Seth Rogen (Re-Release)

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Seth Rogen (Re-Release)" on You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes

Episode Information:

• Title: Seth Rogen (Re-Release)
• Host: Pete Holmes
• Guest: Seth Rogen
• Release Date: June 4, 2025
• Original Recording Date: 2017

---

Introduction and Personal Background

Timestamp: 03:08

Pete Holmes opens the conversation by welcoming Seth Rogen to the show, expressing his honor and excitement to have him as a guest. Seth reciprocates the sentiment, highlighting his rarity in appearing on podcasts despite his prolific career.

Notable Quote:

Pete Holmes (03:08): "Welcome to the show, by the way."

Acting and Emotional Expression

Timestamp: 04:13 – 05:03

The discussion shifts to the nuances of acting and emotional exhaustion. Pete shares his struggle with balancing on-screen emoting with personal interactions, pondering if Seth has experienced similar feelings of disconnect after intense acting sessions.

Notable Quote:

Pete Holmes (04:22): "I'm aware that I'm full of shit in that situation."

Seth references Sidney Lumet’s Making Movies, emphasizing the importance of immersing oneself fully in the filmmaking process without external distractions.

Notable Quote:

Seth Rogen (05:03): "It's a great book. It's probably one of the most user-friendly books about filmmaking."

Introverted Extroversion and Social Dynamics

Timestamp: 05:46 – 07:32

Pete and Seth explore the concept of being an introverted extrovert, discussing their preferences for solitude and social interactions. Seth shares his evolution towards enjoying activities and social engagements, inspired by friends who constantly seek new experiences.

Notable Quote:

Seth Rogen (06:21): "I'm just happily doing things."

The Impact of Location on Personality

Timestamp: 07:33 – 09:03

The conversation delves into how different cities influence personality traits. Seth praises Vancouver’s friendly and quirky demeanor compared to Boston’s reputed stubbornness and anger.

Notable Quote:

Seth Rogen (08:01): "I feel very secure and safe in my home."

The Evolution of Movie Theaters and Streaming

Timestamp: 16:18 – 20:38

Seth and Pete discuss the shifting landscape of movie consumption, pondering whether traditional theaters are becoming obsolete with the rise of streaming services. They contemplate the future of theatrical releases, particularly for comedies, and how films like Superbad and Deadpool would fare today.

Notable Quote:

Seth Rogen (19:36): "It'll force people to be more creative."

Balancing Comedy with Other Genres

Timestamp: 24:09 – 30:14

The duo examines the challenge of infusing comedy with other emotional genres such as horror and suspense. Seth shares insights from projects like The End and how balancing humor with tension enhances the audience's experience.

Notable Quote:

Seth Rogen (24:42): "It's like playing the audience against what’s happening on screen."

Personal Growth and Creative Expression

Timestamp: 39:28 – 46:23

Pete and Seth reflect on personal growth through comedic endeavors. Seth discusses his journey from stand-up to filmmaking, emphasizing the importance of authentic storytelling and expressing personal perspectives.

Notable Quote:

Seth Rogen (43:54): "The audience was so skeptical when I started talking about 15-year-old shit in a way I was experiencing it."

Philosophical Musings and Meaning of Life

Timestamp: 75:43 – 84:38

In the concluding segments, Pete and Seth engage in a philosophical dialogue about the meaning of life, consciousness, and existence. They touch upon concepts like reincarnation, ego death through mushrooms, and the pursuit of happiness through creative expression.

Notable Quote:

Seth Rogen (76:35): "The journey is what counts in every way."

Final Thoughts and Personal Insights

Timestamp: 86:02 – 89:50

During a rapid-fire segment, Seth shares valuable lessons about writing and comedy, emphasizing the importance of a lengthy creative process and personal authenticity in humor. Pete adds anecdotes about stand-up experiences and the impact of genuine, relatable comedy.

Notable Quote:

Seth Rogen (86:02): "Our best movies are the ones that we've spent years and years and years working on."

Conclusion

The episode wraps up with heartfelt exchanges, highlighting the mutual respect and camaraderie between Pete Holmes and Seth Rogen. They share light-hearted moments and express gratitude for each other's work and friendship.

Notable Quote:

Pete Holmes (92:07): "And you keep rolling forward with that goodwill. That's amazing."

---

Key Takeaways:

• The intricate balance between performing and personal authenticity.
• The evolving dynamics of movie theaters versus streaming platforms.
• The importance of creative expression in both comedy and other emotional genres.
• Personal growth through engaging in meaningful and authentic creative processes.
• Philosophical reflections on life, existence, and the role of comedy in understanding the human experience.

---

This episode offers a deep dive into Seth Rogen's perspectives on acting, creativity, personal growth, and the evolving landscape of entertainment, all wrapped in the trademark humor and candidness that You Made It Weird is known for.

Transcript

[Pete Holmes]

You made it with.

[Seth Rogen]

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

[Pete Holmes]

What's happening weirdos?

[Unknown]

This is a re release because it's fun to listen to the same episode the same week. So we're all going to do it together. Of Seth Rogen, one of my favorite guests, one of my favorite comedians, one of my favorite actors who has a new show called the Studio that is on Apple TV right now. I don't watch, I'm kind of, you know, I watch the AAA tv, the really, really, really, really good stuff. And the Studio is a must watch. It is a masterpiece. I don't know if you've heard about it. It's deeply hilarious but it's also just technically impressive. So much of the show is shot as one shot oners as they're called in the biz. But, but it's acting and it's writing. Everything about it, the music, it's a perfect show. Check out the Studio on Apple tv. We're re releasing this episode because it's the summer and it's fun and it's. Seth, come on. Amazing. So we don't have much new to add other than oh, do keep in mind it was recorded in 2017 so the people in this conversation don't know what the people in 2025 know. So please be sensitive to that. We this is a throwback, it's a time capsule. We listen to it, it's awesome. But just keep in mind this is 2017. As you listen. A couple things to plug go to PeteHomes.com for my tour, Irvine, California is coming up followed by San Jose, followed by Los Angeles, Houston, Royal Oak, Michigan, Washington, D.C. boston, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Spokane, Washington, St. Louis, Missouri, Cleveland, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Atlantic City. And we're going to be adding New York any minute now. As I've been saying for weeks, all of those will be on petehomes.com this epis, like so many others, is brought to us by our friends at Magic Mind. This is a magic mind. Holding it right here, it's like creator aid. Athletes have Gatorade. Creators now have creator aid. It is matcha. So there's about as much caffeine as half a cup of coffee. It's got nootropics, which is earth grown ingredients that help you focus and concentrate. And it has adaptogens which help you calm down. It is fighting off procrastination, fights off brain fog, fights off symptoms of addiction.

[Pete Holmes]

I absolutely love it.

[Unknown]

Before I do Stand up. I always take one before I write. I always do one. And before I do a podcast like this one, I always drink magic mind 15 minutes before. It is a total, total game changer. I absolutely love it. Get 30% more done on average. It's like five to seven hours of 30% more productivity. Imagine what you could do with that. And it doesn't get you jittery. It gets you dialed in. It's basically flow state in a bottle. And I want you to try it. We have a special offer. Go to magicmind.com weird and use promo code weir weird at checkout magicmind co. I think you can also do.com magicmind co and use promo code weird for 20% off your first order. That's it, everybody. Here's a classic episode. Seth Rogen. Check out the studio. Get into it.

[Pete Holmes]

I remember before I had ever smoked pot. Welcome to the show, by the way.

[Seth Rogen]

Thank you.

[Pete Holmes]

We can talk. Let's talk about the room. I'm so honored you're here.

[Seth Rogen]

I'm so glad to be here. Thank you for having me.

[Pete Holmes]

I was saying when you pulled up, I always.

[Seth Rogen]

Finally. I'm on a podcast.

[Pete Holmes]

Do you not do podcasts?

[Seth Rogen]

No, I've done a couple.

[Pete Holmes]

I forget who made the joke, but it is the LA equivalent of, will you drive me to the airport?

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, I actually. I always like talking to people, but I've realized slowly that, like, after what I do all day, the last thing I want to do is listen to two comedians talk to one another. Because that's what I do all day.

[Pete Holmes]

You know, I wonder.

[Seth Rogen]

Comedians talk to one another.

[Pete Holmes]

I wonder if you ever felt this way too. This is such a up my own ass thought, why are my earphones going? Whoa, whoa, whoa. Oh, there it is. It was just. It was the hardware. This is something I would never. I probably even shouldn't say this, but sometimes when you're acting, do you ever, like, finish acting and then someone comes up? I'm not talking about a stranger. A friend comes up and they're like, hey, man, how you doing? And you're like, I've been emoting all day. You know, does that make any sense?

[Seth Rogen]

It does. It's. Yeah. I don't emote that much when I've seen other actors experience that. And I understand. Yeah, yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm aware that I'm full of. Full of shit in that situation. And I've never been like, back off. But I'm like, that's strange. We're kind of acting all day. And then when you're acting in a thing you do get tired of. Like my routine when we were doing. When Jen and I were doing the show in New York was I'd come home at like 8 o' clock, have like one glass of wine and go to sleep. Like that's all I could do.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And I have to imagine you've done that ad nauseam.

[Seth Rogen]

I read in Sidney Lumet's book about filmmaking, which is the most pretentious way to start filmmaking. Maybe if you were making a list that would be high on the list. It wouldn't be. It's right under. I heard. I was listening to NPR and I heard.

[Pete Holmes]

I heard Zinley Lumeo.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. That's the peak.

[Pete Holmes]

Should I know this book? I don't know this book.

[Seth Rogen]

It's a great book. It's probably one of the most like user friendly books about filmmaking.

[Pete Holmes]

What's it called?

[Seth Rogen]

It's called like Making Movies. I think it's called.

[Pete Holmes]

If you can't remember the name exactly.

[Seth Rogen]

I think that's what it's called. You can check there's human here who can look but in it. Which is. I remember at the time thinking it was a weird thing to write in a book about making movies. But he says while he's making a movie, he doesn't go out. And he says that, like I don't. He's like, I don't go out for dinner when I'm making a movie. It's like, I don't see friends. It's like I stay home. And I remember at the time being like, oh, good. Cause I just don't go out much in general.

[Pete Holmes]

So they're hooking the. Well, maybe we have that in common. I like the structure of performing. If it's line performing or. Or something you're shooting. I like that you kind of know the rules. You show up and you perform. And it's not inappropriate or weird that you're making jokes or pretending. But then the rest of the time I do kind of like to. It's like an introverted extrovert.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Have you ever heard that?

[Seth Rogen]

I have heard that.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. And I just like to sit around at home and do nothing alone. So that's kind of just what I'm working towards at all times. How do I get home to do nothing?

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

It's a tricky thing.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Especially. Well, it's actually kind of the golden age of that.

[Seth Rogen]

It is the golden age of doing nothing. But I've actually reached a startling realization recently which is I like doing things which Is a weird thing. As someone who's always identified as doing nothing, likes doing nothing. I've slowly had to accept that I like doing things, which is. It's a weird realization to.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm right there with you. Because what is it? At a certain point, not doing something starts to feel a certain way.

[Seth Rogen]

I just don't know what to. I just. And I. And then I start to realize, like, I'm just happier when I'm doing things. And I have to accept that.

[Pete Holmes]

I was actually just thinking about that. Judd. I know he's a friend of ours in common. Obviously.

[Seth Rogen]

He is.

[Pete Holmes]

He is a good friend in that he'll be like, why aren't we doing shows? Let's go do a show. You know what I mean? And I'm like, oh, I should go. And then I go do a show with him, and then I'm happier.

[Seth Rogen]

And he's probably the first guy I knew that was always doing things. He does things. And at that. When we. When I first met him, I did not like doing things, and I thought he was fucking psychotic for wanting to do things all the time. But now, as I've gotten older, I'm like, oh, he's. He's. I'm getting there. I want to do things right. I want to go out and I want to. I'm happy when I'm doing things right. Yeah. When I'm. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, your brain is right. I like to say paranoid people are correct. Sometimes I watch, like, my. It's not my strange addiction. It's like my weird phobia or something.

