"Sharon Horgan"

10:01Will Arnett:It's Sharon Horgan. God, I just saw your face in the paper today. You did? Oh, yes. Oh, that's so funny. Do you know what I was doing? Do you know what that noise was, that click? Uh-oh. I was just sitting here, and I've got loads of shit on my desk, and I just picked up a thing, and I thought maybe it was hand sanitizer. There's eye drops. Eye drops. I haven't got my glasses. It is eye drops. It's eye drops, yeah.

10:23Sean Hayes:Oh. Oh, okay, yeah. And you just squirted some on your hands? I think it would be okay to put... As long as you don't put hand sanitizer in your eye. Yeah. Exactly.

10:31Will Arnett:Now, where is it? You said that's your office there? Yeah, well, it's my office, but it's also kind of... Slash. Slash dressing room. The winter wardrobe. Well, not really winter wardrobe. It's kind of... You can see there's a mirror there. Yeah. That's where I might try on clothes for a thing. Not my regular clothes, like if I have to get dressed up for a thing. It's a weird room. It's a weird life. It's a weird life. Sharon, do you have a mirror face? Huh? What's that mean? A mirror face? A mirror face? When you look in the mirror and you really want to see how you look, isn't there a face? Walk her through.

11:06Will Arnett:Give her the Richard Ehrlich.

11:07Sean Hayes:Give her, tell her.

11:08Will Arnett:So we have a friend who, to trigger his mirror face, he kind of semi-whispers, hisses, a line to himself. Which is, he pretends he just got directions from someone and he turns over his left shoulder and he says, it's where? Really? He didn't really hear it. So it kind of tightens up his eyes so it's where? It's like that. Yeah, now do it. Now try it. Say go. It's where? I don't think that would work for me. No, I mean unfortunately I pout in the mirror. I can't help it. You pout. Yeah.

11:47Sean Hayes:I think we all my 16 year old he accuses me of doing a certain face like in photos and stuff and now he does it to me which is really tough because if it was one of these guys I'd be like go fuck yourself but it's my 16 year old because I'll bet he nails it

11:59Will Arnett:let me see it it's kind of like yeah yeah it's the worst yeah yeah it's the worst Sharon welcome to the show welcome to Sharon I just have to say Will was like I don't think you know this person but I called you and you took the call yeah we chatted on the phone and you gave me wonderful advice for a project I felt I had paranoia about that for a while no no it was wonderful so thank you This is about pulling? No. That was not a bit? This is about pulling. This is about pulling. No. No, no. We don't have to talk about it. No, but it was great. Oh, good. I'm glad. I'm glad that worked out. But you know what?

12:35Speaking of a totally different topic, Bad Sisters, I still talk about Bad Sisters. It's one of the best shows I've ever seen in my whole life. It's a million. I mean, it was just incredible. And then there was a season two, which I still have not seen. Oh, you've got to see that. Yeah, that's... If you like the first one. I love the first one. Jesus, Sean.

12:52Sean Hayes:We're second one. Sorry. See the second stage. Sorry, sorry. What are you doing, dude? Sorry.

12:56Will Arnett:Sharon, it's been like nonstop, just great, great work and great reception for you and everything that you're doing since the last time I saw you. I mean, congratulations.

13:08Sean Hayes:You consistently, not just as a performer, but it's so admirable and the way, how much stuff you create, how much stuff you write for yourself. Yeah, it's really impressive. And I wonder, like, does that engine still, is it just as strong in you now as it was 10 years ago? Or does it feel more like a mountain to climb as you go on? No, I still really like creating new stuff because I think that, I mean, I loved Bad Sisters. And, you know, I kind of, it's hard to say goodbye to it in a way. But I also think when you're making something, you kind of get, you know, that show had a certain kind of feel to it.

13:55And so with that comes a certain kind of music that you choose for a soundtrack. And you kind of, you get into, you know, you kind of fall into a pattern. And then when you make something new, you get to start all over again. Yeah. Like from scratch, you get to just put your playlist together and start over. And it's really scary because when you come up with characters, you always think that's the last time you're going to come up with a good character. So it is scary, but it's really fun to start over, isn't it?

14:36Sean Hayes:Yeah, I will say that I think it occurs to me that the sort of the English model, which has always been, and we've sort of adopted it in this country now with, in this country, I think it was often people were known for a certain series. They do one, maybe two series in their life and the audience would accept them in this new role. But they knew them from the first thing that they were known for. You guys have always done in the UK, because of the way that the formatting is done, you didn't have a lot of shows that did nine, 12, 15 seasons. So people could go and do one or two seasons of a show, and then you could go and write a new show, and the audiences were totally willing to go, oh, she's doing this new show, and I'll see her doing that.

15:18I mean, you could do a couple of shows in a year. Yeah, in a year. We would be doing six episodes. Like, we would film a series in six weeks. I mean, it's a little bit different now because, you know, you're making shows that are, will air on Amazon at the same time as Channel 4, so you kind of have to make eight or ten, and you can't, you know, so it's a little bit different.

15:39Sean Hayes:Well, we all have the same distributors now, right? Yeah, yeah, exactly. But back in the day when we were just making stuff for, you know, a UK or an Irish audience, you know, you film it in six weeks and then you're kind of, yeah, you move on to the next thing. And also you would get like a couple of seasons or like with pulling, you know, that was like two seasons and a special and that's kind of it, you're done. And that's it. And also the budgets were sort of low enough that the risk, they allowed you to do stuff. I mean, I've done it before. You show up and you're like, where's craft service?

16:16Sean Hayes:And they're like, what'd you bring? There's nothing. Will and I did this show called The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret. Did anyone see?

