"Jonah Hill LIVE"

20:24Will Arnett:So you were part of that skate culture just a little bit. I loved it. Yeah, it was amazing. Like anything skating, hip hop, and comedy when I was a kid, I was like anything about any of it, all I could. Did you cross paths with Spike Jonze at all back in the day? Well, I did a ton, and Spike is my biggest mentor and one of my best friends. Incredible director. What a nice guy, too. He's, like, one of the most amazing people. And before I directed Mid-90s, I wrote Mid-90s at his apartment. Oh, really? And New York. We were both living in New York. And I basically spent, like, five years, you know, after kind of, what was it?

21:00Like, I've been gone for a while, so I'm kind of coming back. And I'm, like, excited. Because I got all, like, serious for a while. And I wasn't that happy. It happens to us all. I wasn't that happy. And then I had my family and I got happy. And now all I want to do is be funny again, you know? So it's... You were always funny. It's a freaking blast. It's just like, that's why I said yes. I'm like, I want to go fucking be funny in front of a crowd. And that'd be awesome, you know?

21:28Will Arnett:But the humor, do you find that the humor is coming from a more substantial place now? That it's, I mean, you're still, you couldn't shake funny if you tried. but now you've got a whole deeper well of reflection and knowing yourself more, and you've peeled the onion, and now you've got a bunch of other stuff to draw upon to feed your humor, yes? Yeah, I think, I mean, speak for me. That's fine. That's my special. Hey, guys, I don't need to be here. There's no intro, and I just drive back to San Diego and go fuck myself. I put the question and the answer in it, and then I say, yeah, it's deep and cool.

22:07He could have zoomed in. Yeah, totally. No, that is a good, that's a good. Thank you, next question. No, but it's more like, like if you're bummed, you don't feel like being that funny, right? And if you're happy, the first thing I thought about when I got like, like had my kids and was so stoked, it was like, I connected to back when I was just like 12 and I was just being funny for fun. Right. And I was like, That's the thing I fell in love with my whole life. I dedicated my whole life to learning everything about The Simpsons and comedy and history. When you were growing up in the 90s, who were your influences?

22:48Who were you like, God, that guy is so funny, or that show is so funny? Everybody. Everybody. Everything. Anything good, bad, or in between, it was like... But you're so, like Jason said, you're such a genius at improvisation. The first time I saw you was on a show called Campus Ladies. Yes. And one of my best friends, Carrie Aisley, is here. Is she here? She's right there. Carrie! Yeah, what's up? And you were on the show with her. Oh, my God. Hey, Carrie. Have you met Dr. Sean? Dude, Carrie gave me... Sean couldn't get them seats. You probably can't see them. Carrie gave me a huge break. Thank you, Carrie.

23:21He gave me a huge fucking break when I was, like, 18. Yeah. But I watched you on that show, and I'm like, oh, my, of course you skyrocketed. You were a brilliant performer, actor, improviser, all of it. and I was just like, who is this person? So you must have had... I mean, mostly The Simpsons. I think The Simpsons is like the number one thing in the entire world. Like, if anything's left an impact on my life, it'd be The Simpsons over there. It's some of the greatest comedy writing of all time. It's pretty, it's like such a heavy weight.

23:50Will Arnett:But it was, but that was obviously, there's no acting in that, except for the voices, obviously. So were you following like the writing of that? Was writing the first poll for you, not performing? So if you like shook me in the middle of the night and were like, what do you do? I'd be like, I'm a comedy writer. That's what I do. Like I write jokes every day. Like I go and write scripts. Like you don't know this because you just see the front side of it. But most of my job is writing comedy movies. That's like mostly what I do. And when I was young, I would VHS record The Simpsons and then pause it on the writers and write them all letters.

24:27And to this day, one of my biggest mentors and friends is David Merkin, who's like an iconic Simpsons writer. And every time, like, you've been to a screening of early cuts in my movies for notes, like, David Merkin comes to every single screening, every table read. And he was, like, my childhood hero. So I wrote them all letters when I was, like, seven, eight years old. And that was my dream. Like, if I had written for The Simpsons, that, like, would have been more than enough for... Did you write a spec Simpsons script? Yeah, I've written a ton of spec Simpsons scripts. Oh, you did? Did they ever buy one or pick?

24:59No. No, I never, like, sent them to them. I wrote them as an eight-year-old.

25:04Will Arnett:Yeah, they can't receive... Oh, okay. They're just an eight-year-old. Well, then when did the performance part of it start to take hold? When did you think that you could be in front of the camera? Well, I think all three of you were like hams, comedic hams, right? What happened? Did you just drift off? He's narcoleptic. He said, we're all hams. Yeah, we're all hams. It must have been hams when you were little kids. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like if there was like a party at my parents' house, I'd do like a comedy show. I feel like everyone here can relate to that. Absolutely. So it was just always like people were like, oh, you're funny.

25:43And then when I got to middle school, people's parents were like, you should pull them out of school to my parents and like make them a comedian. Wow. Yeah, people would like say that to me.

25:52Will Arnett:Because you were going to schools where there were some people that were in the business, like the center and crossroads. People think I'm a Nepo baby, by the way. my wife and I were just laughing about this, that I'm a nepo baby. My dad's a fucking accountant. If you ask these guys, he directs a lot of shit. Do you ever hire your business manager's son for a fucking Black Rabbit or whatever? Yeah. You hire Jeffy Goldstein to play the heavy and footlight movie? Wait, but Jonah, how old were you when we met? We met when you were young. Will, should we take a snack break? Yeah. You were hanging out at my school.

26:28like um no no no no we were like a trench coat on yeah no that was a new least sober you had something different okay all right no it was that like um i'm leading by example you had this like van it was at the wincler's no so i went to the school called crossroads which is a like full leg up because if you grow out here and go to this school everybody's parents are in entertainment so to be fair it wasn't an abstract job that was like my big leg up where i was like everybody's parents here works in entertainment so if you want to like write for the Simpsons that's not the craziest idea in the entire world right?