[Seth Rogen]

All great things.

[Pete Holmes]

And they're like, I'm afraid that my refrigerator is going to fall through the floor. And I'm like, you live in California. There could also be a huge earthquake or your heart could stop or you could have an aneurysm. So my therapist likes to say that paranoid people are correct. And similarly, your brain is correct when it's like, stay at home. This is something that Johnny Pemberton said on our thing. It's the correct temperature.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

There's food.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. It's everything.

[Pete Holmes]

There's entertainment. There's information.

[Seth Rogen]

I feel very secure and safe in my home.

[Pete Holmes]

But we need to, like, pull volt over that. Correctness.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And realize that adventure actually is better than just having your needs met.

[Seth Rogen]

Well, it's also good because I have a job that forces me to.

[Pete Holmes]

That's it.

[Seth Rogen]

To do a lot of stuff. This is why we're lucky.

[Pete Holmes]

I feel.

[Seth Rogen]

Exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

I haven't been doing shows, and I just don't go out.

[Seth Rogen]

I have to try live. And I live in three different cities in a given year. Yeah. Which I would never choose to do in a quadrillion years. But. But it's really good. It's probably good for me to go live in Atlanta, New Orleans, and San Francisco.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Seth Rogen]

And Albuquerque and to see what it's like and meet, talk to people. Yeah. Yeah. And it's. Again, it's something that every, like, shred of my fiber does not want to be doing.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Seth Rogen]

But then once I'm doing it, I have. I enjoy it. And I look back and I think, you know, when I'm on a podcast one day, it'll make me sound like a more interesting person.

[Pete Holmes]

That's true.

[Seth Rogen]

I've lived in all these different cities for periods of time, which is the goal. Exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

It's all about perception. I do a bit about that where I open and I kind of talk about this Pemberton. The point that he and I made together, it was like, oh, we've done it. We've gotten out of the house. And I was like, when we're old, we can look back and say, I did things.

[Seth Rogen]

Exactly. That's all that matters. Yeah. We can say that anyway.

[Pete Holmes]

But I. We can't say that. We've already done enough stuff to do.

[Seth Rogen]

Stuff to say it. Yeah. Just make up, which a lot of old people do.

[Pete Holmes]

They realize no one's.

[Seth Rogen]

No one's watching. I was raised on lies.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, my God. I just spent Christmas with my family and I wrote down Pete, like, something to read when I'm a dad and an older man. You might be wrong.

[Seth Rogen]

Oh, yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I listened to my father and my older brother have an argument about whether or not it was my brother in a photograph that my father.

[Seth Rogen]

That's funny. Are you married?

[Pete Holmes]

I. I'm not married, but I live with my girlfriend.

[Seth Rogen]

I gotcha. Well, when. Yeah, as a married person, I know that I am wrong. I don't need a constant reminder that I might be wrong. I'm acutely aware that I. That she's constantly telling, what are you wrong about?

[Pete Holmes]

Give me an example of wrongness.

[Seth Rogen]

So much stuff.

[Pete Holmes]

Is it. Is this good? It keeps you in check. Are you the sort of person.

[Seth Rogen]

I mean, one of the most. Like, I remember we, like, early in our relationship, I was driving, and I, like, clipped another car's, like, mirror with my mirror that was parked. And, like, my first instinct was to just, like, go, like. Just, like, fucking, like, bail as fast as possible. She's like, no, like, you have to Go back and stop and leave a note on that person's car, and if you broke their shit, you have to pay for it. And I was like, oh, I was wrong.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Seth Rogen]

That was like every bad instinct that a person could have. And I had all those instincts.

[Pete Holmes]

But your wife is a creative type as well. And I wondered if maybe you guys were just similar people that were going around being wrong in the same ways.

[Seth Rogen]

I'm sure we are in a lot of ways. That doesn't mean we don't also have ways that the other person is. She's also wrong a lot.

[Pete Holmes]

So how long have you been married?

[Seth Rogen]

I've been married for five years, but we've been together for 12 years.

[Pete Holmes]

Isn't that annoying?

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, it's long.

[Pete Holmes]

I just know.

[Seth Rogen]

I didn't know I have to reset that. You reset the together clock. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

There's two together. It's true.

[Seth Rogen]

Especially I waited so long that for that one reason, it makes me wish that I had gotten married much closer to when we started dating. So I could say, like, oh, yeah, we've been together. I just have been married for 12 years.

[Pete Holmes]

We've been together for 12. Val and I have been together for four years. And if we get married next year, you reset it. We're like, we've been together.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, I know. Exactly. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm like, no, I fart on the regular. Loud and proud in front of this woman.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

That is not a new thing.

[Seth Rogen]

No, it's not. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But I, you know, I thought my dad could use some regulating. There's something about a witness. You know what I mean? Someone else that's with you that goes, hey, I've noticed this horrible trait about you or whatever, and I think my dad just stopped listening to anyone because my. He was saying to my brother, this is you in the photograph. And my brother was like, I know the photo you're talking about. That was my friend Michael. He's like, no, no, it was you. And then I watched my dad start lying. He'd be like, no, no, no. And my dad, my brother was like, yeah, I'm in the middle of two guys and we're wearing baseball hats. That's not me. He's like, no, no, you weren't in the middle. You were on the dad.

[Seth Rogen]

He was spinning it.

[Pete Holmes]

Just say it's impossible. You're from Vancouver.

[Seth Rogen]

I am.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm from Boston. I don't know what Vancouver's like, but there's a certain breed of stubbornness that Boston has a. Vancouver does not have corner on.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

What is going on? Tell me about that. There's a. There. I just watched Take this Waltz, which is filmed.

[Seth Rogen]

Oh, yeah. No, no, that's filmed in Toronto.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, excuse me.

[Seth Rogen]

No, it's okay.

[Pete Holmes]

I've made the mistake.

[Seth Rogen]

Know. Do it. I understand. I don't assume Americans know anything.

[Pete Holmes]

I've been to Vancouver. It looks like. It looks like Mega City One.

[Seth Rogen]

It does look like a very futuristic.

[Pete Holmes]

It's got some. It's beautiful.

[Seth Rogen]

It's got big. Lots of glass. Yeah. It didn't look like that when I was growing up.

[Pete Holmes]

There are those building. You know what I'm talking about. There are these buildings downtown that kind.

[Seth Rogen]

Of look like monolithic futurist exact buildings.

[Pete Holmes]

And then you also have a church that's like 3 million years old.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, there's also. There's a mix of. Yeah, it's. I don't know. It's a nice city. It's. What I. What I've realized more.

[Pete Holmes]

You don't have cold, angry old people people.

[Seth Rogen]

We do. Yeah. Yeah. I was. My grandparents were two of them. But, But I think Canadians in general are maybe a little more. I mean, I, I. Boston people are known for being.

[Pete Holmes]

No, please, pile it on.

[Seth Rogen]

What are Boston people known for being?

[Pete Holmes]

Angry. Racist.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. Vancouver people are not known for being that.

[Pete Holmes]

Stubborn too. There's something about that. Like wrongness is, is weakness. And my dad's made a lot of progress. I love my dad, but I don't think he knows how impressed his sons would be if he just said, oh, I'm sorry, I feel like shit. I thought that was you. What a dope I am.

[Seth Rogen]

Canadians are okay. Admitting that they're wrong and apologizing.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes. I think maybe. Is that a stereotype that Canadians have? Is that like stubborn, bullheaded, like never wrong, Like Donald Trump, essentially?

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Sort of mutated. There's something in Trump in all of the men I've known growing up that's sort of like not all of them.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, but it's a, it's an American phenomenon from, from my experience. Yeah. Largely.

[Pete Holmes]

So I. The stereotype of Canada being friendly.

[Seth Rogen]

No.

[Pete Holmes]

No one has a gun. The great kids in the hall joke.

[Seth Rogen]

Yes, exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

Like an American without a gun.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. It's similar. Kids in the hall is a very good representation of Canada, honestly. Like, it really is. It actually is like it very. It really. If you were very familiar with kids in the hall, then you probably have a very good sense of what Canadian people are like.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay. I really.

[Seth Rogen]

It's weird. It's like a weird Sensibility. It's kind of quirky. It's nice.

[Pete Holmes]

It seems like this sort of sense of humor I'm projecting here, but it seems like this sort of. It's like, camp sense of humor.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. Kind of meaning, like, bored inside, bored.

[Pete Holmes]

Groups of children would get together and come up with a joke about a sketch about a guy who doesn't speak English, has memorized a series of phrases.

[Seth Rogen]

Oh, yeah. I mean, but when you're, like a Canadian kid who's in a comedy, Kids in the hall is like, as good as it gets. Be all. But also, like, they just seem so cool. Like, the opening. I remember the opening credits of that.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Seth Rogen]

Show was them, like, being cool, which is like. It's just like, if you're a kid who's in a comedy is like, not something that's really even on the menu. And then you see, like. Oh, these are like, you know, like, kind of countercultural guys. Like, openly weirdo guys in, like, the late 80s.

[Pete Holmes]

I don't say weirdo.

[Seth Rogen]

No. Yeah. No, but, like, people who. Yeah. Like, would genuinely not. Not be accepted by the mainstream, doing, like, the weirdest shit ever, and they were fucking cool as hell.

[Pete Holmes]

But here. Here we are now. I think about this all the time. I try not to freak out about it, but it's like, we are in this absurd. It's your fantasy come true. It's my fantasy come true. It's certainly Judd's fantasy come true that comedy has become like rock and roll. It's like, oh, you have that album.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You have that. You're aware of who that person is.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You go to an award show and Kevin Hart is in the. In the second row behind Jack Nicholson. It's like, what's going on here?

[Seth Rogen]

I think that was.

[Pete Holmes]

We won.

[Seth Rogen]

It's been like that for a while. I mean, it has. Yeah. It's been like that for a long time.

[Pete Holmes]

But that's what freaks me out, is that I think we might. What. We might be on the end of it or whatever, like, what happened in the 80s. But I'm like, when will good, funny, true things not be relevant? So I don't. I don't worry about it.

[Seth Rogen]

No. They'll just be on streaming services.

[Pete Holmes]

Right. There's a lot of.

[Seth Rogen]

That's all. That's all it is.

[Pete Holmes]

It'll be something on your watch.

[Seth Rogen]

It just won't be a movie. Movie theaters. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, is that over? I worry about that. By the way, this isn't me talking.

[Seth Rogen]

To you, movie star.

[Pete Holmes]

We're just talking.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. I don't know. I mean, yeah. As a guy.

[Pete Holmes]

I mean, two guys talking.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. Just two guys shooting the shit in the weird little room. Top of a comic book.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Seth Rogen]

I used to come by comic books at this store all the time. I'm very familiar with.

[Pete Holmes]

Is that right?

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

We were actually just talking about the time we saw Kanye west at this. At this store.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. I run into Jeff Garland here all the time.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, really?

[Seth Rogen]

And then we engage in the loudest huskiest voice conversation of all time that people. People assume we're shooting an episode of Curb youb Enthusiasm. But I don't know, I think movie. I look back at our movies, movies we've made that came out in theaters, and I think now, today it'd be hard to get those movies in theaters.

[Pete Holmes]

Like simpler concept movies. Is that what you mean?

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. Like, I question if like Super Bad would like get a big theatrical release right today. Like. Yeah. Would it be more like the age of 17 or something like that? Like, would it be like, oh, it's about 18 year olds. Like it's an R rated movie. Like.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, in a comic book shop.

[Seth Rogen]

No. Yeah. So that's what I think about again, like, just our comedy's gonna be in theaters. That's. That's my. As far as my thoughts go is I look back at our own movies and I think, like, it'd be hard to get those. That in the theater.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, look at the interview. Right. That was a movie that exploded On Demand. You guys made an.

[Seth Rogen]

By accident.

[Pete Holmes]

But I paid.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, it did.

[Pete Holmes]

I paid $20.

[Seth Rogen]

I think it's the highest. I think it's one of the highest grossing On Demand. Yeah, but it kind of.

