"Adam Scott"
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So, listener, this is the portion of our show called The Cold Open. Why isn't it called The Hot Open? Well, because it originated back in the old country. Jesus. Yeah, yeah, yeah. With refrigerator boxes. Welcome to an all-new Smart List. Smart. Live. Smart. Live. Smart. Live.

Do you guys sleep with the room blacked out or the shades open? That's my opening topic. Hang on, Will. Sean's got some material. Go ahead, Sean. What should we say? What is it? I don't have material. No, I don't. Do you? No, I can't sleep with... I have to sleep with them open because... Go rolling. Go back to one. I have to sleep with them open because I can't wake up when it's pitch black. It makes me really depressed.

Okay, I mean- I had a payday candy bar yesterday. This is, hang on a second. This is his second bit. He didn't want to lead with this one because it's not as strong as the first one. One subject at a time. Sean, and now are you checking these off every time you hit one of these? Because I know you wrote these down. No, they're in the back of my head. But truly about the blackout thing, that is something that my wife really prefers. She likes to have total blackout in the room when she goes to sleep. She says she can't sleep when-

with light in the room. And I'm still trying to figure out how she's been able to sleep with her eyes open all these years. Wow. Right? I mean, if your eyes are closed, no, if your eyes are closed, you don't need blackout curtains. That's what I'm saying. Your eyes are closed. And your eyeballs roll up behind in the back of your head when you're sleeping too. Right. But the thing is, I can't, but more than that, I don't want to wake up when it's,

Like, I don't know what time it is then. Yeah, exactly. It's real kooky to wake up in a blackout room. It is really kooky. Yeah, I agree. I mean, we used to go to sleep as human beings when it got dark out and we'd go to sleep appropriately at that time because there was no light. And then we'd wake up when it got light out. Yeah, you kind of peek your eyes open. Is there light outside yet? No. Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of nice. It is nice to look out the window and see that the day's out there.

That's what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, it gets you going. I'm an early, I'm a super early riser, as you guys know, and I like to go to bed early too. So how has that been when you've now moved over there to New York to do your film? Which, by the way, I was thinking the other day, I'm a real shitheel for not having reached out to you and asked you how things are going thus far, because you're right in the middle of prep. You're a couple of weeks out from shooting. Yeah.

Yeah. Filmed a little thing. A little bit. Let me just ask you publicly, how is it going? How are you feeling? Are you excited? Are you nervous? Are you pumped? Yeah, I'm really excited. It's been good. Prep has been excellent. It's been really, really good. And yeah, we're right in the thick of it right now. Can you tell us a couple of your credits before this starts? Of course. And are you acting in this? Are you producing it? Are you directing it? Let me go back through. So some of my credits as self are,

These are the talk shows? Talk shows. Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight appearances. Formerly known as Jimmy Kimmel Live. So those are their own. And then Jimmy Kibble, also separate. So this is your big debut. Any scripted stuff? You know what? You know what? You know, I was looking at talk show appearances recently, and I was like, I think I've done...

Like, all the different iterations of Conan's show, I think a total of like close to 30 times. Same with Kimmel.

I think I've done Letterman like six times. It's a lot of appearances on those shows. It's a lot of stories. I'm loving being in New York, though, so much. It's been really, that part of it has been amazing, too. Will has something prepared. Go ahead, Will. What about New York that you're enjoying? And I'm just saying, if you find yourself in Midtown and you're looking for some men's fashion, sorry. Oh.

You're thinking maybe New York might be a fit for you once again in your life to live a little bit more full-time there? Yeah. As you guys both know, I lived here full-time for over 20 years and then moved out to L.A. and the kids were, the bigger kids were little and, you know,

It just worked out that that was really convenient and they like school out there and they still do. So my older kids are in high school in LA. But you're thinking maybe when they're done, you can maybe, yeah? I'm going to do a little. Because God knows where they're going to go. I'm going to split some time. Exactly. God knows where they're going to go. And so I'm going to start to split my time a little bit between the East Coast and LA and the East Coast. Start to feather it in. Mm-hmm.

And then in a few years... Feather or like you say, braid it. Braid it. Braid it. Yeah, yeah. And then eventually go full-time East Coast and back here in New York. I really like it. And, you know...

That's great. My guest today appears in pretty much everything good you've seen on the small or big screen in the last 20 years. No stranger to the podcast space. Please try to sound sincere. Start from the top again. I love this person. Okay. My guest today appears in pretty much everything good you've seen

Period. No stranger to the podcast space, where did Will go? He's tying his shoes or something? He's co-hosted one about the band U2 as well as a separate one about R.E.M. His last name is also a first name and he once claimed he can't live without protein bars or a water flosser, Jason. Today, he stars in one of the most anticipated second seasons of a show ever,

Something I love. I love them and everything, but this one I really love. That show is called Severance and his name. Adam Scott? Brilliant. Adam Scott. Hey, Adam. Oh my goodness. Hi, guys. This is very long overdue. I know. This is ridiculously long overdue. Can I just ask, is it too late to jump in on that blackout curtains? No, no, no. Please. We know you're a classic vampire. Let's hear it.

No, I have no stance. I don't give a shit. Really? Okay. What about Naomi? Good opener, good opener. What is Naomi like, her sort of her bedroom light? By the way, Adam, you don't have to tell Jason what your wife prefers sleep-wise. Okay, just feel free to say fuck off. Okay, go ahead. Jesus Christ, Jason. Well, okay, just tell me what she sleeps in. I, no, I...