27:05So that was a huge leg up for me to just not be like show business as abstract and far away right? Right. We were literally it was Henry Winkler we were doing the first season rest of development and I went over there for breakfast one Saturday and you and Max were palaces. So Max was like my best friend in high school was Henry's son and he's an amazing guy and a great director Great director who directs a lot of

27:25Will Arnett:the Ryan Murphy stuff A ton of amazing stuff. The Charlie Hunnam show he just did was incredible. Freak, Monsters. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's great. And he's an amazing dude, yeah. And so I met Will, and I remember meeting Will. You were a kid. I was so hyped because I was interning for his brother, and Arrested Development had just come out. And Jake Hoffman was another buddy of yours. Yeah. He interned on Arrested Development, didn't he? Yeah. Dustin Hoffman's son. Is that a TV show? Oh. Yeah. Message development. It's very funny. Jonah, Sean's never seen it. Never seen it. Is that real? Not a bit.

28:05It's real. I've never seen it. It's real. It's real. I saw the first episode. You guys have the best job in show business. I'm so jealous of you guys. You're on it. You're joining us. We're looking to replace one of us. But like, you guys have like, it's like being in a writer's room. Like you're just bullshitting with your friends, but you don't have to make the thing at the end. You just get paid like$100 million to just show up to the writer's room and never have to like make the good jokes in or edit out the bad ones. You're just like, man, let's just sit on the couch and order food.

28:35Will Arnett:All right, but so wait. So you want to be a writer. You start doing it at eight. You're in a school, schools where the pathway to entertainment industry is not unreasonable. but at what age do you do you get the first sort of on-camera idea and then it actually happens are you still you're still in high school i was 18 so like fresh out of high school i started working and so what's that first job do you get an agent no no no so it wasn't like that i went to um new school i went to boulder for one semester and got kicked out my mom calls it her forty $30 ,000 sweatshirt.

29:17And she's really funny. My parents are really funny people and awesome people. But they, so then I went to new school in New York City and I started just performing in theater school but then performing at bars and doing kind of stand-up. So you're doing stand-up? Yeah, like stand-up and then short plays. They would let me perform at this bar called Black and White, which was an awesome bar. Did you do Black and White, Willie? No. It was so fun. It was like the most fun time. And then I started getting like a crowd of people. And I was already like, it's on, dude.

29:49Will Arnett:I was like, it's so going to be on. You're comfortable in front of an audience. Yes. So going to a camera then is not that much of a leap. No. And then I got my first job in a movie called I Heart Huckabees, which was like my first job. And Jake's dad, Dustin, was like, you should be a comedic actor. So how did that come to be? How did you get in front of Dustin? It wasn't like a performance thing or anything. We were just, I was just friends with his son and he would see me do stuff and was like, and I make prank call CDs. I make prank call CDs. I was like a ham. I was just like trying to be funny all the time.

30:25Will Arnett:But you were just making Dustin laugh around the house and he says, you should leave. Maybe like if Mabel had a friend over or like, you know, Rob Reiner, rest in peace to the legend. I fucking love that dude so much. But you know, Rob would bring Albert Brooks around and Rob would tell me that like his dad was like, Albert is the funniest fucking guy, but Albert was just Rob's friend. Right, right, right. You know, and Albert's Albert Brooks, right? So like Dustin was like, I'm doing this movie. I got you an audition. And so he got me an audition. So you read for the casting director? Mary Vanu, yeah.

30:58Will Arnett:She passed it on to David. David said, yeah, great. And then you get on that set. And what's that like being on a set? Are you just looking around? Well, David O was fucking nuts at that time, dude. He was fuck wild. And I'm like, homie's with him. He's awesome, super nice guy. But at that moment in life, and I've had my own, trust me, he was buck wild, dude. He was screaming at Lily Tomlin and stuff. Oh, it's online. It's online and shit. And he'll talk about it. He's really cool. He's one of the best directors ever. I mean, Flirting Disaster and Three Kings. I mean, he's so goaded. It's insane.

31:32And I was like, everyone's screaming at each other. The first time I walked on set, him and K.K. Barrett, the production designer, were joking around wrestling, and then it turned into a real fight. And it was like joking that like turned into a fight, and these guys were like fighting. And they were setting up my first scene to act in the movie. Welcome to Hollywood. And I was like, Hollywood is so tight. This is so cool. I saw a fist fight on set once too. Really? Yeah, it was crazy. It was so crazy. Can you say the name of the movie? I don't remember. but yeah it was this weird thing I did but it was out in the desert was everyone wearing clothes?

32:11the point is but I saw these two dudes these two big dudes like a grip and a gaffer get into it and they end up they were arguing and they end up getting into a fucking fist fight well dude well full circle moment real quick is I want to give KK some shout out right now but he if I was like if I ever get to direct movies I'm going to hire KK Barrett and he did my newest movie outcome he did? he was the production designer so full circle like 20 years later He was the greatest production designer ever.

32:38Will Arnett:One of them, for sure. So that was like a full circle moment. It was like a dream of mine. So from there, you do a great job in that movie. You have to wait until the movie comes out until the industry starts to see it, or does word get out from like dailies and early cuts and stuff like that and gets you to... No, my part was so small that like it didn't make a dent. It wasn't like people were like, you know, trying to give me jobs and shit. And then I met a guy named Peter Principato, an incredible manager who was my former manager. Awesome dude. And he introduced... He was my former too. That's why I was looking at Will.

33:10Sorry. He was looking at me, yeah. Legend. And he got me an audition for Campus Ladies. And that was my second job. Was Campus Ladies. And I got like three or four episodes on that. And it was all Groundlings people. And on that show, because it was like Will Forte and Maya Rudolph and like every dope person I was like in love with came on to the show. and then my life really kicked off when I met Judd Apatow. Right.