[Pete Holmes]

I know that had its own thing.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, exactly. It is in no way analogous to anything else that I. That I think will ever happen.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Seth Rogen]

So it's kind of like it's a tough example because it, you know, it's not that it had so many things around surrounding it that like.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Seth Rogen]

You know, to point at that and be like, that did really well. On Demand. It's hard to say because it had a full, like, theatrical promotion behind it. True. Up until the last minute. And it also was like one of the biggest news stories in the world for like two weeks.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Seth Rogen]

Which also, you know, probably bolstered people's desire to see it at least.

[Pete Holmes]

But just in the way that seasons of TV drop, it seems kind of preposterous to. Let's do an episode of Black Mirror right now. Our people just streaming movies on their huge Projections in their houses. Like, it just feels like.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

That might be where we're going. Which I would say is a shame. I don't know if you're familiar with old Joseph Campbell, are you?

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, I am. Sure.

[Pete Holmes]

I love Joey Camps, and he talks about how going to the movies is like going to church. It's a cathedral.

[Seth Rogen]

Well, I do think it'll keep happening, and I do think, like, comedies will keep coming out in theaters. I think it'll be harder and harder. I almost think it'll be good in a way, because I think it'll force people to be more creative. I think the types of movies that are doing well theatrically, that are comedies, are the ones that are more original and that are bigger swings and. And the exact opposite of that. But those two are working.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Seth Rogen]

Like. Like right down the middle. Line drives that just have that magical mixture of cast and concept that's just so simple that it couldn't miss. And things that are, like, huge swings that could be disastrous.

[Pete Holmes]

Sausage Party is a big swing, isn't it?

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, huge swing. And I think that worked. I think something like Deadpool was like, huge swing, swing, you know, And.

[Pete Holmes]

And those both were huge, right?

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, and those both were really big. And then things again. I haven't seen it. I can't speak to how good it is, but something like central intelligence, which seems a little bit more maybe down the middle, like, what if these guys were spies? And it's like PG13. And that also does very well, you know? And then it's things, you know, that, again, looked funny. Like this Office Christmas Party. Again, a movie I've not seen, but I watched the commercials. Like, that looks funny. The cast is funny. It has a lot of people I think are funny. And I think it probably didn't do as well as those people had hoped because it wasn't like either one of those things.

[Pete Holmes]

It's like the marvelization of things when you. That's what I was saying. Like, we're in a comic book store. And I'm guilty of really enjoying a good Captain America picture.

[Seth Rogen]

Oh, me too. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But I like it. And I get that we want more of a spectacle. This is the IMAX 3D.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. And I think. But I think it's. Again, I think, think it'll push what it's doing right now to people, to me personally, is forcing me, as we are sitting down to write our next comedy movies. It's forcing us to really push ourselves to justify its existence, not only as a movie, but as a movie that we want to be in a movie theater. And that's two different criteria. Whereas when we first started making movies, we only had. And not every movie we're making has both those criteria, obviously. And we have ideas that we're completely comfortable just being like, we'll put that on Netflix. And it's not a movie that is.

[Pete Holmes]

Just, well, Take this Waltz is not a high movie.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. It's not a movie that needs to be in a movie theater. But me and Evan like having movies in theaters. We agree with Mr. Joseph Campbell that it's a wonderful experience. I said my own pretend. Exactly. And so we, you know, so. But as we are approaching our. Our new movies that we're writing, the. That's a major conversation is like, what makes this a movie that you have to see. We think you have to see.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, remember Borat, Bruno, Those movies where you're like, holy. I know you wrote for Ali G, so you probably know these guys, but it's like, oh, that's a spectacle. It's like a must see. I don't want to be left out and.

[Seth Rogen]

Because at the time, it was so new. It was such an original thing, you know? Exactly. And I think there's some things where just in order to be part of the cultural convers, you want to go see the thing. So you talk to people at your work and shit like that.

[Pete Holmes]

It's like being behind on a Netflix.

[Seth Rogen]

So when everyone's joking about fucking the thing in Deadpool, you're not the asshole who doesn't. Who never didn't see it. Which I was, because I didn't see it till way after it came out. Get into this Deadpool shit.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, there is something on our side. I'm just talking about comedy as our side, being that you can have a 3D shield flying at you, but you also, like, things are so much funnier with the audience there. That's a real. I had Larry Charles on this podcast, and he said his hardest laugh is a question I like to ask. A time they laughed really hard was watching Borat in the theaters with the dicks blurred out.

[Seth Rogen]

That's funny. And I was like, his own movie.

[Pete Holmes]

His own movie. And I agreed. I was like, that's one of my hardest laughs. And I remember turning behind me to just look. It turned like a. Like a not that cool rowdy crowd into like, madness.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, well, honestly, it's the only way I know how to write a movie is considering what it's doing to a theater full of people. Like, that's how that's like how me and Evan talk about it is like we talk about the audience a lot and how it's gonna make them feel and how we want them to be feeling and what they expect to happen versus what we make happen and how we want them to be on edge and how we want to be uncomfortable and how. And how we want it to, you know, just explode in this moment and. And I think, like, that's something that. Yeah, I have a hard time wrapping my head around again for a movie that's goal is to just like destroy or to really, you know, I think horror movie. I love horror movies and like suspense movies. And I think that is a similar thing as comedy. It's really like playing the.

[Pete Holmes]

Watching the OA by any.

[Seth Rogen]

No, I haven't watched it.

[Pete Holmes]

It's very technical in that good way. Oh, and so is your boy Franco's 11 22.

[Seth Rogen]

I haven't watched that either, but very.

[Pete Holmes]

Good in that tense way.

[Seth Rogen]

I love tense. But like the movie, it's the best one.

[Pete Holmes]

It's tense.

[Seth Rogen]

But like, some of my favorite movies this year were Green Room, which was very tense.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, Green room was great.

[Seth Rogen]

10 Cloverfield Lane I thought was great. His hand. Oh, it's so fucked up. And I thought there was another. Really.

[Pete Holmes]

10 Cloverfield Lane was also great. So you like Misery, you like thrillers.

[Seth Rogen]

But to me, it becomes comedic. It is funny, you know, it is funny.

[Pete Holmes]

Misery's funny.

[Seth Rogen]

And. And I think I've talked. I mean, you know, those filmmakers are very. Again, they, you know, don't Breathe was one of my favorite movies of the whole year. I loved that.

[Pete Holmes]

Don't. That was just a straight horror movie though, right?

[Seth Rogen]

It's more.

[Pete Holmes]

I don't want to.

[Seth Rogen]

It's not just a straight.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay, I'm gonna write it down.

[Seth Rogen]

It's much more in the world of a green room and 10 Cloverfield.

[Pete Holmes]

Really?

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay, I'm gonna watch it.

[Seth Rogen]

And you know, I think those filmmakers talk a lot about the audience. And I remember, like, one of the things I, you know, I remember when I first started doing standup, which I don't do anymore, but I remember one of the comedians giving me advice which I often could use. And I remember he said, stand up comedy isn't a monologue, it's a dialogue.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Seth Rogen]

It's not just you talking, it's you listening to the audience and responding, you know, And I think movies can't literally do that, but need to present the illusion that that's happening.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Seth Rogen]

They need to. It needs to feel as though there's a direct interplay between the theater and what's happening on the screen, which is.

[Pete Holmes]

Actually why it's a little bit different. The timing is different. If you took the laughs out of a stand up act, he'd be pausing too long.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, it'd be weird. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

There's film comedy time.

[Seth Rogen]

And we actually used to like, cut more to laughs. And there are some times where we have to like just a tiny bit, but like, just to clear out air.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, but it. We try not to too much, honestly, because, well, it's funny.

[Pete Holmes]

Kumail. You know Kumail?

[Seth Rogen]

I do, yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

He's just. He's making the Big Sick, which is a movie that I'm very excited about. And they would go to screenings and they'd be like, they're laughing during the best line.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

Cut to some random line. But if you watch that movie alone, you're like, why is there no.

[Seth Rogen]

And we stopped doing that. Like, I'd rather, you know, we start and it's great. And again, it's not like this only happens with our movies that are actually very funny. And it's great that more recently though, in the best case scenario, something we've been hearing is like, I couldn't hear a lot of the lines because of the laughter. And I'd rather hear that than. I watched it at home. And there were these really weird long bosses and the timing was bizarre. You know, people are.

[Pete Holmes]

They get a relationship with it. I don't want to butter your bread too hard, but the Night before is one of our Christmas movies now.

[Seth Rogen]

Oh, that's so nice.

[Pete Holmes]

And we've watched it. Valerie and I have watched it many times and it's excellent. And you pick up. People have different relationships with movies.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. For sure.

[Pete Holmes]

Than we used to. Now you own them.

[Seth Rogen]

Yes.

[Pete Holmes]

There's a season for them. In this case, it's a holiday movie and you watch and you see and you're like, I didn't even notice that the first time.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

[Pete Holmes]

That's super fun.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, I think that, like, it's fun. I think, like, I remember we did it like, I mean, on 40 Old Virgil. I remember like a screening where we did that and then we watched it in the editing room after. We were just like, it's weird, like, what happened to this movie? Like, and then we fixed it, you.

[Pete Holmes]

Know, it got ruined. Waiting for laughs.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. We, like, we were so enamored with the laughs that we were like, oh, clear out room there. Clear out room There, they're still laughing.

[Pete Holmes]

Clear out room.

[Seth Rogen]

Clear out room. And then you got a lot of room. Too much room. Too much room. Too much room, too much room.

[Pete Holmes]

But that's something that still actually freaks me out when I sometimes give other standups. Advice. And the advice is, when would you laugh?

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Isn't that just the scariest? It's the most on point. You know what I mean? It's like, when would you laugh? Show me your act. You're in the audience. When do you laugh?

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, it's true. I mean, that's exactly how we.

[Pete Holmes]

It's so scary.

[Seth Rogen]

And that's what we think of, if we were in the theater, how would we be feeling?

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Seth Rogen]

How do we want to be feeling? We want to laugh. Do we want to feel suspense?

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Seth Rogen]

Be grossed out. Do we want.

[Pete Holmes]

Did you see Tarantino's. Him and Fiona Apple did an episode of Iconoclasts.

[Seth Rogen]

No.

[Pete Holmes]

It's a great series. I think you would love it.

[Seth Rogen]

But I've seen him speak.

[Pete Holmes]

You've seen Tarantino speak?

[Seth Rogen]

I've seen him speak.

[Pete Holmes]

Maybe he made this point. He's kind of talking about the old Abbott and Costello, Frankenstein movies.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And he was like, I've just never seen a movie that could do everything.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Because he's like, I'm scared when it wants me to be scared. And then I'm laughing, laughing, laughing really, really, really hard.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. I remember when. And that's actually something that we've been trying to do more of. Like, I think this is the End was probably, like the first experiment in it. I remember we did a friends and family screening, and I think it was Man Sukis or someone saying, like. Like, you guys are, like, really underestimating your ability to scare people with this movie. Like, he's like, I think you just, like, it's funny, but he's like, there's parts where it doesn't have to be.

[Pete Holmes]

This is. This is funny.

[Seth Rogen]

You could just scare the shit out of people. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Seth Rogen]

And we start to get into that. And then.

[Pete Holmes]

I want to see the horror cut.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, there was. But then we start to realize that even for brief moments, we could build up the tension more. And then when it became when a joke happened, people laughed that much harder if we just held off on a joke.

[Pete Holmes]

I was scared of Danny McBride.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, exactly. I didn't like his. You don't like it?

[Pete Holmes]

He has a secret. His face says, I have a secret.

[Seth Rogen]

He's a little scary. But no, it was like. It was. And then when we started doing you know, more dramatic, you know, preacher. You know, it was, you know, we could commit fully to kind of.

[Pete Holmes]

And was that fun?

[Seth Rogen]

Disregarding jokes? Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Are you gonna make the full dramatic turn? I hate to interview like this in Entertainment Weekly.

[Seth Rogen]

I don't think.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm curious if you've done it.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Take this waltz was very touching. It was beautiful.

[Seth Rogen]

It was. But I think. And as an actor, it's fun. But I think as like a director, writer, it's.

[Pete Holmes]

You're still in.

