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Randall Park: 我拥有自己的动作玩偶,这让我感到很开心。我的玩偶滞销,所以我大量购买以避免被市场完全抛弃。虽然出演漫威角色,但我并非对其有长期承诺,可以自由接其他工作。我不太喜欢参加播客节目。早期演艺生涯中曾经历过剧集被取消,角色被朋友抢走等挫折,在《帮我帮我》剧集中失去一个角色对我来说是演艺生涯中最艰难的经历。在演艺事业中,坚持不懈非常重要,需要对这个过程充满热情。参与剧团工作帮助我重拾对演艺事业的热情。我改变了心态,即使不能在演艺事业上获得巨大成功,只要能继续从事相关工作,也能拥有幸福的生活。执导电影《缺点》是一次很棒的经历,希望继续从事导演工作。早期通过拍摄短片和网络剧积累了导演经验,参与Channel 101网络剧集比赛,积累了创作和拍摄经验。在早期事业中,我经历了单身和结婚。我和妻子在试镜等待室相遇。有了孩子后,我的生活压力有所减轻,但并不感到完全安全。我和妻子对未来不确定,但享受当下。我选择享受当下,而不是纠结于未来。积极的心态会影响生活结果。我和妻子非常感激现在的生活。童年时梦想成为漫画家。学习亚裔美国人研究让我更关注那些未被讲述的故事。我不擅长在公开场合表现自己,更喜欢真实地展现自我。我更喜欢私下与人交流,而不是在公开场合互动。 Ted Danson: 播客节目中,开场几秒钟内获得赞美可以使嘉宾放松。有时放弃才能找到真正适合自己的道路。子女从事演艺行业,父母会既支持又担忧。在《帮我帮我》剧集结束后,决定不再从事喜剧和电视行业。演员需要不断尝试新的角色和类型,不能重复过去的成功。我童年没有电视,第一次看电视是看了《迪克·范·戴克秀》。我相信我和妻子的相遇是命中注定。在与妻子相遇前,他已经开始改变自己,不再是以前的“一团糟”。他专注于自我提升,而不是关注公众舆论。他渴望被爱,但同时也能够保持冷静和客观。他和妻子结婚的决定非常自然和迅速。为人父母会降低人的自我中心。生活就是不断降低自我中心的过程。现实生活中的人际关系比网络上的互动要好得多。真诚的表达比空洞的理念更能促进人际理解。他童年在亚利桑那州长大,与霍皮族人建立了深厚的友谊,这影响了他的世界观。他意识到仅仅拥有良好的意图是不够的,需要真正理解和尊重他人的文化和历史。良好的人际关系和网络互动有很大区别。他不使用社交媒体,因为他觉得社交媒体会带来负面影响。他不建议人们过度使用社交媒体。

Deep Dive

Key Insights

What was Randall Park's reaction to seeing his action figure on clearance at Best Buy?

Randall Park was initially shocked and disappointed to see his action figure on clearance at Best Buy, feeling like no one was buying them. To cope, he decided to buy 50 of them himself, reducing his collection to about 30 after giving some away.

Why did Randall Park decide to buy 50 of his own action figures?

Randall Park bought 50 of his own action figures after seeing them on clearance at Best Buy, feeling a sense of rejection. He wanted to support himself and ended up giving many away to friends and guests.

What was a significant low point in Randall Park's acting career?

A significant low point in Randall Park's acting career was when he auditioned for a guest role on the sitcom 'Help Me Help You.' Despite giving his all and making it to the final two, he lost the role to his friend Eddie Shin, which left him devastated and questioning his career.

How did Randall Park meet his wife, Jay?

Randall Park met his wife, Jay, at an audition waiting room. They had briefly locked eyes at a party earlier, and when they met again at the audition, they connected immediately. They started dating after he invited her to his birthday party, and they have been together ever since.

What inspired Randall Park to pursue Asian American Studies at UCLA?

Randall Park pursued Asian American Studies at UCLA because he grew up without a strong sense of his Asian American identity. In college, he found himself immersed in an Asian American community, which felt new and exciting, leading him to want to learn more about his heritage and history.

What role did Randall Park's parents play in encouraging his creativity?

Randall Park's mother, a painter, encouraged his creativity by acknowledging his artistic efforts, such as drawing and writing. His father, though not creative himself, had siblings who were artists, which added to the artistic lineage in his family. However, they primarily emphasized traditional career paths like becoming a doctor or lawyer.

What was Randall Park's experience with directing and writing short films?

Randall Park directed and wrote short films during a period when he was struggling to find acting work. He and his friends used available technology to create content, participating in a monthly web series competition called Channel 101, where they produced pilots and episodes based on audience votes.

How did Randall Park's perspective on his career change after becoming a parent?

After becoming a parent, Randall Park's perspective on his career shifted to focus less on ego and more on providing for his family. He felt a greater sense of responsibility and was willing to take on any work necessary to support his daughter.

What was Randall Park's first experience with TV shows as a child?

As a child, Randall Park recorded audio of TV shows like 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' and 'I Love Lucy' using a mini tape recorder. He would listen to these recordings at night, which helped shape his sense of timing and comedy.

What does Randall Park hope to achieve in the next five to ten years in his career?

Randall Park hopes to continue on his current path, balancing acting, writing, and directing. He is open to new projects and aims to do work that is fun and fulfilling, without setting specific goals.

Chapters
Randall Park talks about his action figure from WandaVision, his experience with Marvel, and his feelings about doing podcasts.
  • Randall Park received an action figure of his character Jimmy Woo from WandaVision.
  • He bought 50 of them after seeing them on clearance.
  • His Marvel experience isn't a life-long commitment; he gets contacted when they need him.

Shownotes Transcript

Translations:
中文

It's just hard for me to not, like, be myself. Wow.

I was about to breeze over that statement. That's huge. Welcome back to Where Everybody Knows Your Name. Today, I'm talking to actor and filmmaker Randall Park, known for his roles in Fresh Off the Boat, Always Be My Maybe, WandaVision, The Interview, and much more. He's a very thoughtful guy who approaches his work with a lot of self-awareness and purpose.

And he's very likable, I might add. Try not to like him. It can't be done. I mean, I tried. And I only add that because I'm hoping he's listening and I made him laugh. So anyway, I'm so happy for you to meet him. Here's Randall Park. Yeah, thank you. Genuinely, thank you. Oh,

shoot kind of a silly thing but uh this is a an action figure of myself oh my god hey listen i'm gonna put this i don't have an action figure no way you know i have a really i have a silly goofy figure but not action no one hires me ever to be active

Did you have to try? Thank you for my gift. I'm looking at a actually pretty well done, at least the graphic on the cover. Not too bad. That's a yeah, that's a character from WandaVision. That's right. And Jimmy Woo. Jimmy Woo. The story behind that was interesting.