16:24Will Arnett:No, but I remember it. I've seen a little piece of with David Cross, Spike Jones. It was so funny. But it had no budget. None. Craft Services was a box of biscuits and some tea bags. It was. That was it.

16:40Sean Hayes:Yeah. It was. And for us, that was completely normal. But for any Americans coming over, they were just aghast at not having constant food. A funny thing. Can I just say a funny thing? Because it just came into my head. When we were doing Game Night. Yeah. I love it. By the way, can I just say, I've seen Game Night three times minimum. I fucking love that film. It is so underappreciated to both of you guys. It is such a funny, good, complete movie. It is a really great, funny movie. I urge anybody, please see Game Night. It's so good. Sorry. When I was filming Game Night, I was writing this series for UK TV called Motherland.

17:23So when we were in the trailer, I was writing that series. and I'm my co-writer like when we would I don't think there was even I don't think we were Zooming I can't remember anyway I would be eating lobster there was lobster in craft services so I'd be eating lobster in my giant trailer while she's like you know sitting in her shithole in London so Sharon

17:51Will Arnett:with all the massive amount of work it takes to fill up a blank page and do what you do is just, it's so impressive, but it is an enormous amount of work, an enormous amount of concentration. And it just seems like you keep writing and writing. Yeah, what is your favorite part of it that fuels you through all of that tough, tough work and discipline? What is the thing that most excites you and drives you to do what you do? I think it's the writing bit for sure because although I do, I love an edit where you're putting it together and making it better. Like, we were just kind of incrementally kind of making something actually good.

18:33But the writing bit, I think.

18:35Will Arnett:But like, what part? Like, creating characters or coming up with stories? Just sitting in a room with funny people laughing, I think, is ridiculous joy. Yeah, do you ever do it? But do you ever, you write solo by yourself in a room, right? I write solo by myself as well, but like, even the things that I, oh, I don't know why I did that with my hair, sorry. even the stuff that I write mainly solo like now I love to have a writer's room and you know someone writes you know a few episodes are written by a couple of the writers in the room but that like I just came from one today and it was you know some of the people will end up writing a script but a lot of them are kind of there you know as consultants or you know just writing assistants Yeah, just coming up with ideas.

19:26Sean Hayes:Yeah, there's nothing better. There's nothing, some of the deepest laughs I've ever had have been in stuff that, by the way, bits and jokes that never made it into anything. Oh, never. But some of the hardest laughs are in those rooms, pitching a bit. And somebody comes up with a bit that catches you off guard, and you're like, holy shit, I've never heard something like that. And also, like, at that stage, the possibilities are endless. I mean, you can go anywhere, and no one's telling you that there isn't enough money. and no actor is turning it down. So wait, so you just walk around with like tons of ideas all the time, every day, every week?

20:02No, I wouldn't. No, I don't think so. I mean, I kind of, I have that slightly unfortunate thing of not always being in the moment because I'm thinking like that could be... Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not healthy, I don't think. No, I'm the same. No, I think for the most part, I don't walk around thinking like that. But I guess when I need to start thinking like that, like if I'm thinking, I don't know, I'm going to not do this series beyond, you know, this season, I kind of think, oh, I should be thinking of something else. But then I also kind of go back, like I go back and look for things that were germs of ideas and that have now become more relevant in your life because you're at a different stage in your life, you know.

20:50Yeah, right, right. You know, in your relationship or with your family or work or sometimes things just suddenly become relevant and you're like, oh, it's an idea.

21:00Will Arnett:How do you decide on what to take on? Will you primarily do what it is you think up or like what's the ratio as far as incoming calls with ideas like, hey, maybe think about maybe adapting this magazine article or this book or rewrite the script. For the most part, I don't do that. Although Bad Sisters, that was an incoming call. That was brought to me because it was a Belgian series. And, you know, would you like to adapt this? And so that was kind of sort of the first time I did that. But generally, it's, you know, like there's incoming calls with like IP to adapt and that kind of thing. But usually, you know, I do that within the company or, you know, like, you know, connect something with a writer that I admire or, you know, the things that I do myself often are things that I just kind of think I should probably have, I could either have some therapy or I could write this thing about my ex.

22:02Sean Hayes:But there must be a certain relief, like when you're knowing that, like when you're working on all these ideas and the sort of the various stages of development, we all know that sometimes that can be long, it can be arguable, you're trying to put it together, all those different elements. And then all of a sudden you get a call from Hollywood and, you know, big Hollywood superstar Jason Bateman's doing a movie that's a cakewalk with lobster. They're going to have lobster every day. And all you got to do is, sorry, do you mind taking a couple first-class flights to Atlanta? You know what I mean?

22:32Sean Hayes:And staying at the Four Seasons. Would you do that? I mean, that kind of feels like a vacation a little bit, doesn't it? Oh, my God. I love doing that. I mean, I really do. I think that's a total buzz to drop in and do something. Where have all those jobs gone?

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26:26And now back to the show.

26:29Will Arnett:Now, Sharon, talk to me about how you write something that you know you're going to play this character and you're writing that one, but you're also writing other characters. Yeah. And you have to oversee or drive or approve the casting of those characters. and inevitably they're going to perform those lines differently than how they have lived in your head as you wrote it. And the reason those lines work is because you're kind of performing them in your head as you're writing them. And then they come in and they read it in a different way and you might not be directing or something like that.

27:02Will Arnett:How do you manage that? Because when you're playing the character you wrote for you, you're doing it perfectly, right? I mean, you're like reading the mind of the author. But with these other characters, and it all sounds a little bit different, do you have to bite your tongue? Do you kind of whisper to the director or the showrunner? Or oftentimes you are those people. Is it tough? Yeah, I mean, yes, I think it is. But I think I've learned how to be better at it. Because I used to, it used to be a problem, you know, if people didn't do it the way that was in my head. You'd scream your head off.