Blackout curtains in like a hotel, I can never wake up with the blackout curtains, but at home, you know, for some reason they don't really have the effect. And that was about as interesting as it got. So wait, so you are using blackout curtains in your home? No, we do have...

We do have blackout curtains now that you mention it. Yes. But, you know, I'm always up early. You know, aren't you? You have kids. You're up early. Blackout curtains don't even matter. Amanda got up early this morning because she went to a workout class with our eldest. Kind of a cute mother-daughter thing. But anyway, so she's up early before I'm getting up. And I was reminded once again, she's a real heavy walker.

She doesn't roll the heel to the toe. It's almost like she's got no flexibility in her Achilles tendon. So she's just jamming the peg of the heel down. Achilles. And she pops the light switches. Mm-hmm.

You know how you can turn on a light switch so it makes no sound? Oh, yeah. She's never heard it. Just whack, whack. She'll brush her teeth and shake out all the supplements from the bottles and stuff from the bathroom. It's like, what is going on? It sounds like she wants you to wake up.

Exactly. How about a nice little reach over and just a gentle rocking would be nice. JB, it also sounds like you are intolerable as a person. It's fucking... Because all this time I thought Amanda was the problem. I agreed with you over the years. I agree that she talks a lot. She talks out of turn. She grabs everybody and whispers in their ear. She's always confiding in people. Talk all day. Yeah.

You know what she does? She grabs you. She pulls you to the side. Totally. Yeah, yeah. I love that. Oh, Adam's falling down the hole himself. But now I realize you're the problem. It's not her. She's an angel. Now you realize? As you would say, a sweet angel. Yeah, sweet baby angel. Yeah, no, I've got plenty of quirks. Fuck. Adam, welcome. Welcome, Adam. Thank you. Thanks, you guys. So...

Sorry I was late. No, by the way, the, you know. By the way, all of that, you guys were, there was a whole flurry of activity around you being, what, seven minutes late. It's actually impressive. No, it's just unusual. If you're 60 seconds late to this thing, one of us will get after you. Oh, yeah. Will and I have wrecked each other's days at least a half a dozen times.

Where we're like legit mad at each other and have to have a follow-up phone call four hours later and make up. Because of like a four-minute thing. Yeah, there's like 10 minutes of vibe throughout the start of the interview. Oh, you're mad at me because I'm late? You didn't want to check your connection before the start of the recording? Wow. Yeah, it's real. You know how brothers kiss. Sure. You know how that happens.

Anyway, sorry. Wait, Adam, thank you for being here. Thanks for having me, guys. Yeah, and I'm glad you're my guest because I, as you know, I'm a big fan. You know what? I'm glad you're his guest too to a degree, but I saw the ads for, and I loved Severance. I haven't watched, I love Severance season one. So good. First of all, out of the gate, you're fucking great, Adam. Severance one, so good. Love it, love it, love it. And I saw an ad for season two. I don't know if it was on,

Maybe he was online or something. And I saw an ad and I thought, how have we not had Adam on the show yet? And look, here we are. Here we are. It's Sean's fault. Sean hasn't been able to book him. That was three days ago I went through that thought process. Only three days ago. Sean finally booked me.

I know. And then, Adam, we don't need to mention the product, but did I hear your voice on a campaign a couple of days ago on TV? Yeah, maybe. Are you doing any voiceover work for a... Financial... You can mention, what is it? Tax Act. Yeah. Tax Act. You have a very pleasant voice. By the way, that's my first time delving into that kind of... And it is the best. Yeah, it's like...

morons could do it. Isn't that right, Will? Will. Hey, Will. Uh-oh, Will. My screen froze. Sorry. Yeah, that's what happens when you're a robot. You glitch out every once in a while. Go ahead, give us a professional grade, you fucking... I'm not going to give it away for free. Listen, my friends over at GMC, they make a product.

that's made here, this American made. And if you like a truck. Right. But you've been doing it like at home for, like you, you, you know, you've been, Will, you know exactly what you're doing here. Like this is what you've been doing for a long time. Oh yeah. Yes. That, that is true. It is the best. Ask him what his favorite microphone is and the best cans to wear. I mean, look, do you want to see some of this? Yeah. Do you have a different mic? Depending on. Oh,

Oh, that's in a box. Look at that. This is in a beautiful quilted box. Nobody cares about your microphone in a box. A mahogany. It's wrapped up like a precious dildo. Are you kidding? It does look like that. This is an old school microphone. It is the fucking Cadillac of microphones.

This is a, or it's a, you know, a Yukon XL Denali of microphones. It's the Neumann U87. This microphone is made in Germany. I do keep it in this box at all times. Germany, we all know Germany. That's where all the good mics come from. Yeah, it is true. Everybody knows that. It is true.

So, nobody knows that. So, Adam. So, yeah, Adam, go ahead, Sean. If you wanted to ask me, you go ahead. I just wanted to say, I wanted to say one thing and then I wanted to ask you something, which was, and I'm sure you know this, but I was doing my play Good Night Oscar in Chicago with Tramiel Tilleman. Yeah, Tramiel. Yes, and Tramiel said... Bellissimo. So, Tramiel said...

This is a performance. Oh, Mr. Oscar, come to life. I'm going to do it in Italy. Sorry, Adam. This is a great rehearsal. We're going to record in a couple of minutes.

