Transcript of "Jonah Hill LIVE" New

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Welcome to Smartlist Live at the Avalon Hollywood.

Did you see the way he tried to come out last?

No, no, no! Make some big entrance.

What happened?

I got caught up back there anyway. Hey, I'm here now. Hi!

Well—

hey, welcome Philadelpho— Los Angeles!

Whoo!

One more crack at it. Get one more crack at it. Let him have one more crack.

Guys, we're so excited we're here, and thank you for coming out tonight. This is very exciting for us.

Yeah.

I gave Sean a big smack across the face right before we came out, and I've just waited I'm waiting for it to hit me back. So just pardon me if I'm over here.

It was so loud, I can't believe you heard it.

It's a little bit red over here.

I'm sure it is.

It's become kind of a tradition before.

Here we go.

This is how we'll do it. We'll do it—

no!

This is how we'll do it. We'll just keep them in a clinch.

It was so fucking hard.

Fix your mic.

Like, I got tattoos.

All right, so we're very thrilled to be here.

The rest of the show is going to be less violent.

Less violent. Very happy to be here. This is our second time here at the Avalon. Thank you for having us.

Let's sit.

Come on, let's sit.

Thank you guys for coming. I'm going to do a little set.

You guys sit down. OK, yeah, yeah, go for it. This should be good.

Now, don't be sore.

Thank you guys for coming.

Look at these. We got our nice— we want to thank our sponsors. We got nice stuff to sit on from Ashley.

Yeah.

We got some nice stuff from Skinny Pop. I mean, it's real homey. Right?

It's like a little living room set.

Oh, yeah.

T-shirts.

Got a couple of t-shirts here. Look Alive, everybody.

No fighting. We're sorry, there's no— there's—

I don't know.

Close, very close.

No, I couldn't get it up there.

We got more coming. We got more where that came from.

That hurt.

Oh, um, Jason leaves tomorrow.

Jason leaves.

I leave?

Yes, I going to go work, um, tomorrow. Yeah, um, cuz this isn't work, this is fun. I'm gonna go, I have to leave my family for a good long stretch.

Now you know how my dad feels. Huh?

Yeah.

This is, it's high-class problems, and no, I'm not complaining, but it's hard because I've been home for like a year, and now I'm not gonna be home for 3 weeks.

But it's exciting because you're gonna direct a film that he, right?

Yep.

And it's very, to us it's very thrilling. To you it's work, but to us it's very thrilling. Thrilling that you're gonna get behind the camera again and wow us with this other talent that you have that not a lot of people have. And so I think it's very exciting.

I think everybody's happy that you're going behind the camera again, you know? I think you can make— because you're a good director.

Yeah, right.

That wasn't a compliment, was it? Did he sneak in an insult?

No.

Um, but you just got back from working away from home for a long time, but you had Scotty with you, so, uh, all you missed was Ricky.

What a show!

Yes, I was—

we were gone for 3 months.

We just got I just got back last week. And— but Amanda will be with you in New York, right?

No, she's going to be here. Franny's going to be with me after a little while. Oh, that's nice. And then Amanda and Maple are going to come out for a little bit.

You know what? Just email me the itinerary. We're good.

Yeah.

What did you end up doing with your dog when you were in New York for so long?

We left the dog— nobody knows, actually. The dog is still missing. No, we left— put the dog in a— what's it called? When you board them?

Prison?

No, when you board them.

No, I'm just saying what it felt like for the dog.

Yeah. No, we, we— yeah, it cost a fortune, but he was with other dogs and he could play and he was good.

He seemed happy.

He seemed happy when we talked to him on the phone. Yeah.

No, he was good.

Are you guys just meeting for the first time? What's happening? This is the weirdest. I'm so far away.

I know. Well, it's different than the podcast.

Yeah, we are going to have a guest that's going to come out here in a second. So that's why we're all separated.

We do have a guest. Sean and I don't know who the guest is.

I really don't.

It's my guest. It is a he.

Wait, but wait.

We never know. We truly never know who the guest is. Every once in a while, somebody who on our—

Except for like the presidents of the United States.

The presidents we knew. Yeah. But we really don't know. And so it's always a surprise. And we do never talk about what we're going to talk about. Yeah.

The difference with this, though, is that usually you guys, we guys, I don't do it, but you guys, when I bring on a guest, Um, when we do— you guys in the microphone, I see you, I see you guys, uh, typing on your computer, uh, quickly Googling that person as soon as they—

well, if I don't—

yeah, no, no, but not because they don't know it, but like to like come up with like questions and stuff. Like, you're not gonna have that.

That's fucking bullshit.

No, it isn't bullshit.

I don't do that.

Typing away.

Sean definitely does that.

I do it, but if I don't know the person, it's like if a sports person comes—

raw dog it.

I do not do that. How dare you accuse me of that? What are you basing that on?

No, well, what are you playing with when you're like—

I'm messaging people, dude.

I'm busy playing. Um, yes, you're just gonna have to wing it.

No, this fellow, I mean, I don't—

you—

I don't know who it is.

And so you're gonna like him. I like him. He's a friend of mine.

Wait, can I— before, before that, can I tell— I just have a little something I brought with me that I want to show everybody.

Oh boy, he loves to prepare.

We gotta watch. It's real.

Yes, this is so So today, today, only 8 hours ago, at 11:05 AM this morning, Scotty and I chatted with a friend of ours and a friend— Did you say chatted?

Chatted. Chatted, sorry. You can't hear ourselves up here. I'm so sorry.

Hi, we brought a friend over and we just chat everywhere.

At 11:05, we both happened to chat.

No. No, we chatted with a friend of ours and a friend of ours and a friend of the podcast.

Oh.

And it's pretty unbelievable. And we cut together— Scotty cut together this 20-second video to show you what we did only 8 hours ago today. This is what happened.

Okay.

Are we going to the tape?

Yeah. We haven't seen this.

Hello to everybody at the Avalon. Ah!

What?

Isn't that crazy? Look at her shirt. That is so cool.

Hey, can you see my reflection?

Yes. That is wild.

I'm just looking at the shirt.

Look at that.

Okay, ready? Yep.

Hahaha.

I'm floating into our kitchen right now. So this is like our kitchen table. This is our— this is how we warm up food. Oh, we got some garlic and onions and some fresh fruit on the table.

That's gotta make the place smell real good.

Wow, isn't that amazing? Wow.

Yeah, so we—

that is so cool.

That was, that was this morning, and, and she's like, do you want to just chat? I'm like, on the fucking International Space Station?

Yeah.

So for 45 minutes we were just chatting. She showed us around. She showed us the Russian astronauts and the Japanese section and the— I don't know, it was crazy.

So how cool is that to see our government, you know, tax dollars at work?

Wait, did you say 45 minutes you talked?

45 minutes we hung out with her today.

Was there a phone number?

No, she, she, she sends us a link to like a not Zoom, but something else. But wait, yeah, Google Meet or whatever. So wait, I wrote down these things. She— they are moving 5 miles a second. And they rotate the Earth every 90 minutes. That's how fast they're going. Isn't that crazy? And I said, what experience are you working on? She said, something like astronauts get blood clots, so they're doing some of that. And they're growing crops like Matt Damon in The Martian. And they're DNA therapeutics, protein crystals, future propulsion systems. But what's fascinating is that she said when you go up there, something happens to the back of your eyes because there's no gravity and it flattened the back of her eyes. So she doesn't need glasses on Earth anymore.

Isn't that amazing?

No way.

She doesn't need glasses. And so she has 20/20 vision.

Sir, what's that book you're reading? I just saw you—

It's my phone. Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you because that happened today.

How are you— because I remember when she was on the podcast. We must have covered this, but remind me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How are you friends with an astronaut?

Because of the podcast.

What's with the look on your face? I know, shitty.

But he's this guy.

Why are you mad at him?

He doesn't know anybody. He doesn't. He never leaves his house. He barely knows his dog. He knows Scotty pretty good.

What happens is he meets people and they want to continue to have a relationship because he's nice. He doesn't have a shitty look on his face.

