"Dax Shepard"
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Welcome to Smartless with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and me, Will Arnett. Each week, one of us brings on a special guest and surprises the other two. They don't know who the guest is, which makes it fun. And then we laugh and we get a little less smart-less. So I guess more smarter, more smarter. We should have named it more smarter. Anyway, come take a ride on the Smartless train. Smart. Less. More.

Smart. Wise. Smart. Wise. Will, you just, congratulations. You just had a baby. That's pretty amazing. It should be noted, my partner had a baby. I was, I didn't do it. But you pushed just as hard. I sure did. During the whole thing. I was like, what are you made of? I was like the great Santini in the delivery room.

Yeah, yeah, just had a baby boy, little Denny. That's incredible. Just last night. Yeah, so crazy. Do I look tired? You do. So way to hang in there with your girl. You just thought you'd pop over for a podcast, huh? Well, I mean, somebody's got to pay the doctor bills. Do you understand? We don't have health care in this country. Like, I'm just...

Are they both still in the hospital? Are they both? Yeah. Yeah. Wow. And where are you? You're at home and doing a podcast. That's great. So you got a pretty stiff deductible, I guess. And I had to come home and sauna and cold plunge first. I mean, listen, this chassis, as you would say, Jason, it's no fluke. Okay? Okay.

Wow, that's great. No, I actually, as you guys know, I was a little late getting here. All of a sudden I stood up and I was like,

babe, I'll be right back. Oh my God. I raced out and jumped in the car, drove home, got on here doing this and I'm, and I'm going to be right back at it. But, uh, I just actually came from feeding him myself. He took a little extra in the bottle and it was just unbelievable. Wow. That's so cool. Yeah. I'm talking about Jason. Yeah, no, I got it. I got to look at him. He looks like he's about to poop any second. I think, I think maybe I should probably have like a lift.

Some sort of like a... Isn't there a thing where you can kind of like cinch up your forehead a little bit and lift your brow back? I remember Interested when Ed Begley had the eyes because he had alopecia and then... He put his eyebrows on upside down? And I go, God, you look surprised. And he says, oh, do I? Sorry, I must have put my eyebrows too high. No, no, he said, I think I put my eyebrows on upside down. Guys, I'm super excited about our guest today. He's a fellow that we...

No, we all know and we love very much. He's originally from the suburbs of Detroit. And this, I didn't know, graduated magna cum laude from UCLA in anthropology. What? I did not know that. I've known this man for a long time. He's been very successful in everything he does. Andy Richter. Movies, TV shows, movies.

To his marriage, to being a father, to his own podcast from which we could all learn a thing or two. Dax Shepard. Yes. I love this man. He's one of my besties. One of the kindest, smartest people I've ever known. Dax Shepard, I got it. Today on Smart List, we have with us the amazing Dax Shepard, everybody. Magna cum... Hang on a second. When you said magna cum laude, I knew that because I'm not jealous of the fact that he's got it.

It fills me with so much joy because one of the things about Dax is you look at this son of a gun. He's got an attitude. He's got the cutoff shirts that I love. He's got the guns. He's got the whole thing. And then this motherfucker is sneaky smart like you wouldn't believe. Wait a second, Dax. How come you didn't let us know, me know, ever that you graduated Magna Club? That seems like something you might lead with. Yeah, from UCLA. Under promise over deliver, boys. Hmm.

Wait, wait, wait. I have to write that down. Get the guard down. Get the guard down. Chauncey Gardner it, and then sweep in and get all your women. I'm kind of dead serious. I'm really shocked. Barney, your lady, although I've not met her and she's just with child, she's mine. I knew that. It's cutthroat. Is the kid yours, too?

I don't want another kid for crying out loud. No, I just want another bedmate. If he wanted it, he'd take it. Wait, are you dipping right now? Hang on a second. Are you dipping? You're dipping. You're chewing? Dax is chewing. Wait, do you have chewing tobacco in your mouth right now? Let's just put me right on blast, four eyes. Yeah, no. Oh, sorry.

You want to go down this road? You want to start picking fights, lighting fires? Magna cum laude and dipping. Jason, here's where you could learn from Dax. When I did Dax's podcast, he let me up there in his...

in his space, he let me blow some darts and I was killing the butts and he never mentioned it on the air. And then he comes on here. He's not on here six seconds before you're blowing up his spot. Wait, is that a secret? Are you supposed to keep that quiet? Chew and tobacco? Well,

I know. I never knew that. I never knew that about you. I think it offsets his magna cum laude quite nicely. Exactly. And in the rare event that there's like 10 or 15 young men who look up to me, I find it hard to believe, but I certainly wouldn't want them packing a dip just to be like me. I'm not trying to promote that. Now, look, yeah, do I have some bad habits still? Yeah, I've cleaned up a bunch of them, but there's some left in this world.

Chewing tobacco, look, I'm on and off and on and off and in quarantine. I'm all the fucking way on it. It's not the loose stuff, though. They're bandits, right? No, no. I got a big... Ew, look at that thing. Have you ever swallowed it by mistake? Probably while drunk, drinking. Yeah. Yeah. Out of an old beer bottle that I've been spitting in. It happened. My brothers used to chew and would swallow and then throw it up.