Anyway, so Tramiel comes to rehearsal and he's like, hey, y'all got to check out my show, Severance on Apple. And I was like, oh God, it's homework. I got to watch another friend's show. And then so I go home and watch. I couldn't take my eyes off. I was like, this is the best. And then every night at the show, I was like, oh my God, I'm in a show with a guy from Severance. True.

It was incredible. So good. He's Milchak for anybody who doesn't know, which now his name is Milchak. Yeah. Which is great. But I want to just talk about Severance and get that out of the way because I love it. Because when Ben Stiller was on the show, he, I might get this wrong, but he said when he read the script, it was almost, he thought it was supposed to be a comedy or something. Is that right? Because there's comedy elements in it, but it's a tone like you've never seen before, which is so hard to achieve. Did you get that from reading it? No.

Well, I think that he was sort of thinking a way into it would be like the workplace comedy that we've all sort of grown accustomed to as kind of its own genre. And he thought that could be a way in for audiences, like see these people working with their like banter and all of that, except none of them know who they are or what they're doing.

what they're doing. Right. Yeah. And sort of that's sort of the way and I think that's and part of the reason he thought of me is because I've, you know, been in workplace comics. Well, I was going to say, so as we all know, you were on Parks and Rec for many years, which was...

Bravo! Thanks. Bravo! I started it down here, just under camera. I see. Okay, thank you. Okay. Bellissimo. Bravo. Bravo! He's saving the parks and the recreation. So... So...

But it is funny, you know. I love that he's in the back of the theater. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it also speaks to the size of the, just the breadth of this theater that you're in. Yeah. But yeah, you did a very, a really great, very popular workplace comedy. And then you have to kind of shift gears. I mean, that one is a bunch of people who,

They know who they are, but they don't really know what they're doing a lot of the time in Parks and Rec. And then you go to this other one, which... And what I loved about Severance early on was, first of all, is that you're... It's one of those shows where you're... Not only do they not know what's going on, the characters, but you as an audience member are trying to piece it together. You're like, what's happening? For me, that scratches an itch. I love that because it keeps you hooked. You're like, what's happening? Yeah.

I agree, that's part of what I loved about it too. And to sort of the gradual, it was a constant like negotiation of like how much of the iceberg do we show, you know, from first of all, season one, how far are we gonna go? And originally the season was,

by the time season one ends, it was going to be way further down the line story-wise than what it ended up being. Oh, wow. So it's constantly that thing, like how much do we want to show? How much do we want the audience to sort of follow the breadcrumbs and all that kind of stuff? Yeah, yeah. And you being the protagonist, sort of the central focus, you kind of hold our hand as the audience through this odd situation

And do you, you've been the protagonist, you've been the antagonist. Do you like that? Do you like being the audience's proxy through something that is kind of difficult to manage? I do. And it's a completely different thing as I'm sure you'd imagine.

you to test Jason because actually early on I remember when I started doing Party Down which was before Parks and thank you very much. Let's hear him in the back. Could that get a heart to park? How you make me laugh

They like to party down so much. We've never done this bit before and this will be the last time, but we're just going to go ahead and milk it till it's a stone. Okay. They like to party down so much. We party too. We'll be right back.

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You're doing "Party Down" and you're a protagonist or an antagonist? Right, so we're doing a scene early in that show and we were just starting. And up to that point, I had roles where, you know, where you're trying to like stuff everything into a couple of scenes. Yeah. And so,

I was doing this scene where Lizzie Kaplan and I were meeting for the first time and talking. And I remember the director, Fred Savage, took me aside after a couple takes and was just like, hey, man, you know, you've got all season. You can chill. Pump it. Just easy, bro. Yeah. Like, we've got all this time and you can...

you know, the audience is gonna go through the story with you. So you can just pull back and just, like, he was essentially just saying, fucking relax. Don't worry about it. Did that crush your spirit? Was that shaming? Well, no, it was actually, it was like the best advice I'd,

But also kind of looking back, yeah, maybe in the moment probably questioning everything, but looking back, it's like the best piece of advice because, you know, he's 100% right. And I'm sure he learned that lesson when he was like nine years old or something, but it's true. You can just take your foot off the gas a little bit.

Otherwise, it's going to be exhausting to watch. You're going to be watching someone. Well, you have nowhere to go, all that kind of stuff, right? You know, it occurs to me as you say that, Adam, I'm like, what's the best? Can you guys, this goes to everybody, remember a piece of direction, a simple note or something that's always stuck with you that was a good one or a really bad one?

I got a piece of bad direction once from, oh gosh. Don't say the name. Okay, I won't say the name. But he said, what the fuck is wrong with you? Whoa. No, really? Wow.

I think you said that before, yeah. And didn't he scream it like either across the set or from Video Village? No, yeah, from Video Village in front of 200 people. And saying that and then expecting you to like experiment and find. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Jesus Christ. That was the direction. Also, but Jimmy Burrows once said, Jimmy Burrows, the great Jimmy Burrows, James Burrows. He said, I said, Jimmy, is it funnier if I like say the line and slam the fridge or...

or should I slam the fridge and then say the line? And his direction was, honey, I don't care. That's pretty good. Jimmy Burroughs once, not to me, but to somebody else I was doing a scene with, and we were on one of those rehearsal days, and he's just got his podium on the wheels. And we go through a scene, and we're going to move to the other scene, sort of down the stage a little bit. And as he's walking away, rolling his thing, he turns to this guy who's in the scene with me, and he goes...

