"Jeremy Allen White"

13:25Sean Hayes:He's defending himself. That's okay. I mean, if the shark is eating you and you're just going, no, I didn't want to punch it in the nose. You can hurt me.

13:33Will Arnett:I don't want to hurt you. Yeah. Give me a break. No, you're allowed. Are you sure that the shark wasn't just coming to him for more sort of of that blood? He wasn't trying to bite the guy, was he? I don't think so. I think they were just in a franchise. He headbutted the big shark. Did they interview the shark after? He headbutted him. He headbutted one of the sharks. The lemon shock, which I think was kind of bad. Those are big. 12 feet long. Yeah. He head-butted that shock.

13:58Sean Hayes:No, of course you have to. In France, we head-butt the shock. Afterwards, I did go up to him and I said, has anyone... In the end, I basically came over to me, checked my oxygen, and I completely run out of oxygen. And then we did some emergency procedure where, you know, you take his regulator and go up.

14:15Will Arnett:He puts it in your mouth and you put yours in his mouth.

14:17Sean Hayes:He's like, we both have to get in the same wet suit. Don't worry, it's fine.

14:20Will Arnett:if this is how we regulate. This is a very long ruse. We're both in this. We go down below. This hasn't wrecked your love of scuba diving, though, has it? No, no, no. I went back the next day. I did say to him, I said, has anyone ever got hurt on any of your dives? And he said, two people have died. No way. For real. Seriously. But it was painless. Yeah, he was a cave diver. Those guys are completely crazy. and, you know, he basically missed the fun of and the thrill of cave diving. I think scuba diving is like, scuba diving is the most magical thing I've ever done. I would love to do it more and more.

14:59Sean Hayes:But what if you said, have anybody ever done, and he goes, yeah, it's two people, and you said, like in a cave where he goes, no, I murdered them. This was above, this was not in the water. No, the night before I murdered them in the room, I strangled them. Do you do a lot of that stuff, Sasha? Like, do you thrill-seek? Are you a thrill seeker? Not really. No, no, no. Have you ever skydived?

15:21Will Arnett:Would you? I have not. I would not. Have you? Have you? I was a week away from it and then I canceled it because I said to myself, okay, what do you think you'd feel at the end? And then I realized all I would feel is relief. And then I thought, well, I've just had my first kid and I shouldn't be doing things that I'm excited about having gotten away with it. You know, like no longer should I be doing things I get away with. And so I stopped. I said, you know what, I don't want to do it. And none of you guys have done it. Would all three of you do it? I did the simulation thing, but not. That doesn't count.

15:54What do you mean? The fucking little fly suit at Universal Studios? You get in the tube with the air?

15:58Will Arnett:No, that doesn't count. It doesn't count?

16:01Sean Hayes:So, Sasha Baron Cohen. Let's drop the Baron, huh? Just to make me even more Jewish. Well, let's.

16:10Will Arnett:But wait, Baron is not a part of the last name, is it? Is it just, is that your middle name? It's part of the last name, yeah. Oh, it's part of the last thing. Oh, got it. Yeah. So, Sasha, your blend of comedy and, for lack of a better term, education is, as I said in the intro, I find personally so admirable. and like you make the medicine go down super easy for ding-dongs like me and the stuff you shine a light on, not only just on issues, but also sort of ethics and bigotry, and et cetera, et cetera. Where does that come? Well, I kind of know where it comes from, but tell the audience like when did that, when did you figure out you could blend your social awareness with your comedic talents?

17:06Firstly, thank you very much for that.

17:08Will Arnett:Let's take it down. It's lovely. I could spend all day. But please don't. I think it's the first time, actually the second time I did Borat. So basically Borat was created, I was doing like a satellite TV show called F2F, where I was the host of it. It was a discussion show for teenage kids. We'd talk about everything. And you talk about teen topics. And, you know, I wanted to be a comedian. And so I would go and pre-record characters that I could throw to. Right. And basically, I went out once and I had a kind of skateboarding character that was an early form of Ali G. And then I basically saw some real skateboarders and the guy I was with, this sort of old director from Ealing Studios who had lost all his money and was working in this really shitty satellite TV show, I said, look, those guys look like me.

18:15I go, do you think I should talk to them? And he said, 100%. So I go over to these guys, and I'm basically on my skateboard, and I'm playing this early Ali G character, and they thought I was real. Right. And after about three minutes, I said, guys, you know, I'm not, you know, I'm not real. This is just, you know, I'm playing along. They were completely freaked out. Right. And then I, a tourist bus came. I jumped on the tourist bus. I commandeered it. I started rapping, got off the bus, went into a pub. Year was this?

18:49Sean Hayes:Sasha, what year was this maybe? This was, I think, 1995 or four. Okay. Okay. Anyway, I basically go into a pub. I start break dancing. They call the police. I go into some big business. I claim that my dad's upstairs and he's the CEO. They call security. We run back to this live TV show. I run, they put on my normal clothes. And this guy, this legendary guy who's an editor at Alien Studios, is editing while I'm on air. This is the days of pneumatics. This is, he's like cutting, you know, everything's losing four frames. And he's adding music. This guy was a kind of legendary guy. Wow. And I'm cutting to this stuff, and it's, you know, me with real people.

19:33So it was the first time that it was a comic character with real people.

19:38Will Arnett:And you realized that you could Trojan horse some of the social commentary inside a comedy, yeah? You're right. I'm not really answering your question at all. This was like the first time I ever did, you know, characters in the real world.