To manage their weight or? No, because they were probably drunk, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of things happen. That's what I loved about being a drunk, and I think a few of you can relate, is that

You'd show up on vacation. You don't need a game plan. Just have a couple of cocktails at the bar and everything else presents itself. You meet someone next to you that you would never hang out with, but you're lit. He's got to come to my bungalow. Great. He's got these pills. Now we heard of a dance club. You know, everything just happens. All you got to do is just get that first drink down and everything takes care of itself. And in sobriety, when I went on vacation, I'm like, wow.

what what do you go by the pool and watch other people pound cocktails responsibly right wait so but what age were you when you started doing all that uh partying yeah yeah well um i had a year in high school where i actually spoke to my mother and i said look i know dad's an alcoholic and everyone in the family's an alcoholic but i'm gonna need to find out for myself

And she said, I really wish you wouldn't do this, but I'm going to allow it. But with the understanding that if it gets out of control, you promised me you'll listen to me. And I said, yeah, I can commit to that. And then I was woken up on one Saturday morning because the local law was at the house on a Saturday morning and they wanted to speak to her son. And that happened.

That proved to be the nail in it. So I then shut it down for my full senior year because I respected her. And then I went back at it when I graduated. And then I did 11 hard years. Good for you. Good for you for getting back at it, too, because a lot of guys would have given it up and just thrown in the towel. But this guy's got to get up and get it. He's got an engine on him that don't quit.

Yeah, I said, look, I think this law enforcement showing up at my house in the morning, that's got to be an anomaly. That can't happen again. Now, Dax, I truly do want to know, I've always wanted to ask you, because when you said you started this podcast, I don't know, two years ago, three years ago? I don't know how long ago it was. Two and a half. And you were like, I'm doing this podcast. I'm in my attic. I'm like, what? I didn't understand. Like, what made you want to do it?

I was a pretty regular guest on some of them, and the feedback I got, say, from Marc Maron, where dozens of dudes had stopped me over the years and said, like, hey, man, I listened to that episode pretty often. I got sober after hearing it, and I always kind of go back to it. Like, I had had so many guys tell me that, and I was like...

I don't feel that when I'm in a movie looking in the barrel over Don Johnson's shoulder. No one stops me and says that got me sober. Although certainly someone got sober because of that. But I was just, I was really, really moved with the,

the response of being a guest on like Sam Jones, uh, Mark Maron, a few of the long form ones. And as all of us have done, we're all comedians and we've all done a million talk shows. Um, you know, that pressure to be amazing in six minutes, uh, which is fun. I love it. I love being on talk shows. Um, but I,

I wanted for like, oh, I have more thoughts and I have more to offer and I have a bigger story to tell and I want to do it. But just again, largely just enjoying being on the long form one so much and generally being open to being on people's and just always loving the experience. I was like, I want to do this all the time. But do you miss like...

I've worked with each one of you individually for months at a time on multiple projects. And one of the things I love, and it's probably one of the reasons I do this is because I love that experience, not just doing the scene, but I love hanging out with guys like you and people like you and gals like you, like having fun and laughing. I've had some of my greatest experiences working have been with all three of you guys where I've had a great time. Likewise. Oh, that's everything.

That's the whole reason to do the job after a while. It's such a blast. And so, and formed really great lifelong relationships with all three of you guys. So does that, do you miss that part of it? Do you feel like alone or no? Well, I just shot,

you know, 28 episodes of bless this mass. And I'm also on top gear and I also host the game show. So I'm, I'm doing more than enough of that. Yeah. I don't. And in fact, it's yeah. More and more with it. When you just look at the amount of energy required and time committed and two kids and all that less and less, do I want to be on a like scripted show that takes 65 hours a week, nine months of the year. It's just,

Yeah. It's, it's less and less appealing to me. Uh, you know, all my, all my acting aspirations are, are gone. Uh,

in a healthy way. What about your directing stuff though? Cause you're a great director and you're able to, to, you know, juggle a bunch of balls at the same time and guide multiple departments and, and shape an experience for an audience. Is that something that you think you'll, you'll return to? I mean, I recognize it's a bit of a time suck and you're super busy, you know, on the top of the hill, but, um, you know, do you see that sometime in the future?

Because you did. You used to say how much you loved it. I love it. There is nothing more fun than when you're in production directing. To me, it's the closest thing you can get to doing cocaine with kind of no downside. You're just when you're there as an actor, as you guys know, you're like, when are we getting out of here? I arrive and I ask, when are we getting out of here?

As a director, the thing flips entirely where it's like, how long can we stay? I want to shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot. And maybe we could add this thing. And just that flip of wanting to be there and wanting more time and the control, the control of...

And solving problems as they arise, because there's no game plan for a movie. Unless you have 130 days like Tarantino and you can sit around and wait for the sun to be where you thought it was going to be X, Y, and Z. You know, Bateman, you do it all the time. You map something out. You got there. You guys got there three hours later. The sun's now in a different spot. You're now shooting on that side of the street instead of this side of the street. And I love solving problems. So I love going, okay, well, how can we make this work on the other side of the street?