Hey, clear on the words. And the guy goes, which one, Jimmy? And he goes, all of them. He kept walking. He is funny. I fell to my knees laughing so hard. By the way, his book is...

is incredible. Yeah, it's really good. It's so good. He once just simply yelled to me, stop pushing. That's it? Really? Yeah, I was pushing too hard. Which reminds me of the actually, the most helpful note I ever got was very similar. Not to drop a name, but I was doing a movie of the week in like the early 90s on CBS with the great Catherine Hepburn. And I was doing a scene with her and she...

She was our finest. She said to me, she stopped in the middle of the scene. I was supposed to be crying in the scene. It's just me and her. And she stopped in the middle of the scene. And I'm trying to squeeze these tears out. She goes, stop acting. Wow. And I said, like forever? Should I just...

Quit? No, no. In the scene, just say it. Just say the words. Forever? Yeah. Like forever? Yeah. This is like a career pivot. She was like, no, just say the words. And she was right. And then I just said the words and tried to still do that every day. Love that. Yeah. Wait, so about your first two names. So is this right? Were you going to be Adam Quigley?

I can't even say it, Quartararo? Cordero. But first it was Quartararo. Well, my mom's maiden name was Quartararo and-

So I was like, well, that's too long. I wanted to, because part Sicilian, so I wanted to have like a Sicilian last name when I was in acting school to be more, you know, to sound like Al Pacino or Robert De Niro. Yeah, yeah, of course. Something with an O would be preferable. Yeah. So you cut the cordurero. Nothing wrong with an Italian name. Exactly. See, this guy knows what I'm talking about.

Okay, so wait. So I shortened it to Cordero. And I remember being in the library at the acting school I was at and like writing Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Adam Cordero. And being like-

Oh yeah, that looks right. That's cool. That's incredible. And then what happened? It didn't clear? Somebody had it? Yeah, that's right. And it was with a Q too, Cordero. Oh, I like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you were like, hey, give me the name of all the Australian pro golfers. That's right. Let's see a list.

That's the one. Adam Scott, that's the one. Wait, so how did you come up with Scott? That's my actual name. Oh, it is? Yes. Oh, I thought that was the other one. Oh, fucking great research, Sean. Sean, that was his dad's maiden name. Okay, sure. So when you were born, you just took your dad's name? Okay, got it. Wait, Adam, we've never talked about Adam Scott, the pro Australian golfer. Has that been an issue at all? Great swing.

He's got a great- He's gonna have a beautiful- He's incredible, right? I mean, I don't play golf or follow golf, but I've certainly like- Yeah, of course. Come up, obviously. You could do a lot worse. Yeah. Okay. To have the name else. Have you ever met him? No, but we- You got to. I remember way, like 20 years ago, we did it. Cool it, Will. We did an interview side by side and something. You have got to. But you guys-

He is, like you guys play golf, and he's still like a great golfer, right? He's very good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's very, very good. Well, I think it would be cool. Have you met him?

I've never met Adam Scott. Sounds like you'd like to. I like him a lot. He's very handsome. He's very stylish. Why don't you DM him or something, weirdo? Like he's going to answer me. But I will say this. Years ago, when I first got on that social media site, formerly known as Twitter, there was a guy who had my handle and he...

by the name of Will Arnett. And it turned out he lived in the middle of the country and he had my handle. Anyway, Orbiton.

Over the years, people would tag him mistakenly thinking they were tagging me or whatever. And he and I ended up following each other and we talked to each other from time to time. Really cool dude. Okay. Years later, I'm in, you're with me so far? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is fun. Go ahead. And I went, anyway, I was in Vegas one time and I ended up meeting up with him. We took a photo together and got to hang out. It was fun meeting another Will Arnett. It's fun.

End of story? End of story, sure. What a waste of time. Hang on. So, but on the way- I so wish I had a story about meeting Adam Scott. You arranged to meet one another and you took a photo together? Yeah. Is that what happened?

Yeah. Hang on, dude. You arranged to meet the guy that shares your name and handle on Twitter. He reached out to me because he said, hey, I see that you're in Vegas. I'm in Vegas. I'm also at Caesars right now. I said, where are you? And he said, and then we went over and we're like, what's up? After years? Why not? That's not...

bizarre at all. How did he know that you were at Caesars? Because I had posted a photo. Inside the casino? It's illegal. Go ahead. What, do you work for the casino now? Not anymore. The gaming commission? So, and then, okay, so wait. So now you're, he sees you walking towards him. You don't know what he looks like. And he goes, Will, and you turn to him and your eyebrows go up high and then was there a hug or a high five?

Or both. I don't remember. Y'all, I bet you do, fucking boring weirdo. I don't remember. How long ago was this, Will? This was like 10 years ago. I'll bet you know the month. Can you imagine, first of all, A, Bateman leaving his house for any reason, but B,

going out into the real world and doing anything with any other person that wasn't a means to an end that somehow satisfied his ego? Can you imagine? If there was another Bateman Jason and he had like a script or something that sounded promising, I'd meet him. Promising sounding script. What a script! I've got a one act. I would like...

There's a cop named Sean Hayes. Anyway, you've got to meet Adam Scott, the golfer. We're putting it out there. At a casino, preferably. Oh, God. I've got to link up with him and take a photo. Sean, there's another Sean Hayes, too? There's a cop named Sean Hayes somewhere. All right, so wait. I wanted to know when you first started. First of all, you're the youngest, just like me, out of all your family, right? Yeah.

