Hour 2: Ted Danson & Michael Schur On "A Man On The Inside"
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This is the Dan Levitar Show with the Stugatz Podcast. ♪

Dugat, Jeremy was breathing his hot baseball breath on me during the break. During football season? Yeah. But what he was doing was valuable because he's just ramrodding a number of Shohei Otani facts at me. Just yelling them at me and...

I've told you before, I feel like we are living in an age of real sports mastery. And basically, whatever Babe Ruth is now to you listening to this, Shohei Otani is going to be 70 years from now when people talk about what was this thing that came over here and was better at baseball by leaps and bounds.

To put it in perspective, Babe Ruth only ever won one MVP in his career.

This is Otani's third. And not only is it his third, Shohei Otani just won his third unanimous MVP in Major League Baseball. No other athlete in any of the four major professional sports in America has ever won more than one unanimous MVP. He's done it three out of the last four years. And in that fourth year where he didn't win MVP, he just happened to be second in MVP voting and fourth in Cy Young voting.

How many Super Bowls has he won? I mean, it's November. We're talking about Otani and baseball. He's the greatest athlete who's ever lived. He's got about 500 home runs to go before he changes. The greatest athlete who's ever lived. Before he catches Ruth. I mean, seriously. Stop it. You're embarrassing yourself.

Stugatzbook.com tomorrow. It will have pages for all of you. I do want to push back only with one athlete that I think we can compare to him. Jokic. Did you see this play that he almost did against the Lakers the other day? Point three.

0.3 seconds left in the quarter. He's all the way across the court. The full court length. So he's like, okay, 0.3 seconds. There's not enough time for me to catch and shoot. So, hey, teammate, toss it to me, and I will bat the ball all the way down the court. That's crazy. And I will almost make it. It's one of the craziest. He missed it. It was an air ball, but it's still one of the more impressive things I've ever seen in sports. It would be the best basketball play ever. It's pretty good. It's crazy. Imagine.

Imagine if he made that. Wow. I'm surprised he didn't. I got to be honest with you. Given that guy's level of mastery over everything he's doing. Those two guys should start a podcast. Otani and Jokic.

Just two guys that we never hear from, but are actually the best athletes ever. You pitched to Travis Kelsey pod before people did. Get on that one. Okay. Well, they were brothers. That was right. It was a little more. I don't even think Stu got that Jason involved in the Travis podcast. One of these people needs an interpreter. It was me. Think about the reach. It's a terrible podcast. Like truly terrible. Like I disagree. We can't put you in charge of anything. They probably both like horse racing.

I would listen to that podcast. Oh, there he goes. Allegedly. A horse racing podcast with Shohei and Joe. I didn't say what it had to be about. I said we get those two people, make a podcast. Changes everything. I mean, he's right on name value. I mean, it's an easy sell. I mean, I can't say anything around here. It's just a flat out great idea. And everyone's like, this idiot. It's not a great idea. It's a terrible idea. It's truly bad. One of the worst you've ever had. And it's competing with a lot of others.

That is not of all the ways. The serial draft would have crushed. Look, does Jokic strike you as somebody who wants to be doing podcasts? And go ahead and tell me all of the entertaining interview that Otani has given you over the years. Horse racing. Over the years. Tell me, think about what those stats are that Jeremy's giving you. However big a star this human being is in America...

He deserves to be a bigger one. The cultural barriers make it so that we are not celebrating as a country one who isn't our own being a good deal better than everyone at a thing that nobody's ever allowed to be a good deal better than everyone at. He should have chose football. It's true. It's true. Pretty crazy that two of the last five American League MVPs play for the Dodgers, right? Is it?

Two of the last five American League and technically two of the last five National League because Otani's done both. I'm with Stugatz on this. It's too much baseball for a football Monday. I'm sorry. It's my fault. And Billy, since you mentioned the Kelseys, Billy thinks that Jason has gotten one over on Travis. Has he not?

I think he has. Here's the thing. Here's my thinking. And I was thinking about this. And Stugatz, I'm surprised that you're not on board on this too, right? Well, I haven't heard it yet. So, like, obviously, the Kelsey name has a certain pull at the moment. Of course. Right? And, you know, a lot of it is tied to Taylor Swift. And they had a very successful podcast as it was. But, you know, obviously, Taylor Effect helped with that situation. And that's going to last as long as that lasts. And I think Jason...