27:42Oh, I just, I just.

27:43Will Arnett:It just doesn't work as well. Yeah. And you sort of end up, I remember with pulling, and Dennis Kelly, who wrote it with me, we'd never made anything before. I don't know how we were allowed to make it. We didn't even have to make a pilot. We just wrote a script and then suddenly we wrote it. It's because it cost 10p to make, so they didn't have much to lose. But I remember we wrote this line.

28:04Sean Hayes:And for Tracy, 10p is$10 trillion US. Very expensive over there. we wrote this line for one of the main actors in it and it was just a stupid line it was a joke about do you remember the cock lollies episode, Will one of the girls has come up with this thing called a cock lolly and it's a nice lolly in the shape of a cock and she's like you can market it to you know, head parties and order, send a cart She has to... Go to cart. Go to cart. Someone must have done it. PayPal. Someone must have created... Pay extra for express and checkout.

28:54The guy that she's pitching the cock lollies to, she's doing it as a sort of like Dragon's Den style pitch, and the guy she's pitching it to, he suggests like, or he goes, can you get will there be a joke on the stick it's a brilliant idea you should have a joke will there be a what a joke you know you used to be able to used to be able to like oh like a fortune cookie or something write a joke yeah on the stick of the lolly yeah and she says there's a place in Birmingham it's all they do and it was like you know it was just because she was so honest she was like she'd research this thing she'd practice for this pitch she was just like had to be off the off the cuff there's a place in Birmingham it's all they do And like she said it in a brilliant way and it was probably fine.

29:40And we just kept going in and going, there's a place in Birmingham. It's all they do. So just throw it away. And then we walk off and then she'd say it again. And it went on and on and on until she hated us. And then we made her come in and do it again in ADR. Oh my God.

29:55Will Arnett:No way. Yeah, yeah. So talk about a line reading. You were like saying, no, here it is. I'm going to say it and you're going to repeat it. The way out. Did you get all hot? In the end, she wanted a live meeting because she was like, I want to do it the way. So we were doing it, but even then, it was stupid. It didn't make it. Okay, so do it how she did it and then do it how you wanted it. Oh, God, I'm not going to remember, really. I think she went. We'll just have her name. What's her name?

30:27She was brilliant.

30:28Sean Hayes:By the way, it's my favorite thing. Sean, let's do, it's time we haven't done it. what happened to the fan? Where's the fan? Where's the fan? Do you know this, Sharon? Do you know? It's funnier in life, but... I've never heard of it. What is it? Yeah, you did. Jay, you played it. We've done it. So you have to do a line reading of where's the fan. Okay, so when I went to... No recollection of this at all. I went to San Francisco for a trip and we checked with a friend of mine.

30:59Will Arnett:Just the once?

31:03Will Arnett:It's low-hanging fruit. It's so dumb. That's about the cheapest joke I think I've ever, it's ever slipped out of my mouth. It's just awful.

31:11Sean Hayes:Unbelievable. So you're in Greece. You're in Greece. Wait, what are you saying? So I go to San Francisco with a friend, and we check into a hotel, and I can't sleep without a fan, right? So I call the front desk. I'm like, can you send up a fan? And they said, sure. So they send up a fan, and on the fan is a note that says, please do not remove from the office, right? So then we were like, well, what happens when the boss walks into the hotel that day? And then you have to give the line reading of, where's the fan? But you have to give it like a preamble up to it. So then I would say, so like somebody would come in and be like, oh, okay, boy, we got a lot of problems in the hotel today.

31:47Sean Hayes:Where's the fan? Okay, can I go? You have to notice, yeah. So we started, you do it at dinner, and you make everybody has to do it different. Everybody has to go around and do a different reading of noticing the fan and seeing that. So I have to do the preamble too? Yeah, just a little bit.

32:00Will Arnett:Hey, listen, I'm sorry I'm late. The traffic is, where's the fan? Yeah, okay.

32:08And now Amy had one. Amy Poehler had one. It's really funny. She comes in, she goes, guys, I am fed up with, ha ha, where's the fan? Oh, that's great. By the way, this is the first time I've ever played this game.

32:25Will Arnett:Yeah, nailed it. Nailed it. So I wanted you to do It's Birmingham What are they doing in Birmingham? There's a place in Birmingham What is it? There's a place in Birmingham that's all they do There's a place in Birmingham that's all they do You wanted the pause Yeah exactly There's a place in Birmingham that's all they do That's all they do Maybe with a bit more Like Satisfaction in the fact that she's already Thought of the man There's a place in Birmingham

32:56Sean Hayes:him it's all they do oh we'll tighten that up later that's good and you can pull the but you can pull out this yeah i mean you can pull out the performance pull out the whole but you know what you know what the thing is that um i i was um continuing to be a bit prescriptive with you know with with actors and how they do things because because because like the thing is is there's not i had to learn that there's not just one way of of doing things yeah right i mean And I remember speaking to Donald Gleeson about it and him just sort of going, what's the point in hiring actors if you're just going to tell them how they should do it?

33:38Like, what are we there for if we can't sort of, you know.

33:41Will Arnett:Right, but what you were trying to manage was also the assumed expectation from the hiring hands that brought on Sharon Horgan to deliver something that you stand by, that you stamp, that is your aesthetic, that is your humor, it is your script. And then if all these actors come in and they start freestyling, it starts to drift away from something that you can stand by and manage and say, right, I would assume that that was going through your calculation of like, Like, how much do I let these people contribute?

