Ike Barinholtz: Wahlberg Adjacent

0:19Hey everybody, welcome to Literally. I love it when I get my smart, funny people on the show. You know I love that. You know it goes off the rails. I hope you like it as much as I do. Ike Barinholtz, yeah. Nobody funnier. Just a murderer, a comedy murderer. He's on the studio on Apple TV. Plays the vice president of production with Seth Rogen. He is, this is my favorite thing. He's the co-creator and executive producer of Running Point on Netflix, which is the Genie Bus Lakers sitcom starring Kate Hudson. You know, I love my Lakers. And, you know, Eastbound and Down, come on, like Barinholtz. Let's get it.

1:11Now, I like you with your glasses on like that because, you know, then you get to do glasses acting. How is your glasses acting? My glasses acting is pretty strong I never wore glasses my whole life Until the last few years And But I've always I love a good prop Glasses give you this option I'm telling you right now If you don't listen to me the bomb is going to go off That's right You know what you never see people do though Is put them on It's hard to look cool putting them on Yeah especially because this happens a lot to me where it kind of catches here where it's like, I don't care what you say.

1:52I'm the expert. You know what I mean? It's like, it gives you like the jab and it doesn't, it takes away any power you have. How's your, how's your, here's the thing that fucked me big time about the digital age. A lot of people complain and there's a lot of reasons to complain about it. But remember when, like if you had an office and you'd go back in, they would hand you those little pink things with messages. Oh, yeah. And like, that was my whole performance in the West Wing was based on that. Like, I have, it's all I ever did was like, I'd walk in and they go, and then I'd be like shuffling very importantly, a bunch of things.

2:26And like, now you don't, you don't do that. So like, you're my, my paperwork acting really suffered. in a paperless world actors really what you have to do is you have to do what Brando did on The Godfather which is like write down dialogue and tape it to Robert Duvall's forehead and he would like on his coverage that's how he remembered his lines by having little pieces of tape all over his acting partner I love watching Apocalypse Now when Brando is literally going and I remember I I I wept like some and it's like he just like blatantly it it broke my heart around the room when I found out that he in the in the you know arguably one of his greatest scenes in a in oh my god Waterfront on the Waterfront he he he didn't stick around for the coverage he shot his side of it and left yeah Carl Malden I think is no Rod Steiger Rod Steiger yeah that's that's tough because like you get like if you're rod steiger you're opposite brando he's like the guy he's giving you this insane monologue it's so from the heart and it's like okay you know you know charlie my second team he's gonna do this i gotta go not even second team it's script supervisor so he gets like he gets i could have been somebody i could have been a contender but it was you, Charlie.

3:56It was you the whole time. You're the... Like a bum, which is what I... Hold on. Am now a bum. That's tough. That's a tough one to take. That's rough. That's rough sledding. Have you ever worked with anybody who's getting their dialogue fed to them from a near way? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You have? No way! Yeah, yeah. I can't say who because I don't know if he... If it's public. But he's... He's a famous actor. And he's a great actor. He's one of the best actors. But it was like, I think he was focusing on accent. And it was a lot of... Okay, that's fair. That's totally fair. No, no, that's totally fair.

4:42Yes. And insanely long monologues, a lot of which are procedural, kind of... Maybe if you were dealing with the FBI or the CIA, just giving more hints out there. Real, real literally heads can read between the lines and decode who it is and look on my Wikipedia. But it was crazy. And a friend of mine told me, he's like, hey, you're working with so-and-so. He goes, I would mess with him. Because when you have the earwit again, you have to say whatever, you know, what's in the script because that's what they're feeding to you. That's right. And so if one of his lines, my friend decided to mess with him, and if one of his lines were like, we got to leave right now, my friend was supposed to say in the script, yeah, let me grab my gun.

