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Podcast Episode Notes: SmartLess - "RE-RELEASE: Adam Sandler"
Episode Overview
- Hosts: Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett
- Guest: Adam Sandler
- Original Release Date: October 12, 2020
- Theme: A mix of humor and insightful dialogue surrounding personal experiences, family, and the entertainment industry.
Key Themes & Discussions
Introduction
- The hosts introduce the format of the podcast—one guest is revealed, and the conversation unfolds organically.
- Jason reveals a Baby Yoda doll that leads to humorous exchanges.
Adam Sandler's Arrival
- Adam Sandler joins, discussing his pandemic experience, including weight gain and beard growth.
- Humor around body image and health is a recurring theme.
Comfort Zones vs. Ambition
- Adam shares his journey with intermittent fasting during the pandemic, highlighting both struggles and strategies.
- Discussion around maintaining health and personal confidence resonates with all hosts.
The Nature of Comedy
- Adam reminisces about nervously performing on talk shows, particularly mentioning his experiences on Letterman.
- An exploration of the pressures of comedic performance and how nerves can be utilized positively.
Authenticity in Performance
- The hosts discuss the importance of being genuine in comedy and acting, noting how Adam's authenticity enhances his appeal.
- Adam reflects on how he has evolved from his early career, learning to be comfortable with himself.
Career Reflections
- Adam recounts his early roles, including working on SNL, and the journey to success with films like Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore.
- The influence of mentors like Dennis Miller and Lorne Michaels on his career trajectory is highlighted.
Transitioning Between Genres
- Discussion on the challenges and joys of acting in both comedy and serious roles.
- Adam discusses his work in Punch Drunk Love and how he balances the two styles.
Family Dynamics
- Adam emphasizes the importance of family in his life, describing how family happiness influences his personal and professional well-being.
- The hosts discuss their own parenting styles, highlighting humor in discipline and family interactions.
Closing Thoughts
- Adam expresses a desire to continue working as long as he is allowed, underscoring his love for comedy and acting.
- The conversation wraps up with the hosts reflecting on Adam's authentic nature and his ability to remain relatable despite fame.
Key Takeaways
- Nervousness as a Tool: Adam Sandler's honesty about his nerves highlights a common experience among performers.
- Evolving Authenticity: Authenticity grows with experience, affecting both personal interactions and professional performance.
- Family First: The importance of family and maintaining personal happiness is emphasized as a priority for Adam and the hosts.
- Career Adaptability: Success in entertainment requires adaptability across genres, showcasing a range of skills and talents.
Notable Quotes
- “I used to get so nervous on Letterman... just from growing up in high school and thinking he was the best of them all.”
- “When shit's going good at home, everything is good.”
- “I’m lucky to have the career of getting the right stuff and get to do it.”
Conclusion The episode provides a humorous yet deep exploration of Adam Sandler's career and personal life, encapsulating the balance of fame, family, and authenticity in the world of entertainment. The chemistry between the hosts and guest creates an engaging atmosphere filled with shared laughter and relatable insights.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:06Hello, listener. This is Jason Bateman, along with Will Arnett and Sean Hayes for the podcast called Smartless. If that's a place you're looking for, you found it. Congratulations. It's not a real high concept podcast. One person invites a guest, the other two don't know who that guest is, and then we chat. Here we go. Smart. Less.
0:30Smart. Less.
0:37Smart. Less. Jason, you missed this last time. Look what I got. That's a Baby Yoda? It's a Baby Yoda, and there's a message on here. Is that from the Mandalorian show? Yeah, Mandalorian. This is from my friend Michael Cohen in the Cohen family. Not that Michael Cohen. But look, and he recorded this. Welcome to SmartList, the best podcast in the world. With my dear friend Sean Hayes, Jason Bateman, and William Arnett. He went William. I like that he went William. Yeah, and Baby Yoda said that. So he's the voice of Baby Yoda? Yeah. Could you not tell him? He sounds Latin. I didn't know Baby Yoda.
1:11Actually, he is. Baby Yoda is Latin, huh? I got to watch that show. I'm developing a new show. It's Baby Yoda Nanny. And it's a nanny who works, who looks after. No, it's just the doll that you leave with your kids and tell them they're watching them. Yeah. It should be noted, Jason's haircut. Have you commented on it? Yeah, it looks good, finally. It looks good, right? Well, this is, guys, listen. This is just rolled right out of bed. It's such a thick head of hair. I know. It's so thick. But it's a very boyish look he's got going right now, isn't it? Yeah. It looks stupid. Very boyish. I know.
1:43I'm trying to get respect as an adult. But that's why sometimes I try to grow up my facial hair. But that takes... Do you push? It costs me a year, actually, to grow that. Because you're just saying to the world, hey, I'm a man. Yeah, I'm a man. Deal with it. All right. So speaking of men. Sure. We have a man today. Uh-huh. This is a funny man, a family man. And for the next hour, he's a smartless man. Ladies and gentlemen, Adam Sandler. Adam Sandler. The one and only. I love it. I'm sorry about this. Wow, look at that. That's a man. Look at the beard. It's gross. It's gross. Good to see you all, too.
2:22You're moving dime bags or something with a beard like that. Wow. It started off early in the pandemic, and I just kept going because I gained a lot. So I was covering the neck. You gained a lot of weight? Of knowledge, of knowledge. Yeah. Yeah, a lot of weight. But wait, I just read a report yesterday that said belly fat is now officially medically proven to lessen your life if you have a lot of belly fat, no matter how much other fat you have. Let's see it, Sean. Let's see it, Sean. And scream, you guys don't like cookies? Once a week, he brings it up. There it is, the bagel. I don't know who ate the cookies.