That may not last forever. So he got out of football. Meanwhile, Travis is still there. And he's playing football now. Jason has a new late night show that he got. They have the podcast. He has his gig on ESPN. He's getting all these jobs. But the jobs are at a certain point.

going to dry up while Travis is still playing football. And now that, you know, Jason's making all these connections now as the jobs become available. Oh, I get a Kelsey. Oh, I have Jason's number. Oh, Jason's a cool guy. I talked to Jason. Oh yeah, Jason. And Jason's just going to keep getting all these, all these jobs.

Well, Travis might be. Some are saying not not that. Let me get ahead of this right now. You're not saying it. I'm not saying this again. Another thing you're not saying. I'm 100 percent not saying this. I do not want you to pin this on me. I know the way that you work and you say, no, I'm not saying that Travis Kelsey's washed. I'm not saying that people have made such an accusation, though, and said his best years are behind him. So.

It seems like Jason made the prudent decision and he retired when he could have maybe played another year or so. And he started the next phase and he's getting all of the jobs that you would think Travis would get. And no, Travis is just doing really smarter than a fifth grader right now. He's taking the jobs that he can take in the offseason where Jason's here Pac-Manning it up. Blah, blah, blah, blah.

Eating all the ghosts, taking all the jobs. Are there going to be limits on the amount of jobs that Kelsey's can get? Because there weren't limits on commercials they can get. I would assume that Travis will have whatever job. You think I've got it wrong to say that if Travis wants to be doing what Gronk is or if Travis wanted to be doing what Tony Gonzalez did, that he could have whatever job he wants? They just invent another seat at another table for him?

Not if he breaks our sweet baby angel's heart. Right. If that doesn't end well with Taylor, those jobs are going to go away. He's going to be persona non grata. And you need to get the jobs now while you're persona grata. Right. It has to end well with Taylor. It has to end well with Taylor or that's all going to do. He's going to become a villain if they break up. Wait a minute. An actual villain. You have his broadcasting jobs dependent on his relationship? You don't?

I don't. Not NFL broadcasting. What about this? Let me go down a scenario. What if it ends, but it ends with nice statements and it's actually a good breakup, but it doesn't? You do not know how Taylor Swift breakups go. That's true. Travis Kelsey has the level of fame that he has now, and he does not need any more to get all these jobs that you're speaking of. I don't think he needs his relationship for anything as it relates to whatever future jobs he has. You cannot be the reason to break her heart.

Her in particular. Now, if she did something to him, perhaps. But if he did something to her, forget it. You break her heart. You're not playing as well. Guess who's going to go back to talking to Stugatz at Tahoe? You guys are of the belief that if he has a breakup in which...

he dumps her and hurts her feelings or worse, gets caught in some sort of betrayal or immorality. No, you're saying an S.E. Mandate.

You're saying not saying anything. I didn't say any of that. Again, I got out in front of this. A messy ending or an Essie mending is what I was going to call it. How do you have this ending? I don't care how it ends. I'm just telling you that I don't think it has anything to do with what jobs are going to be available to him. He doesn't get to be Michael Strahan in broadcasting unless he stays with Taylor Swift. Otherwise, he's an NFL broadcaster. Otherwise, he's Tiki. He'll have plenty of great...

moments as an NFL broadcaster, but he doesn't get to be a beloved American broadcaster or host or all of those things if he ends up in a messy breakup with Taylor Swift. You do not understand the fan base of the Swifties. What do you want to be here? Hey, Kelsey, you want to be Strahan or you want to be Gronk?

On Fox. Okay, well, the jobs that Jason Kelsey is getting are not the transcendent ones. They're the ones in sports. Those are different jobs. He's accusing Jason of stealing up all the jobs Travis wants, and Jason's not getting the—he's getting the greatest of the football jobs. He's not getting the greatest of the all-encompassing, I get the housewives, I get morning television, I get I'm God bless America, good morning America. And he's getting those if he breaks up with Taylor Swift.

No, he's not. And now the sports jobs are drying up as well. I think we may be running into a situation where he's looking for a job. You've had a number of different voices today that have been whispered or spoken through your teeth, and I don't know which one this is here. How so? What do you mean? Well, I think that Travis Kelsey...

will get the jobs that he wants, and he's got the amount of fame now that he needs to get those jobs. Now, though, now. But he's playing too long. He needs to retire if he wants these jobs, and Jason's the one that realized this. Fame is a fleeting thing, Dan. He just wants two Super Bowls. It's a fleeting thing and a cruel mistress, and you need to play it right. Both of those things. I thought your listener league was the cruel mistress. Oh, that. That listener league.