19:50Sean Hayes:Because, yeah, you weren't doing that shit yet. Like, even Ali G, you weren't really, early on Ali G, You weren't really making a commentary. You were just fucking with people. Yeah.

20:01Will Arnett:Early on. Well, but you were exposing sort of the lowbrow perspective on certain things that deserve a highbrow analysis. Yeah? Well, I think in a way, Ali G was kind of a undermining of the establishment. Yeah. It was essentially saying, okay, these people that run society, they are completely out of touch with society so much that they will believe that this guy is real despite him asking the most absurd questions ever.

20:34Sean Hayes:Can I tell you, Sasha, I think I've told you this and JB, you might know this, but I don't mean to speak ill of the dead. Please do. But they don't give a shit. You're not going to criticize Hitler again, are you? No, I told you I wouldn't ever. Remember, you made me. I signed a promise to him. Yeah. Yeah. Stop it. I was in tears, yeah. You were in absolute, you were a wreck. I was furious. I was weeping. It's one of the weirdest positions. I was weeping at the Vanity Fair party when you were. It's not a position you think Sasha would have, but boy. No, was years ago, right after it aired, and I want to say about 2003, 2004, something like that, you were still doing Ali G at the time.

21:20Sean Hayes:It was before Borat. and you, I was at a party with, because he was on Arrested Development with James Lipton. Jason, you were there too. And I just seen it and I said to James Lipton, I go, oh, I saw you on LAG. And I said, God, that was so funny. The actor studio guy? Yeah. The actor studio guy, yeah. And he was on Arrested Development. He played the warden of the prison. Yeah, that's great. Warden Gentles, Gentiles. Yeah, yeah, that's right. I think that's right. And it's a really funny bit to have him as the warden, right? And the whole time he's really just trying to get them all amount to play like a musical but he says i said yeah so you know gee god that was so funny he goes i knew when he came in i knew that it was a bit and but he went on this whole thing and i just watch it i'm thinking like no you didn't no he had no absolutely no idea because he took me off camera after we'd finished the interview back to the other room and so you know i was still in character he completely believed who i was and that thing showed me like a painting of a naked of his wife woman yes is that it's of his wife yeah it is yeah yeah and he goes that is my wife yeah which you wouldn't do if you thought and i was like young man yo she is man i was boned out yo somebody else wait you know how you know that somebody else has told me that very same thing that he turned back and said this is the naked picture painting of my wife there we go you verified the story that is fact checking we have just fact checked there you go we've established me as a reliable witness and that started

22:53Will Arnett:the classic line from Borat of it's my wife right yeah it's my naked wife right James Lipton she was beautiful by the way she was beautiful I'll bet classically if we use those kind of ways to categorize women sure what does it even mean of course We'll be right back. Picture this. Me, Reese Witherspoon, in London. Ordering fish and chips so often, they might start wrapping me in paper. I'm traveling with my Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card, so I earn rewards wherever I book travel. Five times points with hotels, four times with airlines, three times on restaurants and other travel, and one point on other purchases.

23:33Imagine getting rewarded for eating a toad in the hole. Wait, what is a toad in a hole? Visit wellsfargo.com slash autographjourney. Terms apply.

24:10Will Arnett:Exclusions apply. See homekeeper.com slash price match for details. Having the right people in your corner for life's biggest milestones makes all the difference. Like a friend who's there when you're house hunting or checking out a new ride, State Farm is there too, helping you choose the coverage you need. With a State Farm agent, you know someone is there to help you along the way. And with so many coverage options, it's nice knowing you have help choosing a plan that fits your needs. So you can continue celebrating all of life's milestones. Head to statefarm.com to get a quote. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

24:45Will Arnett:And now, back to the show. At the beginning, when I asked you, like, about the risk-taking, I was like, would you do anything else other than, you know, swim with the sharks or whatever? And you said, no, absolutely not. We talked about skydiving. I'm just realizing, like, this, what you do is so high risk. So it's like, that must fulfill some kind of, like, rush in you.

25:07Sean Hayes:Yeah, the fear, like, you love that kind of rush. of like you're about to get caught. Right.

25:12Will Arnett:You're not doing that as much anymore, correct? Is that because you're just sort of like older and wiser and you don't want to get hit or run anymore? Well, the last... Sorry, sorry. Yeah. No, end of question.

25:29Interrupted slightly. I thought I was waiting for that sliver. You threw me a line. A little early.

25:33Will Arnett:No, I can go on. And then there was an awe. Then there was an awe. Well, the last Borat movie, there was quite a lot of that stuff. And actually, I mean, we did, there was a scene at a gun rally, which was, got quite hairy. I remember reading about that, yeah. Yes, it was, you know, I mean, people were semi-automatics and automatics in the audience, and it was a militia, unfortunately that had organized it that then didn't take it very well. And I was singing a song called The Wuhan Flu. That's right. Everybody, what they gotta do? The Wuhan Flu. I can't even remember it, but. I mean, where does the fearlessness come from, though?

26:19I mean, where are you? Well, there, I'll tell you the truth. With that scene, because we knew that there were going to be, you know, basically it was a gun rally. And everyone was talking about something. It was in the middle of COVID. We were the only movie shooting. And so, you know, my security said, listen, you need to have a bulletproof vest on. And so I put on the bulletproof vest, and I said, they go, that's fine for pistols. And they said, okay, what if somebody shoots the, you know, semi-automatic? And, you know, it's not just one person. So they built, so I was singing on stage. So they built an amplifier that was pretty much bomb-proof.

