cover of episode "Jennifer Aniston"

"Jennifer Aniston"

2020/9/28
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Jennifer Aniston discusses how she manages fear and success, maintaining her warm and trusting nature despite the complexities of fame and the entertainment industry.

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Hey, everybody. You're listening to SmartList, hosted by Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and myself, Sean Hayes. I know, I wish my voice was more masculine, too. This show is about learning through laughter in the brains of people around the world who are far smarter than us three idiots. And each week, one of us brings on a guest who the other two don't know about. So with that, let's jump into the SmartList rocket ship and let's blast off into the universe together. ♪

Ooh, I think I just turned myself on.

Do you guys still game? Like, are you gamers? Yeah. Uh-uh. You aren't? Absolutely not. Because, Will, you tried to get me gaming, like, 75 years ago, and I, like, played one round with you such a long time. Many, many years ago, and I was like, I'm out. I can't figure it out. But Scotty is obsessed with Mario Kart, like, on his phone. Wisconsin listener, that is Sean's husband. Yeah, so that's Sean's husband, Scotty. Scotty.

Right, okay. So listen, I recorded him. This is just like a half hour ago. Getting really upset at the Mario Kart. What are you supposed to do in the game? I said that all I'm supposed to do is to hit these big, huge, giant mushrooms while I'm driving on the course and I keep missing all of them. How does that make you feel? Pretty upset because I'm better than that.

And here's the disturbing part is that he didn't know you were recording him. So that's the real, that's your real world that you're living in, that kind of hostility. And I love how curt he got with, I said that. Yeah. You're dealing with a real short fuse and a guy who doesn't like employment, clearly, right? It's the middle of the day. He was working all day, actually.

No, but he was, I was just tickled about how upset he gets at this little children's game. Sean and I went on a trip to Istanbul. We've been on a couple vacays.

Jason, I remember you got real hurt about it before. That's why I'm bringing it up again. But the point is, the whole way there and back, and that from L.A. to Istanbul is like a 13-hour flight or something. Sean played Candy Crush both ways. Yeah, for sure. And I slept the whole way. I woke up right before we were landing and stuff, and Sean was just up. So we did the things we're both good at. I'm good at strategy, and you're good at sleeping. All right. So, first of all, do you guys get...

Are you more relaxed when you are hosting the guest or are you more relaxed when you're in the blind like you two guys are today because today is my guest? In the blind, much more relaxed. You don't get anxiety that like what if the person that is the guest is somebody that –

either you're not interested in or you know nothing about and you don't know what to ask, which gives you more stress? I think it's kind of exciting. It's exciting. I like it. Both are exciting. I like meeting people that we all know. So you're excited right now is what you're saying? I'm very excited. Put it this way. I'm so excited that I'm not willing to stand up. Oh, well, temper that. Temper that because this is not one of our more attractive guests. No.

It's a good thing that a listener can't see this person. They're certainly not known for their looks or their talent or kindness. But if you were a fan of, let's say, projects like Mac and Me, or if you're a kitschy horror fan, you loved her in Leprechaun.

Ladies and gentlemen... By the way, I am a fan of Leprechaun. Well, then you should be just tickled. Stay seated, Sean. Don't stand up and show her. Ladies and gentlemen, Jennifer Aniston. Yay! No. Hi, Jen. No. Wow. You know what? First of all, let me just say, Jen, you're gorgeous.

Jason, even in jest, don't ever say that about a lady. She's gorgeous. You're terrific, Jen. So I take it. God bless. Please, Jason, how dare you? Poor Jen. She's tough to look at. Can you turn your camera off, please? Yes, hold on. No. Let me do that.

One of the more, are you still, how many years were you one of the most beautiful people in the world? Oh, please. It must be. I did 10 years, so I. I want to know what you're eating. What is that right there? It's Jason Bateman's favorite. It's a chopped salad. Is that the chopped? Oh, my God. Oh, that's so nice. It might have some feta cheese in there. You got the chicken in that? Oh, yeah. Yeah, and the Aniston dressing? Yeah. God, it's so good. Got it all, babe. By the way, every time I've been to your house, you're eating a chopped salad.

I know. Every single time I'm eating a chopped salad. Yeah. There's always a chopped salad ready in case you want. Yes, that's what I'm saying. Because I've had it many times. Here's one of the things, and I brought this up the other day, that Jason loves to, as we know, he loves to eat almonds, and he's always like picking at nuts and whatever, and whatever Amanda lets him eat. Yeah. Yeah, just like little berries off the ground and stuff. Yeah.

But when he comes to your house, he loves eating your jars of candy because for some reason he feels like he didn't buy it so it doesn't count. Right. So he stands next to the M&M's and he hammers them. And I'm like, what are you doing, dude? I just get so excited that there's jars of candy. I don't know if I've ever seen you hammer the M&M's like that. I'm sneaky with it. The kid who escaped from fat camp, he's just there. Yeah.

