Jason?
Oh, Jason?
Tendon seems a little off.
-Jason, great to see ya. -You too, Dave.
Few things are better or as good as being in a major-league baseball park.
Yeah, this is… this is pretty cool. I'm a… I'm a sicko.
I come to a lot of Dodger games each year.
-Did you play? -I played not well.
I think I held the record for striking out most times laughing.
Let's see what we can do here.
I'm gonna try to hit balls.
I can put on a pretty good show.
Let's just see what you're doin'.
All right, first couple will be rough.
No.
Ryan, you've got to bring it down, man.
There's a reason I'm a groundskeeper.
-Dave, you know what you're doin'! -Whoa, buddy!
-Every American should get to do this. -I agree with you.
One more and then I'm done.
Ooh. Ah!
-You're too close! -Almost hit me.
-Get him, Dave. -I figured I'd get it outta the way.
-Did that hurt a bit? -Yeah.
-I wanna say something. -You sounded very solid.
I will tell you that.
For some reason, I really enjoyed that. What does that say?
Thank you. All right.
God ble… God bless you.
Thank you. Okay!
How embarrassing is it that a dozen people over there stood up,
and the rest of you, unless you're incapacitated,
felt no need or urge to do the same?
God bless you.
We're done with you folks. You can go home.
Oh!
Oh, come on now. No, no. It's too…
It's a joke. I'm teasing.
Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.
This is so good, and you're so lucky to be here
because the person coming up…
By the way, do you know who the person is who's coming up?
I thought it was supposed to be a secret.
Uh, I've known about this guy for a long, long time.
I used to have a television show,
and periodically, he would be on my show as a guest, and since then…
But when he used to come on the show, to me he was just another guy on the show.
And for a long time, I thought he was the kid on Leave It to Beaver.
That… turned out not to be the case.
And subsequently, to those days,
I've grown to know of him,
to respect him for what he does.
He's both things, a very talented actor,
a director, a writer, raconteur,
and in addition, more importantly,
jeez, he's just a lovely human being.
Ladies and gentlemen, uh, Jason Bateman.
Thank you.
Hi, Jason. How are you?
-Hi. -Nice to see you. Thank you very much.
-Where am I? -You're right over there.
Hi!
-Thank you. -Hi.
-How you doin'? -I'm doing good.
Yeah, I, I didn't know… I was back there watching you do your incr…
-We can sit. -How do…
How do you think this makes me feel?
Why? Did I--
No, you well deserve…
You see those four, motley-looking people back there?
That was my standing ovation.
I think this is a fascinating place to have a show like this.
The audience, very nice, right size, comfortable, has a colorful history.
-Have you been in this place before? -No. I've lived in Los Angeles since 1976.
I had no idea this part of the city existed, let alone this…
this… Did you get a deal on the spot, Dave?
Are you kidding?
You've been a director. You know how this works.
-No, this is a really cool location. -It's very cool.
-And we're in Highland Park. -Yeah.
Very cool.
I, of course, know about Highland Park
'cause it's near my beloved Dodger Stadium.
-Dodger Stadium. -You know?
The audience applauding the location of the venue.
-I love that. Uh… -That's my wife and daughter right there.
-Where? -Right there.
-Maple, 13. -Oh, hi.
-Amanda. -Nice to meet you.
Uh, listen, Jason. I can't thank you enough for being here.
I've been fascinated by this most of my adult life.
Being a childhood star.
I, I don't know how that happens.
I have a son. It never was part of…
Oh… How does it happen?
It happened for you, and it happened for your sister.
-Yeah. -Who is two years older. Correct?
-Three. Justine. -Three years older. Justine.
And how does a child star work?
The short version was, basically, we had a neighbor who was an actor,
friend… was friends with my dad.
I was out front, washing the car, washing my dad's car with him.
The neighbor was on his way to an audition
and said, "You look miserable. Wanna come with me to this audition?"
-I was like, "Yeah." -How old were you?
-I was 10. -10.
Um… already child labor. You know.
Um… and, uh, he said, "Learn these lines and go in there
and make it look like you know what you're doin'."
You know, "Just say, 'What? I'm not on the call sheet?'"
"'Sorry, it must be some mistake. I'm here to read…'"
I go in, I read for it, I get the part.
So I come home,
my dad is now running a chamois across the car. He's…
And… and… and I say, "I, I, I got it!"
And he says, "Unbelievable. That's great."
I said, "Will you take some pictures of me,
we can send them into an agency, maybe get an agent."
'Cause my dad was a writer, director, producer, still is,
and he, instead of taking me to the park and throw the ball,
he would take me to, uh… movies.
Now, was your mother also a part of show business?
-Mom was a flight attendant for Pan Am. -Whoa.