26:57So they basically said, you know, if people stop really shooting with the semi-automatics, go behind the amplifier and you'll be safe. Jesus! It's unbelievable. And so the thing is, you know, you're in the scene, I'm on stage, and, you know, you have this kind of conflict between, you know, I'm terrified, and then you also have, I need to get the scene. So you want to, so I was doing, you know, the same verse again because I felt I hadn't got a good take of it. People were getting more and more, you know, they realized at some point that it was me on stage. There was somebody actually undercover from Black Lives Matter had infiltrated this gun rally.

27:44And basically they recognized me and word spread that it was me. And then people started trying to storm the stage.

27:51Will Arnett:Right, because they realized they were getting clowned. Yeah. Yeah. And obviously they all had guns. and then, but I'm trying to get the scene and obviously do as many different takes and eventually they did storm the stage and actually somebody pulled a gun. And luckily I had a very good bodyguard at the time who managed to... Wow. Take a bullet. Yeah, he's dead, but we gave him such a beautiful funeral.

28:17Sean Hayes:That's why you said at the time, yeah. Yeah, he was such a, he went away so well. He had such a beautiful and reasonable funeral. you know it's funny you mention reasonable because I was going to say as part of this and the situation you described you have to deal with a lot of people who some might consider to be kind of unreasonable to be extremist in certain ways and my question is when you deal with all these people and you're revealing all this or pulling back the covers on all this kind of shit But do you ever have a moment where you go, you know what, this person is kind of a good person.

28:59Sean Hayes:They're just really, they've just gotten off on the wrong path. Or misinformed. I'm sure some of them are despicable. Yeah, but just some are misinformed. But actually at their heart, they're kind of good people. Yes. I mean, on the last movie as well, there were these two guys I spent three days in a house with called Jim and Jerry. And they were... Wait, this is Bruno, right? No, this was Borat 2. Oh, right, right, right, right. You know, they believe that Hillary Clinton drank the blood of children and, you know, COVID was a conspiracy and that Hillary killed kids. But they were actually, they were nice people.

29:37They were good people. They were just misinformed. And so you suddenly realize they're, and they're actually feminists because, well, when I was, you know, when I was being, when Borat was being a misogynist about his daughter they were like they took it upon themselves to teach me that it was important to be respectful to your daughter and if she wanted to do her own thing she should do so they they were actually good guys and you suddenly realised and it was a surprise right because they had those views and you want to dismiss these people as being horrific and you suddenly realised that actually any good person, if they're fed a set of ideas and set of information that's wrong, can believe conspiracy theories that ultimately lead to horrific stuff.

30:31Right. Right?

30:32Will Arnett:Well, I mean, you know, we, at the risk of stepping towards political, which we try not to do on this, because God knows people get enough of that shit away from here. Tell me about it. But just on this subject, do you feel hopeful at all that there's a scenario of possibility where those who feel so disenfranchised and aggrieved can be brought into a sense of, well, actually, I guess we aren't, you know, we needn't be tribalized. We can all kind of get along and work as one. Do you see that as a possibility? soon? I don't, given the state of the current, you know, internet and information laws, basically.

31:23Will Arnett:Yeah, that possibly you can penetrate this misinformation and make it healthy. Well, you know, you're being fed so much stuff that polarizes you. Yeah. You know, if you look at the craziness that is going on in the world, everything has been accelerating since, you know, social media came along. Yeah. So until really, in my opinion, until you actually get laws that, you know, get legislation that curbs the power of those social media companies and says, all right, actually, you can't spread lies like this that kill people. Yeah. Or that completely undermine democracy. And you are legitimately educated on this issue of free speech versus, you know, trying to keep the social media sites from being regulated.

32:19Will Arnett:And so my question to you is, what is that difference between, well, free speech should be given to everybody, but you can't yell fire in a crowded theater? So what is that line? And who is the one that can say, oh, yeah, this qualifies as you can't yell fire in a crowded theater, so therefore you can't say that? Like, who decides what statements get put in that category? I mean, these are very big questions, huge. And they kind of vary from country to country. So, you know, in England, Australia, and Germany, you have laws about hate speech and about certain types of misinformation. In America, obviously, you have complete free speech, but it's not up to those— Except for yelling fire.

33:11Yes. Well, actually, you kind of can at the moment. I mean, the internet companies, because they're not regulated because of this thing called Section 230, they can put out—

33:25Will Arnett:Which is a free speech thing, right? Section 230 isn't really about free speech. It basically says you can't sue them. So once you can't sue a company, you know, they have no obligation to, you know, maintain the free speech of the United States in the same way that a restaurant can say, you know what, I'm going to throw you out of the restaurant for saying this or that or, you know, having that KKK hood here. So I think the fact, you know, They're saying that they care about free speech basically because it's fantastic for their business model. It means that they can have every single person in the world can be on Meta, can be on Instagram, can be on X, right?

34:09They're not actual, they don't care really about free speech.

34:11Sean Hayes:No, look at Elon Musk who consistently talks about free speech and he'll do that. And then out of the other side of his mouth, he's sort of decrying the government for doing X, Y, and Z or he's kicking people off or he's muting them on Twitter. I actually don't want to talk to him because I don't want to give him any more airtime. The guy's such a, in my opinion, so fucking unfunny. It's crazy. Which is, I think, the most damning thing about one of – no, a lot of damning things. But the fact is how profoundly un-fucking-funny he is is so astonishing.