I think you know what happened here. I think you know it didn't go swimmingly for your boy, and that's why you're bringing it up this week. Every time I do decent, you seem to forget about it. But this week, you know, old Billy didn't do so hot, so you said, why don't you tell us about your listening this week? Yeah, because you know I didn't do well. You go to dkng.co slash Smirnoff if you want to participate. It's presented by Smirnoff, the world's number one vodka. Please drink responsibly. Dan.

It was looking like it was going to be a really bad week. 506 people competed with us this week. 505 people competed against me.

And it was looking like it was going to be a very, very bad week. But no, I persevered. I had a late push in the 4 o'clock window, and I moved all the way up to 485th out of the 506th. After what was looking like a very bad week. Had a late push. Moved up at 485. You said it was your week. I did say it was my week, and you can accuse me of stealing this because I broke this news just two guts earlier this week.

I've been a good coach. I've said all the right things I felt like leading up to this week. And I'm not going to do that anymore. It's my players' fault. Okay? They're the ones that didn't score any points. They're the ones that S-U-C-K-E-D this week. No need for all of that. Wasn't me. No need for that language. They're the ones that weren't doing well. I try. I pick the guys that I think are going to go out there. All I can do is have faith in my guys. Am I going to be accused of having too much faith in them? Yeah. Yeah, that's the problem. And I'm not going to apologize for that. I'm not going to say I shouldn't have faith in my guys.

I have faith in them. Every week I have faith in different guys and every week they let me down. It's going to be a long Thanksgiving. A long, cold Thanksgiving because we're going to talk about it. This isn't going to be those awkward Thanksgivings where everybody's sitting at the table, there's the elephant in the room, no one's talking to each other, everybody knows there's tension. No.

It's going to be there, right next to the Fixins. We're going to be talking about all of our issues at Thanksgiving. And we're going to get back on track for next week. Fixings? Yeah. Next to the stuffing. Next to all of it. A bowl of tension. Next to the mashed potatoes. Mm-hmm.

Next to the mac and cheese. Right. Next to the stuffing. Do people associate fixings with Thanksgiving? I feel like fixings are more buffets. I think fixings, is that a phrase? This is the holiday for fixings. Thank you. Is it? It's the Super Bowl for fixings. Uh-huh. Okay. And it's going to be there on the forefront. We're going to talk about it. DKNG.co slash Smirnoff if you want to talk about it next week. I'm coming. Are fixings side dishes or are fixings sort of things that you would take from a salad bar to? Side dishes. Side dishes.

I'm seeing fixings are foods that are traditionally served with a main dish such as vegetables, sauces, salads. Okay. All the fixings. Fixings is what I'm going to be doing to my roster if these guys don't start shaping up because they're going to be shipping out. I really don't want to hear any more about your listener leak. I never wanted to hear anything about it. Why don't you do it next week with us? Yeah, try it out. Come on. Begin.

Because it sounds awful. I didn't think I could go. It's so fun. Dan, this is low-key. A little bit of a segment that we put these concepts over and make it seem like something that's super fun to be in. It is super fun to be in. Maybe don't call it awful. I had a late push. Maybe be like, you know what? For Thanksgiving, Billy, I will be in that. Take his phone. I will be in that. Take his phone. Let's go. You make it sound amazing. Get his DK Fantasy app open right now. That's what you say. Pick it up.

I'm joining, too. Wow. Look at this. A Christmas miracle. Me three. On Thanksgiving. Come one, come all. Me four. All right. Roy. Dan. Sure. DeRoy's in. Dan. Thank you, Smirnoff. Get his phone. DKNG.co slash Smirnoff. Get his phone. Let's sign him up right now. It's so fun. Dan. What's your code? Oh, Dan. It's like, don't even think of it like fantasy. Don't even think of it like fantasy sports or football, because I know that's how you think about it. Think of it like this. One of your favorite things.

Think of it like monies. You know what I mean? You get your $50,000 and then you have to kind of put a team together with the $50,000. But everybody's worth a different amount of monies. And then you have to figure out how to manage those monies to get the winning pieces. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Hmm.

I got railroaded there by just the conversation in general, and so it may have sounded like I was saying that the Listener League itself sounded awful. That is not what I meant. What I meant is Billy yammering about finishing 485th in his league. After a late push. I surged to 45. To have more of that in my life next week is not something that I would sign up for. He's afraid.