So she was flying all over the world, two weeks on, two weeks off, all the time.
And so my dad and I had a lot of one-on-one time while Mom's out.
Your family originally from… was it Rye, New York?
Yeah, born in Rye. Lived there till I was two.
Boston till four, Salt Lake till seven, and then LA since '76.
What was the reason for Boston and then Salt Lake?
Mostly law. He was trying to run away from the law.
They…
Um…
Dad was pursuing post-production jobs around the country,
running a lab or editing facility
while he was looking for directing and writing jobs.
Um… so I got very lucky with commercials early on,
and did a bunch of those.
Oh, those Golden Grahams
Tastes like honey Grahams
It's a delicious honey-graham taste.
And Justine saw those were bringing in some money,
so she got an agent too.
What kinda money we talkin' about? I had a paper route at this age.
-I know what kinda money that was. -Yeah.
-What kind of money was yours? -This… this… this… was better.
This…
This was… Back in those days,
if you got a national commercial, one of these commercials like Pepsi,
or, you know, Honey Nut Cheerios or something,
you could expect to make $30,000 on this commercial
by the time it's done playing
over the course of maybe three, four months.
And so if you do a handful of commercials, your agent goes, "Oh, you might not suck."
"Let's send you out to maybe get a guest spot in a sitcom or something."
-Self-fulfilling success? -Yeah.
I was doing these sitcoms, like the one with Ricky
and a bunch of other folks.
I just… I loved working in… in television,
doing multi-camera stuff in front of a studio audience.
Rick, you are, without a doubt,
the most up-front, upright, uptight,
disgustingly straight-arrow, best friend a guy ever had.
Ricky Schroder and I used to go up into the permanents,
uh, you know, the soundstages, they've got these wooden planks up there,
or walking planks where they hang lights and chains
and all sound equipment and stuff,
And, you know, 60 feet above the stage floor.
We'd go up there. They'd load in the studio audience before the show.
We'd go up there. We bought these bass… these… these brass peashooters…
-Brass? -Yeah.
-For the professional. -We got… we got very professional.
We go up there with a stack of rewrites, and, uh… just loose script pages,
and we'd chew off a little piece, we'd spit spit wads
down at the studio audience
while they're just taking their seat, getting ready for..
-At the audience! -We were monsters.
At the audience!
-Yeah. -That's lovely.
We shot… we shot at Universal Studios,
so, you know, we had our bikes on… on… on the lot,
you know, 'cause we gotta get our PE in.
And we'd ride our bikes up behind those tra… you know the trams,
and we'd hold onto the back of the tram so we wouldn't have to pedal,
and we let it drag us all the way up to, like, Jaws Lake.
And then we'd get out at Jaws Lake, we'd roll up our pant legs, we'd go in,
and we'd scoop up goldfish. There's tons of goldfish at Jaws Lake.
So the guys who were driving the tram,
they'd see these two 13-year-olds out there wading around.
Jaws Lake is only about this deep.
And so they contacted our parents.
They said, "For reasons we don't wanna bore you with,
we're trying to scare these people,
and when you see two youngsters out there in knee-deep water scooping up goldfish,
it wrecks it a bit. We got a great white out there, you know."
So we had to stop doing that.
Now, as the success propels, you're enjoying your life?
I'm enjoying my life a lot, yes. I thought I was fantastic.
I mean, I thought I was just the coolest kid.
I was talking to you about it yesterday, about doing Johnny Carson.
You were 15 when you were on The Tonight Show.
Jason, I owe you an apology.
I have called you Joseph twice tonight for some reason.
It's all… it's all right, Jack.
It's… it's… it's lovely,
and he's such a sweet…
-You would think… -No. Dave.
…a 15-year-old show-business star veteran at that age would be snarky--
I was so comfortable.
But very sweet and satisfying.
I should not have been as comfortable.
You're 15, for heaven's sakes.
Anyway, I thought that was admirable, but I understand,
looking at old images, it makes me wince as well.
Not just of you, but when I look at other old images.
Did you…
People who were child actors,
often we hear some unpleasantness of that experience.
Was that ever part of your life?
Y… uh… yes.
I… I mean, I think that…
I know, that I… Again, I thought I was pretty fantastic,
and I was probably a little bratty at times.
However, I wasn't as bratty as some of my peers, I think.
Like who?
I… If there was something different in this…
Um… I, um…
I… I will not mention names,
but I did do a show with a fella
that taught me a lot of… of kind of what not to do,
and it informed the way that I hope that I act now on sets,
when I'm in a lucky position to be
in a leadership position or directing or something.
What was the guy's name? Ricky… Rick. What was his name?
I'm losing you, Dave. You going over a canyon?