I follow my daughters in there and we just take down a whole bunch of it. You know, the word for his kids, they believe, I think all of your kids actually, I don't know if your, well, your kids ever bought it, but that there's a camera looking at the candy jars so that they are terrified to actually steal candy without their mother or father knowing. That's smart. And it works. Maple's the only believer actually.

Yeah, by the way, like the Bateman girls are afraid of Jason. I mean, let's be honest, right? I do enjoy playing good cop. Well, I think Amanda and I are pretty good at switching off back and forth between good cop, bad cop. I would ask that to the group. What would you say about that?

What about you and Amanda? No, about, like, do I come across, and Jen, this is your interview. We're going to get to you in a second. I want you to tell me. I'm trying to pull up my script for Mac and Me just to see. Oh, God, it was so good. That was your first film, right? Please. Come on. 1987. Yeah. Listen. I sat on a blanket in the background. Did,

Is that in my Wikipedia page? Yeah, I am the worst interviewer in the world. It's all Wikipedia for me. They're just conversation starters, gang. But wait, let's wrap me up for one second. Sure, of course. We'd love to wrap you up in a tiny bowl. You were wrapped about 10 years ago, Bates. Do I strike you as a disciplinarian or permissive? I would like to answer that. I think Amanda, because she's a strategist,

incredibly wonderful woman. I just assume she's the enforcer, you're the enabler. Yep. Because you're very sweet. I worry about Amanda. I sometimes feel like what's going to end up taking her life is she's going to one time just roll her eyes into the back of her head and they're never going to come back. It's going to be an eye-rolling incident. And that's what's going to finally take her. Oh.

All right, all right. Guys, we have Jennifer Aniston. Come on now. Let's tighten it up. All right, listen. Now, let me tell you what Wikipedia has yielded here. Hold on, hold on. Go ahead. Well, congratulations on your baby, Willie. Thanks, Jen. Thanks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's doing great. I congratulated him on that he made one. Sean, you haven't done anything, okay? Hi, Sean. Hi, honey. How are you? Good. How are you doing? Good.

I'm trying to pretend like I'm trying to pretend I'm the listener and I don't know you. Like, what would I ask you if we, right? I know. And so when I'm over your house, it's so warm and friendly and it feels like,

And that sounds really cheesy to say it, but it feels like, yeah, this is, it's so easy. Like you live there. Yeah, absolutely. I could totally live there. Yeah. So I want to know, like when you have gatherings like that, is that fulfill something in you that you like, because you don't have kids. I don't have kids. It's like.

Because I do that too sometimes. I love to entertain, yes. And I love to light fires whilst entertaining. You're being very modest. And Sean is making a point, which Jason will concur with because he spends even more time there with you, but I've spent a lot of time at your house as well. You're a very warm person.

And you do love to entertain. You love having people over. And you're very maternal. You're like instinctually maternal. And your friends are like family. And you have a lot of parties around, a lot of holidays. And you get a lot of people together. And I agree with Sean. It's always a really good feeling being there. You always feel very welcome. There are a lot of laughs. Everything's about laughing and having a good time. And I've never left there being like, fuck those guys. You know what I mean? Exactly.

It's always been, I mean, about Bateman. Horrible. The worst. About Jason, for sure, because he always leaves early before Amanda, as we know. I like to clear out. You do like to clear out. Can we just bust you on that? Can we blow up your spot? Jason likes to leave places about 90 minutes earlier than his wife. Well, that's why we take two cars to Jen's often. Often we take two cars. Yeah, because... Unless you're on vacation with him, then he can't leave you. Then we're just stuck with him.

No, but you pull some good late nights when we're, I mean, late night, what, midnight? 11 or something like that. That's a pretty late night. But it is true, Jen. You have so many friends and just so many. And you have so many good friends. You don't have just a lot of like sort of haphazard friends. You have really close relationships with people, a lot of one-on-one relationships. You're good to a lot of people. You're very sweet. And it's a testament to somebody about the quality of their friends. And you have really great friends.

Would you guys agree? Yes. I would agree. I would even agree with that. And I don't mean that. I'm not complimenting myself. I mean, I am, but it sounds like you are. I think this is really a plug for Will and being a great friend and being a really good guy. Welcome to the podcast. Jen, did you grow up in a house that had a lot of entertaining going on and was it always sort of

nurturing and kind of like a fun, warm place to have a bunch of friends over? Or is that something that is wholly yours and came as a result of a particular period in your life? There was a period of time where my parents, when we moved to New York City and my dad was on a soap opera after we'd kind of been struggling for a while, and

My dad didn't really hit it the way he wanted to. So then we moved to Greece and then he was going to go to medical school there. How long did you live in Greece? I lived in Greece for a year. Wow. Lived in Athens for six months and then Crete for six months. Wow. I didn't know that. Wow. Really? It's not on my wiki page? Maybe it's on the...