34:12Sean Hayes:Yeah, were you worried about the people at the BBC getting the cut of this and they're going through and they're all watching in a conference room and then they hear her go, their place in Birmingham, it's all they do, and then they just pause. Pause it right there. Because that's the thing. Has Sharon Horgan lost her fucking mind? That's the thing. What have we done? No one gives a shit. That's the thing. That's the other thing you forget. Nobody gives a shit. I genuinely feel that there is an accumulative effect thing, though. And if you let all those little things that you stand by go, then over the course of it, it's just not as good.

34:51So then what do you do? You do lots of takes, and then you sort of create it in the edit, I guess. Well, you know what they're saying, what's coming,

35:00Will Arnett:is like the stage you got to by having her come in for ADR and for Tracy, that is, I think it's automated dialogue replacement. I think is what it's called. Probably. I think it's additional. Or something. So you go in and you just record your line that you read and then they kind of put it in your mouth to picture. But sometimes you can change the way the line sounds. Yeah. And what they're saying is coming with AI is that not only can you unilaterally, Sharon, as the showrunner, change the reading of that line, but you can also manipulate the face. And this is the stuff that, thank God. But you don't even need AI for that.

35:42Like, I shut someone's mouth this week.

35:47Will Arnett:Really? You just shut the mouth? Right, so it doesn't look like, yeah.

35:52Sean Hayes:Jason, they can make you look happy.

35:54Will Arnett:They can lift my eyebrow? They can lift your brow, yeah.

35:58Sean Hayes:You can cancel your appointment with the Beverly Hills doctor that I know you have.

36:02Will Arnett:Dr. Lift?

36:03Sean Hayes:Yeah. wait wait Sharon you shot somebody's mouth no listen it was such a small thing it was actually it was actually what do you call it an extra a supporting artist

36:15Will Arnett:who was mouthing like he looked really funny and facially he was doing something funny but he was mouthing something whilst the actor was speaking so we didn't want to cut him out so we just shut his mouth right made it look like he wasn't talking it looked like exactly like he wasn't talking yeah someone told me that that that i should work in animation because if you work in animation you can just make the people do do whatever you want yeah by the way talk about

36:44Sean Hayes:like you you can do it's it's like the writing process so it's why simpsons is not why it's so funny they have brilliant people but you can do anything you can go anywhere there's no budget

36:53Will Arnett:you can pitch anything but that's what they're saying is coming in in in ai is not and it's not going to be some cartoon character it's going to be something that looks exactly like a person And like, you know, I mean, that's a whole different episode. We talk about how we all feel about that. But it's just like, it's freaking remarkable what's coming. But isn't it interesting? In animation, what I was saying yesterday was, human behavior has become so cliche that animators can now animate, you know, the way people behave. Because we've seen a billion movies and TV shows. We know how they're going to react, basically.

37:31and so I don't know what I'm saying other than it's just like there's no surprises. It feels like there's no surprises with like if you're shocked, you're shocked. This is what you get when you're shocked. For this actor and that actor and that actor, there's certain, you just get a different look of it. Show me shocked.

37:45Sean Hayes:Show me shocked. Go ahead, Sean.

37:46Will Arnett:Show me shocked. Good. Oh my God, that guy is shocked. Thank you. I like you at an eight. I'd love you to five. Still rolling? I could do less. I could try less. I could try less. Slightly shocked. slightly shocked. I have like 10 faces that I shuttle through. That's about it. Yeah, right? Anyway. Sharon, I'm just remembering. Sharon. I remember, you know, some of, I saw it on a talk show or I read it or something about, you know, I live for, I live for medical stories, you know. Oh, yeah? Yeah. And I read something, or I remember, maybe you said it about a catheter or something. What? Yeah, just take your time and sort of figure out what you're going to say.

38:30Will Arnett:Wait, it was... You want to take a second? No, no, no.

38:33Sean Hayes:We'll ask a question. Not only do you not know the source, you don't know what she said. Jesus. I don't remember, but it was... No, no. You're making this up. Do you want... We can use AI and we can have her say it if you want. You're losing color. Keep your hands above your head. I don't know if you remember. I thought it was so... I don't know. I love medical school. Do you remember your position on catheters, Sharon? Well, I think... So, then I had a catheter. Yes. I don't remember. having one of those. You did? A catheter just sort of drains, could be draining anything really, couldn't it?

39:04No. Sure, yeah. I think it's just urine. I think I had, I think, is it just urine? I think it's up your pee-pee hole, yeah? Oh, it's up your pee-pee hole. No, I've never had that. Okay. Oh, sorry. I'm sorry. Tell me your name again. Wait a second. Hang on a second. I had one inserted in my leg to drain blood. Oh, maybe that's what it was. But I'm sure, I don't ever remember telling it. For what? What happened to your leg? I dislocated my hip. Oh, wow. But I did it when I was little, and the doctor I was seeing didn't realize that it was dislocated. That didn't work? It was growing pains, and it got more and more dislocated.

39:43So then they had to open it up and put pins in. And so I remember that thing hanging out of my leg, but I don't believe I ever told them about that.

39:52Sean Hayes:How old were you? I was 13. Wow. Was this in Ireland? Yes. Because you were born in England, but you moved to Ireland. Is that right? Because your mom's Irish. Is that right? Yeah, my mom is Irish. And, well, my mom met my dad in London. And they had the first of their two kids in London before they moved to Ireland to raise us properly. And then you guys moved to Ireland because of their medical techniques of blood training? Well, they moved to Ireland because my mum and dad worked in a pub. My dad was a landlord of a pub, and it was in the east end of London when it was really, you know, like really dodgy kind of area.