-Hello? -"Are you going over a canyon?"
-I gotta call you back. You breaking up. -Okay, we'll check in.
Uh…
Do you feel like you've missed out anything in your childhood?
And I'll just answer for you. You were doing something you love,
so I'm guessing, no, you didn't feel like you missed anything.
I, I, I missed… I missed a lot of playing
because I was working from 10 to now,
um… and so there was a lot of… a lot of playing that I missed,
but I went ahead and caught up on that, Dave,
during a shallow period in the twenties.
All right, so in your age of twenties.
Now, I know what you're alluding to. What precipitated that?
It was… you started experimenting with controlled substances.
-Nothing funny about that. -No. Well, there can be. Um…
I can hook you up with some stuff that'll make you laugh all night.
Um, uh…
Well, what precip… precipitated that was really a thirst for normalcy.
So, um, I would go back to my school at the end of every television season.
And so I hung out with all of my schoolmates, um, in high school,
and what do people do in high school?
You go out and you get after it on the weekends.
And so I really kinda leaned into that
'cause I figured I work hard, let's play hard.
And then I caught up by the time I was 30.
So… so… so this is like a multi-year hiatus?
It was a decade of… of… of fun.
Now, did your work suffer?
-It sure did, Dave. -Yeah.
Um… uh…
But, yeah. I mean, I was still working a bit,
just enough to keep my head above water.
Were you in deep trouble, uh, like Robert Downey Jr.?
-He was a guy who… -No.
…was teetering on the brink many times
and grabbed himself and righted it,
and now is a happy, wonderful, successful guy.
-Uh… -So, you--
I… I… My bottom… my bottom was not a bottom
that is worthy of a… a… a… fun story.
Um, it was just sort of like, as I said earlier, I kinda caught up,
and Amanda was incredibly helpful with saying,
"Hey, buddy, I know you're dialing it down right now,
and you'll probably be completely done in a few years,
but how about right now?" You know, "Let's get on with this."
What was your impression
in the business of Hollywood and show business?
Did people think, "Oh, don't bother us with Jason anymore?"
-Or were they, "We haven't seen him"? -It was that.
-It was a really tough time. Yeah. -It was the former?
-So this was your life for a long time. -It was my life.
-I didn't go to college. Nothing else-- -Do you regret not going to college?
-Sorry? -Do you regret not going to college?
Only because I'm, you know, I'm intellectually curious now.
I was not then. The whole concept of additional voluntary school
did not make any sense to me at all.
And… and was it because of your career,
or they just don't line up chronologically?
You were too busy to go to college, or you were--
Well, I, I was doing the Academy Award-winning film
Teen Wolf Too at the--
I'd like to change some classes.
I was doing that during my senior year,
right at the end of my senior year,
and we were shooting that while I was… while finals were happening at school,
and I did not have the time to do two of my four finals,
so I never got my high-school diploma.
So on the record now, you have not graduated from high school?
That's correct. Yeah.
-Whoa. -Yeah.
We had previously perhaps limited this to high-school grads.
Yeah.
That… that is… that is true.
-You used to live here, right? -Yeah, used to come up to the game a lot.
When were you living here? Why?
Moved out here in '75 because I, I thought I wanted to be a TV writer,
but secretly I knew I just wanted to get on The Tonight Show.
Uh-huh.
And I can remember, after I had achieved some success
in the world of television,
my friend Tom Dreesen and I sat right over there behind the dugout.
And Kirk Gibson, at this point, played for the Dodgers,
and he had hit a home run with a broken leg.
-I was here that night. -Is that right?
Yeah. I was sittin' behind home plate. That was nuts.
-Yeah. -Incredible.
It was up there with Freddie Freeman's home run this year.
I, I can remember watching that, and I just laughed myself outta bed.
I just thought, "Of course this is baseball."
That's… It was--
I was jumping around like a little beauty-contest winner.
-It was just incredible. -Let me see what that looks like.
-Hey! -Okay. Stop it.
Watching out for the sash. I didn't wanna get choked on the sash.
That's plenty. Okay. So we're there,
and Kirk Gibson is up first inning,
and I think he was hitting, like, third then.
I don't think he was batting four, but he was hitting third,
and it was already two outs,
and he comes up, and he pops a fly ball,
one of those things that you think is leaving the atmosphere,
and then it takes on a glow, and you think, "How do they light those--"
-It's the reentry. -Yeah, it's just crazy.
-And it's a big out. -Mm-hmm.
And Kirk, uh, walking back to the dugout,
slams the bat down in great anger,
and a youthful kid, a boy, a guy, fan watching, says,
"Get him next time, Kirk."
And Kirk says, "Eat shit, motherfucker."