And by the way, you just described yourself and you were describing me. Yeah, isn't that wild? Anyway, isn't that cool?

I just can't believe you can actually communicate. So she's currently on the space station.

Till September.

Wow.

And I'm complaining about going to Jersey for 3 weeks.

Yeah, exactly. But we can talk to her again, like we can hop on there. I asked her tons of questions.

She loves it.

They love it.

JB, were you thinking about like how fluid would move differently if you were up there, like in your face and stuff?

No, I— you do look puffy when they do those little hits from outer space. I wouldn't be into it.

No, no.

I'd just do radio from up there.

But it does, it lifts.

Radio!

Sorry guys, camera's not working again.

Radio from space!

No, I don't care about—

this is just a bit.

I don't care about that stuff.

All right, so there's no vanity.

Sean, do you have any more bits? Any more stuff for us?

Any more pre-tapes, Sean?

I always have tons of stuff.

I just said that we never do anything planned, and then you did a— went to a video package.

Yeah, well, I wanted to make sure— I wanted to make sure I left space for her, but I didn't know how to plan it.

Oh my God, I can't find my intro that I wrote for the frickin' guest.

This is so real.

Michael, bring me those cards down, please. God damn it. This is—

So what else is going on?

Unreal.

You know, I just quit smoking recently.

No, you didn't.

What? You did? Smokey, it's Maple Bateman.

Yeah, Maple.

Maple Bateman.

Woo!

All right, this is going to be a disaster tonight. Um, all right. Freestyling now. Intro the guest.

It could be short.

Um, this guy— I'm an actor. This is supposed to be written for me, and then I see—

I can see your sweat.

I know, I'm in deep sweat right now. Um, okay, so, uh, this is a fella who, um— He is extreme. I think he's one of the greatest comedic actors we have, full stop.

Okay?

That's A. That's a good start, right? See me vamping? But he doesn't just make you laugh. He makes you cry sometimes. Look at what else— all the phones are up. What's going on? I feel like Ariana Grande. He's been nominated twice for an Oscar. For fancy movies, right? Not just the comedy stuff. This guy's a big shot. He also writes and directs movies, done a few of those. What is it, Ryan Reynolds? No, he hasn't written or directed a film yet. Um, uh, and, um, and I have found that while he's incredibly talented, his heart's even bigger because we've become friends over the past few years.

Oh!

You know him from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. You know him from, uh, uh, Knocked Up, 40-Year-Old Virgin, uh, you know him from Superbad, Moneyball, Wolf of Wall Street. Ladies and gentlemen, the one and only Jonah Hill!

Of course I'm sweating.

I'm like, what is he gonna say, dude?

What's up, Sean?

How are you? I was already nervous. I'm like, oh, he already fucking—

yeah.

What were you thinking, Jonah? What were you thinking backstage when Bateman blew it with the intro?

It's just a total wipeout.

I, I, I, I'm just coming back out here, uh, like in crowds and stuff. My wife's here. I'm like, and I'm like, he's down in San Diego now. Jason's gonna hook me up. And he's like, oh, I don't have an intro. So I'm sitting back there going like, he's gonna go, he's a guy that I'm friends with, I text with. And like, I was like, oh fuck, he probably wrote something nice and now it's gonna get like dumbed down to, you know.

You know how to improvise.

I don't.

I'm all right at the improvising, but you're, you're the, you're the MacDaddy. You and Vince Vaughn No one better.

Brilliant.

Ever.

Brilliant.

All right. So, right. So you're not in front of crowds all the time. You're not up in LA. You're down in San Diego for the most part now.

Oh, you live in San Diego?

Oh, yeah. So, okay. So real quick before we go any further, my wife is here. My best friend and business partner, Matt Dines, is here. Shout out to my beautiful wife, Liv. Where is she? Hi. What's up, baby? And then, so I live in a very small town in San Diego, and it's amazing, and my neighbors are incredible people. And when we had our first kid, we moved out there 3 years ago. And my neighbors are so cool. I want to leave LA and raise a family outside of Los Angeles and away from entertainment, so I can maybe come back and then, you know, go back and forth. And my neighbors are so cool, they never— like treat me weird or ask me about my job or anything. And my neighbor is one of my great friends, Dr. Sean. Uh, he never— he never asked. He's here tonight.

Whoa.

But hold on, he never bothered me or was like, oh, what's this person like? And then like after like a year, we were in the sauna just chilling like two dads, and he goes, he goes, can I ask you one question? And I was I was like, "Yeah, sure, man." And he's like, "Is Jason Bateman a cool guy?" And that was his one question about show business. And I was like, "Yeah, he's an amazing guy." And he goes, he's like, "It's fucking cool. I'm a big fan of his." So shout out to Dr. Sean and Dr. Bob and Heidi and Laura. I love you guys. Welcome.

You know what?

It sounds like, JB, you might be able to get in that sauna with these guys.

Yeah, listen, I love a good sauna.

Room for one more.

What do you think, Doc John? You think JB is good in the sauna?

I get super nice in the shvitz. Um, Jonah.

Yeah, nice to see you all. Thanks for, uh, thanks for having me.

Jonah, thank you for doing this. This is a very easy no, and you said yes. Yeah, you know, you could just say, oh, I'm down in San Diego now.

Yeah, we drove in today. It was awesome.

Now, will you stay overnight or will you drive back? Yeah, we're staying at a hotel. We brought both our kids. Oh, that's nice.

We have a new little baby who's like, uh, just a brand new baby, and then we have an almost 3-year-old, both boys.

That's so nice.

So now, what do you miss about LA when you come up? What do you like to do?

Oh, you know, nothing.

CityWalk?

I grew up here. It's— LA was such a cool place to grow up in the '90s because you could like, um, you know, you could go skateboard downtown, or you could sneak into a movie premiere, or you could go sneak into a comedy club and see like Chris Rock or something, you know? You know, you had access to, like, show business stuff, but you had access to, like, punk and skating and graffiti and all the, like, naughty stuff. And there was no internet. It was just so awesome. And it was—

So you were skating, right? 'Cause your first film, "Mid '90s," which is awesome, that, like, you certainly were at least familiar with the skating culture. Do you know your way around a skate park?

I mean, yeah. I still skateboard every day, like—

Come on.

You do?

Really?

Okay. My daughter Maple is— I took her to the skate park this morning, Pedlo over there in the valley. She's working on pop shove-its, ollies. She just dropped in last weekend.

Amazing. You're already better than I ever was. When I say I skateboard every day, now with my son we surfskate, which is like way easier. It's like, I don't do tricks or anything anymore. I'm too old. I'm 42.

So surfskate means you're on a longboard and you just kind of cruise.

Let's not go crazy. I'm not on a longboard. I'm on a shortboard.

You were part of that skate culture just a little bit.

I loved it, yeah, it was amazing. Like, anything skating, hip-hop, and comedy when I was a kid, I was like, anything about any of it, all I could—

Did you cross paths with Spike Jonze at all back in the day?

Well, I did a ton, and Spike is my biggest mentor and one of my best friends.

Incredible director. What a nice guy, too.

He's like one of the most amazing people, and, and, and And before I directed Mid90s, I wrote Mid90s at his apartment.

Oh, really?

In New York. We were both living in New York. And I basically spent like 5 years, you know, after kind of— what was it like? I've been gone for a while, so I'm kind of coming back. And I'm like excited because I got all like serious for a while. And I wasn't that happy.

Happened to us all.

I wasn't that happy. And then I met— I had my family and I got happy, and now all I want to do is be funny again, you know? So like, it's, uh, you were always funny. It's a freaking blast. It's just like, that's why I said yes. I'm like, I want to go fucking be funny in front of a crowd, and that'd be awesome, you know?

But the humor— do you find that the humor is coming from a more substantial place now? That, that it's— I mean, you're still— you couldn't shake funny if you tried, but now you've got got a whole deeper well of reflection and knowing yourself more, and you've peeled the onion, and now you've got a bunch of other stuff to draw upon to feed your humor, yes?