33:35Will Arnett:You know, so... So did those people kind of get in Judd's ear and say, hey, you got to check this guy out? I think I was just starting to do, like, table reads. I mean, this is, like, inside baseball, so this might be so boring. Is this boring as shit? Okay. Right, so, like, when somebody's gonna, like, has a script and they're thinking about making a movie, they'll get a bunch of really talented people around a table and they'll read it out loud and see if it makes everybody laugh. And I was, like, the funny, like, 18-year-old. There wasn't a lot of, like, 18... me and Michael Cera would be at like all of them together, you know?

34:03So, and like Seth and Jason Segal, like all the young dudes would be at them. And then when Judd started blowing up was, I auditioned for Four-Year-Old Virgin. I met him and Seth. And then my life from then on that day, I shot Four-Year-Old Virgin. It's one scene in an eBay store. And it was raining that day. So we were only supposed to shoot that scene for like an hour, but it was raining. so they didn't have a cover set. So we shot it a whole day and I just improvised a whole day in front of Judd and Seth and Sean Robertson, one of my best friends. And Judd was like, what do you want to write?

34:40And I was like, you don't understand. All I want to do is write. And so, but what about the movie? So he gave me, I pitched him two movies and he bought them. And my parents are like, who is this guy who's molesting you? I was living at home and I was 19. and they're like, who is Judd Abatow? And is he like touching your wiener? Because like, you're like a fucking weird stoner who like doesn't have a job. And like, why do you have a two picture deal at like Universal? And you're like, it made no sense. What were the films? One was called Middle Child, which a lot of those jokes, I won't say, but the movie maybe got swallowed into another movie.

35:19And then one called, one was about an imaginary friend, which is a really clever script. And then neither of them got made. but it like ingratiated me with those guys and then we went on this whole crazy awesome journey I hear this all the time like just those two like the title Middle Child and something with Imaginary Friend with you writing it where did those scripts go like why don't we resurrect them they're around I mean like I could probably try and clean one up and get it made but I have new stuff what's that you want to take a look at it I just want to take a look I'll do the table read there's a great card for you are you accepting notes still because Sean we'll be right back This episode of Smartless is sponsored by Ashley.

36:00Yep. The brand that helped turn our live event stage into a fully styled living space. Ashley's whole thing is making your home feel like you with styles that balance timeless design and modern trends.

36:11Will Arnett:Slower, Sean. And it's not just about looks. Their stuff is built to hold up to the real life with durable materials and easy to clean fabrics. For the live show, we were on their Mod Max sofa. It's modular, so you can kind of move it around however you want, depending on your space. And it's got that super soft performance fabric, which sounds fancy, but really just means if you spill something, you're not immediately in a panic, Sean. Yeah. So the accent chairs were great, too. Big. They're comfortable. The kind of chair where you sit down and you go, all right, I'm here for a while. And the coffee and accent tables tied everything together.

36:48Clean, simple, but somehow made everything feel finished. So true, Will. Yeah. It's just a beautiful setup. Honestly, that setup worked perfectly for the show. The modular couch made it easy for us to fit however many people ended up on stage. Yeah, I mean, good luck with you, man. Thanks. I'm not kidding. I would have taken that whole setup home. It looked great. Felt very comfortable, you know? Really did feel like we were just hanging out in someone's living room. Yeah, and for Jason, this is the farthest he's been from his couch in weeks. It's hurtful. Ashley is all about style that's made for real life with white glove delivery right to your room of choice.

37:20Visit your local Ashley store or head to ashley.com to find your style. This episode of Smart List is brought to you in part by Skinny Pop Popcorn, which, yes, is exactly what we were inhaling backstage at the live show. True story.

37:34Will Arnett:There is something very satisfying about a snack that actually delivers and doesn't come with a paragraph of ingredients. Yeah, and Skinny Pop keeps it simple. Real ingredients, classic popcorn. Nothing weird, nothing you have to Google. Yeah, the original is light and airy, but still hits the spot. And if you want to mix it up, they got white cheddar, butter, sweet and salty kettle. It's one of those snacks that works for anything. Watching something, traveling, pretending you're only going to have a handful. Jason, that's you. We had Skinny Pop backstage at the live show and it disappeared fast.

38:05Families, friends, zero restraint. Yeah, it's kind of our go-to movie night road trip before we record, during the record. White cheddar, butter, sweet and salty kettle. Sean, did you put Skinny Pop on your pasta marinara? Oh, absolutely. It adds texture. It's upsetting. Look, the stuff we want to snack on and the stuff we should snack on, usually not the same thing. Skinny Pop bridges that gap. Creates a bridge in between the... Skinny Pop. Deliciously popped, perfectly salted, popular for a reason. I'll say. And now, back to the show.

38:40Will Arnett:But what about the stroke of genius luck that you landed in front of Judd Apatow, like one of the greatest sort of finders of talent and nurturers of talent. Yeah, he's amazing. And giving people chances and championing them. Like, look what he's done. You alone. I mean, and there's what? 100, 100 people. You could probably name 25 people right now that are household names that Judd has championed. Judd's like Kobe. I mean, like, he's so... He's up there with Lorne Michaels as far as launching people into the comedy world. Yeah, there was like me and my friends, but then there's like Lena Dunham, and it went on, like Amy Schumer.