You're afraid. Dan's afraid. Afraid of math. Another voice. Great, great. Now the voice of the chicken. You're a chicken. That's what it is. All right, I'm in. All right, I'm in. Peter, where's the game? You will not call me a chicken in front of the nation. I will not be called a chicken. We did it.

That's only the 1 o'clock at 4. Not if you call me a chicken! I'm going to download the app for you right now. When you cross the line of intimidating me by peer pressuring me by calling me a chicken, that is when I show you guys and I spite you guys by joining a listener league that I hate because Billy's in it talking all the time.

I don't hate the listener league because the listeners are in it. We got it. I hate it because I've got to listen to Billy. Yes. I finished 485th at a late push. Surge. Surge, you should have seen what I did in the 4 o'clock window.

Well, Billy wants you in so badly, so why don't you negotiate with him? Like, perhaps if you do the league this week, Billy won't talk about it next week? No, he already committed. The only thing is, like, yeah, he's just in to prove he's not chicken. Ah, okay. All right. That's the most important thing. I think we can all agree. I'll show you, America. You think I'm a woke chicken? I'm not. I'm just woke, but I'm not a chicken.

I hope you win it. I will play this with you. And I wanted to move off of the listener league for a moment, Stugatz, because I don't know if you have seen on Max that

Colin Farrell is there hiding in plain sight. I am not somebody who likes the Dark Knight and its derivatives. I don't dislike it. It's just not something that grabs my attention. But Colin Farrell getting in makeup for three hours a day so that he could be totally unrecognizable as the Penguin. Not want to ever do a role like that again because for the length that we're here working...

On air, roughly, Colin Farrell was spending that day in makeup for that long, getting into a costume that even once you're in it had to be fairly unpleasant to drag around with you every day. I mean, don't sell us short, Dan. I often spend three hours in makeup before these shows. The

The mask that he's wearing makes it so that you would simply not recognize in any way that this is Colin Farrell. It's not a fat suit. It's just layered on makeup that make him unrecognizable. And it's not something I would do for a part. Like, it's not... If I was at his pace, at his point in his profession, this is not a task I would want to undertake. It wouldn't be worth the work to me. But everybody would see this and be like, well, that show's not going to be very good, right? I'd...

The Batman, you know, had kind of a split audience. Everyone kind of respects the new vision on it, but it was actually released quite a while ago. This...

series comes out and you're skeptical but you're like i'll give it a try because colin farrell it won't fail because of his level of commitment he no matter what he will be committed and you watch it and haven't watched the entire series i will concede it's formulaic i will concede maybe sometimes it's overacted i will concede maybe sometimes it's overwritten and it's still awesome

It's great. It's fine. Follow a formula. You want to be the Sopranos in a comic book world? Be that. The music's great. The performances are great. They get you to care. And it's not just, I would say that the Penguin is not the most interesting character in this show. He's probably like third. Ron Say?

They found a lot of great material here, and they showed that in this entire Gotham world, there's so much meat on that bone. And it actually makes me think that Batman's asleep at the wheel because there's all sorts of evil criminal underworlding that's happening here that he doesn't step in one bit.

Mike Ryan, as we celebrate our 20th anniversary here, I want you to appreciate that once again, I heard Roy laugh through a soundproof glass because Stugatz just barked. He disoriented you as you talked about the penguin by simply shouting Ron Say at you because that was Ron Say's nickname when he was a third baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1980s.

Early 80s. I have to be honest, I'm bummed that you set it up so well because I just wanted to talk about Evgeny Malkin and you would have just been, the Penguin's taking over pop culture everywhere I see. Everyone's talking about this Penguin. Evgeny Malkin has bounced back. However, they need some blue line help. That defense is out.

Well, if you insist on talking about hockey, how about we talk Ovechkin wanting all of Gretzky's goal records? This is going to be tough now. I wanted to have the excited conversation about, look what's happening. He's on pace for 68 goals. He's actually going to break one of the game's unbreakable records and do it in fewer games than Wayne Gretzky did.

Alexander Ovechkin was the story in the NHL. I've wanted to talk about it so long that in the middle of me wanting to talk about it, he has a broken leg and is out six weeks. So we might not get it this year, which is a huge bummer. We missed our window.

Roy, how is it possible that he would be improving past his prime as a goal scorer, injured or not? Well, the Capitals are better. That's why. Yep. Big time. They do not have blue line help. They've got guys that are willing to feed him the rock in front of the net. He is... Credit to him...