Yeah, I think— I mean, speak for me, that's fine.

That's my special.

Hey guys, I don't need to be here, there's no intro, and I just drive back to San Diego and go fuck myself.

I put the question and the answer in it, and then I say—

He could have just zoomed in. He could have just zoomed in.

Totally.

No, that is a good— that's a good—

thank you.

Next question. No, but it's more like, um, like if you're bummed, you don't feel like being that funny, right? And if you're happy, the first thing I thought about when I got like, like had my kids and was so stoked, it was like, uh, I, I connected to back when I was just like 12 and I was just being funny for fun.

Right.

And I was like, that's the thing I fell in love with my whole life. Like, I dedicated my whole life to learning everything about The Simpsons and comedy history.

Who did you—

when you were growing up in the '90s, who were your influences? Who were you like, God, that guy is so funny, or that show is so funny?

Everybody.

Everybody.

Everything. Like, anything good, bad, or in between, it was like—

But, like, you're so— like Jason said, you're such a genius at improvisation. The first time I saw you— was on a show called Campus Ladies.

Yes.

And one of my best friends, Carrie Azalee, is here.

Is she here?

She's right there.

Carrie!

Yeah.

Yeah, what's up?

And you were on the show with her.

Oh my God, hey Carrie!

Have you met Dr. Sean?

Dude, Carrie—

Sean couldn't get them seats.

You probably can't see him.

Carrie gave me a huge break. Thank you, Carrie. You gave me a huge fucking break when I was like 18.

Yeah. But I watched you on that show and I'm like, oh my, of course you did. Skyrocketed. You were a brilliant performer, actor, improviser, all of it. And I was just like, who is this person? So you must have had—

I mean, mostly The Simpsons. I think The Simpsons is like the number one thing in the entire world. Like, if anything's left an impact on my life, it'd be The Simpsons over anything else.

It's some of the greatest comedy writing of all time. It's pretty— it's like such a heavyweight.

But it was—

but that's—

that was obviously— there's no acting in that except for the voices, obviously. So were you following like the writing of that? Was writing the first pull for you, not performing?

So if you, like, shook me in the middle of the night and were like, "What do you do?" I'd be like, "I'm a comedy writer. That's what I do. Like, I write jokes every day. Like, I go and write scripts." Like, you don't know this 'cause you just see the front side of it, but most of my job is writing comedy movies. That's, like, mostly what I do. And when I was young, I would VHS record "The Simpsons" and then pause it on the writers and write them all letters.

Oh, my gosh.

And to this day, one of my biggest mentors and friends is David Mirkin, David Mirkin, who's like an iconic Simpsons writer, and every time, like, you've been to a screening of early cuts in my movies for notes, like, David Mirkin comes to every single screening, every table read, and he was like my childhood hero. So I wrote them all letters when I was like 7, 8 years old. And that was my dream. Like, if I had written for The Simpsons, that's like would have been more than enough for—

Did you write a spec Simpsons script?

Yeah, I've written a ton of spec Simpsons scripts.

Oh, you did? Did they ever buy one? No.

No, I never, like, sent them to them. I wrote them, like, as, like, an 8-year-old.

Yeah, they can't receive— Well, right. I'm just an 8-year-old. Well, then when did the performance part of it start to take hold? Like, when did you think that you could be in front of the camera?

Well, I got to think all 3 of you were, like, hams, comedic hams, right?

What happened?

Like— Did you just drift off?

I just—

He's narcoleptic.

He said, "We're all hams." Oh, yeah, we're all hams.

You must have been hams when you were little kids.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like, if there was a party at my parents' house, I'd do, like, a comedy show. I feel like everyone here can relate to that. Absolutely. So it was just always, like, people were like, "Oh, you're funny." And then when I got to middle school, people's parents were like, "You should pull him out of school," to my parents, "and, like, make him a comedian." Oh, wow. Yeah, people would, like, say that.

Because you were going to schools where there were some people that were in the business. Like the center.

And people think I'm a nepo baby, by the way. My wife and I were just laughing about this, that I'm a nepo baby. My dad's a fucking accountant. If you ask these guys, he directs a lot of shit. Do you ever hire your business manager's son for, for, for fucking Black Rabbit or whatever? Yeah, huh? Yeah, no, you hire Jeffy Goldstein to play like the heavy in, um—

but, but Jonah, how old were you when we met? We met when you were, you were like You were young.

Will, should we take a snack break?

Yeah.

Yeah, you were like hanging out at my school like, uh—

No, no, no, no, no, no, we were—

With like a trench coat on.

Yeah, no, that was a different—

Newly sober.

That's something different.

Okay, all right, all right, all right.

No, it was that like, um, I'm leading by example.

You had this like van.

It was at the Winkler.

No, so I went to the school called Crossroads, which is a like full leg up because if you grow up out here and go to this school, everybody's parents are like, are in entertainment. So to be fair, it wasn't an abstract job. That was, like, my big leg up where I was like, "Everybody's parents here works in entertainment. So if you wanna, like, write for The Simpsons, that's not the craziest idea in the entire world," right? So that was a huge leg up for me to just not be like, show business is abstract and far away, right?

Right.

We were—

yeah, we were literally at— it was Henry Winkler. We were doing the first season of Arrested Development. And I went over there for breakfast one Saturday, and you and Max were there. Were, were—

so Max was like my best friend in high school, was Henry's son, and he's an amazing guy and a great director.

He directs a lot of the Ryan Murphy stuff right here.

A ton of amazing stuff. Um, The Charlie Hunnam Show he just did was incredible. Um, uh, Freak, Monsters. Monsters, he's great, he's great, and he's an amazing dude. Yeah, and so I met Will, and I remember meeting Will, um, you were a kid. I was so hyped because Arrested— I was interning for his brother, and Arrested Development had just come out.

And Jake Hoffman was another buddy of yours. Yeah, he interned on Arrested Development, didn't he? Yeah, Dustin Hoffman.

Is that a TV show?

Oh yeah, Arrested Development.

It's very funny.

Jonah, Sean's never seen it.

Never seen it.

Is that real?

Not a bit.

It's real. Never seen it.

It's real.

It's real.

I saw the first episode.

You guys have the best job in show business. I'm so jealous of you guys because you're on it.

This is— you're joining us.

We're looking to replace one of us.

But like, I'm like, you guys have like, it's like being in a writer's room, like you're just bullshitting with your friends, but you don't have to make the thing at the end. You just get paid like $100 million to just show up to the writer's room and never have to like make the good jokes in or edit out the bad ones. You're just like, man, let's just sit on the couch and order food and—

Yeah.

I'm like, shit.

All right, but so wait. So you want to be a writer, you start doing it at 8, you're in a school, schools where the pathway to entertainment industry is not unreasonable. But at what age do you get the first sort of on-camera idea and then it actually happens? Are you still— you're still in high school?

I was 18, so like fresh out of high school I started working. And—

So what's that first job? Do you get an agent?

No, no, no. So it wasn't like that. I went to New School. I went to Boulder for one semester and got kicked out. My mom calls it her $40,000 sweatshirt.

And she's really funny.

My parents are really funny. My parents are really funny people and awesome people, but they— so then I went to New School in New York City, and I started just performing in, like, in theater school, but then performing at bars and doing, like, kind of stand-up.

You were doing stand-up?

Yeah, like, stand-up and then, like, short plays. And, like, they would let me perform at this bar called Black and White, which is an awesome bar.

Did you do Black and White Willie?

No. It was so fun. It was, like, the most fun time. And then I started getting, like, a crowd of people.

And I was already like, "It's on, dude." I was like, "It's so gonna be on." So you're comfortable in front of an audience, and so going to a camera then is not that much of a leap?

No, and then I got my first job in a movie called "I Heart Huckabees," which was like my first job. And Jake's dad, Dustin, was like, "You should be a comedic actor." Okay, so how did that come to be?

How did you get in front of Dustin?

It wasn't like a performance thing or anything. We were just— I was just friends with his son, and he would see me do stuff and was like— And I make prank call CDs. I make prank call CDs. I was like a ham. I was just, like, trying to be funny all the time.