[Seth Rogen]

I think it's more genre. Like, I don't think humor has to be the thing that we're always going for at all times, but I think some real reaction, you know.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Seth Rogen]

Be it terror or suspense or.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Seth Rogen]

You know, you're going for some sort.

[Pete Holmes]

Of roller coaster feel.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

Not a subtle.

[Seth Rogen]

No cafe.

[Pete Holmes]

Embarrassed.

[Seth Rogen]

I think. Like, I mean, but that's. I think. And that's. These are the conversations we talk about of like why it's in a movie theater. Like, why go to a room full of. Of 300 people to watch a cafe in Paris?

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Seth Rogen]

If you're in a movie theater, you can get paying money. If you actually are going to get out of the house and go, well.

[Pete Holmes]

Sausage party was that thing the last scene. You have to see it.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. And so I think that, that those are the reasons that again, for the type of movies me and Evan are talking about making now. It's like, you know, how. Why is it the type of thing that when you walk out of that theater, you're like, wow, thank God I paid for that. And now I'm gonna tell everyone I know to pay for that. Because, like, it was like an exhilarating experience. You know, it's not something that would have just happened at home.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Seth Rogen]

And yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And I think that it wasn't just as funny as my friend Steve.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, exactly. Nothing against Steve. He's probably amazing.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm glad you're aware. Cause I grew up evangelical Christian. So when I saw, he'd say, of course. So when I saw this is the end, I was like, how did these non evangelical Christians nail my concerns?

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, I really did.

[Pete Holmes]

And the dicks. I know people probably talked about the dicks on the demons quite a bit, but also it was so viscerally scary to me. And then also the comedians sitting around going like, we make people's lives better. That felt very real.

[Seth Rogen]

Justification. That felt very real to me. We're good people.

[Pete Holmes]

Isn't there something. Do you ever catch yourself in bed or you wake up at 4 in the morning. And you're just kind of a little raw, a little vulnerable, and you're like, no, man, I bring joy to people's lives. I know, it's a little gauche.

[Seth Rogen]

No, I don't.

[Pete Holmes]

You don't?

[Seth Rogen]

I get very. No, I was actually just thinking at the end, like, literally a girl, a lovely woman walked up to me and was like, I'm a huge fan of your work. And I walked and like, I was kind of in a shitty mood. And I like, 10 seconds later I was like, I'm still in an exact same shitty mood that I was like. And I took note of the fact that it in no way made me happier in any way.

[Pete Holmes]

So why comedy? Why does comedy have its.

[Seth Rogen]

It is nice.

[Pete Holmes]

I think it's not adoration.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, it is. It probably is in some capacity. Like, I think I like.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, talk about maybe when you started doing stand up at bar mitzvahs in camp and stuff.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

What was the urge? I was. I was a pudgy.

[Seth Rogen]

I'm not saying you were, but I was.

[Pete Holmes]

I was a soft 13 year old.

[Seth Rogen]

When did you. How old were you when you started doing stand up comedy?

[Pete Holmes]

I didn't start Till I was 20.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But I was young. It is. Yeah, it's young, but I started doing, like, improv in sixth grade, seventh grade.

[Seth Rogen]

Did your high school have an improv team?

[Pete Holmes]

They did, yeah. And my, My college, I started one. I was there when it was started. I didn't really start, but, like, so improv was a big thing for me.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And it really. The reason I said going back to doing things.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Doing things reduces my anxiety.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Doing this podcast reduces my anxiety.

[Seth Rogen]

I agree. I was kind of. That, I think is something that I for sure had is I was kind of like, I had a lot of anxiety as a kid. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I had a bald spot on the side of my head because I was so.

[Seth Rogen]

I know I didn't have that. I had a bald spot on the side of my head. You were like Haley Joe Osmond in the Sixth Sense level of anxiety, seeing dead people.

[Pete Holmes]

I was having a hard time. No, but. And then, like. Because I didn't have anywhere to put it.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

So what did anxiety.

[Seth Rogen]

Similar thing. Yeah. I was just. I think I was just very aware that, like, I needed to do something with my life. And like, I. I feel like I felt that weight from a very young age of, like.

[Pete Holmes]

From where? From who?

[Seth Rogen]

I have no idea. Because my parents. It probably, like, was a reaction to my parents who, like, never really had or when I was young anyway, like, didn't really have careers per se and kind of like didn't have jobs that were high paying at all.

[Pete Holmes]

Your mom was a social worker?

[Seth Rogen]

Well, when I was young, my mom was a cashier and then like at a, at like a woodwork, like a department store. Ok. My dad worked in the game room of a vocational college. Like, and so like, you sound like you don't want to tell me what they did. Yeah, exactly. Like. Yes. No, no. Those were their jobs. Like they had like the most like regular, like, because they were like regular like unambitious people in their 20s jobs. And then like I remember when my mom like graduated from school and got her like degree in social work and then my mom became a social worker and my dad started working at non profits and stuff. So they always had very like, they were very like socially conscious and socially aware. But like, I think maybe like I was concerned about money or something like that.

[Pete Holmes]

Can I speak to that? I was also freaked out a little bit. I knew that there was like, I'm getting that weird thing in my mic again that there was a stress. Like I went to private school and I remember very distinctly thinking, like, like, can we afford this school?

[Seth Rogen]

I grew up with a lot of rich kids and that made me parents. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But I was like, based on the arguments I'm definitely overhearing, I don't think we can afford these. I, I opted to go to public school because I was like, I can see the stresses of putting on the family and I think that's where comedy started to come out.

[Seth Rogen]

But my parents weren't stressed about it, which, because it's so funny. I talked to Judd about. No, my dad's just like very like mellow and like picture more like Rob Reiner. Like it's, it's a little more like that. Like, like. And it's funny because, like, yeah, like it wasn't, it wasn't like the dark version of it. My parents were, they never talked about money. Like, it wasn't a big, it wasn't like a big stress on the family. Like we drive from Vancouver to LA and go to Disneyland. So like I felt like I got to go on vacations, you know, like it wasn't this stressful environment. It was almost like as I got older I was like, oh, I have less money than every single person I know. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

So it was more your social group that informed some for sure.

[Seth Rogen]

100 maybe. Maybe.

[Pete Holmes]

Are you competitive?

[Seth Rogen]

No, not at all. And that's the other thing I Don't like sports. I hate sports. Me too.

[Pete Holmes]

I don't like. I think it's mean to punch someone else in the face.

[Seth Rogen]

Even if you call it boxing. I really think it's. Don't do that. No, I don't. Yeah, I hate that I played rugby. One of the best jokes, this comic, Jamie Hutcher, Jamie Hutchinson was a comic that did stand up when I was young in Vancouver. And he had a joke that I applied almost every sport situation in life. And his joke was like, I wanted to be a boxer until I fought a guy who really wanted to be a boxer. And like, that to me was just like the blueprint for everything ever. And it was like I played rugby in high school until I started playing people who really wanted to play rugby. And I was like, this is just fun to me. And now it's not fun because these guys, like really are into this.

[Pete Holmes]

I would win the battle. Like, I'd shoot a layup and that would have been the winning point. And I wasn't aware that we were even close to the end.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

That was me. And then I was happy. We could eat ice cream and talk again.

[Seth Rogen]

Exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

We can talk.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. Why are we doing this? Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

So you're not competitive. But that's like me, I'm not competitive in that way. But there has to be, I think.

[Seth Rogen]

I just honestly something that goes, I'm.

[Pete Holmes]

Gonna take this the distance.

[Seth Rogen]

I liked, I liked the idea of like, this is the lamest answer ever. And it's the thing that I come back like, it's funny because, like. But I kind of worked backwards recently in my life from like just self analyzation of like what gets me the most stressed out in my work. And the answer I arrived at is when I felt like someone was ruining the thing we were doing and I. And my expression was gonna be misrepresented somehow. And that people were not your creative experience. Yes, exactly. And that people were gonna see the thing that was supposed to be me. And this has happened, happened to me several times, many times. Think people would see the thing that was supposed to be my creative, you know, the encapsulation of my sensibilities and what I think is interesting and what I think people should be thinking about and talking about and what I personally am passionate about. And when it started to seem like people were gonna fuck with that, that was the thing that I would go a little crazy on. And so I've realized that. Which is very helpful. And it very. And. And you know, and now that I know that that's just the thing to look out for. It actually happens less and less, someone fucking up your shit. And because that's the thing now that gets me so stressed, I think that's the thing that probably made me want to do it in the first place, was I liked the idea of, as lame as it sounds, like, expressing myself, of, like, being able to.

[Pete Holmes]

I don't think that's.

[Seth Rogen]

Stand up on stage and to tell jokes that made people laugh, but also made them understand my perspective on things.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, have you taken. Have you taken mushrooms?

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, like, 200 times.

[Pete Holmes]

That's so funny.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I didn't want to assume the most recent time I took mushrooms or it's a feeling I get every time I've taken mushrooms is like, oh, my God, it's such a. Something is so profoundly happening inside of you. And then you go, like, how do I explain?

[Seth Rogen]

You're always trying to explain it to people. You're always trying to explain it to it. And then I was like, how you feel?

[Pete Holmes]

And Valerie said to me, it was like, we're all tripping all of the time. Obviously, we're not, like, tripping like mushrooms, but we're all having a trip.

[Seth Rogen]

No, it's true.

[Pete Holmes]

And we're going. And that's. And I've made this point on the podcast before, so I'll put it to you. It's like, that's why you paint a house. You go, when I look over there, I see this. And I go, yeah, it's white, and there's green grass, and it looks beautiful, kind of harrowing.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And that's one of the necessities of life is being heard, being seen.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. And I think that is what drew me to it in the first place, is I would see. I just always loved movies. And then I think that you. Like, I started when I was 13, basically, and I started writing, trying to write movies when I was around that age. And I literally. I think I remember, like, seeing my parents just love movies. I remember watching movies like Back to the Future and Isn't it fun?

[Pete Holmes]

Movies can transcend the parent thing. Like, things you could never enjoy together. But now you're watching and it's like, everybody's together.

[Seth Rogen]

Oh, no, they love. Yeah. We always like the same movies, me and my parents. Yeah. Like, that was never, like, see, I'm imposing my goyish. No, it's true. Like, my mom's favorite movie is Die Hard. Like, and Total Recall is, like, her second favorite movie. Like, and those were, like, the movies that I Would watch growing up and I love them.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh my God.

[Seth Rogen]

And they also love like Woody Allen. So we'd watch a lot of like.

[Pete Holmes]

Woody Allen movies in the basement. Shamed.

[Seth Rogen]

No. Yeah, they loved it. And it was like, if anything like it was uncomfortable because like a lot of movies they like to had like, you know, sexual situation. Like watching like Hannah and her sisters or a three booed alien with your parents is awkward, but the middle one's the fake ones. Exactly. I don't know, I think it's just a flat chested woman. But I think, I think I just like the idea of like I just got, I think from a young age I was just like, oh, I get this, like people are, this is what people think is interesting. People are like exploring these relationships and these ideas and like, and I understand, understand, you know, these people, even though I didn't know who they were. I would remember like Billy Crystal, like watching a stand up special of him in Russia. It was like one of his early. The first time he went to Russia. He'll probably be going back now, but. And I remember like it was so interesting because it was like informing you about a culture and it was like this weird like divide where they were talking. Like it was like, it kind of was like a cultural commentary and it was funny. And I was incredibly young when I was watching this, but I remember that kind of making an impression on me. And so I think that's what I liked about it.

[Pete Holmes]

And that's what celebrating someone for saying, here's what it feels like to be me. Yeah, that's as good as it gets. There's a quote of yours on the Wikipedia pages. Like, once I found out you could be funny for a living, that's all I wanted to do. And I was like, it's also not just being funny, but when you get someone to laugh. Yeah, they're making an involuntary noise. It's like, I get it. We call it getting. I see you and I've been there.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. And I think now, as you know, we've. I've started making more and more movies and we've made a lot of people laugh over the years. It, it's starting to feel like, what else can we do? Can we make them scared? Can we make them sad? Can we make them, you know, confused and then feel as though they've put some, solved a puzzle? You know, what other things can we make people experience? All in the pursuit of just trying to get across the things that we think are interesting. I think that's what we've gotten better and better at over the years. Is taking the ideas. I think we did it very involuntarily well when we were younger. And then you go through a phase where it's like the second album syndrome, where you're trying to understand what you did. And now that I'm just old, I think I understand more what you need to do, which is, what is the point that I'm trying to get across, like, what perspective that I have. What is. What could I boil it down to?