It came out, and I was like, oh, my God, I can't believe it. I have an action figure, and I was so happy because, you know. Is this Marvel or DC? Marvel. That's Marvel. And then, you know, I bought one, and then one day I was at a— Did you really only buy one? I bought one. Well, this is the story. I bought one. And then months later, I was at a Best Buy, and I see—

of myself on clearance sale. Oh, no! And I was like, oh, no. No one's buying these. So then I decided to buy 50 of them. Oh!

That's great. It's so wonderfully human that they're not rejecting you, but they are rejecting your little fake figurine here. The people are rejecting me. So I had to kind of help myself a little bit. And so I have about like...

30 of them now. And I'm going to, I want to give you one. 29. Well, I've given away like 20 at this point. Seriously, I think that we should only have guests from now on who will give us action figures. So this is, I just got, I'm just, I'm really just unloading them. Really. I just, I have too many and I got, but, but that's for you.

Actually, I appreciate this. Thank you. Because I do have one. I think it's a bobblehead from The Good Place and Mr. Mayor. But yeah. Were there any... Because Cheers was so big. I'd assume there was like some kind of merchandising going on. Yeah, but mostly T-shirts and mugs and things like that. It was pretty cool dolls. Yeah. So what... Can I... Quickly, we're jumping around. But Marvel, what is that...

Is that like Scientology? Once you're in, you don't get out? None of my business. Not financially, but is there a commitment to be available to do the next Marvel that needs your character? Not really. I mean, I'm sure it's different for different people, but if I was a superhero, I think the...

it would probably look a little different. But because I'm a civilian, it's kind of...

I'll get an inkling beforehand if they're thinking of me for something and they'll reach out and I'll usually be like, absolutely, I'd love to. So I'll find out a little while before, but it's not like set for me. Right, right. You haven't signed your life away. You can go off and do whatever you want. That's right. Yeah, yeah. Let me ask you about podcasts. Yeah. Do you like doing podcasts? No. Yeah, good.

No, I don't. I don't. Why are you here? I'm so grateful, but I'm going, why? You know, I'm here because it's you. Because it's you. And also, I was trying to remember if I had met you at one point. Help me help you? No. Well, I have a story about that. Yeah, please.

I feel like I had, but I don't think I have. I've just heard so much about you from friends who have worked with you, and it's all such lovely things.

that when they reached out about this podcast, I was like, oh my gosh, I felt like I, you know, I didn't feel like I knew you, but I felt like I, I just felt like, oh, he's lovely. Of course, you know. Wow. Because just word around town about you, as you, I'm sure you know, it's just how amazing you are. And so it was like. No, it's true. Yeah. But.

And by the way, this is a podcast trick. You fish for the compliment in the first 20 seconds and then you can relax. Oh, he likes me. He really likes me. But I normally don't like doing these. Why? Because, well...

And how it works is they'll reach out about a podcast and sometimes I'll be like, oh, no, that's not for me. But if the person that, you know, the person's podcast, if I'm a fan of theirs or if I, you know, if I if they're interesting to me, I'll be like, yes, absolutely.

And then as the date comes closer, I'll be like, oh my God, why did I agree to do that? Why did I agree to do that? I'm terrified right up. Literally, I was terrified about you until we sat down. And then it's like, okay, it's all right. Yeah. And then afterwards, usually I'm like, why did I do that? Why did I do that? That happens to me if I listen to the podcast. Oh, I don't. Which I won't. Yeah, I don't. No, no, no, no. It's funny you mentioned help me help you.

Because when people, when I've been asked about like low points in my like acting journey, you know, the first story is a help me help you story. I was never on it. Right. I was barely on it. Just to set it up. It was a sitcom. Beautiful, beautiful, wonderful, talented writers and cast. And it just didn't.

Quite work. And this was about, I don't know, 15 years ago. Did it take like a season? Maybe a season. Okay. Yeah. At that time, I was like several years into pursuing this acting career. And I was really broke and really struggling. And it was one of those where, you know, I didn't book anything for a long... I mean, it had to have been like, I don't know, seven months since I had... Seven, eight months since I had...

booked anything. And I told myself, you know, I can't take this anymore. This is...

this is too hard. And, uh, and then I got this one audition and I was like, you know what this, I'm just gonna give it my all this audition because the audition came, the role was like pretty, pretty right for me. It felt comfortable for me. Uh, and I was like, I'm just going to put everything into this and all my hopes and dreams in this one audition. And if it works out, then I'll stay in the game. And if it, uh, doesn't,

And I, and I had rent due, could not, you know, I did not have the money. And I was like, so there were multiple reasons why this booking, I, it was very irrational for me to put so much on to this one gig, but, uh, but it felt right, the role. And, uh, uh,

At the time, I was in this kind of theater company, this Asian-American theater company. We were doing shows around town. And so I was doing that. I was kind of trying to do everything I could to kind of keep my spirits up and to stay active. But I was just broke, you know. And then this audition comes. I go in.

I work really hard on it. And I felt so good. I felt so good. And good in the room? In the room, yeah. And I was playing. I was improvising. But I was, you know, like, I knew, I felt very comfortable. I knew the script. I had my arc. I had, you know, I just put everything into it and it paid off. And I got a call back.

And I'm like, oh boy. Okay, go into the callback. I kill it. Even better. I do even better than the first time. I feel so loose. I feel so just connected. And if I remember, there were like producers in the room and the director. Yeah, I mean, it was, I just felt so loose.

This was just for, this was a guest star, just a guest star, like maybe a couple of days work. But it was a big opportunity for me. I don't think I had booked a guest star at that point. Going to the callback, kill it. And I'm like, this is a sign. This means I was meant to do this. I was meant to do this because right when at my breaking point, the right thing came.

And, you know, and then you start fantasizing, oh, they're going to like me so much. They'll bring me back in. And, you know, this is going to turn into a series regular, you know, get home, call my agent. I've never had an audition as good as that. The agent's like, great. A couple of days, you know, a couple of days pass. I'm like, what's going on? This is like, you know, they should be calling me. Why aren't they calling me?

You know what? I'll call my agent. Call my agent. I'm like, hey, what's going on with that role? My agent, give me a minute. Let me find out. Calls me back and it's like, you know what? They loved you. They loved you. They really, they love you. They love you. It's down to you and one other person. Oh, that's horrible to hear though. Yeah. And I shouldn't have asked who the other person is. Yeah.

And I was like, who is this? Who's the who's the other person? And is this great actor. His name is Eddie Shin. Dear friend. He's in that theater group with me. We're in the theater group together. And he is. And I always thought he was so much better than me. And and he worked a ton. And and and he is just he's a fantastic actor. Someone who really inspired me, you know.

But he was my friend, you know. And I was like, oh, no. Well, you know what? It's okay because I killed it. I killed it. And Eddie's great, but no one could have done what I did in that room. A few days pass. Still haven't heard anything. We'll find out on Friday. Friday comes. Hey, what's going on? Oh, they haven't made a decision yet.