But you were just making Dustin laugh around the house, and he says—

It'd be like if Mabel had a friend over, or, like, you know, Rob Reiner, rest in peace to the legend. I fucking love that dude so much. But, you know, Rob would bring Albert Brooks around, and Rob would tell me that, like, his dad was like, like, Albert is the funniest fucking guy. But Albert was just Rob's friend.

Right, right, right.

You know? And Albert's Albert Brooks, right? So, like, Dustin was like, I'm doing this movie. Here's— I got you an audition. And so he got me an audition.

You read for the casting director?

Yeah, he interviewed.

She passed it on to David. David O. Russell. David said, yeah, great. And then you get on that set. And what's that like being on a set? Are you just looking around?

Well, David O. was fucking nuts. Nuts at that time. He was buck wild. And I'm like homies with him. He's awesome. Super nice guy. But at that moment in life— and I've had my own, trust me— he was buck wild, dude. There's like, you know, he was like screaming at Lily Tomlin and stuff.

Oh, it's online.

It's online and shit. And he'll talk about it. Like, you know, he's really cool. He's one of the best directors ever. I mean, Flirting Disaster and Three Kings. I mean, he's so goated, it's insane. And I got on the set. I was like, everyone's screaming at each other. The first time I walked on set, him and KK Barrett, the production designer, were joking around wrestling, and then it turned into a real fight. And it was like joking that, like, turned into a fight, and these guys are, like, fighting.

And it was—

they were setting up my first scene to act in.

Welcome to Hollywood.

And I was like, "Hollywood is so tight.

This is so cool." I saw a fistfight on set once, too.

Really?

Yeah, it was crazy. It was so crazy.

Can you say the name of the movie?

Uh, I don't remember. Uh, but yeah, it was this weird thing I did, but I was— it was out in the desert. Listen, guys, everyone wearing— the point is, but I saw these two dudes, these two big dudes, like a grip and a gaffer, get into it. They end up— they were arguing, and they ended up getting into a fucking fistfight.

Wow.

Well, dude, well, full circle moment real quick, because I want to give K.K. some shout out right now. But he— I— if I was like, if I ever get to direct movies, I'm gonna hire K.K. Barry. And he did my newest movie, Outcome.

He did?

He was the production designer.

Oh, that's tight.

So full circle, like 20 years later, he was the production designer.

That's like the greatest production designer ever, one of them for sure.

So that was like a full circle moment. It was like a dream of mine.

So from there, you do a great job in that movie. You have to wait till the movie comes out until the industry starts to see it, or does word get out from like dailies and early cuts and stuff like that and gets you to—

No, my part was so small that, like, it didn't make a dent. It wasn't like people were, like, you know, trying to give me jobs and shit. And then I met a guy named Peter Principato, incredible manager who is my former manager, awesome dude. And he introduced—

Who's my former tour manager.

Who is Will. That's what I was looking at, Will. Oh, sorry.

Yeah, man, yeah.

Legend. And he got me an audition for Campus Ladies, and that was my second job, was Campus Ladies. And I got, like, 3 or 4 episodes on that. And it was all Groundlings people. And on that show, because it was like Will Forte and Maya Rudolph and like every dope person I was like in love with came on to the show. And then my life really kicked off when I met Judd Apatow, you know? So—

So did those people kind of get in Judd's ear and say, "Hey, you gotta check this guy out"?

I think I was just starting to do like table reads. I mean, this is like inside baseball, so this might be so boring. If this is boring as shit, okay.

So like when somebody's gonna like has a script and they're thinking about making a movie, they'll get a bunch of really talented people talented people around a table, and they'll read it out loud and see if it makes everybody laugh.

And I was like the funny, like, 18-year-old. There wasn't a lot of, like, 18— me and Michael Cera would be at, like, all of them together, you know? So, um, and, like, Seth and Jason Segel, like, all the young dudes would be at them. And then when Judd started blowing up was, um, I auditioned for 40-Year-Old Virgin. I met him and Seth, and then my life from then on— that day I shot 40-Year-Old Virgin. It's one scene in an eBay store And it was raining that day. So we were only supposed to shoot that scene for, like, an hour, but it was raining, so they didn't have a cover set. So we shot it a whole day, and I just improvised a whole day in front of Judd and Seth and Shauna Robertson, one of my best friends. And Judd was like, "What do you want to write?" And I was like, "You don't understand. All I want to do is write." And so—

But what about the movie?

So he gave me a— I pitched him 2 movies, and he bought them. Them. And my parents are like, who is this guy who's molesting you? That I was living at home and I was 19. They're like, who is Judd Apatow? And is he like touching your wiener? Because like, you're like a fucking weird—

a lot of time over there—

donor who like doesn't have a job. And like, why do you have a two-picture deal at like Universal? And you're like— it made no sense.

What were the films?

One was called Middle Child, which a lot of those jokes I won't say, but the movie maybe got swallowed into another movie. And then one called— one was about an imaginary friend, which is a really clever script, and then neither of them got made. But it, like, ingratiated me with those guys, and then we went on this whole crazy awesome journey together.

I hear this all the time, like, just those two, like, the title Middle Child and something with imaginary friend with you writing it, where did those scripts go? Like, why don't we resurrect them?

They're around. I mean, like, I could probably try and clean one up and get it made, but I have to do new stuff.

What's that You want to take a look at it? I just want to take a look.

I'll do the table reading.

They're table reading.

Are you accepting notes still? Because Sean— Yeah.

We'll be right back.

This episode of Smartless is sponsored by Ashley.

Yep.

The brand that helped turn our live event stage into a fully styled living space.

Ashley's whole thing is making your home feel like you with styles that balance timeless design and modern trends.

Slower, Sean. And it's not just about looks. Folks, their stuff is built to hold up to the real life with durable materials and easy-to-clean fabric.

For the live show, we were on their Mod Max sofa. It's modular, so you can kind of move it around however you want, depending on your space.

And it's got that super soft performance fabric, which sounds fancy, but really just means if you spill something, you're not immediately in a panic, Sean.

Yeah. So the accent chairs were great, too. Big, they're comfortable. The kind of chair where you sit You sit down and you go, "All right, I'm here for a while." And the coffee and accent tables tied everything together.

Clean, simple, but somehow made everything feel finished.

So true, Will.

Yeah.

It's just a beautiful setup.

Honestly, that setup worked perfectly for the show. The modular couch made it easy for us to fit however many people ended up on stage.

Yeah. I mean, good luck with you, man.

Thanks.

I'm not kidding. I would have taken that whole setup home. It looked great. It felt very comfortable, you know?

Really did feel like we were just hanging out someone's living room.

Yeah, and for Jason, this is the farthest he's been from his couch in weeks.

It's hurtful.

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Visit your local Ashley store or head to ashley.com to find your style. This episode of Smartless is brought to you in part by Skinny Pop Popcorn, which, yes, is exactly what we were inhaling backstage at the live show.

True story. There is something very satisfying about a snack that actually delivers and doesn't come with a paragraph half of ingredients.

Yeah, and Skinny Pop keeps it simple. Real ingredients, classic popcorn, nothing weird, nothing you have to Google.

Yeah, the original is light and airy but still hits the spot. And if you want to mix it up, they got white cheddar, butter, sweet and salty kettle.

It's one of those snacks that works for anything— watching something, traveling, pretending you're only going to have a handful.

Jason, that's you. We had Skinny Pop backstage at the live show and it disappeared fast.

Families, friends, zero restraint.

Yeah, it's kind of our go-to movie night, road trip, before we record, during the record.

White cheddar, butter, sweet and salty kettle.

Sean, you put Skinny Pop on your pasta marinara?

Oh, absolutely. It adds texture.

Yeah, it's upsetting.

Look, the stuff we want to snack on and the stuff we should snack on, usually not the same thing. Skinny Pop bridges that gap, creates a bridge in between the— Skinny Pop, deliciously popped, perfectly salty. Popular for a reason.

I'll say. And now back to the show.

