"Larry David"

25:42But we're already in the weeds. Did you enjoy, did you, I don't know, was it difficult for you writing in that format? Was it a format that you liked or that you had to get used to or that you rebelled against?

25:57No, I was okay with it. I didn't mind it at all. At one point I said to him, I can't believe they're letting us do this. I was really surprised. Really? Yeah, I felt like, how are we getting away with this? Did you have a staff that you handpicked, or did they try to marry you with a bunch of more traditional writers? How did that all work out? Well, for the first four shows, I wasn't the executive producer. Yeah. They brought in someone who had experience. Sure. and who had a show on the air previously, and they brought him in, and he was my boss. Right. Yeah. And so we handed in the first couple of shows, and then we were called into his office for notes.

27:02Wow. And he just was just four episodes. that did that note meeting it did not did not go well just generally probably wanted to make it something a bit less uh specific and esoteric probably not less esoteric or i i don't know you know when uh they were probably going for something more traditional something more familiar recognizable because you're on a major network and let's run the around the edges a bit Yes. And you guys thankfully said, well, but because you guys famously did not start high up in the ratings. You probably figured, what? Yeah. Give us a chance to grow and do our own thing.

27:47I said no to everything he said. Yeah. Right. I said, I'm not going to, I can't do that. And then I, you know, I was, and then I quit and they said, and then Jerry went to Castle Rock and said, look, forget it. we're going to do this or not. And so then that guy didn't really participate after that. Yeah. And it was essentially my show after that. Yeah. Larry, and it should be noted, I was a fan of Jerry's. I saw him when I was like 17. My buddies got me for my birthday to go see Jerry play in Toronto in a theater. Oh, no? Yeah. And I was a really big fan of his stand-up. And so when you guys started the show, I watched the first season.

28:34I just moved to New York. It was the fall of 90, right, when you guys came on the air? I think that's when, or summer maybe? The summer. Summer of 90, yeah. The pilot came on in the summer of 89, and then the first four shows came on in June of 90. Yeah. Wow, that's so crazy. And so crazy. And it was the Seinfeld Chronicles, as everybody knows, right? Yeah, the first season, yeah. First season. Or just the pilot, I think. I think it was just the pilot. Oh, was it? I don't remember, yeah. And I seem to remember, I think we talked about this maybe when Jerry was on, that the budget for the show at NBC came out of late night, right?

29:16That initially it was Rick Ludwin who... I think Variety. Oh, Variety. Variety, yeah. And right, was it... Rick Ludwin. Yeah, one of the greats. He championed the show. Great dude. The show wouldn't have gotten on the air if not for him. I love that. And by the way, while you were on Seinfeld, you had both your daughters or just one daughter? No, both. Both, wow. And did you bring them around? Were they interested? No, they were babies. No, I know, but when they got older. When they got older, it was off the air. First of all, don't... Sean, you stupid... Sean, you fucking Sean. I thought they were like...

29:56Sean, take a time out. Real quick. Did the show do well with babies? Sean, the show went off in 98. My daughter Cassie was born in 94. Oh, okay. And Romy was born in 96. First of all, calm down. Second of all. Larry, how did you guys do with, like, toddlers? Did you guys get a lot of toddlers? Oh, yeah. But Larry, Curb, correct me, has been on longer than Seinfeld was? Curb's been on for 24 years. 24 years. Isn't that amazing? not not consecutively no not consecutive you take like 10 years off but when we started we started holy shit yeah wait i want to go into curb more because like how did you come up with the like being uh being there i was like oh this is how this works you get like a little outline for my sister tracy who doesn't understand it's not written like say seinfeld was it was it's all improvised like we were talking at the beginning of this episode that um but how did you store a story outline the story outline yeah so you have to hit those points but it's so fun because you spend an hour just improvising one scene and then you cut out the fat in the editing room and you have all great stuff it's such a great format so who thought of that and why did you think of that i heard once because when you and i did the three stooges i you said to me i hate memorizing lines yeah yeah well it was uh seinfeld had ended and i was thinking about what I was going to do next.

31:24And Jeff Garland had an office at Castle Rock, and Jeff Garland had an office next door. And he said to me, what are you going to do now? I said, I'm thinking about going back to stand-up. And he said, well, you should film it. And then I thought about, oh, well, what is that going to be? Filming it? That sounds intrusive. I don't know. What are they going to do? The camera's going to follow me into a dry cleaner? I could understand. And I could see how it's going to be on stage. That could be somewhat interesting to see the growth of the act from beginning to end. But offstage, I didn't like the idea of filming myself.

32:02The camera's following me around. I didn't feel I'm all that interesting to follow. And so I thought maybe if I wrote some fictitious stories, that we could do that around the stand-up. The stand-up could be real, but the offstage stuff would be just stuff I made up. And so that's what I did. I wrote an outline. I made Jeff my manager. Cheryl auditioned. She was my wife. Yeah. We had kids in the first special because that's what it was. It was a special. It wasn't a pilot. Yeah. It was just a one-off special. Right. We got it. And did you get it? Or should I repeat it one more time? I just can't wait to hear what happened to the kids.

