Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130

27:24Is it different every year? The coach will come in with a new coach? Yeah, I joke about Coach Reed coming in with an index stack, like this big, just like a rubber band around. and you just see plays drawn up on him and he's just like, I got some good stuff, Kels. But there is a lot of carryover. The majority of your staples are still, say, the same. And the way the football coaches do, they have to teach it to all the new guys as well. So especially when you've been there for a long time, you start from square one in the offseason and during training camp. So at two different times of the year, you'll learn what we call this gap, what we call this technique, what we call this play in every minor deep.

28:05So he's had inside zone installed to him. I could go up over 35 times. You know what I mean? Like what is inside zone? Inside zone is when you give it to the running back at a more steep angle. Downhill, he reads the front side B gap to the backside A gap. Reads the really the trying to run it towards a three technique to where we can get a double team up to the Mike backer. Hopefully you're. Yeah, no, no, no. I knew that. I was just saying for this kind of inside zone. Yeah, for me, for me, I'm typically on the backside inside zone. And you double that you definitely double back every time to.

28:34There we go. That's right. That's right. There's always a double back. There we go. It's incredibly complicated, isn't it? I think it's – Or is it? It's complicated. We're still football players. It's not right. I don't know if you listen to a lot of football players talk. It's not that complicated. No, no. But honestly, I did once when we were doing Zoolander 2, Aaron Rodgers came to Italy. That's a complicated man. Yeah. He's a complicated guy. He knows a lot. But I asked him like, okay, you know, how do you do that on the line when you're having to make those split second decisions? And he said like, it's really not, it's not as like complicated as they make it sound on TV.

29:12And I was like, yeah, but you're Aaron Rodgers. So it's probably, it's a little bit, but it sounds like the same thing you're saying, which is kind of like you guys just have it for so many years instinctually, you know it. Yeah, there's a lot of carryover. You learn it over and over again. So it becomes second nature, especially the verbiage aspect of it. But it's a speed. Aaron is another level of the intellectual ability for the game. Right. So obviously it's very much easier for him than a lot of other guys. But I do think that at the end of the day, a lot of there's carryover, the plays. You've run them a long time now, whether you start in college or high school or even before that.

29:49So you tend to retain all that knowledge. So it sounds complex to somebody who doesn't understand it. But I mean, a lot of it's just common sense. So like if you're running a play where there's too many guys who run a play, it's like, yeah, we shouldn't run the ball over here. Let's go run the ball over here. It's like numbers and leverage ultimately come down to like what makes it football. And surprise of it, right? Yeah. I mean, that's a huge aspect of it, catching the defense off guard, not being predictable. Can I ask you one other question about football? Are you kidding me? I love this.

30:18No, this is as a fan, it's the pain aspect. Okay. As we watch numbed out, watching our TV sets, being entertained all across America and the world, you guys are just like smashing into each other and you just take it for granted as an audience member but when you really look at it enjoy it but like what is i mean like what is the reality of that in a game because you know you see it when you see the play where a guy gets twisted around and you see a god forbid an awful you know brain and you're like oh my god this is horrific yeah but first of all like what does that feel like and second of all could a normal human being and you know, guy like me.

30:56Yeah. I don't even mind I'm posing it. There's only one way to find out, Ben. No, no, no. I don't know if you could do that. I don't know if you could, Ben, but Tony Perkins could definitely get out on the field. Tony Perkins, too. He has the insecurities necessary to achieve his football team. Yeah. But like seriously, what is the level of like what's happening there? Well, I like, like, especially when you get the ball, it's like you're like, you ever seen the bird scooters that go like 15, 17 miles an hour and you're just kind of flying around town? It's like riding one of those and then jumping off.

31:25And it's just like you take little collisions like that throughout the day. And it's just fun. It's fun. And I feel like when you have pads on and you have the excitement of like the team and everything, you don't really think of like the camaraderie of the team and doing something for a bigger purpose other than yourself. Like you find like fun in competing with guys doing this. And I don't know. I think when I was playing quarterback growing up, I didn't really have that much love for it. But once I moved to tight end, obviously my skill set was more suited for that. But I had more fun catching the ball and like kind of enjoying those moments where I could be physical.

32:01I could kind of like hit a guy because you don't get to just walk down the street and blindside a guy, right? You get to have fun assaulting somebody, you know? It's encouraged. Yeah, it's encouraged. So, it's like you don't really think of it as like pain, although you do feel the discomfort after a game and after like a season. you feel the wear and tear for sure. So the adrenaline is... That's what I was saying. In the middle of a game, the adrenaline is so intense. You'll feel a little bit of pain, but it's not something that's going to be like that. But you're like, kind of a line. You're just every play.

32:32Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah. I don't have any joy. You see this guy's neck? What's wrong with it? It's pretty thick. It's barely there. Oh, yeah. That is just... Oh, it's arthritis. You're showing off right now? Well, I also think about the concentration that it takes to catch the ball knowing there's a guy coming you know i think that's more intimidating than anything fun with it i like to make them think that i don't know he's coming okay interesting i reverse it on him yeah um but i'm also known for like not even running my route so i always like to keep them second-guessing right yeah keep them surprised would you ever want to play football um you know i grew up in new york on the upper west side of manhattan not in a sports oriented environment i I used to love to play basketball.

33:19Nice. You've had some pretty iconic basketball scenes. Yeah, yeah. I love basketball, but I didn't have the height or the, you know, I'm Jewish. I can't sound. We're just not allowed. Yeah, I mean, so I wasn't like in that kind of environment. Small Upper West Side private school. Didn't even have a football team. Had a basketball team. I didn't make the basketball team. I think 14 kids tried out and 12 kids made it and I didn't make it. It's okay. I've been coming out of it before too. Dude, Jason's never been cut. He doesn't understand this. I've never been cut. But then, you know, Owen Wilson's buddy of mine, and he played sports growing up.

33:54And he always said I could have been like a little scat back type of guy. Do you think you could get a yard in the NFL? I could not. No, but I literally wonder what would happen, like, if I could survive a play. Well, I think we could get you a yard. The Olai could get you a yard. I think so. You got enough at Lettuce. You guys couldn't get Judge Jake a yard? After that yard, I don't know what's happening here. If I'm behind you. All right, man. man, to tush push with me? There you go. We'll get that. That's a for sure yard. It's gotta secure the snap. We were like tush push me, just pick me up and throw me into the end zone.

34:28Tush throw. Push tush throw over the top. Just turn Ben into the football. We might have just invented a new version of the tush push. Stiller tush push. So we talked about heavyweights. You said it couldn't be made today? Well, it could. Yeah, I don't think it would be made by Disney today. You know what I mean? but i think it could be made independently sure if somebody wanted to go out and do it bob eiger's not not backing that i don't know man we should go and see um yeah what about tropic thunder tropic thunder yeah i've been asked this question before you know i i think it would have a tougher time getting made today for sure um yeah just because first of all like you know big comedies with big budgets like that aren't really being made as much um if at all and uh and tropic thunder did you know have some pretty edgy elements to it at the time it was edgy is a great word did anybody i don't ever remember anybody oh yeah yeah really complain yeah never mind i'm gonna go back over here no no no no you didn't think that no no but in a different way it was again this is what is it 15 years ago or something it was 2008 or something it was like a different sort of reaction to things that wasn't as in the moment and as much of a kind of a waterfall of, you know, reaction immediately.