But what about, what about the stroke of, of genius luck that you landed in front of Judd Apatow? Like, one of the greatest sort of finders of talent and nurturers of talent.

Yeah, he's amazing.

People chances and championing them. Like, look what he's done, just you alone. I mean, and there's what?

100 people.

You could probably name 25 people right now that are household names that Judd has championed.

Yeah, Judd's like Kobe. I mean, like, he's so—

He's up there with Lorne Michaels as far as launching people into the comedy world.

Yeah, there was like me and my friends, but then there's like Lena Dunham, and it went on, like Amy Schumer, and Pete, you know, like, he really just like saw, sees something in these people, and he's so great at like mining what you're going through. And helping you find your voice. And what he really did was he put me through Harvard education of directing comedy movies. So, like, now that I'm 42 and we have our own company— shout out Strong Baby, shout out Matt Dines, my bestie up there— and we produce the movies we make now, I, like, know what to do because of Judd, right? You know, so I'd go— he'd— in his— he was blowing up, so my favorite thing was going to the table reads because you'd have writers at the table reads and you'd dissect accept and give notes on the scripts. And that's what I love to this day. I love, like, the Rubik's Cube of cracking and making better and making a comedy script better.

You're not burdened by the idea of writing.

Like, I love it. It's my favorite part of the process.

But I mean, do you love the part where you're sitting in a room by yourself and you're staring at a blank wall and you're just trying to, like, trying to fill a blank page? Like, to me, that's the hardest thing in the business.

As dickhead-ish and insane as I was when I got famous at like 22, like, I don't take for granted a day that I get paid to write jokes. I actually think, and I've grown way past that part when I was 21 or 22, but like, I cannot believe I get to write jokes for my job. I say it to myself every day.

I'm like, dude, structure and like character development and, and, and and, you know, all is lost on page 75, and like all of this, like, stuff you've gotta, like—

There's, like— It's the best job in the world.

By the way, Tony, if you notice, everything exhausts him.

Yeah.

Everything.

Dude, if I was on Smartlist, I wouldn't fucking write scripts.

No, it's so hard.

Don't you guys have, like, a mobile company? Like, dude, if I was you guys, I wouldn't touch a computer the rest of my goddamn life. I'd live in Tahiti and fucking phone this in on Zoom, dude. All right, so I'm out here, I gotta work in Hollywood, which like doesn't exist anymore. I'm like, I'm basically a cobbler. I make comedy movies. It's like, well, me and two other people.

Well, Jonah, talk to me about that. Like, I know you're, you're half joking about Hollywood being whatever you just said, like it's over, you know, because that's the feeling out there right now is that that, you know, where is this going? And everybody's scared and everybody's like, "What's gonna happen with AI?" And especially in comedy, not especially in comedy, but like—

Oh, thank God, a conversation about AI. Oh, finally. Finally, we can use it.

But you can't put in a prompt that says, "Write me a joke that Jonah Hill might say on a stage with 3 other dudes." Like, you'll get like 6 jokes. So like, is that gonna like affect affect the whole writing stuff and—

No, because you can't replace— Comedy ultimately is human, human pain and laughter.

Or fill that blank page and then you're just plussing it perhaps.

It'd be like having some Grom writers in the writer's room.

Yeah.

They'll write— AI will write like 50 shitty jokes that you could rewrite or something. But they won't be— they won't have the human experience that allows comedy to be funny because you gotta get dumped to write a funny movie about getting dumped, right?

Right, right, right.

A computer hasn't been dumped. They know, um, Um, maybe they have. I don't know. I shouldn't say that. I'm sorry to all the computers in the crowd. And, and, um, but like, I, I don't worry at all.

I also live in—

I, I'm like, I just go until they fire me. Like, I, I, I'm so motivated by what I do and my family that like, I just have two things. I have my family and writing comedy.

Yeah. Yeah. So like, where do I fit in in that?

Yeah, well, I'm here tonight.

All right, so how close are we to Superbad now at this, at at this point in— It'll be 20 years.

Oh, you mean like at that point?

Yeah, in this story here, where you're—

Oh, dude, so it was 40-Year-Old Virgin, and then a year later we made Knocked Up, and then 2 months after Knocked Up, we made Superbad. So like a year after I met Judd, we made Superbad.

So who— I'm embarrassed, I should know this.

And you guys were working with Michael, right?

We were. Who wrote Superbad?

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg wrote the most brilliant script of all time.

Got it, okay. Yeah.

And it read— Incredible. We all improvised and everyone comes up with great jokes on those movies, but their script that they wrote was like flawless.

Yeah. But like, do you remember Michael Cera going away to do that movie that was done during the hiatus?

No, but I tell you something, this is a true story. So, so years ago, right before, like the year before Superbad, there was a script that we were gonna do at, at, at a place. I won't say because then you'll be able to know who was in charge. And And it was about— it's this crazy, great script that Mitch Hurwitz and I worked on with Jim Valli. Really, really, really funny. It turned out great. And I said to the guy who ran this particular studio— so this is 2000— Superbad was 2007, right?

So this is 2006.

I mean, pause for a second. You with the dates. He knows dates like Mary Lee Denner. So, so, that's crazy.

It's nuts.

Yeah.

And, uh, he'll tell you what month was the film released in.

Which one?

Superbad, 2007.

Oh, that I don't know. I don't know.

It was 2007.

Yeah, no, but what month? It was probably a summer release, right?

Yeah, probably. It might have been. But I remember going in and this thing that we were working on called for this dude, this character I was playing, and then these two teenage sons. And it was two teenage boys who were best friends. It was basically like a three-hander. And I said to the guy, this is before all that, before 40-Year-Old Virgin, I go, I go, it should be Michael Cera and this kid Jonah Hill.

No way.

And he goes, what? No, man. What are you talking about? And I swear to God, and a fucking year later or whatever it was, 18 months later, Superbad comes out and it's like a huge hit.

And I'm like, enormous.

This dumb fuck.

Yeah.

This fucking guy blew it.

Yeah.

And he got fired. Did he?

Yeah.

He should have.

Um, I'll tell you after.

Thank you.

I'll tell you after.

Because when I met Will, like when I was I met him at my friend's house, and I was bugging out, dude, because he was Job from Arrested Development. I was like, holy shit, dude. Like—

So good.

Couldn't believe it.

So good.

These guys.

Anyway.

All right. So Superbad happens. That's very, very cool. Very exciting, yes. But I would imagine—

It was game-changing, too.

That movie— That's my question.

Was it disruptive? Or did you flow with it pretty good? Because I know Michael Cera was— because Arrested Development was—

Just finished. Right? We were just done Arrested Development.

We had finished the 3 seasons at Fox?

Yeah, because we finished in December of 2005.

Okay, so then that—

Are you allowed to say Rain Man?

I remember— He is. Mary Lou Henner.

Are we okay?

I remember Michael was just— even though he'd already had some fame, some notoriety from Arrested Development, Superbad was a whole nother level. And there was a level of adjustment for him, I know for sure. For you as well? Was it comfortable for a bit?

I mean, it was exciting as hell, but it was crazy. It was just bizarre, you know? It was like—

Can't walk down the street anymore.

Yeah, and Michael and I hung out every day still. Oh no. So we would go to Canter's. I lived behind Canter's and Seth's old apartment. And Michael and I would just walk to Canter's and there people would freak. We'd be talking about this shit like in the, like our lives were like that movie. And people would see us and they'd freak out because it's like we walked off the screen into the deli.

Yeah.

You know, like.

People think you're shooting a sequel.

Yeah, it was just so bizarre, you know. It was trippy.

But are you thinking, 'cause you're, you're How old are you at that point? 20?

22.

22. So you're at an age—

I don't think— I'm not Will. 22 or 23.

So you're at an age where you're thinking about, okay, I need to have a job, a career. I need to be starting thinking 5 years, 10 years in the future. I got to provide. I got to— so this is— are you thinking now, this is— I've got some momentum. This can be my career. Does it align with what your plans were, what your dreams were, what your goals were?