32:49Well, I didn't really want to see the kids, I realized, after the special. Sure would you. How did you off the children? I just pretended the first show never existed. Never happened. That's the best way to do it. I love shit like that. Never came back. You never need to fucking explain it. No, no, no. You don't need to explain everything, right? I love that. Just fucking changed it. I didn't want kids in the show. No. Who does? The show would be so much funnier without kids. I didn't want to deal with kids. I didn't want to keep having to explain, what about the kids? Where are the kids? Are the kids okay?

33:22Who's watching the kids? I didn't want to have to keep justifying everything that was going on and having to explain where the kids were. Kids aren't funny. Kids aren't funny. Hey, the other thing is, Larry, do you think, God, you did something really genius, which is you were able to play this version of yourself, if you will, and you get to sort of be cranky and say whatever you want. And has it, it must have, God, I'm so envious, it just bled into your real life that you're able to now, because people just buy it and they're like, oh, it's just Larry being Larry. He's like from this show. And now you can just, you can go to a gas station and give a guy the finger and like people will laugh.

34:00See you later. Or scream at the slow group in front of you. Whatever the fuck you want on this planet. What the fuck are you doing up there? I don't know about the planet, but like the west side of LA and Manhattan, you could do whatever the fuck you want. It's true. It moves a lot smoother. It's made my life. I have so much better. Jesus fucking Christ. Now I'm jealous. I'm really getting heated now when I realized this fucking carte blanche. You literally printed yourself a carte blanche to say whatever the fuck you want in the places that we... And people are disappointed if I'm not that way.

34:31I know. People are like, fuck, the guy paid his bill and he didn't tell me to go fuck myself. I mean, what am I doing wrong? You're making the people happy by you being cranky. It's so great. But do you notice that, honestly, that you get some stuff out there as this sort of this other version of yourself and then your real life actually ends up being a little bit more placid and less dramatic? I haven't noticed that, but it is acting and doing that Larry David on the show. Yeah. It is so much fun, first of all, and kind of a little cathartic in a way. I know what you mean. A little cathartic in a way, way to couch it.

35:18I mean, when you're talking, obviously, it's the fucking greatest. You get to say all these horrible things. By the way, how about, I wasn't even going to bring this up, but it just hit me, Marjorie Taylor Greene, first of all, she said she was watching Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is already kind of, oh, you watch the show. And then she got upset because she thought you painted people in her state or in the South as racist or whatever. I'm paraphrasing, so I don't know her word. Yeah. But weren't you kind of blown away that she even watches your show? I was pretty surprised by it. Yeah. But it was just about a law that exists in that state.

35:57Right, exactly. Where you can't give people water or food or when they're in line voting. Yeah, or you're in to vote. It's outrageous. It's outrageous. It's so unbelievable. It's so stupid. It's so great. Yeah, I remember when I heard about that law, I wrote it down in my notebook. And then I knew I was going to, you had to use that. The whole season is like kind of around that, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, it's great. So then, Larry, so the show has had this incredible, long, successful run. You've brought it to this beautiful conclusion. I'm not going to ask you, you know, what's next, but I would imagine that you're good, right?

36:39You've worked your nards off for however many years at a really high level, accomplished probably 10 times what you thought you would accomplish. You feel satisfied. Are there areas in your life that you would love to try to find equal success in or other areas of the business or different industries? No. You're good. You're all set. Any other industries you want to get into? I'd love to be an offensive coordinator for an NFL team. Okay. That would be my dream job. Very offensive coordinator? But truly, you do love football, and specifically, do you know about plays and all that stuff? No, I don't know anything about it, but I feel like I'd be good at it.

37:30Yeah. Yeah, I know nothing. But I feel like if I studied it, if somebody took me under their wing, I feel like in a year or two, I could design great plays. It's a creative endeavor, really, when you think about it. From what I understand, if you just play Madden, you really learn quite a bit. So maybe try that. Get yourself a PlayStation. Oh, no, I've never done that. Could you imagine Larry David on the field just calling shots? Yeah. Throwing his headset? With the little headset, screaming into that thing. I honestly feel I could do it. You'd just be yelling, like, just throw it and then catch it.

38:09How hard is it? What team would that be? Would that be the Giants or the Jets? Well, you know, I'm a Jet fan. I'm also a Giant fan, but I'm more Jets than Giants. When Joe Namath came in in 1965, I really took to him, and so I became a Jet fan. Larry, you know, when we were working together, I asked you, the same kind of thing Jason was asking. I'm like, why are you ending? Why are you stopping the show? And you just said, look at me. I'm 76 years old. Look at me. What do you mean? You're in incredible shape. I know the way you take care of yourself. You eat great. You exercise. You're out there every day.

38:4976. When's your birthday, by the way? Quick. July 2nd. Do you hate, by the way, do you hate birthdays? You hate holidays? Well, I hate, you know, it becomes a job returning the birthday emails and the texts. I agree. It's a bit of a job. So, yeah, I don't like it. I really don't like it. You know what I don't like is when people sing happy birthday to me. I don't know what to do. It's the worst, like, minute and a half. All you can do is make a face and shake your head. Yeah. It's a weird... Wait, what about all the other holidays? I get the birthday thing. It becomes a job. I detest all holidays.