Everybody was having a go at him for his off-season training habits, but you know what I've never seen before? And yeah, you can laugh at all these pictures of Ovechkin looking the way that he does running on the beach and playing pickleball. I had never actually seen him go through an off-season training regimen that wasn't celebrating a Stanley Cup championship. So this dude has actually put in more work, and it shows in his play.

I love the offseason that they had. The Capitals, even throughout this injury, Panthers have a tough game against the Capitals tonight. They look like a playoff team, and it was really cool to see Ovechkin with his old man game actually rekindle that goal-scoring form. Unbelievable that he was on pace to break it in fewer games than Wayne Gretzky. And now it's probably ripped away from us in more of a next-year conversation. How did we manage...

When Stugatz came in here talking of football and saying, what a day to talk hockey, baseball, and the Penguin, and Ron Say, and Ron Say in one segment. Don't forget that coffee table, man.

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can all go to hell. Stoogatz! And when they get there, say hello to Parakeet Cortez for me. And then tell Parakeet to say hello to Art Bryles. This is the Dan Levitas show with the Stoogatz. By the way, everything I say on air or, you know, on TV or something is a message to me. It's not how I really am. It's like, maybe if I listen to myself, I might be that. So...

Take it with a grain of salt. What are we talking about? Me? His favorite subject. Your favorite subject. Oh, he loves it so much. Actually, we're talking about the way you talk about him is what we were talking about. Mike Schur and Ted Danson are with us. A Man on the Inside is the number one show on Netflix in the United States as we speak. Variety calls it charming, hilarious.

Rolling Stone, Alan Sepinwall says, Dancer remains one of the most graceful, versatile, and game comic performers that television has ever been lucky enough to have. And The Hollywood Reporter says that if anything characterizes Mike Schur's worldview, it's a generosity of spirit. Both of these men are disgusting. They're disgustingly positive. They make charming television, and it makes me...

nauseated to see them have the number one show on Netflix. It bothers me that Mike Schur has yet another success in his arsenal of successes. It's annoying. Great to see you too, Dan. How are you doing? By the way, we did lose a lot of viewers just then. Just now? How did you rope dancing into another one of your failed projects? He owes me a lot of money.

And he doesn't have any. So he's slowly paying off his debt to me by appearing in TV shows that I make. That's kind of true, by the way. Why are you still grinding, Ted? It's such a great question. If you told me back when he was Sam Malone doing Cheers that he'd still be going at it and doing well in 2025, I would have laughed you out of the room. What are you doing, Ted?

I'm, uh, it makes me so happy to go through studio gates and work with crews and actors and writers. I mean, that's the nauseating answer. The other one is I spend everything I make. So how does this work with you? Sure. When you open a project like this, do you have nerves? How do you measure success on something like this? Obviously you're birthing something you guys have been working very hard on over the last, I don't know what more than a year, right?

Oh, yeah, almost two years, all told. I don't have nerves because I can't control it anymore. I have nerves while I'm making it and writing it and shooting it and editing it. But once it's over, it's sort of I get into this kind of stoic place of like, well, it's out of my hands now. So, you know, you drop it and you see what happens.

it's also very different from the old system. The old system was it was airing once a week. And so you could track this sort of week to week. Are people sticking around? Are they, did they drop out after the first episode? Are they, are they still watching in the fourth episode? Now you just don't know it's a black box. So you just kind of hope for the best and you get these little snapshots that say, Oh, you know, it's number one in these countries or it's top 10 in these countries, but it's hard to know how to interpret it. And it's hard to,

understand what that really means. So I just kind of throw up my hands and say like, well, I hope people like it. And, you know, I guess so far so good is what we would say, you know, that we'll, we'll know a lot more in about a month when they kind of come back to us with a full picture of how it's performing until then. Okay. See, that's an example of the adult in the room. I pop champagne corks. I buy something and, and I'm in debt again.

Okay, so you measure success differently, though, right? You get to operate, Ted, in the safer space of I make it and then I can let go of it. I'm also at the kids' table. I mean, that's what actors are. Mike has to deal with the real world and with people who are dealing with big money. I don't. I'm at the kids' table, and they treat me as such, and I get a lot of kind of freebies as a result.

Mike, I guess it's no different than a movie that's 90 minutes or two hours. But is it weird that you spend two years of your life working on this project and then someone like me just sits down for three and a half hours and knocks it out?

And then I'm done with it. It is very much like a movie, which is obviously not how TV used to be. This is like, I had this thought at some point when I was finishing the last episode of like, been thinking about this and working on it for two years. And when I'm done, someone will be able to watch the entirety of our work on one flight from LA to Chicago.