That's very stimulating for me. So I love it. Do I love editing for four months and then testing over and over again? I fucking hate that. Do I love promoting and getting tracking for fucking two months, knowing you're just going and promoting for no reason and it's going to tank? All that stuff, the risk-reward thing.

It's just unappealing to me currently. That part of it's dead, though. I'll bet you that. It is. You're so right. So what I wanted, like write a pilot and shoot the pilot. Yeah, I think I would like to do that. That seems like something that would be manageable. And then you're not so dependent on the studio to promote it and all these other things. But yeah, just the heartbreak of like two years. And then you and then your whole life's decided on a Friday. I just don't need that again. It'd be like for me.

You know, having a boyfriend that kicked my ass and going back to that. Why would I do that to myself? Tell me about it. Two and a half months of shooting isn't worth that to me. I last year as a mantra, as a mantra, I would be saying, your opinion's not needed here. Like just as a... Everywhere I go, your opinion is not needed here. Because I think...

Everyone must hear my opinion on all fucking topics. And it's just, these people are doing just fine when I'm not around. Guiding them with my genius. Right, right. How do they make it without you? Yeah. Yeah. I think Chris and I have both said that to each other in fights. Like, do you think that I just arrived here, like, by accident? Like, I was doing plenty good without you. I was eating and taking dumps and showering. Everything was, the bills were paid. Yeah.

Right? Yeah. Now, Dax, I know you jumped around because last time we talked a week ago or two weeks ago, you had mentioned about jumping around from house to house when you were a kid and

from stepfather to stepfather and it was very uneasy and kind of like, you know, I had a hard childhood too, as you know, but like, but why talk about that a little bit and like why that was unstable for you and what did that drive you to do or not to in your adult life? Like, how do you, and by the way, was comedy an escape from all of that as well? Did you like, I got to get out of here. The only way to deal with this is drugs, alcohol, and laughing.

Sorry, and Dax, be one. This is a 14-prong question. Go ahead. Well, I was just going to say, I'm going to parse this out. I think I heard, why are you a comedian and why are you an alcoholic? So let me try to sum that up. Oh, so I'm coming through loud and clear then. Yeah. And you guys are five-hour episodes? This is going to be a two-parter. Special two-parter. Yeah, because I want to plot out.

my answer. I want to come, I want to land the plane in under three. Can I just say before you start, can I just say before, before you start your answer, can I just say, because I don't think it came out enough, how goddamn happy I am that Dax is here. Yeah, it's pretty bitchin'. This is such a fucking joy. I've just, I don't know if you heard Dax, I had a kid, my son was born yesterday, I had a newborn, and I'm sitting here with three of my fucking old-timey pals, and this feels so goddamn good, and I'm so happy it's you, go ahead.

Listen to all the love oozing out of this softy new dad. I love it. I love it. I wish I could kiss you right on the mouth. How masculine is Arnett? He just can't have a girl. Like you and I can only have girls. Exactly. And this guy's on Propecia and still making boys. Nothing but testosterone coming out of him.

That was my explanation for having all girls. I'm like, it must be the Propecia. The detrohydroxy testosterone. I am a nothing but Propecia. That's all I am. If you kept going, you'd have a fucking football team on your hands in no time, Arnett. It's crazy. Anyways. An entire police force. Okay, so.

Look, I have a genetic predisposition. I come by it honestly. A lot of shepherds were alcoholics. I got some uncles that shot each other. A lot of people in prison were all from northern Kentucky that migrated to Michigan. So that that's the gun. And then what loaded it is you pointed out was, you know, lots of stepdads, some some physical violence, some sexual abuse.

And then a penchant for fucking fun, love, and life. So, you know, just a thrilling... But I would say probably the biggest catalyst was...

And with the absence of a father figure giving me approval, I sought it with reckless abandon from my peers. And my peers were all about how hard could you party? How could you fight? How far could you jump a motorcycle? How long could you wheelie? And I was like, sign me up for all these. I want the masculine credentials. I want to be a man. And I did all those things. It should be noted that you probably did those things more than all those people who challenged you to knowing Dax. Well...

Some of all those things happen at the same time. Some on some occasions, you know, show up lit on a motorcycle to the bar and start swinging. So you can dovetail them all into one explosion. And then, yeah, unlike you, gentlemen, you know, I took I was auditioning for 10 years in L.A. and could not get a job, couldn't book a commercial. And that was it.

That was rough. And, yeah, booze was a nice little vacation from that. Hard to see everybody around you kind of, especially...

You were at the Groundlings, which is kind of like Second City and all of the other improv classes. Hard to be around all those other people who are like booking stuff left and right. And you were in the Groundlings with Melissa McCarthy and just all these huge names. Yeah, and I would go home and I'd pop on the TV to watch basketball. And all of my classmates and peers were selling auto insurance and fast food. And they were all just quietly making like $70,000 a year doing commercials. Right.

And I instead was driving cross-country for General Motors to make ends meet. Which I'm sure they were jealous of. They were so jealous. They were like, how many hours are you in that car on the weekend? I'm like, around 72. I think I even blew by Bateman and his buddy on their infamous ski trip in that van. Now, all right. Now, listen. Wait a second. Wait a second. What is this story? No, no, no.