39:24Detest them. Not one. Not one. There's not one holiday that I like. Wait, what about... I particularly hate Halloween. I hate Thanksgiving. I hate Christmas. New Year's I can stand because I know that the whole thing's going to be over soon after that night. Yeah, but you've got to stay up late. No, I don't stay up. I haven't stayed up past 12 in 15 years. Why Halloween? Because you've got to dress up. The costumes, the kids, the bothering, you know. You're knocking on the door. By the way, my house is in darkness on Halloween. Of course it is. All the lights are out. Nobody knocks on the door.

40:10We put a sign out that says, sorry, no candy every single year. Mary, you could probably get away with putting a sign that said, go fuck yourself and people would fucking adore you for it. They'd fucking build you a goddamn monument. I'm still really grinding on this over here. Yeah, I remember, I've seen you at Conan's Christmas party a couple times. I've been. And it's great. And that's, do you like going to parties? Well, that's kind of like, it's not a dinner party, but they served great food and stuff. But I imagine you don't like to sit down at dinner parties, or do you? The thing about the dinner party is you don't know who's going.

40:45That's right. And that's what really bothers me about it, that it's such a fucking secret as to who you're inviting. and then you show up, oh, you're here. Oh, oh, oh, hello, you know. Right, right. Who needs that? Tell me who's going and I'll see if I want to go. Yeah. Right. Why can't I know? I should have a chance to educate my decision about the way I'm going to spend my night. Exactly. And all of a sudden, then you're spending two and a half hours. Right, right. With a stranger, you've got nothing to say to them. Yeah, right. Like, if you're not going to go to the beach, you're going to look at the weather, and if the weather's rainy, you're not going to fucking go for two and a half hours, right?

41:26Exactly. That's right. I don't get it. I don't get it. So a couple of weeks ago, I was invited and I asked. I said, who's going to be there? All right. And a fence was taken. Sure. Okay. And I didn't go. Good. Smart. Because you found it because they told you? No, they didn't tell me. Okay. Do you throw dinner parties? Me? Yeah. Have I ever said, let's have a dinner party? Or let's say you have six, seven, eight people over. Would you then tell the other people who's coming? Yes. Yes. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I'm golden ruling it. Yeah. I'm not trying to trick people over to my house. Yeah, exactly.

42:10Yeah. I'm golden ruling it. Yeah. I'm doing unto them as I want them to do unto me. I'm with you on that. I get kind of offended. These guys know. Like, if you invite me to a one-year-old's birthday party, I'm fucking mad. I'm like, don't invite me to a one-year-old's birthday party. That's outrageous. I'll go one step further. Don't invite me to your wedding, you know? Don't invite me to your wedding on a weekend in the summer? The bar mitzvah is even worse than the wedding. Oh, my God. No, but my kids go to the bar mitzvahs because that's where all the makeouts happen. Yeah, just the service.

42:42Yeah, you just come to the service, not the party. Anything to do with it, they're just intolerable. top to bottom. Oh, and you got to bring a check. Yeah. We'll be right back.

42:59All right, back to the show. So I wrote a bunch of like, I want to do like a speed thing with you because I wrote, what, you hate that? You're going to introduce a new format here? I'm not going to do that. Just one word answers? You think Larry wants to do the speed? Or you can say fuck off. We've never done a speed. Why are you doing it for Larry? This is just a terrible idea. Terrible. Yeah, make Larry the monkey. Oh, Sean's upset. Okay, Sean, do one speed thing. No, no. Go ahead. He's worked on it with Scotty all weekend. Let's hear it. No, no. No, no, no. This is going to be fun. No, it's not.

43:31It's going to be horrible now. What about a stage story, Larry? What about when he went to Broadway? Oh, there you go. Let's do that. How about that, Sean? Larry, I saw your show on Broadway. You didn't see mine. I loved it, though. If I had been in New York when it was on, I definitely would have got it. For six months? I was going to fly to New York Yes I flew to New York to see yours Who asked you to? I didn't tell you to do that I would have dissuaded you I would have said are you nuts I don't want you to come That's what I would have told you And you should have told me the same thing Like a good friend Now tell me I did see that show And you were fucking great in it That's it, so nice of you to say that Which one was this?

44:12Which show? Something with fishes It's fishes. I'm on the fish. It was called Fish in the Dark. Fish in the Dark. Fish in the Dark. Yeah. But I thought it was great, and you told me that you didn't love the experience of eight shows a week. No. Did you not know that that's what you were getting into? I'm not shocked by that. How'd that sneak up on you, Larry?

44:37I don't know. It was the dumbest decision I've ever made in my life. Have you spoken to that agent since? It was my fault. I'm the one who agreed to it. It was my fault. I didn't write it to be in it. Right. I got talked into it by the producer. Wow. Yeah. And you hated it. How long was that run? The first show was February 4th. The last show was June 9th in 2015. Wow. Wow. So 144 performances. How many months is that? February, March, April, May. Yeah, it's five months, you dingbat. Sorry. February, March, April, May. Four and a half. Uh-huh. Sean, how many did you do of Good Night Oscar? Six months.