Now I have to wait the weekend. The whole weekend, I'm like, "Oh gosh." Just more and more anxiety. Monday, nothing. Tuesday, I'm like, "Okay, what's going on? Call my agent." They're like, "Oh, yeah, they gave it to Eddie." I remember sitting in my studio apartment,

and just breaking down crying. And I had never done that before for an audition, especially just like a one-day or two-day guest star audition. I've had so many heartaches and heartbreaks and just

horrible kind of experiences. But when I think back, that was the hardest. That two-day guest star in Help Me Help You was the hardest for me because...

I needed it so bad right at that time, you know, and and then also to lose it to a friend who, you know, what who hadn't told you. No, no, no. And I don't think I even told him, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Because I didn't want to like I just like just leave it. Yeah. You know.

And it was devastating. It was devastating. For my part in that, I'm so sorry. And I blame you, and that's why I'm here. I know. I noticed you put little horns on my...

So wait, wait, keep going. Then that was it. And then afterwards I was like, I'm done. I'm done. And I think I don't remember exactly what happened, but I probably. Sometimes when you give up in life is when that door opens where you're really supposed to go through. Because you probably were auditioning towards the end of the season of Help Me Help You, which means you would have been on it and then the whole show got canceled, which may have been.

Yeah. Even more devastating. Yeah. I'm making an excuse. I'm sorry. That, that would, I would have gotten paid for those couple of days. I would have been able to pay rent. I'm so sorry. But what was, what was the time? I mean, in retrospect, I'm so glad I went through that and I'm so glad I went through multiple versions of that. Never quite as hard for some reason as that, that day. But, um, uh, and,

And even crazier things happening. But, I mean, that was...

To me, at that time particularly, it was a game of perseverance. It was just like, do you love this enough to kind of stick with it? And that was a big challenge for me. And you better have a passion for the process. Or else, if it's just how do I get ahead, how do I become famous?

That would be unbearable. Oh, yeah. But you can at least go back and go, all right, but this is what I have to do in life. Yes, yes. And somehow persevere. But, oh, my God. We've had kids. Our kids are now in their 40s. My wife, Mary Steenburgen, and I both had two kids. I mean, brought two kids together to our relationship. Anyway, some of them decided to be actors for a while. Yeah.

And it's like you want to be supportive of everything creative. Yeah. And we were. But inside, you're just dying because you know what a life of rejection it can be. Yeah. If you're lucky. That's right. If you're lucky. So what was that thing that after total despair? Can I just throw in my little story around that? Yes, please. Which was...

I think I was probably 50 when I did Help Me Help You, and they were wonderful writers. Yeah. Truly wonderful. So this is not on them.

Because I think we... I don't even know if we completed a season, but let's say it was one season and then we got canceled. Yeah. And it was for me that period where, oh, I'm no longer able to play that Sam Malone slash aging adolescent slash, you know, thing. And I think I was being called to do that and I was willing to jump in and do it. And it didn't work. It didn't fit me. Yeah. And...

I came out of that and said, all right, I'm not going to do comedy anymore. I'm not going to do TV. People are doing it so much better than me. Out of help me help you. Yeah, out of help me help you. And to those who are listening who are involved, truly, lots of respect. But for me, it was like, oh, I need to not do this anymore. I'm not funny. There are people doing this kind of thing that are really funny. This is after... Getting canceled. But this is after what...

10, 11 seasons of Cheers. Right, but you know this, that you can't go repeat what you did last. For sure, for sure. So it was, yes, you had a great run being that, but that ain't you anymore. That's right, yeah. And I remember calling Jeffrey Katzenberg and saying, please put me in.

had a relationship because of three men and a baby. Put me in anything. Don't pay me. Don't bill me. Don't do anything. Small part, but let me start trying to build a movie career again. Yeah, yeah. It was devastating. Oh, wow. But go back to you. That's so crazy to me, especially now, you know, like thinking that you, because at that point,

in my mind, you were already kind of legendary and iconic and you could probably do anything you wanted to do, you know? For me to put my story next to your story is full of shit because I was filthy rich at the time.

I think I was your landlord, to be honest. And I want to apologize for that. Yeah, yeah. You evicted me. So what gave you hope next? What allowed you to go, all right, I'm up. I'm going to make it. You know, I think it was a few things. It was...

doing that work in the theater company, you know, because that was a source of validation and a source of just acting and writing and working and, and, and, and see, you know, the, the rush of being on stage. And I think that kind of,

you know, after a period of, oh, I'm not going to pursue this professionally. I'm just going to do this. You know, I think that kind of slowly brought me back to pursuing it professionally. And then I also think it was just this change of mindset, which I think happened around this time, if not, if not even a little before where I, I was like, you know, I don't have to

I don't have to be famous or rich even. If I could just eke out a living. Have an outlet, yeah. Yeah, if I could even, not even eke out a living, but I could work part-time jobs, I could work full-time jobs, as long as I could do this afterwards and keep doing it, then that'll be a good life. Yeah, so I think the...

the coming to terms with the, the, what was most likely, uh, which was that it was going to be, uh, not a hobby, but, but just something that, uh, I could always do, but not necessarily like in, in, um, you know, professionally, uh, I was okay with that, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

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We're going to jump all around because that's my brain, but shortcomings? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, directed. To me, it's like, let me ask you, is this where you would like to live in this area of directing your own work? It's definitely, it was such a great experience that it's definitely something I want to keep doing. Right. Along with writing, obviously.

keep writing and kind of doing everything. Yeah. Stuff that I was doing in that theater company. Right. You know. And earlier, if I read this correctly, that you were, you would do stuff in your parents' backyard. That's right. That's right. You know. That's right. And you studied architecture or were involved with graphic design for a while. Graphic design. Yeah.

Asian American studies at UCLA. That's right. All these things that you did, music is a big part of your life, which to me is, oh, you're a director in the making because if you have that vast a curiosity in different creative outlets, that to me is somebody I would want to work for as a director. I want someone way smarter than me that knows a lot about everything.

Or at least, you know, that may not fit you in your mind, but it seems like it does. I never thought of like, as I was going through doing all these different things, I never thought, you know, that...

I'd be utilizing all those skills, you know, for a specific job. But I would say you're right. Like directing definitely is like, uh, I mean, it's just, there's so much to do, you know, there's, and you're utilizing so many parts of your brain and, uh, um,

And those were parts that were, you know, yeah, were exercised for me and during different like phases of my, you know, my progression. And in that sense, it was very fulfilling because it definitely felt like, oh gosh, I'm, yeah, I feel very alive right now because everything's firing. Yeah, yeah. And so it was great. And I can't wait to do it again. Had you picked up

camera knowledge and language and lighting or, you know, because I, as an actor, I could not direct my way out of a paper bag if I had to, although I've been in front of cameras and all of that forever. Yeah. Because I don't,

Observe that. Did you have a sense of what cameras, lenses and all that? A little bit. A little bit. You know, during one, again, during kind of these periods of just struggle and not working that much and just wanting to keep acting. Yeah.