40:36And I think he was asked to give an alibi for a local gangster, and he was like, right, I'm getting my family out of here. And so he moved us all over to Ireland. My grandpa's from Dingle. Oh, really? That's beautiful. Yeah, it's really pretty. Do you go? Do you go to Ireland? I went twice. Once with my family in 2001, and then I did one of those, you know... Audience with? No, they follow your family tree. Oh, who do you think you are? Yeah, that's what I did. That's the one. What did you find out, Shani? Were you not scared to do it? Everybody was drunk and ended up in jail, and yeah. Oh. Yeah, that's it.

41:18Will Arnett:Have you done that, Sharon? I haven't, actually. Willie, have you done that?

41:23Sean Hayes:No, but a lot of people ask me, who do you think you are? I get that mainly at restaurants.

41:31Will Arnett:All right, well, so Sharon, so you're born in England. You moved to Ireland. At what point does sort of the idea of making people laugh and writing and performing— Yeah, your parents are running a pub. Yeah. Wow. When does that all start? They were running a pub, and then they moved into poultry. Sure. Sure. Natural progression. And how did it happen? The funny thing, well, I guess I'm in a family of five kids and, you know, I guess, right? Where are you? You're kind of second eldest. Okay. And it's, you know, how you get attention, I suppose, is making your parents laugh. When did you think I might be able to make a living at this?

42:13Oh, fuck, not for years. I mean, I didn't start making a living at it until I was about, you know, in my early 30s. I did other things. I didn't do this job.

42:29Sean Hayes:Like what? I worked as an administrative officer in the employment service for six and a half years.

42:37Will Arnett:Wow. That sounds like a desk in an office building. Oh, yeah, yeah. I was like signing people on for, you know, employment benefits and helping them get jobs.

42:46Sean Hayes:Signing on at the labor exchange. Yeah. What happens when you get laid off from the employment office and all of a sudden you're on the other side of the desk? I didn't get laid off. I would have been there for life. I just had to, I had to just like... It must be a tough job, actually. I just had to leave.

43:01Will Arnett:This was a job you took for practical reasons? It was an opportunity and you wanted to make a check, right? No, it was because, yeah, I think I just... My dad just kind of instilled a work ethic in us And if you weren't working, you were just kind of, what the fuck were you doing kind of thing. So like I wasn't getting, I kind of went to London to find my fortune kind of thing, you know, but I didn't know how to do it. And I was kind of too scared to do it as well.

43:34Sean Hayes:Did you know anybody who was performing or doing comedy or? No, nothing. No one. I just knew people like me who kind of didn't know what they were doing with their lives.

43:43Will Arnett:Did you study something in college that you went to London to pursue? I was studying art in Dublin, and then I tried to get into drama school in Dublin, didn't get in. And then I came to London to try and get into drama school and didn't get in anywhere. So then I was just like, meh. Oh my God, really? Yeah, but then I did go back to, when I left the employment service, it was to do, I went and did a degree, because I thought, you know, I better get some kind of... Degree in what? In English. Okay. So that's when I started doing creative writing and that's when I kind of thought, oh, because I wanted to be an actor.

44:18Like I had no, weirdly, I had no interest in writing or, you know.

44:22Will Arnett:So tell me about that, about them not letting you into freaking drama school twice. I know. I mean, who's laughing now? I went to so many places to apply. That's wild. And we will be right back. All right. If you've been putting off car shopping because it sounds like a whole thing, buying your car online on Autotrader makes it way easier, like almost easier than ordering your coffee easier. Really. You can shop tons of cars online, compare prices, check financing and trade-in options all from wherever you are. And if you want to start online and still go to the dealership for a test drive, you can do that too.

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47:52And now back to the show.

47:56Will Arnett:When you look back, was there something that you were doing wrong or different? because you're clearly very talented and very capable and have a definite control over your acting tool. Were they looking for like more grand sort of classical Shakespearean type of performance that you weren't interested in doing? Because you're so natural. Because for all drama schools, all drama schools you have to do a modern piece and a Shakespearean piece. I think, I don't know about you guys, but like auditioning used to terrify me. Like I used to lose all my skills. you know I took me a long time to learn how to do a good audition I mean I was probably I didn't get in because I was terrible I would say I'm terrible at it

48:42Sean Hayes:yeah no how is that first of all both of you it's not possible you guys are both I was terrible

48:47Will Arnett:auditioning is one of the more terrifying things that has been in my life forever and for always really I remember I remember going for an audition for extras do you remember the Ricky Gervais show yeah I went for an audition for Extras. We had the same agent, which is, I think, why I got the audition because it was kind of early in my career. And I got a phone call the other day and Dung said, oh, they want you to come back in. I was like, oh, that's great. And Ricky said, I want her to come back in because she can't be that bad. Like, because my agent had obviously bigged me up, you know, and I'd done a few bits, but not much so.

49:28Will Arnett:But I bet you got worse on the second time because now it's, oh shit, I got to go back in there. All I want to do is get the hell out of there as soon as I get in there. And if they give me notes and they want me to do it again, now I'm like in a total flop sweat. Yeah. And I'm starting to have a panic attack and I can't get out.

49:43Sean Hayes:Jason, you used to have, what was your parting line that you used to say is great? No, I just used to say, good luck with it. Yeah. Oh my God. How much, because I used to sweat so much.

49:55Will Arnett:Yeah, I'd have to wear layers. Good luck with it. Yeah, I'd have to wear layers. I remember doing an audition with Matt LeBlanc for that. Joey? No. No, no, no.