It was a 40-foot bounder, not a van. How dare you? Was it Leaf Garrett? Oh, God. Have I never told you this story? Give people context. Come on. Yeah, give us context, Bates. I tried to get it all out of him on my podcast, but it was too dangerous. So maybe on his he'll feel empowered to tell us the truth. You got to. You have to now. In his retelling on my podcast, there's just some gaps in time that he has no explanation for, but we all know what the fuck.

I think we went down a rabbit hole about wiping techniques. I think that exhausted our time. Oh, I heard that. So Leif and I were buddies because he was dating my sister. And I just thought he was just the coolest thing in the world. And then they broke up and he and I stayed friends and I was thrilled about it.

And he was a great skier and, uh, knew his way around, uh, uh, a bottle of booze. And, uh, he admired his skiing prowess and everything else. No, this, this guy, this guy's it. Um, and, uh, then I pitched, uh, I wanted to just take them away. You know, I wanted them all to myself. So I said, Hey, how about, how about we go on a, on a ski trip angel? And he said, uh, he said, great. So we rented a, um, uh,

motorhome, stocked it up with all you can handle. Read between the lines. Yeah. We put two mountain bikes on the roof so we could travel from the RV parking lots into the main town, wherever we'd go. And we plotted a loop. We went north from Los Angeles to Mammoth.

Then we went to Tahoe. Then we went to Jackson Hole. We went to Sun Valley. We went to Aspen. We went to... You went to a lot of places, yeah? Utah. Yeah. Yeah.

We don't need the itinerary. You put some miles on it. But that's significant, right? Where'd you gas up in between? So we took a couple of weeks. I would say the beauty of this story is in the details, Bateman. So don't spare us any. I love every one of these stops. I can't do any more details than just destinations. Mostly because I can't remember. Once we turned the rig off, things got a little cloudy. Yeah.

It should be noted, as hardcore as that is, and you guys are going on this trip or you're filling the RV full of party supplies and stuff, the nerd element is, and we had the mountain bike so we could go from wherever our destination, into the town. Like, what, nerd? And that's a new development for me. Can I tell you, what I thought when you originally told me there were mountain bikes involved and skis, I was like, God bless these guys. They're doing some downhill mountain biking. Like, I assume when they come out of elevation and it gets warmer, they're in Moab maybe on the mountain bikes. No.

No, no, it's drunk. I thought you were just a kayak shy. No, it's a winter trip. So we're riding these mountain bikes in the snow, pretty lit up. So it was tough. Do you remember my first follow-up question when you told me that story privately? I do not. I said...

If and how often were you and Leif both making love in the same RV at the same time? It's close quarters. I bet I had a pretty colorful answer for that. Listen, this is great. And I love, thank you, Dax, for saying make love. Good for you. Yeah.

Yeah, this is a couple of thrill-seekers, romantics. They're on the road for God knows how long. Not a fuck trip. This was beautiful mountains and making love and rivers and light snow. Dax, because I want to get back to life stuff because I love it, and I wasn't there in the story, so I'm kind of bored by it. Oh, my God.

Okay, Sean, I'll spice it up for you. Any dudes come in that fucking RV? Finally, finally. Jesus, God. All of a sudden, my earphones just popped up a little bit. Trust me, you guys know when you work with Sean, it's like, yeah, your line, your line, your line, my line. Right. Your line, your line, everybody else talks, everybody else talks. Thank you for teaching me that, Will. So, obviously, the four of us have been friends for a super long time and know everything about each other or almost everything about each other. I didn't know him about the Magnum Cool Outing.

But for the people listening who don't know, like, you're one of the funniest people I've ever known, Dax. And, like, when you were going from house to house, stepfather to stepfather, like, for me, I didn't fall into the trap of drugs and alcohol like the three of you did. Not yet. So it's not a competition. So not yet. Yeah.

And so my true escape, my nerd escape was Saturday Night Live and comedy because it made me, if I could laugh or make other people laugh, it made me feel euphoric. That was my corny, dumb, nerdy drug because I didn't do drugs, right? So for you running around doing all that, who were your influences and who did you watch and was comedy as much of an escape as a drug like it was for me?

Okay, so what I love about this is I'm juggling three balls, and I'm juggling Sean Hayes and Bateman and Arnett, and it's great. Which hand am I in? I'm going to click in. Which hand am I in? You're in the air right now. You're in the air.

But to answer your question, so what I like about it is I'm clicking back from sincere to getting roasted. But to that, I would say the other element was I was severely dyslexic and I went to the learning disabled room for an hour a day and they knocked on the door and they basically brought me and the other guy out. You can imagine what he looked like.

It was demoralizing. And yeah, my defense for that was I was funny. But I think now that I'm older...