Nice guy.
Okay, let's talk about Arrested Development.
There are so many facets to your life.
I mean, Arrested Development, for me, was a huge thing.
I don't know what I expected.
I started to watch it and could not stop watching it.
It was just such a good show.
There were so many good people involved with that.
Mitch Hurwitz, first and foremost.
Yeah.
Yeah, Mitch… Mitch Hurwitz our… our, uh…
the man who created it and wrote it all and oversaw the entire thing,
is just one of the most remarkably intelligent
and comedically sophisticated guys I've ever worked with.
How many seasons was it on Fox? A coup… Multiple, right?
I think it was on two and a half years on Fox.
-Was it a rating success on Fox? -It was not, Dave.
-It was not? -No.
Because all people talked about then was Arrested Development.
Well, but I think the people on the coasts were watching it,
and people in Middle America were not.
The people in Middle America do not matter.
We've got our clip. There's… there's our clip.
Spoken from a man…
-The… the… the favorite son of Indiana. -Indiana. Yeah.
Uh… I thought it was grand, and I couldn't wait.
Uh, and I thought a star of that show was Ron Howard, with the narration.
Michael was out of options,
and knowing that his father had a penchant for hiding valuable things in walls,
considered one last desperate gambit.
This is crazy. What am I doing? Using a hammer to try to…
Ah!
Are you crazy?
He was incredible, but, like, here's the cool thing.
So many cool things about that show. A, it was the paddles on the chest
of my career and… you know, resuscitation.
Um… but I was a… I was a huge Charlie Rose fan.
I used to watch Charlie Rose left and right.
One show, Ron Howard was on,
and this was during the shallow period of my career, in my twenties.
I was really depressed. I was really, um…
Things were not going well for my career. Couldn't get a job.
So I'm watching Ron Howard be interviewed,
and he's so famously gregarious and… and… and friendly,
and… and sort of, you know,
he would… he would admit it, kind of a geek, that he's so nice.
And I'm watching, and he's the most successful guy in the world,
and he's having this… and I'm thinking,
"My God, if I could ever get any ounce of success
or… or relevance or access again,
the best part of that capital would be that I could be as nice as I wanna be,
and it's never gonna be misinterpreted for being overly eager
or desperate or thirsty for the job."
Cut to… I get this job on Arrested Development,
where it's Ron Howard's show.
And I had just one-on-one with him at dinner,
and I let him know not only what that interview… planted in me
but then what his show gave to me
and now is giving me the opportunity to be exactly what he was…
So it was just such a… a beautiful full circle for me with him.
I love this story because many of us, myself top of that list,
looking for great moments that changed my life.
I don't know, I have to go here and there lookin',
but it's so nice that you have this life-changing moment.
Yeah, it helps me
be and behave who I am today
because, like with any of us, you hit the bottom,
um… if you can, hit it a few times, you know,
and it makes you even more appreciative
of… of the moments of opportunity that… that come your way.
You… you… That's why I work so hard now.
Ron Howard is a well-known asshole.
Oh yeah.
Oh, let's not forget, he's been an actor his whole life.
That's what he said to me. Sorry, I didn't finish.
At the dinner, he says, "It was all bullshit."
When's the next game you'll attend?
Saturday night.
-Against? -Giants.
Oh!
God, that feels good.
Dave, you know, the last time I swung a bat,
I hit a gapper in the Celebrity Hollywood Stars Night
for an inside-the-park home run, past a sprinting Lou Ferrigno.
Full blast, and he's gotta get the thighs around one another.
-So I made it around. -Let's see your Lou Ferrigno again.
Very nice!
And I thought that they couldn't get better.
No, I feel like a semi-man right now.
Wow.
That looks professional.
Hey, what you got? Chewing tobacco in there?
None of your business.
-Here comes my spit. Right? -You want the ball first or not?
No, I gotta…
Okay.
-Now that's not-- -That's good.
Try it between the teeth.
You don't do any mucus, right? For a baseball spit, you just…
-Depends on the time of year. -But I need chewing tobacco for that.
Or sunflower seeds.
All right, that's a foul tip. I'm alive.
Oh my God.
That's a base hit. I'm leaving on that one.
I've seen you at various stages of your career.
I saw a movie called Carry-On,
where somebody ends up exploding with, uh…
toxic neuro… poisoning gas on an airplane.
-Yeah. -Nice job.
A lot of your work is dialogue-heavy.
You do such a smooth, believable job of it
that it seems like very difficult work.
Are you a better actor now
than when you and Ricky were pea-shooting the audience?
I sure hope so, Dave. Um…
I think, you know, I'm very lucky
that I have… I've chosen a profession
that will age along with me.