34:43Will Arnett:And that's why your work and, you know, your courage, quite frankly, in my opinion, is so valuable. and, you know, I'd take it, I wish you were back on a weekly show. I'd take it once a week. So thank you for all of that. I think you're right.

34:59Sean Hayes:Yeah, JB, we need to have that sort of, you need to be in there lampooning and really showing, shedding light on the hypocrisy alone is so fucking jarring, right?

35:08Will Arnett:Yeah, it's refreshing.

35:10Sean Hayes:I mean, it must be fun for you when you have those people say, when you put them in that position and then they say the thing that you're like, fucking hell, this is unreal. Yeah, yeah. I mean, obviously it's horrific, but you go, you know, while I'm actually in the room, I'm editing the scene as well. Right. So in my head, I'm going, you know, and once they've got the thing, I go, oh, that's great. And now one follow-up question, bang. Okay, now I'm going to move on to the next bit. You know, because there's obviously no director there. Yeah.

35:37Will Arnett:Where did you, you know, I've always been taken by your... Figure. Yeah, your silhouette. It is surprisingly, think more about that. I mean, the shoulders. Tell me more about that. What do you mean? What do you mean, my figure? Stay on that topic. What do you mean? It's surprisingly... It's surprisingly... But I did say sneaky handsome in the intro, I believe. Thank you, thank you. But the... And you did start as a model, but we won't even talk about that. You know. More Wikipedia accuracy. But your ability as an actor is like... You know, breathtaking might be overstating. but I don't have a better word.

36:21I don't know. I don't know.

36:24Will Arnett:But it's like your comedy is never, your comedy never comes from jokes and you're never making, you know, it's rarely as a pratfall or making faces. It's about your ability to be so convincing with an extremely eccentric character. And yet you can be literally sitting in front of somebody who's super smart and maybe even primed to sort of sniff out some gotcha moments and they still can't tell that it's you. But not even when you're doing those characters. When you're just in films and dramas and stuff. You didn't take formal training as an actor, did you? I only did one course. I studied with Philippe Gaulier, the legendary clown teacher.

37:10Will Arnett:Clown, clown school. At l 'école Philippe Gaulier. At a clown school. That was it. But no, I didn't really train in acting, no. it's just something that uh your commitment i think yeah does it just come natural to you uh how do you what do you well i think yeah i think you know we did an experiment after in 2016 i that that show who's america came out of me and my collaborator at heinz and dan swimer We basically said, you know what? Let's just create some characters. I'd done a movie. It'd been a complete bomb. And I was like, let's take this opportunity to create some characters. And we decided to go every week for the next 10 weeks, we're going to create a character, write it, create a fake prosthetic head for it, and at the end of the week, shoot with the real person, with the character.

38:10And I did that for 10 weeks. and there were a variety of crazy characters, some that made it to the show. Six we put in the show. And then I realized basically what I was able to do is once I've got the way the character speaks and once I work out what it looks like and once I work out what the clothes are and I've got a couple of phrases, I can just stick in it. So that was, because that was a couple of weeks in and I was like, oh, this is what I can do is I can, you know, they call it inhabiting a character, but I actually kind of, you know, if I've got 30 seconds or whatever, then I can go in it.

38:51Probably, there must be something wrong with my brain.

38:53Will Arnett:No, I think some people, it's just comfortable to them to pretend to be somebody else and they just know how to be super subtle and convincing and authentic. And it doesn't trip them up and you're able to stay in it.

39:07Sean Hayes:Well, there's a freedom, but there's a freedom too if you think about it, Because a lot of those times when you're shooting, especially some of the sort of the, whether it's Borat or Bruno or whatever, you've created a character or multiple characters, but the people you're working with are not aware that they're in a scene in the same way, right? So it's much, A, it's difficult because it's complete verite, right? You're actually in their real life, right? So you've got to not just convince the audience, you've got to convince the person you're dealing with in the moment that you're real, a real person, right?

39:41Sean Hayes:Yeah. So you've got to do that. And there must be a certain, I don't know, like making that leap is tough, I would imagine. Like just getting into that. Yeah, what making it real. I mean, it's funny, sometimes I get, you know, I'll have a director say, you know, I want you to do, you know, a scripted movie. And they'll go, this time you're going to be playing a real person. Right, right. And I go, hold on, the other people I play are real people, which is why I'm with Dick Cheney. Twice as hard. It's why I'm with Dick Cheney for three hours. Right, yeah. And he doesn't doubt once that he's with a real person.

40:19What about Giuliani?

40:21Will Arnett:I mean, thank God. You started that. What can you say? Can you say anything? Can you talk about Giuliani? Yes, yeah, I can, I think, talk about Giuliani. That was amazing. I mean, essentially, you know, that movie. So we were like, why do we bring Paul Rat back? And actually, I've got to thank Kimmel, where Kimmel said, we want you on. It was like the midterms. And he wanted me to do some sketch where basically I was a kind of Ashton Kutcher type who had been manipulating Kanye West into turning him into a character that was so ridiculous that he would hang out with Donald Trump. And basically, I said, I'll do it so long as Kanye will do it.

41:05This was years ago. This was 2018, right? And so I called up Kanye and I said, will you do this thing? And it would be, you know, he'd already met up with Trump. And I said, will you do this sketch where it says, you know, we're planning out, you know, we're going to create this ridiculous character and it's going to end up with you in Trump Tower. And it's going to be as if you were playing along. And he said, I love the idea, but, you know, I need the president to agree. And I was like, Trump? I go, don't, no, no, don't ask him. So I couldn't do, he goes, no, I love him. And I want you to, I need to ask him.