5:25And he would go, we need to leave right now. My friend would be like, no, I'm not leaving. And he would just freeze and stare at him and go, we need to leave right now. Like, he just said. My, when I worked with an actor who was getting his lines fed for an earwig off camera, it would be very disconcerting because you'd be having a conversation. and then like we are right now, if all of a sudden I went, no, no, the Ivy needs to be moved to three o 'clock because you realize they're just talking to their assistants. Yeah. And also you could say Amy Poehler. You don't have to like hide her name.

6:00We know it's her. It was Amy. It was Amy. Amy is the king of the earwigs. It's something she picked up from Tina. She picked it up from Tina and then Amy passed it along to Johnny Depp because most people know it. Amy, Tina and Johnny Depp are like famously Well, apparently Depp, but Depp uses the earwig, get this. Depp apparently uses the earwig not for his dialogue. It's he's listening to music while he's acting. Ooh. Yes. That's okay. That's, I mean, again, like if it works, sure. I just, as you said that, I just realized I need to use an earwig just for like going to a party. You know what I mean?

6:43If there was someone, you know, you go to like a big party and people come up to you sometimes. That's Ted Sarandos. That's Ted Sarandos. Exactly. Just for the record, just for the record, I'm saying this directly to camera. Ted, I would know who you are, Ted. Yeah, we know. Ted's my guy. But like, you know, yeah, if you just have an assistant or a spouse, perhaps, just kind of posts up in the corner watching. And yeah, they just come by and like, this is Shawn Michelson. He's VP production of. That would just be amazing. It really is the, you know, I think it's also the reason for the younger wife.

7:18I see a lot of old dudes, they don't want to have an earwig, so they just get a younger wife. And the younger wife literally will go, like, there are a couple guys, like, world famous. One's a mogul, world, world, world, world famous mogul. And the other is world, world, world famous performer, singer, songwriter. Wow. And the young wife will be like, oh, you know Rob Lowe? Sure, yes. He's the one. You're like, oh, it just completely props them up. Yeah, see, I don't even need that. That's why I married a woman 46 years older than me. You know, a lot of people gave me grief for it and said, you're going to wish someone was a little younger.

8:02But I. You went the other way. I went the other way. And a lot of times I have to explain who people are, where we are even. but I don't regret it. I don't regret it at all. Hey, I got to tell you, I got to tell you, my daughters and I just, we're in like a little bit of a low essence for them because I showed them Tommy Boy not too long ago, which they loved. They loved it. They loved it. When you start kissing Bo Derek, they went, oh. But now we're also getting into Parks and Rec. and so they are they're very very excited they would not treat you like a TMZ truck they would they would not they would not say oh that's they would be like that is Rob Lowe that's right I mean they would not have said is that John who do you ever get there must be somebody that people think you are that you're not yeah do you remember Buddy Epson no No, no, no.

9:08Barnaby Jones. Barnaby Jones. Barnaby Jones. Jed Clampett. Barnaby Jones, by the way, not only used to have the greatest intro. Remember intros in TV shows where it used to have like a moment? Yeah. Just him swiveling in the chair. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Barnaby Jones was badass, dude. He was a badass. That wasn't at the same time as Streets of San Francisco. Yeah. Wow. I get often mistaken, not mistaken for, but people will tell me you look like Mark Wahlberg or you look like Donnie Wahlberg. That's been kind of a recurring thing. You're Wahlberg, Wahlberg adjacent. I can see that. I could easily be the fourth brother that no, they never talk about.

9:51There's another, there's a guy, there's a movie called Rat Race. Oh my God. Yeah. It came out like in the mid nineties. It was, it was almost like a, like an updated version of it's a mad, mad, mad, mad world type of situation. Exactly. and there's a guy in it I'm kind of blanking on his name right now but he's in it and there's a bit in it where he like pierces his tongue and he kind of talks because his tongue was pierced and we look a little bit alike but I've had over the years Rob honestly hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people come up to me like Rat Race I didn't know hundreds and hundreds of people saw that movie Zing I I, for years, I was like, no, that's not me.