Um… where there… there's always going to be a role for a grandfather,
so when I get to be that age, I can play those roles.
I, I keep referring to you as a leading man and a movie star.
-No. -A great actor, a director.
But what, what do you see… What is your type? What do you say?
I see myself, hopefully, as, uh… as…
I like playing us. I like playing the, the, the protagonist,
the person who you cut away to
to have that character's face process all the crazy crap you just saw,
whether it be comedic or dramatic.
So I like being the proxy for the audience,
and probably it's why I've gravitated to directing
because that's the person who is shaping your experience.
Does, does acting make a director better?
Does being a director make an actor better?
-I think so, for sure. -Which way?
-Either way, both ways? -I think either way.
I think if you spoke to most directors,
they would probably want to take some acting lessons,
just to understand kinda what we nutjob actors think about
and then how to kinda speak to them, and, you know, and…
And… and actors don't really understand what a director does fully
until they get thrown in the deep end.
'Cause, um, you know, most actors, I'll just talk about myself,
I thought the job started on the first day of shooting
W… Directors and the rest of the crew, they've been to that location six times.
Your crew, this crew, they were here probably three weeks ago,
setting up the lights, and--
I came in yesterday afternoon.
But you were… How old were you?
The youngest Directors Guild of America registered director.
How old were you, and what was the project?
I was 18, that was The Hogan Family.
So you're directing a half-hour situation comedy?
-Correct. -And then you direct yourself.
Now, talk about a, a, a three-armed juggler.
If such a thing exists, I don't know. What is that? Is that anything?
I've found that I'm so comfortable with the acting
just because I've been doing it for so long,
that it allows me to observe the other parts of the process
so I can…
It's just more efficient for me to act in what I'm directing,
'cause A, I don't have to direct this guy. That's one actor out of the way.
But is there somebody on that set that would… the star,
and the director says to the star or the director…
"Hey, buddy, you're terrible in the scene."
-"Maybe we wanna try that again." -Yeah. No, I have them removed.
-No, they're… Yes, of course. -Let's talk a little bit about you.
You mentioned this early, early on,
and I experienced it a little bit, your love for the Dodgers.
-Lifelong Dodgers fan. -Yeah.
Tell me everything…
Defending World Series champion.
Where do you sit when you go to the games?
Uh, I'm down there. I'm… I'm down front, Dave.
How many… how many rows from the umpire?
Um… well, there… there… there are none.
Um…
-Oh, Mr. Front Row. -Well, but--
-Mr. Front Row! -But, David, I, I…
You can see so much more from the front.
So you're right there.
I'm right there… I'm right there on the wall of the visitor dugout.
Now, would you heckle opposing batters?
Uh, yeah, well, you ca… you just… you can't curse.
If you curse, they're gonna kick you out.
But if you can come up with something, you know,
that's gonna get in their head, like, you know,
"Hey, do you inhale or exhale when you swing?"
You know, like…
-The guy… -That's genius.
Right? Or, "I don't want you to think about, uh…"
"There's not 40 million people watching, bud."
"There's only about five or six million, so don't be nervous."
You know, stuff like that, you know, can just eat at you a bit.
Do you… do you recognize that they have received the message,
or they're just stone-cold concentrated, and you don't exist?
Based on their reactions,
the teammates standing next to them who did hear it,
and the one guy's pretending he didn't hear it.
They turn and look at me like, "What are you doing?" You know, like…
-Yeah. -What are you…
And I say, "You're the opposing team!"
To me, you seem like a guy who's a guy
and could be a guy without also being a superstar.
So is this part of just you being a guy, bringing the kids to the ballpark?
Yes, yeah, there's a lot…
There's great normalcy, in my mind, to baseball.
Um… I like the serenity of a baseball game.
Some people say the boredom of it, but I got a radio in this ear.
I've got this ear open to the person I'm sitting with.
I'm not doing score, but I'm… I'm listening to the comm…
It… it's a game, not a sport.
I used to follow every sport a little bit,
and then I saw Ken Burns' baseball documentary
about 30-some years ago, and now I follow baseball a lot.
I'm, like, the commissioner in my fantasy-baseball league.
I'm just a full dork with it, and I… I just love it.
The fantasy baseball league, honest to God, you…
-I know. -You're too busy for that.
I know, but I… You know, it keeps me off the streets, Dave.
You know? I'm up early in the morning to check my scores.
-Gotta be doing somethin'. -I've gotta be doing something, you know?
-And… -What's the name of your team?
-Uh… -This'll be good.
Um… you know, uh, the Elton John song, "Tiny Dancer," or whatever?
-So mine are… -Tiny Dancer.
No, mine are the "Ohtani Dancers."
You know, Shohei Ohtani.