35:45Yeah, no, I mean, my character that I played, Tug was, you know, playing this character of Simple Jack. That was, you know. Yeah, that won't be tough. That got some blowback from people. You know, I showed the movie to the NAACP in LA before we released the movie because of Robert's character. Of course. and to me the joke in the movie always was that these actors are trying to do anything they can to win an award and be taken seriously so that to me that was why it was always clear to me that's the joke of the movie and i think people who get the movie get that but we you know you definitely want to like get a sense of how people are reacting to it so you know we did we but that's what comedy you got to take chances you got to put it out there and yeah we got a little bit of blowback um but as long as you're clear you know where the where the joke is and that you you're clear about your intention you can you know then i think you can hear criticism and it can be valid but you you know where you're coming from you can stand by it which i do i still stand by the movie and yeah and i i would i would hope that we could make another tropic thunder oh my gosh it's so good i tried to show it to my kids my oldest is five

37:01jeez sorry i wasn't trying to show it to i was just putting it on the girls walked into the room uh what was the review it was not good it was during the talk he just lost his hands and it was early on intestines are all over the place uh kylie i forget kylie's exactly do you remember what kylie said other than turn this off right now you'll be getting the therapy bill from your kids in about 15 years um do you have a favorite comedy movie you've made oh that i've made i mean i tropic thunder for me it was like one of the most fun experiences just because we were all together it was such an amazing cast um just to be with those guys and it was an idea that i had had from back in like 1987 and then we finally made the movie in 2007 so literally had had had been sort of gestating that long so to actually be making it was sort of surreal that we were finally doing it so for me that experience was one of my favorites um and yeah but like yeah you know doing meet the parents with robert de niro is all will always be uh an incredibly exciting thing that happened you know to just and kind of surreal because i just love him so much yeah um and yeah and then getting to yeah i mean i don't know it's it's every time you're in it it's always different i don't know if you guys are like this when you're you know when you're doing your thing but like you're in it and it's sometimes it's hard to appreciate it when you're in it because you have to be focusing on what you're rolling yeah yeah i'm right there with you i don't know because they always say like football players or even any athletes say like go out there and have fun is that is that a real thing what i feel like i play my best when i'm out there just enjoying the moments with the guys and it's 100 i don't like to kind of look at things as it's complete or like i'm i'm more in the moment trying to think about the next play trying to think about the next like way we're going to attack them how i'm going to handle this situation and think about that than i am like man, this is sweet.

39:00I do think though, that's why they tell you to have fun. Because it's so easy to lose track of the fact that we're all playing a game and this should be fun. You get bogged down in where you're at and trying to remember the play or the moment, let's sit down in distance, all these things. You lose track of the fact that like, if you guys are genuinely enjoying being out there and having fun, there's an enthusiasm and an energy that permeates and makes everybody usually perform better. Yeah. And I think that's one thing that I watched Trav. I've always been like, for some reason, it always looks like he brings that out on the field.

39:31And there's certain guys that have a tendency, you just watch a game and people gravitate towards them. It makes them feel like they're kids again. And as a player, for me, I oftentimes wasn't that. I always appreciated playing with those guys because it made me feel like I was playing in the backyard with my buddies again. Right, yeah. And even though we're in front of this huge stadium or whatever. Right. And you see the joy that you have when like, I mean, obviously end zone celebrations or just when first down or something. Oh, yeah. But I think, you know, that that enjoyment of connecting with your teammates and doing doing the work in in the moment and like it working when you like, you know, complete a play that that works.

40:09I have that same appreciation when I'm working on a movie that that the enjoyment of the process. Heck yeah. And actually, for me, that's my favorite part of all of this is being in process with something. Or sitting in the editing room and cutting together a sequence, putting some music on it and feeling it come together. That, to me, is the best. And that is important, I think, to have that appreciation of the process. Because, you know, with a movie or something like that, it comes out. And then people either like it or they don't like it. And you have no control over that. Right? It's just going out into the world.

40:42But the process is what you experienced and what you, you know, what you own. And so you have to enjoy that because the rest of it is sort of then you're at the whim of like, you know, what people thought. And that's, by the way, that's like trial and error for me over the years. Oh, 100 percent. I've learned that throughout the course of my career. I came in wanting to have all the stats, wanting to have all the acknowledgement of he's a great player. And I mean, I've been fortunate to like get a lot of those stats and have successful years and win Super Bowls. But at the same time, when I'm like kind of like in it, like I find more love building that piece than I am just kind of looking back like, oh, man, that's awesome.

41:22Like it was more just like the feeling of doing it with them in the moment that just like really that's where it's most enjoyable for me. I actually remember when we were doing Tropic Thunder talking to Robert Downey about it Because at that point, I think he had just done Iron Man, but it hadn't come out yet. And he had this interesting trajectory to his career where he had a lot of acclaim and he went through a lot of challenges. And then Iron Man came out and kind of revitalized his career. Yeah. But as an actor, he's always been one of the best actors ever. uh and i remember talking when we were doing the movie about this sense of sort of like we've worked you and you you and i we've all worked really hard over the years because this is you know we'd already been doing it for whatever like 25 years probably or whatever and so the enjoyment of knowing that you put in a lot of work and then having a freedom to then go and put something out there and try things and do your thing with a sense of man that had to be such a relief to just be able to cut it loose like that yeah an appreciation of that say like yeah i have put this work and it's not like an ego thing it's more like hey okay we're here and we've done this a lot and it's what you were saying about putting those work in on those plays your whole life then you kind of can go out there and let go in a way and appreciate the fun of that too right while You still are locked in and trying to do something new and hit the next level.

42:48And I think that's an important thing in the process to appreciate. You fucking hit it, dude, because that movie is classic. How did you get Tom Cruise to jump in on this? I mean, the star started. Yeah. Like, this is a crazy one. I mean, Tom and I knew each other a little bit because we had done. Yeah. And a fan my whole life. Yeah. You know, just watching his movies forever. And I'd met him a few times over the years. and we did a little short for mtv movie awards this is like 25 years ago i think because i was on my honeymoon we came back from our honeymoon in australia to do this thing with tom where i was a stunt man i pretended oh yeah i remember yeah and uh mission impossible too and we had so much fun doing that and then a few years your own sentences yeah it was so fun and weird doing that and then you know we stayed in touch and this was again a few years go by and um actually i i we'd been talking about trying to figure out something to do but you know hadn't figured it out and then i was working on the tropic thunder script and i had actually done a home movie for my wife for her birthday that was a takeoff on the show 24 and it was called 17 or 17 minutes long and it starred my brother-in-law, Brian Taylor, who happens to be here today, who's not an actor.

44:08Shout out to Brian. Yeah. Brian is the worst actor ever. Which can also be really good at times. Yeah. They have an alarm company in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He's not a professional actor. So the fun of the joke was, let's put him in a movie with like real actors. And he was obsessed with Tom's speech from A Few Good Men. Oh, yeah. You know, or the Jack Nicholson speech from A Few Good Men that he gives to Tom Cruise where he says, you know, you can't handle the truth, right? I said, Tom, we're doing this home movie for Christine. Would you maybe come and do like a scene in it where my brother-in-law is going to recite the Jack Nicholson speech to you?