3:00What'd you call it, the bagel? The bagel, yeah. Squeeze the belly button together, make a circle. And, Adam, sometimes I say to my husband, I'll switch, I'll pucker this up. I'll go, fuck that belly. Fuck that belly. That makes sense. It looks good. All right. So, Adam. Yeah. Do you have a plan aside from pushing like a bench press or something like that? What's your plan? Is it going to be diet? Is it going to be exercise? Well, this is what I'm doing, and I just kind of started this. so at the beginning of the pandemic my buddy was doing the eight hours a day you eat thing the intermittent fasting yeah i do that too so so i was doing that during a pandemic but i was starting eating at like five in the afternoon so i was going deep into the night and and then i'd wake up kind of thick so then uh then i got some bad information i thought he i said to him anytime And he said, yeah, you picked the hour.
3:55So I did it. He responded while chewing, I think. He looks great. But I, so anyways, I started again. I just, I'm trying to calm down and I'm doing one in the afternoon to around seven, seven 30, I quit. And then you're, then you're done chewing until the next morning or afternoon. I, until the next one o 'clock rolls around. Oh buddy. That's so good. That's a good one. but I eat a lot during the six and a half hours. It doesn't work for me. It doesn't work for my body. It doesn't work for me. I tried doing that. I was on a strictly ice cream diet, but. Yeah. You got to try it longer than a couple of days, Will, you know.
4:35What do you do, Will? You look good. Well, thank you. Like I said, I've been doing the walk and I've been working out and I've got this real kind of what I refer to as my jailhouse gym in my garage now. Jason's seen it. It's a disaster. But there's weights and like homemade stuff you did? Oh, there's weights, and then there's, like, baby carriages and stuff. There's just crap everywhere. It really looks like a— I have a question, Adam. How long have you been flying a spacecraft? Does that look like that? It looks like a control center. This is in my house, fellas. I just got to Philadelphia. Oh, wow.
5:05Wait, what are those? Why do you have—he's got some Nikes in a plastic box. Those are LeBron James shoes. The man who owns this house knows LeBron-ite. Do you know the man in the house? I know. I haven't met him yet. He's pandemic, so you rent it. He leaves. Oh, you're renting, I see. Wow. I don't know. I just got here two days ago. But he's left those shoes there for people to admire that are renters? I think he was just letting me know that I'm not the only... Shoe guy. Famous person that he knows. Yeah, exactly. Wait a second. Wait a second. Adam, I have to ask you this because I've never brought it up.
5:38I've only met you a handful of times over the years. We don't know each other that well. I have a tremendous amount of respect for you, and I think that you're awesome and hilarious. Same thing. and I sounds like something really insulting is about to happen no no no one of the funniest things I've ever witnessed and I've quoted this a thousand times maybe more is years ago you were on Letterman yeah and he said to you tell me if you remember this he said to you you came on Letterman and you said you know Dave he said how you doing he said you know I'm doing okay but last year I said something and you said to me what are you an idiot and you really burned me.
6:17And I was thinking about it all year. Just, I wish I'd had a better comeback. So I've been thinking, I finally have a good comeback. And he said, okay. And he said, so ask me again. So Letterman says to you, what are you, an idiot? And he said, no, are you? Do you remember that? I kind of do, yeah. Yeah. It was one of my favorite. I just thought it was such a, it really got me. I'm not kidding. I've repeated it 1 ,500 times. That's amazing. I used to get so nervous on Letterman. You guys all did Letterman? Blackout. Yeah, blackout nerves. That was the one guy that got you nervous. Yeah, I get blackout.
6:51Yeah, for sure. Every talk show. Letterman just from growing up in high school and thinking he was the best of them all. Yeah, for sure. So witty. I used to be on the side of that stage and Biff would like, oh, okay, okay, it's coming. And I'd start going, holy shit. Like my whole head would spin and I'd feel like I was going to faint the whole time walking out. And then you'd see Dave in person. You're like, oh, my God, there he is. It was so. overwhelming. Yeah. Does that exist for you at all anymore? I mean, you put yourself in the wings right now about to go on for a talk show like tomorrow.
7:22Yeah. Do you like you can't shake that. You know, it's always going to be a part of you. Right. You have you just learned how to manage it? Not that great. I my whole career from starting, I did stand up when I was 17 and stuff. And I had that same weird thing where I wish I never took the gig right before I started panicking and spinning. I forget all my lines. Uh, I notice everyone else was like laughing and having a good time. I'm like, Oh my God, everyone else is ready. And, and then, uh, then rare occasions I'll go to myself in the daytime. I'll go, don't do that. Don't, don't do that thing where you panic.
7:58Just, just overcome that now get over that. And then don't you question yourself? Like why, why? Cause I, I go through the exact same thing and I'm like, why are we, why do i why did i choose this yeah we all wonder we're always like why did you choose this believe me it comes up a lot that's a good one yeah stick around will's got like three of them but but but it's a good point like adam i think what's cool is you actually kind of sometimes you use your nerves you can see it even in an instance like that you use it to your advantage and it makes you very um accessible because you're not trying to put on you're not a different character as you You are who you are.
8:35You're very authentic in that way, which is great. Like, yeah, you're fucking nervous because you're on Letterman. You should be. I'm nervous. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you weren't nervous for this bullshit today. I was nervous. Sure I was. I mean, I liked it, though. I listened to the episodes. They're all great. Come on. It's excellent. And, oh, I was psyched to be here. And I don't know. I'm the same way as you guys. I'm the same way of every move you make, you go, didn't I already prove myself? Why the hell am I trying to prove myself? What the fuck am I here? Here we go again. Yeah, exactly. The only thing that can happen is it can go bad.
9:09You know, but that quality that Will's talking about that you have, that's so personable and it's so kind and so authentic and so honest and so human. Has it always been like that? Or do you think that it's gotten even better now that you are incredibly successful and some of the ease has come into your life because you basically won? have you gotten even nicer or, you know, like some people I'm sure you've worked with as I have, people actually get mean and entitled when they get successful. You've actually seemed to have gone the other way. Yeah. You guys all seem the same also. It's like I had a, I think when I was young, I didn't know what I was doing as a comedian.