Even though like the work wasn't being offered or even the opportunity to audition were coming my way. There was a period where, you know, the technology had kind of caught up to me.

and my friends. And, you know, I'd have a friend who had a camera and another friend who had lighting equipment. And so there was like a period where we were just making a ton of shorts and web stuff and, you know,

And there was a thing called Channel 101 out here in LA. It still might be going on. And it was a monthly web series competition. And basically, every month, you'd screen a pilot and a

And if the live audience liked it, then you got to make the next episode. Oh, wow. Yeah. And then the next month you screen that episode. If they'd like it, then you get to make the third episode, you know, and it kind of kept going as long as the audience voted for it. And I got involved in that community.

And started making just a bunch of, you know, writing, directing, shooting with my friends, working on other people's projects. It was like a small TV network. With a budget that came from somewhere else? No budget. No budget. No budget. Outside of like, you know, what we'd pay for, like wigs or, you know. But usually there was a friend with wigs. Usually there was a friend who had a, oh, they have a nice house. Let's use that person's house, you know. Yeah.

There was always somebody with that resource and who were also part of the community. So it felt like very much we had the world at our fingertips. And how long did you have in this competition to shoot your next episode? You had a month to write it, cast it, or find locations, everything.

shoot it, edit it, and then submit it. And then the next month they screen it. It's an amazing discipline. It was incredible. Because you could, with the technology, make something that looked

Like a feature film. Yeah. The lighting package was small and you could... Some people in that, I mean, some people in that community, they were so, yeah, they made like professional quality things, you know. My stuff looked a little more shoddy, but the, you know, but the writing was, you know, and the performing and, you know, like it was, everyone kind of had their strengths and their, you know.

So it was a great community to be a part of. And it was started by Dan Harmon, who created Community and Rick and Morty and Rob Schraub. And these two guys started this thing. And it was, I think it's still going on, but it was such a great community.

uh, thing for me at that time because it just kept me creative and it kept me, and I was, and I got to direct and I got to write and I got to act and I got to, you know, work with friends and cast and do everything. When you were, uh, not struggling, but when you weren't making money necessarily as an actor, writer, director, were you married at that time or was that a single years? I was single for, uh, a lot of it.

and then married during it. Yeah. Yeah, somebody agreed to marry me during that time.

Want to name her? Her name is Jay. Who's an actress. She's an actress. And at the time, we were kind of both in the same boat and experiencing similar things. So we kind of really understood each other on that level. How'd you meet? We met at an audition. We met at an audition. Yeah, it was in a waiting room of an audition.

We had seen each other at a party one night from across a room type of thing. And our eyes locked. And I thought, oh, wow, she is so beautiful. And then a guy walks right up to her and they walk together. And I'm like, oh, okay, that's fine. Not that I was going to do anything anyways. But we just kind of momentarily locked eyes. Yeah.

And then a couple of days later, uh, uh, I go into an audition for a pilot and she's sitting there and it's just her and, uh, in this big empty waiting room. And, uh, I go to sign my name and, uh, uh,

We find out that we're, or I see that we're in this, we have the same agency, you know, at the time. And so I sit down and we just start talking and, and it, we're just connecting like immediately, just laughing. Is this her story too, by the way, in hindsight? Yes. Oh, good. That's cool. And we're just, we feel so comfortable talking.

And, and we're talking for like, I don't know, it felt like 30 minutes or so. It was a long wait. And at this point, no one else has come into the waiting room. It's just us two. And then the cast director calls her in. And I'm thinking, and so she goes into the hallway, goes into the cast. And I'm thinking, oh, she's going to come out back. And maybe we could exchange numbers or something because it was, it felt kind of magical, you know? Yeah.

She does her audition and I could hear the door open in the hallway.

And then I hear her footsteps just like leaving. Were they sad footsteps? Well, I would learn later that yes, she didn't have a great audition. And she says in part because she was talking to me. But I thought she was going to come back, but she didn't. I was like, that's fine. You know, that was it was nice talking to her. But maybe she has a boyfriend. Maybe it's the guy at the party, you know, probably together. And that's fine.

And then a couple of days later, I go into another audition and she's sitting there in the waiting room. And I'm like, what are the chances of this? And this one, there's other friends there too. And people that I know and other actors and she's there. And I'm like, this is a sign.

So I go up and we're talking and, again, just connecting. It's so easy, you know, the conversation. And my birthday was coming up. So I say, hey, would you like to come to my birthday? I'm having a thing. And that year I decided I was going to have an all-day party with

friends, come whenever you want. I'm going to be drinking from the moment I wake up to when I go to sleep. Come whenever, you know. And I was like, you could come any time of the day. And she's like, oh, yeah, sure. And I'm thinking, oh, she's probably not going to come. A few days later, it's my birthday. I'm drinking and some friends come over and then she shows up and she's alone. And I'm like, oh, my God, she showed up.

And she comes over, more friends come over, and she's getting along with all my friends. And, you know, she's so fun, you know. And I'm just like, oh, my God, she's amazing, you know. I find out she didn't have a boyfriend, that that guy at the party wasn't her boyfriend. And I'm like, oh, gosh, I got to ask her out on a date.

And as the night goes on, she hangs around. But we had one other friend there. My friend Dave was there. And he would not leave. He just wouldn't leave. And I'm like, I don't think he knows what's going on.

And at that point, I was getting real tired. And I was like, guys, I got to turn in. I've been drinking all day. This is not good. I need to sleep. And Dave says to Jay, I'll walk you to your car. But before she goes, I'm like, Jay, call me. Call me when you get home so I know you got home safe. Good. That was good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

And then I was to learn this later, but when they got to, you know, my friend Dave walked her to her car, he was like, he stops for a moment. He was like, oh, my God, did I just cock block you? He realized. He said that to you. Clearly not. He said that to Jay because he walked her to her car. Was this the first time Jay had heard cock block? No.

Because it's still new to me, by the way. I think she got it. She got it because it was very clear what was going on. The dynamics. What did she say? You know, I don't remember what she said. I think she kind of laughed it off because she didn't want to assume anything. But then she got home. She called me right away. I'm like, do you want to go on a date with or can I can I take you out on a date?

And she's like, yes. And then we go out on a date and we stay together ever since. How long ago? That was about 15 years ago. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know where you are on the woo-woo part of life. Yeah.

I do believe that it's divine intervention. I really do. There's no reason in the world why my wife, Mary Steenburgen, would even have stopped and looked twice at me if I hadn't

chosen to grow up and mature the year before right it was such a hot mess right you know and there's just no there's no rhyme or reason other than how did you two meet on a well we met several times while we were both married to other people yeah she's married she was married to malcolm mcdowell the actor and had two kids and i was married and had two daughters and i i

I don't think it was Cheers years, but it was after that. Or maybe it was Cheers years. And she just said, hey, hi, I love your show at a party. And I said, thank you, thank you. And then another time we were... Where were we? I think it was like an inauguration, Bill Clinton. Yeah. And we were both at the same kind of event kind of thing. Yeah. But then it was a movie that we both got cast in. And...