I really recognize it's control. Every one of these things is control. Why I like cars and motorcycles, it's all control. And why I like comedy is control because I'm in an awkward, we're all awkward. We all have social anxiety. And I have this thing where I could take charge of the whole interaction and I could steer it and I could do something and get a predictable outcome. And I loved that predictability. I think my childhood was largely unpredictable, but

And sometimes dangerous. And just having a sense of control over my environment and the people in it, that's what appealed to me. A lot of comedians will go like, oh, I just love the joy of making other people laugh. Not me. I like control. I like predictability. I'm not that altruistic. Yeah, I get that from you. Well, then that sets up well for what you're killing right now, right? And I want to talk about that. I mean, I think it is...

incredible awesome fantastic news that you're just right up on top of the mountain with what you're doing with with your podcast I just and and you know we're three morons trying to see

If we have any idea what the hell we're doing in this space. So I want to try to pick your brain a little bit and try to keep it entertaining about how we try to do this half as good as you're doing it. But just I do want to say I've told you privately, I want to tell you publicly, I just I'm so happy for you with how incredibly successful your podcast is. And do you like the dynamic of.

of the control of that where you know who the guest is, what the questions could, should be, what the angle is going to be, and then kind of pivoting inside of that and trying to be a little bit flexible yet still in control. I mean, it's an appealing thing, I'd bet, yeah? Yeah.

For sure. It's like it's downright euphoric when it goes well, when you really do not to get corny, but you can reach a state of flow in this. It happens to me all the time where, you know, I interviewed Yuval Harari and they're like, he's got to leave in an hour. And I was like, OK. And then all of a sudden I saw the person like signaling us he had to go. And in my mind, I would have bet my children's life on the fact that we had been talking for 12 minutes.

Yeah. And an hour had gone by and I was like, oh my God, that reminds me of, you know, other aspects of our work where that can happen. It happens to me in the editing room, right? Where it's like, you're so hyper-focused on this thing and all of a sudden you're like, oh my God, I've been editing for six hours. That's crazy. Or, you know, I think any, I get that on the motorcycle track, any time I'm present, I'm not worrying about what Dax needs in the future or what I don't have now. As soon as I escape that premonition

prison of my brain, I'm really happy and I enjoy it. And yeah, there is this great sense of... It's not unlike acting too where it's like if you get into a scene and it's really sloppy and things are

changing and you're reacting and then all of a sudden some magic kind of happens. And that to me that the podcast is like, it's two hours of my favorite aspect of acting. Like, can I listen? Can I respond? Can I elevate this? And, um, and, and I, I have found it, um,

You know, I directed three movies and the whole goal of directing a movie in theory would be that you're going to let someone in on your point of view, how you're processing this world around you. And yet you're confined by the three act structure and you're combined, you're confined by the rules of Aristotle and poetics. There's all these things you're confined by.

And then I realized on the podcast, like, oh, I sit down for two hours. You're in my fucking point of view. If there was ever a fast pass to my point of view, it is that podcast. And it's what normally takes me two years to do. And I don't even succeed when I make. So has it made directing and acting less important then? I mean, you're getting satiated with this. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's funny as I heard Joe Rogan about five years ago say he had no desire to act. And I, as a cynical piece of shit,

thought oh that's bullshit he's just not getting asked to act anymore and that's his story now uh and now i i completely i totally believe him and it's not that i don't have a desire to act or anything it's just that yeah this is fucking incredibly fulfilling i don't have to get hair and makeup i drive to my guest house above my garage there's so many elements that are heaven about it and

One of the things that's really great, this is more sort of an observation is that, and I bet the other guys will back me up on this, is that you are a guy who's very, very interested in the world around and you're very interested in other people and how other, what other people's perspectives are. You're often blown away when confronted with somebody else's perspective. It's really cool to watch and be like, wow, this motherfucker thinks this, that's crazy.

But not bad, more like that's wild. That's not how I looked at it. And you hear that when you talk to people. So, well, one thing was...

I don't know if you guys watched that Michael Jordan documentary. It's, it's, yeah, it's great. And it's hit me a couple of times. To say I watched, it's not fair. Like I fucking injected it or something. It's so great. And do you know, do you remember the part where the guy said, Jordan wasn't the best, fastest runner, the best shooter or whatever, but never has there been somebody who's been more in the present moment than that guy. He's always in the present moment. And I think that that's what you're kind of touching on. That desire to be, I understand that. And I don't,

I understand to the extent that I'd love to be able to connect with it as much as possible because when I do, it feels so fucking good. And that's what I hear coming through from you, like that desire to be right there in that moment, like you said, when you're on the motorcycle track or doing the podcast. Yeah.

Right. Like that's the kind of zone you want to live in. Howard Stern does that really well. There's a sincere curiosity about other people's perspective and really stays engaged in his conversations with people. You do that incredibly well, too. Yeah. And I got to tell you, so two things. One, I just want to give full credit to AA. The whole reason I'm any of the things you guys might compliment is from AA. 15 years ago, you would have liked me. I was a blast at the party and I would have fought for you guys. But it would have ended there. You wouldn't have asked me to like help you do anything. Yeah.

and expect me to show up. So I give all credit to that. And then also, I just want to say as far as the podcast and as far as you guys are concerned, I asked Chris Hardwick because I had him on early and he's obviously done tremendous in this. And I said, what advice do you have for me? And he said,

Uh, he said, you know, the less and less I prepare, the better I am. He said, because inevitably, if you're trying to lead someone to a story, best case scenario, you'll hear that story. Great. But you already knew that story. So there's limits to your engagement. And there's, you can only be so interested in something that you already know the outcome of and it's palpable. And he said, you know, be flexible, let the thing go where it goes. Don't try to steer it, you know, um,

Have some flags planted, but really be open to what can happen. And the times that I get into a state of flow is like the piece of paper vanishes. I mean, honestly, you should come in prepared enough that if the person's a fucking dud, you can walk them through it. Right, sure.