44:43Oh my. And he said, yes. And there's video evidence of this. Yes, there is video evidence. And he came down and he was so professional and like it blew my mind. He was so good. And Brian did the speech to him. And then we had so much fun doing that that the Tropic Thunder came up. I called him. I said, look, let's maybe are you interested in this movie? And he looked at me and said, you know, you make fun of the actors. You make fun of, you know, everybody in the agents and all that. But you don't make fun of the studio heads. You should have a studio head. So it was his idea. Oh, my gosh. That character.

45:21What? That character did not exist before he suggested it. I feel like it is such a good. And then it became such an important part of the story. And this was three months before we started shooting the movie. and we rewrote justin throw and i were working on it etan cohen and and justin and i rewrote these scenes and and put them in and then tom said also i feel like i want to dance in the movie i just want to dance so this was purely like we have a bodysuit yeah and then and and then we did a makeup test go crazy yeah and we put him in the makeup and we and he started dancing in the makeup test we gave him some diet cokes to crush and then we put uh and then i think i put get back by Ludacris in the makeup test.

46:03And I was like, this could be really fun. So good. And yeah, he came in and just, yeah. So it was pretty crazy how that happened. That's awesome. That is crazy. How did Brian do in his speech? Brian, well, he was perfectly bad as he should have been. That'll work, Brian. Goddamn, that's good stuff. I got to ask you more about your basketball love or your sports love. So you were at the Oscars not too long ago, getting hype about the Knicks win. yeah let's go not sure if it was even an important game it was just like are you you watch every game like that i do watch every game i do yeah i'm i'm you know the last few years like i've my whole life i've been a knicks fan last few years have been pretty exciting so many years in the wilderness especially like the last like 10 years before this yeah yeah i i watch i try to watch every game and i now have realized i have to actually put the games into my schedule even i'm not going to them just to watch them just to catch them yeah like plan a dinner because i start to resent yeah so i knew that the game was happening during the oscars and then i but i was focused on doing the thing at the oscars and then like once it was done i i was leaving um and after i'd done my thing i was going back to my hotel and i realized oh my god the knicks game is on so then i like checked it because i hadn't checked it the whole day or i'd been aware of it as much to be honest i wasn't i but I knew it was happening.

47:27And then I saw the Knicks had won. I was like, oh, this is great. I just finished my baby Oscars and the Knicks won. I'm happy. Knicks win. Yeah. And then I guess somebody picked up the fact that I had been like at the Oscars. Throw your backstage right now. But I mean, I genuinely do, you know, I went to the Lakers game where Brunson got injured. And, you know, I genuinely love going to the games. I feel like. I've always told myself, I want to go to a game in Madison Square Garden. It was actually a big reason why we went to, or I went to Cincinnati, is because the Big East Championship is in the Garden.

47:58I've always imagined the Garden as like, obviously the Mecca, but it is like the top of like the basketball culture. You came to a game, right? It gets rioted. No, I haven't been to a game yet. Oh, okay. And I've been telling myself I'm going to go when the Knicks are good and it's rocking and it's just been like. You have to come to a game. I have to, I know. Why don't you come to a game? I'm going to, I'll tell you what, the Cavs meet the Knicks in the playoffs. Yeah. Because that thing, I want it to be like the Knicks. I don't know if it's like that every single game, but i know when it's an important game that thing is like it's honestly like you can see it on tv when it honestly when any game if it's a good game it goes crazy yeah like it's just so intense yeah um but you know the playoffs there's like nothing like like when they beat philadelphia in the playoffs last season oh yeah um and dante di vincenzo hit that shot i don't know if you remember that play but like it was just it was i never felt anything like it yeah yeah me and jason talk about it all the time.

48:50There's no better ticket in sports than courtside at an NBA game. There's nothing better, right? It's so close to it. Yeah, you're right. That was the first time I ever went back. Travis had courtside tickets to the Cavs for the second half of the season every year. When Brown was there. Yeah, when the Browns. He lets me borrow a couple of tickets. I go there and that was my first time realizing oh my God, these guys are like so much better athletes than football players. They're moving so fast. It's like they have springs on their feet. Yeah. It was just in the size. Yeah. Like, I think it's harder when you're brought back from it to really realize how big and athletic those guys are.

49:28For sure. For sure. But when you're on the court, it's like, oh, that guy is high. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. I mean, even just seeing LeBron in person, you know, like I was watching the other night. I mean, it's just, he's just so big. Yeah. And he's so strong. And he gets the ball. And all of a sudden, it's just like the tension level goes up and the defender gets up on whoever it is. It's because it's like LeBron's got the ball and he's like, he can impose his will still. And he's 40 years old doing it. Yeah. Which is insane. He did a spin move and a dunk and I was like, I've never seen that before.

49:58No. Yeah. It's very impressive. Would you rather win an Academy Award or Knicks win the NBA championship? I don't know. I mean, I think the Knicks, you know, realistically, I think the Knicks winning a championship is in the cards. All right. All right. So I'm definitely down for that. Yeah. But if I was forced, like, if I was forced, like, definitely. And I've heard, John Stewart was asked this question and he said Knicks too. So I'm not going to not say Knicks. All right. But I also feel like I really think, like, at the end of the day, if I knew that I had the choice, I would give it to the Knicks.

50:35Because I knew at least I had the choice. Yeah. In this weird, this weird, hypothetical situation. But it means a lot to a lot of people too. Like, it's like, it's like. I don't care. Yeah. The Knicks winning a champion, like it's so, it's still a little bit like, it seems a little bit like, oh my God, I can't imagine that. But we're just starting to feel like it. But then always something happens where, you know. Yeah. I mean. I mean, Cleveland was there for forever too. So I get it. Cleveland is having an incredible year. Oh, I'm fired up. Yeah. Incredible year. We're just talking about it. Jason's kind of like here right now with basketball.

51:09Yeah. And I'm just like, dude, just wants to catch. He keeps telling me. I got to get back. And Donovan Mitchell is a New York guy too. Yeah. I mean, he's just incredible. Stuck. Yeah. So, and they've got a great thing going on. We kind of got on the basketball kick. I got to talk about one of my favorite scenes that you directed in Cable Guy with Jim Carrey, him coming into the gym. The basketball. Yeah, the basketball scene with him coming into the gym. I want, I don't know if you understand, you had everybody trying to jump off of their friend's back to dunk the basketball. and i i just remember it never worked it's not like in the movie he was like a trampoline like i was like oh my gosh if i could do that like i was i thought that was a little bit heavier i was always like twice the size of all my friends and i was like dude just get on all fours i'm gonna jump off your back it really makes no sense at all that move yeah it was so funny i remember we i don't we had well we were like you know like jim we wanted to come up with like some insane set piece where Jim would just be, you know, just the biggest kind of asshole guy who comes in to play a pickup basketball game.