10:36And now they still say it. And I go, thank you. Yeah, it was a fun one. Whoopi and I, we still talk. Love her. Love her. So have you ever spoken to Mark or Donnie about being officially? Because the Baldwins made me an honorary Baldwin years ago. You could definitely be a Baldwin. You're Baldwinian. Baldwinian. Have you ever been photographed in the same room as Rob Palenka? I was just, I was at a, we have to go deep now, right now. I was going to get to this. Yeah. So not only, so Jeannie, who you obviously know and love, Jeannie Buss, owner of Lakers. A couple of seasons ago, they always do an event for big benefactors and season ticket holders.

11:28Yeah, we did it this year. Okay. I did it. three years ago and it was all predicated on her coming out and saying and you know later in this in the program tonight rob's going to come out and talk about the deals and rob's really excited about this thing and rob and then i come out yeah and and it was the joke was completely lost on 90 90 of the people but it was like the notion that they thought it was palinka and it was me it's just you guys look too much alike like if if will ferrell came out people are like yeah oh, that's Ralph Palenka. Hit me the mustard. That is so funny. It is because we were at that event a few weeks ago or whatever.

12:07And he was there and I was there with Mindy Kaling. And we were talking to him and he walks away and she's like, it looks exactly like Ralph Lothar, like brothers. We do. He looks more like my brother than my actual brother does. Yes, he kind of does. He does. Wow, it's wild. it's it's nuts i love i love this show i love um uh running point it's thank you my friend it's super great i love kate hudson i love she's one of my first of all she's one of my favorite people oh like and so talented how about her music career dude i it's so funny you know because we she came on to do the show signed under the show we went we're talking to her and stuff and hanging out a little bit and she's like i'm doing music you guys gotta come and see this big show and you never know with movie stars.

12:59You never know. You never know. And we got there and it was packed, packed show. And she came out and I can't remember if it was the first or second song, but she covered Voices Carry, which is one of my all times. And she's just incredible, man. She's so, so great. And it's shocking. It's shocking. I mean, it shouldn't be shocking because she's like, you know, whatever, has very talented genes and whatnot. But she's just great. It's such a relief because if it was bad, you'd have to be like, yeah, the show's great. You know what I mean? She's just, she's amazing. Yeah, and she's great. And Jeannie is such a great character, persona, icon.

13:57You know, I've known the Buss family. I knew Dr. Buss really, really well. I would go up to Pickfair and hang. I've got a lot of, if these walls could talk, Pickfair stories. Oh, my God. And Jim Buss. I mean, it's like when you know, you know. You know what I mean? If they would have kept doing the other Winning Time show, there would have been a Rob Lowe character in like season four or something. Played by John Stamos. No, they, no, 100%. I mean, like people go on and on about the Forum Club. And I go, yeah, but you know where the real shit was going down? The Press Lounge. Oh my God. Because the Press Lounge was where you actually had some, like that's where Nicholson and I were like, like it was, it was not pretty or, or really pretty.

14:46it was beautiful. It was beautiful. The 80s. Man, I got to LA way too late. I got here in like 2000 where I was just like, too late. It's just too late. Yeah. Too late.

15:10So, season two, is it picked up? It's picked up. They picked it up. Uncle Ted, we love you. Uncle Ted, love him. Love him. They picked it up, and it's, yeah, we're working on it right now. It's definitely a lot easier, season two, I think, because, like, season one, you're trying to figure it out and establish the characters. Is this person going to work or not? But season two, it's just really exciting because you kind of know everyone, and we lucked out with this cast. I mean, Kate, the fact that we got her is one. I just assumed that she would just be too busy or doing a movie or something.

