, like, he doesn't like it, so I'll just sort of. But Paul just knew, like, if I do enough takes, he just gets tired out and he just gets grumpy and he just starts doing it just kind of basic, which is what he wanted him to do, you know, so he exhausted him. There's two. Two. There's a two shot that has to be redone because it's not, you know, whatever and so Paul. Bert was really proud of himself as a director, too. And so Paul went to him and was like, bert, you're not going to believe it. The lab screwed up. Can you believe it? As a director, you know what a disaster that is. Remember that scene we did at the dishwashing? There's a scratch right through the negative. I don't know what they did, but we got to redo that two shot. And he's like, no problem. I got you, kid. I understand. You know, like, so he kind of.

[Katie]

Flattered that director ego.

[John C. Reilly]

And then they just went back to it. And by then he had kind of forgotten about the Irish accent.

[Katie]

I can't believe it. Thank you so much for telling that.

[John C. Reilly]

The long story.

[Katie]

That story's been reduced to the way I heard it. Burt Rental.

[John C. Reilly]

No one wanted to tell him.

[Katie]

Burt Reynolds told Mark, I'm going to do an Irish accent. Mark said, that's hilarious. You should do that, like, laughing. And then he didn't do it.

[John C. Reilly]

So it's been reduced camera when he was.

[Katie]

It's on camera laughing at him.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah. I mean, I wonder if Paul has the footage.

[Katie]

But anyway, I mean, I sure hope so. There's another moment. I love Dr. Steve Rule very, very.

[John C. Reilly]

Much, and I'll tell him you said so.

[Katie]

I also have a message for Wreck It Ralph. Like, we just start writing little letters to your characters. But Steve Rule is amazing. It's one of the things that makes me laugh harder than anything. And there was one Steve Bruhl question. I'd love to just talk about Steve Rule if you. If you feel like it, but I.

[John C. Reilly]

Was the executive producer on that show and I've never spoken for Steve because he's his own person. But I'll try my best to help you with it.

[Katie]

You don't go on the record about Dr. Steve.

[John C. Reilly]

I know it's annoying, but that's how I feel about it. And people who love Steve appreciate that I'm this way about him that you don't talk about. He's his own. He's his own person. Yeah.

[Katie]

So you can speculate.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah, I was there. I was the executive producer with Tim and Eric. I helped create the show, but.

[Katie]

And there you were.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah.

[Katie]

Well, then when you were there with Dr. Seabroul in the episode about prison, and there's a guy that Dr. Steve Bruhl is sort of provoking a real prisoner. And in the Tim and Eric style, it kind of jumps to later in the interview and the guy is ready to murder Dr. Steve Bruhl. But you don't really see what happened. Do you know what I'm talking about?

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah, I think. Yeah. I actually don't remember the part where he's gonna murder me. It's murder Steve.

[Katie]

Quite frightening.

[Podcast Host]

It's quite frightening.

[John C. Reilly]

Well, yeah, that's the thing about that. The brilliant thing about that show is, like, it's a hell world that Steve lives in. Nothing ever is nice for him. And the joke. What I love about that character is, like, the joke is always on him. You know, like, it's always. He's always the dumbest one in the room.

[Katie]

Yeah, but we say sweet berry wine a lot. Do you get sweet berry wine a lot?

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah, that's a pretty popular clip from that show. In fact, Sweet berry wine exists. Eric Wareham started a wine company called Las Harass, and they sell sweet berry wine. That's very good. It has my face on the label or have Steve's face on the label.

[Katie]

No way. I always want to show you the clip, but it's okay if you don't remember what happened. It's all right. I really was worried for your safety. And if you don't remember, for Dr. Steve rules David.

[John C. Reilly]

But if you don't remember a lot of times what you see on tv, just pretend, Pete, that if that guy's.

[Katie]

An actor, he is fantastic.

[John C. Reilly]

He is an actor who actually.

[Katie]

The guy in prison.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah. He was a famous skateboarder who actually did go to prison for a violent crime and then got out and was trying to get into acting. So he was. He had a life as a scary person once upon a time, but he was trying to be.

[Katie]

Well, that. You are exposing something that I. I get fooled by show business all the time.

[John C. Reilly]

Me too.

[Katie]

People tell me that the Mad Men offices were a set. I'm like. Like, I just don't.