I, uh, was obviously stoked because I loved the movie. You know, I didn't know if I'd get to work on shit I loved. I knew I'd work in comedy in some capacity. Like, I had the confidence enough to know, like, I am professionally funny, even at, like, 18 or 19, whatever. But I didn't— like, Superbad was, like, my dream. I was like, what I wanted to see. Yeah, right, you know, so I, I could— I was so stoked that Judd was in the position to make the kind of movies—

Superman comes out, you've got a pretty good idea that shit's working out. It's a huge hit.

It was, it was—

I'm going to watch that.

Comedy features were a huge business, huh?

I'm going to watch it tonight.

I mean, I've seen it, but I'm going to watch it again right after Arrested.

Yeah, well, now, now that I have kids, now that I have kids, I'm like, oh my God, imagine when like my son like who's 3, like, imagine him watching that movie. Oh my God, I never thought about that.

Maple loved it.

Maple, does your cool kid still watch it and stuff?

She loved it. That's right, loved it a lot. She was very excited to be here tonight.

Yeah, what I kind of want to know is, but it was psycho, it was psycho. Like, we couldn't walk around, and, and, and, and it was like so exciting and kind of scary. And then like, you just cannot not become obsessed with yourself when something like that happens. It just is like, it's impossible not to become become like a weird dude.

Everybody's telling you you're great, right?

So everybody's going, "You're the greatest." You just have all your friends that you're still friends with from high school, but all of a sudden, one of you people, like, respect and pay attention to.

Yeah.

So, like, you just are kind of a self-centered person because it's about you a lot of the time.

Yeah.

And thank God that time is over and it's not about me anymore.

Yeah.

But you're skipping over a very interesting part where you're like, you're kind of, you're munching on all the junk food of all that fame and all of that access and relevance and whatnot, and then you start to think, this is a question, um, what should I do about dramatic work to make sure that I—

So I'll tell you, the smartest thing I did was be like Michael. Michael had Juno come out like 2 months later. He was like Michael Jackson.

Have you seen Juno?

But for real, Michael Cera had Superbad and Juno come out in like 6 months, and it was like he really— he was more famous than I was, and he retreated inward, and I was like—

I'm gonna watch Juno tonight too.

Yeah. Sorry.

Best movie about Alaska you will ever see.

Wow.

Soft-spoken and inward? But he— He is still— I will say this, he is top 3 best friends in the world to this day.

A great man.

We still talk like once a week.

Just finished directing a movie.

Yeah, he's in post on his movie. It's gonna be amazing. He's so fucking brilliant and cool and a great human being. And, um, but what I did was I got offered a bunch of movies for the first time, and I was in the comedy space, or all the comedies. Yeah, and I was like like, I can't make a— none of these are as good as Superbad, right? So I said, what— to my agent, what writing jobs are available? And Sacha Baron Cohen was looking for writers for the Bruno movie, and I, I auditioned for the writer's room. And I was in the—

what's a writer audition like?

Uh, it's like you get like a day sit-in in the writer's room, but I had been in the writer's rooms with Judd and those guys, so, um, I got the job, and I was like like super— I was like arguably more famous than Sasha was at that time. And I was like a pimply writer in his writer's room for like 6 months. I would ride my bike to the lot over here on Formosa from my apartment on Fairfax, and people would be like, yo! And I would just go and write jokes because I didn't want to think about like the outside world. I didn't want to think about the pressure of like, what do I do next?

It's such a funny move to do that, to go from that to then all of a sudden just to be a writer, a staff writer on The Brutal Brothers. It was the best time though.

Of course.

Because it was like, I was like, I just got to work with one of my heroes and pitch like, I loved Bruno. Like when the Ali G Show came out, it was like when Arrested Development came out. I was like obsessed with Bruno. So like all of a sudden I was writing jokes and like Mickey Mouse was saying my jokes. Like, you know, Homer Simpson was like, like it wasn't just like someone cool. It was like a character that I already loved.

He's an incredible talent.

Yeah, he's an awesome guy. He was an awesome boss.

I kind of want to— I kind of want to get to— I think you were trying to get to it, but man, you take a long time.

Uh, no, I do. I'm— I know you're—

you're allowed to. You're supposed to be speaking.

We want to hear from you.

Am I being boring or no?

No, no, no, this is fascinating.

We love Jonah.

Sean, is this one of your favorite episodes? Do we flip over to like Dax's podcast, Sean, or no? Do we keep listening to this? Fast forward.

I wanna— Joe, I wanna get into— 'cause then you go and you start doing interesting things like Wolf of Wall Street, in which you're amazing.

Thank you.

You're so— dude, you're so—

Don't skip over Moneyball.

Huh?

Well, I'll tell you this—

By the way, Moneyball. Oh, dude, Moneyball. First of all, really hard film to make from that book. It's a great book. And I remember thinking, like, they'll never do it. It's so far— it's so— that movie's so great. You are so great in that movie. So you do Moneyball.

Well, can I say one thing before that?

Yes, please.

I don't wanna jump straight in. Straight to there.

Did we miss a question?

No, I know the question you're trying to ask is this, in my opinion, is this, is that I was working for Sasha and got offered all the big comedies, and I got offered The Hangover and Cyrus at the same time, and I did Cyrus.

Wow.

This is why we need agents.

I wish I did both, because The Hangover rips and is an amazing movie. Movie, and I love Todd. But like, I was like, Cyrus didn't suck.

The two classes know what they're doing.

No, no, no, but it changed my life because I wanted to do dramatic movies and comedic movies, and that script and that part was incredibly and very deep and emotional and a lot like my work today. And, and guess what?

Bennett Miller probably saw Cyrus and he probably did not see Hangover.

So he saw Cyrus and he cast me in Moneyball.

Fucking let, let him speak, dude.

Sorry, I get so excited.

That's— now we're, now we're caught up. I'm just bridging bridging the— I'm just doing a little bridge, a little bridge work.

Um, but so then you work with Bennett Miller, and then you work with Martin Scorsese on Wolf of Wall Street, and with Leo DiCaprio. What would— that must have been just a, a mind blow with first day.

Well, Moneyball was unbelievable.

Yeah, of course.

Like, Moneyball was such a trip because, like, I remember my dad was a fan of that book, and he's like, how are they going to make this?

Michael Lewis.

Yeah, how are you going to make this a movie.

Didn't Aaron Sorkin write that script?

And Steve Zalian. I mean, Bennett Miller is not like a household name, but if you make—

I wish he'd direct more movies.

He is such a brilliant director, the director of that film.

I mean, he hasn't made a movie— that dude hasn't made a movie in years since Foxcatcher, I think, right?

Yeah, since Foxcatcher. I mean, he's, he's an amazing guy. I taught him so much.

But didn't you, didn't you want to direct early, early on?

Okay, so all these guys, I would just work for them and sponge for them and write for them. And like Spike, at that time, I would just write for him for free for like 5 years. Whatever commercial, whatever like short film he was doing or whatever, I'd help on because I was just an intern for all these great directors that I'd get the chance to work with as an actor. And then also the comedy writers. I was like such a nerd where I'd meet someone who wrote on Arrested Development and geek out over them at the mall and they'd be like, "What?" You know? So it was— I'm so privileged because I just love the actual work of what I do.

Right.

You know?

So then talk about that.

It's a rare-ass thing, you know?

Yeah, I mean, you're so incredibly lucky to have been on the sets of all these incredible directors. You find yourself cherry-picking from them, finding—

But then Marty's like another level. He's another level than everybody ever.

But I feel like there's a bit of a paternal element there between the two. You guys seem so close, and it's warm, it's genuine. He did a great cameo in this last film.

Yeah, he was in Outcome, which is on Apple if you want to watch it.

Great movie.

Keanu Reeves.

American treasure. Yep.

But yeah, the fact that I call Marty and don't have to stop and like apologize is psychotic to me, you know? Like Simpsons and Goodfellas, I guess, would just be the two things that I think are like, mm-hmm, if you had to like take my brain and freeze it, you'd cut it open, it'd probably be those two things. And so like, so, you know, I got to direct him. This was the first movie he did.