39:15and you know like he really just like uh saw see something in these people and he's so great at like mining what you're going through yeah and helping you find your voice and what he really did was he put me through harvard education of directing comedy movies so like now that i'm 42 and we have our own company shout out strong baby um shout out matt dines my bestie up there um and we produce the movies we make now i like know what to do because of judd right you know so i'd go he was blowing up so my favorite thing was going to the table reads because you'd have writers at the table reads and you'd dissect and give notes on the scripts and that's what I love to this day I love like the Rubik's Cube of cracking and making better and making a comedy script better

40:02Will Arnett:you're not burdened by the idea of writing I love it, it's my favorite part of the process but I mean, do you love the part where you're sitting in a room by yourself and you're staring at a blank wall and you're just trying to like, trying to fill a blank page. Like to me, that's the hardest thing in the business. As dickheadish and insane as I was when I got famous at like 22, like I don't take for granted a day that I get paid to write jokes. I actually think, and I've grown way past that part when I was 21 or 22, but like I cannot believe I get to write jokes for my job. I say it to myself every day.

40:42Will Arnett:What about structure and character development and all is lost on page 75 and all of this stuff you've got to... It's the best job in the world. By the way, Tony, if you notice, everything exhausts him. Yeah. Everything. Dude, if I was on SmartList, I wouldn't fucking write scripts. It's so hard. Don't you guys have a mobile company? Dude, if I was you guys, I wouldn't touch a computer the rest of my goddamn life. I'd live in Tahiti and fucking phone this in on Zoom, dude. All right. So I'm out here. I got to work in Hollywood, which like doesn't exist anymore. I'm like, I'm basically a cobbler.

41:25I make comedy movies. It's like me and two other people. Well, Jonah, talk to me about that. Like, I know you're half joking about Hollywood being whatever you just said. Like, it's over, you know, because that's the feeling out there right now is that, you know, where is this going? And everybody's scared and everybody's like, what's going to happen with AI? And especially in comedy, not especially in comedy, but like... Oh, thank God, a conversation about AI. Oh, finally, finally, we can hear some points.

41:56Will Arnett:You can put in a prompt that says, write me a joke that Jonah Hill might say on a stage with three other dudes. You'll get like six jokes. So, like, is that going to, like, affect the whole writing stuff? No, because you can't replace... Comedy ultimately is human pain and time. You can build up a page and then you're just plussing it, perhaps. It'd be like having some Grom writers in the writer's room. Yeah. They'll write... I'll write, like, 50 shitty jokes that you could rewrite or something. But they won't be... They won't have the human experience that allows comedy to be funny because you got to get dumped to write a funny movie about getting dumped, right?

42:34Right, right, right. A computer hasn't been dumped. They know, maybe they have. I don't know. I shouldn't say that. I'm sorry to all the computers in the crowd. But like, I don't worry at all. I also live in, I'm like, I just go until they fire me. Like, I'm so motivated by what I do and my family that like, I just have two things. I have my family and writing comedy. Yeah, yeah. So like. Well, where do I fit in in that? Yeah. Well, I'm here tonight.

43:05Will Arnett:All right, so how close are we to Superbad now at this point in... It'll be 20 years... Oh, you mean like at that point? Yeah, in the story here where you're... Oh, dude, so it was 40-year-old Virgin, and then a year later we made Knocked Up. And then two months after Knocked Up, we made Superbad. So like a year after I met Judd, we made Superbad. So who... I'm embarrassed. I should know this. And you guys were working with Michael, right? We were. Who wrote Superbad? Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg wrote the most brilliant script of all time. Yeah. And it read, we all improvised, and everyone comes up with great jokes on those movies, but their script that they wrote was, like, flawless.

43:42Will Arnett:Yeah. But, like, do you remember Michael Cera going away to do that movie that was done during the hiatus? No, but I'll tell you something. This is a true story. So years ago, right before, like, the year before Superbad, there was a script that we were going to do at a place. I won't say, because then you'll be able to know who was in charge. And it was about, it's this crazy, great script that Mitch Hurwitz and I worked on with Jim Valli. Really, really, really funny. It turned out great. And I said to the guy who ran this particular studio, Superbad was 2007, right? So this is 2006. I mean, pause for a second.

44:18You with the dates. He knows dates like Mary Lou Renner. That is crazy. It's nuts. Yeah. He'll tell you what month was the film released in. Which one? Superbad, 2007. That I don't know. I don't know. It was 2007. Yeah, no, but what month? It's probably a summer release, right? Yeah, probably. It might have been. But I remember going in, and this thing that we were working on called for this dude, this character I was playing, and then these two teenage sons. And it was two teenage boys who were best friends. It was basically like a three-hander. And I said to the guy, this is before all that, before 40-Year-Old Virgin, I go, it should be Michael Cera and this kid, Jonah Hill.

45:02No way. And he goes, what? No, man. What are you talking about? And I swear to God, and a fucking year later or whatever it was, 18 months later, Superbad comes out, and it's like a huge hit. And I'm like, this dumb fuck. This fucking guy blew it. And he got fired. Did he? He should have. That's crazy. I'll tell you after. Thank you. I'll tell you after, and then you're going to be like, yeah. Because when I met Will, like when I was 18, I met him at my friend's house, and I was bugging out, dude, because he was Joe from Arrested Development. I was like, holy shit, dude. So good. Couldn't believe it.

45:42These guys. Anyway.

45:44Will Arnett:All right, so Superbad happens. That's very, very cool, very exciting, yes, but I would imagine... It was game-changing, too. That movie. That's my question. Was it disruptive, or did you flow with it pretty good? Because I know Michael Cera was... Because Arrested Development was... Just finished. We were just done Arrested Development. We had finished the three seasons at Fox? Yeah, because we finished in December of 2005. Okay, so then that... Are you allowed to say Rain Man? I remember... He is, Mary Lou Henner. Are we okay? Okay, no. I remember Michael was just... Even though he'd already had some fame, some notoriety from Arrested Development, Superbad was a whole other level.

46:28Yeah.