[Pete Holmes]

What can you boil it down to?

[Seth Rogen]

It's different with every. With. It's different with the different. With different movies, I guess. And it's.

[Pete Holmes]

I remember, you know, Mike Birbiglia.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

That's something he would say. It was very nice, practical writing advice. He was like, write the point of the episode.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And if everything that happens isn't serving that point in some way, even if it's tonally like, it could just be. And then he goes to the store and gets a pack of cigarettes. It doesn't necessarily. But it's. It's lonely. Or forming it in an indirect way. But I would write something like, Pete is feeling unseen by his parents.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Or what. And really wants to tell the truth or whatever. And I'd put that on a. On a whiteboard or whatever. And I'd always look at it. Are there things that come up more than others? Is it like, lighten up. You seem to not take yourself too seriously. You're not buying into your own hype.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

What's the. What's the big deal? Why are people so stressed? Enjoy yourself.

[Seth Rogen]

I don't know. I think.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, isn't the point of sausage party? We're all going to die, so live in the moment.

[Seth Rogen]

And. Yeah, like, that was like a real. We had a lot of thoughts about religion. That was kind of. And this is the end as well. Religion, the thing we talk about a lot and think about a lot and the reasons for it, why people believe it, the. The good parts of it, the bad parts of it, you know, the. The evolution of it, the perversion of it, you know, And I think that. That to us. And they both have different. You know, this is the end, I think, was more of a meditation of, like, what does it mean to be a good person? Basically, like, if you're subscribing to, like, the Christian ideals of, like, if you're good, you go to heaven, and if you're bad, you go to hell, then, like, what is that? Like, who is good, who is bad? What does it mean to be good? You know? And then beyond that, it was just. The plot was just survival, you know, and that's like the joke of the movie. But we always talk about the story and the plot and, like, the plot is just what's happening and the story is like, what it's actually about, you.

[Pete Holmes]

Know, Isn't that interesting? Yeah, I kind of look at my life that way, actually.

[Seth Rogen]

Exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

I really do. I'm like, oh, I'm talking to Seth right now. But there's something much deeper and richer that I'm after.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I think in that that's always like, those two things are like, the things that. When. I mean, this is just how we think about it, but, like, those two things are the things that need to be gloriously married in order for a movie to function.

[Pete Holmes]

Things, the events that are taking place and.

[Seth Rogen]

And the emotions that you're exploring and the overall story that you're trying to tell from, like, a character and emotional standpoint, basically. And the point. The thing you're trying to say, basically.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Seth Rogen]

And like, those two things should be like. It was a good quote about writing. I read once where it's like, the thing that seems the least important at the beginning of the movie is the most important at the end of the movie. And the thing that seems the most important, the beginning of the movie is the least important.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, interesting.

[Seth Rogen]

There's kind of this thing that happens, like. And, like, Supervads, I think. You know, like, you know, it seems like it's all about buying alcohol for a party.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Seth Rogen]

But that is actually, like, has nothing to do with anything. Like, that's the plot, but the story is, these guys are going to different schools and they can't tell each other that they. To miss each other. And, like, if you watch the first few minutes of that movie, you. It'd be hard to identify that's even happening, probably.

[Pete Holmes]

Right. The most important thing at the beginning is getting alcohol.

[Seth Rogen]

Exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

And at the end, it wasn't this.

[Seth Rogen]

Little weird thing that is happening. But slowly that little weird thing becomes everything and the plot becomes great.

[Pete Holmes]

Now we have to upload this to Netflix for the master class because that was some good. That's great.

[Seth Rogen]

But. Yeah, that's. And that's how we are always trying to think about it now. And like, once, you know, we've gotten better at articulating it to ourselves in those ways, it's. It gets easier to apply to. To the things we're writing.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. What is a good person? I'm Here with you. I'm not putting you on the spot.

[Seth Rogen]

No. I don't know.

[Pete Holmes]

We get a lot of love. Your neighbor as yourself sort of stuff. We don't fuck other again. Going back.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. I think in general, like, it's, it's. It's. Yeah. Like, don't. Like, it's. It's easy to make people's lives miserable, like, and it sucks out there. And it's easy to make it shittier for people.

[Pete Holmes]

It's so easy.

[Seth Rogen]

And so, like, I would start by not making things shittier for people. That's like a good starting point.

[Pete Holmes]

Which, by the way, there are little micro decisions that people make.

[Seth Rogen]

Oh, yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Have you noticed how.

[Seth Rogen]

I mean, it's a theme in a movie we're starting to write right now, which is all about, you know, one of the big themes of the movie is, like, by doing nothing, are you just making people's lives shittier? Like, is. Is inaction the same as negative action? You know, I was just thinking about.

[Pete Holmes]

That because I'm watching the 13th on Netflix. I'm watching these evil politicians. You know, I'm using that term.

[Seth Rogen]

It's a good term.

[Pete Holmes]

Do shitty things. Yeah, I do shitty things against oppressed communities. And it was really breaking my heart. Then I. And I was like, okay, so I'm looking at them and then this is the end. The demons get those guys because they're fucking up mandatory minimums and this and this and this and three strikes and you're out and blah, blah, blah. But I'm at home and I'm like, I was alive when that was happening.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, very much so.

[Pete Holmes]

I didn't pick up the phone.

[Seth Rogen]

No.

[Pete Holmes]

Am I. Can I. Can you call? It's like a plausible deniability.

[Seth Rogen]

You be like, well, I didn't have the phone. Yeah, exactly. And I would. Yeah. And I think I would. I mean, as we are exploring this movie that we're starting to write, like, I think the argument we're going to make probably is like, no, that you are. By doing nothing, you are probably complicit in doing. If you really go. If you. If you follow that path of nothingness, it probably leads to like some directly terrible shit. And I think everyone does bad shit. Like, you know, and it's unavoidable. And I think that's also why you should probably try to do something good specifically because, you know, merely by wearing the shoes I'm wearing and the clothes I'm wearing and driving the car I'm driving. Yeah, I'm probably contributing what Ideologies, are you. A thousand terrible things. You know, they sell our DVDs at every store that probably doesn't have ideologies that I align with. We're filming special promotional things for those DVDs for those various stores.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Seth Rogen]

You know, so I think so that. That. So that's also happening. So I think, think, you know, when I say, like, the first way, I think probably to not be a dick is just not going around being a dick to people.

[Pete Holmes]

That's step one.

[Seth Rogen]

That's step one. Maybe that's where the game starts. Just like, try not to be neutral. People start that. And that's like inking you towards neutral, probably. Right.

[Pete Holmes]

But it's like, I'm thinking of what Martin Luther King Jr. Was talking about when it's like he says, only love can cast out hate.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

It's not neutrality casting.

[Seth Rogen]

No, it's love. Yeah. It's like, not only difference could cast out hate, because if you're just being.

[Pete Holmes]

A vacuum, you really are just a space where hate can seep.

[Seth Rogen]

No, it's true.

[Pete Holmes]

Even if it's not. I was thinking about, like, if you're in the stock market, how ethical is your portfolio? I know that's a high.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, no, it's true. 100%.

[Pete Holmes]

But, like, are you supporting this company that made the bullets that shot this guy and you're like, fuck my face, dude?

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, no, it's very true. And then, so, yeah, I mean, that's why, again, that gets so complicated in that, you know, the way I justify it in my life is I have, like, other charitable things that I do, and I try to think, like, everyone. You know, if you're, like, living in Western civilization, odds are you're being complicit in some things that you personally would not be that psyched about. You know, but that doesn't mean you can't actively try to do things that support ideas that you are really psyched about.

[Pete Holmes]

It's overwhelming. We talk about this all the time on the podcast. Podcast, where it's the starfish thing. You pick up one starfish and throw it in the ocean. You save that starfish. Like, you don't get overwhelmed by the millions of starfish that are dying. Like, you're talking about your shoes. That's often an example. I'm wearing Nikes. And we filled up our gas. Our cars with gas. And we ate some humans.

[Seth Rogen]

I ate humans. So that's not good.

[Pete Holmes]

That doesn't mean we can't do one good thing. I was at Hilarity for charity this year.

[Seth Rogen]

Oh, nice.

[Pete Holmes]

I almost. I had a very funny moment where you had to vamp.

[Seth Rogen]

I did. I was vamping. You should have got up, man. You could have helped.

[Pete Holmes]

I thought about it, but I had two thoughts. One, One, he won't know who I am. Two, what if I bomb?

[Seth Rogen]

I get that. I totally support that.

[Pete Holmes]

Can you imagine if I stood up.

[Seth Rogen]

And went, seth, do you want me to just stand up? And you're like, no, no.

[Pete Holmes]

Who are you? It was a great show.

[Seth Rogen]

Thanks. It turned out well, my friend.

[Pete Holmes]

No, the vamping was not what I took from it. The panic that I felt.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

Is what I took from it. But we're talking about being a good person and being actively a good person, trying to create love instead of just nothingness, you know?

[Seth Rogen]

And that being said, like, I found a way to be charitable in a way that's incredibly organic to things that I enjoy doing anyway. And I think that. That, like, people can do that. You know what you do, you don't have to be unhappy in being charitable. Like, if you just, like, are not into something, you shouldn't force yourself. If, like, the idea of dogs dying just, like, cripples. You don't volunteer at a shelter. Like, find something else. You know, I think, you know, you.

[Pete Holmes]

Don'T have to get up at 5am to serve. You can serve, you can find.

[Seth Rogen]

You can use the thing you already enjoy doing and. And probably find a way to apply that. Well.

[Pete Holmes]

That's why, charitably, I know helping Alzheimer's directly with hilarity for charity is wonderful, but I also have to think. You are. We're talking about how easy it is to fuck up somebody's day.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You could go up. You could walk down a busy street and go up to any person you see.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You don't know them.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And you're not a famous person.

[Seth Rogen]

Yes.

[Pete Holmes]

And if you just go, coward.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. It would fuck up their whole day.

[Pete Holmes]

So there you are.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

When I think of you, I think of 15 funny things. And this is. This is me. There's a lot of people. I'm not trying to greenlight your vanity. I'm trying to invite you into a space where you're like, no, I'm sure I know people that didn't kill themselves because they watched Ace Ventura.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You know what I mean? There have to be people that are like, hey, this, this, or this. And then I watch this.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. And I've heard that. And it actually is very nice, and it's very rewarding, and I can Recall some of the specific instances of people saying that. But I gotta say I recall much more the instances of people who have families with Alzheimer's who have come up to me and my wife saying that they've benefited in some way from our charitable work. Like, and it's true. And yeah, it really is. Like, and again, I think actually maybe that. And it's nice in a way because it puts less pressure on my movies in some ways. Like I can get, I can get people coming up to me telling me they like me and it. And it does. And it's for reasons that are actually legitimate or more, maybe arguably more legitimate than just making them laugh in an.

[Pete Holmes]

Instance, you know, because that's very subjective. But helping people with an illness is kind of objectively a good thing.

[Seth Rogen]

Yes.

[Pete Holmes]

I could say I hated sausage party. Like, I guess that's not for you.

[Seth Rogen]

No, exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

Nobody's going to say I hated what you teach.

[Seth Rogen]

No, that like we give out grants that like, you know, give care like, you know, that provide in home care to people. So like I know that's like an intent, like an objectively good thing that helps people. So that, that again, that, that, that puts less pressure on me making my movies crowd, which is fantastic. We'll already, we'll remember you well exactly. No matter what happens.

[Pete Holmes]

So a good person helps other people. They don't up other people.

[Seth Rogen]

They don't up other people.

[Pete Holmes]

When I took mushrooms, I have this thing. I love it. It's a. It's a circle of wood and inside it's two pieces of glass and inside is water and sand and cool. When you leave it, it makes a beautiful mountainscape. It looks like a Bob Ross.