But as soon as you get that green light that there's someone that can run, then you just fucking join them, you know? And to that, who do you think, maybe you don't want to say, but can you think of a person who was potentially the biggest surprise in the sense of where you thought it was going to go and where you ended up? Was there one person who stood out to you as like, wow,

Yeah, well, first and foremost, my mom. That was my favorite interview I've done so far because she's not in the public eye. She's never been interviewed. And for her to tell her personal story succinctly

And so powerfully was like, I was at, you know, I got to ask her questions in that interview. I never a even thought to ask her and then be maybe would have been nervous too, but the time was right and it happened. And so that was, that was like a very profound experience, but dude, dog, the bounty hunter, dog, the bounty hunter who we all have loved on television. We've seen him run through those doors with the industrial can of mace. He's got his whole, all of his kids are so many kids, you know, the whole thing's great. It's great entertainment, but,

He shows up.

And Dog has got a humongous bandage around his thumb. And he has been bit by an actual dog at the Starbucks next to my house minutes ago. So right out of the gate, I'm like, Dog the Bounty Hunter was just bit by a dog, you know, seconds ago. And he's here with this fucking makeshift bandage. So that already I loved. He came upstairs. His wife had only died three months ago.

and he just went right at that. He must have cried six times. I started seeing like, oh, this dude was the sergeant of arms of the devil's disciples motorcycle. That's not Hollywood bullshit or fucking rap stuff. To be the fucking sergeant of arms of the devil's disciples, you've got to kick ass. And I'm looking at this guy, and he's the sweetest, most beautiful guy with a fucking terrible stepdad, and his whole life has been about building this armor, this outward armor to say, don't hurt me because I will hurt you back forever.

And I was like, I love you and I relate to you and I'm doing the same thing. I've done the same thing always. And we're all, man, we've all had babies. You pick them up and they're fucking flawless and then they just get injured and injured and they create all this stuff to protect themselves. And I don't think I ever felt so... I related so much to a guy as Dog the Bounty Hunter. Do you still feel like you have that armor? Like, do you still feel like you...

you put that on to protect yourself? And if so, when do you drop that?

I think less and less, and I would credit Kristen with this entirely, which is, you know, for the first Kristen. Come on, Sean. No, I know. Everybody knows. The only reason someone turned into this is to listen to Kristen Bell's husband talk about something. Sean wishes we could have chyrons on the podcast. Can I tell you guys one funny story? I'm sending pamphlets out before each episode. Yes, please.

Really quick, funny story about Colin Hanks and I. About two years ago, I got invited to be a judge on a cooking show, right? And it was a tremendous amount of money for three hours of work. And I said, absolutely, I'll be there. I go there. Colin Hanks is the other host.

They've got us on this scissor lift that's got to be four stories high, you guys. And it is so wobbly. They've built like this stage on top of this scissor lift. And then all the chefs are below cooking. And this thing is swaying and rocking. And I say to Colin, I go...

I just want you to know when this thing collapsed and we died, the headline's going to say Tom Hanks' son and Kristen Bell's husband die in a scissor lift accident. By the way, so true. But, you know, can I just say this? So like 12 years ago, we go to this Funny or Die tour that Will Ferrell's doing with... And Adam McKay is like doing the intro stuff for him and Will's performing. And then he's got a couple of stand-ups and one of them is Galifianakis and...

who else? A bunch of guys doing Nick Swartzen and stuff. And...

Adam had to leave the tour for like a week. He got sick. So anyway, so we were doing promo for this thing and he goes, "Come with us. We're leaving tonight and you're coming. You're filling in for McKay for a week." I was like, "Great. It'll be super fun." So we go to like Penn State and we go to University of Rhode Island. There's like 20,000 people in these arenas. It feels great. And Will goes out. He does the intros first. And I'm just kind of his sidekick on the side of the stage, helping him keep it moving.

We get to Boston College, and it's pat, pat, blah, blah, blah. And he's like, well, we're so happy to have you. And here he is coming out. You love him. Here he is, Amy Poehler's husband. And I come out of the year, and I'm like, in front of all 20,000 people, I'm like, you son of a bitch. That's hilarious. Amy Poehler's husband. That's funny. Anyway. Anyway.

But anyways, yeah, so Belle had, you know, we one time were on our way. Actress Kristen Bell. Princess Anna, Kristen Bell. What if she didn't even earn her own title? So we're on our way to this place, and we'd been together for maybe a year, and we're dressed up, and a guy threw this humongous drink at my windshield of my car. No. On Sunset. Yeah, right in front of Chateau. He was hammered, and he was like.

crossing sunset in front of Chateau. There's no crosswalk there. He had plenty of fucking time. I didn't slow down. So then he realized I wasn't slowing down. So then he was like tough guy in it and just standing in the middle of the road. So then I went by him on the outside. He chucked this huge drink. I thought the windshield had exploded because it was just, you know, glass and ice everywhere. And I thought the windshield was blown out. So that, that thing exploded in the e-brake was up and I was exiting the vehicle before the car was stopped. And I fought this guy on the sidewalk and,

And, you know, he was screaming, I'll sue you. And the whole people at that magazine stand were like looking and they missed the part where he fucking threw a glass at my car. So it literally looked like I was just beating the fuck out of a random guy on the sidewalk. Right.