But dancing on checkers' graves. There it is. Page six. There it is. There it is. Grease. Oh, look at you. Oh, I didn't know you fish. It's a great picture of you pulling up a lobster trap. No. No. Look for the sheep. Look for me. There should be one of me milking a sheep. But wait. I love that your dad said, fuck it to the acting business. We're going to Grease and I'm becoming a doctor.

Isn't that crazy? Those crazy Greeks. Well, that didn't happen. So then he, he go back to New York. He moves us to New York. So we'd start out in California, born, born here, Sherman Oaks, Stern Avenue, right around the corner from Casa Vega. Remember we talked about that? I love that. Yeah. And then, um, moved and then we went to Greece and then he got a job on a soap opera, Love of Life. And the rest was the beginning of, of history.

How long was he on that soap opera for? He was on that soap, I want to say for maybe five years. And Christopher Reeves played his son on that show. So they would have poker parties. They would have poker nights.

And there was always that sound of laughter and they'd put me to bed and I would kind of always crawl, you know, out of the bedroom, down the hall to just sort of peek around the corner and just watch all these people being fabulous and hearing like ices and, you know, clanking and glasses and laughing and la-ha-ha. I grew up very similarly. Yeah. So that sort of, I guess I kind of thought, and then it all crumbled. And the family broke apart. Yeah.

So yes, I'm still trying to recreate those happy moments in my life. Is this the point of this whole thing? Is you're trying to make me cry? Be thankful you had a happy day. Be thankful you had one day. So the seed was planted that adults entertain. I like that. All right. Yeah. It was nice. They have fun.

They were having a good time. One of the other things that interested me here, I'm going to skip right over Friends, and I'm going to go to the four-year hiatus that followed Friends and preceded your return to film work in 96. So I have this right? Oh, you were a film actress? She sure is. What did you do? It says here that there was a four-year gap after Friends and before you started film work. Is that right? And if so...

Absolutely not. No? That is incorrect. Jason. Who wrote this thing? Well, did you write this? The last name's Wikipedia. I do not know his first name. Well, Mrpedia needs some wiki. Wiki.

All right. Here's my favorite part about this. Before you answer, Jen, I just want to cut off because I want you to know that listener in Wisconsin that right after this, Jen's going to go and say to Amanda, like, Jason asked me this stupid question and he didn't even, and he asked me if I took a four-year gap, right, which you should. You were well within your right. And then Amanda's going to go, Jason, what the fuck? You asked her, you said this shit a four-year gap.

and jason is gonna get i and you deserve to be smart i wanted to know what is that on purpose you want to like go back to greece for four years or something this is where this is now goes back to the podcast that i love so much where you talked about all the mirrors being put up and the amount of time it took jason to ask the question well see that's why we call it smart list i'm not a smart guy i'm not a great interviewer that's not true i'm not i'm

Wikipedia questions. Well, right now, you're really, this is, we're pushing it right now, but I've been, by the way, a huge fan of this podcast. Can I just say that? Come on. Well, we're a fan of yours.

Well, this is not about me right now. It is actually. This is about you and how good of an interviewer all of you are. And I've enjoyed it thoroughly. Now, I took, let me explain to you, because you were in my first movie that preceded Friends, which was called? Leprechaun? The Breakup. No. The Breakup was the first film after Friends?

Yes. All right. Once Friends completed, we rolled right into Chicago. Remember? And you were in that film. I do remember being in that film. I loved that film. That was a great film. So you made all of those movies while you were on Friends? All those other movies? Like, I don't know. Leprechaun and Mac and Me? No. Let's stop talking about those two movies, okay? Those were- No, like Bruce Almighty and all those other movies? Yes, that was during Friends. Wow. So, wow, you just never took a break.

I didn't. And I liked it. Yeah. Yeah. I really enjoy working. What about now? Well, I've been on this weird, you know, guys, I haven't really left the house lately. I don't know about you guys. What happened? I have not been working lately. It's very strange. Wait a minute. That because of the pandemic and because of the downtime, did you, is that a, a, a thing that you enjoy being forced upon you, the break? Or were you, are you like going crazy and you'd rather work? I, I,

Really leaned into the break, I have to say. I kind of, if someone says, no, you actually cannot go to work.

And you just have to stay home. That's like a happy birthday. But there have been these interesting ups and downs of moments where you just like feel this anxiety. And of course, it's because you've watched the news or you see what's going on in the world. And it is absolutely devastating and unthinkable. Yeah, I had to turn it off after a while. You have to, but... And it also feels, you feel so impotent to help, right? Like they're asking us to help by being passive. Yeah.