41:47I go, please do not tell him we're doing this sketch at all. So I couldn't do that sketch. And then basically I decided to do Borat. Actually, I spoke to Chris Rock. Is that a name drop? I think so. Sure.

42:00Will Arnett:We'll pick it up. It's a kind of name drop. Yeah. Here it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a name drop. So I spoke to Chris Rock, world-famous comedian and actor, and he said, why don't you... You know, I was in a rush. Basically, I was going to go on air two days' time. He said, just do Borat going door-to-door. We did Borat door-to-door, got the moustache out of storage. And then I realised that basically Borat was just an extreme form of Trump. They had almost identical views, except Borat was kind of 30 % to 40 % more extreme with everything. I was like, oh, great, we can bring him back for Trump.

42:38And then I was like, how do I infiltrate, you know, Trump's world? I go, okay, if he has a daughter who's 15, wouldn't it be great if, you know, Trump had sex with her? And so, you know, originally I was trying to work out how to get this, you know, actress in with Trump. We got her close to him for a while, But it was, you know, we spoke to a lot of ex-Secret Service guys. And the idea was like, I would kind of jump out of the wall somewhere. We had like all these plans where, you know, Trump would be in a room. I would be inside the wall. We would, you know, hollow out a wall, then build it up around me.

43:20And then I'd burst out when he was with her. Oh, my God. And we spoke to an ex-Top Secret Service guy who looked after the president. And we go, what do you think of this plan? I'm going to be in there. I'll be in there for like five hours. He said, the issue is that the Secret Service have a machine that sees if there's anyone else, anyone in the walls. And I go, all right. So I go, what's worse comes to worse, they find that I'm there. And what, they pull me out? He goes, no, they shoot you dead. I go, why? He goes, because why else would you be in a, why would there be a living person inside a wall unless they were trying to figure out?

43:54Will Arnett:Safe assumption that they can't negotiate with a guy like you, they just kill him. So we basically gave up on Trump. Also, you know, we thought at the time that, you know, he was the most protected person in the world. I mean, this was prior to those last unfortunate incidents. But Rudy. But then we found out Rudy was a possibility. A little bit of a softer target. Yeah, but we knew that he was going to be crucial. Yeah. And we kind of researched him. We found out what he drank, when he started drinking.

44:27Sean Hayes:Was the answer anything? I think there was a particular type of alcohol. But then we heard that he would sweep the room. He had a very senior head of security who would come in and sweep the room. And so we built a kind of fake cupboard inside the wardrobe. So a fake back to, there was a wardrobe that if somebody opened it, it would have a fake back to him. Behind that was me. and so the idea was you know i just stand in there for you know an hour and a half and then necessary bit jump out if he was close to kissing you know the girl playing my daughter and anyway basically the um we had a crew member who accidentally put me in the wrong room and i said you know when is you know so i would have to be in position for, you know, for this to happen.

45:24Otherwise, you know, there's no way to get into the room because his head of security would come into the room, sweep the room, sweep every room, and then he would sit outside so no one could come in with Rudy and her. And I was in the wrong room, and I said, wait a minute, how long till Rudy, you know, goes to the room? And he said, oh, he's on his way there now. And I was like, now? And basically, I ran to the room, and I literally saw Rudy's leg come around the corner. I ducked into the room, went into the wardrobe, went behind the fake wall, closed it, and then I heard the door open off his security, you know, sweep the room that I was in and then come out.

46:05So he swept through the room. We did the scene, you know, eventually. Oh, by the way, so I'm in there for an hour and a half and, you know, the only way I can communicate with the director was through a cell phone. and we thought of everything. I pick up the cell phone, I'm in the pitch black and there's 3%.

46:23Will Arnett:Oh, yeah. You know, an hour and a half. I was like, we did everything. We've got hidden cameras, we've got the... But we... Somebody had not charged the cell phone. So at some point, I had to kind of climb out of it and make eye contact with the brilliant actor, Maria, who's playing my daughter. And she's like, Rudy's on the bed and she's like coming out, looking at me and going, what do I do? And eventually, I confronted Rudy he freaks out, goes out of the room, and his head of security pushes me into the room. You know, I'm playing Borat, and Borat, you know, is so naive. You know, if he sees a chair, he'll say, what is this machine with four legs?

47:01And suddenly the head of security's pushed me back into the room, going, you're going nowhere, because I had an escape route. So my security guy was going to take me down the escape route, but the head of security pushes me into the room. He goes, you're going nowhere. You're staying right here. And I said, this is a false imprisonment. You are standing on my property and you will leave now and unhand me now. And basically he realized that and read the law, ran down, ran down the fire escape, got into a car, got to the crew hotel. And then essentially my lawyer says, he found out what we did and he said, okay, you got to get out the state now.

47:40Okay, that's ridiculous. Why? They go, Rudy had called something. And I'd met the manager of the hotel a year onwards in DC. And he said, Rudy had done something. I don't know what he'd called in. But he said, every single type of law enforcement descended on the hotel, shut down the hotel. They confiscated all the equipment. All the crew was stuck in the hotel rooms. and then my security, I had a policeman that I'd hired. He realized that I'd set up Rudy Giuliani. He immediately told Rudy's security where I lived, where I was staying. Jesus Christ. And so my lawyer was like, get the hell out of New York City now.