[Seth Rogen]

I love it.

[Pete Holmes]

Valerie and I affectionately call this thing the Bible because we're like, this has.

[Seth Rogen]

All this of the universe because when.

[Pete Holmes]

You flip it over, especially if you're tripping or if you're high or whatever, whatever you're looking at and you're just like, just fall. Don't up other people's. Yeah, you see that and you also see decay becoming something beautiful and then starting over and starting over.

[Seth Rogen]

Well, mushrooms did make me very aware of like. Yeah, of like energy from a very young age as far as like people's up. Like how old were you when you started doing mushrooms? Did you do them from a young age?

[Pete Holmes]

No, I was 29.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, we were. Me and my friends were like 13, 14, 15, doing like a shitload of mushrooms. No way. Like on a regular basis really. I remember I did mushrooms the day I got My wisdom teeth out when I was like 14. And I remember I couldn't chew, so I ground them up in a coffee grinder and poured them in my mouth.

[Pete Holmes]

You couldn't be talking to a more captive audience.

[Seth Rogen]

I want to know everything, but from that I remember what happened was good. Yeah, it was fantastic. Yeah, I tripped. I got dry sockets because we smoked a very. I smoked a lot of weed. And you shouldn't do that when you just have your wisdom teeth out.

[Pete Holmes]

See, this is so interesting to me because I can be a bit of a square where I'm like, you shouldn't be do. Ram Dass has this great quote where he's like, you have to be somebody before you can be nobody. And mushrooms can offer a certain type of ego death. You're like, I'm not Seth. I'm just energy.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And you were barely Seth. You were a 30 year old boy.

[Seth Rogen]

I look back at it, I was like, if I saw kids our age as up as we were, I'd be like, what are you guys doing? This is insane. But it made us. I remember, like, you'd be very aware of like someone ruining other people people's vibes. And like, you'd be in a room and someone would come in with a bad vibe and it would like, make everyone want to leave the room. And I like. And, and. And then you like found the people you really like doing mushrooms with because you're like, oh, they have all of like a very positive, good energy. That's a very mushroom anyone's.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, it's a very mushroom thing for me is if I took it with somebody or in a group, you'd go, I don't know about Dan.

[Seth Rogen]

No, not yet. We don't want that. Yeah, well, I've had. I've done mushrooms with the wrong people dozens of times. Like I remember in high school, like a few times I just did mushrooms. Like went to a party and I was just like, this is like a terrible idea.

[Pete Holmes]

Talk about not being seen or heard is you have to go up to everyone and be like, I'm on mushrooms. Have you taken mushrooms? I'm on mushrooms.

[Seth Rogen]

I was just with one of my friends that I grew up with over New Year's and we were talking about years ago, maybe I was maybe 15, 14 or 15. We were at a New Year's party and New Year's had just happened, and I walked into a room and there was tons of people, people with chocolate mushrooms. And they were like, you want some? I was like, oh, yeah. And I Ate a bunch of them. And then, like, five minutes later, my friend came up to me. He's like, yo. And he was my ride. He's like, I'm going home. If you want to come, you got to come with me now. And I was like, fuck. And I just went home and I slept at his house. And he went to sleep instantly. And then I was awake for, like, seven hours, just, like, wandering around his house by myself, having, like, the most intense martial arts stream trip I've ever had in my entire.

[Pete Holmes]

Really?

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Can I ask you something? Do you have full on channel changing somewhere else hallucinations, or is it just that coffee pot looks weird?

[Seth Rogen]

No, I've never had any. Like. Like, a bunch of my friends have done, like, ayahuasca, which sounds like it, like, is, like, teleportational hallucinogenic abilities. No, I've had mushroom things. Like, I've hallucinated intensely. I remember, like, probably the most intense one I had. I remember is like, everyone's like, literally, like. Like, it was like. It was like people's facial features were just completely floating around their faces. Wow. Like. Like in the Picasso Ish way. And to the point where, like, it's all I was talking about for, like, four. I was just like, you guys are not seeing this, but I see some of that.

[Pete Holmes]

Like, the ancestors, last time we took them, I said to Val, I go, the ancestors are in this lamp. Because when I looked at it, I would start to see, like, Egyptian, like, beautiful, glorious black men with gold hats.

[Seth Rogen]

And I was like, those are our ancestors. They're here.

[Pete Holmes]

They can see us.

[Seth Rogen]

They can get us. Mushrooms are crazy, though. I haven't done them in a. A little while, but they're great in years. No, probably more recently than years. Yeah, maybe like a year ago, something like that.

[Pete Holmes]

I think some. There's something about having an experience that you can't explain.

[Seth Rogen]

Yes.

[Pete Holmes]

And do you remember any epiphanies you had? I. Like, recently, we were burning a piece of wood. Not safe. And I was holding it, and I said to Val, and this made sense, and it makes sense to me now. And that's what I like about mushrooms, is you can have an epiphany that seems to make sense later.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

As I go to Valerie, I go, it's all one thing. Thing singing itself.

[Seth Rogen]

That's true, man. But it is meaning.

[Pete Holmes]

Like, the wood is becoming. The smoke is becoming the air. It's me. And I was like, those things can make a certain degree of intellectual sense now, but when you're on mushrooms. You are that thing. You're just like, I don't get it. I am it. Does that make sense?

[Seth Rogen]

It totally does.

[Pete Holmes]

And all that stuff about, like, loving your neighbor and being caring and telling the truth is a big one. I was like, why would I lie?

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. About what's in me. I think it probably, maybe. And I say this with no scientific backing whatsoever, maybe raises people's emotional intelligence.

[Pete Holmes]

I think it absolutely.

[Seth Rogen]

Because I think, like, it's. That's another thing is, as I get older, is like, you start to realize how many people are just, like, not like. I think I'm like, a very sensitive person when it comes to, like, just in general, what people are feeling in any given moment. Like an empathic person from Star Trek. Like. Like that. The nurse lady on Star Trek.

[Pete Holmes]

But I get that if somebody's having.

[Seth Rogen]

A weird time, someone's uncomfortable, I feel like I zone in on it. And it's funny because I have very close friends who I'm with a lot who just like, could not be more oblivious to it.

[Pete Holmes]

And so this is why the holidays are so shitty.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

Honestly, it's my discomfort, but it's also absorbing my brothers.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, you just. And some people. And I'm always, honestly, like, a little jealous of the people who just are like, when, like, I will leave a situation, I'm just like, oh, that was so awkward. That person was so unhappy. And the other people just like, no. Like, were they. And I'm like, yes.

[Pete Holmes]

But are those funny people?

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Really?

[Seth Rogen]

Sometimes. Yeah. What.

[Pete Holmes]

What kind of funny? Like, pie face funny?

[Seth Rogen]

No, there's like. It's interesting, like. I know, I know. Very funny people who just aren't quite, like, in tune. I mean. Yeah. With like.

[Pete Holmes]

It reminds me. Oh, go ahead.

[Seth Rogen]

No.

[Pete Holmes]

Of Shanling saying. Seinfeld saying to Shanling. Shanling was like, I'm 40. Whatever. When am I going to be comfortable at a party? And Seinfeld says, the day you're comfortable at a party is the day you're not funny anymore.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

It's a specific type of funny, though, because here. Here you are.

[Seth Rogen]

No, like my. My writing partner, Evan. Like, no one is more comfortable at a party than.

[Pete Holmes]

Really?

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. And he's like, one of the funniest.

[Pete Holmes]

But maybe that's why it's a good partnership.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. I think it. Probably we compliment each other. Well. Well, it's like, I. Again, like, it's great because, like, sometimes there'll be a note that, like, I might find particularly uncomfortable to give to an actor and that's why it's a great partnership, because he's like, oh, I have no problem whatsoever. Like that, that's what it works well is like, you know.

[Pete Holmes]

What have you learned about acting? I'm very interested in that, having just done some for the first time. Were you trained again? I don't want to sound like Entertainment Weekly, but I took acting classes when.

[Seth Rogen]

I was a kid. Not really, though. Like, you know, like a kid who takes some acting classes. Like the same. You would take like a photography class or like.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Seth Rogen]

So no, I wasn't like, really?

[Pete Holmes]

What does it boil down? David Mamet has this great quote where he says, interesting actors are interesting people. So he's like, you can't just ask Al Pacino how his breakfast is and have him be, like, really boring. I don't mean he's boring.

[Seth Rogen]

I 100% disagree with that.

[Pete Holmes]

Is that true?

[Seth Rogen]

I've met actors who are able to portray a level of depth, intelligence, and complexity that they themselves do not have.

[Unknown]

No way.

[Pete Holmes]

MDV vessels.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes. Wow.

[Seth Rogen]

100%.

[Pete Holmes]

But you don't seem that way. You seem like you're like, trying.

[Seth Rogen]

It's much sweatier for me.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, but it seemed. When I watch you act, I'm like, this is a guy who figured out how to be natural.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. Because that's what I think I'm good at when it comes to acting. But I look, I've worked with other actors where I'm just like. And I think it's the same with anything. Like, you know, I'm sure standups look at each other and they're just like, I don't do what you do. Like, this is like, we're operating in different universes. And both are very valid universes, but they are different universes.

[Pete Holmes]

Like, I look at Millennia and I'm like, oh, that's a stand up.

[Seth Rogen]

I'm. I feel that. Yeah, exactly. And there's actors that I look at and I'm like, I can keep working forever, but, like, I do not have that skill.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Seth Rogen]

And I can maybe at times make it look like I have that skill or I can maybe do things that. Yeah. You know, not to say I don't think I could stretch more or try different things or really push myself. But like. Like, you know, I don't know if I'll ever be able to do. I will never be able to do it like Daniel Day Lewis does. Like, I just look at that. I'm just like, oh, that's like a different thing. Like, it's a different Level of. You know, but in all honesty, like, I look at movies and I get it. Like, not to say I'll be able to make the best movies that are ever made, but I understand how directing works. I get it. The more I do it, especially the more I get it writing as well. I feel like I look at. I can look at almost all the writing out there, and not, again, not say I can reach the level of it, but at least I can understand.

[Pete Holmes]

It doesn't allude you.

[Seth Rogen]

It doesn't completely elude me, how it's even possible. You know what I mean? And then sometimes I'll work with an actor, and I'm like, I don't even get. Like, there's no way I could do anything even like that. Like, it's just not even on the menu for me, you know, not to say I get. Not to say I couldn't push myself. And I've done work. I look at him, I'm very proud of. But every once in a while, I'll just see someone do something. Like when I worked with Kate Winslet, that was a thing where I was just like, we do different things.

[Pete Holmes]

It's like a different comedian, Trump's writer, actor, anything. I'm always just like, it's all under the umbrella of, I'm one of the funny ones. I'm a funny guy.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. Well, then you do get the thing where it's like, all those people want to do is comedy. Like, all Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslow, they're all just, I'd love to make a comedy.

[Pete Holmes]

I've actually heard Pacino say that.

[Seth Rogen]

They all say that, but I think it's not true. I think they just want to say, but.

[Pete Holmes]

But what is something you keep in your head when you're. When you're acting? I'm just asking for selfish reasons.

[Seth Rogen]

It's, you know, it's interesting. I've had, like, an evolution with acting. I really look at it. I think probably one of my strengths and weaknesses as an actor is I look at it as a filmmaker. So I look at the. I can't help but look at the big picture and how I am fitting into it.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Seth Rogen]

I can't help but kind of try to imagine the finished product and then how I wish that role would. Would happen in the finished product. Right, but.

[Pete Holmes]

So you're trying to be a piece of the puzzle.

[Seth Rogen]

I'm trying to be a piece of.

[Pete Holmes]

The puzzle, but that comes across. You're not chewing up scenery. You're not like a busy actor.

[Seth Rogen]

But I find that eating an apple and every. Even this is something that I've benefited from as I've worked with actors who. Who don't look at it like that. But because of that, they're able to make their characters much more interesting because they're not thinking of anything except this character. And how would this person be? What else could this person do? What else would this. And very much disregarding the big picture flippantly at times to singularly serve what they think makes an interesting character I've watched, which is very helpful.