I was at the height of my hot messness, publicly in the news hot mess. Oh, really? I had a car accident, you know, that was like kind of my wake up, one of my wake up calls. Yeah. During that time, I was working like crazy on myself, going to therapy and this and that. I wanted to stop being a liar. I wanted to, you know, be real. And I...

yeah, but I knew we weren't going to get together because I knew that I could fuck up any relationship because it was me always the center of these relationships that didn't work. She was saying to herself, well, like she had just broken up with somebody. I guess I'm not, you know, relationship material, even though I look like I should be. Yeah. I'm not. And so we both kind of gave up. Yeah. At the same time that we met. Yeah. And it,

It was speedy in that, you know, within a month of starting to shoot together, I will speak for myself, was madly in love. Yeah. And, you know, it was like I couldn't wait to be around her. I didn't think about marriage or relationship. I just thought, wow, I just have to be around this person who makes me so happy. Yeah. At that point, you say you were in a hot mess.

Or you were a hot mess. And then you... Was it before you two kind of got together that you felt like, I'm no longer a hot mess? No. I had started to work on myself, so I had stopped being...

an act of hot mess, but I was really looking at it. And the press and the public were catching up. But the work that I was doing was way deeper than any of the press. And it really kind of saved my life. I mean, it was a big moment in my life. It's so interesting because I was around during that time. I was a big fan of yours.

I uh cheers was one of my all-time favorite shows I was uh uh I felt like I was very kind of invested in you as a as a famous person and you know like that's that's what that's one of my guys and now sitting here and looking back I don't remember any of that hot mess stuff

I'm sure at the time I did. Good. I'm sure at the time I did, but now it's funny how just memory works and how I associate Ted Danson with all this and that. Right, right. And all of that stuff is just... And my guess is it would be the same for most people. They just... It's one of those things that was probably...

gave you a lot of anxiety at the time, but nobody remembers. I wasn't even anxious about public opinion because I had so much genuine work to do on myself, life-changing work. And I was lucky enough, my mentor who took me through all of this, it was like...

It's like sobriety. If you stop lying and you start really checking yourself out, that too becomes addictive, taking responsibility for who you are and realizing it's no one else but you. Yeah, yeah. And why is that? You know, all of that stuff. Yeah.

Had you always been pretty good with kind of public opinion and not really kind of paying it in mind? No, no. I want to be loved. I calmed down as soon as you gave me a compliment. It was like, oh, my breath is coming back in. Mary, you know, I get up. We went to a concert last night and...

And I said, I have to get up and walk through this huge crowd to go find a men's room and everything. But to her, it's like, no, you don't. You just need to, you know, you just need to take a stroll and see if anyone recognizes you so you feel better about yourself. So, no, I'm the joke person.

every human frailty i dabble in yes yes yeah okay okay that's uh that's that makes me feel good it makes me feel better okay you're in love but who makes that final the the first real move oh let's let's get married let's let's have a life together with you and um

Well, it happened super fast after that first date. We both just felt so... I don't even know if there was any like, this is it. It just naturally all felt so right and organic. And it wasn't really a conversation. Like, are we going to get married? It just kind of all felt like that.

this is happening and this is, uh, uh, and we're both, we both felt so lucky, you know, like we always felt so lucky, you know, and I think you celebrate it. We celebrate all the time. How unbelievably lucky we are. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We, uh, it's, uh, uh, you know, I think, uh,

when you know, you know, it's cliche, but it's just like, yeah, you know, for us, it was truly that, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And why there's no real reason why it happened. Yeah. Other than the blessing of it happening. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Yeah.

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How old is your daughter? She's 11. 11. Yeah, yeah, she's 11. I'm just so obsessed with her. Yeah? Yeah, yeah, she's the greatest. That's amazing. Yeah, yeah. During those 11 years, were you then making a living and it wasn't such a stressful thing? I'd say by the time when we had her,

I definitely started working more. I wouldn't say that I felt in any way secure. But, you know, I mean, do you ever feel secure in this career? No. Yeah. No. Yeah. But I did feel like, you know...

I'm doing, I'm doing well enough to not feel super stressed. Uh, um, we did live in a tiny apartment, uh, in Mar Vista. It was this rent controlled apartment, the same one I lived in when I first met Jay. Uh, and, and she, and she moved in, we found out we're going to have a baby and we were like, Oh, we, we need, we should get like a bigger place. And, um, uh,

And I remember we found this house in Valley Village. And I remember having this conversation with Jay. I was like, okay, we can afford to put in the down payment. But after that, we probably got a good three months. And then we're probably going to lose the house. Let's really enjoy these three months. And then if we're lucky, we'll get...

Six months. And if we're real lucky, we'll get a year, maybe two years. But the way this business works, let's not be heartbroken when we have to move out and downgrade. Let's just really enjoy this. And so we both kind of got our first little home.

you know, not, not really stressed out about it. You know, it was kind of like, well, who knows what's going to happen? We'll, we'll, we'll live here and enjoy it. And, uh, and, and then if we have to move out, we'll move out, you know, and, uh, and slowly work just started coming, you know, see, I think to get a little woo woo again. Yeah. That's how life works. I really do. Uh,

I mean, and if it's not how life works, it's how I choose to think life works, which is find joy in this moment. That's it. Know what it is you want to, where you want to go, but don't use the discrepancy between where you are now and where you want to go to invalidate yourself. Just experience the joy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah.

For sure. I do think like if we were in that house and worried about how are we going to, you know, how are we going to keep this house? Then you would generate that. You would have your life reflect back to you. Oh, he likes to worry about not having stuff. Let's give him that stuff. Yeah. So he can worry. I mean, I do think like one of the benefits of timing with Jay and I was, you know, we were fairly older.

when we met and we were... How old were you? I was 35, 36, something like that. Married around 37. And we were broke most of our adult lives, you know, so we knew how to live with like that, you know. And we knew how to...

to do a lot with little, you know? And, uh, so that house when we first, I mean, it was a tiny house, but it felt like a castle for us, you know? So it was really something that we like, oh my gosh, can you believe, even to this day, like I, I talk, talk to, uh, I'll say all the time. I probably said it to Jay earlier today. Like, can you believe this? Like, this is crazy.

We do the same thing, I swear to God. And if you put a tape recorder in our bedroom or anywhere in the house, it would be like, oh, they're sickening. They're so nauseatingly sweet and joyful. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, I really like, you know. Gratitude. So key. That's everything, you know. And yeah.

Yeah, and I think us finding each other when we did and, you know, being appreciative of where we're at constantly, no matter where we're at. I really, I agree with you. I feel like, yeah, maybe it is woo-woo, but it definitely brought us to where we are, I think. Yeah. Is Jay get to work or is she...