46:28Will Arnett:And there was a level of adjustment for him, I know for sure. For you as well? Was it comfortable for a bit? I mean, it was exciting as hell, but it was crazy. It was just bizarre. You know, it was like... Can't walk down the street anymore. Yeah, and Michael and I hung out every day still. So we would go to Cantor's. I lived behind Cantor's in Cecil's apartment. And Michael and I would just walk to Cantor's and we'd be talking about this shit. Our lives were like that movie. and people would see us and they'd freak out because it's like we walked off the screen into the deli, you know? People think you're shooting a sequel.

47:06Yeah, it was just so bizarre, you know? It was trippy.

47:09Will Arnett:But are you thinking, because you're, how old are you at that point, 20? 22. 22. So you're at an age. I'm at will. 22 or 23. So you're at an age where you're thinking about, okay, I need to have a job, a career. I need to be starting thinking five years, ten years in the future. I got to provide. I got to. So this is. Are you thinking now this is. I've got some momentum. This can be my career. Is it. Does it align with what your plans were, what your dreams were, what your goals were? I was obviously stoked because I loved the movie. You know, I didn't know if I'd get to work on shit I loved. I knew I'd work in comedy in some capacity.

47:52I had the confidence enough to know I'm professionally funny even at like 18 or 19 but Superbad was like my dream it was like what I wanted to see you know so I was so stoked that Judd was in the position to make the kind of movies those films were being made Superbad comes out you've got a pretty good idea that shit's working out it's a huge hit I'm going to watch that comedy features were a huge business I'm going to watch it tonight I mean I've seen it but I'm going to watch it again right after Arrested yeah well now now that I have kids now that I have kids I'm like oh my god imagine when like my son like who's three like imagine him watching that movie oh my god I never thought about that shit Mabel loved it Mabel did does your cool kid still watch it and stuff she loved it that's right she loved it a lot she was very excited to be here tonight yeah what I kind of want to know is but it was psycho it was psycho like we couldn't walk around and And it was, like, so exciting and kind of scary.

48:54And then, like, you just cannot not become obsessed with yourself when something like that happens. It just is, like, it's impossible not to become, like, a weird douche for, like, a year. Because everybody's telling you you're great, right? So everybody's going, you're the greatest. You just have all your friends that you're still friends with from high school, but all of a sudden one of you people, like, respect and pay attention to. So like you just are kind of a self-centered person because it's about you a lot of the time. And thank God that time is over and it's not about me anymore.

49:27Will Arnett:But you're skipping over a very interesting part where you're like, you're kind of, you're munching on all the junk food of all that fame and all of that access and relevance and whatnot. and then you start to think, this is a question, what should I do about dramatic work to make sure that I... Oh, so I'll tell you, the smartest thing I did was, like, Michael, Michael had Juno come out, like, two months later. What a movie. He was, like, Michael Jackson, dude. Have you seen Juno? But for real, Michael Serra had Superbad and Juno come out in, like, six months, and it was, like, he really, he was more famous than I was, and he retreated inward, and I was like...

50:11I'm going to watch Juno tonight too. Sorry. The best movie about Alaska you will ever see. Michael Cera? Soft spoken and inward? But he is still, I will say to this, he is top three best friends in the world to this day. A great man. We still talk like once a week.

50:30Will Arnett:Just finished directing a movie. Yeah, he's in post on his movie. It's going to be amazing. he's so fucking brilliant and cool and a great human being but what I did was I got offered a bunch of movies for the first time all in the comedy space? all the comedies yeah and I was like I can't make a movie none of these are as good as Superbad so I said to my agent what writing jobs are available and Sacha Baron Cohen was looking for writers for the Bruno movie and I auditioned for the writers room How does that go? What's a writer audition like? It's like you get like a day sit-in in the writer's room.

51:10But I had been in the writer's rooms with Judd and those guys. So I got the job and I was like super, I was like arguably more famous than Sasha was at that time. And I was like a pimply writer in his writer's room for like six months. I would ride my bike to the lot over here on Formosa from my apartment on Fairfax. And people would be like, yo! And I would just go and write jokes because I didn't want to think about the outside world. I didn't want to think about the pressure of what do I do now next. That's such a funny move to do that. To go from that to then all of a sudden just to be a staff writer on the Bruno movie.

51:46It was the best time though, man. Because it was like, I was like, I just got to work with one of my heroes and pitch like, I loved Bruno. Like when the Ali G show came out, it was like when Arrested Development came out. I was like obsessed with Bruno. So all of a sudden I was writing jokes, and Mickey Mouse was saying my jokes. It wasn't just someone cool. It was a character that I already loved. He's an incredible talent. Yeah, he's an awesome guy. He was an awesome boss. I kind of want to get to it. I think you were trying to get to it, but man, you take a long time. No, I do. You're allowed to.

52:24You're supposed to be speaking. We want to hear from you. Leve, am I being boring or no? No. No. we love Jonah Sean is this one of your favorite episodes do we flip over to like Dax's podcast Sean or no do we keep listening to this fast forward Jonah I want to get into it because then you go and you start doing interesting things like Wolf of Wall Street in which you're amazing don't skip over Moneyball I'll tell you this by the way Moneyball Moneyball first of all really hard film to make from that book is a great book. And I remember thinking, like, they'll never do it. So far, that movie's so great.

53:04You are so great in that movie. So you do Moneyball. Well, can I say one thing before that? Yes, please. I don't want to jump straight to there. Did we miss a credit? Let the guest talk, Will. No, I know the question you're trying to ask is this, in my opinion, is this, is that I was working for Sasha and got offered all the big comedies. And I got offered The Hangover and Cyrus at the same time. And I did Cyrus. this is why we need agents I wish I did both because The Hangover riffs and is an amazing movie and I love Todd but like I was like Cyrus didn't suck the two classes know what they're doing but it changed my life because I wanted to do dramatic movies and comedic movies and that script and that part was incredibly and very deep and emotional and a lot like my work today and guess what

53:54Will Arnett:Bennett Miller probably saw Cyrus and he probably did not see Hangover So he saw Cyrus and he cast me in Moneyball. That's amazing. Let him speak, dude. Sorry, I get so excited. Now we're caught up. I'm just bridging the, I'm just doing a little bridge, a little bridge work. So then you were Ben Miller and then you'd work with Martin Scorsese on Wolf of Wall Street and with Leo DiCaprio. That must have been just a mind blow the first day. Well, Moneyball was unbelievable, man. Oh, yeah, of course, Brad. Like, Moneyball was such a trip because I remember my dad was a fan of that book and he's like, how are they going to make this?