[Pete Holmes]

T.J. miller, who's amazing.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

We shot on film. I watched him. To stay in a funny place, disregard everything. And I say that if you were here, this isn't shitting on tj. It's. You're looking at someone who's so funny, who's gonna be like, I'm gonna keep the plate spinning. Even though you said cut.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Because I'm gonna be not in the scene and I'm gonna be off the scene.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And then he's a very sweet, normal person.

[Seth Rogen]

He really is.

[Pete Holmes]

Aftercut.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. No, I've seen again. And people. Yeah. I mean, I get. Everyone has a different approach to it and.

[Pete Holmes]

But if I'm a shitty actor and you're. You. This. You wrote this great scene and you love it.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And you cast me as this thing. And on the day, it's just stinking.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Like, it just appears like I've never acted before. I know you probably recast me or whatever, but what would you do to try and get that person into the moment?

[Seth Rogen]

It depends on who you are. It's different for every person. Honestly.

[Pete Holmes]

Has anyone ever told you something that made you. You go, right. I remember Judd yelled out. Remember what just happened?

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. Judd once screamed boo at me from the other room. That probably is not the most productive direction I've ever.

[Pete Holmes]

No way. Really? That's hilarious. What had you done?

[Seth Rogen]

I don't even remember. I was like 18. But no.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, maybe not all questions.

[Seth Rogen]

One, actually direction that Judd gave that we constantly still quote while we were filming the 40 year old virgin was less semen, more emotion. Which is kind of like just a go to for us. Less semen. Less semen. It was. We were improvising and that was his direction for the improv was less semen, more emotion.

[Pete Holmes]

That's so funny.

[Seth Rogen]

And it was a great direction, honestly. And it's something that we talk about a lot still, which is, guys, I think we should do a little less semen and a little more emotion. But as an actor, you know, what's interesting is, like, a lot of the. The direct. Like, the more dramatic movies I've done. Take this Waltz, I guess, and the Steve Jobs movie.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. Very heartbreaking. Very.

[Seth Rogen]

They.

[Pete Holmes]

Genuine.

[Seth Rogen]

I. They. There's very. They don't. Those directors don't give. Did not give a lot of direction.

[Pete Holmes]

I have a bit about this where I thought the director told you what to do.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, no, they don't. Like, they were like, touch yours. I honestly can't remember one piece of direction Danny Boyle gave me other than, like, again, it's like, maybe a little. It's like it was that kind of thing. Maybe a little more. Maybe a little more. Or maybe a little like.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, that's what Birbiglia told me to do.

[Seth Rogen]

That's kind of it.

[Pete Holmes]

Do less. He's like, always start at zero and then move up.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. I remember Jud saying that also went like. I think before we started filming Knocked up, he was rightfully concerned because I'd never starred in a movie or even acted very much at all, and I was about to star in the movie he was directing. And I remember him having that conversation with me being like, just do. Do, like, try to do nothing. Like, like, look, try as much as possible. Just like, you're never performing.

[Pete Holmes]

That's a mammoth thing.

[Seth Rogen]

And. And it was really good. But it's funny because in the Steve Jobs movie, I remember one of the only pieces is like, you know, I'm not doing like a full on Wozniak, like, impression, but there's some affectations that he has that I kind of adopt in the movie to some degree, you know, and we rehearsed for a little bit and I was doing them, and then when we started filming, I kind of just dropped them because I. My instinct was to just do as little as possible. And I remember he was like, do it like you were doing all that stuff. Like, Ted, Dan, don't not do it. I'll do it.

[Pete Holmes]

Acting can be embarrassing.

[Seth Rogen]

That's embarrassing.

[Pete Holmes]

People don't. That's. I shouldn't put other people into this. That's what I didn't know.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Walking down the street and having a crew film you.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Is weird because you're like, this is how I walk.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. It's weird.

[Pete Holmes]

I walk like a comedian, too. There's like a weird weirdness to my.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. And some. Like, that's why, like, I think Franco is. I was just with him this morning. Like, he's one of my favorite actors to work with. Because he has, like. He pushes me to be less conservative in my acting and more fearless in my acting in that, like, he just. He shows not one iota of fear or holding back. And one. He actually taught me. One of the most valuable lessons that I still think when we're working is when we were filming Pineapple Express, between we're shooting the scene where I'm, like, at his house buying weed, and between takes, I, like, chuckle to myself. And he's like, what? And I'm like, I thought it'd be funny if when I sniff it, I go, man, it smells like God's vagina. But that's probably not the type of joke that people will be okay with in any way, shape or form. And he's like, yeah. And then the next take, he said it, and.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, my God.

[Seth Rogen]

And I wasn't gonna say it. And then he said it, and it was hilarious. And we put it in the movie, and it's one of the biggest laughs in the entire movie. And I remember thinking, like, I wasn't gonna say that joke. And if he hadn't literally, like, just heard me chuckle and asked me what I was thinking. Yeah, because he, like. My instinct was to not do it for the exact same reason. His instinct was like, oh, we have to fucking do this.

[Pete Holmes]

I think everyone listening, though, thought he was gonna go, like, you gotta do it, man.

[Unknown]

Just do.

[Seth Rogen]

No, he just did.

[Pete Holmes]

You know what joke of yours I think about, which I have to assume was Rift, is I hope your plane crashes.

[Seth Rogen]

And. Wait, what does that mean?

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, I didn't know if it was a thing. I kind of wanted to put it to you. Tin knocked up. When you call her doctor, doctor, he's not available. I remember in the theater, you're about to hang up, and then you come back to the phone and go, I hope you're playing crashes. And the noise the theater made was laughing. But also, like, you can't say that. I've talked to Jed about this, too. Also in Knocked up, they talk about how a curl can't get pregnant if you're on top. If she's on top. And I was like. I remember talking about making an audience feel a certain way. One of the ways you can make them feel is you can't say that.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. People are gonna believe that or whatever it is. I think that became then kind of our commit. Like, that became, like, a very appealing thing to me and Evan is like, when. And Franco and the people we'd worked with and when this is the end, that it kind of became like the doctrine was like, yeah, if it's our instinct that we should not. You should be doing it. We probably should. And if it's our personal instinct that, like, I don't even want to talk about that myself. Right. Then we should probably do it. You know, if it feels like it's getting too real or.

[Pete Holmes]

You don't have to use it, though.

[Seth Rogen]

No, you don't have to use it. And that's. And that's where trust comes in. And, like, 100%, the only reason that. That these people will do this stuff for us is because they trust us and because we've made more good things than shitty things. And. And, you know, it's like when I watch Sausage Party, honestly, I'm, like, still shocked we got all those people to do all that stuff. Yeah, I'm just like. And that's one. One of the reasons I'm happy it turned out well was, like, we didn't betray that trust. We got these people to do, like, the most disgusting things, to really do things that, like, if it went wrong, would, like, potentially be very damaging to them. Something they maybe really would have to answer for for years and years to come. And just the fact that we avoided that, to me is like, one of the things I'm happiest about is like, oh, they'll maybe trust us again. Yeah, we can maybe get Edward Norton to do something else that's really stupid one day. That's right, because we. We didn't blow it with that one.

[Pete Holmes]

And you keep. You keep rolling forward with that goodwill. That's amazing. Well, I want to be sensitive to your time.

[Seth Rogen]

And I got another, like, I could say, like, 15 minutes.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay, yeah, no problem. We talk about the meaning of life. Fifteen, Perfect.

[Seth Rogen]

Great.

[Pete Holmes]

But it can be a quick answer. You were raised Jewish.

[Seth Rogen]

I was.

[Pete Holmes]

And let's just jump to now. What do you think? Now I know you. You're thinking about it clearly in your work.

[Seth Rogen]

I look contemplating.

[Pete Holmes]

But are we. There's a lot of ways to take it. The meaning of life. What are we doing here?

[Seth Rogen]

What are we doing here?

[Pete Holmes]

Higher consciousness.

[Seth Rogen]

I don't know. Maybe life after death. I don't know.

[Pete Holmes]

Ghosts, Aliens, maybe.

[Seth Rogen]

You hear ghost stories that scare you. Chemtrails.

[Pete Holmes]

Chemtrails. We can bring chemtrails.

[Seth Rogen]

You didn't.

[Pete Holmes]

You didn't say see him in the 70s.

[Seth Rogen]

Where were the chem drills? There's been planes this whole time.

[Pete Holmes]

But how about dead over? Do you think when you die, it's lights out? That really Changes the way. What, is it dead over? Is it over when we die?

[Seth Rogen]

Prob. Maybe. I hope not.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. I was just listening to a thing that I love, Ram Dass, he was saying, like, you. What is real? Everything's relatively real.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You were dreaming and it was real. And you woke up and you're. And you're like, no, now this is real.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

He's like, no, you just woke up into another one.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, it's all.

[Pete Holmes]

All this very mushrooming.

[Seth Rogen]

I remember there's a Steven Wright short film that's maybe the weirdest thing of all time about, like, a Civil War soldier who, like, goes and lives in the woods after he's done. And in it, he talks about death a lot. And there's a joke, if you could call it that, where it's like, he's like, I already didn't exist for millions of years, and then I started existing and I won't exist again one day. So all my life is. Is kind of a brief interruption in my wonderful streak of non existence.

[Pete Holmes]

That's so interesting.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. Which is a really interesting.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, that's what Dana Carvey said. He goes, where were you in the Renaissance?

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

And I think about that all the time.

[Seth Rogen]

You were dead.

[Pete Holmes]

That's my. Less semen. More.

[Seth Rogen]

More emotion. Yeah, but I've already been dead. And it was.

[Pete Holmes]

Maybe it wasn't that bad, but Alan Watts and the reincarnation peoples.

[Seth Rogen]

Yes.

[Pete Holmes]

Say we don't come into this world, we come out of this world.

[Seth Rogen]

There you go.

[Pete Holmes]

So there is no other place.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And there's this, and there's only this. And when you go, you'll come back into this.

[Seth Rogen]

That'd be great, right? Yeah. It's interesting. I don't like. I think. I mean, it's not. I think the happiest I've been is when I don't put a lot of thought into where it all goes and instead put. I think the journey is. And I think, like, the journey is what counts in every way. And it's something that I applied almost every. You know, like, it's like I used to make movies and put so much on their release. Like, once I realized it's okay because when I started making movies, I put nothing on the release. I didn't even think about it. I look back at Superman, I didn't even. I literally didn't like it. I didn't even know if it did well or not. Like, it was. Because I didn't even know. Yeah. And then once I started to be aware of It. I put so much on. How's it going to do? Well, you know, will people like me or not? Will I look stupid? Well, I have to answer for this in some terrible way. And I almost think the interview was the thing that, like, like, was so much innocence lost. The culmination of that. Like, never has there been more focus on how something turned out.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Seth Rogen]

Than ever than anything I've worked on creatively. There's been few things that I've had more focus on than that. Just from like a, you know, a news level. Yeah. And so that kind of was interesting because it was such a disaster how it all came out. But, like, I had a lot of great times making that movie and I love working with James Franco and there was a lot of great. So I've started like, when I, When I'm working to realize that, like, this is. This should be the reward. This is like, like. And it's not. Yeah. Enough is a strong word. But it, it's. I, you know, I have a hard time. I look at Leonardo DiCaprio or something. I'm like, well, that guy, like, fucking sludged around in the tundra for fucking a year and a half eating moose asses to win an O. Like, not to say he didn't enjoy that. Not to say the journey wasn't very rewarding for him. But, like, I don't know if I have that in me.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Seth Rogen]

Like, I might have. The. More, life is short. It's a fucking Oscar. Do I want to trudge around in the tundra eating moose assholes?

[Pete Holmes]

I look at Sandler building a basketball court on the set of every movie.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. You're like, yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And I'm like, yeah, that sounds pretty good.

[Seth Rogen]

That's not that bad. And so. But I also have realized that I am also happiest when I feel like I'm working on something that I think is really good. You know? And so I'm really happy when I believe in what I'm working on and when in a moment to moment basis, I'm engaged creatively and I feel like I'm expressing myself and what my sensibilities are in like a moment to moment basis. And I think that's also something that.