So no jaywalking vigilante jaywalk enforcer. So I get back in the car and my hunch is that she didn't love that. You know, I know enough that that wasn't great for her. Uh,

But God bless her. She didn't say a thing. And we get to this restaurant. It was right before the Soho house opened, but they had it, you know, running. And she and I had hurt my leg pretty bad. When I kicked him, I hit his head on my shin and I had a huge egg on my my shin. And and she was aware of it. And I was kind of limping as we got out of the valet. And so she said she had to go to the bathroom.

She came back and she had procured me like a bag of ice and slid it to me under the table. This is like a meeting with her representatives. There's other actors there. And she's sliding me a bag of ice for my leg that I kicked somebody with. And, you know, afterwards, we had a talk about it. And I said, you know, thanks for not running me up the flagpole. I shouldn't have done that, blah, blah, blah. And she said, why do you do that? And I said, you know...

I have a bully thing and I have a, I'm going to protect everyone thing. And I, and I will never be a victim again. I have all this stuff. And she said, you know, I just want you to know, it doesn't make me feel safer that you'll stand up for me. It makes me feel more scared. Like when we go places, I'm afraid you're going to be punching people.

And I was like, wow, that's the opposite outcome of what I'm trying to do. Like, I want you to know that I will fucking go through 10 guys if they're saying something to you. And she's like, yeah, that just doesn't make me feel safe. And I was like, well...

I've been telling myself a lie. No one feels safer around me. Arnett, you don't feel safer. You're waiting for me to get into some shit. Sometimes. I think it's funny. I love it when you mix it up with others. There have been a few times where Dax basically big brothered it for me, which is unbelievably great. Dax, how often when you're out driving around in Los Angeles are you driving around?

aggressively taking risks, breaking laws, you know, not being irresponsible, but getting after it.

This is so embarrassing to say, but 100% of the time, I'm like the wolf in Pulp Fiction. It's 20 minutes away. I'll see you in eight minutes. My hobby in life is getting that Waze. I have that same bad habit. I get that Waze estimate of how long it's going to take me. And for me, if I don't beat that by 20%, I should throw my car keys in the trash. I'm exactly the same way.

I live my life exactly the same way. I see that estimate, and to me it says you're a fucking coward if it takes this long. It's like name that tune. I'll beat that. I'll beat that in two minutes. I can beat that in one minute. I told you this. We talked about it when I was on your show, but two of the guys on this tile, you and Bateman are the only two people that I know, even in my life now, that if I get in a car that I'm okay if they're driving. Yeah.

You two guys are the only guys. Sean, you and I haven't driven enough to... No, I'm pretty bad. Dax, wouldn't you love to do a remake of Against All Odds and do that race on Sunset that James Woods and Jeff Bridges did? Bateman, remember I told you I wrote that...

The Daryl Hall show, right? That I was, I sold to Showtime. It was, it was a false history of Daryl Hall's life. Yeah, it's a great idea. Really? And I was going to play Daryl Hall. And then the whole, the whole world's fake. Like you find out all the, the real meanings behind all those hit songs. And it's just insanity. God, if you could get Schwartzman in a, in a perm to do Oats.

Well, whatever happened with that? Because I remember you telling me about that. It ended up getting really dicey with Daryl's giving us life rights. So I became friends with him and he's awesome guy. And I understandably, he was nervous about, you know, I'm telling a history of his life, but it's all insane. But, but Bateman in the fucking pilot, uh,

shot for shot the against all odds race is in there in the same cars up sunset it's literally i wrote it i wrote it and i was my whole fantasy is like i cannot wait to reshoot that fuck you think you'd ever be able to permit that like get sunset locked down so you could shoot that no way right oh it's so easy dude it's so easy true story we we developed a pilot thoreau and i developed a pilot for don johnson playing like justin thoreau

Justin Theroux, playing a sort of... Jennifer Aniston's ex-husband. Yeah, that's right. For Don Johnson, Tubbs' partner, we... to do a thing where he plays this guy who's kind of like a Crockett, but later in, it was a great part, but we had this whole segment was the exact shot for shot...

Through the intersection of Beverly Glen and Sunset, where he blows through. Against all odds. Against all odds. Goddamn. All roads lead back to against all odds. Can we tell everyone our DJ story, which is one of my favorite show business stories ever. Don Johnson, Arnett. So Arnett and I are doing a movie with Don Johnson. And a couple funny things. Look, I loved Miami Vice, and Don Johnson's awesome. But I'm not a devotee of Don Johnson. But Arnett is fucking... He is his...

Joe Namath. Oh, wow. Look at him. Michael Jordan. Look at him. It's over the line. He is so thrilled that Don Johnson has landed. Like, we're in Italy, and he's, like, getting updates when DJ's going to arrive. He's so thrilled, right? And so Arnett gives him a real full-court press from the second he arrives. And Don is cordial and nice, but...