[John C. Reilly]

This happens so many times where I'm going. I don't do as many, like, media meetings for parts anymore. People just kind of send me stuff. But for years, when I would go for auditions or whatever, there'd be other actors coming out of the elevator or whatever. Like, hey, man, how's it going? Thinking, you know, the person, and then you get this blank look, like, no, dude, I'm just an actor that you remember. Like, oh, like, right. Even someone, like, in the business who is an actor, like, it's still. You fall prey to the delusion.

[Katie]

I've done it. Back when I was auditioning for commercials more, I would see somebody that was in a huge campaign. Those guys get it the worst because you're seeing them. If you back when we're watching commercials, you might see them 12 times in an hour. Some AT&T guy, and then you see him and you're like, what's up, man? I think we went to high school.

[John C. Reilly]

Together, which is more when we used to watch commercials. Isn't that people all over the world right now going, oh, no, my angina.

[Katie]

And then we cut to a commercial.

[Podcast Host]

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[Katie]

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[Katie]

With promo code weird.

[Podcast Host]

All right, everybody back to it.

[John C. Reilly]

They're still finding there's a great this friend of mine, clown friend of mine, Bill o', Neill, who's very funny is on all those Wendy's commercials right now. He's the skinny guy on all those Wendy's commercials.

[Katie]

I say, I haven't seen a Wendy's commercial since 1989.

[John C. Reilly]

Somehow they made their way to me. My buddy Bill o' Neill is on the. And he's very funny.

[Katie]

Would you.

[Podcast Host]

I feel like you're.

[Katie]

You're not gonna bristle at this, but if you do, bristle away and we'll just move on. But I'd love. Has someone ever given you some advice on acting that stuck with you? I've asked this question to a lot of people, and it's really interesting.

[John C. Reilly]

I'm not so bristly about it.

[Podcast Host]

It's just share a gift.

[Katie]

There are a lot of people that are gonna listen to this that are interesting.

[John C. Reilly]

This is a real simple one. Yeah, this is. This is actually really important. Although there's a back end to the story. Make sure you go to the bathroom before you act. Like, if you have to pee, check in with yourself. Do I have to pee? And go pee. Even if maybe you don't feel like you have to pee, go pee.

[Katie]

Take a road trip.

[John C. Reilly]

Well, when you're on camera, like, then once you get to the set, it's not going to be convenient for you to go pee. And if you have to pee, and for me anyway, there's an impatience to what you're doing. Then, like, some part of your brain is going, like, hurry up and finish this so you can go pee. Yeah, but you want to be relaxed and in the moment and not have this kind of, like, bodily thing, like, knocking at your brain.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

Although Jonah Hill told me. He's like, actually, dude, I purposely act when I have to pee to give it some urge. I don't know what it does for him, but it does something good for him. But I thought that was really good advice. Here's another one that I got from an old character actor that I did theater with named Robert Brewler in Chicago at Steppenwolf. He was like, john, if you ever have to fart on stage, make sure you fart during your line, not during the other guy's line, because the other guy might stop talking. And then, sure enough, I did this play, Grapes of Wrath, with Bob. And you'd hear him farting while he's talking. You'd hear him farting because he knew, like, as long as I'm talking loud, no one's hearing this. Or a cough, a cough and a fart at the same time or whatever. You don't want to be, like, letting it loose. And then someone takes the pause you know, it's going to be real obvious.

[Katie]

Only, you know, is this fart done? Now I can buzz.

[John C. Reilly]

I think that's very practical advice for actors. And now there's another one that I remember. There's another one which is. Oh, Michael Caine's one of Pick an eye when you're looking at.

[Katie]

Someone saw that. That's on YouTube. Pick it.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah, pick an eye.

[Katie]

And. And also he says, don't blink. He goes. He does a scene twice and he's like, watch how much more compelling it is if I don't blink and he doesn't blink and you're like, oh, my God, it's true.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah, well, of course you don't want everything to be like that, but that's true. Yeah.

[Katie]

If you're trying to be impactful, I suppose. Pick an eye.

[John C. Reilly]

Blinking can be a great way to.

[Podcast Host]

Well, when I heard him say that.

[Katie]

I was like, you know, you watched Daniel Day Lewis and There Will Be Blood.

[Podcast Host]

He's.