And have you ever done theater, Adam? I've got theater stories, guys. Here we go. Good, good, good. No, but Adam, I wanted to ask you though, you're the youngest like I am and your parents got divorced like mine did. Sure. And when you're a kid, you can't vocalize, you know, what you're going through. You internalize all of that stress and stuff and then it comes out later as anxiety. Is that what happened to you or did you learn how to none? You were like, oh, I'm glad they're divorced. I have no anxiety.

No, I'm sure it did. I don't, I mean, I think, you know, I think when I was so young, like five, I guess, when it happened. Yeah, me too, five or two. Okay. I mean, that's pretty young for it to be your fault, but it seems- Sorry, keep going. It was clear that it was my fault. And as I know, it was your fault as well, Sean. Sure, yeah. I mean, that's why I'm here talking to you.

But you still have contact with your dad, right? Yeah, yeah, for sure. Your dad didn't just split. He didn't drive off. See you later. Right, he didn't drive off. And the last thing you hear is like, go get yourself! And mother still got both the eyeballs in her? Sean, as a fan of the show, I really do want to know,

If you have, do you have the eye like? Yeah, my sister has it. My sister has it. Oh, your sister has it. It's her turn.

It's seasonal, Adam. Yeah. Have you ever posted a photo of it or anything like that? It's on the documentary. I brought it on stage to show these guys. He brought it on stage. Yeah. It was, you know, he graced us with it. It was incredibly distasteful. Yeah. I've seen that documentary and I don't remember that all. Just to keep an eye out. It's a loose use of the word. Keep an eye out for it. Okay. Okay. We heard. Wow. All right. Wow. So wait, question three. Yeah.

Because we've gone through, are you emotionally scarred from your parents' divorce? Yeah, because I wanted to know that. Any follow-ups? What is it about your wife that drives you crazy? And then your favorite of your two children, which one do you like the best? Take them in whatever order you want. And then we'd love that theater story.

Have you ever had an emotional affair with a co-worker? Go ahead. Well, I faxed you the questions, Adam, didn't I? Didn't you get that fax? Yeah. All right, so listen, you fell in love when you were a kid with acting because you saw the Raiders of the Lost Ark is what I read. And I love that. Mine was E.T., but same era. Sure. Sure.

I don't know where you grew up. Santa Cruz up in the Bay Area. Right on. It's where they shot Lost Boys. Oh, that's right. That's pretty much the end of that story. Jason, did you ever shoot anything? They used to shoot stuff in the 80s up in Santa Cruz. I shot something in the back of my knee up there in a cave in Santa Cruz. My friend was going to UC Santa Cruz up there. And boy...

It came on real fast. No, kidding. There is a cave though up there called Steamer's Lane there in Santa Cruz. So you have been up there. That's a lot of fun. He was up there with Leif Garrett. No, I wasn't with Leif on that trip, and there were no needles involved, but there might have been a...

a stinky, skinny joint up there that was tough to stay lit. That sounds like Santa Cruz. Yeah. So the home of the slugs, banana slugs. Yep. And when did you get that acting bug? Me or... Was that for the guest? Go ahead, Adam. Uh...

Boy, I guess it probably was, you know, just seeing movies when you're a kid and you're like, I want to do that, like Temple of Doom and stuff. But what made it feel like within reach? Like everybody's got their own thing where they go like, yeah, I'm going to do it. It kind of never did. And that's why, like it was, I know it's like in California, but it may as well be like on a different planet.

country or something like we were so far removed from like show business it felt like going and being on tv or being in the movies felt like i'm gonna go to the moon or something just right they came and shot east of eden and santa like a mini series version of east of eden in our town and i remember they like put dirt out on the streets to make them look like dirt roads and had horses and

horse-drawn carriages, and then the actors' trailers. And I was like seven. And I remember seeing that and just being blown away. Like, holy fuck. And then you went to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. How old were you when you did that? 18. Was that high school? It was after high school. Okay. And was that down in Los Angeles at that point? Yeah, in Pasadena at the time. Okay. Oh, I remember that. All right. So then you made a deliberate move to come down and pursue it.

Yeah. And did you drive? It was a classic like drive down there with a bunch of shit strapped to the roof. A bunch of shit strapped to the roof of my 68 Rambler. And boy, what a, what a,

hard career to start jesus christ yeah yeah just like coming in cold and not knowing a soul yeah sean tried to do that it didn't everything blew off the roof didn't it yeah me and my sister drove me home from did that really happen it really did happen we were super stoned driving home didn't want to take that as a sign and hooky ue uh no because we looked in the rearview mirror we were singing songs we both just smoked pot this is we were both 18 whatever around 18 19

Or no, out of college, 20, 21, 22. I'm just looking up statute of limitations here one second. You're probably fine. And in the rear view mirror, we saw my clothes flying out. We're just like, do you want to turn back? And my sister's like, nah, I don't mean either. No way, you kept them? Clothes on the highway. But anyway. Well, strapping stuff to the roof is like not...