45:22Oh, no. I did five months in New York and three months, or two or three months in New York. But how many performances? He knows his number. He knows his number. You don't know? I don't know. How many shows did you do a week? Seven. Oh. Yeah. That's better than eight. I couldn't sell the eight one. I got a moment to rest for a second. One less. Yeah. Yeah. But you had a heavy lift in that. You were driving the whole thing. Yeah. Yeah. And you hated it. Never again. It was boring. Doing the same stuff overnight after night after night, I found it boring. Do you have any funny stories? Didn't you get hurt once?

45:53You lose your voice ever? No, I don't have any funny stories. Okay, good. Did you? I did notice that. Great question, though, Sean. Thanks. That it becomes so rote, and there's no creativity at all after you do the first 10. Right. You're just doing the same thing over and over again. It's kind of fun, though, to find new things, to try new things that are so small that make the scene better. Okay, I tried something new once. Yeah, oh, I guess you do have a story. And I got so thrown by it. Uh-oh. The whole system broke down, and I forgot the next line. Yeah. Oh, no. I looked a different way. Instead of looking to the right, I looked to the left, and all of a sudden, it all went askew.

46:40How'd you get back on track? Did somebody whisper something from the wings? No, I realized where I was finally, but that was the last time I tried anything different. Yeah, exactly. I was doing a play, and this guy was carrying a briefcase in one hand, and right before we went out, we went out at the same time. He said, God, my hand hurts from carrying the briefcase the same way. I go, you should switch hands. He goes, oh. I go, but don't do it tonight. He goes, no, I'll do it. We walked out, and he forgot every line. Oh, my God. Yeah, that's exactly the story. exactly what I'm talking about. Yeah, I got it.

47:13I understand. That's wild. Right? Those neuropathways are dug so deep based on what... Larry, what do you do when you're not not doing your show anymore and you're not doing stand-up? What do you... I know you like to play golf, but is there anything else that you like to do that you have any sort of stupid hobbies or anything that you do to occupy your time that people wouldn't know? No, not really. No, nothing. What, do you watch TV? You got cable news on? I do what everybody else does. I read. I watch TV. These guys don't read. No, I don't read. Do you read nonfiction? Are you rereading stuff about world wars and things like that?

47:56Or do you like romance novels? Romance novels? Yeah, you know. Kind of fun. Do you read any spy novels you get into that shit? Anything like that? I read a great book about the spies in England. I forgot the name of it. Sorry. I apologize. I'm so sorry. We'll be cutting this, right? We'll cut that. I probably read it. So I love at the beginning of this interview, you were like, I kind of regret being here. And then my next question. I get it. And my next question was going to be, well, what else would you be doing? And apparently the answer is nothing. Read in a magazine. I'd be reading E.B. Brown crime novels.

48:45He'd rather be doing nothing than talking to us. I love that. I have a quick, before we let you go there, I have this very quick, funny little thing that happened between me and you. I'd love to get you to your speed round, though. No, it's too late. It was going to be hysterical, but that's too bad. So listen, it's the I love you story outside of HBO. I don't know if you remember this. I asked you to do a show a long time ago that I was producing and you graciously declined because you're not afraid to say no. And then I didn't see you for like a year or something. And then I was at the HBO building and I was waiting for an elevator, HBO building in Santa Monica, waiting for the elevator.

49:24When the doors opened, you were there and the first thing you said before, before I even said hello or anything, and the doors open, you just go, I'm sorry, I just don't like those kinds of shows. I'm so sorry. they're just they're not for me i i just they're i i'm so sorry i i you're great i just can't do it i go i'm like don't worry about it i don't care and but i thought it was fascinating you hung on to that for over a year and then when we were done chatting uh i said you know you don't have to ever worry about anything like that larry you know it's no big deal uh and and don't worry about it uh And you said, okay.

50:00And I said, I love you. And then you said, yeah, I don't do that. I don't do that. I'm not going to say that. And then I laughed. And you walked away. And like two minutes later, we said goodbye. And way in the distance, you were getting your car. And I was still at the elevator. And you go, I love you, Sean.

50:22You old soft. I thought that was real sweet. Yeah. Let's cut that too. Okay, great. Sweet Larry. Sweet Larry. Larry, listen. We don't want that out in the public. No. We're going to let you go. Real quick speed round, Sean. Real quick, go. No, I got, it's too, I was going to ask. Fucking go. Wait, let me see what they are now. I got to find them. Here we go. Oh, it's on a computer? Did you AI this? I wrote them down last night. I was like a... What is it? This is like a Rorschach thing? No, I don't know who that is. Would you rather be subjected to someone showing you pictures of their kids for an entire afternoon or lose a foot?

50:57Do you ever pick up a dinner? No, that's not. Do you ever watch Shark Tank, by the way? That's a good question. Yeah, it's a very good question. But of course, I need the foot, so. You need the foot, yeah. Right. I couldn't buy golf without the foot. No, you can't. Oh, would you rather wear only uncomfortable shoes whenever you go outside or comfortable shoes 24 hours a day and can never take them off? You can never take the shoes off? You mean even when you're sleeping? Yeah, showering, swimming, things like that. Now listen, what about this one? Would you rather live without the internet or live without air conditioning and heating?