You give him a note?

Huh?

Did you give him a note?

And then he put your shit together, Mark. Yes, I get your shit together. Time is money, man. No, I mean like he came in so prepared. It was honestly, the whole thing was so psychedelic. Like him coming to set and me directing him, it was so psychedelic. It was It was like childbirth. It was like, you see like colors and you're like, this is so trippy. And, um, but then he interviewed me for Interview magazine and he had to talk to me about the movie and he loved the movie. And I've directed two other movies which he liked but he didn't love. And he was like, I love— he's like, this is a giant leap forward and I love this movie. And that meant a lot to me. That was fucking so powerful. The critics did not agree, but, you know, I am introduced on the toilet for the first 4 minutes of the movie, so there's that. But, you know, like, to have him love the movie was fucking rad. It was fucking cool and meant a lot. And he's just the best guy. You go through withdrawal after you work with him because the poor unfortunate other directors you have to work with after cannot compare.

No matter how wonderful, prepared, and amazing they are, they just— Is there a—

is there one thing that is louder to you about the experience of working with him that is different than other directors? Is it just ease of sound?

Nothing comes within a billion miles. A billion with a B.

What is the one main thing do you think that he does different? Well, the most obvious thing—

President's company excluded, right?

So, you know how, like, he's everyone's favorite director? A great director.

Yeah.

So his ideology and taste in life and everything is like your favorite person.

His—

so it's like, it's not— he doesn't just— a director's work is like their worldview. So the reason you love Marty's work is because you love him, right? You love his lenses he sees the world through, and like his taste, his taste, his humor, his fucking real— realness. As you know, like you see someone in life. Here's how I know I'll be friends with somebody: when you're like at the mall and you see someone and the person's being a fucking weirdo, and you look to like the person you're with and you both see it without saying anything. Yeah, Marty sees the fucking weirdo that you see. He gets it. He sees it all, even though he's— and he's Martin Scorsese at the same time, right? You know, like he's as human and real as like, the fuck is that guy doing? And he's also the biggest genius you've ever met.

You, you, you're so— we're all so lucky to be immersed into the thing that we chose to do because we love to do it, right? And you've been— enjoyed tremendous success both writing and acting and now directing and everything. Is there something— and that really stimulates your mind, like you said, there's my family and there's work, right? And that's all you care about, that's all you love.

Yeah.

Is there anything else?

I mean, I have friends, swear to God. You got friends. Jason is my actual friend. Great friend.

Yeah, yeah.

He is an amazing friend.

For sure. But say more.

And I look up to him very much. He's a— I would call him a mentor because I admire his relationship with his amazing wife Amanda and the father he is to his children. And he's great at his job, and they don't have to be mutually exclusive.

Let's hear it for Jason.

Yeah, it's true.

He's a wonderful human being.

It is very true.

He's got to go to New York tomorrow. I don't know if you heard of what he's up against.

Yeah.

It's just, uh, he's gonna be humping it in 36 jays.

Send me the intro you wrote.

Yeah.

I'd love to read it.

I kind of remembered it.

It was pretty close to that. I interrupted you. What was your question, Sean?

No idea.

Okay, I'm sorry.

No, no, no, it was—

Oh, no, no, no. I mean, to being immersed so deeply immersed in what we'd love to do, there's got to be other things that interest you. Like, I'm obsessed with space and sci-fi and all that. That.

Are there—

what are the other things that when we think of Jonah Hill, instead of work and family, what is the thing that's like, oh, you know what, it's skateboarding. What is the other thing that we're like, what, I didn't know that you absolutely love?

Super great question because I would be lying. Hobbies are a huge part of my life and happiness as well. So, like, I love Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I love— except my body is begging me to not love it. 42 isn't— my wife is often like, you're not going to become like a professional fighter, you know that, right? Like, you're a comedian.

Like, but let me ask you something. If we got into it, I would fuck you up.

You'd fuck me up, right? I would fuck all three of you up.

Truly.

Yeah, and that's the best part. My favorite thing is people are like, oh, Jonah Hill, fucking fat guy from Superbad, and I'm like, I would fucking annihilate you, dude. I'm not kidding. Every fighter, try it. If you see me Crying.

Every fight ends up on the ground.

Bring it! Who's got it?

I will, unless you are way bigger than me. I have like a fucking fuck around and find out. And also, and also, um, surfing.

Surfing.

But then your kids take all that, you know, it was all that stuff like, like pandemic, no life, selfish, have no family, no wife. But then, you know, kids, it's your life for sure, uh, you know, like it's, um There is not a free moment. Like, I ask permission now to go do my hobbies, you know, because like, if the kid needs— the kids need me, right, you know? But then you got to fill your own cup. That's why I call guys with Jason, like Jason, to be like, how do you balance this shit, right?

I have a secret fantasy of wanting to get into a fight, um, and because I've never been into it.

It's not a fantasy. I feel really bad for the other guy.

Sean just likes the ground and pound situation.

By the way, I'm being funny, by the way. I would fuck you up, but I am being funny also.

You started— you like jiu-jitsu. I'm gonna start a new one called Ground and Pound. Yeah, I'm gonna teach you.

Groundandpound.com is not what you think it is.

Get it now. Yeah, no, I've never been in a fight, and I've always been like, that has to feel like—

but dude, acting, and like, I hadn't acted in a long time, and now I'm out there maybe gonna take a role and like start acting for other people.

Yeah.

I'm so excited to act, like, almost like I'm excited about to serve for jiu-jitsu, like—

Because you've been away for a while or because of the directing and now you're gonna bring that perspective to the acting?

Yeah, like, I haven't done a movie where I acted for another director. I did McKay's movie, Don't Look Up. Which you were awesome in. And then You People with Kenya, which was such a fun experience. I saw Lauren London today. Shout out Lauren London. I fucking love you. Shout out Kenya. Shout out McKay. Shout out all the homies. Um, what am I talking about? And then so your hobbies—

acting.

Yeah, like I was like, I might take this job and I'm like, dude, I'm so excited to like just put on the t-shirt you tell me to put on and go be funny. Yeah, like I want to do like— like I'm so excited like I was when I was young. And so that's a fun feeling, you know?

That's it. Yeah, I do know.

What about daddy stuff? Do you— what's your favorite part?

You were amazing. I called you back. You guys see— is this thing on? Will was so Brilliant.

Absolutely brilliant.

And Bradley's just an amazing dude.

So incredible.

Yeah.

Who don't you like?

I'm kidding.

I'm just kidding.

It's more like who doesn't like me, unfortunately.

What is your favorite part about daddy stuff? What's your— what have you found is your favorite thing to do with your kid that you— kids that you didn't think— that you didn't know you were gonna love?

I knew I was gonna love it. I just prayed that I'd be, uh, able to do it in the right way, you know? So I'm so proud of what I get to do. Every second of it is so sick because like even when he's like 3 and crazy, because one of the ones, a little baby, you can only yell at him, scream yourself hoarse at him so much.

How's your swaddle game?

That was a joke.

How's your swaddle game? Are you a good swaddler?

No, he's out of— yeah, no, I'm not a good swaddler. I'm a good diaper changer.

You're just good diaper changer? No, no. Yeah. Swaddling is when you take and you wrap up. Well, they're probably past— the young ones probably past the swaddling now.

Yeah, but like, swallower?

No, swaddler. That's on groundandpound.com.

Um, Amanda, was Jason— did he get in the swaddle? He did, for real.

A great swaddler and a great diaper, um, changer-upper.

Making your kid— like, seeing your kid come up with something that he thinks is funny to make you laugh. Like knowing that that's like he wants, he thinks of something that is funny in his 3-year-old mind and then tries to be like, "Dada," and then says, which is usually "oh fuck" or "weener" 'cause he's my son. And he'll be like, "Dada, oh fuck." And I'm like, "Family business, baby. Get out there." Are you enjoying—

well, he's still a little bit too young, but like, are you— I'll bet you're gonna enjoy starting to feather in your sense of humor to him and he'll start to pick up on that from you and it'll start to maybe become kind of his sense of humor too. I remember, I think it was Maple, was it you or was it Frannie? I'll never forget what type. One of them said to me, Daddy, how come you never smile after you say something funny? And it was like, you know, just like, kind of like, well, 'cause if you smile then you know it's a joke. You don't smile, then it's kind of dry, and that's like sarcasm. Like, it was like so weird that I was trying to formulate what the answer would be to that, but like, you don't know what the answer is to that.