52:15Yeah, and Jack Black, I guess, is like he runs up on Jack Black. But I remember we put like an Apple box or something next to Jack. It was very low tech. There was no like, like if we did it today, there would be like CG and it would be like, it was just a very like kind of like simplistic way of doing where he's like on an Apple box right behind him when he jumps up. um but then yeah and then he shatters the backboard oh my gosh but we had such a good time making that movie and matthew broderick is so funny in it and yeah um yeah and jim is just have you ever had him on the podcast he's so he's he's so funny i mean he's like one of those guys he'll just do something to make you laugh and then he'll just keep doing it until you stop laughing you know it was fun to just be working with him at that moment where he was just sort of like willing to like take you know any chance and just do whatever you know he thought could be funny and we were just having a great time together oh yeah we kind of touched on it before in terms of writing for for yourself or for guys that kind of just have like those instincts of like improv how much of it is hard as a director to control that to try and keep keep the script the script you know how much like how much do you juggle with that as a director i did a movie once uh mystery men and dude are you kidding oh i just did it yeah just one time

53:42but one of the actors was not as into improv and a lot of the other actors were and we were kind of figuring out as we went along and that ended up sometimes being a thing okay yeah where that actor would want to just like, hey, can we just do what we planned? And by the way, a great actor, just it wasn't his process as much. Yeah. You'd be surprised you do it on the football field too. Really? Oh yeah. Does the coach get mad or not? Sometimes. You get that look, he gives you the eyebrow look. But daddy gets happy sometimes. Never do that again. When it works. He's happy when it works. I'll come to the sideline.

54:22Don't ever do that again got it he's got a good commercial career going to Hollywood guy right there yeah I mean he gets it he gets the entertainment aspect sure yeah all right speaking of severance it is time that we put this disclaimer out all right we're at the point of the show we're going to talk about severance folks we're going to do it in a segment called we gotta ask you don't have to answer okay which I think there's gonna be a lot of these you probably aren't gonna answer basically we're gonna to ask you a bunch of questions you tell us whether what you think of it you can tell us fuck off whatever you want okay and since uh you've been a great guest we're gonna get to this section while having our very own waffle party oh yeah so what's the inspiration behind the waffle party this is a dan erickson who wrote the pilot and is the creator of the show and we've been working on it together over the years he has a brilliant mind and waffle party being some i know where that came from his mind as the you know the celebration when you have the reward when you get to a certain point it's not a pizza party it's a waffle party these might be a little raspberry but for a long time in season one you know we didn't know what uh what the waffle party actually was eventually we defined it in the like i guess like the second last episode but it was fun to think about like what is a waffle party what's the metaphor what is the you know what What does that mean?

55:43What does it mean? Well, I mean, I think it's more than just waffles. Yeah. Is what I feel. Okay. Like what would be the best reward you could have if you're working in this place every day and you don't get to leave and you know, you're a human being. And so somewhat party aspect. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I love it. I'm about to start having waffle parties all the time now with no underline. Great. Wow. It was just so funny because it felt like childlike. Yes. And these are grown adults who are subjected to, in some way, slave labor as innies. Well, they're kind of like kids because they've only had consciousness for a short amount of time.

56:22Right. And they don't really have any freedom. And they're told, yeah, waffle party is like the best thing. This is it. These are good though. I'm just going to butter it up just a little bit. Are waffles on your training camp menu? I'll tell you what, there was a Waffle House next to Lehigh Valley where we had training camp back when it was remote. That was our Chick-fil-A. That's where we would go. Now, a lot of the shots in several, we were talking about symmetry. That's, I mean, the opening episode, everything is just so like, I just feel like it was so thought out in the colors that you chose.

56:59The building blows my mind. Is that a real how much was it was of it was like a studio set and how much of it was like an actual building that you guys found? Because the inside of that building was so big. The shots seem so massive and it seems so epic. Yeah, that building is a real building. It's and it is huge. It even is bigger in real life when you go there. than it feels, I think, when you see it on the show. Because it's just... Feelings are so freaking tall. It's in New Jersey. It's in Holmdale, New Jersey. And it's now kind of like an office complex in a mall. But it used to be the headquarters of Bell Labs.

57:38And they developed the transistor chip there, I think, in the 60s. So it's pretty... That's why the water tower there has that interesting shape where it kind of looks like a transistor. Yeah. And when we found it, Jessica Lee Gagne, who's our cinematographer, we were Googling stuff and she found this place. And we looked at it from above and it looked like this giant sort of like almost like an egg shape with this. The building was there and then the parking lot was like an egg shape around it. And we're like, this is so crazy, this view and this shape. And then we went there and it was just gigantic and kind of empty.

58:14So and nobody had filmed anything there. That was the that's so when you're making movies and you find a location, you get so excited when you find a really cool location that nobody's ever filmed at because you don't want to have something that's been in another movie. Yeah. And so when we found that that was the first thing we found. And then we designed the sets and all the interiors and everything are on sound stages that we shot up in the Bronx. But but that was like the design sort of the first sort of inspiration for the rest of the show. Yeah. And it was a guy named Aro Sarnan, who's an architect in the 50s who made that building.

58:47Did you always imagine the characters having that fun kind of comedy banter? Or like, because it's such a, it's a very serious show, or at least it feels very like. No, you're right, though. Like in the, when I read the script that Dan wrote, it was a pilot. He wrote a spec pilot on his own that he brought to our company. When I read that banter, it reminded me of shows I love, like The Office or Parks and Rec. this back and forth thing that they had. And what was so fascinating to me was, oh, these guys are like doing this kind of funny office humor, but yet they don't know who they are, why they're there, what they're doing.

59:21It's so good. Yeah, they don't know any, it's like, so that's like this weird sort of Twilight Zone aspect to it. And it's very surreal and kind of abstract in a way, like, well, what is going on here? So that humor and that office workplace thing is actually for me always been sort of the core of what the show is. and then it's definitely developed into oh yeah into what it is that's awesome are you surprised by the fan base the show has built up sorry i do not want to take away from the waffles yeah no that raspberry butter strawberry butter i haven't had a waffle and i think since we shot the waffle i was about to say yeah you had to jump in there we shot the waffle party we had these waffles and i was like i gotta have a taste in one of those yeah and i was like three years for old times sake.

1:00:05Yeah, it's crazy because we were off the air for three years. Oh, I remember. Yeah. It was incredibly infuriating as a fan of the show. Well, I appreciate that you were a fan from the first season because a lot of people didn't discover it until now. I told so many people, have you guys seen this show on Apple TV? It was like all I could think about. Thanks. And you did a great job of leaving on that cliffhanger with Mark at the birthing cabin. Yeah, yeah. He's at Devin and Rick and he's like, she's alive. Yeah, that's right. And the, um, when is this next episode going to come out? When is the next season?

1:00:37I know. I know. When we got hit with the strike, there was a writer's and actor strike. And it took us a little bit while, a while to kind of like regroup after that. And the show, which I think we shot for 186 days on season two. Yes. There's a lot of shooting and editing and editing takes a while, but thank goodness that the audience was like, was there when we came back on. And I mean, it almost built the suspense up even more. And I think everybody's kept talking about it. Yeah. And the challenge was just to get people who hadn't seen the show to watch the first season. So Apple did a really good job, I think, of getting the word out.