[Katie]

The man's blinking. He's blinking quite a bit. Joaquin is blinking a lot in the Master. Are you nuts? That. That doesn't work for those characters. You know what I mean? Those are blinking boys.

[John C. Reilly]

Well, Brian Dennehy came to. God rest his soul. I think he passed away. If he didn't, my apologies. If he did. My apologies. He came to my school when I was in acting school in Chicago, and he was on stage, and he was like, we. This Q A. And we all of us were like, ah, it's someone from the real. You know, Peter Falk came at one point. David Mamet came in at one point. These amazing speakers that would come and talk to the students. And Brian Dennehy said, you know, someone said, well, what about, like, how, how do you deal with, like, your family, like, with your kids or whatever? Like, how do you have a career? And he's like, don't have kids. Don't get married. You know, I did, but my family knows the acting is more important than you. My career is more important than you. All my kids know my career is more important than you, because that's what an artist is. You have to be totally committed to your craft and nothing else can be a priority. And I was like, holy shit, this is big news. Like, I was hoping at some point I would have a family or whatever, like. And I was like, wow, he must know, though. He's Brian Dennehy. He must know. And for years, I kind of avoided. I used to think, like, getting married was like, I, I, I thought the two scariest things to me are prison and getting married. You know, like I wanted, you have to be free and you have to be committed to your art and blah, blah, blah. But it's total. That's totally wrong what he said. And I feel bad for his family if that really was how he acted. Somehow I think he was kind of showboating for the Q and A and trying to make us realize that being an actor is a serious vocation and you have to commit yourself and have to take yourself seriously. And I do think that that is true. But getting married and having a family actually made me become who I was meant to become. It gave me confidence and focus. You know, like, once I had a relationship that was steady in my life. I've been married like over 31 years now. Like, once I had that, I could stop worrying about dating or whoever. If I was ever gonna find somebody, then that part of my life was kind of like settled and I could focus more on what I needed to focus on. The same thing with children, you think, like, I waited a long time to have kids. We were married for, I think, six or seven years before we had kids. But the same thing, you think, like, oh, man, it's gonna take away from me, it's gonna whatever. But the truth is, anything I now know, anything that we do for love only builds us up, only makes us bigger and more fully realized versions of ourselves. So I wish Brian Dennehy could have known that in his life, because I think men of his generation, I think especially my father, was part of his generation, they missed out on a lot. Yeah, they were at work all the time or at the tavern or whatever, and they thought like, you know, the women handle the kids and our job is to work, not have relationships with our kids.

[Katie]

Right, right.

[John C. Reilly]

It's. It makes me feel really sad, actually, when I think about all the things my dad missed. You know, as I moved through my children's lives, I thought, wow, my dad missed all of this. My dad never once went to a school where I went where I went. And I directed plays at my kids schools. You know, I was there. Part of their classroom knew their teachers knew their classmates knew what was going on, what they were interested in, everything. And it was just nothing but added richness to my life, you know, like. Yeah, so you have to. You have to make room and you have to take your art seriously and you have to really do the work and show up for yourself when you need to grow as an artist. But you don't have to sacrifice all that personal Stuff to do it.

[Katie]

I really appreciate that you said that and of course I agree with you. We, we have a daughter and getting married and having a kid is, is, isn't just helping my life. It is my life. And then it becomes almost paradoxically like you, you sort of take some focus off your work, but then it makes your work better. Instead of being like a lunatic kind of obsessing about it, there's a little bit more flow.

[John C. Reilly]

You know this from being a comedian. You, you can't just hang around with comedians all the time.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

You have to have a light. What you're doing is you're reflecting. Reflection of a reflection of a reflection.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

So live your life so you have something to say about what.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

What life is. Yeah. Like.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Katie]

Did you have any? I, I, I'm so in awe of you. But when I mentioned Daniel Day Lewis, I remember that you worked with Daniel Day Lewis. How was that?

[John C. Reilly]

It was intense. Yeah, it was intense.

[Katie]

I heard, I saw a Scorsese interview where he said that Daniel would listen to Eminem in the morning, like to get into.

[John C. Reilly]

I never, I never knew that. But yeah, whatever he was doing to psych himself up, I know that he was fully in character all day long. You would never see him in any kind of like by the snack table or anything. Yeah, he's always in costume. And it, they only started making him wear a warm up coat when he caught pneumonia on the set because he would only wear his own, his costume of his character and eventually got really sick and they were like, you have to wear. And he was like kind of grumpy about it, but he was, I remember we, we had, we each had sons at the time. And somehow I got invited to come to the house where he and his wife and their son were and bring your kid because, you know, here we are.