[Pete Holmes]

You'Re not postponing your happiness.

[Seth Rogen]

Exactly. That's something I've tried to put more emphasis on is like, procedurally, like, make this exciting. Don't make this. This the, you know, the time where we're just collecting things, then. Then later is the time we look at it. Make. Make this an exciting.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Seth Rogen]

Fun part of the process where we're really able to express ourselves in. In this and where we put the camera and how we line up the shots and. And how we light it and in, you know, all that kind of a.

[Pete Holmes]

Simple fascination with what is happening.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. With what? It's. Being present, man. It's just trying to be present.

[Pete Holmes]

But when we're too busy fixating on what could be, we're missing out on what is.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. And I think it's. Yeah, I think it's. And I think that also helps your work. You know, I think a lot of great. You know, I was listening to a fucking Buster Keaton interview recently and he's like, yeah, we made up on the spot. Like, he's like, we. Like half of the stuff we made up was on the spot. And he's like, we always left room in the day because we knew, like, not until we were there would.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Seth Rogen]

And that, again, was a sign where it's like, oh, they were really, really, like, being present. Like.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Seth Rogen]

Let's not just tick our shots off the list and then we'll go edit it together.

[Pete Holmes]

You're not making a circuit board.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. No, it's like, while we're here, what else can we do? What. What. You know, so. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I love that answer. It's. It's wonderful. And I've been thinking about that a lot late, so it's perfect. Let's. Let's do the super speed round because. And then we'll get you out of here right on time.

[Seth Rogen]

Sure.

[Pete Holmes]

I've always wanted to ask you because when I was shooting, crashing the show, the Jed Knight, I did.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I would. Are doing. I would smoke pot sometimes. And I never really did that when I was working.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But then I noticed that it really helped me not get up my own ass.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Like that first on the call sheet sort of thing never appealed to me.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I just felt like a guy happy to be eating some melon.

[Seth Rogen]

No. Very much so.

[Pete Holmes]

Would you say it takes some of that bullshit out of your life?

[Seth Rogen]

For sure. I mean, I think, like. I think it helps. Like, to me, I've come down to just like, whatever works for you. Like, it's.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, whatever gets you through the day.

[Seth Rogen]

Whatever gets you through the day. Like, it's fucking tough out there. Like, whatever, you know, everyone.

[Pete Holmes]

But it could potentially increase kindness and patience and a little bit of humility even.

[Seth Rogen]

It could. I'm generally. I'm afraid people are going to yell at me for being stoned. So I'm generally starting From a remorseful place in general. But I do think it at times helps me be present. And I also think at times it completely puts me in my head and does the opposite. So it's knowing what and when.

[Pete Holmes]

But I reverse engineered the theory holding you in my mind as an example. I, for sure, I was like, oh, he doesn't seem showbiz.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, maybe in a good way, because I smoke weed.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, yeah, you can see what I did there. Question it is, I'm leading you.

[Seth Rogen]

It's. I don't know if that might have something to do with it.

[Pete Holmes]

Let me just ask what, what it means to you, then this will be the speed round. What's the greatest thing you've learned about weed?

[Seth Rogen]

I learned that I, it. That I process it much differently than a lot of other people. Is that true? Yes, very much so. Because I've just experienced so many times where I'll smoke weed with someone and, like, they're just fucked up all day and I'm ready to keep going about my business as though I just had, you know, a glass of water. Like, I'm an incredibly, incredibly functional weed smoker, whereas a lot of people just aren't.

[Pete Holmes]

That's so funny.

[Seth Rogen]

And I. And I think that that's something that I've, over the years become much more sensitive to is like, I tell people, like, don't. Like, I think also sometimes people around me are like, oh, let's smoke. Smoke some weed. That.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Seth Rogen]

And I'm like, I have to be like, don't smoke a lot of this. Or don't smoke. Or feel free to not smoke any of this.

[Pete Holmes]

When I'm on a date with Valerie, I'll go. She doesn't. But I'll go. Don't go. Drink for drink for me. I know it looks like I can take a Manhattan down in two sips. Don't you do that.

[Seth Rogen]

No, don't do it. Yeah, no, it's true. And so. But I mean, for me, it's. I don't know. Like, I honestly, like, I stopped debating a long time ago. Is this making me better or worse? Is it helping or hurting? Like, Like, I. I honestly don't even think about it that much.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Seth Rogen]

That way. I just like it. It helps. I remember, like, years ago when I was writing for Undeclared, talking to Brent Forrester about it because I would sometimes smoke weed while we were writing. And I remember saying, like, I don't know if it makes me better at working, but it makes me not care that I'm working. And like, it's something that I've actually seen in actors that I know who smoke weed but don't smoke weed when they're working. Is they really want to go. Go home? Like, they really are there. They are the actors who always like, when am I going to be done? Am I in this next scene? Like, do you need me for this next shot? Cuz they want to leave. To go. Yeah, because they want. Because they're postponing their happiness. Exactly. And. And maybe those actors are not functional sodas. And that's great. But if. But. And again, once again, like, I've also worked with actors where I'm like, g, this person spoke too much weed. And it's a nightmare. Like, that's happened to me. So it's not. Again, it's not for everybody. It's me.

[Pete Holmes]

Actually, I forgot to give this to you at the beginning. This is cbd. Do you ever use cbd?

[Seth Rogen]

I really don't that often. It makes your body feel good, right?

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Seth Rogen]

Okay.

[Pete Holmes]

That's Charlotte's Web.

[Seth Rogen]

Nice.

[Pete Holmes]

They gave me some and I'll take it. Give you some.

[Seth Rogen]

I'll take it.

[Pete Holmes]

I love it. That to me is what weed sounds like to you, is that it's completely functional. I like to tell people it'll make your body feel good, but you can read a book.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, let's continue with this again. We only have five minutes.

[Seth Rogen]

That's okay.

[Pete Holmes]

Greatest lesson you've learned about writing. Just first thoughts. It doesn't have to be super profound.

[Seth Rogen]

I used to think we wrote movies fast, and now I realize we write movies really slow. Like to. To not be afraid to like to like. I think the actual writing of the script process is. Is. Is like for us, like 5% of the process and 95% of it is the years beforehand where we talk about it and have conversations and spitball. What is the big idea behind this? How can we get that across? What kind of movie? What makes it different? Our best movies are the ones that we've spent years and years and years working on. Like super bad Pineapple Express. You know, the ones that me and Evan have written. Like, this is the end Sasha party. Like those ones, all of them had like a gestation period of years.

[Pete Holmes]

It's like Brideswen was a long.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, exactly. A long gestation. And. And then I look at other of our movies that happened faster and I'm like, they probably could have benefited from a longer gestation period. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Wow. I love that comedy. Greatest. One of the great lessons you've learned.

[Seth Rogen]

About comedy to be personal to and to just to do stuff. Only that I remember when I was really young I did stand up and I kind of, I was like maybe 14 and I was trying to, I didn't really get what kind of setup I should be. And I, but I was a fan of a lot of different standups. So I kind of tried like Stephen Wright, like bizarre humor and then I kind of tried like Seinfeld observational humor and like I'll kind of do different styles of jokes, kind of seeing which one I liked. And then, and then there's a stand up named Darrell Lennox who still lists stand up. I think he's great. And he was super nice to me and he pulled me side after show and he was like, you're like 14 years old, man. He's like, you're the only guy here who's like trying to grab a tit for the first time. Like, he's like, talk about that. Like, that's crazy, man.

[Pete Holmes]

I get so mad at stand ups that aren't addressing.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, they're elephants. Yeah. And he's like, you're the only person here who can talk about what it's like to try to get a hand job for the first in real time. You're not reflecting on it, you're experiencing it. You're trying to get your drivers like jump to 42. Literally. That's what I was doing. I had a joke about crazy girl, what's so crazy about Crazy Glue? Like it was like, it was like, and he's like, talk about this that only you can talk about. And that like completely changed everything. And that's why we started writing super bad because it was the, that that's when I started telling jokes about, you know, trying to hook up with girls and trying to sneak into strip clubs and trying to buy beer and the shit that I was actually experiencing like as a high school kid, right? And that was, and then it was just like I got so much better at it. And the response you would see because people were so skeptical. When you're like a 15 year old stand up comedian, like I would be the first guy to be like, fuck this shit. Like I don't want to watch a 50 year old stand up comedian. But then as soon as I started talking about 15 year old shit in a way that was like, in no way, I wore like a stucy shirt and cargo shorts on stage. Like, I didn't try to dress like a comedian at all. Like, I, I, I dressed like a 16 year old kid. And I think that like people responded so much more to it and I could just see them being like, oh, he's not trying to act like an adult. Yeah, he's funny, thank God. But he's talking about the shit that a 16 year old should be talking about. And that was like a very valuable lesson.

[Pete Holmes]

I find if another comedian says something about you or to you that is really, really funny and you deflect that. Yeah, it's like, dude, you look like this, you should talk about that. And if you're like, I'm not that.

[Seth Rogen]

No, exactly. I'm grown and serious. And there was one other young person who did stand up who's around my age, maybe 15 or 16, and he wore like a suit and like he dressed like fucking Harry Anderson. Like he had like a little ha hat and everything. And I remember just like being like this guy. Like this guy is like everything that I as a 15 year old stand up comedian like am standing against. Like, that's so good.

[Pete Holmes]

A good nemesis. I need a nemesis.

[Seth Rogen]

He was my nemesis.

[Pete Holmes]

It's good to have a nemesis.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah. But that was a good lesson is talk about getting hand jumped.

[Pete Holmes]

I love it. We kind of covered the other ones, so I'll just say, what is the heart? One of the times you laugh the hardest in your life, it's always, again, I'm not looking for a great story, but when I talk about that, you could be 12, you could be last week.

[Seth Rogen]

When I think about laughing heart, I think about being at summer camp and I think about like we would all be lying in our bunk beds late at night, literally with people I'm still really good friends with. And like that's when you'd hit this like weird, like delirious state. We'd usually be making fun of one of the people in the cabin for some horrible thing. But like I. Because I just went back to my summer camp over the summer for a weekend with some friends and I hadn't.

[Pete Holmes]

While it was active.

[Seth Rogen]

No, it was like right after the kids had left, but I hadn't been there in like 20 years. And that was like the visceral feeling I kept feeling. It was like, I feel like I laughed harder than I ever laughed in my life. Like lying in these bunk beds just. And like not even able to see anyone. I remember you'd just be like looking up at the ceiling and all the lights were off and just being like, like in hysterics.

[Pete Holmes]

Keeping the council.

[Seth Rogen]

And it's something I was thinking about with Seinfeld Like, I remember a Seinfeld interview where he talks about, like, like, how his friends were always the funniest people. Like, and that, and that's still true to me, like, to, like, no one makes me laugh harder than, like, my friends who have nothing to do with comedy. Like, just the people that I grew up with. And, like, they're the people that, like, to me, are the funniest people I know. And I still think that's the case.

[Pete Holmes]

You just wrote it down and kind of started dissecting it.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I think. Yeah. Or they just. Yeah, we're shitty writers. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, they didn't have the compulsion.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, I guess they just didn't. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, that's great, man. Do you feel good?

[Seth Rogen]

I feel fantastic.

[Pete Holmes]

Is there anything you need to.

[Seth Rogen]

I'm not promoting. No, I'm not promoting anything.

[Pete Holmes]

I love it.

[Seth Rogen]

I still just myself. Seth Rogen still exists in the world. I always try to be aware of him. If you see me be nice. Don't make my day. That's a good one.

[Pete Holmes]

That's a good one.

[Seth Rogen]

Just be nice to me.

[Pete Holmes]

Coward.

[Seth Rogen]

Yeah, don't, don't call me out.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, thanks, man. I, I, I'm so honored that you did it.

[Seth Rogen]

No problem, man. I had a great time.

[Pete Holmes]

Thank you. And good luck with everything you're doing right now.

[Seth Rogen]

Thank you.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, would you say keep it crispy is how the we end?

[Seth Rogen]

Keep it crispy. 0 do anything I it's all been beaten out of me.