And that is not what TV used to be. TV used to be this thing that slowly unfolded over, you know, 22, 24 weeks from September to May. And now it's everything is sort of being herded toward the movie model. And I, you know, look, it's amazing that we still get to do this. So I'm not complaining, but it's just an it's the thing that TV used to have over movies was that you like.

like watch characters slowly grow and change over months and months and months and years and years and years. It's sort of not like that anymore. And it a little bit bums me out. Like, I feel like that was the advantage TV had over movies from a storytelling perspective and it's sort of disappearing. But again, you know, it's, uh,

I'm not complaining. It's a great job. I'm happy I get to do it still. Ted, when he frames it that way, though, does it make it impossible for you to have this character resonate the way that Sam Malone did because it's an audience growing old with a television show as opposed to watching it on a plane flight? I suppose just because of the weight of 11 years and 22 episodes a year, that's to some degree true. But

We are. We're making movies. We're not making TV shows the way they used to be. So the story is way more important than anything else. And so, no, I kind of like this, to be honest. I really do.

You guys tackled with some of Mike's projects. You're tackling the spiritual. You're tackling mortality in this when you're going into a nursing home. I imagine we're playing some here with age. Mike, are you trying to summon a character? Are you trying to take us to a place closer to where Ted Danson is working undercover in a retirement home around people who are in their 80s?

Yeah, that's what the documentary is about, which is, you know, was our North Star when we were making it into a series. It's about aging and to some degree mortality and memory problems and tricky adult relationships and stuff. So, yeah, that's very explicitly the point of the documentary. And I wanted to do it in part, not just because the documentary is great. You should all watch it if you haven't already. It's called The Mole Agent. That's from Chile and it's great.

But I had this I've had this off for a while that like this country is extremely bad about talking about those subjects. Like we just we don't we don't really discuss them

aging is seen as something that's like embarrassing or shameful or that we need to walk on eggshells around. And I've said this many times, but like that aging is like the good outcome. Like that's the, that's the, the better of two possible outcomes is that you get old. And I just am curious as to why we're so bad about talking about it and confronting it and just dealing with it openly and honestly, like,

And so I liked that the documentary was discussing those ideas, even tangentially, because I feel like there are things that we should be better at talking about. And that's very much the heart of the show and the point of making it. Why are we bad at that, Ted? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I myself, I watch myself. I hear of a friend passing or somebody and I go.

uh okay what did they do wrong oh i see i see you know it's almost so i can avoid it um i don't know you know i when you get to be my age you are grateful that you got here and you you realize you still have some i mean if here's the thing that i took away from being in this it's like you

You still get to play right up until you're dead, you know, and you should not like prepare for death. It's coming. But just, you know, be an inspiration to those behind you, the younger folks and say, listen, you don't have an expiration date on your creativity and your, you know, what you can contribute to the world. You still have something to give. So that's one of the reasons why I really love doing this. It's a true celebration of life.

Mike, what did you think of Jimmy Butler's 33-point performance against the Mavericks yesterday in their overtime victory? Oh, shut up. I'm glad you asked me about this. I have several thoughts about Miami sports. Number one, congrats on beating the Luka-less Mavericks at home in overtime. They were 2-0 against OKC in Denver, so it was a pretty good win. Huge, huge win. Great job by Tyler Hero, 8 for 25 from the field. Also, great job by the Dolphins beating the worst team

football team I have literally ever seen in my life. It's definitely, I would take a lot from that victory if I were you guys. I would be very confident in your team. I don't think they're going to have any problems playing anybody else under any circumstances. I think you guys are headed for the playoffs. Ted just left. He's so tired of this. Ted just walked off the set because of what... Can I say, I would like to say something real quick to all of the teams who have to play the Miami Heat starting now. Say it to us. Uh,

If the game is tied or the Heat are down by one and there's like four seconds left and they're running an inbounds play, maybe don't D up really closely at midcourt. Maybe let them inbound the ball so they can't sneak behind you and get an easy layup at the rim.

I don't this is the second time this has happened in two weeks. What is wrong? What happens to teams when they play the Miami Heat? What where does their coaching go? How why do they all forget how to play basketball? I don't understand. I'm so happy you got to see this side of Mike Schur that you've never seen unhinged and enraged about everything. Look at it. No, not everything. Miami. He's more passionate about this than he is the opening of your show.