15:48But she really loved the script. She loves Jeannie. Like you, she's known Jeannie since she was very young. I think Jeannie Buss and Kate Hudson both are very evocative of Southern California and the ocean and the vibe. And so we were so excited to get her. But then we get like Justin Theroux to play her brother. and Drew Tarver and Scott MacArthur and Jay Ellis is the coach and Max Greenfield and Brenda Song. It's like this wild life group. So it's really, really fun to write for those guys. Does Thoreau write anymore? He does. He does. Because he's so, I mean, dude, I mean, people forget that Justin Thoreau wrote Tropic Thunder.

16:30One of the all time, like it's probably a top five comedy of all time. Dude, he wrote it. He wrote it. And I think he wrote Zoolander. I think he wrote Zoolander he also he told me that there's like a back when they remember when they used to make movies and they really put money into them and they would be like oh okay the movie's done here's another million dollars to shoot like DVD extras and commentary and all that stuff they gave them a ton of money to shoot like a featurette for the Tropic Thunder DVD that was basically like a version of Hearts of Darkness like a documentary about the movie that's i'm pretty sure don't quote me on this the road directed oh i see this it is i think you can find it on the internet maybe on youtube it is so funny because it was just him dicking around on set and like grabbing you know robert downey and being like hey come here shoot this terrorizes yeah you might have seen the the downey in the hotel room yeah that's where that's like holding a gun to his head in front of his son he's like I'm going to kill myself.

17:38So good. When I did a show called The Grinder and I played like... Great show. Oh, thanks, man. I'm friends with those guys, with the writers. Yeah, that's right. Because you do friends... Friends from college. Wait, didn't Mogul and Paul write The Grinder? They did. But also, what's his name? Oh, Nick Stoller. Nick Stoller. Yes. Yeah. Stole her as well I'm not friends with him though I don't like him Fuck him The The Anyway When I When I played the grinder And I wanted to have Certain Cool wardrobe My mood board Was all Justin Theroux Oh He All Justin Theroux Nobody wears clothes Like Justin Theroux Nobody Nobody Like His body type Like compare If I wore the things That he's wearing That's That's his competitive It's true He's a tiny Little Mick Jagger of a man.

18:33He's just incredibly ripped and sinewy, but like strangely broad. It's wild. When I put that on, people get really upset. When I wear clothes like that, when I wear tight jeans, people are like, oh, God. You can see his balls. It's gross. It's gross. He's got the anatomy to pull it off. Yeah, I don't. I don't. So what season two, roughly, what do you think, can you tell me any hint? Well, I think, you know, the one thing I could say is we definitely ended season one with a lot of cliffhangers. You know, is she going to break up with Lev, played by Max Greenfield? You know, is she going to follow through on the kiss she made with Jay Ellis?

19:32And then at the very end, Thoreau's back. So we've set up all these kind of, throw a lot of balls in the air. So we'll see where those land. And, you know, the great thing about telling a story about a sports team is like, you really get to use like the season as a guide and touchdown throughout the season. And I know you're a huge sports fan. And so for that, we're really lucky to kind of have that as a structure. Are you more, you're like Dodgers first, right? That's your thing. Would you say? I got to be full disclosure. It was always, baseball was always my first love, but I grew up a Reds fan.

20:11So when I came to LA, I was like ambivalent about the Dodgers, but Laker, Laker, Laker, Laker. And I was super lucky. I got the Lakers through not only Showtime, right, season four seats, really, and then Kobe and Shaq. Right. And then they kind of went through their lull. Right. And so I still love the Lakers, but the Dodgers have taken over that I don't miss a game. I watch, I follow the stats. I mean, I'm still as Laker Nation, but the Dodgers right now. it's a good vibe it's a really good vibe at this time i'm a i'm a cub fan i'm from chicago but i really good cubs are really good we got uh really good p crow armstrong i love him dude by the way do you know his dad have you ever worked with his dad his dad's yeah he's a he's i know his mom's an actress too right mom's an actor dad's an actor and now like it's so crazy i feel so old that like oh yeah the that young guy from heroes his son is now like the best five-tool player in like years.

