Transcript of "Marcus Mumford" New

Is everybody keeping cool today? It's really hot outside.

Super hot.

Sticky and sweaty.

Yeah, it's really gross. It's like, you just sweat looking at it.

I'm just so hot right now.

So gross.

Hey, is there a back end to your fucking joke? No, I just want to say hi. Just want to say hi, it's hot outside? What kind of cold open is this?

It's a hot open. Welcome to Smartless.

Smart. Smart. Less. Smart. Less. JB, I'm across the street from you.

Yeah, no, I know.

What do you mean?

See, so wait, so, uh, you're up top, right? Yeah, all the way up top.

Did you ask what was the question?

Sorry. Yeah, okay, so I think I can, I can, I can see you. You can see me. Um, I'm not in my window.

Wait, are you being serious?

You can see this guy? Can you see the scaffolding?

Yeah.

What's going on up there? Are we doing—

you see like a black bag on the scaffolding that's blowing in the wind?

Uh, no, because I'm on the south side of the building. Uh, south side of your building?

Uh, yeah, that's what I'm saying. It's on the, on the, on the south side of the building, way up there. There's like a little black bag.

No, because the whole building is netted, so I don't see that.

Oh, you don't see through the netting?

No, I don't. Um, anywho, so we're neighbors. We've never lived closer to one another. I know, actually. No, that when lived in my house with me and my wife.

That was so fun.

Why does my youngest daughter look so much like you?

This is before the kids. And the— God, your floors are so creaky. And I was just always like, at night, just like, I didn't want to make a sound. Snuck around cigarettes.

I was smoking back then too, though, wasn't I? You sure were. Hey, why is your hair so cut?

Yeah, I just had a little trimsky.

Is Eli with you right now?

No, I didn't see Eli. I went to see my boy, my guy Kevin Woon.

Are you in a fight with Eli?

No, no, no. I just haven't seen Eli.

And what happened to Eli and you?

No.

Well, I love Eli. You know, if you're like—

So wait, now Sean, Sean also has a personal hairdresser.

Sean, who's your— you've got a new person. Who's your person?

Yeah, his name is Marco.

Hashtag relatable. You both have personal hairdressers?

No, it's the—

no, it's not personal. It's like full-time employment, you jerk.

Yeah, kind of on the payroll.

No.

Who, who cuts your hair?

Whoever is heading the hair department on whatever project I'm working on.

That's such a lie.

As a matter of fact, she just left the apartment. She is the, uh, key hairdresser on the—

oh yeah, and she came over to the house.

Yeah, so that's—

she did.

You're not even in the cast this time, you're the director. So she had to come to the director's house.

I am doing—

that's so icky.

I'm doing, I'm doing one small scene. The director, what a tease.

His legs are broken, so he couldn't come to me, so I had to go to the director's apartment down in fancy part of Manhattan.

Okay, um, so Sean, you're enjoying your new hairdresser?

Uh, I am. He's really, really good. Marcos.

Yeah, so much so that you won't take your hat off.

Yeah, take your hat off. Let's see what it's doing.

Yeah, well, it's just, you know, I look like—

back on, back on.

Like Bill said, I look like a page boy.

I didn't say that. I just said it.

You said I look— on Saturday night you said I look like a page boy. And I said— and I said, were you going for Uh, what scientist? Mad scientist? Because your hair—

my hair— when my hair was longer because it was sticky, it was all sticking out. And you said— did you say— you said— did you just say to them, give me the mad scientist?

Yes.

And so, Will, you've got a—

that's why I cut my hair, because Sean shamed me.

Is that true, or is it just like a summer sort of—

or you—

is it swim team?

It looks good short like that, Will.

You know what I can't believe? That you would habitually chew gum on a fucking podcast.

I know. I mean, I'm nervous. Just—

he just—

it wasn't— by the way, it's not loud the way I'm doing it.

You've gotten better at that, but it still sneaks through. And I'll bet you all speak for Rob and Bennett right here. It's getting annoying having to mute your microphone every once in a while.

Bennett, Rob, tell me, is it true?

We tidy it up. You know what?

You know what?

I have a special relationship with Bennett and Rob, whom we love.

And nicotine.

You know what?

Our coffee chat's real hyper today. I think it's my fault.

It is.

I love it. I'm having one now too. I'm having the rare 1 PM coffee.

Yeah, it's real Regis and Kathie Lee areas.

We're lucky, lucky to be associated.

All right, do you want to get on with it?

Yeah, I mean, I don't know, do you want to tee up your intro?

Uh, yeah, how about you guys, how about let's have it, let's have a, a, an official guess session here, okay? Okay, see if you guys can guess it.

All right, let's do it.

Yeah, okay, great.

Um, joining our nonsense today is a fella who's not yet 40. But is already approaching the 20-year mark with his band. Okay, they are Grammy winners. They are known and loved worldwide. He was born in California but raised in England. He's got 3 children with his wife, who has been a guest on this very podcast.

I know who it is.

Let's fucking hear it.

It's, um, Chris Martin.

No, no, it's Marcus Mumford.

Bingo! Get out of here!

How did you know that?

How did you know that?

Because you're a smart person, Marcus. I liked my hints. Can I, can I get on with my—

No, your hints were terrible. I didn't know he was born in California.

Well, but I said his band sounds like a family law firm specializing in personal injury.

You didn't even say personal injury.

It does sound like— it sounds like a plumbing company. It does.

But that was— that was on purpose, right, Marcus?

No, but, but Marcus, I knew— I was just talking about— I'm so excited for the doc, and I was just talking about you 10 minutes ago. So excited to come and see it.

Yeah, are you gonna come? Yeah, man, are you gonna come?

Oh, it's just down the street. I might, I might, I might be working, but I might be able to make it. Um, I think my wife will be there, which, uh, that's all anybody ever cares about.

She's my date.

Yeah.

Um, have you ever guessed a guest from their laugh before they've done the reveal? Because I was really— they freaked me out, man. Your guys freaked me out. They were like, don't breathe. Oh really? Um, until the reveal. Wait, and I wanted to laugh because you're very funny.

Did they make you think that we're prone to rage? Like if we hear a certain guest?

No, they just made me feel, you know, in a very polite way, like I would ruin the entire show if I squeaked.

The whole surprise thing is so— it's such a waste. It just saves us from doing homework, and the audience already knows who it is. We're the only two dicks that don't know who the guest is by the time the episode is up.

How dare you refer to me as the dick. But listen, it's fun. We're having fun, okay, Jason?

Look into it.

Okay.

Marcus, welcome to Smartless.

It's about time. I'm so— I'm genuinely so— I was early on Smartless. I was very early.

You came to the show in LA. I remember you and I, we went to an early screening of Maestro together.