By far. If you want to see something even worse, ask him something about the Yankees or compliment them and watch what happens. Do you know anything about baseball, Ted? Do you like baseball? I like it, and no, I don't. What? Wait a second. Time out, time out. This is the kind of baseball we're going to talk about. Sam Malone, who played a former Red Sox pitcher, does not like baseball?

No. Like it, don't know anything about it. Doesn't know about baseball. What? Didn't you have a coach who taught you about baseball when you were on Cheers? No. Sorry, but that great photo of Carl Yastrzemski, it was a doubleheader against the Angels. It was in between, and they had lost the first game. And they made him pose with these two actors that...

no one had heard of because Pierce wasn't on the air. And he was so pissed off. I've never seen anyone answer that. You know,

That's fantastic. Yes, didn't want those people, these dumbass actors on his baseball field. No. Getting in the way of everything. Mike, this is for both of you, but first for you, Mike, how do you pick your projects? How do you pick what you're going to invest two years of obsessive compulsive thinking over?

I don't know. I mean, this just this was a situation where my longtime producing partner, Morgan Sackett, sent me an email and said, have you seen that documentary, The Mole Agent? We should remake that as a series and write it for TED.

And it was just sort of instantly a good idea. Like we had been working on Field of Dreams for a long time and it became it was becoming clear that that was not going to actually get made. And we were sort of floating a little bit. And then he had a really good idea. And I thought, yeah, that's right. And I don't know why I thought that or how I felt so strongly about it. But I think at some level, it's just what hits you on a gut level or what makes you feel like,

Oh, yeah, yeah, I can see that. And, you know, but they're all different. The Good Place was just a series of...

thoughts that have been swirling around in my head for years that it sort of coalesced into an idea. And, you know, Brooklyn Nine-Nine came from me and my friend Dan just like actively working on what would make a good show. So it's not one thing or one place. It's just you get a feeling you have a lot of ideas and then one of them starts to kind of glow a little bit or like feel more real than the other ones. And then you pursue that and you see if there's a show in it. It's not

there's no magic formula, I don't think. It's just what interests you about the world at that moment. Ted, could you feel this written for you? Yes. Yes, and I knew it would be because Mike knows me, cares for me, and knows what I'm good at and what I'm not so good at. And yeah, it felt perfect. You know, if I...

were at the beginning of my career and had the stupidity to think that writers like Mike are a dime a dozen. You know, what I would do with the rest of my life, it would be kind of up for grabs. But now that I know the truth,

I just want to work with Mike forever, Mike. Mike, I want to work with you forever because he is so purposeful in what he chooses to do. I'm kind of answering the question you asked, Mike. You know, I want to be part of something that reflects the human condition. It can be silly. It can be poignant. It can be scary, whatever. But it needs to be a thoughtful presentation of here's life. Here we are kind of thing. And that's Mike.

What is the most appreciative thing that you can say, having now worked on a couple of these creative projects where he is, you know, your career has been an amazing one, but the fruit that you get here at the end of this is fairly magical to watch in a Hollywood that's crumbling as actors are struggling to find all sorts of work everywhere. Let's hope it kind of builds back up. But yeah, it is a true blessing. I mean, first, a good place. You know, all of a sudden I'm...

have 14, 15-year-olds, you know, young kids coming up because they devoured the good place. They devoured it two or three times. They can quote things. And, you know, to have that all of a sudden be part of my life

was just truly amazing. And now the response that we're getting from this, just from friends who write in and are saying all the things that I think Mike and all of us hoped would happen, which is,

You know, somebody lost their husband a year ago and hasn't been able to get out and is saying, thank you, you've given me the encouragement and the inspiration to get out again. You know, it's everything we wanted. You know, yes, it's sweet, kind and up and not cynical things.

But man, it's making people feel good. And that that's such a joy to be part of. It is strange that you guys can have that as your brand now. It's not exactly a syrupy time everywhere. The ability to make sweet things that make people think but are also kind. Ted, I wanted to ask you the same question I asked Mike. How do you measure success with these projects?

I just want to throw in, I am playing Adolf Hitler in a musical. Sorry. Odd thing to throw in there. Hey, hey, I'm a, I'm a, wow. I throw in, I fall into every actor trap known to man. So it's wonderful.

to have the response that we're getting. The results still matter to me in a way that probably is more than it should.

But it is true that what you really get to take away is the crew that Mike brings with them, the camera operators, the sound operators, everyone who wants to work with Mike over and over and over again. You get to have that experience of family. That's important. That's success.