51:30Easily. That's such an easy question. What do you think? I'd rather live without the air conditioning and heating. I'd rather live without the internet, even without the air conditioning. Okay. I hate the internet. What's something that you just recently realized that you were embarrassed you didn't realize earlier? What's that? It's bad. What would the world be like if it was filled with male and female copies of you? That's the last one. I think it would be a much better place. Much better. Wow. There you go. That's the only one we're keeping. Good answer. Larry David, you're the sweetest. I had the best time with you on your show.

52:04Thank you for being on this show. It's too short. It's too short. It's too short. It's too short. It's too short. Is it called The Final Frontier? What's the name? Is there like a subtitle? No, it's just true. I don't think so. I think it's called That's Enough. That's Enough. That's Enough. Yeah. I like that.

52:24good yeah i'm looking sean i i'm really looking forward to people seeing you on on curb because you're fantastic in it well thank you thank you for having me i loved it it was so fun boy we had we had some good laughs will and i are happy to uh be involved in any of the reshoots or promotion additional photography we'll just do promo we'll just do the junket yeah hey guys this wasn't this wasn't as awful as i thought it was gonna be hey thanks man that's one of the best reviews we've ever had did you have more fun here or on morning joe i was so excited when i saw you on my favorite show morning joe was that was it great i'm so jealous you were on that set yeah i want to go there and say hi to those guys do you still golf there oh yeah you do not today it's rainy too wet today you see these guys there ever we've played i do i see them out there yeah we're gonna play together one day i'm off until october i'm uh i'm around i played over at uh at your club the other day uh for that uh for the pro-am they did yeah i don't even get i don't even get invited to that well is that true we'll just went ahead and won it come on you won it yeah we won the pro-am on wednesday what yeah he had three birdies team did yeah i did have three players i played with sebastian maniscalco and uh and who else did i play with and with jeff azoff and who's your pro With Sam Burns.

53:44Wow, really? Yeah, and he was great. Sam Burns went low that day, and Jeff Azov is great, as you know. He plays at your club. He's terrific. He's a club champ. And then Sebastian, forget about it. And then, I mean, just to put it in terms that he would understand. He's so funny. Don't you find it curious that I'm not invited to play in that Pro-Am? I find it very curious. How are you not invited to play at the Pro-Am at your own club, and you're a huge star? And then I'm there. Fucking ding dong. And then Will's hair. Canadian asshole. Canadian moron gets invited. How are you not? They're trying to go international.

54:22Anyway, well, Larry, we'll get out and play someday. That would be good. And I'll show you around your own club and where to hit it and stuff. What's your index? I'm terrible. I'm at 10.8. Oh, you're not terrible. You're much better than I am. No, you're right around there, Larry. No, no, I'm not. This Bateman character, he's got... You know, he shot a 70 at Bel Air two weeks ago. Wow. Can you believe that? Scared the shit out of me. 70. Wow. That was the last round I played, and I won't play again until October. That, is that so? Where are you going? Yeah, I'll probably shoot 105. Just working, you know.

54:56I'm still out here humping, you know, trying to dance as fast as I can. He's going to New York to work. He's back here this week, but. What are you doing in New York? Doing some crime drama thingamabob. That's why I'm growing out all this crap, beard, hair, and all this nonsense. What are you playing, a cop? I'm playing a loser, right? Look, how am I doing? Yeah, wow. You didn't need to grow out the hair and the beard for that, dude. Hey! You know what I mean? Yeah. Larry, I miss you. I'd love to have at least some food with you soon. Please say hi to Ashley. You're very nice to be doing this today with us.

55:32Yeah, it was very kind of you. Very, very cool. I don't even know what to say to that. We're big fans. It should be, and I know you hate it, and not to embarrass you, you've done so much great stuff in your career, and for guys like me, and I can speak for these guys, it's a thrill. Honestly, you're such a funny guy. You're such a funny writer, such a funny performer, and it's inspiring to be totally honest. Again, not to put you on the spot. You don't have to respond, but it's great, and we look up to people like, you know, to you and what you do. I think it's awesome. What you do is not easy.

56:04One of my faves. It's inspiring. You make it look very easy. Truly. And people need to know that it is not easy. They'll say, oh, he's playing himself. Guess what, guys? Not simple. Incredibly talented. And I know it's not. Thank you. And sometimes it's not cool in comedy to pay those kinds of compliments or whatever. But it is true. And you are definitely an inspiration. So thank you for all the awesome stuff you've done. Well, you're very, very nice to say that. I wish I could take it in. I know. I know. You don't have to. You'll think about it again right when you're going to bed tonight. and he gets a little grin.