50:07Sean Hayes:I know the one you mean. Episodes. Episodes. And so I got quite far down the line and I was called back and called back. And then I was doing the scene with Matt. And when I got up to leave, I'd left my, I'd been wearing this little cardigan and sort of took it off and it was sort of sitting on the seat. And when I was leaving, I forgot my cardigan. And he picked it up and he sort of held it up like this. Like it was a sweaty, smelly thing that it was. Like I'd sweated so much into it that he could sort of pick it up like it was a snot rag and hand it over to me. Horrifying. But I think I found a way to sort of...

50:50Will Arnett:What is it? What's the secret? I don't know. Like I had to just start doing a breathing thing. I had to just sort of start, you know, another thing was like I would eat a banana. Eat a banana and just sort of learning to kind of control my breathing. Like the banana thing is probably completely psychosomatic, but I thought that it would give me a slow release of energy. And if I had this banana, I wouldn't convince myself that, you know, it would help me with the shakes or... Wow. I mean, now I use beta blockers, but like... Yeah, there you go. It took me ages. Yeah, you just take Xanax and you're done.

51:21Will Arnett:You're fine. fixes it all. That destroys your brain cells, though, doesn't it? I don't understand. You hear these super famous stories of very famous actors, movie actors and stuff, who later, like 20, 30, 40 years later, after you finally hear that, like, oh, yeah, they were high on this or drunk on that when they filmed that scene, or they didn't. I'm like, how can you say your lines? I don't get it either. Like the Charlie Sheen documentary, and, you know, it's out there for everybody to see, so I'm not commenting on anything other than he admitted like, oh yeah, I was high then, I was drunk.

51:55How do you remember your lines?

51:57Sean Hayes:Remember we had Seth on here, Seth Rogen, and I said, Seth, do you ever work Stone? And he goes, I've never not. I don't know how that's possible. Me neither. Will, do you remember when we were doing the Increasing Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret? Such a long name to say. But I was doing a scene with you and Spike Jones and David. I think it was just the three of you. And I was jet-lagged. I'd just arrived over from London like before. And every single line in my head just went, like everything. And the more I tried to think of the lines, the more panicked I got until there was nothing. It was just like a blank nothing.

52:46And I was just standing in front of him. I'd never met you. I hadn't met you before. Like, Spike Jonze. Like, the whole thing was the worst experience. And in the end, they had to just, because David was directing it as well, wasn't he? In the end, he had to just, like, go, you know, we haven't got it, basically. Goodbye. We haven't got it. And they had to do an extra day's filming, an extra half day's filming, whatever it was, to get the scene, because I effed it all up so badly because of the lines.

53:17Sean Hayes:You know what, Sharon? I don't remember that because my recollection is always is how impressed I was. I had such a talent crush on you. I was always like, Sharon's so good. So I never, in fact, if you remember, the only person I remember going up in their lines all the time was Spike Jones. Had to, he got to a point and we were like, I remember we were sort of investigating. I forget what the story was. But he ended up, he had a notepad with him. So eventually he just wrote down all this dialogue on the notepad. Right? And so we're doing a scene. We're doing a scene. You know Spike and he has his laugh.

53:54Sean Hayes:It's so funny. And he's like, okay, so blah, blah, blah. And he's literally pretending to go through the thing, but he's actually just reading his dialogue on the paper. And at one point he goes, so anyway, so I, and then he goes, and then he goes up and I just look at him and I go, you're reading.

54:11Will Arnett:How are you going up on your dialogue? But he's the greatest actor. I wish he would do it more. Oh, he's so good. He's so, so good.

54:21Sean Hayes:My other recollection of that is, do you remember Simon, the sound mixer, who was super funny? Yeah, I do, actually. Yeah. He was one of the funniest. I do remember Simon. Right? I kind of had a bit of a crush on him, I think. He was so funny. He was handsome, yeah. Yeah, he was handsome. He's the funniest sound mixer. And I remember one time we were shooting a scene. Maybe we were in it, and we were shooting on a stage somewhere in London, and we're going through and there's some sort of thing in the story and David's like, hang on a second. I don't think that that's right because the timeline doesn't, so we sort of stop shooting for a second.

54:56Sean Hayes:He's like, I don't think we have to change that because the timeline doesn't work on it. David Cross is going through it in his mind. He's like, and I think that people will notice the timeline and then you can't even see Simon because he's just offsetting the sound mixer. You just hear him go, he goes, dear Channel 4, imagine my disgust when I realized the timeline didn't work out. And it fucking, that, he brought me to my knees.

55:21Will Arnett:I was laughing so hard. God, that guy.

55:24Sean Hayes:Simon, if you're out there, we love you. Oh, well done, Simon.

55:27Will Arnett:Now, Sharon, when are we going to get you to the States to do a little bit of work? Is it happening? What kind of work? What do you do? How much you got? What's on the menu? Lobster?

55:40Sean Hayes:Is it a lobster-based lunch? I mean, I'm...

55:43Will Arnett:What's going on right now? Should I be embarrassed? Is there something going on right now?

55:47Sean Hayes:Sharon's got a new show that premieres September 20th. We're in the year 2026 called Youth. Yes. Which I'm surprised I'm not part of considering my youth. Right, exactly. But Sharon, talk to us about Youth a little bit if you would. Well, it's on HBO. Yeah, great. Classy organization. Right, and it's eight episodes, half hour. So it's kind of going back to, it's more sort of along the pulling catastrophe kind of lines, because it's kind of documenting, I suppose, a certain period in your life. And like 30s was sort of misspent 20s, and catastrophe is like having young kids and, you know, trying to stay in love with your partner.

56:41And Youth is about kind of someone slightly similar to me who's in their 50s and their kid is leaving for college and their parents are kind of, you know, getting older and it's kind of about the sandwich generation and how you kind of hit a point in your life when it should be about you. Like you should be out there, you know, living it up and sort of...