9:50I didn't know what I was doing as an actor. I was a little, uh, all over the place. I think I was a little more aggressive back then because I guess I wanted this so bad. You know, I wanted to work or I wanted whatever the hell I wanted. And I probably was mad at myself for not being great. I was a little more aggressive in my early 20s. And then I started going, by the time I was like 28, 30, I started calming down and being able to just relax a little more. But it took a while. Like Colin, you guys know Colin Quinn, right? Yeah. Comedian. Hilarious. I think he's one of the greatest comedians.
10:26And he kind of, when I went to NYU, used to emcee the shows and he would talk to me after my shows. I think the reason they used to hire me is I used to bring a crowd. So even though I wasn't that good, there was this place called the Paper Moon and I used to bring a crowd. So they used to, from NYU. And Colin used to say, it's so much funnier hanging out when we're talking in the daytime. You're doing something weird up to you. You're not really being yourself. and I used to try to go, okay, I got to be more myself. And then I would just panic right away and start doing something else. I just didn't, I guess I wasn't comfortable with being myself.
11:05And then it took a while to get to sit in it and just be okay with not getting a laugh but plowing through and that kind of stuff. Did you go to NYU for drama or for acting or? Yeah, yeah, I went to Strasburg. Same. Yeah. Okay, so I have a godson who's also going to New York right now to Tisch and he not only has to go through drama classes and comedy and all that stuff, but he has to go through musical theater classes. And so when I saw you do Opera Man for the first time, which is one of the funniest characters I've ever seen, I was like, holy shit, Adam Sandler can really sing. And then you would bring out the guitar and sing.
11:40It's always hilarious. So please tell me you did musical theater in college because in my mind, that would be one of the funniest things in the world. Man, I auditioned for everything at NYU. I didn't get anything. You didn't? Oh, I want to see you do Technicolor Dreamcoat. Or something. I did as a kid, though. I was in Oliver. I was in Oliver. I did. I played. They named a guy. I didn't really. It wasn't really. I had two lines. And they said, I think Charlie Bates. They said, you're Charlie Bates. And I was like, yeah, I'm Charlie Bates. I kind of wanted to be the Dodger, right? And they were like, well, you're not him.
12:14You're Charlie Bates. Oh, God, you'd be a great Dodger. I thought so, too. You got a picket pocket or two, right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How about Smitty on The Cosby Show? Was that your first? That's not your first role. My first thing I ever did was Showtime at the Apollo. I did stand-up. I did five minutes, yeah, and I wasn't that great. But I got... Tell me, like, the first joke you ever told her. And if you'd like, I could tell you mine. Okay, well, the one that worked for me back then was... It was something I heard my father say to my mother. and I used it, I pretended it happened to me.
12:54I said I was driving up here in a cab and the driver killed the dog on the way. I said he didn't hit the dog with the car. He got out and stabbed it. That was my big, that was my guaranteed laugh. And that happened because my mother, my mother was, they were in the car and my mother goes, the man, my father said, this guy killed the dog driving the other day. My mother goes, what happened? He hit it? And he goes, no, he stabbed you. and so I went oh god that's a pretty good one what's yours Sean oh I was terrible I was nowhere near as talented or funny as you are I was horrible these guys know the one that I won't repeat but the other one was um and it's long so you can't it's like it's like 20 seconds long okay so which is long for a joke so I would go you know uh they say on Mars the atmosphere is like 95 carbon dioxide and 5 oxygen so I imagine one day when we live there we'll breathe something like this and they didn't laugh at that they know that i left crying i left crying that's solid did you hold your finger up when you did it i like that too that's a good one adam what about this uh uh discovered by comedian dennis miller thing did that happen at the apollo i can't imagine?
14:15You know what? It was. So I did stand up when I went to NYU and then Dennis didn't really discover me. He just told Lorne Michaels about me. He said, there's a young kid who's funny. But when I was young, I went to school with Anthony Quinn's son, Lorenzo. He was in my acting class and he told Bill Cosby about me. And I got an introduction to the casting agent over there, whose name was Barry Moss. Do you guys remember Barry Moss? I feel like I do. He used to cast a lot of stuff back in the day. Right? So he got me an audition, and I played Smitty on four episodes while I was going to NYU. That was my first job.
14:57And that was big, probably. I mean, Cosmichow was enormous. It was the biggest show on the planet. It was incredible. And that's where I developed the whole spinning thing right before going on. I was spinning like, oh, my God, I got six lines. I'm going to choke so badly. And I don't know. I became friends with Malcolm, though. He used to calm me down. He'd be like, you got this, man. Yeah, he's such a good guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. So then how long after that did SNL happen? How old were you when that happened? SNL happened when I was 23. I moved out to, I graduated NYU, and then I moved to L.A., and I was living out in Van Nuys.
15:39Beautiful. Gorgeous. Yeah, yes. Yes. Right on the water. Beautiful. And I lived with four guys from from NYU also. And then somehow I got Saturday Night Live and moved back. Well, did you go and audition in L.A.? Did Lauren come out? Chicago. Chicago. When I auditioned, it was me and Chris Rock and Dana Gould and a couple other guys. At Second City or? At the Chicago Improv. Oh, at Chicago Improv. Okay. Yeah. And I remember Lorne was there and Smigel, Robert Smigel was there. And Marcy Klein and a couple of others. And Chris Rock got it immediately after the show. And me and Rock know each other since we're like 17 also.
16:26And so I saw Lorne run over to Rock and I was like, oh man, okay, he's got it. I'm out. and uh and then i i was flying home and no one talked to me and i was flying home and remember on the planes you used to put a credit card in it was like 25 bucks a minute and stuff yeah right so i i was scared to use that because i i knew my father would kill me for wasting money but i was just flying and flying and i was like uh i gotta call my agent man so i put the credit card in and And he called and I said, did they say anything? They liked you. They thought some of your writing was good. I said, oh, okay.