48:24I was like, that seems a little bit over the top. I called up this other security guy I know. I know a lot of security guys. Who runs these kind of detectives, you know, New York and stuff like that. And I said, listen, I've been told I have to leave New York State, you know, in the next 20 minutes, because I interviewed someone and I go, he goes, what did you do? And I go, you know, wore like some lingerie and da-da-da, as a politician. I go, he goes, who was it? I go, it was, you know, it was Giuliani. He goes, get the hell out of the hotel now. So I start texting everyone who I knew outside of New York, go, hi, how's it going?

49:04Haven't seen you for a few years. This was the middle of the pandemic. You know, this is where Manhattan was completely empty. You'd go up Fifth Avenue. There was not a car or a person. I go, how's it going? Any chance I could stay soon? When? 15 minutes. And people are like, you know, people are like freaked out, not responding. Eventually, one of them says yes. And basically, I drive to Connecticut. And it was fantastic.

49:31Will Arnett:But you got all the footage and you got your equipment. We got all the footage. and then yeah it was interesting it was interesting and we will be right back finding ways to be financially savvy is a smart move and knowing you could be saving money for the things you really want like that dream home or new ride is a great feeling that's why the State Farm personal price plan can help you save when you choose to bundle home and auto bundling just another way to save with a personal price plan head to statefarm.com to get a quote Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer.

50:10Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state. When you're craving something extra delicious, extra saucy, and extra extra, there's Applebee's All You Can Eat, an unlimited spread of flavorful favorites for just$15.99. You get all the tender signature riblets, all the crispy boneless wings, all the golden brown double crunch shrimp, and endless classic fries. All at a price that hits just right. Applebee's all you can eat for just$15.99 per person per order. Now that's eating good in the neighborhood. Limited time only, so hurry into your nearest Applebee's today.

50:45Sean Hayes:This Father's Day at Lowe's, we have extra big deals for a very limited time. So you can get Dad the gift he's been wishing for. Get a free select Craftsman, DeWalt, or Cobalt battery when you buy a select combo kit. Plus, save$90 on a cobalt 24-volt battery string trimmer and leaf blower combo kit. Now$129. Our best lineup is here at Lowe's. Ballot through 615, while supplies last. Selection varies by location. And now, back to the show.

51:19Will Arnett:So, Sasha, I would imagine that the thrill of acting and also the sort of the, and the social relevance, political relevance of some of your efforts is thrilling. Does it compare with just the pure acting thrill of being in a film that's directed by Martin Scorsese? I mean, that's just one third of what you're doing when you're doing your other stuff. Can you compare the two of them? Are you drawn towards one versus the other? I mean, I remember the first film I did was Talladega Nights. and it was the first trailer I'd been in. And I went in, Ricky Burby, and basically I remember seeing that there was a bed in the trailer and I'd never had a trailer beforehand because we'd always been in the back of a car.

52:09I was like, why is there a bed? Somebody's accidentally put a bed in my room. They go, no, that's what, I go, what am I meant to do with it? Sleep, you know. And so I thought, wow, this is actually an incredible gig. But, you know, when it's the other stuff, it is, I mean, it's much less stressful. Yeah. Although, you know, I just did this show with Alfonso Cuaron.

52:34Will Arnett:Yes, let's talk about that. That's coming on Apple. Well, we had like a 15-minute scene, yeah, with me and Cate Blanchett. They wanted to do in one take. Yeah. And that became pretty exhausting and pretty... Do you have a passion for acting, like the frickin' craft? of acting, you know? I mean, if it's good and you're working with an incredible director, then, and you're an incredible director, my friend. I love you so much. No, you are. Can I just say? No, no. You take your time. Let's do the remainder of this about Jason. But yeah, then it is great. But it's in different categories for you, though, yes?

53:12Will Arnett:I mean, it's not comparable, right? They're different things, yes? No. No, because you're just doing the act. Everything else is, how are we going to get into the room? What's the escape route? Who's that person? That person's looking suspicious. This person doesn't quite believe me. My fake ear is falling off my head. And then your number eight in the thing is a performance. Yeah. Sasha, I speak on behalf of millions of people that are fans of yours like I am, like huge fans where we're constantly waiting for your next thing. because you're one of the few artists that combine art and politics and have been so successful in all of those improvisational types of whatever you call them.

53:57These magic tricks. We play these characters. Obviously, you can't tell us what it is you're working on, but could we expect another character to pop up in a movie soon? Are you excited about that type of thing to do that again? Because from the outside, I can't wait. Short of the straight acting thing with Kate Conchett. I can't wait for those types of things again. Or are you done with that? I think they are, yeah. I mean, the last one became so extreme. And it was, you know, after that gun rally thing that I was talking about, I was essentially on the run. I had a militia kind of following me and we were going, I was going from safe house to safe house for about four days.

54:41That's the movie. Yeah, exactly. By the way, I mean, it's, that was yeah it kind of is the movie because you know you finish that that song with that militia oh that went really well and then you know the escape itself is tough because we're in an ambulance we're surrounded by 30 guys trying to pull me out of the ambulance they pull open the door you know i'm but we can't get enough of that we can't get enough of that yeah i mean no one's you know that's the behind the scenes stuff that at some point there needs to be a behind the scenes movie. We shot, we did have, we've got a bunch of footage of the last 25 years, but yeah, that, I think it became so crazy in the last one that you realize you've, you know, you've got to be, there's a certain amount of skill and preparation, but also you're going to be lucky.