Stay in your house is the best thing you can do. And it's like, okay, if I do go out, I wear a mask. Like that's all? I mean I see all these people working so hard to save all these lives and everything. It's like wow. And look at them. I know. It feels unfair. I know. But do you kind of feel like at this point that like weirdly just sort of by luck because you have to that finally like Jason, for instance, that finally –

something good is happening with like you make a virtue out of necessity. Like in your case, your impotence now is really valuable. Yeah. It's valuable to be impotent. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Are you finding that as a big asset? Well, you can learn from it. Yeah. No, finally it's, I don't feel quite as bad. Everyone's in the same boat as me now. How about this? How about what's the closest you ever got to quitting?

The business? Quitting? Yeah. Great question. The business? Yeah. Ooh, that's good. Oh, I don't... Oh, I would have to say the last two years, that has crossed my mind, which it never did before. Really? Why is that? Because you feel satisfied? No. Or before you started the morning show, you mean? Before the morning show. It was after a job I had completed, and I was like, whoa, that was really... That sucked the life out of me. And I don't know...

If this is what interests me, I mean, and I had this fantasy of just sort of go, what if you just, you know. Was it a creative sort of wall that you hit or was it more about like the

The people you were working with or was it just sort of like over it all? It was an unprepared project, you know, that was we have we've all been a part of them. And you always say, I'll never again, never again. Right now, as we're talking, I will never back up into a start date. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Lack of organization. And the script isn't ready. And then you're stuck there for three months. Yeah. Yeah.

This is why I always try to push you into directing because you are so professional and you are so responsible and you are so aware of how the sausage is made and could provide great leadership for that large group of people it takes. I'm just a big fan of your abilities. I hope that you jump into that chair more. I would love to jump into that chair more. I enjoy it thoroughly. I would love to see you making some sausage.

Yeah. Oh. Let me just, just for what it's worth. Just from a distance, yeah. Yeah, from a distance. I do have to say, don't you love, Jason's metaphors are just fantastic. Pack a casing. They're incredible. I often wonder where he collects them because I know he collects them and then he distributes them like bit by bit. It's a little spiral book. Sprinkles. Yeah, do you store them? Like where are they, where are they, where do they come from? They're in the hair. The,

That's why that hair is so thick. How good is his hair? How good is Jason's hair? I know. We haven't talked about it in a few episodes. I'm so glad we're back to me again. Okay, so anyway. Wait, but I wanted to ask about that because I think a lot of people, when they've been in the business a long time, kind of toy with, well, gosh. And Wisconsin listener, we mean show business. Keep going, Sean.

Business tree. The business tree. The business tree. That we've gotten a lot out of it and, well, we've put a lot into it too, but that we come towards a crossword kind of where we're like, gosh, if I could do something, what else would I do? And could I leave this all behind? Because a lot of people, like we were talking about before in another episode that we love when actors announce their retirement. Right.

Right? Never do it. It's like, don't ever say you're quitting smoking. Don't, don't see your retirement. Anything. Right. But what would that other thing be that if you had to pick something else? Interior design, probably. Oh, interior design. You're very good at that. Yeah, you'd be good at that. I love it. It's my happy place. It's really a happy place for me. Do you do it for other people? Do you ever like have friends? You're like, Hey, you know what? I know you didn't ask me, but let me help you with that. Yeah.

I'm not that kind of person, but I think it. Yeah. I've also offered help to people where they say, come over and just help me with this. And I go, well, first of all, that's got to go. And they're like, no, I can't. I love that. That's my husband. Which is usually where I start, by the way. That's Jason. That's usually half the problem. That's Jason. Jason's dad. That's the problem.

Can I ask you another regular person question? You don't want me to go back into the Wikipedia stuff? No. Why didn't you do Leprechaun 2? Was it the script? Were you not happy with the script? When I was a kid, I loved that movie. I loved that movie. Don't say when you were a kid ever to me again. Ever. Okay, sorry.

We're the same age. Oh, yeah, that's right. Well, how old were you? You were like 14 when you made it, right? 15, 16? I was 21. Oh, never mind. Smart enough to know better. Exactly. What is the most favorite job you've ever had? You're like, if you think about it, you're like, oh, my God, I wish every job could be like that. I laughed so much. I made some friends. I still connect, blah, blah, blah. I've had a lot of them. So many. Yeah. All right, next question. I mean, well, I would...