1:01:10And we did as much press as we could. But also three years later, Apple TV Plus is actually a different it's a different situation there now because they have more viewers, too. Because when we started out, we were one of the first shows. That's a good point. Yeah. I need to think about that. That's pretty cool. Talking about kind of doing some promo for it was the the art museum set up. wasn't it even at an art museum it was like a pop-up like office setup oh yeah is that like the weirdest promo you've ever done for a show yeah that was really crazy we set up the office cubicle in a glass cube in grand central station that's where it was yeah and it was an idea that that they had and adam scott said well if the actors the real actors can go in there and do it and the fact that they were willing to go in there and i said they have to do it for like at least three hours because like it just has to be enough time that people can be walking by and just go what's that yeah oh my god people going home from work like wait a minute what like people who knew the show people who didn't know the show and of course people started filming with their phones and stuff and it became it did become a viral thing and that i think ended up probably getting more attention than if we had just done a premiere or something yeah yeah exactly and because it was so organic and it was so much fun to watch them just in this cube because the actors just started improvising and i was gonna say was there a script what were they were they even like told to talk about or even could they even be heard they couldn't be heard so they knew that so they had that freedom and they knew that they were going to be in character so they're actually doing you know dylan and mark yes and um and patricia came in as miss cobell and she started throwing stuff at adam and made him stand in the corner and there's just like so many funny moments but i knew as actors i knew they were just going to sort of fall into it because it's like what you do so like it's like for them it's like okay this is like a performance art piece and and they had so much fun with it and i was just like watching taking pictures and yeah it was it was awesome what's it like directing something as complicated in some ways um meticulous as severance i mean it just becomes you know i've been directing for like a lot for most of my life i guess and i love it so much it's such a collaborative uh experience you're working with cinematographers you know the production designer, costume designer, actors, editor, all these people.

1:03:23It's a group effort. And I just I love the process. We were talking about earlier. So for something like this, when you have everybody who's sort of like focused on this vision that Dan laid out in his script, everybody's working sort of like towards the same goal. And you want to get people to just be as creative as possible and work with people who you want to bring as much of their own personal sort of inspiration to it. Sure. So I think that's like a big part of it. And then it's become, it's basically been my full-time job for the last five years and I've loved it. It's just, you go to work every day, you know, and you have your, you know, whatever scene you're going to approach.

1:04:02I think acting is, is harder, honestly, you know, when you have to get in front of a camera and like show up in the morning and do an emotional scene where you're going to break down crying in your car or whatever it is. That's, you know, that's challenging. Heck yeah. As a director, you can come set up the camera, try to help the actor as much as possible, create an environment, but they have to do that thing. And so for me, using that part of my brain as a director, I really enjoy because in a way I feel like, you know, every day I kind of know what I'm going to be doing. Acting stresses me out a little more because, you know, it's like, oh shit, I have that scene today where I have to pull that up.

1:04:37And I really admire, it's made me admire actors so much more as a director, just working with them, you know, because I just see when you're doing both because a lot of over the years I did it I acted and directed in a lot of movies I made when you're really just directing I think you can just focus on what you're doing be there for the other actors more and be connected to the crew and sort of adjust things and I I love the process of it and by the way I just have to say we have other great directors Jessica Lee Gunnier our cinematographer directed the our episode seven that just came out cool shots in this like I'm just blown away by some we have amazing people working on the show and come back with Harmony cobell yeah patricia oh my gosh that was i don't know if anybody saw that portion of it coming because there wasn't a lot of hints to that oh to her going back to her yeah yeah yeah i don't know what but yeah yeah yeah what is i don't know i feel like there's more questions now than there were before exactly but that's how that's kind of the fun of and i can only imagine how fun that is trying to keep that question in the air like the underlying meaning of everything in the theories Have you heard of any like fan theories that you're like, oh, that's a good one.

1:05:43Didn't even think of that. Yeah, there are. There's so many on this show. People and people put out there's so much fan art and fan edits and and theorizing and podcasts about it that I don't I try not to get into a lot of. Yeah. Yeah. I try not to because we have to focus on what we want it to be. But of course, you hear ideas that are like really interesting. Yeah. And you go, oh, yeah, that could actually be something. But you don't want it to really influence like what we're doing. But yet you are aware of the audience. You want the audience to enjoy the show. But everybody seems to have a different way into the show too and different things that they love the Mark-Helley relationship.

1:06:18They love the Mark-Gemmer relationship. They love Miss Cabell or Milchick. So what's interesting is you make the show. We made the season. We basically locked the season and finished in, I'd say, like September, October. And I was doing some mixing and visual effects stuff through the fall. But it's done. so you know as you're watching people react in real time it's not like you know like oh you're watching a sports team where you go you know they really should have this guy play that position or yeah you can't make any changes it's all it's all set in stone yeah so i'm watching people react and they go oh this episode was the best episode or i really didn't like that episode or i wonder what's gonna happen you know or they should do this or that i'm like well it's just it is what it's gonna be yeah next week is gonna come out you're gonna find out i mean that has been something like especially you you go knee-deep in the theories each week yeah and it's fun to watch oh well that didn't end up panning out.

1:07:07Now we're on to the next year. Right. Exactly. Yeah. And so we know what it is and like what we've done for the season. And I'm just watching in real time because it's not a binge show too. It's coming out week to week. So that's very different too, as opposed to, you know, if you're watching something where you can watch every single episode, people can then go like, oh, that frustrated me. I'm going to watch the next episode. And I get the answer I wanted. But here you get people for like a whole week going like, oh, you know, that's going to go this way. Is it going to go that way? Or that frustrated me so it plays out differently than i think once the show's out uh in a couple weeks then people will be able to binge the whole thing and that'll be a different experience for them watching it too yeah i have two people three people who i show the show to when we're in process which is my wife my son and my daughter so they have all the answers well they see it as like i'll show them a rough cut oh brian too brian i've showed right yeah and so i'll get feedback uh from them but you can't show everybody the whole series so you can only pick a few people who you go okay do you want to watch cuts as we go along yeah oh that's gonna be exciting yeah talking about some characters uh adam scott yes absolutely kills it he's amazing was he always kind of the first i don't want to yeah bring that what he was always the first choice for you or he was always the first choice for me from the second i read the the pilot script that dan gave me and um and i think dan had been thinking about him too and i reached out to him immediately and then um apple had some other ideas about about uh about casting it and i was very firm like i really felt adam was the guy and adam luckily stuck with it and stuck through with me and um and uh ended up uh doing it and i'm so happy because i and again for that same reason of like the office workplace comedy vibe that he brings but i also know he has this deeper thing underneath oh yeah and to watch him really embrace that over the course of making the show and even just the way he approached playing audi mark and any mark his voice his uh physicality it's all so different you know and he really works so hard to do that and he's also like this crazy like robot actor guy who can do anything like he and i mean that in a good way because like you say robot actor but like he is so specific and so precision in terms of being able to make an adjustment yeah you know like he can make an adjustment that's sort of just like a you know a thing where he's like you know if you could just like lean a little to the right because the camera sees this behind you and still do the moment or you know just he's he's amazing well yeah that's awesome all of the actors are fantastic yeah and john tuturo and uh never worked with him before and he's just an intense great guy the outdoor episode.

1:09:45Oh, yeah. Catskills. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That moment with Heli. And speaking of like even Heli and Helena. Yeah. The facial expression change. No, Brit this year. Oh my gosh. Yeah. This year Brit having to play Helena and Heli. And again, the same thing Adam has been doing. But these actors are thinking about the characters so deeply that they always come in with so many great ideas. And I really listen to them even in just on story level you know just tone everything they they understand it so well so you know we'll be talking about an idea for a scene and Adam will say like you know I don't know if that really feels like severance to me you know and it's hard to define it sometimes but it's that kind of thing also when you're trying to push the boundary a little bit and take some chances like we've done in season two you know you're trying to define like okay does this still feel like the show and I think when you trust your actors and you know that they have a sense of who they are in the show yeah you know i really rely on that a lot yeah yeah well let's ask the biggest question maybe would you get severed would i get severed you have potentially more information for where this goes i personally oh yeah yeah yeah the idea of it does not seem like a great idea it's a lot of control you're giving out yeah i feel like you know yeah so for me it's no because like i want to remember i want to experience my life the life that i have left with right because like for a year for not so long.