We did, yeah.

And you said— it was right after our show, and you said, "I came to the show," and I said, in LA. I was so surprised.

It was the night you guys were filming and it was really hectic.

Where was it?

You mean like the LA show? Oh, oh, oh, in the, in the doc?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the one, the one downtown. Yeah, yeah, at the theater. I can't remember what it's called. Orphanage. And, um, I didn't want to bother you because it was super hectic, but yes, I came to the show. And I've been— but I've been listening to your show for a very long time.

It's crazy.

We're ready for notes. Do you have any notes?

What would you do?

How would you change it?

We're looking to improve.

You know The hair shit was a low point, I think.

Yeah.

It's all low points. What we do is we establish the bar low early, right? And then everything feels like a win.

The only way is up.

I love it. It's just very cozy. I love it.

I'll tell you something, Mark, what's interesting. You brought up something, and we're about to tap into a runner thematically, is that you told me that you were at the show, and I vaguely remember at the time sort of saying, "I wish you had said hi," and then you just mentioned it was hectic and you didn't want to say hi. Came to our show and didn't come backstage and say, hi, Jason has thoughts on this.

Yeah, but hold on, hold on. This is— we're not talking Broadway theater.

Yeah, well, let's do it, right? I need your opinion on this.

It's adjacent.

I went to see— do you know who I went to see last week, um, in Exeter? Was Tim Key. Now, do you know Tim Key?

Oh yeah, he's brilliant.

He's one of my favorite comics of all time. I think he's a genius.

Brilliant.

And I went and watched his show and was about to leave and thought to myself, now he knows I'm here, he helped with the tickets, it is rude to leave.

Well, that's different.

If someone has helped you with the ticket.

Amen.

Without saying great show.

But so how about this, right? So you are a musician and you are in live venues and theaters. And so you—

Got it.

There are some famous people that come see your shows a lot. Here we go. Does the same rule apply there? Are you aware who's in there? Are you offended if they don't come back and say, hey, great show?

Culturally very different in music.

Very different.

Very different.

See, so more of a— I'm more of a rock and roll guy at heart, guys, than—

wait, what's your position, Jason? Are you a no-show? Are you a no-show at the show?

I, I think it's presumptuous for people in the audience who are, who are famous or even pseudo-famous to think that, oh, they'll be welcome backstage, um, just because you share fame.

That's also my—

like, come say hi. It's just like, it's so arrogant. Like, just get the hell out and let them do this.

It's more like, you probably want to see me because I'm really famous, so I'll bless you with my presence.

Yeah, and let you know how great I think you were. Or not.

Or talk about how great the program was. Or the lights. Or find something polite to say.

There's that famous clip from the Madonna documentary Truth or Dare when Kevin Costner comes backstage. Did you see that? And he goes, "Yeah, I thought—" And she just spent 3 hours, you know, she's drenched in sweat, you know, performing for 5,000 people. And he goes, uh, he says, um, "Yeah, we thought it was really neat." Oh, yeah, yeah. And she turns to the camera, she goes, "Anybody who calls my show neat has got to go." Right in front of him? No, she— he left, and she goes, "Ah!" like that on camera.

My favorite backstage moment like that when I was invited, very explicitly invited backstage, was after Kendrick Lamar played Bonnaroo. And there was a sort of message that came down from on high that Kendrick would like to see you. And when Kendrick calls, you come, right? Because he's the king.

I learned that lesson the hard way.

And it was like, you can go in now. And he took off almost all of his clothes as I walked in.

It was amazing. It sounds more like boner-oo.

We'll be right back after these messages from our friends.

It was amazing. And I thought, like, the gumption, you know, the gumption to be like, yeah, come on back after the show and it'll be the very moment when I take all my clothes off and I'm just down to my undies. It's confidence.

And then we'll have a chat.

I don't know. It's confidence. But aren't you comfortable with that? Like, even on a TV set or a film set or whatever, people knock on my trailer door. I'm like, come in. I'm dressing. I don't care.

It is a dressing room.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, that is true.

Marcus, you bring up, uh, Tim Key, whom I also adore, and he did that incredible film with your wife. He did, uh, The Ballad of Wallace Island, which I love that film. That I did too. Brilliant, brilliant film, wasn't it? We're not going to get into Carrie's career, but it—

I mean, good, because I haven't seen a lot of it, but that one I've seen 3 times. I love that one so much.

So me too. You guys, I urge anybody to see The Ballad of Wallace Island. It's such a beautiful little film. It's so funny and poignant and just Amazing, beautiful, beautiful film.

Well, I got so into Tim's, um, podcast. He's got like a Radio 4— it's not a podcast, it's a radio show in the UK on public radio. And I got so deeply into it in COVID that when he wrote to Carey with a script, I was like, you absolutely have to do this movie. He's— oh wow, him and Tom Basden together are phenomenal.

Tom Basden, amazing too. Yeah, I'm so— amazing.

And just for my sister, your wife is Carey Mulligan, just so for Tracy, my sister, in case she Yeah, hi Tracy.

Yeah, Tracy almost crashed. She was trying to look at Google.

Hey Siri, um, who is pulling into Kohler, Wisconsin with her phone in her hand? Uh, wait, so Marcus, getting back to that for one quick second, um, she can't possibly see all your shows because you, you're playing almost every night.

She actually broke her record.

So are you allowed to not see all of hers? Yeah, yeah, she came on tour.

I think she, in one year, maybe was at 48 shows and watched, um, 2.

Not the whole thing.

Top and tail. Uh, yeah, she really, um— She says she likes our band, our recorded music. There's some caveats. Like, first time she saw our band play, she thought we were quite shouty. And to be fair, I think she's right about that. But then, you know, she's put up with it for a long time. But then, yeah, she doesn't feel like if she's on the road, she has to come to every show.

Wait, Marcus, did you guys meet at summer camp? Am I right about that?

Yeah, we met at Bible camp. Yeah. Really? I was 10, she was 12. What?

Nice one. Ah, yeah, nice.

So they were— so you guys were— now, she started to tell some of the story, I think, earlier, which was fun, about how they were pen pals, right?

Yeah, we were pen pals, yeah. And she still has the journal entry from the day we met where I— My cousin was there who was 2 years older, who was age-appropriate for her, and he got an 8.5 out of 10. But I, who was definitely not underlined boyfriend material, got a 9 out of 10. Wow. Wow. Go figure.

So then what made you not boyfriend material? Because you were just— You were 10.

I was 2 years younger, and I was also a foot shorter.

Oh, that was it. It wasn't because you were some— it wasn't because you were like— It wasn't because you were a monster running around and being a pain in the ass.