I'm in third place right now, and we're halfway through the season.
Do you win something at the end of the season?
Hundred bucks.
-It's just a little taste. -Yeah.
You know? We got a spot next year if you want in.
-No. -It's National League only.
I don't get it. I don't wanna get it.
I… I don't know.
Yeah, that's me.
-Next time, I'm gonna drag you to a game. -There'll be no next time.
-Come on. -No, I'm not comin'.
-Come on! -No.
-I wanna talk about Ozark. -Okay.
Uh…
Thank you.
Whose idea was this? Was… Were you in on the creation of this?
No. They were looking for a director,
and my agent, Michael Cooper, said, um… you know,
"There's these two scripts I read that are two of the best things I've ever read."
So I read these, and I thought, "Oh my God, this is… this is so good,
and I would love to direct this," um… and…
Now, again, interrupting you there.
What has been, other than Hogan's Heroes or Hogan's Families or whatever they were,
other than that, what had you directed to date?
I had directed some other sitcoms. I had done…
I directed two festival films, small independent films.
Um… but I really wanted to sort of take on more responsibility…
Okay, I understand that, but what was the reaction
on the other side of the desk? "Oh, uh, that guy."
They said, "They're looking at…" I won't tell you the names,
but the top three directors in the world.
Imagine. That's who they were talking to. I said, "I'm not gonna pitch myself."
"They're gonna laugh me out of the room." He said, "Just do it. Just see…"
"If I can get you in the room with the guy who runs MRC, Modi Wiczyk…"
Thank God he… he… he listened
and bought my bullshit and said, "We'll let you do it."
Who are the three top directors in the world? What are we talking about?
We're talking about… Well, no, I can't mention the name
because they obviously said no to it and…
No… Oh, okay. Well, can I shoot some names here? Like…
-Can I try? -Go.
-Ricky Schroder? -No.
Um…
Martin Scorsese.
-Unavailable. -Unavailable. Uh… W…
You're in the right league, though. See, I…
-Ron Howard. Ron? -Not available.
Scorsese, that's the level they were at?
Exactly.
In my twenties, I never would've ever had the courage to do something like that.
And it is one of the biggest streaming events.
It's right up there with Squid Game maybe?
I don't know. I don't know, but I…
-It was wildly successful. Still is. -Some people liked it.
Jesus, I loved the first show.
I thought, "Holy crap, this is fantastic."
Thank you. Good.
And then I started to think about, "This is such a…"
-It started to fall apart. -Yeah. No, no, no, no.
Uh, but then, I… over the next experience,
I began to wonder, "What is the body count of that show?"
How many people did we, in fun, new, interesting ways, eliminate?
There was some violence on the show, yes, but it was…
I just want a number. I don't care about the violence.
Yeah. Uh… the incredible writer Chris Mundy
would know the correct answer to that.
But I think it was usually one a show, you know.
I mean, um… we'd have a death come in, you know, on the script,
and we'd get… be there, like, ready to shoot it,
and I would just say, "God… You know, a bullet in the forehead,
like, we've s… we've seen it…"
Sure. We're all sick and tired of that.
You know, I'd… I'd call Chris from the set,
and I'd go, you know, "Chris, we're shooting on a set right now."
"We're in front of a beautiful fireplace, and there's a fire poker here
that is, you know… it's got such a nice point on it."
"How 'bout we just drive this through this guy's throat?" You know?
-Yeah. -And he was like, "Great, go for it."
At some point, did a representative
of the Lake of the Ozarks call somebody--
-And say, "Hey, man!" -Yeah.
"We're not killing people left and right up here."
You know, um, surprisingly, they were really on board.
-They were like… They said… -Started sellin' property left and right.
They literally said, "But you're making this place look great!"
I think they were speaking about the beautiful cinematography.
Yes. What was the time period, beginning to "That's a wrap"?
Uh, from start to finish?
-Uh… five years? -Five years?
-Maybe. -Wow.
-Yeah. -That's a huge commitment.
Away from home quite a lot, eh?
Yeah, a lot, but I flew home every weekend to, uh, see these dudes.
-"See these dudes," he says. -There's one missing. Franny, 18.
Yeah. Why is she not here?
She's seeing her boyfriend out there in Rhode Island.
You know, these kids, they grow up, you know, they wanna…
In Rhode Island. I hope to God this stays in
because I want this small, poor kid to be embarrassed to tears
that you and I are talking about her on this show.
Because if I did that to my son, oh man, we'd… we'd never see him again.
Really? Well, you know,
Franny and Maple are not… they're not… they're not shy. Right?
Maple, she gets out there. She's, like, she's a basketball star.
Oh good.
She's a… she's a volleyball wiz and a skateboard… Incredible.