56:35Yeah, a little thought bubble. All right, guys. See you. Thank you. Take care, pal. Larry, love you. Larry? Larry? Larry? I love you! There it is. You got it. He's great. I think I really do love that man. I just love being around him. Yeah, his deepest, darkest secret is that he's a sweetheart. I know. Such a sweetheart. Yeah. I met his wife. Jay, you know his wife, Ashley? Tiny bit, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I met her once. She's so sweet. I only met her one time. Yeah, they're a lot of fun. I like them a lot. Yeah, he's so, he's, you know, like Will was saying, it's like he's one of the greats, you know?

57:16And that show's been on for 20, what did he say, four years, 20-some years? I really, honestly, genuinely would love to be on a set with him. That would be really, really rewarding. So fun. But I missed my chance. I got to cast him in something. He'll do other stuff. he'll do other stuff maybe this was it maybe this was us working together this was the beginning he legit did say that how come you're never on and i was like what's your show right you never asked me so yeah do you ever say that when uh somebody comes up to you and asks to be on smart list and you say yeah why haven't we had you on yet and meanwhile you're thinking we're not gonna have him on yeah yeah it happens i guess it's tough i know it's tough to hear the truth i guess But he has his legacy or like his, he's got, he can always say he has one of the greatest shows in the history of American television.

58:07Two. Two of the greatest shows. And now. And he's only done two. And he's only done two. Well, except for the Gottfried failed pilot, I guess. But we won't talk about that. No, we just, you just brought it up. Well, but it's not even, he's not even two for three. Because it was just a pilot never aired, you know. Now it's, so he's at 60%. Now he's at 66%. I guess a second ago he was batting 1 ,000. And now he's still Hall of Fame. Only been on two television shows, and they're both probably in the top 10 ever in the history of television. All three. All three. The Gilbert Gottfried thing.

58:43I know. He is so incredible. He's so fucking incredible. And I do mean it. Apart from that, not only did he write himself licensed to do what he wants, right, in terms of his behavior and being as cranky as he wants in a way that is really, you know, invokes a lot of jealousy in me. But also he got, you know, paid really handsomely to do that. I don't think so. I think the story is that he deferred all the money because he just likes, he just did it for the art. He never cashed those checks. Did not get a dollar from Seinfeld. Oh, wow. Yeah, he just loved it. He didn't talk about it. No kidding.

59:24We should call him back. I just loved it. No, seriously, somebody told me that, and they promised me that they are aware of this information and they can prove it because they have an alibi. Bye. Bye.

59:41Smart. Less.

59:47Smart. Less.

59:53Smartless is 100 % organic and artisanally handcrafted by Bennett Barbaco, Michael Grant Terry, and Rob Armjarf.

1:00:06Smart Less. Guys, Jason had to scoot very quickly and apologize profusely for not being here for this little thing that we're about to do, which we're really excited about. He's missing the party. He's missing the fun. He's missing the party. He does feel really, really bad. Yeah. but we have a couple guests with us today for a super quick plug for a new Smartless Media show called Pretty Sure I Can Fly. We can't wait for the show. We're super pumped. One of the hosts is a friend of the podcast. He's been on before, an actor, filmmaker, has made us laugh for literally years. And his partner in crime is a woman who we haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet.

1:00:40And, sorry, and figuratively years. And figuratively years. You said literally years. And figuratively years. But literally years. Yeah. At least me. and a woman who we haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet who will be a friend of the show after this little chat and giggle. She's a brilliant writer and produced one of the all-time greats of This American Life. Love that show. Willie, let's say hello to Johnny Knoxville and Elna Baker. Okay, I'm going to say hello. Hello. Well, hello. Hi. Hi, guys. This is so exciting that you're here. Tell us about the show. I can't wait. I mean, I know about it, but tell everybody else about it.

1:01:13Yeah. It's a show about people with more balls than a bowling alley. Sure. It's people who have achieved great things while thumbing their nose at naysayers, established thought, failure, personal safety, and gravity. Yeah, I love that. I love the press release that says for people who have done things that have never been done until someone did them. Yeah. That's pretty good writing, huh? Yeah, it's pretty good. And I will say, Knoxville, you've got some history with this. you've obviously spent some time in between, you know, over the years doing shit that other people won't do, stuff that seems really scary and gnarly.

1:01:57Yeah. So I can see it. But, Elna, how much of an appetite do you have for doing shit that you're not, you didn't think people could do? I mean, to an extent, I mean, I grew up Mormon, so I wasn't allowed to do anything. Right. So, like, for me, I guess, It wasn't like being brave in terms of like jumping off a cliff, but it was like leaving a religion, giving hand jobs. Like there were, you know, there were the things that I had to figure out. That was the first thing. Wow. And that's why I joined. Well, that's what led you to leave ultimately one of the things, right? You were 28? Yes, I left at 20.

1:02:36I touched a penis for the first time at 28. Is that true? 28. That is true, yeah. And was touching the penis the thing that opened the... Yes, it was. That was the gateway? Penis was the gateway drug? The penis was the gateway. Yeah. Wow. When did you have your first Coke? Coca-Cola. Like Coca-Cola? Otherwise, she was going to say 8 a.m. I know. I was like a... We were the kind of Mormons who drank Coca-Cola, but I didn't have my first coffee until I was 28. And I remember being so afraid to order it just because I didn't know how to say the word. Wait, so everything happened at 28? Everything, because I left at 28.