[Katie]

Production.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah, because it was like.

[Katie]

Didn't you shoot that over, like years?

[John C. Reilly]

No, no, it was six months in Rome.

[Katie]

Oh, okay.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah.

[Katie]

Then maybe it was pre production because Martin Scorsese was talking about how long it took.

[John C. Reilly]

It took him forever to get that movie made. For sure. But so I go to this weekend and he's just a loveliest guy. You know, Daniel's like, oh, hello, can I have, Would you like a cup of tea? You know, almost like a phantom threaded, different personality. Like, yeah, he's pretty mean in Phantom.

[Katie]

That's true. That's tr. But he's, you know, he's debonair and, and sweet.

[John C. Reilly]

Yeah. At times, but he's just gentle. And the most lovely host, like. Like. Like Irish people are. You know, he. And he comes from Irish people. Like, come in, have a cup of tea. How are you? Sit down at the table with me and the kids and whatever. And so we do that one weekend. I thought, that's it. I'm in. I'm in with Daniel now. Like, we're. We're. We're friends. We've. Our kids have played together. Like. So I see him on Monday and he's in costume again. I'm like, hey, Danny, I just want to say thanks for the weekend. He goes, fuck off, Jack. Calls me my character's name and walks away. But he meant. He meant it, you know, I was like, oh, my God. Okay. So that whatever happened on the weekend was not what's happening now. And Daniel has. He has this thing. I don't know what it is. Like, he's obviously a fit guy, but I think I would stand a chance in a fist fight against him, maybe. I mean, he studied boxing, so maybe not, but. Yeah, but just in terms of his. You know, there are scarier people physically.

[Katie]

I will say it depends. If the script says that Daniel wins, he'll win. If it's. If it's an improv, I think you.

[John C. Reilly]

If there's something about him, there's this. A current of violence that. This frequency that's underneath whatever he's doing that makes him very scary.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

Whatever it is, you don't want that demon to come out of the bottle, you know?

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

Whatever that undercurrent is, whatever that electricity underneath is, you don't want to see it.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

And he's genuinely intimidating in that way.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Katie]

Talk about not being embarrassed again, which is me and Ted Danson's thing, you know, like when you're playing embarrassed.

[John C. Reilly]

When I was younger, I remember thinking, like, what am I supposed to do with my arms? What am I supposed to do with my arms? Oh, right. Yeah. Did that get into the movie? No, that's just something.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

Young actors think about. But.

[Katie]

Yeah, but I mean, to be scary. I heard. What's his name? Gomez. It doesn't matter. I guess it doesn't matter. There was a guy who got a part in a movie by the casting director, just said, give me a look that makes me think, you're gonna kill me. And he did it. Luis Gomez. No, that's a comedian. I. I know him as a voice in Grand Theft Auto. It doesn't matter. This is Danny Trejo. No, it wasn't Danny Trejo, but it is a Latino man. And he's wonderful and he's in everything. And he kind of, kind of had the lift. He didn't admit to come over here like that. That was a pretty good impression, actually. Some of you are screaming at your radios.

[John C. Reilly]

I can't think of it.

[Katie]

I can't either. But anyway, he did it and he got the part because he gave the look. And if I feel like you're a guy that if the casting director was like, give me a look that says you're gonna kill me, you would do it and I would just get red faced and like embarrassed and like, it would be like, that's impolite. Like, I don't want to scare you.

[John C. Reilly]

Well, that's a different. That's a. You're a different person, though.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

I don't think you necessarily are an actor.

[Katie]

Well, that's what I mean. You're like a true actor.

[John C. Reilly]

You primarily are a commenter on life. You know, that's what comedians are. It's a skill that I'm really, when I sat down here, like, the final frontier for me is doing stand up comedy. I really have a lot of respect. And just from a full philosophy point of view, like listening to you or Sarah Silverman or, you know, you hear a great comedian reflect life back to you. Like, there's something really deep about it. And it's not just like, how about Peanuts on airplanes? You know, there's some deep stuff that you get into.

[Katie]

Anyway, that's my, that's my skill. I agree.