21:21It's so good. You want to hear a crazy baseball stat I just heard? Yeah. Crazy stat. Ichiro Suzuki. His 10th at-bat ever in the major leagues was a single. And that put him at 300 exactly. he had like roughly 10 500 more at bats in his career and he never went below 300 what well that that is that's insane i'm gonna steal that quote yeah double check it because if it's wrong i and delete this entire podcast but i'm pretty sure i know credibility that yeah but But that is amazing. I love him. He's amazing. We got to talk the studio. Everybody's talking about it. It's one of those. I would love to get under the hood and see who's watching that show.

22:21Because it's got to be everybody. Is it possible? Is it possible? I'm just going to say, and I'm not trying to be a dick. Is it possible that there are 5 ,000 people watching that show? Anything's possible. I think it's more than 5 ,000. I will say this. I love when people in the business, people in New York and LA reach out and they're like, amazing. I love it. It's great. It's one for us. It's like, if you're a - It's one for you. Let me ask you this. Let me put you this way. Yes. Okay. Look, because we, you've been around long enough. There, there's, I've never, I was on a show called 9-1-1 Lone Star.

23:03Sure. I've never had one person, not one, ever, in Los Angeles, mention it. Right. I get, I go and play in the Jack Nicklaus Memorial Tournament, playing with Scotty Scheffler this year. Oh, nothing. Wow. Wow. And all the gallery is, Captain Strand! Yeah, yeah, yeah. Captain 126 forever! Right? So there's that. And then when I did, and it's not dissimilar, um um um the grinder everybody in la everybody in new york and then my own father's never heard of that show is that what that's i think what we're talking about here i i get extra excited when people who i know who don't live in new york la or people online who live randomly in other places love it it's just it that's exciting um but it is listen it's it is a show that is i think i i i think the same thing was true for like the larry sanders show you know what i mean but i but i remember i remember living in chicago being like 15 or 16 and watching it and having no idea some of the things they were talking about but being like i want to do this i want to be i want to be a writer in this room you know what i mean so yeah yeah i think if you anytime you make something that's about the business naturally it's going to be focused mostly on the coasts and chicago's a coast too uh it has lake michigan uh yeah but but uh nothing hits more than like a uh uh it's weird it's where there's like a difference there's a difference but running Running Point is a show that hits everywhere.

24:55That hits both. I don't know. I don't know. I mean, it's fun when you, it's rare when you get both, but I can see that Running Point would make perfect sense. So in the studio, what is your single favorite, most inside baseball? I'm sure you put in stuff that makes, that's more than inside. It makes only three of you on the set. Yeah, yeah, yes, yes. You must have those, right? Yeah, yeah. I, um, when I did, when Fred Armisen and I were doing Unstable for Uncle Ted at Netflix. Oh, yes. And the conceit was he was staying in my basement because I had a good movie collection. But I was, but I was finally kicking him out.

25:35And as I kicked him out, I whispered in his ear, please promise me you'll watch. And the alts on what I wanted him to watch. Right, right. Were just as, I was like. Give me a couple. August Osage County.

25:53See, that killed me too. And I promise you, no one in America laughed at that joke, except maybe you, me, and Fred Armisen. Tracy Letts is a genius. First of all, I think Fred Armisen, I think he might be the funniest person ever. I don't know. He's definitely like, if you told me Fred Armisen's the funniest man of all time, I can't argue with that. I think it's, yeah, I agree. And the studio, yeah, there's like... Give me your face. You get to hit me with some, hit me with some baby. I'm trying to remember. I'm trying to remember. Oh God. I mean, okay. Give me a second. Give me a second. All right.

26:32I'm trying to think of everyone who was on there.