54:28Michael Lewis. Yeah, how are you going to make this a movie? Didn't Aaron Sorkin write that script? And Steve Zalian. I mean, Bennett Miller is not like a household name, but if you make films, he is. I wish he'd direct more movies. He is such a brilliant director, the director of that film. I mean, he hasn't made a movie. That dude hasn't made a movie in years, right? Since Foxcatcher, I think, right? Yeah, since Foxcatcher. I mean, he's an amazing guy. I love that movie. I taught me so much.

54:51Will Arnett:But didn't you want to direct early, early on? Okay. So all these guys, I would just work for them and sponge for them and write for them. And Spike, at that time, I would just write for him for free for like five years, whatever commercial, whatever short film he was doing or whatever I'd help on, because I was just an intern for all these great directors that I'd get the chance to work with as an actor. And then also the comedy writers. I was like such a nerd where I'd meet someone who wrote on Arrested Development and geek out over them at the mall, and they'd be like, what? you know so it was i'm so privileged because i i just love the actual work of what i do right you know so then talk about that's a rare ass thing you know yeah i mean you're so you're so incredibly lucky to have been on the sets all these incredible directors um you find yourself cherry picking from them finding marty's like another level he's another level than everybody ever i feel like there's a bit of a paternal um element there between the two you guys seem so close and it's warm, it's genuine.

55:53Will Arnett:He did a great cameo in the last film. Yeah, he was in Outcome, which is on Apple if you want to watch it. Great movie. Keanu Reeves. American Treasure. Yep. But yeah, the fact that I call Marty and don't have to stop and like apologize is psychotic to me, you know? Like Simpsons and Goodfellas, I guess, would just be the two things that I think are like, if you had to like take my brain and freeze it, you'd cut it open and it'd probably would be those two things. And so like, so, you know, I got to direct him. This was the first movie he gave. Did you give him a note? Huh? Did you give him a note?

56:27Will Arnett:Get your shit together, Mark. Get your shit together. Time is money, man. No, I mean, like he, he came in so prepared. It was honestly, the whole thing was so psychedelic. Like him coming to set and me directing him. It was so psychedelic. It was like childbirth. It was like, you see like colors and you're like, Like, this is so trippy. But then he interviewed me for Interview Magazine, and he had to talk to me about the movie. And he loved the movie. And I directed two other movies, which he liked, but he didn't love. And he was like, I love, he's like, this is a giant leap forward, and I love this movie.

57:04And that meant a lot to me. That was fucking so powerful. The critics did not agree. but you know I am introduced on the toilet for the first four minutes of the movie so there's that but to have him love the movie was fucking rad it was fucking cool and meant a lot and he's just the best guy you go through withdrawal after you work with him because the poor unfortunate other directors you have to work with after cannot compare no matter how wonderful prepared and amazing they are

57:35Will Arnett:is there one thing that is louder to you about the experience of working with him that is different than other directors? Is it just ease on set? Nothing comes within a billion miles. Within a billion with a B. What is the one main thing do you think that he does different? Well, the most obvious thing to him. Present company excluded, right? So you know how he's everyone's favorite director? Yeah. So his ideology and taste in life and everything is like your favorite person. so it's like he doesn't just a director's work is like their world view so the reason you love Marty's work is because you love him right you love his lenses he sees the world through and like his taste his taste his humor his fucking realness you know like you see someone in life here's how I know I'll be friends with somebody when you're like at the mall and you see someone and the person's being a fucking weirdo and you look to like the person you're with and you both see it without saying anything Marty sees the fucking weirdo that you see he gets it he sees it all even though he's Martin Scorsese at the same time he's as human and real it's like what the fuck is that guy doing and he's also the biggest genius you've ever met you're so we're all so lucky to be immersed into the thing that we chose to do because we love to do it and you've been enjoyed tremendous success both writing and acting and now directing and everything Is there something, and that really stimulates your mind.

59:09Like you said, there's my family and there's work, right? And that's all you care about. That's all you love. Is there anything else? I mean, I have friends. Swear to God. Jason is my actual friend. Great friend. Yeah, yeah. He is an amazing friend. For sure. Say more. And I look up to him very much. I would call him a mentor because I admire his relationship with his amazing wife, Amanda, and the father he is to his children. and he's great at his job and they don't have to be mutually exclusive. I don't have to say more. This is a bit. This is a bit. Yeah, it's true.

59:46He's a wonderful human being. It is. It's very true. And he's got to go to New York tomorrow. I don't know if you heard of what he's up against. Yeah. It's just, he's going to be humping it in 36G, I imagine. Will you send me the intro you wrote? Yeah. I'd love to read it. I kind of remembered it. It was pretty close to that. I interrupted you. What was your question, Sean? No idea. Yeah. Okay, I'm sorry. No, no, no. Oh, no, no, no. I mean, being so deeply immersed in what we'd love to do, there's got to be other things that interest you. Like, I'm obsessed with space. Yes. And sci-fi and all that.

1:00:19What are the other things that when we think of Jonah Hill, instead of work and family, what is the thing that's like, oh, you know what, it's skateboarding. What is the other thing that we're like, what? I didn't know that you absolutely love. Super great question. because hobbies are a huge part of my life and happiness as well. So like, I love Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I love, except my body is begging me to not love it. 42 isn't, my wife is often like, you're not going to become like a professional fighter. You know that, right? Like you're a comedian. But let me ask you something.