17:05And what's that mean? They were like, well, they maybe want you as a writer. And I said, what do you mean? I think I was like insane. And I was like, I want to be a, but I want to be a star. And they were like. I love the guy next to you on the plane probably. It's just like, oh boy. Yeah, this guy wants to be a star. Because you can't talk quietly on a plane. But I want to be a star. get in line buddy get in line we all knew yeah man i don't know so eventually i got got hired as a writer a writer for what like a year and then and then on camera yeah i did it was thing uh called writer feature player and and and me and spade and schneider had that and uh and you would do the i'm sure you you guys all know this stuff but you would write write for everyone else and then give yourself a line like as a delivery guy and try to get on and score and you know and you'd score after 10 shows they started going all right that guy's okay let's let's give him a couple lines right gotcha used to see that a lot with jb's move he would always write himself into sketches oh yeah always see jb on there and you'd be like oh yeah but how cool you you go for your your audition and it's there with Lauren and Marcy, of course, and Smigel.
18:22And you couldn't have known, of course, that that would become this like lifelong partnership. Yeah. I mean, how incredible, how wild, right. When you look back at that moment. Yeah, sure, man. I mean, Smigel was, in fact, I heard later that Smigel was kind of in my court that he was going, that one kid was funny. He, I think we need that on the show, somebody young and they were like, well, we already have David and Rob. We don't need any more of that. You know? And so, Smigel and Jim Downey, I heard, would stand up for me a little bit. And Lorne liked me. He thought I was good. He just didn't know what to do with me.
18:57I was, I wasn't easy to digest. I was mumbling up there and I was a nervous wreck and I'm hostile. Like, I used to be, when somebody heckled me, I used to, like, yell at them and not say anything funny. No one is funny or getting pissed off than you. Oh, well, I, I, I, I turned it into something good. But in the beginning, I used to just be psychotic and get like challenge people to something like curse at him. And see the way he just dropped his face right then. It just got like deadly fucking serious. I love like there's just there's no middle with you. Like he's either super sweet and like I can't get out of my way and then just drop the gloves and I'm going to fucking kill you.
19:38Yeah. I love those swings. I don't even know how that happened. I just because I don't want to fight anybody. buddy. I'd get, I'd probably get killed, but I was always ready to go. Have you been in a lot of fights as a kid or? When I was a kid, when I was a kid, now I would literally just run so fast. Anytime I feel it coming, I start, my heart's pounding through my chest and I'm like, oh shit, I got to get out of here. But back then, back as a kid, yeah, I'm sure you guys did the same. It doesn't hurt as much to get hit when you're little. I like the idea that Lauren's going like, hmm, I guess we could use a nervous mumbler.
20:17Now, what about, is it true that they fired you and Farley in 95? Or is that overstated? No, I mean, what happened was, it was kind of the end of it. People were, we were repeating ourselves, I'm sure. There was a new guy running NBC. He didn't, he didn't like the young guys that much. He didn't like us. I think he didn't like Norm McDonald. And he kept saying, we got to get rid of them that nobody likes them. And Lauren was standing up for us saying, trying to defend us and kept us on a while. And then I got a call from my manager, you know, everyone at Brillstein grade kind of represented every guy on the show and woman on the show.
21:00So So I got, hey, maybe it's time to move on to me kind of call. And I was like, I don't know, man. I think maybe I'll do another year or something. They were like, yeah, but maybe you should move on. I was like, nah, I want to stay. I think I'll stay. And they kept going, I think it's time to move on. I was like, do I have to move on? They were like, it's good if you move on. I was like, okay, okay, now I got you. All right, I'm moving on. So it was kind of like a fake quit, fake try to get up, beat them to fire at me. That was like me at every high school I went to. I swear to God. Really? You get kicked out?
21:34I'm like, no, I didn't get kicked out. We just, they just asked me not to return. What did you do to get in trouble growing up? I did all the stupid stuff. I was, you know, smoking cigarettes in the, I grew up in Canada, so there were a lot of woods to escape to. Yeah, yeah. So I was always out there, like, you know, drinking airplane bottles and smoking butts and all this stuff. I was just, but also I was a wise ass. I was like, I said to my dad actually once, I was such a wise ass. And of course, the worse the infraction or the bigger the joke that you can make, and especially at the teacher's expense, the bigger the laugh you'd get from the audience, or as I'd call my classmates.
22:11And so I would fuck around and they'd get really mad. And years later, I remember my dad was out here and I just built this house and it was like everything. And my dad was like, wow, this house is beautiful. when I said, yeah, who knew that fucking around could pay off, huh? And he finally had to admit, like, man, you're kind of right. Because I was a pain in the ass. You know what I mean? Like, my poor dad. Ah, sure, sure, man. You figure out how to channel it. Yeah. All right, so then were things sort of set up in a way where transitioning out of that show and into other possible sources of employment were kind of set up?
22:49Like, were you feeling confident? Yeah, yeah. Did you go right into, was it Happy Gilmore? was first out of there? I think I did Billy Madison when I was on the show. By the way, when I got fired, I was confident until I got fired. And then I was like, oh no. Yeah, that's the way that works. Right, I kept, while I was there going, these guys don't get it when I got, man. They don't understand. And then right when they were like, yeah, go do it on your own, then I was like, holy shit. First of all, you're humiliated that people don't want you. And you got to tell people like, yeah, I'm not on the show and they're looking you in the eyes going, you got fired?
23:25And you're like, no, you know, you're making up shit. But it's like doing what we do, you're effectively getting fired at the end of every single job. You have to go find another job. And if you're having a really good year as an actor, you get fired like six or seven times, you know, like you've got six or seven and you have, like, there's no guarantee. There's no diploma that you can kind of, it's job interview after job interview. And it's it's I remember buying the attitude that I realized I should have been renting when, you know, things kind of dried up and I was really confident until they just didn't want me anymore.