55:26And at some point your luck runs out. Your luck runs out.

55:31Will Arnett:And they're just the practicality of it because it has been so successful for so long. This, this, this type of, you know, again, for lack of a better term, ambush type of thing. Like people know you. They'd love these films. Millions and millions of people have seen them. You just can't sneak up on anybody anymore. Yes. Well, I think just the danger element meant that I just didn't really want to do it again. You know, I felt I had to do it for that election. I had to do it. I felt it was like, you know, I was terrified about what's this name going to get. Let's not come off the gas just yet, okay?

56:05Will Arnett:Yes. We're not out of the woods yet, Sasha. Still needs you. That's true. You know, I haven't asked you one fucking question and we're done. You have? We're finished with the time. No, I've got all these things all like highlighted and everything. I apologize to the listener. We haven't done any legitimate journalism here. Let's at least talk about Disclaimer and working with Alfonso Cuaron and Apple and Cate Blanchett. I mean, it's well, well, well deserved for your acting talents to be, you know, working with these people at the top of the profession. So have you seen it all the way through?

56:48Will Arnett:Disclaimer. I watched it for the first time in Venice. Yeah. And I mean, no one could believe that I hadn't watched it until then. And I'm like, the embarrassing thing was I was laughing at the jokes that I'm making out. There's not many, but it's quite embarrassing. You're at a premiere watching yourself and you're one of the only people laughing at jokes. And then I was like really moved by one of my performances. I was like near tit. And I realized I'm just a complete narcissist, just looking, just really moved by my own performance.

57:20Sean Hayes:Wait, it wasn't until Venice this year that you realized that? Wow. I never knew there was a connection between actors in movies and narcissism. No, I had no idea.

57:33Will Arnett:I'll bet it's absolutely stunning. It's actually excellent. It comes out October... Or it came out. When is it? It came out. When is it? Yeah, when's this coming out? October 11th. When's this coming out? Yeah, it came out. It came out October 11th.

57:48Sean Hayes:It came out October 11th. It was amazing. It's incredible. No, I mean October 11th. The weather was so great that day. Did you know October 11th? That was great.

57:58Will Arnett:That's fantastic. Sasha, when do we get to... Are you coming back to Los Angeles at any time soon? And we can all hang out again like the old days? I'd love to see you. Yeah. Goddammit, I love seeing you. And Sean, it'd be lovely to meet you in the flesh. I would love that too. I'm around. Just give a shout. If you need a place to crash when you're in trouble in New York again, my place is yours. Great. If you don't mind malicious coming to your door. Yeah. No, are you kidding? Yeah. What do they look like? You were really, really nice to say yes to this. I know you don't do this a lot. No, no, no.

58:27I'm awful at it. The honest truth is I'm very bad at it. it's fantastic even though I'll see you socially socially it's a pleasure but the slight pressure with the no pressure no this is great

58:40Sean Hayes:this is fantastic you're a world classic well by the way very muscly I can see your I don't know if you're doing this intentionally but you're a shirt I've seen glutes I've seen oh thanks you've got everything no you've been working out you're looking very put your arms down are you doing this for a reason this is from my pinup collection my pinup collection early short I think this was my July for my calendar. Wow. Wow, you really actually do look incredible.

59:05Will Arnett:Prison with Arnett, that's the calendar?

59:09Will Arnett:Sasha, thank you so, so, so much. No, thank you. We love you a lot. Please come out to LA I love you. No, seriously, I love you both. Sean, you seem very lovely. He's the best of the three of us. Miss you, Sasha. These two, I do love. I do love them. We're trash compared to him. I love you, Sasha, even though we don't know each other. I love you you love me I feel affectionate I feel an instant warmth oh he's a little love thing

59:35Sean Hayes:oh yeah yeah very charming and lovely persona you just want to pet him when you see him he totally does seem like that you're right you're not going to sue me for saying that are you okay

59:50K Monty Strong on a podcast loved it

59:56Will Arnett:thank you buddy thank you and goodbye and enjoy the rest of your night. Thank you. No, thank you for agreeing to... I can't wait for disclaimer. Everybody check it out on Apple. You know, I think it's... Honestly, I would say I thought it was excellent, personally.

1:00:09Sean Hayes:Yeah, we'll see you at the Emmys, I'll bet. I was glad. I hope they put... They should put that on the poster. I think it's excellent. I personally thought it was excellent. By the way, I have seen stuff that I've done. I was like, that is bad. I laughed and I cried at myself. but it'd be pretty fucking funny to have a quote from one of the stars of the film all of them Cate Blanchett Cate Blanchett a guaranteed Emmy tour de force Cate Blanchett end of quote he's great Kevin Kline I am in this

1:00:43Will Arnett:oh Kevin Kline's in it too Kevin Kline's in it he's actually fantastic in it I love Kevin Kline I love him I love him I see more from him alright enjoy the rest of your night alright thank you see you soon love to everyone okay toodaloo thank you bye bye pal bye bye that's a great guest Jay that was really really great Sasha B

1:01:02Sean Hayes:yeah great job JB I just love him Sasha Baron Cohen he's got great stories

1:01:07Will Arnett:one of the funniest guys I mean he's up there with Sean Hayes Will Arnett and Will Ferrell in my world I just like they just can't I get in an instant good mood when I'm in this well nobody I was gonna say to him nobody does I mean it sounds so cliche to say it but it's true. Nobody does what he does. Nobody's ever done what he does. No one's got the intelligence, the balls, or the acting talent to do what he does. Yeah. It's like a Peter Sellers... Which is his hero, by the way. Oh, really? We didn't even get into that. It's like a version of that in real life when he goes...