And when you're like 20, you're not going to do a good job strapping anything anywhere. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You don't realize the science. And at that point, you're like, fuck it, I can buy short shorts anywhere. I'll just get a bunch of different, right? So, but you move here and then, or you move to Los Angeles and then you're like...

you go to the American Academy, and then you're done with that. And it's like, okay. As you said, this is a tough way to start. You're like, all right. Yeah, dude. Where do we go now? Was it commercials first? It was background work first. I just moved from school. I moved to Hollywood and just started like,

and trying to do whatever and didn't know anyone. And we did a lot of background work and then got like a guest spot on something and then got a little agent and then just sort of, you know. Yeah. We'll be right back. ♪

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What was the first thing where it was like, oh, this is going to give me a little bit of capital that I can maybe use for a couple of jobs? Like, what was the first kind of big thing? I mean, I think part of the self-delusion you need in order to survive, you think that every time you get anything, you're like, oh, fuck. Okay, now, but...

It turned out that I didn't really have a career until like 15 years later. And what was that? What was the thing? That was like, it was like this period of time where it was like,

parks stepbrothers party down like this period of like three years where these things all happen yeah well you were you were you were definitely a working actor that i was certainly well aware of before those three things happened but you're saying those three things kind of put you in another category or maybe you weren't really auditioning anymore and people you had some incoming calls yeah a bit it was just i remember when that started happening and i remember getting a

some incoming phone calls from like Mike and Polar, like, hey, do you wanna maybe, and just being like, oh, this is what it's like to actually have something going. I thought when I did murder one, I was on top of the world. Yeah, yeah. Thank you.

I didn't care for it. Adam, but I thought this was really cool. When you were 14, like, because Will was talking about at the top about, like, doing Conan so many times and Jimmy Kimmel and all those shows. And you were obsessed with Letterman, which I loved. I was too as a kid. And how did you... Talk about that when you were 14, you went to... How did you...

course, your parents and letting you go to New York to go, you went to a taping or something? Well, we went to, we went to, we were on like a family trip and I was just like, let's go to 30 Rock so I can get a Letterman t-shirt. And we were there, didn't even think about doing the tour or anything. We were just at the gift shop and my brother and I saw Chris Elliott walk by and we were like, oh, holy shit. And we just

chased him down and he stopped and talked to us for like 20 minutes. It was amazing. No way. That's cool. That's a great Chris Elliott. The great, those Chris Elliott bits back from Letterman were unbelievable. So good. And then what was the name of the old man that would always be on the show? Biff Henderson? No, no, no. No, no, no. Oh, Larry Bud Melman? Yeah, Larry Bud Melman. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whose real name was...

DeForest Kelly, I think. Yes, yes. No, no, no, that's the guy on Star Trek. No, no, no, no, but you're right in the ballpark. DeForest something. Yeah, we'll get it. I remember when we talked to Chris Elliott,

He was talking to us for a while and then he was like, I gotta go, but you guys should watch the show tonight. I'm gonna try something new out. And it was the first night he did his, remember he did Marlon, this really weird Marlon Brando impression? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember that. That was what that was. Calvert DeForest. Calvert DeForest. Calvert DeForest. Calvert DeForest. Yeah.

So, but what was that like? Because, you know, I think all of us, when you're like Jason, always talked about the first time he did The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, how like, that you're like, oh God, I'm on that thing that all the other famous people are on. So I must be in that, right? So having been obsessed with Letterman when you were growing up,

I assume you were on, yeah, many times. Yes, I did it twice before he finished, yeah. I mean, that was doing Letterman, as I'm sure it was for you guys too, was a major like life moment the first time. That's it, that was it. Totally. Petrifying, petrifying. It was everything. I had my brother come out and so he was in the audience. And I mean, you know, it's just the best. And he was so...

and hilarious and I just couldn't believe it. I'm sure I was nervous and terrible, but it was really something. Wait, so why was your nickname Spanky? Here we go. Wasn't your nickname Spanky when you were a kid? Well, it was when I was in Little League, I had, they called me, I was a heavier kid

for a few years and I was on the baseball team. And so the kids called me Spanky because this kid went from Little Rascals, the heavy kid on Little Rascals. You know what? I had the opposite problem because I grew up like so skinny. I could not gain weight. I would drink milkshakes and go work out with my brother and eat burgers. And like, I couldn't, I couldn't

Couldn't gain weight. Sure made up for it. You fixed it. Sorry. Walked right into that. Who wanted it first? You sure did. Yeah. But it's so funny because people, you know, make fun of fat kids all the time when you're in school. All the other kids are mean. But like when I was a kid, people used to make fun of me for being so skinny. People were like, well, you know. Sucks. It was just the same. Skinny shame. Skinny shame, yeah, all the time. What would you give to have people make fun of you for being skinny? Yeah, exactly. A hundred percent.

But the thing is, is back then the kids were all calling me Spanky, but then eventually the coach started calling me Spanky as well, which was so fucked up. Oh, that's good. Yeah, that's good. Wait, so then you married, so your wife, Naomi, for my sister, Tracy, Naomi Sapp. Did you say Sablon or Sapp? Sablon, right? It's Scott, but yeah, her maiden name was Sablon. When you met her, that was her name. And she was a producer. And how did you meet her?

On a show? We met, no, we met at a bar at the Cat and the Fiddle.

I love Cat and Fiddle. Remember that place? Yes, I used to go all the time. The outside so you could smoke. Yes. Yeah, I used to go all the time. That was the best. Yeah. We met there in like 1998. Wow. That's crazy. I was there. We probably ran into each other and didn't know it. I would go there all the time. Same. Like that and the dragonfly. Do you remember going to the dragonfly? Oh, yeah. I would go to Cat and Fiddle. That's it.

Isn't that when you had a candle on your dashboard? Oh, yeah. This is why I don't go out anymore. You know, these guys make fun of me, but I've fixed my ways. But Adam, I used to go to Cat and Fiddle all the time with Julie Bowen and that's when we'd make out and stuff. Oh.