Kidding, I'm kidding. Am I allowed more than one answer? Yes. I loved, well, obviously Friends. That's a no-brainer. It's got to be number one, right? Yeah. That's all family. I would have to say that would be number one. I always loved shooting with Sandler. Yeah, he's the best. Just Go With It was super fun. We shot it in Hawaii, so that was half of why that was incredibly fun. And, you know, we've known each other since we were 19. Yeah.

How many films have you done with, you've done three with him, I want to say? Two. Two. Two, right? Yeah, two. Well, Murder Mystery and then just, that was it? Mm-hmm.

So break it down. So let me ask you this then. Obviously Friends. Doing another one though. You're doing another one with Sandler? Mm-hmm. That's great. That's great. That's so good to hear. So obviously Friends, it's like the number one and we get it why and you guys get along so great and you're all still friends in real life, which is so awesome and all those people are really great people and it is, like Jason said, it's a family. Yeah. What was your favorite film that you made that you felt the most...

And not to disparage any of the other ones. It's not sort of like ranking them. It's more like the experience times how you thought it came out and how proud you were of it. And what I got from the experience. Yeah, what you got from it. Yeah. And if you could just go ahead and speak into the mic. Okay.

That'd be great. I was told very clearly how far to... We're getting great level from her. Am I too loud? No, we're so good. Because I tend to scream on these things. How is your sippy there going? Yeah, Sean, it's like the microphone is... He couldn't even move to the side for that sippy. It was like... You're like competing. Like the water's got to compete with the microphone for your mouth. Like, Jesus. Listener, Sean has a tremendously large microphone in front of his face. I know. He does. It's like a cartoon. It's too big.

It's like a, so Jen, what was your, what was that favorite though? What was that movie that you did that you were like, yes. I would have to say personally, it was the movie Cake.

Yeah. Yeah. Great. Even though that was incredibly hard work. You were fantastic in that movie. Fantastic. So good. Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate it deeply, deeply. That was an experience that was creatively fulfilling because all of my, everything I imagined as an actor, I would be completely afraid of and suck at.

I didn't so bad. Yeah, I'll say. Any truth to the rumor that the sequel, Pi, is in the works? Uh-huh. That's it. Thank you. By the way, easiest audience. Yep. Those are my favorite jokes. Sean is the easiest audience on the planet. I will FaceTime Sean sometimes twice a day because I'll be like, this is a dumb bit. Alessandra's not laughing. Nobody around here, but you know who's going to laugh at this? Sean. Uh-huh.

So stupid. But wait, I want to say, because now you've experienced and excelled in like nobody's business in all areas of show business, movies and TV and everything else. Not musicals yet. Not musicals, but you sang amazing on Morning Show. I love that. I texted you after. I was like, oh my God, that was so great.

Thanks, honey. But would you ever want to do, do you ever miss the schedule of a sitcom and would you ever want to do one again? Every single day. Really? It's the best schedule ever. It's the best schedule ever on the planet. So you would do another one? If I knew it would be the same experience as I'd had with those guys, yes. And I doubt that will ever happen.

No, it won't happen that way. But I remember when I was doing that, we were doing the Millers with Jimmy Burrows. With Jimmy Burrows. Yeah, and like every weekend. And you'd always be like, God, like you just wanted to know. I was so envious. You were so envious. I visited the set a couple times. You came and visited the set. Who else was on that show, Will, with you? You. You.

Oh, that's right. You, Sean. Well done, Sean. Fuck, Sean. I was going to say you look so much like the guy who did it. It was you, of course. And Margo Martindale. Wasn't Margo on that? Margo, yeah. Oh, Margo Martindale, who I worship. Love her best.

The three of us. How hard did we laugh? How fun is she? We laughed. I cried laughing. She's a make-you-cry-laughing kind of gal. I did another movie with her, actually, called Management, with Steve Zahn, another funny, very talented man. Steve Zahn, very funny guy. Oh, yeah.

Can I change gear to an emotional thing, I suppose? I want to talk about fear. Oh, shit. Oh, I love that. Just speaking from... We're all actors here, and I'm sure many of our listeners are not, if they know what's good for them. But...

How fear affects you with respect to success. And what was your fear like before you found success? And what is your fear like now post-success? Like how have you found – I guess I'm couching all this in your – Now that your success is gone is what you're saying. Way to go. You're such a generous –

happy, warm person. And you're an incredible actor, but you can't fake that. So that's coming from a place of security. That's a place of not a ton of fear, or at least it's healthy fear in certain areas. How has that changed? Have you always been like that? Because success is a really complicated thing. Fame is a complicated thing. And somehow you've managed to keep that warm, wonderful, safe, trusting side of you intact.

when a lot of people with your level of success and fame are not trusting and actually the fear becomes increased. But you seem to have kept yourself from that. Well, I think all of us are kind of lucky that we found our success before the internet and before social media. And I think there was...