You get to work with actors who maybe have only a day part and they're so happy to be there because they've been written in a complete character, a complete person. So you're working with everybody on the set who's grateful. That's success. So the experience of just going to work feels like success to me.

And the results are lovely. Mike, you're working with your friends at this point, correct? Your characters and some of the actors that you've worked with are sprinkled all over the show, yes?

Yeah, absolutely. Stephanie Beatriz, who was in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, is in the show and she's great. And Eugene Cordero, who was in The Good Place, has a role. And we have this little repertory company now, which is really fun. And we have these parts that need to be filled. And we have this stable of actors that we can just contact and say, like, hey, do you want to come do this for a couple episodes?

And it's great. It's lovely to have that and also to work with a bunch of people we've never worked with before. I mean, so many of the cast who populate their retirement community that Ted's character lives in are people I'd never met before. Sally Struthers and John Goetz and Stephen McKinley Henderson, who you might not know that name, but if you looked at a picture of him, you'd be like, oh, that guy. I love that guy.

And there's just a whole host of actors who have Susan Rutan, who was in L.A. Law at the same time that Ted was on Cheers back in the 80s on NBC. And they're great. They're so good. And that was a really fun part of it. Sally Struthers, by the way, has like 25 of the greatest stories you've ever heard. Like there was a bunch of people were talking backstage or like off set at some point.

And the subject of Elvis came up. I don't know, Ted, do you remember how it came up? I don't remember. I don't remember how it came up, but it was, oh yeah, we went out for like two years together. She dated Elvis. She straight up dated Elvis in like the early 70s, like before all the family. And everyone was like, you dated Elvis? Like what? And you're like, yeah, for like, you know, a year and a half or whatever.

That was really a wonderful part of the show was just everyone sitting around telling stories, telling old war stories of shows they'd been in or plays they'd done and stuff. Whenever she'd tell a story about Elvis, she wouldn't say Elvis. She'd say, and I'd say to E. Yeah, that's what she called him E, yeah. Well, if you're dating him, I mean. Yeah. That is tremendous. And her boyfriend. Okay.

A Man on the Inside is on Netflix, and it's number one as we speak. I will let you guys go on this note. Whether it's The Good Place or this, Mike Schur tends to tackle the hardest things. You wrote a book during the pandemic about all of philosophers' philosophies.

When you make something like this, where are you trying to meet people spiritually? I don't know that I think about it in that specific way. I think that I'm trying at some level to raise and discuss a bunch of subjects that seem relevant and interesting and important at this moment in time.

And hopefully they connect, but you don't, I don't think of it as like, it's not a calculated thing. It's not a, it's not a, it's not a math problem. I'm just trying to do a show that discusses some aspect of life that I think is worth discussing. Yeah.

That's all. And I'll leave you on this note. Do you feel upset that you took Ware at 15 when McCain was right there and went at 16? Because I think that could have really made the heat into a more interesting team this year. And he was sitting right there for you, and yet you made the wrong choice. I don't know if you feel good about that, or I don't know. What do you think, Jeremy? I plead the 5th.

Very telling. You're a coward. You're a coward. Ware is going to be a dynamic five next to Bam when he's a four. Don't you worry about it, Mike Schur, long term. I thought that question was for Ted. You took Precious Achua right before Max, too. I don't want to talk about it.

For those that don't know, Ted Danson was a former college basketball star. So, Ted, we play a game around here. It's called Shot for Your Life. Can I just correct you real quick? That'd be high school. As far as college, I walked onto the court at Stanford at freshman ball and turned right around and went home and became an actor.

But go on. All right, that's a heady play. But you like basketball. You don't like baseball. He didn't say he didn't like baseball. It's going to take me a day to get over this. He hates it. He doesn't like it. God almighty, listen to somebody. So college basketball, okay? You played high school basketball. But a shot for your life, okay? You need to choose one of these two guys to hit a three-pointer.

Okay. If it goes in, you're living. You know what a life shot is. I'm just making sure Ted understands. We all know what it is. Shot for your life. So we establish a shot for your life. Here are your two choices. Okay. Steph Curry or Larry Bird. Wow. Okay. I'm going to have to because he's of my ilk age. Um,

Larry Bird, as much as I used to love to hate him, he was the guy who would do the impossible thing to beat the Lakers at the last second. Yep, you're alive. Congratulations. Way to go. When you gave me this question, it was Larry Bird or J.J. Redick. Well, yeah. See you later, guys. Congratulations on the success of the show. A man on the inside on Netflix.

Thank you.

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