23:58And it's like, well, now you got to build up a whole ego and and and and coping mechanism to get yourself confident. That's not reliant on employment. That's really hard to do. Oh, God. Yes. Sitting on the bench and being shook up. I'll tell you, no kidding. I loved you when I was a kid. I thought you were incredible. I swear to God. I thought you were cool as shit. You guys too? Yeah. Huge fan. I wanted to look like you. I wanted to fucking be like cool and calm and funny like that. And I always thought you were awesome. I'm not lying to you. And I loved your sister too. Thank you. Do you remember Jason's show?
24:34He had that show, It's Your Move. Did you ever see that? It was like a spinoff of Silver Spoons. I think so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think so. But I think I knew more as Valerie. The Hogan Family was after that. Or Valerie. Yeah, yeah. When Jason got his star on the Walk of Fame out here in Hollywood, because he's a big Hollywood guy. So when he was in Hollywood, because he's a liberal elite. And so anyway, so I get up and he asked me to say a couple words. And I said, you know, when I was growing up, I remember watching Family Ties and seeing Justine Bateman and thinking, man, I wonder if she's got a brother.
25:13That's a good one, man. But I loved him. We felt the same way. This comes up all the time. We used to always look at Jason and be like, oh, man, that guy's... Because he was a smartass. He was confident. He had great hair. Oh, man. Exactly. Oh, I was so confident. I thought I was such hot shit. And then the phone stopped ringing. I did not know what to do. My 20s was a whole regroup. I just had to build it back up from zero. Jason and I had lunch like decades ago at the Chateau Marmont, which houses the liberal elite. That's right. And Jason said to me, I don't know if you remember this, Jason.
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25:45You said to me, we were just talking about careers and whatever, the ups and downs. And you said, none of it is up to you. None of this is up to you. Yeah. Yeah. To try and control things that are out of your control. It's not a meritocracy. You know, like in sports, like if you're a 300 hitter, you're guaranteed employment. That's true. In acting or any form of, pardon the term, art, it's so subjective. you can't you can't rely on well i'm the best at singing or the best at painting or it doesn't matter the best in whose eye you know and then so adam so kind of taking that like one of the things that i think is really awesome about what you've you've done you've had incredible success but is is you know i i've tried to especially in the last couple years i don't want my work to define who i am as a person or how happy i am it's about family i know you're a really big family guy.
26:37You've got a lot of really close friends. And even in your work, you do stuff that you want to do and you do stuff because you know it's going to take time. And then you know that it's, you know, it cuts into school and all that kind of stuff. And it feels like you gear everything towards making it fit your life and making sure that you're happy and your happiness. You're truly not a Hollywood guy. I can say that. And you don't define yourself by it, right? I kind of, you know, I lucked into having the career of getting the right stuff and get to do it. And not everybody has that luxury. I'm sure more people would do what I'm doing if they could just, you know, just say to the head of a company, hey, let me do it in October.
27:21Because, you know, I got a lot of luck on my side. But you earned that position. You really have. I got that after a while. After a while. Yeah, let me really quick ask you something about that. And then back to what Will was saying. because when you were younger and you broke into film for the first time, and how much of that success was like, you know, agent business driven, and you were just along for the ride, and how much of it was self-generated and kind of ambitiously coming directly from you? I was ambitious in a weird way. I always kind of got in the beginning, hey, yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe next time they would hire somebody else when I would do auditions and stuff.
27:57I remember auditioning for a few movies as a kid when I was like 21, 22. And they would always pick somebody else. And I was like, God damn, these guys don't get it, man. And I was such an asshole, you know. And whoever they picked, I would be like, oh, yeah, okay, man. Like I was hostile. Yeah, what a mistake. And then I wrote Billy Madison with Tim Herlihy when we were on Saturday Night Live. And I gave it to Lauren. And Lauren was already doing Tommy Boy with Chris. And so... A funny movie. Oh, yeah. That's awesome. And he was... It was the first time me and Chris had an either or kind of thing.
28:45And Lauren said, we're doing Tommy Boy. We can't do Billy Madison. Actually, Tommy Boy used to be called Billy the Third. it was two Billy movies yeah they were like two the two Billy movies and we would look at each other like who's the guy to pick and they and they picked um you know Tommy Boy and and I was going oh man oh man I guess that's done we'll write another one Hurley and then like I was in this movie called Airheads and the producer of that one called me like five months later he's like I read this script you and Hurley wrote called uh Billy Madison do you want to do that And I said, yeah, yeah, yeah.
29:23Why? What do you mean? He's like, I could get that done for you for like six million dollar budget. I was like, I was like, I get six million dollars. He goes, no, not you. I don't know what any of that shit meant. But but he got it. fucking, he did Problem Child at Universal, which was a low budget movie and made a lot of money. So they said, get some more of those kinds of things. So somehow Bob Simon's got this movie. I asked Lauren, I said, no, that movie you said you didn't want to do. Is it okay if I do it with this other guy? He's like, do anything you want. So I did Billy Madison. And then that kind of got me going.
30:03I mean, I remember when I first did that, everything that they talked to me about doing after that was doing my goofy voice and being very, you know, the same Billy Madison again. And then I had that Happy Gilmore thing that me and Herlihy wrote and they were trying to talk me out of that. They were saying there was a movie called Ed with the monkey, you know, No, no, that's Ed TV. It's the one with Matt LeBlanc. And they won with the monkey. And they were like, do that. That's more like Billy Madison. I said, I think, let me do, I'll do that one after I do the golf one. Is that okay? And they were like, no.