No, well, she did write in her journal that I was a bit aggressive on the soccer pitch. Yeah, sure. That I'd gone in a bit heavy on some of the tackles, which would be— which lines up. But then we stayed in touch as kids, I guess, and then we reconnected in our 20s. I just love that.

And did you lighten up? Are you still a heavy tackler, or, I mean, let's—

Well, yes.

Yeah, yeah. It's one of the few times I'll drop a C-bomb in earnest. Co-ed soccer in the States, particularly. I lived in Denver and I used to play co-ed soccer and, you know, you can't retaliate, at least where I come from. You know, a woman tackles you really hard, you can't retaliate. So, yeah, I get it. Yes, the rage comes out on the football field sometimes.

Oh, God. There's a big game on right now, Willy. I bet you're taking it.

I know, I know. I know, guys, whoever organized this.

I know.

I can't believe we've done this.

I know, I know. I'm watching it. I've got it too.

Have you got it on? Okay, great.

I just turned it off.

But don't spoil it, right? Are you— yeah, because I haven't— I'm going to watch it afterwards.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's really intriguing right now, by the way. It's really intriguing. We're at an intrigue—

they've just come out of the box. I haven't got a live feed because I was thinking about— and then I didn't press record.

So should we take a break and go watch it?

Are you in the UK, Marcus? Are you in the UK or are you here?

Yeah, and so I thought, I thought on Champions League final day we'd be safe to do a do a chat at 5 or 6. Turns out it was an early kickoff, 5 o'clock.

But do you, do you honestly want to take a 2-second break and go hit record so you can see the second half?

I'll, uh, do it on your phone. Yeah, for sure. No, no, no, no, no, don't worry about it, it's fine. If it was an England game. So we have a, we have a new man, fairly new management team last couple years. And who's we? They haven't managed us. They haven't managed— sorry, band management. Oh, okay. They haven't managed our band through, through a World Cup summer. And it's a big deal trying to manage our band during a World Cup summer because if there's any kind of— we can't— we tend not to play on England days because they're big days. I take this stuff very seriously. And I sat them all down for the third time in about February. We delayed the announcement of our tour because they hadn't yet announced what dates and days the group games were gonna be. And so business-wise, it was almost a disaster. But we waited for so long because we waited to announce the tour so that we knew we weren't gonna be on stage stage when England were playing, right? And I sat everyone down, I said, look guys, management's going great, you're doing a really good job, but just so you know, we've had this conversation now 3 times, I'm deadly serious, if you double book us when England are playing, everyone is fired.

Everyone is fired. And I think they've got the message pretty clear now. And I think I'm gonna manage to sneak to a couple of games. But it's a big summer. It's a big summer. Yeah. Go—

so let's, let's, let's go back to being a kid. Um, yeah, and we're, we're right in there around, uh, summer camp.

And where did you grow up? You— Jason said you grew up in California.

No, I was born in California. Oh, you're born? Okay. But, but evacuated, evacuated to England at 6 months old. Oh, oh, so not even— I grew up in London.

What were the conditions under which you were born in California?

Why is that? My parents were working there for a couple years down in Anaheim. Yeah. Uh, for a church. So I was born— I popped up along the way. And then they came back home to plant a church in London from the Californian one. Got it. Okay.

And then at what point then was music introduced to you?

Yep. I mean, it was the kitchen. My mom listened to a lot of music and had a vinyl collection that I was allowed access to quite early on. And then we would listen to music.

And what were some of those vinyls?

Well, it was a lot of classical music and a lot of choral music, 'cause she was— in a choir at university and stuff. That's cool. And then the only two kind of pop records she had, or non-classical records, were Blood on the Tracks. Amazing. And House of the Rising Sun by the Animals. Wow. Oh, wow. And so I played them to death. And then we leaned heavily into the greatest hits by Bruce Springsteen. That was like the family car record.

But then, so that explains that you don't have an aversion, or rather you have an attraction to, or an ability to incorporate these other instruments and instrumentation around your music. Um, some people call it folk. I know that that's not really accurate, um, but the fact that you can work in all these different sounds and your music, your sound, the band sound is so full and varied. Uh, does that have, uh, uh, some, some, some roots in the classical music that you were— all the multiple instruments? Yeah, maybe.

I think that's partly, partly a reflection of the taste, the you know, amongst the band members. Like, me and Ben and Ted all have real different tastes in music, and it covers most genres. Ben— like, Ted's the best guitar— he's the bass player. He's the best guitarist in the band by a long way. He plays jazz and blues and kind of studied it. Yeah. But plays the bass in the band, which is very kind of, um, kind, actually. And then Ben grew up playing lots of classical and jazz on piano and saxophone. He was a better drummer than me at school. And, and then And then I, you know, yeah, we cover most of the genres together. And I think we've always felt like whatever instruments suit the song that we're writing at the time. Right. You know, so we leaned heavily into like electric guitars and stuff on the third and fourth records. And now I've kind of come back more to the acoustic stuff. And it's, it's just fun, man. Yeah. We love it. We'll be right back.

And now back to the show.

What about you playing so many different instruments? That's not super common, right?

Well, the key is learning 3 chords on lots of instruments.

Yeah, but I mean, playing drums is so not the same as playing a guitar. What's more difficult? Seems like the drums would be very difficult to master, or is it just—

Well, I mean, that was my instrument at school, and I took it fairly seriously and did the grading system. And that started with pots and pans in the kitchen with my mum and dad. And then I played all the way through high school. I played at college just for the year that I lasted at college. And then got hired as a drummer in a band. For Laura Marling? So I quit college. For Laura Marling, yeah. So I quit college and played for Laura. Well done. And that was my first job in music. That's really nice. And, um, so I got hired as a session drummer, and I still like to play drums for people when I get the chance, honestly, because I love it. Um, but then— and so— and then I learned open tunings on the guitar so that I could play it like a percussion instrument, really, without having to read. I can read drum music. I can't read, you know, other music.

Oh, really? Drum music look like—

yeah, drum music, X's. It's still on a stave. Yeah, there's X's and there's noughts and crosses, basically.

And so like the snare is an X and the kick drum is a—

Yeah, the kick, the kick, the bass drum goes at the bottom and then the snare is like 2 down, you know, where the C would normally be. And the hi-hats are on top and they're normally Xs and then the cymbals are on top of that.

They stack it on the top. So you know, you know the note, like there's this line and then the black dot. Yeah. Instead it's a line with an X and that's percussion.

For cymbals, for cymbals it's an X. Yeah.

Huh. Yeah. Wait, Jason and Will, did you guys ever— did you ever try to learn an instrument or no? Piano.

I played as a little kid, and then when I got too big to be pushed around, I said I'm out.

Yeah, sure, I understand that.