It's just like your kids have never seen you smile. Think about that. Yeah, that's what it is. Think about how fucking traumatized they are. Comedy is not supposed to be fun in our house.

Stop laughing.

I mean, you don't have to teach them.

Psycho.

They just watch you. They just watch you, right?

That's what I mean. It's like you start to just like— I don't know, I, it's— I just, I'm— I don't want to go tomorrow.

You're going to be brilliant.

I would be having a nervous breakdown if my kids were going to college, cuz I think about— I start crying sometimes. I'm like a little baby myself because I'll look at them and be like, if like you're a teenager and don't want to hang out with me, I'll, I'll cry every night. You know, like, I can't imagine them—

Well, here's something that somebody said to me that sort of, like, got me off the ledge. When your kids go to college, you've got a long time to go. They're not going to college, let's be honest. Maple's got another 4 or 5 years, so I'm still— the tears are still pretty low. But when Franny, my eldest, left, I was like, I'm not going to do well with this. Fortunately, she goes to school in town, so I'm okay. Okay, but somebody said to me a few years before she left, she said, you're not losing your 4-year-old. Like, it's not, your 4-year-old is not leaving. It's an 18-year-old that's probably been spending a lot of weekends out at friends' houses and stuff like, so it gets feathered in and it's not like boom, your 4-year-old, your 10-year-old is like leaving the house. It's, you're actually excited for them to start, you know, leave the nest, start flapping the wings and it's, you know.

It's like knowing you, relationship with your daughters, you've seen them blossom into these incredible people, so you're like, "Go shred." Yeah, yeah, you're excited to watch them go through it. "Go play the guitar." Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, you'll love it.

It's radical. It's all a blessing.

Yeah.

All right, we're about done here. These people, they probably want to pee or do something or get the hell out of here. In closing, though—

We're done?

Oh my gosh.

Yeah, we don't take a lot of time.

I was so boring.

What? Talk to us about the film that's out right now and the film that's coming out that you— I saw that one too. That one's fucking great. You guys are gonna have to wait a little bit longer on that. You're still in post on that. Tell us—

Jason also gives the best notes because he's such a great director.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, but tell us about Jason.

It says it. Yeah. Incredible.

And Will Will and I are friends, but it's like a newer friendship, and then Sean and I are going to become friends, hopefully.

That's right, right after this. You're sleeping over tonight? Yeah, we're going to watch Superbad tonight.

Yes, right. Beat him up.

Yeah, if you'd like the shit beaten out of you, please let me know.

Sean's got a single.

Come on down to San Diego, we'll treat you right.

You look in your rearview mirror.

I went to San Diego so Jonah could beat me up.

Traffic was a nightmare.

Scotty, let's go.

So tell us about these two films.

The new movie's called Outcome and you can stream it on Apple and it's Keanu Reeves and myself and Cameron Diaz and the great Matt Bomer who's incredible and a bunch of amazing people, David Spade, Laverne Cox, really amazing cast and it's a really funny movie and if you want to enjoy yourself at home and then pause it and take a piss and get snacks and stuff you can totally go do that.

But it's also got filmmakers your stuff in it. Like, you shot it beautifully and it's scored beautifully, and it's like, it's, it's— you're doing it. Um, now, and this— and then this next one, this next one is just pure stupidity.

So it is just dumb.

Tell them what the concept is.

It's dumb. I'm about to go on a run of just the dumbest shit you've ever seen in your entire life. So I hope you left your brains at home. So, um, it's called Cut Off, and Kristen Wiig and I play two two dumbass heirs, rich, rich kids in their mid-40s who get cut off by their rich parents, uh, played by Bette Midler and Nathan Lane. So, oh, that's, um, it is like Step Brothers, Clueless, Trading Places.

It's just so great.

Classic comedy. And Kristen Wiig is the American treasure. I've been so lucky. My last two movies, Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz, and Kristen Wiig and Bette Midler and Nathan Lane. I'm the luckiest guy But it's gonna be in theaters. Shout out Mike and Pam and Jesse at Warner Brothers. And we are trying to bring comedy movies back to the big screen.

Yeah, man, it's about time.

It's about time.

There haven't been— we've been— there haven't been enough comedy movies getting made. And I think it's about time. And I hope that you're like— I'm glad you're leading the charge.

I am dedicating the— till you guys make me stop.

So the break is over.

Making people laugh.

We want more of you, more often, higher frequency. Your break's over. Move back up from San Diego, or at least—

That I'm not doing, but I promise to try and make a movie every year that's funny.

Please do.

Critics, do your best, you cocksuckers. And then, and I'm gonna make people laugh, so fuck y'all.

That's great, I love that.

We love you, buddy. We love you. Thanks for joining us. Jonah Hill, guys!

Jonah Hill! Thank you.

I hope that was okay.

I love you, dude. I'm sorry I was like, "Dakota!" No, that's okay.

That's okay. So, now, I—

we're gonna do a wrap-up. Wrap-up, yeah.

No, we gotta do the wrap-up.

We gotta do the wrap-up.

We gotta do the wrap-up.

Sean, I find, is the most genuine, warmest, sincere, attentive friend I could ever ask to have.

That's a true story.

That's very nice.

Will has all of that. And just happens to make me laugh more than anybody I've ever met in my life.

Yes.

Oh, thank you. You're pretty funny too. Jason.

Take your time.

It's going to take a minute.

To think of something?

You are— you're so Jason, you know? Which is what we love about you. You're just— you're the— no, Jason is such a sweet boy.

This is awkward.

No, it's not. It's true. And he's— you've made such a great thing of yourself. You've really turned around. I mean, you kind of grew up in the woods, and you just— you got out, and you're a beautiful person. And he's— and I give him shit. We give him shit for being so grumpy. But he's so squishy on the inside.

Yes, he is.

He is such a sweet boy.

Yes. I love you because you also are a genuinely kind person. When you really think of other people. And I— you are one of the— you're grabbing my ass right now. Yeah. And you're one of the smartest people I've ever known in my entire life. And, and yes, you're squishy inside. This fella is also super squishy, the funniest person on the face of the planet. Both of them are. And I love you guys both.

I love you too. And I said, Sean and I were texting last night about about something, and I, you know, you have those moments. One of the great things is that about our friendship, and I don't know why we're doing this, but is we love each other, and I think it's the age that we've gotten to where we can tell each other that we love each other. Yeah. And it feels really great to be able to do that. Yeah. And I said, Sean sent me a text last, we talked on the phone, then he sent me a really lovely text afterwards. And like Jason said, you cannot meet a person who is more consistently supportive and kind than Sean Hayes.

You can try.

No, and constantly he checks in on everybody he loves. He's always so selfless, and it's unbelievable. And, and JB's the same. I, I feel very, very honored that we get to do— that you guys listen to us.

Yeah, fuck around. I don't know if you guys get to work with your best friends. They are truly my two best friends. You guys let me work with them and have the greatest time of my life and talk to some of the most interesting people in the world. So we cannot thank you enough.

Yeah, we really, really appreciate it. Yeah, we do. And we do.

I also want to say sorry, thank you to Bennett and to Rob and to Michael.

There's Rob Armiares.

This is a— this is a—

there's Bennett over there.

Yeah.

And where's Michael Terry?

Michael Terry somewhere.

Michael Terry is somewhere. There's—

it is, it is 6 of us and our great partners at Sirius, but it is the 6 of us that make this thing happen. And so without them, we wouldn't have it.

And we didn't want to let another moment go by. Bye!

Smartless. Smartless. Smartless.

Smartless is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Bennett Barber Michael Grant Terry, and Rob Armjorf.

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