She was… she was the first kid
to play on the boys' basketball team at her school.
Now, that's not…
Really?!
She's got skills. She could probably play you a little bit.
Dave… Dave's got mad game.
Have… have you seen him? Guy outta Indiana's got a sweet J.
-How many games you come to a season? -Twenty or 30.
-Wow. -Yeah.
On a nice summer evening, you'd play the trivia and stuff,
and you get to be on kiss cam. Does that happen?
I tell them to not put me on that screen. It gets me embarrassed.
We have some trivia for you, here on the big Dodgertron.
-Oh really? -Yeah.
You seem like you would do pretty well.
All right, so can we just roll the first trivia question?
We'll see who this is.
-Jason. -Mookie.
I can't believe Mookie said my name.
Who's the only player to win a MVP award in the American League
and the National League in consecutive seasons?
What was it?
-MVP? -Shohei.
-I'm gonna go with Shohei.
We think it's Shohei.
The answer, Shohei Ohtani.
-Boom! -Yeah. Take your shirt off.
Huh?
-Wait, this is strip poker too? -All right, let's do another one of this.
Jason.
Who is the only pitcher in MLB history
to win the NLCS MVP,
World Series MVP, and Cy Young in the same season?
I think it's Sandy Koufax. Try Sandy Koufax.
-Dave says Sandy Koufax! -Sandy Koufax!
-The answer is Orel Hershiser. -Shit!
God dammit.
-I shoulda known that. That was 1988. -But that was Freddie Freeman.
-But he said "Jason" too! -Gotta a couple more.
Jason, in the '80s, before a game at Dodger Stadium,
what legendary sportscaster declined David Letterman's invitation
to appear with him as a guest on The Tonight Show?
Clay Kershaw.
-To appear as a guest on The Tonight Show? -Yes.
Were you guest-hosting--
I was guest-hosting The Tonight Show, in whatever year this took place.
ABC had Monday Night Football in those days.
And this person, I walked right up to him,
and I said, "This'd be great."
I would love for you to be a guest with me on The Tonight Show."
"It'll be a lot of fun."
And that person said, "No, it wouldn't."
Uh, you gave me a hint there with the ABC Mondays.
-Was it Howard Cosell? -It was. It was.
Now, why did he think it was not gonna be fun?
Because I was just a dope, and he was Howard Cosell.
Had he never seen your show?
He probably had seen it. What an idiot.
Let's see. Let's confirm this.
-Howard Cosell. -Yep.
Thanks.
-We got one more. -We only missed one.
-I think I monkeyed the whole thing up. -It was your fault. You picked it.
But I'm just here to make trouble. We got one more.
In the late '80s at Dodger Stadium,
who was told by legendary authoritarian umpire
"Cowboy Joe" West,
after being introduced by Tommy Lasorda,
"You should've shaved"?
Um…
-Kurt Gibson? -Let's see what the answer is.
The answer is David Letterman.
Yes! It happened down there.
We came through those gates, down there in left field,
and it was me, Tom Dreesen, Tommy Lasorda. Here comes Joe West.
Now, I know who he is. I've never met him,
and I was on a break from the show, and I had not shaved in a day or two.
-Uh-huh. -That… it wasn't this.
Tommy says, "Joe, I want you to meet Dave Letter…"
"Oh, hi. Nice to meet you."
And he said, "Yeah, you need to shave."
-And I… I said, "Is that a rule?" -Uh-huh.
And he said, "I'll look into it."
If you're playing for the Yankees, it is.
Let's talk about, uh, SmartLess.
Okay. Oh yeah, yeah.
It took me a couple of years to understand what a podcast was,
and I think the first one that I paid attention to
was a guy named Marc Maron.
And then I heard about you and your pals, Sean and Will,
and then I heard a dollar number attached to it.
That's when I started paying attention.
How… And you must be tired of explaining the genesis of this project.
Well, not really, 'cause I'm very appreciative that…
Anyone here who listens to it, thank you.
You know, it's a…
It's, um… It's an opportunity for two of my best friends,
Will and Sean, for us to be able to talk once a week.
So we started Zooming,
and then Will was gonna do some podcast about sobriety
called The Journey.
I'm like, "Buddy, no one wants to hear your hiking podcast, you know?"
I said, you know, "I… I… Just have me on it,
and we'll just bullshit and it'll be kinda fun."
He's very funny. I've long admired that guy.
That Will Arnett, he gets me good.
God dammit, he's funny. Um…
-Let me ask you another question. -Yep.
You go over to his house, and just say you get him to open up the garage door.
Is it jammed full with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups?
Uh, well, there's some of that there, but there's…
Any kind of junk food you wanna find, you go over to Will Arnett's house.