[John C. Reilly]

Self deprecation is a main thing of comedians. That's one of the main tools you have is like, that and, well, I'm an idiot. But isn't this funny? You know, like, and connection, it's a different breed.

[Katie]

I agree. So look what's happening in that moment. If a casting director is like, give me a look that makes you think I'm gonna kill me. What did I say? I was like, well, have these been here the whole time? It's like, it. They're my audience. And as a comedian, my paramount thing is that they know that I'm being real with them. I know that's silly, but I'm like, but, you know, I don't want to kill you. You know, I want you to like me, to give me the part. That's why parts I've gotten I've either written for myself or it helps that I'm kind of a sweaty comedian. That's like, I hope they like me.

[John C. Reilly]

You want any advice? It's like, you have to channel the fact that this person's making you do this and you, and the power dynamic, you want you, some part of you wants to kill the casting director too, right?

[Katie]

So you find the part of you that does want to kill and you.

[John C. Reilly]

Expand that, you know, like, like zooming in. But I, I, I think, I think I'm the same way, actually. Like, I think, I think performers in general are all very, very different, and we're all unique products of our past. So, you know, like, we talked about Phil Hoffman. Phil. I really looked up to Phil so much as an actor. He just had inherent skills and gravitas that I just, I, to me, when I would compare myself to Phil, I would almost see myself, like I'm a circus performer compared to Phil. Like, I'm someone who, I'm thinking about the audience all the time, you know, Like, I want them to know I'm being real with them, you know, like, even I'm playing a character, I want, want them to know I'm being genuine, I'm being sincere, you know, like, so.

[Katie]

And Phil wasn't doing that.

[John C. Reilly]

No, Phil, like, I don't know, he had this ability to kind of channel. Like, you really believed who he was. It wasn't, I don't, I'm not being very eloquent here.

[Katie]

No, I completely, I know exactly what you mean. It was, it was sort of a next level. When I think of him and Magnolia ordering the nudie mags, and he's kind of, he's doing this.

[John C. Reilly]

Do you or someone like De Niro, you know, like, I mean, I'm, I'm a very different kind of actor than De Niro, you know, like, even though we're, you could say, well, you both have the same job. You act on film. So there must be all these commonalities, but there aren't. There aren't commonalities. He comes from his background. What he learned as a kid, the experience he's, he had. What are his natural abilities to create illusion and stuff. That's, he has his own approach. That's one of the funny things about up and coming actors. Like, what's the, what is it Meisner or the Method or Viola Spolin or improv or what it, what is the best acting technique? And it's just absurd to even try to, like, put, you know, just to put one over another, you know, just whatever works for you. Whatever, whatever brings out of you what you needed to bring out, you know, like. Because I always thought, like method stuff. I always thought like, well, you know, think about your Dead grandmother. Well, I have to remember my lines. Like, I have to think about this person, not my grandmother. If I start thinking about my grandmother. So, oh, I used to go to her house for tea and better, you know, Like, I'm off thinking of some other bullshit. Like, some of those method techniques never really worked for me. I never really believed in them, you know?

[Katie]

Yeah, no, I completely get that.

[John C. Reilly]

So you have to find your own way to it. You have to find your own way towards honesty in your work. And did you take any.

[Katie]

Not take anything. Did you learn anything from Phil? Meaning just specifics. Was he a big rehearser? Was he an auto rehearser? Was he mingling around the set?

[John C. Reilly]

Or was he theater, too? So he was. He. We had a lot of commonality in terms of our approach, actually. I think we didn't really talk about craft so much or methods. Yeah, it was more just like, you know, we were competitive with each other, to be honest. You know, we were very similar in age, trying to get for the same parts, you know. Like, we were competitive with each other. So in that way, we had this. A respectful competition, you know, but it wasn't like we're sharing secrets or whatever.

[Katie]

Did you ever lose a part to him?