So you always had a great attitude, is that what you're saying? You're consistent. No, it was—

it was— it wasn't— it wasn't—

I wish I had. I wish I'd stayed with it.

But, you know, it's like my parents, like they said, you know, like it's a form of discipline. You're gonna have to do your practice for an hour every single day. Yeah, yeah, so they made it fun. Exactly, like that was a problem. Like, you know, they should have made it fun. Like any kid, you're gonna try to cheat and not practice. And so they set up a tape recorder that I had to put on the piano and press record during my 1-hour practice to prove that I was practicing. Of course, it was the same idea, same music that I was practicing each and every week. So you just made the same—

you record it once and just turn the record at once and they bought it.

I mean, it's just, you know, you're not getting any better by Friday each week.

Yeah, that was your audition for It's Your Move. That sounds like the thing your character in It's Your Move would have done. The show Jason did when he was like 15, it was so funny. Marcus, I played over here. It was a brilliant show where he just played a kid who did shit like that all the time. Um, I wish— yeah, I wish I had. I, I, I did a couple instruments here and there during school, and I wish— I just wish I'd stuck with it. It's one of those, like, I wish I'd— I can play 4 chords on a guitar really sloppily.

I just— but let me ask you this, Marcus, to that— to Will's point is, like, once you— once you learn and become proficient, as you have in so many areas of music, and not only music, singing, singing and all that, is— can you— you don't listen to other music the same way. Yeah, that's— whereas somebody Whereas somebody like Will or Jay, who— I love music. Yeah, they— you have a different appreciation for it. Not that you don't if you know it, but, you know, it's just a different ear.

We had this— we had this conversation, um, the other day. We had a party at home. It was Kerry's birthday. And, um, and someone came and they were like, there's no music. And I was like, yeah, we— we don't really play music. Music as back— we don't— I can't do background music because if music's on, I want to, like, lean in and listen to it. And right, I can't switch that part my brain off. So then Carrie doesn't like having music in the house because I just, I just stop having a conversation. Like, if music comes on, I'll just— and she'll be like, you've gone. I was like, oh, sorry. Right, turn it off then.

And then when you listen to it, do you, do you analyze it? The chord progressions, the melodies?

Yeah, yeah, normally, you know. And, and if— and a lot of the time then they'd sort of store it to try and copy it, you know. Yeah, yeah, right, sure, sure.

Who, who do you listen to a lot of? New music at all?

Yeah, yeah, I listen to probably mostly new music, actually. And if I'm on my own, that's when I listen to music.

And how are you finding the new stuff? Is somebody giving you tips on like, oh, you should check this out? Or how about this, you know, all those streaming services, they like, they figure out what you like and then they send you suggestions and stuff. Do you find that helpful? Do you follow some of those? Yes, sometimes.

Some of my favorite music I've found on on TikTok when I was on it. Yeah. And now I'm not on it. I've— my, my new music has dried up a bit, actually. I was, I was enjoying that. There's an amazing British band called Divorce. Oh, great band name. Yeah, that's good. Became my new favorite obsession. I was completely obsessed with them. We got them to come on tour with us, which is fun. Well, I just found the algorithm, you know, fed them to me.

So you found them and said, hey, let's get these guys to come on tour with us?

Yeah. And then we ended up recording a song together. And yeah, I love Wait, you did—

you had to cut yourself off from TikTok? Is that what I'm sniffing out?

I did, yeah. I just— I just— well, I did it ahead of putting out the new record because I just wanted to be insulated from how other people felt about it because I knew how I felt about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I didn't— and I didn't need some, like, comment somewhere spoiling my experience because I was happy with it.

Good for you.

And I couldn't change it. It was done. And this is the first time I've ever put a record out where I genuinely have not read a word about it, and I feel feel free.

I love that.

I hope that's really cool.

It's cool. I mean, it's a privilege, obviously, but it's, it's, it's cool. So other people do our socials and stuff, and, you know, we send stuff over and we think about it, we're intentional about it, but I don't have to do any of it or be on any of it, which is cool.

You must come across, you must come across bands and stuff when you're, when you're touring too, or if you do a festival. Do you like, all of a sudden, do you find yourself going, oh wait, what is that going on over there? And like, and hear somebody that way? Does that ever happen?

Yeah, yeah. And a lot of the time it's just recommendations from mates, you know. They're like, "You should listen to this." And sometimes when we're discussing who to come on the road, one of us will pipe up with something we've been listening to, you know, 'cause we're very intentional about who comes out and supports us on tour. Because those are the shows I go to now.

Yeah, of course. You know, mostly.

And I'll go— and every night I don't like playing a show without watching the support band first, 'cause it just gets me in the mood and it makes me feel what the room's like. Yeah, of course.

Yeah. There's a new English band that I've been obsessed with, Westside Cowboy. Have you heard these guys? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

They're so fucking good, man. Didn't they support Geese on their run? Oh, did they? I think they supported— Yeah, them and Dove Ellis. So that, I found Dove Ellis through Geese, 'cause I knew he was on the road with them. And I'm like, you know, the rest of the internet obsessed with them. And, um, and yeah, that's how I found Dove Ellis. So a lot of the time it's just like, who's playing with who, and these little communities that pop up, which we were part of when we first started as a band. And that's really how people discovered us, 'cause they'd come to a Laura Marling— That's how Carey found out about our band. She booked a ticket to a Laura Marling show, and then we started shouting sort of an hour before Laura went on. And then she was like, "Oh, Mumford. I knew a kid called Mumford." And that's so— That's so cool, man. No way. Yeah, yeah. She left a note with our tour manager. She didn't come backstage? No, she left a note. See, that's classy. That is classy. That's really classy, man.

Well, wait, so she— I've embarrassed you. She probably told us this, I apologize for forgetting. But what— so what on the note did she say? Hey, so I did know this guy named, uh, Mumford. I forget his first name.

Is his name— no, do you know what, we were both, I guess, on Facebook for a, what, like a 6-month window when I was still at college, and we connected there. And then this was like a couple years after that when we'd started the band, and I was still playing in Laura's band. And so she left a note with our tour manager with her email address on it, I think.

Wow. But so knowing that it was you, once she saw you on stage, maybe?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what's great about this, Marcus, is she also emailed, not the phone number. Just another layer, you know what I mean? Lovely. Slow play, real classy.

She's got skills. She's a classy broad.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. A classy broad. When did you know that music might actually be a path towards a living for you as opposed to just fun? Still not convinced.

Still in some— State of Arrested Development. What a bass. Now that was a band.

For Sean, that's a TV show that was on. I got to write that down.

For Sean, not for Jesse. For Sean. Is it playing now?