-Oh, good. -I mean, it's outrageous.
I mean, he does have two teenage boys, so he's gotta keep his stock there.
-Fine. -But it's not for them.
-How did it grow in popularity? -I'm not sure.
It was during COVID, so folks were trying anything
to connect with people, you know?
And I think, um… and it was a bleak time.
And we were getting some of our fancy friends to come on,
you know, folks… Dax was our first guest.
and Will Ferrell came through there early on.
Jimmy Kimmel came in through early on. Um…
We could not make your deal, um… but…
No. I'm kidding. Dave was very nice. He did it in person,
uh, when we did our little documentary on HBO.
-That's right. -It was like…
That was… that was enormous to me.
This show had been running for four years when I was invited.
We knew who we were dealing with.
We had to get our shit together before we called you.
Let me ask you about that. So it starts out as a hobby that becomes…
And is there a better work-hobby story than
"We're doing what we were doing for free and loving it,
having a great time, and it was useful, not only to us."
And then somebody comes along and says,
"You know what? This thing's worth $100 million."
-Well, I mean that's… -Well, no.
-What do you mean? -Well…
What do you mean?!
The economics of podcasting, David, are a mystery to me.
Yeah, me too, but here's my point.
Does… then does it not become a friendly kinda hobby,
sort of like Sunday dinner,
does it then, "Holy crap, 100 million?"
Right, and basically what happened was…
-Paul McCartney did the show. -Ah!
-You know? -Wow.
-And, like, after-- -And how had he heard of the show?
Well, that was just it. As soon as we were done with the interview,
he was Sean's guest,
and then we do this silly little two-minute wrap-up afterwards,
like, "Boy, that guest was great."
I say to Sean, I say, "Sean, how do you know Paul McCartney?"
He goes, "I don't. That was an incoming call."
So we realized that… That was the first time I realized
that the show had become a hit because his people,
they had picked this that I guess our numbers were such
that it was worthy of Paul McCartney,
and… and so that was very lucky.
And what else can we discuss about you and your wild success?
Um… uh… there's a new Netflix thing that I just finished,
I'm super-duper proud of, it's called Black Rabbit.
Black Rabbit. I was very close, very close to being on the Black Rabbit.
-Very close. -That's right.
So Dave lives somewhere near where we were shooting one day.
I, unfortunately, was not working that day,
but apparently you walked by the set, said,
"Hey, what are you guys shooting?" And he sits down there in video village
in front of the monitors where the director usually sits.
Did they give you headphones? Did you have some notes?
I wanted a part in that show so badly, and here's…
-Did you ask that? -Of course I did!
I had been at, uh… New York Federal Court, District Three, or whatever they call it.
I… on jury duty that week.
-Come on. -Yes.
And through… I demand justice.
And through, uh,
one mishap after another, I end up walking home.
I come home to my house,
and there's this huge, enormous movie production.
I sit down and borrow… There's a PA there, I said, "Can I use your phone?"
"I don't have my phone. I have my keys. I gotta get into my house."
She says, "Sure." So I'm calling people trying to get into my house.
In the meantime, I said, "What's this? What's goin' on?"
She tells me what the whole thing is, and I said, "I wanna be an extra in this."
And then she says, "Fine with me." She don't care.
But did… You didn't end up in front of the camera?
No, because these were all very nice people
who thought it would be a hoot to screw up the whole production
by putting me in a scene. This was the final shot of the series.
-Oh, I know which shot that is. -Yeah.
Anyway, that's what you're doing. Currently, it's being edited.
You directed it. You produced it.
Yep. Jude Law and I play brothers that run this sort of nightclub
in the Lower East Side. and something goes wrong,
a couple people die, and you try to figure out who did it
over the course of the eight episodes.
Okay. Anyway, congratulations on… on that.
-Thank you. -Okay.
So I want to know what I have omitted,
what I have done, what I've been negligent about.
Is there anything you wanna invite here?
Thank you to the nice people here for showing up.
Did we do it?
-I think we're okay. -Did we do it?
Uh… I… It's so nice to see you. So nice to see you.
I'm sorry we haven't met heretofore.
And good luck to your other daughter, sister,
in Rhode Island with her boyfriend Jim.
-Thank you guys for comin' out. -Thank you.
On the next My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.
-You want one more bat? -I'll try one.
Dave and Jason continue to build up their confidence at the plate.
Yeah, I always had second-base power.
He hadn't.
-There it is. -That's gonna drop.
-I could get to second on that. -He couldn't.
-I'm leavin' on that one. -He didn't.
-Gimme three more. -No. Let's finish the bucket.
Finish the bucket. That's your war cry.
And for the record, Ron Howard is not a well-known asshole.