1:11:11Like I want to feel it all. I feel like there's so many metaphors for severance in life though, right? In terms of how we suppress or cut off, you know? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I feel like, you know, people do that in all different sorts of ways. And, you know, I probably do that in my life in a lot of different ways. I had a great text from a really good buddy of mine who played in the NFL, also served the United States Army. He said, you won't accomplish anything worth having in life unless it was hard getting it. And it's kind of like, you know, I feel like severance, a lot of the themes are like, and it seems where it's going is being severed from all of these painful, traumatic things.

1:11:49But you lose sight of the fact that these painful, traumatic things are part of living life and they're necessary to have. And it's undoubtedly no answer for that reason. Yeah, I think that's very much about what the show is. You know, like it's this life, you know, pain is such a big part of our experience. And of course, there's that duality thing of like, well, you can't have, you know, pain and enjoying life. You know, these things are separate, right? Yeah. Pleasure and pain. But like you can't have pleasure without pain. What is pleasure without pain? Yeah. What is it, Jason? I don't know.

1:12:25Please tell me. I believed you when you said that. Is Cobell officially a character we're rooting for now or is this still a part of the evil? I mean, that's the fun. Again, I think that's the fun of the show is that you have people like Milchik and Cobell. For sure. And Helena and all these people that you don't quite know, right? Yeah. And I like that she's always kind of had her own severed version of, even though she's not severed, that she's Miss Selvig and playing his... She's kind of imagining a life as a normal person too when she's living next door to Mark. So yeah, the duality thing is a big part of the characters.

1:13:05And I think that's fun for the audience to sit in. Okay. Can I ask you one more? Is Irv, is there more to the Irv and Bert relationship that hasn't been, I'm assuming yes. Okay. I'm sorry. I don't want to push you. I don't want to push you. I really don't. Because you - When is this thing going to be on? It'll be on the day the last, or the week the last episode comes out. Oh yeah. Okay. We will have answers by Wednesday. Yeah, yes. All shall be revealed. Okay, fair enough. Nice. That is good. Yeah. Because it feels, I mean, the... Well, I feel like where we are now... The elevator painting with the Gemma episode all of a sudden reveals more like, oh, there's another floor to this that...

1:13:44All right. All right. I'll stop. I'll stop. I'll stop. You're all over it. I'll stop. Listen, I'm telling you, I'm all over the city. I can't tell you. The spoiler thing, but I... Yeah, I just had an idea, but I'll tell you about it later. okay okay i will tune in regardless okay yeah are we gonna have to wait for uh three years for season three to come out or no no the plan is not definitely let's go yeah yeah no the plan is not and hopefully we'll be announcing what the plan is very soon that will not be that all right well i'll be a grand central station for it let's go sit in a cube together and see what happens don't you threaten me with a good time i'm just gonna have a courtside at the at the next game By the way, I went to a Knicks game with Taylor.

1:14:30She was there. This was like 10 years ago. And I was there with my son. And she literally, we FaceTimed my daughter, who's a huge 50. Oh, nice. She's 23 now. And we had the best time. She was incredible. Oh, yeah. I appreciate that. I think the same thing. So, it's perfect. You're right. Maybe we can get Taylor to another Knicks game. Yeah. Well, this is the time. You should definitely come, though, if you want to. I mean, I can hook that up. Say no more. Say no more. I'm sure you would need help getting it. I mean, it's always a little smoother when you get it. Well, let's do it. Come on. I'm in, dude.

1:15:04Dude, thank you so much. Thanks, man. It's so great talking to you guys. Bro, I am. This is a dream come true, man. You've been one of the idols of everyone from the 90s growing up and all the amazing movies you did. But now it's just so cool to see that you're every bit of a great dude as you are a great actor and director. Thanks, man. Well, it's fun for us. you know i was like talking like i was talking like the sandler like we were working on oh yeah happy gilmore and you know it's a it's a kick because like you guys like when you were kids watching this stuff and that it resonated and and we enjoy watching you guys do your thing yeah super cool i can't wait to see what house got in store for us yeah it's a little insane i can't wait dude well thanks again brother man thanks man yeah great talking to you great talking to you and thanks for the waffles nice great waffle party my first one look forward to that next time we'll have a cantaloupe with your face on it okay exactly no watermelon yeah yeah thanks for stopping by ben stiller how about that man what a guy man there's just some people that it's just it's fun as hell to talk to and the whole time you're talking to him like i can't believe i'm talking to fucking yeah ben's it's amazing dude i love how he brought up mystery men right at the end there i forgot all about that movie i even told him i forgot you did that like but that was a funny movie that was actually on it's on cable tv a lot more than uh than you would expect i'll just be searching the guide on like a uh cable network and i'll come across mystery men every now and then it's just fucking press press i'll just click you know this isn't a ben stiller movie but whenever i think of like the superhero movies the ones that are like off the beaten trail like it's like clearly they were like kind of poking fun at the superhero movies what's the is it mr blank man what's the one with doug do you know what i'm talking about that's my favorite superhero movie of all time i'm sorry to like wayne's brother dude yeah i'm sorry to segue out of blank man was fucking hilarious dude that movie is fucking amazing now that's one that's one i'd have to re-watch i know we're on ben stiller i know we're on Ben Stiller.

1:17:16No, I'd have to re-watch Blank Man. I haven't seen that one in fucking forever. What's Blank Man on Rotten Tomatoes? Oh, it's got to be Through the Roof. 12%. Critic review.

1:17:31It's only funny because I didn't expect it to have a high Rotten Tomato review, but still a classic. I don't care what the critics say. That movie's fucking great. Undeniable classic. Anyways, Mystery Man Great movie. Ben Stiller is the best. All righty. Let's get in some March Madness. The March Madness Brackets brought to you by Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. That's a Kelsey favorite right there. I definitely did get my Reese's backpacks and my Reese's Varsity jacket. I am not in Kansas City, though, right now. I really like the seasonal Reese's cups that are the egg version. yeah i don't like white chocolate these oh no these there they are there they are yeah any of the they're a little bit thicker a little bit more protein a little more peanut butter to chocolate ratio you tried these we tried these i have not i haven't i didn't see that one in there i'm gonna try that one out all right if there was a bracket of reese's jason what's in your final Final four.

1:18:38Final four of Reese's. Everybody keeps saying, like, why do they say Reese's? I don't know, guys. That's how we fucking say it. I don't know which one we're talking about. This is how I've always said it. Everybody knows what we're talking about, so can we stop acting like it's that big of a deal? Yes. Just because we have an accent? Reese's that I'm saying it incorrectly sometimes. I'm not sorry. I'm not sorry at all. Obviously, original Reese's peanut butter cups have to be in it. Yeah, I think they're the number one, and they win it. I don't think they win it. Reese's Pieces or as we would call it, Reese's Pieces.