Was also a good band. I think it's like—

I think it's like I was at college. I got offered a job playing music. I wasn't having a great time at college, so I stopped and took a sabbatical. Where'd you go to college? Edinburgh. Okay. And I think in my head I'm still on my— until quite recently I've been on my sabbatical from college. Sure, sure.

I think you mean thinking that you would probably go back.

Yeah.

And what would you have studied if you'd gone back?

I was doing classics. I was doing Greek and Latin. What literature? To do what? Unclear. You know, it's not a vocational, uh—

no, it is just reading. Reading.

It's what, it's what a lot of lawyers To be a monk? Yeah. Classics in the UK particularly is seen as like a good, honest, old-school degree to do if you're doing something.

But what do you do with that degree? Like, I don't understand.

He says lawyers, yeah. Oh, lawyer.

Well, what's cool about it as a— Become a member of Parliament. Yeah, a lot of those. A lot of prime ministers do it. But I wasn't on that track. What's cool about it is it gives you access to poetry and— philosophy and storytelling and language and linguistics, anthropology, ancient history, all these things that you study through the original languages.

Jason, you're drooling. Your mouth is open.

So it's really geeky, and you get your geek goggles out when you're talking.

I bet it helps you when you write lyrics.

And then if it swings— And it's how I got introduced to poetry. It's how I fell in love with words, honestly. Oh, wow. And then I started reading T.S. Eliot really pretentiously as, like, a 17-year-old. Yeah. And suddenly words had a new— depth to them. And, you know, he was a classicist too, and the references, a lot of classical references. And I'd sort of read a bit of Homer and then switch over to Eliot and be like, "Ah, cool, look at the way they've joined— he's joined up and referred back to this." Yeah.

Can't you just see 17-year-old Marks just riding a bicycle through some field and then just, like, dropping into a field and reading poetry?

Yeah, with a baguette and a basket on the bike.

I was that guy. I was sat on the train to Edinburgh wearing thick fabric and a collar that I'd made I cut the collar off my shirt because I'd seen the assassination of Jesse James and just got deep into poetry. And it's until— and honestly, until this last record, I've been in denial about that, too. Like, you know, I've been in this process of being like, "This is kind of who I am now. This is what I do." So for Prizefighter, I'd go and sit in the coffee shops in Hudson, New York, 'cause we were recording with Aaron Destner at Long Pond, and I'd sit in the coffee shop for 2 hours every morning, my artist sway, like morning pages, and I'd sit and read poetry like a real twat and just really lent into my, I guess, my identity at this point. And it, and it helped me write lyrics, you know.

Um, let's, let's get— let's hit Babel for a second here. So what, what did, what did that, the incredible success of that album do for you as far as, like, personally? Like, was that— was it jarring to sort of have that next step of success and recognition and treasure and like, was it— did you adapt well to that? Was it a fun thing or was it a bit disruptive?

That's a great question, actually. Thank you. Finally. For once. I don't think anyone, unless you're maybe one of Simon Cowell's projects, I don't think you're trained, you know, to have that kind of success. Level of success. We started playing music because we loved playing, we loved each other, and it was just fun, and we got free beers. And then suddenly, we were playing 250 shows a year. And then suddenly, you know, the first record starts gaining some pace. We took 6 weeks off tour to make Babel, which our producer at the time was really frustrated about. He's like, "Why do you have shows booked on the other side of a recording process?" That's really dumb creatively. But we rushed it, and I think we got it right, but it was pressurized. And then the success of that record around the world, really, and particularly in the States, just opened us up to a world we weren't, like, ever anticipating or planning for. And, um, yeah, I mean, I don't think unless you're a kind of pop star hot project you're even imagining it. And then suddenly the shows are all selling out and you're moving into bigger spaces and fulfilling lots of your dreams as a kid.

Like, to headline Glastonbury, we only did it on 2 records, you know. I remember getting to the end of the set, we basically had to play the whole of both records to fill the time. And I remember getting to the end of the set and just being like, "We just need more songs, man." That's all we got. We need more songs. 'Cause you watch Springsteen play for 3 hours and he's playing like just hit after hit after hit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, I wasn't really prepared for the success of that record, and I think we reacted to it a bit by making a record on the third one that no one was expecting from us, no one particularly wanted, but we loved it, and it took us into bigger rooms as well, and that was how it went, widescreen. And then the fourth record, and then we had a long gap before the fifth and sixth records.

Yeah, how long was that gap?

That was like, on paper, it was 7 years. I mean, we were touring for 2 of those after Delta came out, and then COVID happened. Yeah. Um, so we were apart as a band for maybe 3 years. Yeah, that's a lot.

What was that— what was that biggest adjustment there when that— when that first wave of big success came in? Um, I mean, obviously most notable would be the bigger crowds and the sellouts and probably nicer hotels, and you're flying from city to city instead of the buses maybe, or like just silly things like that. But it must have been pretty heady too, right? You're— what— you're watching people, you know, sing your songs, um, en masse, uh, and, uh, probably getting some feedback as to how you're affecting people and changing their lives a bit. And, um, you know, uh, probably a, a, a weaker, more insecure person would probably buy into that a lot and kind of, uh, own a lot of that. But I'll bet, I'll bet you sort of deflected a bit of that and tried to keep it all about the music and keep it simple.

And I mean, but you, you tell It drove a bit of my shame narrative that was already there that I've looked at a little bit. I drank a bit more than probably I should have.

Like imposter kind of stuff?

Yeah, a bit of that. Yeah, a bit of that for sure. And I did— I went in a bit. Yeah. And on stage you'd be very out, you know, give yourself completely. And then I— my friendship circle shrunk a bit. Yeah. I think— yeah, I did— I did I did use booze particularly as a bit of an escape. And then— and then really throughout it all, honestly, my marriage has just been the best thing about everything. Yeah, yeah. So—

But I think as we get older, it all— it sort of naturally and in a very healthy way, I think, most people, that circle gets smaller. You figure out more accurately who you are and what the proper fits are for you. And that usually equates to a smaller, more specific, more precise experience with people, right? You're not out there shopping as much for—

Yeah, and I think I recognized the idea of capacity. Yeah. Because for a few years there, particularly, I was spread really thin. I mean, you guys must find this with your jobs as well. You meet so many people, and a lot of them you love, and then you want to be friends with, and then you connect with other people, and then I found myself getting spread really thinly and not being very good friends to my friends. Right, right, right. And then that shrinking happened a bit. So, in a kind of healthy way, I think. So I guess it's— Yeah, I think you're right. It's partly growing up. But, um, but yeah, I suppose I dealt with it all in a bit of unhealthy ways. Then I stopped drinking booze more out of choice than necessity, although, you know, we could debate that. And then replaced it with ice cream for a while until I was told, you know— I wasn't losing any weight. I was really confused about that whole thing.