Having to take care of home life. She works, yeah. We make it work. The constant juggling. We have an incredible nanny, Doris, who is

just she's just so it's a part of the family and and uh grandparents around grandparents around that's huge yeah yeah my my parents are are close i grew up in la so they're they're close right yeah so it's uh my brother is here and right yeah he's crazy about ruby so it all works out yeah yeah yeah we have granddaughters now and it's like oh my god you know it's like

You just, you can't describe. It always sounds like, didn't you enjoy your kids? Because the comparison, you just start. First off, grandkids come along when you're going, oh, I'm getting old and a little cranky. Yeah. Oh, shoot. You know, whatever. I'm in decline. Oh, a granddaughter. I'm in. I'm in.

I'm in. Yeah. You know? Yeah. I couldn't imagine. I couldn't imagine. Yeah, you will. Yeah. How wonderful. Yeah. I feel, I mean, I feel that way with Ruby. You know, I'm like, oh my, our daughter, I'm like, oh my gosh, like, this is wild. You know? It's so great. Like, what a source of just pure joy and just like the best, you know, it's the best. And I think it's great for careers in this way. I think that, yeah,

As soon as you have a kid, it's check your ego at the door. Oh, yeah. This ain't about just about you anymore. Yeah. And I will go out and do whatever it takes. Yeah. You know, and I think that's a big key with or without children, the check your ego at the door. Yeah. Because it is just there.

too bumpy a ride. It's all about ego diminishment. Ironically, because actors, you know, are so full of shit and so full of themselves and all of that. But the truth is, you better have, you know. I mean, I feel like life is all about ego diminishment. Yes.

I mean, the Jimmy Woo action figure, come on, you know. But the kids really having a child really supercharges that ego diminishment for sure. I think they made your jaw a little stronger than it really is. Does the head bobble if I shake it? Maybe. I don't know. Maybe they didn't put as much effort into that one. Okay, let's go back even further. Yeah.

Um, the first off, there's something that I'd popped out for me. So this is the story about me. You can sit back and relax. great. Great. But I noticed that one of the shows that you said that you watched the sitcoms when you were a kid was, uh, the Dick Van Dyke show. Love it. Me too. And that I grew up without a TV. Yeah. Uh,

And the other thing I saw was he used to read TV Guide cover to cover. Oh, yeah. So did I. I did not have a television growing up. I was a freshman at Stanford when I got my first TV that I found on the street and rehabilitated and put in my room. And the first thing that happened when I turned it on, it happened to be 11 o'clock in the morning, was a rerun of the Dick Van Dyke show. And he has been my physical comedy hero.

you know, hero. Oh, yeah. My entire life. Yeah. I just loved it. I saw that. Oh, my gosh. You know, in the notes about you. I mean, when I was a kid, I would, you know,

we didn't have the technology we do now, but I did have this mini tape recorder, like a little cassette tapes, you know, that you put in and I would lean it up against the TV whenever the Dick Van Dyke show was on or I Love Lucy. And those two were my favorites. And I would audio record the episode and hope that my parents wouldn't walk in and ask me, you know, start talking or, you know, I would just...

just get the audio. And then every night I would just, as I would lay in bed, just listen to these shows. How old were you when you did that? I was, I don't know,

Nine, ten. What do you think it gave you creatively to not be watching it and having the visual and the audio, but just the audio? I mean, I did watch it a ton whenever I could, but I think just the audio, what thrilled me the most was

was, especially with those shows back then, you could really hear the audience. You know, you could hear the individual laughs. And sometimes there'd be like an oddball laughing, you know, a little late. And sometimes, you know, sometimes the jokes would only get like a handful of laughs, you know. And, you know, it only connected with a few people and they wouldn't like sweeten it, you know. It would just, they'd keep it like that. And something about that was so...

thrilling to me. And I'll, this is my two cents, but I bet it also stimulated your imagination because you were visualizing things at the same time. Yeah. Which to me is another little box to check on your way to becoming a director. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think so, yeah. And I think I, it probably shaped my like sense of timing and my, you know, I mean, it probably did a lot of things that I don't even like know, I'm not even aware of, but yeah,

Just listening is, yeah, I do think that there's a power in that. Did you have, you probably didn't, but did you at that 9, 10, whatever, early teens think, oh, someday I'm going to be in the business you're in now? No way. Or was this just a source of enjoyment? It wasn't, didn't mean anything. Purely source of enjoyment. It wasn't even an...

I couldn't even fantasize about that. It wasn't like, it was so far out of any option for me. Right. Yeah. So what was the first time in school or college or wherever where you went, oh, okay, I could do whatever it is. This. I was in college at UCLA. I, uh, and I don't mean show business. I mean, what was the first thing you might have had a, you know, career in, in your mind? Well, uh, oh, for me. Yeah. Um,

Well, when I was really young, and this connects also to filmmaking, and I loved comic books and graphic novels, and I loved drawing them and making my own. So I would draw pages and pages of my own comic books, and I would staple them together. And I'd have a bunch of copies of my own little books. And

And that was something that I thought I would end up doing. I'll be a comic book artist or a graphic novelist or something like that. Which is being a director. Yeah, it's like storyboarding. Storyboarding. How old? I mean, I was doing that really young. Probably, yeah, eight, nine, ten. Into middle school, high school even, I was doing this. So I have shelves of these comic books that I drew.

And here you are working for DC and Marvel and you're a director. Life is astounding. It's crazy. It really is. It's crazy. And I collected all that stuff, you know. It's insane. Who was in your family? My mother was the acknowledger-in-chief about anything...

Yeah. She hated guns. She would not let me even buy toy guns. But if I carved one out of wood, which I did a lot. Yeah. She was thrilled. Oh, how beautiful. What a good job. You know, I learned how to play the cello, but could squawk out maybe two notes. Oh, my God. Do it again. Yeah. You know, she was anything creative. What was in your family that kind of encouragement about creativity? Yeah.

No one. I am a self-made creator. I mean, well, so my mom was a painter. All right. So I grew up with a bunch of like canvases, like leaning against the wall. And there was always like paintings, like at various stages of, you know, so she's so I grew up with that.

uh, and it was serious for her. That was, that's serious. It was a, it was a, it was serious enough that she was doing it a lot, but she was also working a full-time job. And, you know, she worked at UCLA. Yeah. She worked at UCLA for the student store. She was doing accounting for the student store. And, uh, my dad was not a creative. He was just worked and worked very hard. But, uh, but, uh, his sister in Korea was a, a filmmaker. Uh, yeah. Uh,

And he had a brother who was a painter. So there was like these little like kind of in my lineage, like there was definitely art, you know. But as far as in the house, my parents, I mean, they encouraged, you know, writing. And, you know, whenever I would like write or even draw something, they'd be like, that's great. But it was never like going to be.

yeah a future you know it was always like that it was the whole doctor lawyer you know the immigrant parent thing like you know uh which is very real oh very i mean and and and not not wrong no from their point of view especially at the time you know when i was a kid i was like gosh what you know i don't want to do any of that stuff you know uh but but to them it was this is what

we wish we had been able to do. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah. And they sacrificed a lot to make the journey to the, you know. How old were they when they did that, when they immigrated? Well, it was 1970. I mean, my mom was in her...