57:06Will Arnett:You get overwhelmed with some of these other elements. Yeah, and it all comes kind of crashing down on her. And I kind of, I sort of wanted to, I came up with the idea and the characters ages ago, but I'm kind of glad, and then Bad Sisters came along and I ended up doing that, but I'm kind of glad that I'm doing it now because I feel like I've got so much more to say about that period in a woman's life. Did you shoot that here or did you shoot it in England or here? Here. Here, sorry, where we are in the States. Sorry, I shot it here in England. In the UK. Gotcha, gotcha. Yeah, and in Germany and in Spain.

57:51So it was shot in a few places.

57:52Will Arnett:Sounds nice. Jesus. I'd like a nice arc on that. I'm youthful. Do you know what? It's the first time I've ever, you know when you shoot something and you're filming and it's like disgusting weather and everyone goes, next series we should like set it in Spain? So I kind of did a slight version of that, even though it's just one episode, like got to do that thing of like shooting somewhere. You and Sandler have it all figured out.

58:15Sean Hayes:Yeah, maybe after, did you get a taste for it? And now are you like, hey, maybe my next character, she just, boy, she loves Italy. Yeah, I should have actually, because kind of we're kind of figuring out some ideas at the moment for where it could possibly go if we got to do it again. But if you did that,

58:34Will Arnett:that would mean not living where you live now. What would you miss most about living where you live now and the way in which your whole personal life is set up there? What would you miss most about your creature comforts? Well, I don't know about creature comforts. Like I admit, my brothers and sisters kind of live nearby. The ones who aren't in London are in Ireland, which is also very nearby. It's like just over there. And so I think it's that. She's pointing to her right just for Tracy. But my, you know, my kids are grown up now, so it's kind of weird. So all those things that kept me in London, which, you know, it was mainly that.

59:17It was family. But it's also, I'm just not great at change. Like, I'm not great at, yeah. No way.

59:23Sean Hayes:I mean, that's so funny considering you've had so much change in your professional life and it's all about change. Yeah, I know. I just kind of don't. I mean, I've had the same agent for like 25 years. I've, you know, lived in the same house. I just kind of, once I kind of settle into something, I'm like, this feels like a good place. When you come to the States, where do you go? Where's your favorite place to stay? Where do you prefer? I actually have a house in Beachwood. Do you know? Oh, yeah. Do you need me to go take care of that? It's very close to me. Let's just tell the story. Well, I mean, I get over when I can.

59:59I used to be there a lot more, but you know after COVID and everything kind of changed? It used to be that you used to have to fly to pitch ideas. Do you remember? You would have to just be in the room. And so I used to be there a bunch for that. But now it's all zoomy zooms. You ever walk down to Larchmont? You know Larchmont? Careful here, Sharon. Yeah. All right. That's all I wanted to know.

1:00:28Sean Hayes:Near his house. Yeah, it's pretty. And then Sean's going to be the guy outside of your house. Yeah. A lot of people are talking about you. About you.

1:00:36Will Arnett:When you come to Los Angeles and then you leave and you're back in England, what are some of the things you're not missing about Los Angeles? Oh, nice, nice. Not missing? Yeah, it's like, oh, you know, I don't miss such and such. I don't miss hearing industry talk everywhere. I find it very disconcerting and destabilizing. It's not like that here at all. Like, you'd have to sort of seek it out or just spend all your days in Soho House or something. It's just, for the most part, it doesn't sort of touch you. So you get to just like... New York's the same way. There's so many different industries in that city.

1:01:18Yeah. What are the main industries in LA outside of like tech and entertainment? Carpets? Art? Carpets. Carjack. The Vikings. Pretty big these days. Car chaps.

1:01:31Sean Hayes:Yeah, that's a real uptick. That's very funny. Home invasions, yeah, they're super popular too. Homeopathy. Dog grooming, obviously. Dog grooming, yeah. That's like a huge. Huge, everybody's got a dog. Posing at a coffee shop, that's pretty big. High speed car chases. Personal training. I like LA though. I like it as a place to sort of, I think I'm like, I'm fitter in LA. You know, like I do more kind of wellness things. Like I look, it's easier to be fit.

1:02:00Will Arnett:You're right. I think you kind of end up just drinking a lot of green things. Well, what are you drinking today? You're drinking something orange. What is that? Yeah, it's actually my, someone gave it to me. Okay. Oh, so you're not sure what it is. Careful, careful, careful. Don't drink it. It's a Zuki. It's called a Zuki. Is that product placement? I needed something to give me a bit of energy because I was worried that I was going to be low energy for you. Because of us. Thank you. Because of me. Because I've done a full day at work and I didn't really sleep last night. You're going to sleep so well.

1:02:39Sean Hayes:Wait, wait, wait, wait, let's dig into this. Just a little bit. What happened with your sleep? Ew, ew, Will. I don't know. I go, I'm really up and down. I mean, I think it could be hormonal. Sure. But yeah, at the moment, I'm not sleeping. I think maybe I'm worrying about what the show's about to come out potentially. Your mind is spinning. Your mind is spinning. I keep waking up at like 4.15 and just like lying there. And I keep putting on podcasts that, you know.

1:03:07Will Arnett:Put this one on. You'll go right back. Yeah, I have been listening to you guys over the last week.

1:03:12Sean Hayes:We got an award from the Insomnia Association. They found the cure with our podcast. Wait, do you? It sucks though. I hate not sleeping. I think this is, but it's our age. I, you know, Sean has arguably the worst sleep hygiene of all time. Oh, that's horrible. Every day. That's horrible. And it's just going to get worse. Thank you. But do you, so do you, now how do you, do you try to like, do you go to bed early to try to compensate for that? I try, like last night I was in, lying down at 10.30 p.m. And I thought that that would be good. And I actually took a cams last night. Do you know CAMHS?