But anyway, so, and then, but you, so it was a... Julie Vaughn, everybody. Julie Vaughn. Julie Vaughn, she's the best. I love her. You used to have family karaoke nights and you love Billy Joel. I love Billy Joel. Just did a documentary that's coming out on HBO about him. Oh, you did? Really? Yeah, produced it in my company. Oh, amazing. Yeah, but... Well, hang on a second. You're... Yeah, Billy Joel. You're a huge Billy Joel. He's the piano man!

Sorry. So stupid. Just crushing this bitch to death. Wait, are you a singer? No, I can't sing at all. Oh, so you just kind of do it. Yeah, I guess so. Where are you right now? What room are we enjoying? This is our office over on Radford. It is on Radford. Did you just say Radford? I did. How did you know that? I don't know. There was something about the bleakness of it that looked like Radford. Yes.

Are you still doing the show, Severance? I thought it was rad. No, this is, Naomi and I have a company that we have in our office here. Oh, that's great. That's great. That's fucking crazy that I just- It's insane that you just said Radford. They're about to redo that whole studio. Have you been consulted about that?

No, they haven't asked me anything about that, and now I'm pretty fucking pissed. Yeah, no, they can redo the whole thing. It's kind of rad. Bring the blueprints over and go through it with me. What are you excited about that's coming out of your company? Well, we're developing a bunch of stuff right now. Do you like that kind of work, like working with writers and taking a script and—

I do. Yeah. I know you do too. I'm sure I know all of you guys do. Yes, I do. I mean, I think like, and I don't know if it's the same for you guys, but after acting for so long, it's nice to use all the hours of your day, you know, because after a certain number of years, you realize that acting can take up this much. But if you're, you know, producing or whatever, you can sort of,

Stay busy. All of it. Yeah, and sort of keep your eye on the whole thing, the thing as a whole, instead of just your little part of it that you can't really control all that much. Are they listening to you at all over there on Severance? Let's get you in trouble here. Let's do it. When you have thoughts and ideas over there at Severance, fun to get there and get involved? Yeah, for sure. Dan Erickson, who created it, and Ben, and it's great. Yeah.

Dan Erickson and Ben Stiller. Yeah, it's a great group of people. We have great time. And where are you in that process? You're out here in LA. You're obviously not shooting. You are waiting to hear about a third season or plans to start it? Well, they're not going to not make a third season.

Yeah, we're hopeful that we'll be able to make a third season. When would you start doing that if they do? Hopefully really soon so it's not, you know, this last break was like three years, a three-year wait between seasons. So hopefully it'll be a lot shorter than that. And that's in New York, right? New York, yeah. And how does that work with...

Family. Yeah. Sometimes it's an annoying thing to hear about us complain about, but it is a real thing. It's not easy to manage working away from Los Angeles where a lot of the work happens. It is. It's really hard with family because...

I know you just finished something out there for Severance. It's like nine, 10 months we're shooting that show. And wow. So it's just like, you know, you're just gone. And I know you try, I try and fly back as much as possible, but I don't end up with much time off. And, but the kids, the good thing is, is teenagers, they plow it on their own if they want to. And they love going to New York, you know, you figure it out, but it's, it is, it's, it's a drag. Yeah. It's hard.

Go back to, you know, I didn't know all this music. I didn't know you love music as much as I do or...

probably Will does. Jason. What do you mean? Like, like, like, like, Jason doesn't know. Jason doesn't care for music. He doesn't get it. I like sounds. Um, but you did just go somebody tell me what's cool. You did a whole podcast about you too, which I didn't know an REM. And did you meet Bono or you two or anything? Is that true? Yeah, it was in the intro. Yeah, we did Scott Aukerman and I get pissed off Sean Scott. It was in my fucking written intro.

We started a podcast about you two just sort of as a joke because you two kind of felt like a funny couple.

funny subject matter just because they're so sort of mainstream. We go and analyze that. We, we weren't sure what it was going to be, but we just started going album by album through U2's catalog, both of us growing up with them and being fans and stuff. But then, and it's so stupid. It's ridiculous. Um,

bits and stuff, but super fun. But then eventually, and it was not our intention at all when we started it, eventually we did have the band on a couple of times. That's amazing. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, it was super crazy. Did you see them perform at the Sphere? Yeah. Yeah. Wasn't that incredible? That venue is just stunning. Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah, I went opening night, I think, like the very first, yeah. It was wild. Mm-hmm.

First of all, thank you for being here today. Theater stories. Yeah. Well, by the way, if you have a theater story, I love a good theater story. You can tell me now. We can end strong right here. I actually don't. All right. Okay, next question. I do. Finish strong, Sean. Come on. You can do this. I want to talk about like Billy Joel and like why you love him so much because I love him so much. And I think you met Paul Rudd and you got to meet Billy Joel. And you and Paul met him at the same time or something? We had him... I did this thing, Naomi and I...

made this show for Adult Swim where we recreated opening credit sequences for TV shows from the 80s. That's funny. Shot for shot made these opening credits. So we did "Bosom Buddies" with Rudd and I as those guys. And it was a Billy Joel song, obviously was the theme song. And so as part of the like fake documentary about the making of this thing, we got Billy Joel

join us and play the song for us. He was great. He was really, really funny and great. I didn't know that you liked Billy Joel so much. I love Billy Joel. I play his music. I sing his songs. My go-to is Honesty. I love that song. It's a great song. Did you see him at the Madison Square Garden? Yeah, because I was about to say bullshit. No, I couldn't make it out for Madison Square Garden, but I really wanted to. But I've seen him in concert many, many times. Another guy with two first names.