There was, I don't think I ever really had fear. I don't think I had fear. I mean, I had fear of other irrational things, you know, like, as you know, flying. You do. You hate flying. Oh, I hate it. Why? Because it's too heavy and it doesn't make sense. And yet it gets off the ground. It goes there and then it stays there. I know there's all the things and I've been taught. Okay, fine. It's irrational. It's control. I love somebody going like, and I have a fear of flying. Like, why? Why?

Why? You mean why? Because that big piece of metal going in the sky at 500 miles an hour? That's why, man. That's why. Yeah. And I've also had some pretty scary flight experiences. So but anyway, but so those fears. I also was the one person remember when we were on an airplane, a plane to a surprise trip for my birthday and we'd lost a wheel.

I was the only one not afraid and everyone else is in tears writing emails and notes to their family. Did that surprise you that you kind of clicked into mother hen there and was strong for everybody? What I realized was, oh, just how irrational my fear is now.

Of flying, because here we are in a moment where there could actually be something going terribly wrong. And I have complete faith in our pilot. I have complete faith in what's happening. My girlfriend and I, I'm not done, Sean. Sorry, sorry. I get excited. I know, I can see that.

So my girlfriend, Dre, and I, and Kristen, we, the three of us were like, this is, we're, we're not afraid. And all of the, and Courtney, who is like, her dad's a pilot. She's never afraid. Molly, Amanda, Amanda's like, I'm not going down on a plane. My dad. And so, you know, I, so that's irrational. It was, that was that insight into that. But, but in terms of the business, it takes a lot of work, you know, to maintain, um,

everything that you said, because I don't want to ever lose that. I don't want to stop trusting people.

And I see how it can happen. And I've had reason to. I've had all sorts of not great things happen to me where your trust could easily be broken. But I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. And so there's therapy. Right. But you seem to have taken the assets and the capital that Success or Fame has given you. And instead of buying yachts and whatnot, you've actually taken that as an opportunity to –

you know, when somebody approaches you, you get their best self, right? Because when they meet you, they're happy. They're in a good mood. They want to talk to you. They're asking questions. And you take that opportunity to actually put people at ease and bring them in and give them a good experience. Like, I just find that that's a really generous instinct of yours. And I suppose my question somewhere in all of this is how... Jason's question is, how could you do that? Because he could never do that. Yeah, I just...

Like you just, it's, have you always been like that or was it something that you made a conscious decision where I'm going to take this capital and I'm going to take this, um, this sort of junk food confidence and actually switch it into something that can benefit my life and my friends and the people that come into my circle. Cause it's, it's a, it's a nice food confidence. Another good one. Yeah. Yeah. Food confidence. Um, I,

You know, when I was a little kid and we were at Joe Allen's. I don't know if anybody remembers Joe Allen's. Of course. That's in New York. In New York City. It's a big after-Broadway dinner restaurant. After-Broadway place. And I was there, and there was a guy that was on Sesame Street in the restaurant. And I remember walking over to him.

At seven years old, I was seven, and I walked over to his table and I tugged on his jacket and he literally whipped his head around with fiery anger in his eyes and said, cookies, give me cookies. What did he say? No, honey, it was not a Muppet. It was not a puppet. It was a human being. Okay.

Anyway, I burst into tears, felt basically I'm having dinner and I didn't know any better that that's not something that you do when someone's in the middle of dinner. So and there was a couple moments. I also just know that that's something I don't want to. These people are these people are why we work. Right. So it's just a part of you. You've always been like that. And thank God for all of us. Yeah.

You know what I would say, Jen? Yes, honey. I would say the other thing that I noticed when you tell that story about being on the plane, and I also get nervous of flying and... Do you? Yeah, I do. I don't think I know that about you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. More and more in the last 10 years. Well, more children you have. If you have a couple hundred more children, you definitely... I know. But...

And, you know, I was talking to a lot of people do. And I was talking to Downey yesterday because he's coming back the day after we are. And he's got a big fear of flying, too. Oh. Yeah, big time. New or, like, acquired? The last few years. Like, he hates it. And he does the same thing I do, which is, like, there's bumps. And then you're like, why is everybody not paying attention? Yeah. Yeah. And everybody's so calm. And everybody's so calm. They're like, why are you flying?