1:03:51No. It's kind of a homeopathic sleep thing. Kind of like melatonin or whatever. Yeah, kind of like that. And it still didn't. I was like, you know, it took me ages to even get to sleep. And then when I got asleep, I woke up before. Are you a coffee drinker? See, this is the thing. I am a massive coffee drinker. And you know when you're in a writer's room, everyone, it's disgusting the amount of coffee you drink. So I'm definitely taking in more caffeine.

1:04:17Will Arnett:And you just need to shut it off earlier. You know, like stop drinking it at like two or three. You can't have any after that. Yeah, but that's why I'm doing that. I'm stopping at like two. How about green tea? Try green tea instead of coffee. It's a much better high. Is it? Oh, yeah. It's not such a spike. It's just a nice, steady. She just comes on really easy. I like the jittery thing, though. I like feeling a bit like. You like a little punch in the neck.

1:04:41Sean Hayes:I like that morning. I love that morning. Just blast off.

1:04:44Will Arnett:Yeah, but in the afternoon.

1:04:45Sean Hayes:I talked to Sean this morning to give him shit about his internet before we did the PCAST, as we call it, and Sean said, how much coffee have we had this morning? Yeah, yeah. It was on. But I love it. I love it. But I love a crash. But it's intense, isn't it? It's like, it's a proper drug. It is a proper drug. Do you ever do any sort of like a sleep? No, no, no. I listen to like rain sounds. Yeah, I've tried all that nice and good stuff. You know what I do? But Sharon, try this. This is what I do sometimes. Sometimes I'll Google facials. Well, I mean, that's kind of... So I'll Google somebody having...

1:05:23Wait, wait, narrow it down. Narrow it down on the facials. Yeah, I'll Google somebody having... When you say facials...

1:05:35I'll Google somebody giving somebody a facial.

1:05:38Sean Hayes:Okay, again, I mean, we're really having a tough time here. You don't need to enunciate it more, okay? Okay. It's making it worse. And watching it, like falling asleep makes me fall asleep. Because I'll imagine my face getting, you know what I mean? Yeah, because of the relaxing thing. Yes, it really relaxes me. Try it, check it out. Jumi. Jumi's the best. Well, I've written it down. I thought you were going to, yeah. Oh, you want me to send you links? Well, no, I thought you were going to give me like a specific kind of website. Well, like the Japanese, well, no, like Japanese facials. Because they really get in there and the person falls asleep immediately getting it.

1:06:13and it makes me fall asleep. Fuck are we listening to on this podcast?

1:06:18Will Arnett:Fucking Sean's looking at people getting their faces rubbed so he can fall asleep. Yeah. We're going to lose everybody. It's not gonna. Love it. Anyway, try it, Sharon. Get back to us if it works. I will. In the meantime, thank you for being here.

1:06:35Sean Hayes:Sharon, you're the best. Sharon, you are the best. God, you're so good. You're so funny. You're such a talent. HBO is premiering Youth on September 20th with the incredible Sharon Horgan, whom we adore. Sharon, thank you for taking the time. We hope that you get some rest. Hey, it was really nice to see you all. Great to see you.

1:06:57Will Arnett:Thank you so much. We'll hang out in Beachwood. Come on back. Give a shout. Yeah, I'll do it. Well, yeah, I think in October or something. All right. Game Night 2. We would love it. Game Night 2, let's pray. Game Night 2, I wish. That would be great. Everybody wishes. I'd be first in line.

1:07:09Sean Hayes:I'm going to watch that movie again. First in line for Game Night 2. The great Sharon Horgan. Bye, sweetie. Love to you. Bye. Love to you. Bye, Sharon. Bye, bye, bye, bye. Bye.

1:07:20Will Arnett:That's a great Sharon Horgan. I know. One of Britain's great exports. Oh. Yeah. What was the name of the... I watched the show many, many years ago. What was it? Search of the Sea. Catastrophe. Yeah, Catastrophe. She's so good. Yeah. So good. She's super talented and... And you never see her acting. She's very real. Right, exactly.

1:07:41Sean Hayes:she's so funny it was one of those when I knew she was coming on and I was thinking like what else is she and then I was like I remembered game night that she was in that and I was like oh and I relived I don't want to go back into game God I love that movie

1:07:55Will Arnett:I want to watch that again I tried to watch it with the girls I don't know a year or so ago and we only got through the first 5 or 10 minutes and they just started looking at because they were looking at me like dad why do we have to watch your shit Like, we want to watch something else. Or at least that's what I thought they were thinking. And I just started to just get all sort of like cringed out. And I was like, you know what? Let's turn this off. Sorry, guys. You know, like. Well, don't watch it.

1:08:20Sean Hayes:By the way, I've done that before with the boys, too.

1:08:23Will Arnett:What am I doing? You know? But trying to fall asleep with the facials is a good trick. Yeah, but how did you discover that hack, Sean? Yeah. I don't know because I always fall asleep if I get a facial. I'm going to get like a few a year, but, you know. you know she thought if you watched somebody getting a facial that yeah and like literally what if Sharon calls you and goes you changed my life that's right I'm waiting for the phone it's gonna happen huh she's gonna call me right anyway

1:08:51Sean Hayes:JB do you have trouble falling asleep no he's asleep now you know what for me the best thing for falling asleep honestly works like virtually every time is I just I listen to a really cute little lullaby

1:09:03Will Arnett:oh that was a beautiful beautiful in there I didn't even see it coming. Bye. Bye. Smart. Less.

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