very early 20s and my dad was later 20s. But my dad had moved to San Francisco before my mom, even meeting my mom. So they both had to have been in their earlier 20s when they first came. Still resilient enough, I guess, to embrace the odds, you know, against you kind of thing. Because I sometimes think about people in their 20s

you know, when they start to get brittle like me, having to do that, having to leave a country and go to another country to make a home is, it is like way, uh, incredibly brave. I couldn't do it. I mean, I, I was born in LA, raised in LA, live in LA, went to UCLA, uh,

In LA. In LA. I could never do what they did. Yeah. And I marvel at it. I marvel at it. Did you, was it a marvel to you? Probably not as a kid. Or was it? No. Were you, no. No, it was why. Who's aware of their parents? Yeah. I mean, if anything, it was like, why can't you be more like my friend's parents? You know, like, who were so fun and, you know, let their kids do this and that. And, you know, I,

Yeah, back then, especially growing up, it was like, it wasn't cool to come from a family like ours, you know. Like ours, meaning what? Like an Asian family, you know, in the 80s, early 80s. Yeah.

But, you know, as you get older or as I got older, it's like, oh, my God, it's super cool. That's like the coolest thing and the bravest thing to like you say, to make this trek to this new world, you know, for opportunity. And yeah, I'm like, wow, that's amazing because I could never do it.

Why, why, not why, this sounds, okay. Now I'm walking on my oh-so-white, privileged life ice. But why, I glimpsed, to be honest, at the New Yorker article. And so why Asian American Studies at UCLA? Yeah, why? I think because I grew up in a very...

Very, very diverse community, but not with a strong sense of kind of my Asian American identity or my Korean origins. Or, you know, I kind of grew up in a lot of ways, you know,

not denying it, but definitely not celebrating it, you know? And when I got to college at UCLA, I just found myself kind of immersed in this community, you know,

uh, this Asian American community. And it just felt so new and exciting. More so than growing up in a neighborhood and your parents' friends. Yeah. I mean, my friends growing up as a kid were just every race we were, you know, uh, uh, we were, uh, I mean, it was very idyllic in a lot of ways. Uh, this LA kind of city, just very multicultural upbringing, you know, uh, um,

But going to college, it was kind of like there were these pockets of kind of Asian American and an Asian American community that I found myself in. And it felt very exciting, you know. And it felt like, oh, I want to learn more about this, you know, this kind of history. And so that led me to the major. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

And it obviously must have had a huge impact on what you choose to do now while you're in the position of having choice as a director or as an actor. Yeah. And how so? I mean, yeah, to what degree? I think for me, it just made me more conscious of the stories that

uh, haven't been told this, you know, the, the stories that, that, uh, are new and interesting that, that, um, that I can relate to. I mean, not that I can't relate to, I mean, I could relate to cheers just as much as anything, but, uh, but, uh,

It's just new perspectives, you know, that to me are the most, they're interesting, you know, not just for me, but for everybody. So to be able to contribute those perspectives in any way is exciting. Yeah. Yeah. I often thought that we got really messed over in L.A. by General Motors who got rid of our streetcars.

that went everywhere. Yeah. And then somebody made a decision, no, cars are the future, so we're going to get rid of all the trolleys because everything was connected. Right. You could go to any ethnic...

grouping in the LA area anytime you wanted and you you were could immerse yourself in cultures that are here yeah and then that got taken away and then we became these pockets and of others and not like me's and yeah yeah what a shame do you do you feel like we're we're

getting back to that with the subway system? I don't know. I don't know either. I like to think, oh, maybe all this racial and if you're not like me, you know,

I'm going to be angry and want to harm you. This whole thing, I'm dancing around how bigoted we seem to have become. But my brain, I'm always trying to find the positive. Is this kind of the extinction or last gasp? Because...

sure, we'll elect a black president, but I'll be goddamned if I'll let them tell me what to do. It's like in the whip anyway. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know either, but I do feel that on the ground is a lot different than online. And I feel like on the ground, it's very...

it's great. Yeah. For the most part. Yeah. For the most part, uh, at least in LA, because that's the city I know. No, I am. We are blessed to live in California, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I also think that, you know, go to the, whatever the part of the world that is the least like you. Yeah. And if you go in and say, this is what I believe, you'll have a fight on your hands. Yeah. If you say, Hey, I'm hurting. And, uh,

they will come in their motorboat and pick you up in the flooded area and not ask any questions about you. They will be the most human, caring, nurturing people until you say, this is what I believe. Yeah, that's right. I hope. Yeah, I think so. There is something good that's happening, though, because I swore I wasn't going to start talking about being white anymore.

and stupid. But I grew up in Arizona. My father was the director of a museum. Sit back. This will be a moment. Oh, yeah, yeah, no. And anthropologist. Yeah.

So, you know, there's a real sense of there's a lot that's come before you and this is not about you. And hopefully it will be a lot that comes after you. And there was a common humanity. And my best friends, because the museum was there to nurture, partly there to nurture the Hopi, Navajo, Pueblo tribes. Yeah. And their arts and their culture. So my best friends growing up were Hopi.

And I would go to their villages on these three mesas in Arizona and watch. Because they hadn't gone to war with the United States, they were not moved. So their villages had been there 500, 600 years. And their spiritual, religious kachina dances in the plazas, the dirt plazas, had been going on in that plaza forever.

for centuries. Yeah. And I, with my friend Raymond, Hopi would play and intermingle and, you know, and then go on Sunday, I would go to the church in Flagstaff, the Episcopal church. And it was both, I grew up knowing, not intellectually, but just feeling, oh, it's the same thing. I, yeah, there's no difference between going to the Episcopal church and going to the kachina dances in the village. Yeah. And,

Why did I go there? Oh, okay. So then in my mind, not examining this any more than this is my friend, my best friend Raymond and his family, and this is what they do and this is what we do and da-da-da. Oh, how wonderful. I celebrated the Hopi in this kind of glorious, you know, aren't they wonderful and they never went to war so they have all that. No, no. You know, they were wonderful.

I don't know, in the early 1900s or even after that. Yeah, after that, probably the 50s or something. They, meaning us white folks, came in and said, your children cannot be educated here. And they forcefully took them someplace else to educate them. And if they spoke Hopi, they'd get whooped. And, you know, it's like, oh, this is the part about...

Being white that you don't really have any idea. That's not true about everything, everybody. But I, you know, I'm constantly confronting in myself, oh, your good intentions and your good heart aren't enough.

Right. Truly. Right, right. You need to absorb the whole fabric here, you know? Yeah. And then don't go, these are all the things I wasn't going to say. Then, you know, then don't go to your friends who you love and work with who are black and doing Black Lives Matter, go, I'm so sorry, you know, so that they would fix it and make it better for you. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, it's wackadoo.