We have similar paths in that way. I did the same. I did that route too, where I was— it was like an ice cream-based diet after I quit.

Quit booze.

Yeah. Yeah.

Well, because you missed the sugar. I remember that.

Yeah, I miss it too. Wait, Marcus, you know, I'm always kind of interested in an hour at least. I'm like, I'm starting to shake. Um, um, you know, I'm always interested when when people like you who have bands and you met— I mean, you tell me, have you— did you have vocal training or know any— or how to use your voice? Or— because when I go, for example, I'm a massive Depeche Mode fan. They came on the podcast, it was really wild. I'm also a huge fan of yours, and I love all kinds of music too. And I went to go see Dave Gahan sing, and I can tell right away, oh, he didn't warm up. Huh. And then, and after the first couple songs his voice kind of opened up a little bit, and then it— and then it was great. And it was great from the beginning too, but just keep—

Reach Out and Touch Faith.

And then, do you do— did you have any kind of training, or did you realize when you were touring, like, oh shit, I don't know how to take care of the kind of athleticism of, of my voice?

Yeah, I, I was convinced for years that whiskey and cigarettes really helped. Yeah. Right. Sure. And then just recently I've started— actually, Brandi Carlile introduced me to her vocal coach, a guy called Rob Stevenson, who's totally changed my world and given me some education on stuff. Um, yeah, well, like, it's a muscle and you have to warm it up. And I've, I've been lucky not to— and I watched friends around me get affected by the polyps thing and losing their voices. We've never I don't think we've canceled a show for my voice in the past. That's amazing. Which has been cool. Like, the only couple of shows that I remember canceling were because Ted had a brain hemorrhage.

Oh, jeez.

Which wasn't funny at all. No. Get up! But now it's quite funny because he had to wear a hat for a while. But he headlined Glastonbury 2 weeks after getting that surgery. Like a legend. And we only can— I think we canceled 2 shows for that. But we've just been lucky, and my voice has been resilient. Amazing. But I think recently I've realized it's a muscle. Now I start— and now I have a full routine, and I look after it, and I quit smoking and all that stuff.

Yeah, good, good, good. And we will be right back. And back to the show. What does that mean about the polyps? Because I had polyps removed from my vocal cords, but—

It means you're weak psychologically.

Yeah.

Oh, damn it! Yeah, it's the piano lesson thing.

It's because it's a piano. Your parents were right. It was character development.

You missed that one. No, but I think the doctor did say that I wasn't using my voice correctly because I was like screaming in bars, you know, and smoking cigarettes and stuff. And he said that's— I just wrecked it that way. Is that what happens to musicians or to singers? That don't know how to warm up correctly or use— like, you can create polyps on your vocal cords. I don't know.

I honestly don't know. I think the wear and tear of it is true.

Yeah, I know that. I know that, like, going out after show— I just don't ever do that anymore, cuz talking in loud rooms after shows is the thing that is worse for your voice, right? For sure. Yeah. So after a show, I don't go on voice rest. I'm not, like, precious about it, right? But, um, but I, I don't go out and I stay away from loud places.

We also have a wife you love and 3 kids that you got to go spend time with too, you know.

Also, I've just become quite boring and monkish, you know, on the—

Jason, Amanda ever develop polyps? Oh boy, I'm screaming.

That's your date, that's your date. I know, may cancel on you.

I love her, I love her more than anything in the whole Um, hey, so I lost my voice, uh, 2 days ago, actually, a little bit. Really? Yeah. Too bad you found it.

Uh, wait, Will, have you ever checked that out?

Go ahead, Jay.

I, you know, I lost mine 2 weeks ago. Yeah, it's still, it's still weak. I still, I, like, if I ever did theater, I'd have a real— I need— I would need to take real lessons about how to use it.

Have you not done theater?

No. I mean, tiny small room stuff, but like, if I ever did it, you know, here in New York, um, I I'd need help.

Jay, I was thinking the same thing when I— Yesterday, I didn't fully lose it, but I was really close, and I thought— I was just thinking about you, Sean, and about how much you've been— You've been basically on stage for the last 3 years. Yeah. Just kind of straight. Yeah. And Marcus, you must have the same thing. And I've thought, I'm going through this thing of like— Nice. Like, I would have— If I were in a play right now, I'd be fucked. I wouldn't be able to do it tonight.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, you really have to take care of it. And Sean, do you do like a full hour every night before you go on?

Yeah, I, uh, and there's songs that I'll sing to warm up. Like, if I, I know if I'll sing "All By Myself" and if I can hit that high note— Let's have it. "All by myself." Then I can do the whole show.

Sick. Yeah, yeah.

And you do it, usually do it through tears, right?

Right. No, that's the song because that was a one-man show, so I would sing "All By Myself." Uh-huh.

Uh, Marcus, do you have a go-to little thing that you do for, for warm-up? Up, um, like a little scale thing or something like that?

Yeah, I do. Um, it's called the penguin noise. It's a lot of this. That's good. Really? Yeah. And then vocal straws. I use straws. It's about like— I mean, we could get tekkers if you want, but it's about getting your larynx to drop back down, like putting your tongue at the back of your throat and opening your palate.

With a straw? Literally with a straw?

And then the straw— the straw helps with back pressure. So you blow bubbles into a bottle through a straw, and then the back pressure helps open that up and ease all that out. It's like a little reverse massage.

Do you ever actually— do you ever accidentally throw up? Do you ever accidentally throw up when you do it?

I can't eat like 4 hours before we go on stage because then bits come up. Yeah, yeah. No, because it's all quite shouty, you know. Yeah, yeah, that's why.

Jason, you accidentally throw up after a lot of big meals, don't you?

Yeah. Oh, darn it. But I hold it hair. I've got to get it out inside 10 minutes, otherwise it starts to absorb the fat. Um, so Marcus, Marcus, we're a month into your tour. Um, what is the— what, what will have been the most important part of your prep to go on some long tour? Like, do you have to get, you know, your Do you have to get your family stuff all in order so that it can withstand you being gone so long? Do you have to get your body in order so it can withstand the hours? Like, what is prep for a long tour?

I have been trying to— I got to a point a couple years ago, I was like, there is an element of physicality to my job that requires me to train a bit more. Yeah. So I have been working on that and trying to approach it more like, an athletics program and everything else will follow if I can do that stuff well.

What are we looking at? Cardio? We pushing weight? Uh, what's our training? All that stuff.

Yeah, all that stuff. Yeah, yeah. And then we have a little gym on the road that helps. There's a lot of— like singing. It turns out that singing, playing guitar, and stamping like this with your feet, which you, you, you must remember, Jason, from that video, um, that—

oh yeah, yeah, Jay was in the video.

I forget. So fun.