30:43And so I had to make a stand and say, no, no, no. We got to do this Happy Gilmore movie. And by the way, two of the funniest movies ever. No kidding. Hugely successful. Fuck. thanks i mean they're good i'm psyched that that's in my they go down in history as with all the other great comedy movies i mean it's kind of cool but then the success was so one after the other after the other it was there was was there a strategic uh consideration when punch drunk love came about was or was that more of a react did did paul thomas anderson come to you and only in hindsight do you see it as a great strategic sort of balancing thing offsetting the goofiness or did you think ahead and kind of seek out something that might counterbalance all that?
31:31That was all luck. I mean, in my head, Will, you did Strasburg, right? So I thought I was good at acting. I was like, wow, I'm going to surprise somebody someday and really act. But it wasn't on my mind. I kind of liked Eddie Murphy and I wanted that kind of career and I just wanted to be a comedian and then um I was doing uh uh I think Little Nicky or something like that or yeah something like that and um and Paul was friends with Tom Cruise they did Magnolia together and I met Tom Cruise when Nicole Kidman hosted SNL you know how you get to meet everybody because SNL so I met Cruise and I my god I and Cruise had a Yankee hat on like dipped down low and he looked up and he goes hey man I was like in love with him like oh my god I'm in love with Tom Cruise that makes two of us of course anyways uh Tom called me up I'm on my set he goes hey my friend uh with I'm doing a movie with my friend Paul he's a great director and he's interested in doing a movie with you can I put him on the phone wow and I said yeah yeah sure man and he gets on and Paul was very nice and he was going, hey, I loved Billy Madison.
32:50And I go, okay, man, thanks. I didn't know who he was. And he's like, and I just love your movies and your albums. And I was like, okay, cool, man. Okay, creep. Yeah. I didn't know what he was talking about. He's like, he goes, is it okay if I write you a movie? I said, you can do whatever you want, man. That's great. Just stay away from my house. But he was sweet. I can tell he was funny. but that's like picasso saying is it okay if i paint you a painting i know right i know it was the luckiest thing and then and honest to god uh fellas i i was it was like 11 o 'clock in the morning and i had nothing to do and magnolia just came out and i said i think that's that kid's movie wow paul i'm gonna go see that and i went alone and i was in the front row it was sold out with all real film kind of people.
33:41And I was looking up at it and I was going, I was fucking terrified. I was like, oh, this guy's fucking better than me, man. I don't want to fucking be in this. I'm going to ruin his movie, whatever the fuck. You know, I was like, holy shit. And I called him up and on the way home, and I was like, holy shit, I just saw your movie. He's like, yeah, yeah. I was like, fucking the frogs and the, holy shit. I was so excited about everybody. and I was like oh fuck man so you're writing that movie man he goes yeah yeah I'm almost done I'm gonna get it over to you I was like well when the fuck is that coming you know I started getting very excited and then he he did it so cool man I lived in this this I rented a house on the top of Bel Air Road with my buddies and he came up and he knocked on the door and he's like I got the script and I said here's my present to you and I go okay he goes go ahead and read it and tell me what you think and I go you gonna stay here he goes no I'm gonna go for a drive or something like that and I just sat in the other room and I read it and I was like oh my god man I don't know if I can fucking do this no way and so he comes back after his drive and you got a bunch of notes right a couple things Paul it's all marked up it's all move this way that's true no i was fucking uh scared like like yeah you know when you get something and you just go oh she's man i always said i can do this ship and this is too much man and he talked me through it and got me uh comfortable he's incredible though i mean he's yeah his taste is just unreal i mean i love that he's a huge comedy nerd too apparently oh man yeah and that he can see the amount of acting it takes for you to pull off believably what you do um is uh you know right in line with his with his taste and his abilities and i just i'm such a big fan of his and then the safty brothers um you know i mean uncut gems is just absolutely stunning i don't mean they had fun at talking benny and you talking at aniston's was a great night oh i just i'm crazy about uh those guys as well and i love the two of my favorite filmmakers well that would be three puts you as a lead in their films.
35:57And I hope that you take as much pride in that as you deserve. That was an incredible performance, man. It really was. It was so nuanced and deep. You guys, you know, honestly, you could do it. You guys could do it too. I know you're all great. All three of you guys are great actors and funny as shit. Who's better? Yeah. Is there one that's better? You're number one, Sean. They know that. They know that. We're fighting for the silver over here. Yeah, you don't need to. You're both solid. But Sean's number one. So I would imagine that you love the creative process of doing a drama and also the process of doing a comedy.
36:40I'm not going to ask you which is your favorite, but what would be your ideal ratio between comedy and drama and kind of like fun films with your friends versus kind of working for a director? I'm starting to get a lot of uh serious kind of offers and and and I love reading that stuff and I but it is more of a decision in my brain I'm like shit once I say yes to that then I'm it's fucking it's a whole other thing in your trailer and you're fucking rocked and you got to think into shit that makes you uncomfortable and right slightly humiliating out there in front of people doing some of the shit they want you to do.
37:16Right, right. And so it's a decision, but I like it. I want to do that stuff. But I also love doing the comedy shit and the fact that, you know, I just did probably the goofiest movie I've done in a long time that, you know, shit I would have done when I was 23. But I'm still happy doing it. Hubie, Hubie Halloween. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What is it? What is it? I don't know anything about it. It's on Netflix, right? It's coming out on Netflix. and it's a Halloween movie and it's all comedians and all it's like, uh, and our kids will love it. Yeah. And my indicates I do that because I get excited for kids to laugh and stuff like that.
37:56And shit, I've been doing my whole career and I still love that stuff. But being able to do both, I mean, good God that you can make, you know, an eight year old laugh and you can make, you know, a 70 year old cry. I mean, it's like, come on, like not a lot of people can do that at all. Thank you. I'm lucky. Yeah. Yeah. Adam, you said, I read somewhere a long time ago, you said, I'll do this for as long as they let me. Yeah, sure. I love that. And they keep letting you because you're incredible and talented and likable and winning. And is there a time when you actually tell them that you're done?