Yeah, I mean... So... But, I mean... So, Randall, I'm so sorry. It's still...

that's not to devalue good intentions and, and kindness and, and those, those, you know, kind of simple things that are, you know, on a daily, interpersonal level. And that's the ground that you're talking about. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe not internet. Yeah. Yeah. Or news or whatever. Oh my gosh. That's a whole, that's a whole nother, whole nother thing. It is. Are you, are you on social media? No. Yeah. Me neither. I, I don't know. It's,

I don't, it's partly because I don't think I could take the, you know, the hate part coming my way. Partly because I think it would absorb too much of my day. Yeah. And I didn't grow up with it, so I'm not good at it. Yeah, yeah. Same. Yeah. All the same. Yeah, I was on it for a bit. And then during the pandemic, it kind of all of that, all of what you just said,

became crystal clear to me. Yeah. I find that just looking, the simple act of looking in the mirror for two or three hours a day suffices for, you know, self-absorption. That's all I need. Sure. You just stare in the mirror. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you don't age as much, I've discovered. Oh, boy.

No, I think that's, yeah. I mean, I don't tell anyone how to live their lives, but I do whenever people ask, at least. I make it very clear how, especially having been on social media and then being off of it, just how freeing it is to not be on it. It's human nature. It's not the bad guys, but it is human nature to,

that we are drawn to conflict, whether it's because we were sitting around a fire and you had to be on your toes, you'd get eaten, you know, or you realize Shakespeare realized, you know, conflict sells, you know, it's how you make drama and it's how you sell news as well. Even your guys side of the cable news networks depend on scaring you, you know, and,

Better not to be living in fear all the time. No, and then that conflict plus anonymity, you know, mixing that in there. It's like, yeah, it's just not a place for me. No. Yeah, yeah. Randall, if you had a magic wand five, ten years from now, what are you doing?

A magic wand? That will create anything without any obstacles. What would you want to be doing in life? Are you going to be directing full time? Or do you just, your brain not think that way? Yeah, I don't think, I don't, I'd want to kind of, I'd want to stay on this path and be wherever I'm supposed to be in five years.

And as long as it's not like really bad, as long as it's not like really bad, that's where I want to be. I mean, but I guess in an ideal world, kind of a little bit of everything, you know, really just to do things that are fun, you know.

My mother used to wish us children of hers, I wish for you that you will be fully human, which I kind of love. And I think the amazing thing about a relationship where you are in love and you're aware of how blessed it is, is I feel like, oh, I understand what it is.

to have been loved and to be able to love in that circular thing that happens with love in a relationship. And I feel like, oh, that to me is the most human blessing in the world. And I got to experience that. Yeah, that's amazing. Everything else feels a little bit. Yeah. It goes back to that. Can you believe this? Like, this is all, this is so cool, you know? Yeah.

That's great. Can I ask you, are you working on writing anything for yourself to direct? Writing stuff. Sold a few projects that I'm writing with a partner and possibly to direct. But it's kind of like, well, let's just see if we get there. You know, it's just let's focus on the writing right now.

But definitely like in the back of my head, I'm like, oh, I could possibly direct this. I think I'm from what I learned from from the last one. I think I could definitely I feel ready for it for the next one. And yeah, so I'm it's possible. It's possible. But I'm open to like projects come to me. And if it's the right fit, I'll definitely, you know, be open to considering it.

I watched a couple of, as one is wont to do when you do a podcast, a couple of interviews. And one of the questions I had was, how come he's so grounded? And I feel like, I don't know if I could write an essay on why he's so grounded, but I feel like I've experienced it right now. I mean, I'm one of those people who tilt way too far forward in life.

I'm like Tigger. Oh, hey. Uh-huh, uh-huh. You know, and you're not. You are, you seem really thoughtful and grounded. I don't know if it's an act or a defense mechanism, but you really...

You know, I think it goes back to that question about podcasts. Like, do you like doing them? And I said no. And I think it's because I always come away from them like thinking, oh, man, I wish I would have been more entertaining. You know, it's hard for me to, but it's just hard for me to not like be myself. Wow. Yeah.

I was about to breeze over that statement. That's huge. But I, you know, and I think a part of me is like, I don't like that about myself. I wish I, because I could definitely like, I know, you know, I could perform and I love like performing and I love being funny. But in these kinds of settings, I just feel like, I don't know, I just want to kind of... But to me, oh my God, to me, that is what...

I guess why I really like sitting here talking to you because we're not at a cocktail party or an interview on a TV show where you have to score in 30 seconds and then move on and feel good about yourself. It fills me with anxiety. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mary, Mary, and I think I've caught it from her, my wife, Mary.

clutches my hand i mean if she grabs my left hand where the wedding ring is it's painful when we walk into a party and she says do not leave me do not leave me with jay i'm married with jay small talk terrifies her yeah sit down and have a real conversation yeah she loves it oh me too yeah yeah jay is

the public face of our family. Like she is like so good that she's so charming and fun and funny and loves being around people, you know, and I love being around people, but not interacting with them. Maybe directing them. Move over there. Yeah, like that. Like we sometimes will throw a get together at our house.

And, and my favorite, you know, I love, you know, having all our friends there and it's so fun. And, but my favorite thing is, okay, Ruby has to go to bed. I'm going to put her to bed and I'll be upstairs with Ruby and I could hear all the people having fun. And I'm with my daughter and she's falling asleep and just sitting there with my kids sleeping and hearing people. That's like the best part of the party for me. Yeah.

Yeah. I kind of identify with that. I really do. Yeah. Oh, we threw a wonderful party and I'm not

I'm not in the middle of it, sweating bullets. Yeah. But I don't know how much of it for me is like kind of a self-hate thing. Like, oh, this party's even better because I'm not there. I'm up here. They don't have to deal with me. I think a little dose of self-hate is not bad. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A little dose, I think, is good. Yeah. Yeah.

I can't thank you enough. Ted, that was so fun. Thank you. This is one where I'm like, oh, I'm so glad I did that. Oh, good. Yeah. And I love that compliment within the first 20 seconds that put me at ease. Seriously. It was all from the heart, man.

That was me talking with Randall Park. His directorial debut is called Shortcomings, based on the graphic novel by Adrian Tomine. It's streaming on Netflix, and I encourage you to check it out. Once again, tell a friend about us and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

If you're on Apple Podcasts, perhaps you'd like to give us a great rating and review. Who knows? We appreciate it. If you like watching your podcasts, full episodes are on Team Coco's YouTube channel. I'll see you next time, where everybody knows your name. You've been listening to Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson, Sometimes. The show is produced by me, Nick Leal.

Executive producers are Adam Sachs, Colin Anderson, Jeff Ross, and myself. Sarah Federovich is our supervising producer. Our senior producer is Matt Apodaca. Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel with support from Eduardo Perez. Research by Alyssa Grawl. Talent booking by Paula Davis and Gina Batista. Our theme music is by Woody Harrelson, Anthony Gann, Mary Steenburgen, and John Osborne. Special thanks to Willie Navarro. We'll have more for you next time where everybody knows your name.

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