1:19:09The Reese's Pieces. Do not sleep on Reese's Pieces. I like Reese's Pieces better. I love Reese's Pieces. I like Reese's Pieces and like ice cream and shit. I can't just do them just straight up. You're fucking out of your mind. Go eat some Reese's Pieces. You'll fucking be able to eat it. I know exactly. I'm in my mind and my mind is telling me that's not how I want to enjoy my Reese's Pieces. I mean, it's great as an additive as well, but it's also great on its own. They're fantastic. Reese's Pieces, fast break are you putting that up there no no take five let's take five of reese's i think it is right yeah but i was not up there take five is great you guys are out of your mind if you're not putting i'm not saying it's not it's not a product i think it got switched i think reese's bought it yeah reese's i think it's reese's take five now yeah now but that's just because they own the market it literally says reese's take five yeah i'm putting reese's take five in my the top four because the take five is fantastic you're out of your mind if you don't have it up there you put reesey all right so reesey's take five you're right you're correct i'm just going off what the nice people at reesey's sent me as a document god damn it jesus i know my reesey's have you said eggs yet have you said eggs yet not yet that was gonna be my fourth one all right all right i was gonna say reesey's eggs not like the actual egg i'm talking about like the see this is like the reese's cup but it's like the one thing you ate the most of reese's was reese's Puffs.

1:20:31So you have to put Reese's Puffs in there. You ate... That was the only cereal you ate, Jason. No, you're right. I did not... In my brain, I did not equate Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs as the candy bracket. But I think you're right. We didn't say it was the candy bracket. You're right. We said it's a Reese's bracket. So I think you're right. Alright, so I got Reese's Original, Reese's Peecees, Take 5, and Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs. Dang! But I would like the specialty holiday Reese's. The egg is nostalgic and it's the best. The egg or the Christmas tree, any of that stuff where it's like a new, because it becomes a little bit thicker and I just like the ratio better, but I can't take out the original and I'm definitely not taking out.

1:21:18I guess I'll take out take five. Gosh, I like to take five though. Back to basketball. March Madness is coming up, man. Sports fans, we love filling out these brackets, baby. And as we said last week, we're doing it for the first time ever. New Heights Bracket Challenge. That's right. It is brought to you by Reese's or Reese's. For those who want to fucking get mad at us. The men's bracket deadline is this Thursday, March 20th at noon Eastern. And the women's bracket deadline is Friday, March 21st at 1130 Eastern. I don't know why we didn't just make them both the same time on two different days.

1:21:54But fill those fuckers out. Yeah. Have some fun, ladies and gents. I think we've limited it to one person per bracket or one bracket per person. So this isn't just you fill out 100 brackets. Yeah, improve your odds. Yeah, improve the odds. Yeah, just put in fucking one bracket, guys. Don't be weirdos. Jason, have you filled out your bracket yet? I have not yet. Good. Well, you have until Thursday. Yeah, I got time, but I would like to go over it. Do we have a bracket? Yeah, we got some brackets. It's how do you make your picks since you don't watch any college basketball? Well, as you know, playoffs always come down to the same things.

1:22:34Like it's all, you know, taking care of the basketball. You got to like, you know, how well do you operate end of game situation? Two minute drill. Like this is what it comes down to in playoff basketball. So you're going turnover margin. I go physicality, toughness, height, weight. Physicality, toughness. You look at the height of the roster. Like, I already know. Where's Michigan State at? Where's Michigan State? I'm putting them all the way through to the Final Four. I don't even need to see where they're at. I don't even need to see. Because I know Tom Izzo is going to have those guys playing hard and physical.

1:23:11I saw that they aren't the best three-point shooting team. So, I was like, they're in. Because all college basketball wants now is to fucking shoot these three-pointers. And Tom Izzo is going to come. They're going to be undercutting their legs. Like, dude, you know how you stop a three-point shooting team? You foul the fuck out of them on that first three-point. Yeah, give them a couple free throws. It's going to throw off the rhythm, and it's going to make them nervous every time you come out there. Right? It's a good, yeah. You got to make these guys pay. Impose your will. You got to impose your will on finesse players.

1:23:43This is true. Don't let these small shooting guards beat you in the tournament. How physical the fuck out of these dudes. Jason, you're the three-point equivalent to an offensive lineman, though. Yeah, that's what you might think. I'm not, though. I am the undersized center. I'm the Dennis Rodman of offensive line football. That's right.

1:24:10I'm the Draymond Green of offensive line. Ooh, nice. Michigan State. Yeah, that's right. I'm not the biggest guy, but I'm going to get in a mental capacity, and I'm going to impose my will on you in a weird way. J-Mon Green. Who else we got? We got a bunch. All right, so this is the East. Okay, so obviously Duke. Yeah, I mean. Well, you got the four play-in games, too, so can't forget about those. I never worry about the play-in games. If you've got to make it into the tournament on a play-in game, I'm not interested. Go back up, Brandon. Go back up. We'll start in the East. Who do you got coming out of East?

1:24:55The play-ins are like 11 seeds. They're like, they're not just the worst seeds. If you've got to be a play-in, you're out. I'm not talking to you. There shouldn't even be play-in games. All the play-ins get eliminated in my bracket round one after they get in. Well, Texas and Xavier might have something to say about that. Damn it, Texas is in there. I like Texas a lot. Fuck! Well, rules are rules. Rules are rules. I don't make them. They just are what they are. Texas is out in round one. All right. We got Duke against American. Doesn't even have a logo in there. This is a play-in game. That's why there's a play-in game, Jason.

1:25:31All right. I don't even need to see who they're playing in. Duke's advancing. All right. It's all matchups. I'm going to have to fill out a bracket and figure it out. But I will make sure that you guys know. I'm a big fan of the SEC games or SEC teams. We're doing it right now, Travis. No, we're not. That's what this is. No, this is us just kind of going over our bracket from here. I'm telling you who I like in these. I'm not going to tell you exactly who I have coming out, though. Okay, fine. All right. I'm not going to let you fucking just copy my bracket, Jason, because you know nothing. I don't want to copy your bracket.

1:26:04I know more about mentality and physicality, and that's all that comes down. Basketball is all about physicality. Well, physicality. Florida is one of the biggest teams in terms of height. Florida is back. The Gators are back. Memphis, Colorado State. Memphis is solid. I think the Terps. The West has one of my favorite teams in the NCAA right now, and that's Drake. Drake? Drake University, yeah. Where is Drake? They have a fun story. Their coach is – and really four or at least four of their players are from Division II. I think it was Northwest Missouri. Oh, I have heard the story. Northwest Missouri State.

1:26:49The coach brought them all with them? Yeah. They had a lot of transfers when the Drake coach from last year went to West Virginia. A lot of the players that were on that team kind of went on their own or did their own thing. And then the new head coach was looking for players to bring in. So he brought in his D2 guys and a couple guys from Wyoming. They got some guys that can play. Although I think Missouri is a really good team. That's going to be a tough game for them. I mean, I got a lot of – that's like my Cinderella team this year. That's who you're – yeah. They're also older, right? I'm rooting for them.

1:27:20They're also older for a lot of the better teams at NCAA. Is that correct? Yeah. Yeah. And then on top of that, watching Texas Tech, I know Patty Mahomes is going to love hearing this. If they can stay healthy and if they can – I think they got a fucking great coach. They got great players, a lot of athletes. They can make a run at it. What about them Jayhawks down there? They're usually pretty good. Yeah, Hunter Dickinson. I think, you know, Kansas, Bill Self, they're always going to be a team that you got to account for, man. They can pull it together and make a run against anybody. So you got to keep them in mind.