38:30Are you still having the time of your life? Like what else? Because you work more than anybody. Like you never stop working. I don't know when I'm going to stop. I look at like, you know, I know Dustin and I know Nicholson and Pacino and those guys and those guys, they're addicted to work, too. I mean, I had lunch with Pacino and he still gets excited about shit. And he's just like, I read this amazing script and he still wants to kick ass. And I kind of think I could stop. And then when I'm starting like this pandemic, man, with not working, holy shit, was I losing my mind. And fucking every day becomes the same jumpy shit.
39:15And my fucking family certainly wanted me to work. They were like, Jesus Christ, he's fucking insane. Get him out of here. I heard you were out on the golf course a little bit. Yeah, we heard from a friend that - Oh, I hit into your buddy? Yeah. Who's your buddy that I almost hit, by the way? Tom Warner. Tell Tommy I'm sorry. Okay. Are you a big golfer? because I'm finding that that is keeping me off the streets a little bit during this pandemic. You've been playing a lot? Yeah. Well, you know, I met you a long time ago, like 20 years ago, and you were friends with Brill. Yeah. I think back then, and I was at a party, and I saw some thing that they interviewed you on like a show, and you had a, you golfed on it.
39:58And I saw you at the thing. I said, dude, I just saw you. You got a great swing. And you kind of like, okay, okay. And that was it. But I remember going, oh, that fucking guy knows how to golf. He's got a great swing. He does have a great swing. I didn't have a career at that point. He's got a great swing. We've both taken it up in the last couple weeks. We've been a little irritating to our significant others. Yeah, it's a long day, golf day, right? Are you addicted to it or is it just something that you just kind of slap around? No, tell your buddy what happened was I'm a member of Riviera and I fucking live right down the street.
40:31so so i um i haven't golfed since i've had kids i don't golf that much just like you're saying will because of the whole five hours away and the the stare you get when you get home of like are you fucking kidding while they're in school we gotta pass while they're in school right that's right that's supposed to be it but i get i still get nervous leaving the house and coming back to a fucking uh whole other mood so uh i i know what you guys are talking about because when I make banana bread, I'm like, do I pull it out at the right, like, when is the, do I leave it in another five minutes? Do I not?
41:07It's crazy. It's just like it. Well, listen, I know you must feel guilty about paying all those dues over there at Riviera and not using the course, so Will and I want to help you out. Yeah, I'm going to help you. Just kind of getting a little bit more active out there, so you just let us know. You guys are playing real well, like in the 80s or 70s? No. He is, I'm playing like shit, but Jason's game is getting together, but what we've been doing is we've been calling guys that we know who we know belong places because we don't and we go that's where you come in hey you playing these days and then they go yeah and we go well jason we're available on wednesday willing to keep you company yeah adam i'm always like i i always ask funny parents this like will and jason are two of the funniest people i know they always make me laugh so hard and we've always talked about do their kids find them funny do your kids and you're obviously fucking hilarious your kids find you funny or not at all or like do they get your sense of comedy do they watch your funny movies you know yeah yeah yeah i mean i i'm pretty good at home they i'm happy when i make them laugh because when i'm asking them to practice something or that kind of guy they like they don't like him but they like to funny me they get they i do pretty good oh good i make them comfortable and then I definitely try to be funny a lot and try to get laughs I don't always always score like I try to take them out of their moves I think growing up that that was my move too when I felt my father about to fucking go nuts on me of course I said a few jokes to lighten him up I think I do that with the kids too when I seem upset about something I go to the jokes do you guys do that 100 % Adam who's the disciplinarian then if you if you make them laugh everyone's I mean is Jackie the one that's laying down the law or do you do both?
42:48I heard you guys talking about this. You're lighter than Amanda, right? I'm lighter, but I would imagine you might be similar to me where you're the class clown, you're the joker, but then you can swing all the way to the other side and really get serious if you need to. And there's really nothing in between. Oh, yeah, I think I get really fucking nuts where they just scared eyes at me when I'm like, no, you have to know this. right when I start raising my voice that Jackie would not do like Amanda would not do that she covers the whole middle ground and I'm like the bookends Jackie cuts me off in the middle of that too and starts going she takes a weapon out of your hand right you gotta yeah she's like they can't understand the weapon I guess is my fucking loud right you know semi-angry tone all of a sudden she's just like stop stop you can't they don't understand when you're doing that they're It's like, they have to know this, all right?
43:43Listen to how loud I am. Yeah, exactly. And then it goes away and then I'm a kiss-ass most of the time. I like keeping them fucking happy. I like when they're happy and laughing. But I put some pressure on them. Not about, I don't know if you guys have this, but everything I did, I would just go outside and practice and fucking basketball, baseball, even bike riding. I would just like be in my own fucking world, just driving in circles, trying to hop off a curb, trying to pop a wheelie, whatever. fuck that was. And I don't see my kids want to do that as much as me. So I'm like, there's nothing you want to get good at.
44:17Right. I do that, that shit. And they're just like, not just not what you want us to get good at. We want to get good at what we like, you know? All right. Well, in closure, I have one last question for you. What makes you happiest in all of these, all of these areas of your life? There's, it seems like there's so much harmony and everything's kind of cruising and there's so many things to bring you happiness i'll bet you'll say family or some garbage like that and by the way this is jason's looking at this is going to be informative he's looking for something to make him happy so he's looking for clues whatever kind of yeah i just can't find it yeah uh if you had to put usually where do you find yourself the most sort of just serene and this is a great day well fuck i would have to say when shit's going good but at home, everything is good.