1:01:44Sean Hayes:But applying it to the real world. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Right? Which is so... Yeah, it's... He's really cool. I never met him before. He just seems so... I was showing you as well. You'd love to hang out with him, yeah.

1:01:55Will Arnett:He'd love to hang out with me, so funny. He's the greatest at a party. Yeah, I bet. I just start to hover, and he's eventually got to walk away from me because I just put in too much time. Yeah, he seems hyper-intelligent. He is. Oh, yeah, Cambridge. Educated. Oh, wow. Yeah, of course. Not a ding-dong. Speaking of ding-dongs, what's for lunch today, Sean? I'm going to do a French dip with French fries. Why is it always something special? What do you mean? It's always got something with sauce or like some kind of like really electric flavor to it. How about just like some sort of sustenance? Aren't you amazed at how fast I know my answers whenever you ask what I had or what I'm going to have?

1:02:38Will Arnett:Well, we're cutting into it right now, right? You can probably smell it, right? It's two o 'clock in these coasts. You can probably smell it. Yeah, is it already? It's just waiting on the table. Where's it from? No, I'm gonna, the second night, there's a place a block away, I can't remember the name of it. Don't say the name. Someone will try to poison you. Yeah, no. I can't remember. But it's Blackway. It only takes a second to get. Yeah. It's so good. Wow. It's so good. It's one of the best in the city. You know what I'm going to have? What? Nothing. Yeah. You know what you should have? Because I've got this stupid level of discipline because of my passion for my character, my strung out Vince Friedkin.

1:03:15Will Arnett:I get it. I know you do. I know you're joking, but it's true and it's very admirable. I'm so tired.

1:03:20Sean Hayes:It's not a healthy way to do it. I know. I'm tired of being thin. But Wednesday, that's what I'm saying. Wednesday, after Wednesday is over and you wrap your beautiful show, an amazing show that everybody's going to go ape shit about.

1:03:31Will Arnett:Yeah, Thursday. No, Wednesday or Thursday? No. Yeah, Wednesday I wrap. So Thursday, our dinner, can it be something super fattening?

1:03:37Sean Hayes:Yeah. I have to have, so I'm not, because I have lost weight, I'm on a new thing, which is it's all about eating more and eating the right thing. And that's what I'm talking about. But losing weight unhealthily is not good. You can lose weight and also do it in a healthy way. It'll look like this. How are you doing?

1:03:58Will Arnett:So then what am I going to have Thursday night? Am I going to have steak? You know, steak, okay?

1:04:02Sean Hayes:Yeah, a lot of steak and veggies. No starch, no bread, no nothing like that. Why can't you do pizza? Can you do pizza? You can have a little bit. No. No? No, man. A little bit of starch at lunch, a tiny bit, like a little bit of maybe a sweet potato, a couple pieces, maybe a little bit of rice like that much. Yeah. A couple, yeah. You got to release the valve every once in a while.

1:04:20Will Arnett:So you want a little tiny little bite of pizza, Sean. Go ahead. One sheet meal a week. One meal.

1:04:25Sean Hayes:To keep your metabolic rate going, right? Yeah. One. But it's not about... Here's the other thing. It's not fast metabolism or slow metabolism, it turns out. Hot or cold. And what you need to do to keep your metabolism hot is you need to feed it with the right stuff at the right time of day. I went and saw this guy. Unbelievable. Yeah. Unreal. Is this a guy you're dating? or

1:04:48Will Arnett:oh a nutritionist

1:04:49Sean Hayes:sorry we're just seeing each other he I mean I met him I met him right behind you know the party store on Sunset sure so yeah oh I know the guy and I hear he says

1:05:06Will Arnett:I'm gonna be in a Corolla yeah and he and he no anyway

1:05:14Sean Hayes:he flashed how many times did he flash the brights what was the what was the code? Well, it was Morris Code and I thought he said help and it was, hello. Can you help me with my pants? He was just, he was just, you know, he was just a person. He was like a bystander, bystander.

1:05:36Will Arnett:Oh, we'll just commit to it. Just do that. Someone's hungry. Try to do it without going up on by this time. Okay. So the guy, I know that guy, that you met behind the party store. He was just a regular... Bye-stander. Yeah, not as good, but... Bye, everybody. Bye. Smart. Less.

1:06:07Sean Hayes:Smart. Less.

1:06:12Sean Hayes:Smartless is 100 % organic and artisanally handcrafted by Bennett Barbaco, Michael Grant Terry, and Rob Armjaff.

1:06:25Sean Hayes:Smart Less. Finding ways to be financially savvy is a smart move, and knowing you could be saving money for the things you really want, like that dream home or new ride, is a great feeling. That's why the State Farm Personal Price Plan can help you save when you choose to bundle home and auto. bundle. Just another way to save with a personal price plan. Head to statefarm.com to get a quote. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state. At Strayer University, we help students like you go from will I to why not.

1:07:04For over 130 years, we've been innovating higher education to make it more affordable, accessible, and attainable so you can reach your goals. Go from thinking, can I? To yes, I can. And keep striving. Visit Strayer.edu to learn more. Strayer University is certified to operate in Virginia by Shev and as many campuses, including at 2121 15th Street North in Arlington, Virginia.