1:00:52Will Arnett:If we got into it. I would fuck you up. You'd fuck me up, right? I would fuck all three of you up. But truly. Yeah. And that's the best part. My favorite thing is people are like, oh Jonah Hill fucking fat guy from Superbad and I'm like I would fucking annihilate you I'm not kidding every fight try it if you see me try it every fight ends up on the ground bring it who's got it unless you are way bigger than me I have like fucking fuck around and find out and also surfing surfing but then your kids take all that you know it was all that stuff like pandemic no life, selfish, have no family, no wife.

1:01:34But then, you know, kids, it's your life, dude. For sure. You know, like it's, there is not a free moment. Like I ask permission now to go do my hobbies, you know, because like, if the kid needs, the kids need me, you know, but then you got to fill your own cup. That's why I call guys with Jason, like Jason to be like, how do you balance this shit, you know? I have a secret fantasy of wanting to get into a fight. And, because I've never been into a... It's not a fantasy. I feel really bad for the other guy. Sean just likes the ground and pound situation. By the way, I'm being funny, by the way.

1:02:12I would fuck you up, but I am being funny also. You start it. You like jiu-jitsu. I'm going to start a new one called Ground and Pound. I'm going to teach it. Groundandpound.com is not what you think it is. Get it now. Yeah, no, I've never been in a fight and I've always been like that has to be like, but dude acting and like I hadn't acted in a long time and now I'm out there maybe going to take a role and like start acting for other people. I'm so excited to act like almost like I'm excited about to serve for jujitsu.

1:02:43Will Arnett:Because you've been away for a while or because of the directing and now you're going to bring that perspective to the acting. Yeah. Like, like I haven't done a movie where I acted for another director. I did McKay's movie, Don't Look Up. And then you people with Kenya, which was such a fun experience. I saw Lauren London today. Shout out Lauren London. I fucking love you. Shout out Kenya. Shout out McKay. Shout out all the homies. And then, what am I talking about? And then so. Your hobbies. Acting. Yeah. Like I was like, I might take this job and I'm like, dude, I'm so excited to like, just put on the t-shirt you tell me to put on and go be funny.

1:03:18Like I I don't know how to do, like, I'm so excited like I was when I was young. And so that's a fun feeling, you know? Yeah, I do know.

1:03:25Will Arnett:What about daddy stuff? What's your favorite part? You were amazing. I called you back. You guys see, is this thing on? Will was so incredible. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. And Bradley's just an amazing dude. So incredible. Yeah. Who don't you like? Who don't I like? I'm just kidding. It's more like who doesn't like me, unfortunately. What is your favorite part about daddy stuff? What have you found is your favorite thing to do with your kids that you didn't think, that you didn't know you were going to love? I knew I was going to love it. I just prayed that I'd be able to do it in the right way.

1:04:00You know, so I'm so proud of what I get to do. Every second of it is so sick. Because even when he's like three and crazy, because one of the ones a little baby, you can only yell at him, scream at yourself, horse at him so much. But how's your swaddle game? That was a joke. How's your swaddle game? Are you a good swaddler? No, he's out of, yeah, no, I'm not a good swaddler. I'm a good diaper change. You're a good diaper change?

1:04:24Will Arnett:Nope, nope. But there's a hole to swaddler. Swaddling is when you take and you wrap up. Well, they're probably past, the young ones probably past the swaddling now. Yeah. But like swallower. No. Swaddler. That's on groundandpound.com. Amanda, did Jason, did he get in the swaddle? He did? For real. A great swaddler. And a great diaper changer-upper. Making your kid, like, seeing your kid come up with something that he thinks is funny to make you laugh. Like, knowing that that's, like, he wants, he thinks of something that is funny in his three-year-old mind and then tries to be like, dada, and then says, which is usually, oh, fuck, or wiener, because he's my son.

1:05:10And he'll be like, dada, oh, fuck. And I'm like, family business, baby. Get out there. Are you enjoying, well, he's still a little bit to you,

1:05:21Will Arnett:but I bet you're going to enjoy starting to feather in your sense of humor to him. And he'll start to pick up on that from you, and it'll start to maybe become kind of his sense of humor, too. I remember, I think it was Maple. Was it you or was it Franny? I'll never forget one time. one of them said to be like Daddy, how come you never smile after you say something funny? And it was like, you know, just like, kind of like well, because if you smile, then you know it's a joke but if you don't smile, then it's kind of dry and that's like sarcasm It was like so weird that I was trying to formulate what the answer would be to that but like you don't know what the answer is to that, it's just like Your kids have never seen you smile Think about that That's what it is Think about how fucking traumatized they are comedy is not supposed to be fun in our house stop laughing i mean you don't have to teach them they just watch you they just watch you right that's what i mean it's like you start to just like i don't know i it's i just i'm i don't want to go tomorrow you're gonna be brilliant yeah dude like i would be having a nervous breakdown if my kids were going to college because i think about i start crying sometimes i'm like a little baby myself because i'll look at them and be like if like you're a teenager and don't want to hang out with me, I'll cry every night.

1:06:45You know, like I can't imagine them. Well, here's something that somebody said.

1:06:50Will Arnett:Somebody said to me that sort of like got me off the ledge. When your kids go to college, you've got a long time to go. They're not going to college, let's be honest. Maple's got another four or five years, so I'm still, the tears are still pretty low. but when Franny, my eldest, left, I was like, I'm not going to do well with this. Fortunately, she goes to school in town, so I'm okay. But somebody said to me a few years before she left, she said, you're not losing your four-year-old. Your four-year-old is not leaving. It's an 18-year-old that's probably been spending a lot of weekends out at friends' houses and stuff like that, so it gets feathered in and it's not like, boom, your four-year-old, your 10-year-old is leaving the house.