Like, I'll be watching a movie and then there's bumps and I flip it down and I'm like, I can't watch the movie while they're, I'm like looking around like, how can you watch the movie in this, you know, whatever. Anyway, my point was. Do you ever feel that you go to the, like look to the pilot or look to the, whoever the person is on the plane to see if anybody else is panicking? Because I used to look, I used to look to the flight attendants. Yeah. If they're calm,

and they're normal and they're just like holding on, then I'm fine. Always do that. But what I was going to say was your ability in that moment where the wheel falls off and it's like, holy shit, where most people would freak out, whereas before most people in normal turbulence would not freak out and it's the reverse, right? All of a sudden...

when there's a real issue, you're not freaking out. And it really speaks to kind of what Jason, you were saying before about fear, your fear of you, you have a fearlessness in what you do. And that's what makes you so good at what you do, because when the moment you're so good at being in the moment all the time, and when the moment calls for it, and even if it's whatever you like you, so there's a thing going that you have to deal with it. There's nothing you can do. You have to be in that moment. And I think that that,

Really, it doesn't surprise me that you weren't scared in that moment. Right, because that's what I was going to ask too is, Jen, don't you, when something like that happens, do you click into a different kind of mode when like a crisis happens or something big happens where you're like, okay, I got to take care of it, blah, blah, blah. That sometimes happens to me when, you know, I look like I can't even get myself dressed in the morning. Yeah.

Yeah, but you do click in. I know what you mean, Sean. Remember the fires a couple years ago when it got really close to your house and you were up on the roof taking those videos? Yeah. And we were all like, Jesus. And you're like, I know. Look how close it is. That was actually a scary moment. I had to get the dogs and I had to get in the car because no one could get up to the house either. Yeah. But you weren't.

flipping out in that moment. Even though you did clear out for a few days, you weren't flipping out. No. Yeah. Well, you've been handling a lot of responsibility for a long time, right? You're practiced at that. Mm-hmm. I'm my own, my, you know, it's me and me and me and me. Very self-sufficient. Yeah. Jen, I want to know something. Who do you, because you seem to me to be so together and...

Maybe it's meditation. Maybe it's just life experience. Maybe it's just who you are. I'm not. I'm really not. I'm a hot mess. But you do. So am I. I'm a hotter mess. But you do seem so together and so strong. Keyword, seem. No, no. That...

I'm an ice cold mess. Like, I feel like you're way more enlightened in a sense than I am or most people are because of the work that you've put in. And so who do you look to? Because I sometimes look to you like, Jen, what do you do for this? And how do you think about this? And we just talked to each other a week ago. I know. And it was great about like advice about this certain issue. And so...

What did she say? Just put cream on it? I said, there's a salve for this. But who is that for you? It's none of you guys. I've got great cream advice. I'm actually kidding. I find every one of my friends has something wonderful to offer. You're covered. I'm so covered. You are covered. I feel so covered. I mean, JB, I go to you for certain issues, topics.

You know, Will. Nothing. You go to JV for like what? For like box office stuff? Yeah. Tracking, tracking. Deadline, any kind of like, you know. Tracking ratings, stuff like that. Tracking ratings. But by the way, yes. Yes. No, I know. He is who you go to for that. I know. If there's any, it's like my own walking deadline. I'm not proud of that. Wait a minute. I'm not proud of that. Why? It's incredible. It's what you're known for. What do you mean? It's all you're known for.

I pay attention to what we do for a living. Your nickname is Junket, by the way. That's the adorable thing, which I love. You love to junket. I don't want any info sneaking up on me, you know? No, I agree. Jen, remember you did that? What was that thing you did with the rocks and we all had to write down like our thing that we loved? Everybody had to write their thing on the rocks about what they wanted or whatever. And then what's the most important thing in your life? And you know what you wrote, Will, on your rock?

What? My boys. And you know where that rock is? It's on my dresser. I took that rock and I put it on my dresser and it's, I'm going to send you a picture when I get back. Is that for real? Yeah. You stole my rock? That's my rock. Those are my rocks. I think you said, yeah, you guys can take them with you if you want or something like that. And I will. I think you just walked away from us. And I was so warmed by your little rock, Willie, that I took it for you. Oh, no.

Now I'm not going to make my shot at you. Now I'm not going to take a shot at you. Well, if I had to write something that I wanted on a rock, what would it be? Whipped cream. Cookies? Milkshakes. Milkshakes. Jennifer Margaret Jasmine Aniston. Incredible that you joined us. Is that it?

That's how that goes. We've actually been more generous. Can we talk about anything? No. Well, that's what this show is. We're not interviewers. We're not bright. And we just have a conversation. Oh, stop saying that about yourselves. Don't talk about my friend like that. Yeah, well, smartless. We're living up to our title. Yeah.

But you have been very, very generous with your time. Yes, thank you. Well, I love you all dearly. I love you very much. Love you. And thank you for all of the wonderful compliments. My God, this is the place to be if you need a little booster. A little booster shot, a little love bomb from my boys. We got plenty. We don't do it to everybody. No, you should hear some of them. We love you dearly so much. Love you, honey. Love you so much. Love you too.