26:40There's a whole part. The thing about parking spaces was pretty amazing. The runner about the politics of where you park on a studio lot was pretty great. Oh, You know, I think definitely, okay, here's one that's very inside baseball, just because I do hear a lot of executives say that, is in that episode, the director I'm trying to woo, Parker Finn, who's actually the director of the movie Smile and Smile 2. I'm trying to get him to remake his own movie for the studio. And I keep, he keeps showing up and Seth won't talk to him or he shows up and I blow him off. And I'm like, listen, man, give me one more chance tomorrow.

27:17Come tomorrow. I'm bringing the courage bagels. And I had as a line that I've had like a couple of different executives be like, we got to get courage bagels next time. So that's one that like, that's it. It's amazing. It's so few, few people are going to hear a lot of the stuff that, um, David Krumholtz is saying to Seth, I feel like is super insidery. Um, but listen, you know, like if you're a cook at a cool little restaurant, South Carolina, you love the bear. You know what I mean? you're watching the baron that one for you this one's for us yeah one for you one for us i love the um like when entourage was obsessed with remaking aquaman the the kool-aid movie is the by the way here's the because what's great about it is and i would love to again i those are the things that go i want to be in the writer's room and know the ones that didn't make it like oh because the kool-aid one is so genius because a it's so ridiculous but it's also a great idea like I would listen the Lego movie's great I'm down for a Kool-Aid movie oh yeah oh yeah come on the fictional slate that the Continental has is so funny because like I kept trying to wonder which movie would actually get made first and I did think like if Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg like I could see them calling me and being like hey we're making this movie called The Apocalypse it's about a bunch of zombies that shoot diarrhea johnny knoxville saying it do you want to come and play i would be like yeah that's totally a normal thing i'd be like you had me at diarrhea you had me at diarrhea you had me at diarrhea and johnny knoxville but uh it was like and and watching those scenes like the episode with the one-er with sarah polly like the kind of pretentious art house movie she's directing with greta lee like we're shooting the show we're being funny but then you watch and like, oh, they're making an actual like movie here.

29:17It's crazy. It's crazy with those voices. I can't believe the amount of night shoots. I would be like Ricky Gervais. Like Ricky Gervais, we did a film together and Ricky co-directed it. And the first thing Ricky does whenever he gets a script is cuts the night shoots. Doesn't care. I'm not doing them. I'm like, I'm like, I'm not doing those night shoots. And that, there's one, the whole fucking whole thing takes place at night. I'm like, man, Seth, good for you. brah yeah you haven't lost any of your edge they they they there was a couple late nights uh my friend did a movie one time with uh danny glover and it was it was all nights it was all nighttime exterior and like the first day like they're in the makeup chair and danny glover's like nights nights is when it really happens nights is when you get to be an actor when you get to actually do the shit because the vulnerability's down it's about nighttime and that night at like 815 he's sitting in his director's chair just and they're like what what oh sorry i love danny glover i i worked with him as well and that man one of the greatest he literally first of all we were doing a scene that was one of those eating scenes like a family eating thing he ate every piece of prop food by the way the guy is ripped and he's yes he ate everything that wasn't nailed down.

30:41And then he came up to me and goes, the corn dog's over. Crafty.

30:52Do you know the great, who is, I think it's Bobby Lee tells this, has this bit. I'm going to butcher this. Well, here's the thing. As long as I don't take credit for the story, I'm good. I'm not taking credit. I'll tell you this. You'll definitely tell it better than Bobby did. So go ahead. my man i love guy i love him so much i don't know if it's but but someone tells the story of them seeing fuck who is this god damn it but anyway but it's it's danny um going up to um morgan freeman and saying oh this is this is in the mid-90s going oh So, I mean, oh, that's the shrimp shrimp production. And he called the Shawshank Redemption the shrimp shrimp reduction.

31:45He got like nervous or something? It's just shrimp shrimp reduction.

31:55The shrimp shrimp reduction is one of the best movies of all time, though, to be fair. It is, it's a perfect movie It is, it also sounds like A recipe at a restaurant In New Orleans It's a shrimp shrimp production It's a bubblegum shrimp Bubblegum shrimp