Even you would admit, Arnett, he's a little bit like, all right, bud. And then I'm kind of, I'm treating him like. I came on way too strong. Fucking, yeah, the gates weren't even open when you were sprinting. And so, and I was kind of giving him the, you know, you're the hottest girl in school treatment. I'm just ignoring him. And didn't he become obsessed with me, huh, Arnett? He was like, I want you to do a remake. He's like, if they ever do a remake of mine. He was talking to me about being him. About being him. And I'm incensed.

I'm fucking, I'm rich. How dare he? Dax doesn't even care. It's so great. And then so at one point while we're shooting this scene, and the scene is we're all in a church at a wedding, and Arnett and I are one pew behind Don Johnson, and the shot is of Don Johnson. But just prior to this scene,

DJ pulls me aside because now he's mentoring me and he says, you know how I connected with the audience on Miami Vice, what my trick was. And I go, no, what would you do? And he goes, I buzzed the lens at least once an episode. Buzz the lens. I go, hold on. You would look right down the barrel of the camera. He goes, oh, yeah, just you glance it. You buzz the lens. You pop in and then you're out.

And that, for him, that was the recipe for success on Miami Vice. So I immediately tell Arnett this. We're in stitches about it. The very next take...

Poor DJ. He's acting his ass off in the foreground. Us bozos are on either side of his shoulders looking right in the fucking lens. I mean, we are target locked staring. It was the craziest feeling because, you know, all your trainings did never look at that lens. And we were straight in it for like six minutes. And now we're laughing so hard. We're squeezing each other's legs and we're trying not to bust. And we're just in the lens. And it made the fucking cut.

It's one of the greatest days of filming ever. What is this film? Oh, boy. When in Rome. Kristen Bell. We'll tighten that up later. That's not the point of that. That's neither here nor there, Bateman. Actually, you know what, Dax? A good footnote to that is that DJ and I have since become good pals. Of course. I wore him down. You played the long game. Does he ever bring me up?

Of course. The one that cut away. Of course. Of course he does. You're the ex you can't stop thinking about.

Oh, man, I did love him. He's fucking awesome. He's such a cool dude. And then we took Buzz the Lens and we just ran with it. You know what? I've said it on virtually everything I've ever done since then. I've always talked about buzzing the lens. I have heard that from you. Yeah, I like to grab a little glass every now and then. I think a DJ just kind of look up. Dax, you used to always say, I like to throw a fastball right down the lens. Sure, right in the barrel.

Dax, as we wrap up, because I don't want to take too much of your time for your empire that you've built. Yeah, and let me say as an aside, if Kristen ever gets sick of your garbage, call me. Okay. I think you're swell. Okay, great. I think you're real swell. Oh, wait, you'll take me. Yeah, I'll take you. I thought you were saying you'll take her. Yeah, no, no, no. And I'll send Amanda over to Kristen's house and...

It'll be great. And we'll go on a ski trip. I got to... Don't let him get you on a ski trip. Yeah. Get me on a ski trip. Because what we'll do is we'll go north, we'll go to Mammoth, and then we'll head on up to... Here we go. So 395. US 395. Yeah, yeah. Up in the Sun Valley. Then we're going to take it over to Jackson. Oh. But Dax, we are so proud of you for your success in this kind of world that we're just kind of chipping away at. And we...

Do look up to you and are so honored that you joined us today. Not only as one of our closest friends, but as a mentor to this world we know nothing about. And so hopefully we can learn from you. And we love you so much. And thank you for taking the time in your busy schedule. I know you're taking over the world. Love you, Dax. Love you, guys. Love you, Daxie. Thanks, buddy. Bye, Daxels. Say hi to Kristen.

It never, ever gets old. No, he's the best. You know, my God, he's so open and so not afraid to be vulnerable in every sense. I mean, I don't know what he hasn't revealed.

Yeah, and it's not a bit either. It's completely sincere. You can tell he really likes who he is. He's truly comfortable in his skin. He's always had incredible charisma, but I think he said that he's never been better or that since he's been with Kristen, she's made him better. And he was great back in the day, but even now he's just –

i i i was sincere i hope he felt that i was sincere when i said if things don't work out he's such an authentic guy i should have left my number no no but he's such an authentic guy one of the things i think that you guys will probably agree with me on is

We've known him for a number of years and you see him, he's gone through different stages in that time, but he's always been really honest about where he's at, wherever it is that he's at. That's so great. Always. And I think that's why, that's why he's successful. Yeah. Now we see him in this place and you can see that he is truly happy. So we, you believe it because it's,

True. It's not a bit. It's not an act. And he's found a medium and a format that truly embraces and takes advantage of his best qualities. I'm thrilled for him. Great guest, Sean. Thank you. Nice going, Sean. All right, well...

Until next time. Hey, Guy. Nice potting with you. See you tomorrow. Oh, I like that. Nice potting with you. Nice potting. Okay, bye, everybody. Bye, you guys. So much fun. Love you guys. Love you guys. Bye. Bye. Bye. Smart. Worse. Smart. Worse.

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