All right. I'll probably see you in about an hour. Yeah. See you soon. Love you. Love you. Love you. Bye. Bye. Bye. Love you. You know what? I like that Jen, she added the, which we could start. We should start kissing. No, no, no. We don't need to add that at all. No, we should start kissing. I do think the bye did, may have started at her house. I mean, we didn't, we took it off of some sort of television show or film because it's been around for a while, but.

Yeah. But yeah, I feel like I've heard that from her before. One of the great things about this age that we live in, you say that and we'll keep, this will be on the show. And then in the comments, it'll be like, that did not fucking, it actually came from like, okay, man. That started on Saved by the Bell. These sons of bitches. Yeah.

How dare you? And appropriate my fucking expression, bye. I'm like, okay, man. I was the first person to put six E's on bye. Yeah. I think it was Welcome Back, Connor, when one of the sweat hogs said bye. Actually, it turns out I just looked into it. My uncle used to work at it, and I just hear I have the proof, and I have the thing on YouTube. Like, fuck off. Who cares about your fucking opinion? Shut up. We don't care. We're saying it, and now it's law, and you can shut up.

Forget it, Will. Will's the police of saves. We're back in a Will's dinner hour here. You can tell. I know. I already had dinner. Guess what? You're not going to be surprised I had cake for dessert. I'm sure you did. In celebration of Jen? I didn't know it was Jen coming on. I didn't know it was Jen. She was in the movie Cake. Oh, Cake the movie. Yeah, I can't. Look, it's exhausting explaining things to you. I can't be your go-to guy for everything that's like pie. I'm going to go celebrate the sequel and have a piece of pie right now.

See? I love it. I love it. I love you keep selling that joke. But Jason, thanks for bringing her on because we're all friends with her. She is a light. There's a reason she's Jennifer Aniston and super, super famous and lovely because she is...

real and normal and relatable and accessible. It's a tricky thing that we're all having to deal with too, right? Because we're having a lot of our friends on the show. We want to talk to them. I think some listeners want to hear from them. But we like, for instance, Jen, perfect example. I know...

I've heard tons about her just personally. So like I literally do have to go to the goddamn Wikipedia page to find out what the hell would I ask her that I don't already know. And it is an interesting piece of research that one has to do when you're inviting somebody on that you've known forever. We're dealing with that. Yeah. But it's also really fun because it can just be us shooting the shit. Right, right, which is what it ended up being. And I don't know if it was worth listening to, but I loved it.

But it is, you know, Sean, like you said, it's not always the case, but I think that we, as we've gotten older too, you kind of whittle down and you choose to spend the time with the people who are the most genuine. And the three of us spend time with a lot of similar people and no drama. And Jen is one of those people. And she's really close with you guys, both you guys and with Amanda, very close and for years. And I'm close with her as well. And it's that idea of like,

She is such a genuine person. The person that we talk to here is the same person that you'll talk to at her house in an hour, is the same person who's at the junket three months from now, is the same person who's on set with Adam Sandler in Hawaii. For sure. Is always the same person, and it never changes. Sweet, genuine, nice. We should bring on somebody that we all mutually know that we can't stand. That's a good idea. Yeah, let's do that. I challenge you guys, just pick somebody that we hate.

I got somebody. You got somebody. I do. I've got somebody. We'll know as soon as it's revealed. You'll know as soon as they come on. It's a guy. And I know as soon as I have this person on...

after you're going to be like, holy fuck. You know what this reminds me of? Do you ever see, they tried to do a remake too. They called it Dinner with Idiots or Dinner for Schmucks. Dinner for Schmucks. But in the French, I saw the original French because. Sure, of course, because you speak French, blah, blah, blah. Sorry, I think in French too. I'm so sorry. But so Diner des Cons, which is like the dinner for idiots, right? Right. So Schmucks. Yeah.

And that is what this will be, is kind of like who can bring... They sort of made fun of him the whole time, right? Yeah, so who can... You have to... The goal of that, you know, was that to bring the most idiotic dinner guest. And so that's going to be this. We're going to have to bring the most idiotic...

Are you sure it's not us three already? We're the idiots for sure. The joke's already on us. Guaranteed. I think we all got invited. Yeah. No, but you know what? It's not going to be that. It's going to be bringing on a person who, because there is no time for drama and all that, and it's somebody who there are a few,

Few, not a lot, but there are a few people left who are just dicks and they're just assholes. Well, you know, my theory is, and I shared this last time, whatever job you go on, because there's always an asshole on every job, if you look around and you can't find one, it's probably you. And that's our episode, everybody. Way to go out on a high note, Sean.

That's our theme. That's actually, that is an interesting point. All right. Well, she was great. We love her. What a great guest, Jay. A little like just sunshine walking. That's right. She really is. All right. All right. Love you. Bye. Bye. Smart. Blast. Smart. Blast.

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