1:27:55Illinois, Kentucky versus Troy, UCLA, Utah State, Tennessee, Wolford. Wolford. Yeah. Dude, you'd love this. Wolford has a guy that shoots the ball, shoots free throws underhand. No way. I knew you were going to love this. I mean, I love that, but for that alone, I'm picking Tennessee. They're getting too – they're going against the trend too hard for me to go with them. They've gone – they're a little bit too gimmicky. Got to pick Tennessee in that matchup. Oh, man, you're hilarious, dude. Texas A &M versus Yale. Listen, as a rule, I might almost fill out my bracket based on GPA. If a team has a higher GPA, I'm picking them to lose.

1:28:41And I might do that all the way through to the championship game. Jason, we know that GPAs don't reflect actual intelligence. Oh, no, I think GPAs reflect athleticism. And typically speaking, it takes – listen, if you're too smart you're you're too hesitant to do stupid things and you have to be willing to do stupid things to be willing you gotta be you gotta be willing to take a risk and take a chance and do something like that guy's doing that there's no way that guy's gonna try that Oh, my God, that shit just worked. What the fuck?

1:29:27And that's how I got to the NFL. Well, I'm picking Texas A &M versus them silver spoon fucks at Yale. That was so uncalled. What is Yale's, what is their mascot? Is it just like a pencil? I think so. The Yale 2%. The Yale Bears? I think it's a bulldog. What is a Yale? It's a bulldog. Bulldog? Handsome Dan. Handsome Dan. All right. Texas A &M. That's enough shitting on Yale. All right. Texas A &M. Let's just call. They're going to be just fine. I think those Yale people are going to be just fine. Yeah. Okay. Ole Miss. Iowa State. Lipscomb. I'm going to go with Iowa State. Lipscomb, baby. Lipscomb.

1:30:12Iowa State is sneaky. They're the ones that kick the Bearcats out of the Big 12 tourney. I tell you what. I always fill out my bracket based on what school I think would win in a fight. Like, if I think Iowa State would beat Lipscomb, I'm going to go Iowa State. In a fight? Yeah. I just think at the end of the day, the mentality of the university rubs off on the mentality of the team a lot of the times. And I just like the mentality approach because I don't know shit about basketball. So that's my only thing I can go off of. Marquette versus New Mexico. New Mexico is a tough one because New Mexico is probably pretty squirrely.

1:30:51Strikes me as a squirrely group. Marquette strikes me as. Marquette's got one of the best basketball players in the country. Marquette strikes me as a little bit of a silver spoon. Where's Marquette at? Chicago, I believe. Chicago? No, no, no. Is it? It's outside of Chicago, right? Wisconsin. Wisconsin? It's close. Close. Close. I don't know why I said Chicago. All right. I respect Marquette if they're out of Wisconsin. One of our favorite actors ever went to Marquette. Played rugby there. Denzel Washington? Denzel Washington?

1:31:35Not even. Not even.

1:31:48not even close

1:31:54oh god what

1:32:03no the answer is Chris Farley oh shit I should have known that one I should have known that one now I gotta know where did Zelko i don't think somebody looked it up i'm pretty sure oh man denzel went to fordham fordham fordham fordham is patriot league oh man that's fucking hilarious i know this is so fucking funny oh plays a hooper at fordham he was a hooper he didn't play rugby he's a hooper he's a basketball i don't know that pinky says he played football yeah you've seen that pinky wait so jason we've only talked about the men's bracket do you use the the same metric system to figure out uh who's going to win the women's bracket like do you just look at who who would win the brawl oh wow i haven't thought about it that way no i don't use the same metric women's i just go with um i just put uconn as the winner every single year I don't know if they're the same anymore.

1:33:06I put UConn as the winner every single year, and that'll be until Gino retires. And then I just go based on overall team height average. Whoever's the taller team. Then I just fill it out that way. You're fucking hilarious. I haven't even peaked at the women's as much. Where's K-State? I know they won the Big 12. Nice. They're up there. Five seed? Solid. Solid five seed. We do know that Juju Watkins is at the top of her game. Texas is, god damn, they're the other number one seed. I think it's kind of fair to say the number one seeds are... I feel like there's less upsets in the women's bracket usually than there are in the men's bracket.

1:33:46Is that fair to say? I think it's fair to say, at least for the number one seed. You don't see the number one seeds get kicked as much as you do in the men's brackets. In my extensive knowledge of both men's basketball and women's NCAA brackets, I like to make broad sweeping generalizations. Yeah, can't forget South Carolina. They've been at the top for quite a while now. They're kind of like the UConn of the modern day. They have a lot of talent there year in, year out. Who's the tallest team women's college basketball? Jason, this is supposed to be 45 minutes. Well, there's no single team in women's college basketball.

1:34:27Duke and Florida State are often cited as having some of the tallest players. Both teams average six, seven and a half. While there is no definitive tallest team in women's college basketball, Duke and Florida State are often cited as having some of the tallest players. Both teams averaging around six foot seven and a half per player. Putting Duke and Florida State, where are they at? those are my top two teams in women's college basketball outside of UConn where the fuck is Duke I think they're a two seed yeah Duke's two seed no they're one seed in my bracket okay great who's your other team Florida State Florida State six dude I feel really good about this I don't know Jason's going with height I'm gonna pick the stars I'm putting Juju in the final four I'm gonna pick the stars as well I'm picking the stars there's there's like five or six real bona fide stars in that women's bracket and I'm going to go ahead and slide them on forward.

1:35:21They're going to be a star until they meet that height. I'll let you know that right now. Get that shot swatted. Juju's going to go in for that layup. Page is going to be just fine. Page is going to be just fine. No. No. All right. Now that does it for March Madness Bracket Challenge brought to you by Reese's or Reese's, whatever one you want to call it. Winning never tasted so good. Whether you're watching the games or filling out your brackets, It's feed your fandom with Reese's this March madness. Hey, again, to enter, go to the link in the description of the episode, fill out your bracket and you can win a new Heights golden cup, man.

1:35:58Who knows? Maybe I can fucking win one or get one, one of these days. And it will be filled with Reese's peanut butter cups. Mine's filled with playing cards. I think they threw in some Reese's eggs too. Who knows? Maybe you'll get some puffs, some Reese's pieces. Yeah. Make sure you guys fill those brackets out. Men's bracket again Thursday by noon. Women's bracket Friday by 1130. All Eastern time. Yeah, good luck to the crew, to the 92 percenters. That wraps up another episode of New Heights. Thank you to Ben Stiller. Make sure you're subscribed on YouTube to the New Heights channel and follow New Heights on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:36:36Please go check out our incredible guest episodes from last week, Matthew Stafford and Jason Sudeikis. You can also listen to new episodes of New Heights early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Once again, New Heights, a Wondery show produced by Wave Sports and Entertainment and brought to you by Nike. When the world says you can't win, Nike says so win. Follow the show on all social media at New Heights Show with one F for fun clips throughout the week. Ben Stiller, thank you, dude. That was a fucking blast. Thanks to our production and crew for making us all look great.

1:37:09Like we actually know what we're doing until the 92 percenters to see you guys next week. Appreciate you tuning in.