That stuff turns out is some sort of cardio. I used to think it was enough to—

yeah, it's exhausting. Oh, um, talk about how did that happen? How did Jason— how did Jason Bateman end up— less disdain? No, I spit it out. How the fuck did Jason Bateman—

it was, uh, it was, uh, uh, what was it? Sam Jones, wasn't it?

He called you? Oh yeah. Or was it Sudeikis? I think maybe I was doing maybe Horrible Bosses at the time. Maybe it was— I'll bet you Sam contacted— I didn't know Sam, so he wouldn't have contacted me. So it would have been probably Sudeikis or Ed or Will. Yeah. And then they— I don't know how they got to me. Must have got a lot of passes before they got to me. But God, that was so fun.

Probably my favorite music video we've ever done because I don't have to do anything. Really? And I just got to watch you guys do it. It was absolutely amazing. Amazing.

Um, Forte killed me on that.

Oh yeah, well, Forte was actually the kiss. The kiss.

The kiss. The hard kiss. Um, all right, so, but so that brings us to Sam. That brings us to the doc. Let's talk about the doc. Let's talk about the train tour. Let's talk about you arranging for those other groups. And, and, uh, you know, because you spoke earlier about picking, you know, the, the bands that you guys are interfacing with. So just, well, let's go in order. What's it like traveling on a train that long with that people?

It's really exhausting. It's not— it's— I don't recommend it. It's right, it's very confined. It's like being on a submarine. It's worse than a tour bus, right? And, um, I mean, it was— it was— so tell—

sorry, tell the audience what the basic concept of this thing— and it was inspired by the— the— this happened— this Woody Guthrie and, uh, and gang, right?

Yeah, I think they did it. Basically, someone came to us, you know, I don't know, 2011, and said, we have access to to a bunch of vintage rail cars, do you want to go on tour on a train? Yeah. And we, at that point, were like, we'd just done a tour of India. Yeah. Well before we had any reason to do a tour of India. You know, we'd toured on a narrowboat, we liked putting up our own festivals, it was just like fun ways of making the shit feel slightly different and discovering bits of the world that you might not otherwise. So we were feeling adventurous and we said yes, we did it with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. With Ol' Cro-Medson's show, and it was the best week on the road we've ever had. And we made a film, and it won a Grammy, and we were all very happy. It was great. And so we thought, let's run it back slightly differently. Let's hire— like, let's get all of our favorite musicians together as a house band, and then every night we'll get special guests to come on stage with us. Oh, wow.

So we had Lainey Wilson, Darius Rucker, Maggie Rogers, and Noah Kahn. And we learnt their songs the day before. Wow. And performed like the house band for them. And it was really fun. And we did it— yeah, we traveled by train. But that's not really the audience participation part, because obviously it was just us and crew that went on the trains. But it was only 5 days. So it was manageable, but it was exhausting.

But you've got Sam and his gang with the cameras in there documenting the—

Yeah. Yeah, so Sam made this film for it, um, which I really love, actually. I don't enjoy the process of making music films. I think, in general, they're quite boring. Um, and I don't really watch them for pleasure. But this one—

It's more like a reality show, right? Yeah, a little bit.

And— and, yeah, I find it quite hard to relate to a lot of them. I'm obviously— The Beatles one is my favorite of all time. And I've watched that many times. And, um, but other than that, I don't get a huge amount of enjoyment from watching them. This one, especially not our ones. Yeah. Um, but this one, I actually think he did something really beautiful with, and the people involved were unbelievably kind with their time. And we made it kind of like a socialistic enterprise where everyone got paid the same, and whatever cash there was left in the pot after very expensive trains, we just shared out. And then our friends really gave us their time, you know. That's true. And they're phenomenal musicians. And we had a really cool—

I was going to say, so for Tracy, but she knows because she met Sam when we were on tour. Sam Jones, the same guy who did the Smartless on the Road, uh, special that we did. So, right, we, we all know Sam. Uh, yeah, yeah, that's so cool.

I didn't know he— I didn't know he did this, and I didn't know anything about this.

When can we— and I made a film with him before. He made the, the documentary about the New Basement Tapes thing that we did with like Elvis Costello and Jim James. And I don't know about this. Yeah. Sam Cannon Giddens, we took old Bob Dylan lyrics that T-Bone Burnett had like pilfered off Dylan and asked if we could record music for them. And Dylan amazingly said yes. They were literally from shoeboxes in the Big Pink from the '60s. And so we wrote music to all these unused lyrics, which was really fun. And Sam made a documentary of that. So I'd worked with him before, and obviously he shot our Rolling Stone cover, which I hate, but he also made that Hopeless Wanderer video Jason was in. So we'd worked with him a bit before, and he came on and did it, and it was sweet.

And he also made the Wilco doc, uh, I'm Trying to Break Your Hearts, which is also amazing. So great. Wow, that's— I want to see that doc you were just talking about. I want to see that one where you guys with the Dillons.

Oh, it's sweet. Yeah, it was good. It's a while ago.

Me too, actually. Um, uh, go ahead, Tony.

I was just gonna do my standard, like, do you have any, like, one show or one fan interaction on stage that just went horribly wrong, or something that went horribly wrong on stage? On stage during a tour?

Yeah, yeah, recently. We started the Prizefighter tour in Australia. Yeah. And, um, and we played a song for the first time. And it went so badly wrong, we stopped halfway through.

And we didn't start the song again. No way.

I bet the crowd loved that, though.

Oh, my God, I love that.

What did you say? I said, "That's live music, folks," and we moved on. And I wanted to fall through the floor so badly. It was the worst— I think it was the worst moment I've ever, ever had. Oh, it was just a disaster. Everyone was in the wrong key and wrong time. And it was just a disaster and would have required a full rehearsal to do it. And I thought that was probably pushing it. So we just stopped and moved on to one that—

And you just thought, ah, well, we'll get this. We'll get this. Watch this. 6, 7, 8. It was awful.

It was awful. It was so horrible.

I'll bet you the audience loved it, though, like kind of, you know, like a blooper, you know?

That's so cool. Yeah. I think, you know, yeah, my wife says things like that because I forget lyrics a lot. When I get nervous, my memory goes and I'll forget a lyric sometimes and she'll be like, that's the bit people love. That's the live bit that's different to the record.

I toured with Kenny Rogers when I was in my early 20s as a Christmas elf on his tour. Amazing. And he would forget the lyrics all the time and whenever he did, he would just hold the microphone out to the audience. Oh, smart. You got to know when.

I thought, Sean, I thought you'd go, hey Santa, the lyric is—

pull over like a little helpful elf.

Hey, have you ever done that on stage though? Wait, because that's— that terrifies, especially with a one-man show. Have you ever forgotten?