1:03:14Yeah, once I touched a dick, I was, you know. Yeah, tell me about it. Yeah, tell me about it. Catholicism, same thing. So wait, did you, do you still have family members in the church? Everyone, yeah. Everyone is still a woman. Do you still, do you have a good relationship? Decent, yeah, great, yeah. Johnny, what about you? Well, starting with decent. I mean, I'd love to dig into that a little bit. You open with decent. I'm going to take you a word. I realized they might hear this. By the way, if they're listening to this, then they're lapsed and then they're just as guilty as you are. And now the playing field is level.

1:03:49But Johnny, what denomination did you grow up in? Catholicism? Oh, Southern Baptist. It was intense. Oh, that's right. I knew that. Yeah. That's right. Was it hardcore?

1:04:02Well, I didn't realize how intense it was at the time. but you know it's not like the Pentecostals who handle snakes but you know in Southern Baptist you're not supposed to dance or you know but my parents didn't believe in they weren't that strict so but if you handle the Pentecostals they could maybe be on an episode of Pretty Sure I Can Fly because if they're handling snakes oh yeah that's what I'm saying I'm saying being so repressed makes you want to go take these risks later on oh totally I mean that's one of the things that like I love about interviewing the different people we've interviewed is like I remember this sports writer telling me that like all the greatest athletes had some primal wound that and that thing that happened in their childhood is what makes them like achieve or even try for sure and so many of these people that we've talked to like you find out oh like you know Manny Puig who you know you've seen on uh Jackass and who Johnny knows like I had no idea that his father was killed by a firing squad in Cuba.

1:05:06The origins of what made him do these insane, brave things came from something really deep and real. Or like Garrett McNamara, who's the 100-foot wave guy. He was learning about his child. It's bonkers. He basically, at one point, his mother was this hippie, but she put him in this cult. A lot of cults. A lot of cults, but the most memorable. He was in many cults? Many cults. But the one, they had to renounce all their possessions. He and his brother had to wear bedsheets. They just walked around. They had to beg for everything. They couldn't buy anything. And it was just so humiliating to be walking the streets in Berkeley in these outfits begging for things.

1:05:55That's amazing. These backstories are like what get them to do these things. Yeah, it's incredible. Well, Johnny, have any of these stories inspired you to try something? Well, I'm a little, you know, I'm a little slow on the uptake. So I'm trying to not do things anymore. I'm trying to overcome my, you know, my... Addiction to put yourself in dangerous situations? It did become an addiction. It must. It must. Was there a thing, like, was there, like, a common trait that you noticed in a lot of these people that you, other than the childhood, a lot of them came from difficult childhoods. Anything else that sort of gave them that fearlessness?

1:06:36I think the, yeah, it's, if there's a through line for people on the show, it's bravery in being colorful. And these people are extremely determined. Yeah. Very determined. Yeah, wow. And usually, I mean, like, it's complicated though, right? because you're talking about adrenaline junkies, right? Right, right, right. Some are. Some get in and then kind of become addicted and then they're trying to accomplish something great, but they're also putting their... I mean, you're a perfect example, Johnny. Like you... Put your life on the... Yeah, you kept putting your life on the line and then ultimately suffered a traumatic brain injury.

1:07:20So there's this level at which you're on the razor's edge of admiring and also being like... you guys should stop. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sean wants to know, I'm just asking, he doesn't want to embarrass himself, can you get a traumatic brain injury from watching TV every night? You can, but it's... But look at me, I'm still here. Hey, Sean, have you seen 100 Foot Wave, by the way? No. You have to watch this, and it's by that guy, Garrett McNamara. I definitely told you about it. I'm writing it down right now. Watching what these big wave surfers do, not just Garrett, but all those guys, when I see those guys when they're like, man, there's a storm coming to Portugal, to Nazarene, we gotta get there, we've got 48 hours, we need to get there because there's a fucking crazy storm and I need to get on a surfboard and have a dude tow me in behind a ski do so I can get on the storm waves and I'm thinking like I'm looking for the closest restaurant that's got a happy hour I want to make sure You know, what do they have on draft?

1:08:24I'm looking for the next Harry Potter movie. Yeah, man. You know, crazy. But yeah, that's insane. So are you guys, is it fun? Have you guys been having a good time? Like, is it like, it's got to be fascinating to learn all these stories. They sound incredible. It's so fascinating. Yeah, I mean, just talking to Ty Stokes, who was on the Jamaican founding member of the Jamaican bobsled team, the real story behind that team is so much more interesting than the movie. Cool Runnings? Yeah. Cool Runnings butchered it. Like the actual story. Wait, now you're telling me that the Disney movie Cool Runnings that was trying to capitalize on the Jamaican bobsled team, it wasn't true.

1:09:05I'm sorry to take this away from you. Really? That's great. Cool story? Oh, it's an insane story. He got put on this team like a mere months before the Olympics started. They didn't have a bobsled. They didn't have a bobsled track. They'd never been on ice. Yeah, they didn't have a place to train. They didn't even get to go down a bobsled down the, what do you call it? The hill or whatever? Like, what, two or three weeks before the Olympics for the first time? Are you serious? Yeah. How did they qualify? Sean, do you know this? They ended up training for months. They trained on daiquiris. They would go...