Yeah, that's right. Oh man. Billy Joel, yeah, look at that. Adam Cordero. That's me. Adam Cordero. That's me. Adam Scott, listen, I wanted to ask you, but we ran out of time. We're saying goodbye, but you must get stopped. People must stop you all the time because of stuff you do, but stepbrothers, people must go crazy on you, right? Yeah.

Yeah, it's still like that was, you know, a while ago. And yeah. I know, but it was so popular. Love that movie. And I love it too. I'm sure I would feel that way if I wasn't. I love turning it on anytime I see it. Anytime I see it on TV, I watch it. It's so good. You're so good in that movie. You've never sucked. Everything you do, you're great in. So I would imagine a lot of people, you've been a part of a lot of really great things that are very cool in the comedy world. Thank you. And,

That's something you should... I'm sure you do really...

are proud of. Well, likewise. And you know, the part of that, when I was talking earlier about that kind of figuring it out when we started Party Down, the other part of that that I was gonna get to was when I was telling someone about the show, I forget who it was. I was like, yeah, it's this catering team and I'm kind of at the center of it and I'm not sure what to do. And they're like, oh, you're at the center of it? Like Bateman on Arrested Development.

Right, which is the craziness circling around him. Yes, and that was so key to kind of figuring it out is –

I was watching the show anyway, but really thinking about it from that perspective is very-- How could you do-- How can I be a robot? Go ahead, Will. How could you be a sort of charmless and-- That's right. Emotionless. How could you suck all the charisma, charisma-less and just be a blank mayonnaise on mayonnaise on the egg? Thank you, Will.

Well, what an inspiration. Happy to provide some sort of guidance. Adam, we love you. Thank you for being here today. Guys, thank you for having me. Such a fan of the show. Adam, love you. Adam. Love you guys. Please pass on our regards to Naomi. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for doing this.

Please tell Abel and Archie. I doubt they remember me, but please tell them hello. I saw Abel yesterday. They're like full teenagers now. They are full teenagers. I will... JB ran into... Abe texted me from school. That's how I knew JB. And he's like, I just ran into Jason and he grabbed my ear. And I was like, yeah, that sounds about right. And, you know, they are such big fans. I can say this. They're such big fans of yours and of Parks and Rec, even though it's their mom's show. During the pandemic, we watched...

Abe and I watched all these episodes, like most of Parks and Rec, again. Wow. Watched it all the way through. And then I would say to Amy, like, hey, that episode was really good. Right. Super high like that. Yeah, like eight years later. My kids have yet to see Parks and Rec. They're just, they don't care at all. Right? I mean, right. Do they? I don't know. Don't care. Your kids are like mine. They don't watch anything that we do. Nothing. They haven't watched the rest of the development. Never. My kids...

And Abe loves comedy. Well, neither does Sean, right? No, Sean's never watched it. And he is one of our children. So wait, Abe and Archie have not watched Arrested? No, and their friends have. I love it. Abe was like, a lot of my friends love BoJack Horseman. We're going to strap these kids down one goddamn day. They should watch Arrested and they should watch BoJack Horseman. I know. And Parks and Rec. We're going to strap them down. They've watched Parks and Rec. They will respect us.

Amy kind of guilted them into it though, if I'm being honest. If I'm being totally honest. In a way that only Polar can. Okay, fine. Don't watch it. Your choice. Adam, thank you, dude. Guys, thank you. Love you, buddy. Great to see you. Love you too. Bye. Take it easy.

Now, that feels like we kind of deprived the audience of a really good interview because it just felt like we were just sitting on the couch. He's over here at one of our homes like he always is. And I feel like we were undisciplined. I was. Disrespectful. A bunch of bullshit. No, no, no. That's okay.

You know what? No, it's like the Katherine Hahn episode, you know, where a good friend comes on and we just kind of chit-chat. Yeah, just a bunch of bullshit. Yeah. We apologize, listener. We're just children. Adam likes to fuck around and do bits and joke around, and so why not? Yeah. I mean, it must have been like that on Will and Grace. Oh. I love it. Everybody's gay.

I finally feel good about my sexuality. I feel safe to come out now. Please let me out. Can I sit closer to the stage now? I'm in here. I can't see anything from back here. That is so funny. So dumb. It's so great. Hey, but listen, at the end of the day...

At the end of the day, you need people like Adam Scott.

Well, good for you to bring it back. Look at you. What a responsible steward of our show. I'm trying to talk slowly here as I try to think up a bye. No, I got one. So by having, okay, by having Adam in our world, socially, professionally, what, Sean? It's wonderful. It's wonderful. It's like what your Italian friend would say, ciao, but we would say. Instead, we would say, buh-bye. Buh-bye. Buh-bye.

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Stand-up comedian, actor, and writer John Mulaney is coming to you live. Every Wednesday, John invites you into his world on Everybody's Live with John Mulaney, exclusively on Netflix. This weekly comedy talk show covers whatever he's interested in this week. It's reckless. It's eccentric. It includes iconic guest combinations that you could only imagine in your wildest dreams. Tune in weekly at 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Everybody's Live with John Mulaney is now playing only on Netflix.

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