Yeah, yeah, there's one. Just— I just did it. Yeah, there was— it was absolutely terrifying. There, there is one part where I— the line is, um, you know, I say to one of the characters, I say, are you going to be here? How long are you in town for? And he says, the weekend. I say, can we get together and discuss this one He says, "Sure." And then I say, "Your last name is DuPain?" And then one night I go as one of the characters, I go, "How long you in town for?" He goes, "The weekend." And I go, "Can we get together?" And I go, "Ah." And I go— and then I go to myself, I go, "Wait, how long are you in town for?" To the character. And I go, "I just told you I'm in town just for the weekend." And it bought me time to think of what line was next. Next.

And did you get there? Yeah, thank God. And do you think people noticed?

No, they don't fucking know. Yeah.

And certainly the stage manager that was asleep in the wings not throwing you the line didn't notice either, right? Right.

Yeah, they just— yeah, it's the living daylights out.

Um, yeah, it is pretty—

all right, before we let you go, because we're 2 minutes over here, I want to know how being a parent has changed the way that you—

that you— that you—

uh, that you listen to music or— or write music. Yeah, yeah, I'm assuming they go with you a little bit, but does it— it's got to change changed the way you are as an artist, as a musician?

Yes. Yeah, yeah. I think it's— I think it's been a healthy— I think it's been a wonderful antidote to my narcissism, because, like, you can't just— you can't just be the center. I mean, you probably can, but I found it difficult to remain the center of my universe. Yeah. With these little ones around. Yeah. And it puts everything else in perspective in such a helpful way for me. Amen. I found it. Yeah, like, same. So if you're asking about how it's, how it's affected my work, it makes me more intentional when I go to work. And actually, scheduling-wise, like, I just want our team to pack as much as they can into as short a period of time as possible. So I'll go away and I'll work really, really hard for whatever period of time I'm away, and then I come home, and sooner than I would have if the schedule had been more easy, you know.

And I would imagine when you do come home, that, that is, that is the thing you are most addicted to completely indulging in, right? You are irrationally excited to just, like, dive headfirst into family.

Yeah, I want to get home, you know, like one of the guys really likes doing the day— I just want to get home as soon as possible. I don't care which flight it is. Right. And then hopefully be there for the school run the morning after, because— and that's why dropping booze for me has been so helpful. It's just made my life more functional. Get up earlier because I get home, I'm not dusty, you know. I'm like, yeah, it's, it's, it's just being like present as fast as you can in an accelerated manner, it feels like. So it's made me more present, I think. Yeah, yeah. And then more grateful when I get to go and do my work and go and play these shows. I just feel grateful for it. I'm in this season of gratitude with the band that I'm just really enjoying, cuz I'll go away and be like, I got to make the absolute most of this, cuz 'Cause it's awesome and it's amazing. It's such a privilege. And our audience have been so kind to us and continue to grow. And that's just felt like wild. And so I want to be really good.

I want to be really great at that. And that takes time and attention. There obviously is a cost balance, you know? But I'm just attacking it.

Well, you are very valuable. Well, yeah, you start to value— Sorry, Jay. I was just going to say, I've gone through that too. In the last couple years. It's like, when you— if you are going to do something that's taking you away from home and the kids and all this stuff, it's got to be valuable, you know? Exactly. It's— and, and if you're going to do it, you do it wholeheartedly. And then, and then you go, because you do— because you really just want to be home, right? Yeah. So it's got to be— it's got to be meaningful.

Well, we're grateful, uh, of the time you do spend away from them, uh, because you are incredible at it. Keep going at it. Um, and, uh, and maybe we'll see you for uh, for the, for the, for the dock down the street.

I will, I will see you, Jason, with my wife.

Okay, the woman he'll be with is my wife, and I want a full report. Marcus, take some pictures.

Um, I'm really excited to see you guys. Yeah, thanks so much for having me.

Oh, thank you for doing this.

Privilege.

Oh man, yeah, thank you. Such fans.

Enjoy the rest. Enjoy the game. Thank you.

See you guys. Yeah, okay, bye.

Peace. Bye.

That was Double M, as I like to call him. I call him M&M. I call him M&M.

He loves it. That was great. By the way, isn't that crazy that at the beginning we were talking about our hair and you said, what's the name of your new hairdresser? And I said, Marcos.

No, it's not Marcos.

Marcos Mumford. Yeah, I just don't think— And then the guest's name was Mark— well, it's M-A-R-C-O-S, so it's the same. It's going to sound—

I get where you're going with this, Sean, but, you know, it's not— it's not— not crazy. It's not crazy.

No, I think that's really wild. Um, I mean, what are the odds of that?

What are the odds?

He's great though. I mean, what are the odds? He is great. Um, that, uh, I didn't— you know, I never knew anything about him. I like—

I really like his flavor of British accent.

Yeah, me too. I noticed that too, and I like theirs too.

It's melodious. Yeah, it's nice. It's calming.

They're definitely different regions of the English accent. Oh, there are? Oh, which ones aren't there, Jason? There's sort of the aristocratic sound. There's the Liverpudlian. There's the slightly Scottish. There's the Welsh, right? Will, you're the guy over there.

How dare you. How very dare you. Right?

And, um, like, I wouldn't be able to—

Liverpool, you're okay, you're right, you're right, Jason.

Yeah, see, you can't just do a regular British accent if you're gonna play a character. It's got to be region-specific.

Yep, there's, uh, yeah, he's such a nice dude. I'm really excited for the, uh, for the doc. I can't wait to see it.

Yeah, I didn't know anything about it.

Yeah, yeah, it's gonna be—

What time are you gonna pick my wife up, and what are you gonna wear?

Well, she's spending the night, so I think that we're gonna— hang on, we're gonna be— we'll just get ready together, you know.

By the way, by the way, I was just talking to her right before this. She says hello, Jason.

Oh yeah, I have not spoken to her yet today. You guys really do.

Can I tell you something? We can cut— we could decide if we want to cut this. I said, are we doing dinner Sunday? And she goes, I'm not sure. And if I— we don't do dinner, I go, well, we could get dinner. She goes, no, if we're not doing dinner with all of us getting together, I'm doing a full moon women's circle. Circle. LOL, hold your tongue.

There is some kind of a full, uh, full, full light bulb up in the sky, uh, coming up here soon.

How about that? Wait, and what do you do in the circle? I'll call her. I don't know, maybe I'll, maybe I'll do that.

Yeah, we'll trim this. All right, um, who's got a buy? Anybody got a buy? Oh wait, well, there's— didn't we—

didn't I I try to say something last week— if we ever did a week where we didn't throw out a bye, we would have to call that the Bye Week!

The Bye Week! We get a bye!

Don't need to keep saying it.

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