1:07:30Will Arnett:it's you're actually excited for them to leave the nest start flapping the wings and it's and you've like knowing you relationship with your daughters you've seen them blossom into these incredible people so you're like go shred yeah yeah you're excited to watch them play the guitar yeah yeah yeah oh you'll love it it's radical it's all it's all a blessing yeah alright we're about done here these people they probably want to pee or do something or get the hell out of here in closing though we're done oh my god I was so boring what? Talk to us about the film that's out right now and the film that's coming out I saw that one too, that one's fucking great you guys are going to have to wait a little bit longer on that because you're still in post on that Jason also gives the best notes because he's such a great director yeah yeah let's hear it for Jason yeah

1:08:28incredible And Will and I are friends, but it's like a newer friendship, and then Sean and I are going to become friends. That's right, right after this. You're sleeping over tonight. Yeah, we're going to watch Superbad tonight. Yes, great. Beat him up. Yeah. If you'd like the shit beaten out of you, please let me know. Sean's got a singlet. Come on down to San Diego. We'll treat you right. Look in your rearview mirror. I went to San Diego so Jonah could beat me up. Traffic was a nightmare. Scotty, let's go. So tell us about these two films. The new movie's called Outcome, and you can stream it on Apple.

1:09:01And it's Keanu Reeves and myself and Cameron Diaz and the great Matt Bomer, who's incredible, and a bunch of amazing people. David Spade, Laverne Cox, really amazing cast. And it's a really funny movie, and if you want to enjoy yourself at home and then pause it and take a piss and get snacks and stuff, you can totally go do that.

1:09:19Will Arnett:But it's also got filmmaker stuff in it. Like, you shot it beautifully, and it's scored beautifully, and it's like, you're doing it. Thank you. And then this next one. This next one is just pure stupidity. So it is just dumb. Tell them what the concept is. It's dumb. I'm about to go on a run of just the dumbest shit you've ever seen in your entire life. So I hope you left your brains at home. So it's called Cut Off. And Kristen Wiig and I play two dumbass heirs, rich kids in their mid-40s who get cut off by their rich parents, played by Bette Midler and Nathan Lane. so it is like stepbrothers, Clueless Trading Places classic comedy and Kristen Wiig is the American treasure I've been so lucky in my last two movies Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz and Kristen Wiig and Bette Midler and Nathan Lane I'm the luckiest guy but it's going to be in theaters shout out Mike and Pam and Jesse at Warner Brothers and we are trying to bring comedy movies back to the movies it's about time there haven't been there haven't been enough comedy movies getting made and I think it's about time and I'm glad you're leading the charge I am dedicating till you guys make me stop to just making people laugh we want more of you more often higher frequency, your break's over move back up from San Diego or at least get a little kid of terror but I promise to try and make a movie every year that's funny critics do your best you cocksuckers and then I'm going to make people laugh.

1:10:55So fuck y 'all. That's great. I love that. We love you, buddy. We love you, John. Thank you for joining us. Jonah Hill. Jonah Hill.

1:11:06Thank you. I hope that was okay. I love you, dude. I'm sorry I was like, that was okay. No, that's okay. That's okay.

1:11:22Hollywood. Hollywood.

1:11:29Hollywood.

1:11:35So, we're gonna do a wrap-up. Wrap-up, yeah. We gotta do the wrap-up.

1:11:39Will Arnett:We gotta do the wrap-up. We gotta do the wrap-up. Sean, I find, is the most genuine, warmest, sincere, attentive friend I could ever ask to have. That's a true story. That's very nice. Will has all of that and just happens to make me laugh more than anybody I've ever met in my life. Yes. Thank you. You're pretty funny, too. Jason. Take your time. It's going to take a minute. To think of something? You are, you're so Jason, you know? Which is what we love about you. You're just, you're the, no, Jason is such a sweet boy. This is awkward. No, it's true. And he's, and he's, you've made such a great thing of yourself.

1:12:29You've really turned around. I mean, you kind of grew up in the woods and you just, you got out and you're a beautiful person. And he's, and I give him shit. We give him shit for being so, you know, grumpy and stuff. Purple, purple. But he's so squishy on the inside. Yes, he is. He is such a sweet boy. Yes, I love you because you also are a genuinely kind person and you really think of other people. And you are one of the... You're grabbing my ass right now. And you're one of the smartest people I've ever known in my entire life. And yes, you're squishy inside. This fella is also super squishy.

1:13:07The funniest person on the face of the planet. Both of them are. and I love you guys both. I love you too. And I said, Sean and I were texting last night about something and you have those moments. One of the great things is about our friendship, and I don't know why we're doing this, but is we love each other and I think it's the age that we've gotten to where we can tell each other that we love each other and it feels really great to be able to do that. And I said, Sean sent me a text last, we talked on the phone and then he sent me a really lovely text afterwards. words. And like Jason said, you cannot meet a person who is more consistently supportive and kind than Sean Hayes.

1:13:48You can try. No. And constantly. He checks in on everybody he loves. He's always so selfless and it's unbelievable. And JB's the same. I feel very, very honored that we get to do that. You guys listen to us. Yeah. Fuck around.

1:14:03Will Arnett:I don't know if you guys get to work with your best friends. They are truly my two best friends. you guys let me work with them and have the greatest time of my life and talk to some of the most interesting people in the world so we cannot thank you enough. Yeah, we really, really appreciate it. Yeah, we do. I also want to say sorry, thank you to Bennett and to Rob and to Michael Granteri. There's Rob Armio. Rob, put your hand up. There's Bennett over there. Rob. And where's Michael Terry? Michael Terry somewhere. Michael Terry is somewhere. It is six of us. And our great partners at Sirius, but it is the six of us that make this thing happen.

1:14:47Will Arnett:And so without them, we wouldn't have it. And we didn't want to let another moment go. Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye, guys. Thank you. Thank you.

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