1:09:45So stupid. How did they qualify? Anyway, you know what? We're going to listen to the podcast. That's how we're going to find out. We're going to listen to it. I can't wait. It's called Pretty Sure I Can Fly. It's Johnny Knoxville and Elna Baker together again. You guys make such a great pair. The show sounds so awesome. I truly can't wait to listen to it. It is available right now on whatever podcast platform you're currently listening to. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much, Johnny and Elna. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, guys. Thanks a lot. We appreciate it. We're about to play a clip from Pretty Sure I Can Fly.

1:10:16Follow Pretty Sure I Can Fly on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:10:27Ladies and gentlemen, Travis Pastrana. Everybody in this house is now standing up and cheering on the 199. Go, Travis! Can you tell me the story of the double backflip? Because that to me was also, I mean, I got chills in that moment in the movie, but I would love to hear you tell me the story. There's very few times in your life where something that means so much to you means so much to a group around you and even more rare that it means that much to the world. I still have people tell me almost once a week, I get someone that still remembers where they were at that moment. My grandma and all her friends watch it.

1:11:10It's live on TV. My mom was crying because she had known that, You know, I'm about 75 % into the foam pit, but if it comes around short, there's a really good chance of a broken neck or paralyzed or—it was a really cool moment. And even up until you did it, it seemed like, was it really like, I don't know if I'm going to go through with it or not? And the reason—we were just explaining, like, you always say, I'm in or I'm out. The reason this was such a tough decision for me, and I think the reason that it got built up more, was because I was on the fence on this. I have an opportunity to go out there and try a trick that I've been working for for three, four years, but I'm sitting third.

1:11:47So I'm like, if I don't do a double backflip, I still get a medal. Yeah. I still get paid. Yeah. Which is going to really help everything else that I've been putting into to rally. And is my goal to be a freestyle motocross rider or is my goal to continue on in action sports and to have a career that's going to expand hopefully longer? And it worked out. rally. And I said, you know what? I'm both. I said, I'm going to land this trick. And went out there and decided like literally last second, played rock, paper, scissors with my redneck friend, Hubert. Wait, you, you, the, the deciding factor was a rock, paper, scissors.

1:12:23Oh my God. It came down to that. Right before I went up there, Hubert, we went rock, paper, scissors. I gave thumbs up to basically Sal and the guys. And they're like, all right, they raised the ramp. And no one has ever done this before. At that time, I had done it to a sand pile in a controlled environment. That was a big step up. So if you came up short or didn't make it, it sucked. But it was, you know, it was okay. Yeah. It was a hard surface that day, right? It was just blue groove. It was pretty much worst case scenario for me. We took the ramp that was already existing and then raised it on two by fours.

1:13:00And, like, it looked like something we'd built in our backyard for, like, you know, when we were five years old. And it's like, you know, my dad's out there like strapping the ramp down and trying to get it so it doesn't move because the ramp falls over. Then I'm definitely going to deep trap. And so you're up there and you're about to go. Yeah, it was one of the coolest experiences ever. Got up there and the guy that drops me in, he gave me a thumbs up. He said, it's on you. Take your time. And I looked around and every single person was on their feet. Yeah. Entire sold out Staples Center. All of my heroes, you had Kevin Robinson, you had Chad Keggy.

1:13:37They were holding hands. I had Brian Deegan. All the militia was all down there looking. You know, it was one of the coolest experiences. And I just, I remember inside my helmet smiling. And when I dropped in, everything kind of went to slow motion. Usually you get a slow motion if anyone's crashed a car or been in a really bad, like where you think everything's going bad. I've never had a slow motion where I took off and I can remember the smells. I can remember the sounds. I can remember everything was so vivid. And, you know, I came around on the first pull and I checked the landing. And I remember thinking, you know, as Trevor Jacobs said later, he's like, oh, you can't check.

1:14:13And I'm like, oh, no, now I'm short. And I whip my head back and I see the lights. So when you practice this trick, you know, in the foam pit, you have, you know, you got the sky above you and in the ground. But on this day, you've got blinding lights where you can't see anything straight ahead of you. And then below you is kind of dark. And I just remember kind of just smiling again. I'm like, well, I'm all in. I can't get out of this now. And I came around and like literally hit, couldn't have hit better. And I was just like, what the heck just happened? I dropped down and dropped the bike and I run up.

1:14:46And the first person there was just some drunk guy out of the stands that just overpowered the security and gave me a big hug up top. I'm like, I don't even know you. Yes, let's go. Oh! Oh, my word! Are you kidding me? How many times can you find the Holy Grail in one building? A double backflip from Travis Pastrana. That was pretty cool. I was at home watching it live, and it was like I had tears going down my cheeks like the end of Old Yeller because it was such an amazing moment and so memorable. Yeah, I was blown away. You think that's the biggest moment of your career? Moment that the world felt what I felt.