[John C. Reilly]

Oh, all the time.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

All the time. Yeah. Yeah. He was a force of nature. I was just in awe of Phil, you know, but there was one. I'll tell you this story that I told actually, at his. The wake at the funeral home from him, which is that we're doing True west. And there's this. I don't know if you remember the play, but there's this whole section where one crazy brother has stolen all of these toasters from all these houses in the neighborhood, and the house is a wreck, and there's toasters all over the house. And. And. And I had my back to fill during. During one of these parts, you know, we switched roles, though, so we each had to do this, you know, and what. I think he's playing the. The screenwriter character. And I was like the desert rat character. He was playing Austin. I was playing Lee in this iteration of the thing. And during this one part, when we start using the toasters, I'd. There would be this huge laugh. It'd be silence and then this huge laugh. But I couldn't see what Phil was doing. And I was just like, wow, what is that laugh? You know? Like, I don't. I'm not gonna. Like, I'm too proud to turn around and see, though. Yeah, I wanted to. That. And after a While after a few months of doing it, it was so consistent. Finally, I had some friends that had seen the play a number of times, and I was like, hey, can you do me a favor? Next time you see the play, you know that part when the toasters come, can you tell me what Phil is doing? Because I'm mystified why he's getting this huge laugh, you know? And then, sure enough, the friend comes. Oh. So what he does is he puts the toast in the toaster, and then he presses it down, and he looks into the toaster, and he feels if the toaster is working, if it's hot or not, you know, which is just really finely observed human behavior. It's what almost everyone does when you put toast in a toaster, you think about it, you put it in, you click it. And then while you get a little impatient, waiting to see if it's working, you put your hand over it. Is this actually on. You know, it's this really identifiable human, real behavior.

[Katie]

So he was killing with human behavior.

[John C. Reilly]

And I was like, thanks for telling me to my friend. Like, next night, I'm playing that part, and, like, I put the things. The thing. Push the thing down, put my hand over it. Crickets. No response at all from the audience.

[Pete Holmes]

Wow.

[John C. Reilly]

Because I was trying to do a gag, you know, I was trying to do what I was taking almost like a circus performer's attitude about it. Oh, I know the trick now. You put the toast in. Da, da, da. You put it in, then you get the laugh.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[John C. Reilly]

But I did was missing some really important, genuine ingredient that Phil had, which was he wasn't trying to be funny. He was trying to be exactly real and do behavior that was recognizable to him.

[Pete Holmes]

Wow.

[John C. Reilly]

When dealing with a toaster, you know. Wow.

[Katie]

Incredible.

[John C. Reilly]

Anyway, I told that story at his funeral and. Or at his wake, and it brought down the house.

[Katie]

So you finally got your laugh. I guess.

[Pete Holmes]

Wow.

[Katie]

Would you say being present is a big skill? Like being in the moment?

[John C. Reilly]

That's it. That's. That's everything. Being in the moment, the eternal moment. And really, you mean. You know, I was throwing shade on various acting techniques and methods of teaching acting. But what really worked for me was Viola Spolin Games for the Theater, which is the improv bible, kind of.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, I read that.

[John C. Reilly]

That's when I discovered, really, how to take acting seriously. And what it was, it gave me things to do besides memorizing lines or putting on attitudes. You know, it gave me, like, real skills. And it. I don't know. Like, that's what unlocked it for me, you know, that's how I got from musical theater to doing Sam Shepard, you know, was improv and what to do with your hands.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

Improv teaches you all that, teaches you to be present right now. That's a beautiful thing. I think, about coming up in Chicago. I don't know what it's like for actors in Chicago now, but when I was coming up in Chicago doing theater, you weren't going to get famous overnight in Chicago. You just weren't. If you were in New York or la, chances are there could be an agent that came to see a play you're in, and you could be a star overnight in New York or Chicago, but New York or la, but not in Chicago at the time, even though Malkovich got pretty famous. But that was when they took their plays to New York, when they did Balmain, Gilead and True west in New York, that's when those actors really hit it. But in Chicago, it was always like you were taught the only way to succeed is in combination with other people. If I really give you all of my focus and I find this moment with you, and I'm with you right now for real in this moment, we may succeed together. You know, that's how you do it. If, you know, a rising tide lifts all ships. Like it was. That was the kind of ethos, because it wasn't like, give me my chance, I'm gonna become famous tonight. Because there might be an agent in the crowd. It was if that was just never what was going to happen, you know.

[Katie]

Have you seen Mike Birbiglia's movie Don't Think Twice?

[John C. Reilly]

No, you.

[Katie]

I think you would like it. It's really. It's a really great.

[John C. Reilly]

I like that. I've seen some of his stuff. I like. It's talking about philosophy. I really like his take on life.