45:05That's true. You know what I mean? When the kids and your wife or your partner are happy and there's nothing else to be concerned about, you're just fucking free to be who you were as a kid. You know, like that's when I feel like, shit, I'm making a movie. This is great. When I'm fucking making a movie and I get a call from home and something's off, I'm like, I'm fucking lost. Totally. I'm lost until that shit gets resolved, right? And you got to act good and the other actors are joking around and you're kind of like, what? Like you're beat behind. And you're looking at your phone because you're like, fuck, is this thing going to resolve itself?
45:39Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're fucking heartache. Heartache for no reason. And then all of a sudden. I doubled mine because I now have like an ex-wife. So I want to make sure that Amy's happy and also my partner. And I've got like way too many people I'm worried about are happy now. Sure, sure. So it sounds like a complaint. Listen, I'm a very lucky guy, but still. Yes, absolutely. No, we all are. But the ups and downs in my own brain, I never have a fucking 24-hour happy day. I don't see that ever coming my way. But I have – when I'm working, I'm pretty like, all right. How about you guys when you're working?
46:18Are you like, this is great? Are you kind of like – When the phone is off because you're working and you're on set and you're in that thing, that is a great space. When you're really in it. I remember for me, one of my happiest times was when, when Jason and I were first doing Arrested Development. And so people, you didn't text as much back then. It was cause everybody still had to flip phones. I remember I got a new flip phone and I was so psyched. And, uh, two way pager, two way pager thing. We had those, we had those. And I just remember like, you'd go to, you'd go to work, you leave your trailer or whatever your dresser and you go on the set and you're on there for like four hours and you're not contacting the outside world and you're in this thing working and you're in it, that is a happy memory for me.
47:02But if you know that there's something a little sideways back home, you still can't 100 % enjoy it. So staying a little bit ahead at home and making sure that that's all running smoothly and it will be smooth again tomorrow too because I'm not just, you know, I'm doing something proactive to keep it going forward and staying ahead of it. I've been trying to do lately. Yeah, my wife, when I know I go on Tuesday, I got a pretty, that big scene, blah, blah, blah. She'll go, oh, okay. And then she'll kind of block shit. She'll not bring shit up to me on a big day. Oh, that's nice. That's pretty nice.
47:41And then. Yeah, that's nice. Anyways. And then. Do you run lines with her? Yeah. Oh, my God. Do you run? All the time. And she's good at finding shit that I wasn't going to do in the scene and going like, well, don't you know what that line means? Oh, that's awesome. She does that for me. Yeah, same. Yeah, I do it all the time here. You do that with Scotty? Constantly. That's nice. Are you good at memorizing your lines, Adam? Not too good. How about you? Jason's the best in the biz. The best of all time. Will's really good at it, too. That's that fucking TV shit. That's that TV shit. Yeah. It's fucking unbelievable.
48:14I'm surprised that Saturday Night Live didn't kind of grind that in on you, or were you just looking at the cards the whole time? Both. They tell you to, right? I would do the panic thing like before Letterman. I remember I did this shit on Weekend Update where I did costumes, crazy, I'm crazy pickle arm and all this shit. And I had to do this thing where I was, I'm crazy under the desk guy. So I remember in my head I went, when you're crazy under the desk guy, there's no cue cards because you're going under the desk and you got to remember your shit. And I remember I fucking live, I went under my desk and it was like, my head's going, holy shit.
48:53There's no fucking cue cards. You're in trouble, man. And I think I remembered most of them and got it done. But no, I like knowing the cue cards were around. You were tight with Wally, right? Was Wally doing cue cards back then? Oh, yeah, yeah, of course. I know Wally. He just texted me out of the blue the other day. He's such a good guy. He's doing well. He's got fucking some other business he's doing right now. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I haven't heard from him in years. but Wally was the guy, the cue card guy. He's got an amusement park now. I think he just started an amusement park. Wally's work, right?
49:21Yeah, yeah, yeah. Old John Candy's working there. It's nice. Adam, you're incredibly generous to give us all this time. Thank you for saying yes to doing the show in the first place. Thank you for asking me, guys. We love you. Congrats on your show. It's a great thing you're doing it, getting to hang out all the time together, and you're great guys. We're pretty lucky. We're very appreciative. So looking forward to seeing you on the golf course tomorrow. We'll be there probably about 8.30, 9 o 'clock. Yeah, we'll wait. We're going to warm up first. I know you don't like to warm up, but we will warm up.
49:46Right, right on, man. All right, we love you. Say hi to your family. Love you, pal. You too. Thanks, buddy. Good to see you guys. Okay, bye, pal. All right, later, guys. He's fantastic. What a good, decent guy. It's so engaging. Like, I could listen to him talk for hours. And by the way, how he's talking about all that anxiety that he has, I'm like, yeah, I totally get that. I relate. Yeah, he stayed so human when he's had many opportunities probably not to. He's able to stay very loyal to his friends. He's also putting up a great product. He's got his family with him. He's just been so smart the way he's kind of put all these pieces that are available to him into a certain direction that I would imagine perpetuates so much happiness for him and so many people that are close to him and obviously his audience as well.
50:33He's a good human being. Yeah. Yeah. He's a well-rounded guy. He's got a sort of happy life. and for me anyway, I like looking at the people who are having a happy life because it's not defined by what they do, but it's defined by so many other things, starting with family. And what they do with the things that are available to them in their life, whether it be really expensive, nice things or not. What you do with what you've got, I think, is a good test. Thank you to Adam for joining us. That was a great one. I like that. He better take us golfing. He better take us golfing. And thank you, listener, for joining us for another hour of Smartless.
51:20Oh. Bye.
51:26Smart. Smart.
51:32Smart. Smart.
From the publisher
"The Sandman" a.k.a. the unstoppable legend Adam Sandler, drives a golf-ball right onto the SmartLess fairway and we all take a ride on the cart of life through blackout nerves, comfort-zones vs. ambition, the importance of family, and the nuances of the comedy brain. Fore!
This episode was originally released on 10/12/2020.
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