[Katie]

Yeah, he's wonderful, incredible person. And that movie is awesome. But it's about this won't spoil it, but it's like the improv team on the night that the SNL scout comes. And, you know, honestly, I related more to the guy that did Showboat. I was like, that's what I would have done. Like, he's working his way in with his.

[John C. Reilly]

I was taught early on, you might get 10% of something, but you throw away 90% of what's possible if you do that.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

And I, you know, in some ways, not to talk ill of the dead, but in some ways, Phil Hoffman grew up in New York, and Phil, when we would go on to on stage to do True West. Phil came up in New York, so it was like I had to fight to stay in connection with him. Like, come on, Phil, it's you and me. It's you and me. And he was like, yeah, okay, I know that's true. But. But I'm gonna get mine tonight. You know? This is how you survive in New York.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

This competitive place, John.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

I got to connect with the audience. They're my partner. And it was like a learning curve for both of us. I had to learn how to make the audience my partner too. And Phil had to learn how to be in the moment with only me, you know? Yeah, I think that's. I've noticed that in actors, people that came up in LA or New York, they tend to like, you get on stage and like, you're right. Who am I gonna, you know, cheat out? Yeah. They kind of. They part want to partner with the audience instead of partner with you. But for better or worse. And if you look at my career, I mean, I. I've done more duos than I've done single roles. Almost everything I've done has been in. In concert or sister. Brothers, sisters, brothers, stepbrothers, Racket Ralph, you know, Almost everything I've done. Stan and Oliver. What?

[Katie]

Cyrus.

[John C. Reilly]

Cyrus. Yeah, exactly. It's always been in partnership with someone else. That's how I understand acting is to get into. Lock into a reality with someone else and be in the moment with them.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

And then you're in an. You're in a shared objective reality.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[John C. Reilly]

As opposed to trying to like outdo someone or. I don't know. It's tough to partner with a camera, you know, it's better to partner with something real in front of you and.

[Katie]

You can do it real with the person. They can be your anchor to reality.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, I agree.

[Katie]

They told me you had till 3:30, but they were wrong about everything else.

[John C. Reilly]

No, I actually do have a doctor's appointment. Oh, really? Which is not. Not negotiable.

[Katie]

Non negotiable. How do you book that? Who books that? I'm just kidding. You're the booger. Well, you've. You've over delivered and you're a delight. Just as I hoped. I was thrilled that you would do this.

[John C. Reilly]

Just to circle back around though.

[Katie]

Mr. Wonderful.

[John C. Reilly]

Mr. Romantic.

[Katie]

Mr. Wonderful. The shark on shark.

[John C. Reilly]

We're doing Mr. Romantic at Largo again on May 18th and we're, it's. We're trying to grow the show. We're going to take it to other Cities and stuff too.

[Katie]

Wonderful.

[John C. Reilly]

It's a. It's an emotional magic show.

[Katie]

Well. And you're a wonderful live performer, having seen you at Largo many times. And I'm sorry I haven't seen it yet, but I will. And I'm gonna see it on May.

[John C. Reilly]

May 18th.

[Katie]

You just said it. May 18th, at Largo. Largo-la.com for tickets.

[John C. Reilly]

More after that, too. All right.

[Katie]

That's exciting, man. Well, thank you very much. We have the guests say keep it crispy at the end.

[John C. Reilly]

Keep it crispy?

[Katie]

How is it different as Wreck It Ralph? It's just a question. Is your voice like you affect it?

[John C. Reilly]

It's more like an attitude. It's like it's always trying to keep it crispy. He's always trying to deal with this size and breaking things.

[Katie]

Oh, oh, you get Modern Mammals, too. That's your shampoo. A lot of it's my favorite shampoo. You got great hair. You'll love it.

[John C. Reilly]

Modern Mammals.

[Katie]

It cleans your hair, but it doesn't make it dried out and shitty.

[John C. Reilly]

Great.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Katie]

If you like it, I'll have them send you more. It's really wonderful.

[John C. Reilly]

I don't do as. Pete, come on.

[Katie]

Take the modern mammals. Take it. Take it.

[John C. Reilly]

I'll take it when the camera's off. Not on camera. No.

[Katie]

Well, we appreciate it. Thanks for saying keep it crispy twice and. And thank. Just. Thank you. That's it. We're done.

[John C. Reilly]

My pleasure. And thank you. Thank you for sharing your love with the world.