Blocks w/ Neal Brennan - Joel McHale

Episode Date: June 27, 2024

Neal Brennan interviews Joel McHale (Animal Control, The Soup, Community) about the things that make him feel lonely, isolated, and like something's wrong - and how he is persevering despite these blocks. ---------------------------------------------------------- 00:00 Intro 1:54 How He Got Into Showbiz  5:06 College football career  8:41 Almost Live 10:56 Marriage & Grad School 12:46 Early Career 16:37 The Soup 17:46 Inner Life 20:07 Dyslexia 24:04 Sponsor: Mando 27:10 Community 31:25 Workaholic OCD 33:21 Parenting 46:15 Status  50:22 Extreme Extrovert 55:30 Self-loathing & Imposter Syndrome 57:20 Gratitude ---------------------------------------------------------- Follow Neal Brennan: https://www.instagram.com/nealbrennan https://twitter.com/nealbrennan https://www.tiktok.com/@mrnealbrennan Watch Neal Brennan: Crazy Good on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81728557 Watch Neal Brennan: Blocks on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81036234 Theme music by Electric Guest (unreleased). Edited by Will Hagle Sponsor Blocks: https://public.liveread.io/media-kit/... ---------------------------------------------------------- Sponsors: https://www.shopmando.com promo code: NEAL for $5 off the Mando starter pack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

hey everybody it's neil brennan the splotch podcast um where we talk about things that are wrong with us you didn't send me any blocks i was so late i can figure that's what's wrong there's nothing wrong with me i can figure out i can guess yes um and uh my guest today is a guy who was on the soup and then he was on a community and now he's on animal hospital control i literally looked it up. Looked up Animal Hospital. Didn't find it. Animal Hospital was a show on NBC, actually.

I know. Bobby Lee was in it. I remember it. He's on a show called Animal Control. Animal Control on Fox. Animal Control. Only on Fox. Fox.

And Crime Scene Kitchen on Fox. Crime Scene Kitchen. What's that? it's a competition baking show I love it proves my point that you could just make a show up you can absolutely or house of villains is that another show you're on yeah wow this guy but is booked and blessed and desperate and I'll take it and low standard of people making offers i'm saying yes well at a certain point what difference does it make no one no one gives it no one gives a shit it is not like it was no 70s 80s 90s or even early aughts yeah you're like you can't do that it doesn't matter yeah what you do how many commercials have you done? A number. And people are like, I saw you on that thing. I'm like, the jackpot party? Ready to party? Or was it for Klondike

ice cream bars? Klondike bar. Yeah, I love it. Yeah, you walk in, big money. I'll do it. Walk out. Yeah. And if it's make it fun like i still i can't you know what they don't even gotta make it fun yeah i mean you you know it's like we went into this silly business and if someone wants to pay us money to do it what do i care how lucky are we so well that's what i was one of the things i've always been curious about with you is uh why how did you get into show but you're tall and you're good looking and now i am without surgeries and thanks to doctors is more modern medicine doctor from the guys from botched that's right uh not to be confused with dr 90210 yeah there you go sorry sorry and what were you doing

in your life and then what how did you because to me you came out of nowhere but of course that's not what happened well i always i mean since i was a kid uh way back in uh new jersey uh i grew up in seattle but we lived in new jersey for two years nearby where you grow up philly yes uh haddonfield uh next to cherry hill and uh i was in a play in first grade. I'd seen the music man. I remember going like, look at all these people standing up and clapping for all these people. And what's happening? They're singing and dancing.

That never happens to me at home. Yeah, no one cares. How do I synthesize my desperation into, yeah. Yeah, everyone just tells me I'm annoying, which I think a lot of people who watch the shows do too. But then I did a play of It's a Small World, The Ride. Yeah, there was a play. Somewhere there's a play.

Sure. Which really shows you Disney's, you know, their total lock on our culture. Yep. Well played. And this will be one of my blocks because I was always so dyslexic and all over the spastic. And so I just loved that. I was good at sports and terrible at school and terrible at spelling. And so I cut like my seventh grade.

I was like, I really I like this. And could you pay attention? Did the ADD go away when you were doing performance shit yeah i would say so i don't know if it was it was the perfect way to to funnel it and to concentrate it and i was like oh i can do this thing and this is fun and it makes me it definitely because you know adh can be like you can be all over the map and then be very concentrated. That did help a lot. And it was something I was like I got, you know, was I received praise for as opposed to can you spell the word thorough? Yeah.

And which to this day. Who can? Thought, flow, and thorough. Yeah. By sophomore year in high school, I was like, this is what I wanted. I'm going to try and do this. And so it was just sports and that and cheating through school. Literally.

Yes. I mean, the amount of cheating kind of openly. Yeah. I mean, I can't imagine what it would be like to have the internet and be like, you can just look up anything. Yeah. There's no way. There's no point in knowing anything. Because it's not that much slower to just look up anything yeah there's no way there's no point in knowing anything or because it's not that much slower to just look it up but it is isn't it astonishing how many people don't just look it up and insist on arguing about whatever it is and be like oh

that's soda that's not great for you yeah it's fine and then you and then there's an argument and there's just a way we can find out so then then what did you do? So then did you go to college for it? Yeah. Well, I went to college and cheated through college. Where did you go to college? University of Washington. Did you play sports? Yes.

I played football. Not well. On the team, like a scholarship? I did not have a scholarship. I walked on. There was a huge walk-on program. Okay. I was recruited to be a rower you know like a crew uh and then um

that went horribly uh you weren't good at it i was good but the rowing team the hazing was ridiculous and uh if you made the freshman boat you they shaved your head and your eyebrows off and put all your hair and eyebrow hair into a pillow. And then there was a display case of the pillows like you were at John Wayne Gacy's home. This guy and I did not push our chairs in properly. There was also tiles that were laid out in the mess area. And if you stepped over that as a freshman, you in trouble and i didn't i hated all that stuff and so we got surrounded by the rowers and uh one of the dudes hit hit me and uh and i was like 11 on 2 this isn't gonna go great and uh so i did not fight back and i quit the team did you have eyebrows at that point it had the boat had not been determined

and so okay so you you still had a full hair yeah this was like two months into the freshman year before the boat i think was you think they still do that they do do that i just learned they do and do you think that they're at a certain point or maybe i don't know if they put into pillows they're definitely shaving their heads in the the next 18 months, they're going to have to stop. You'd think it would have. Now they've set up. I know that they've set up like websites and 800 number complain about these sorts of things. But it was it was so stupid. And I think it was because the rowing team, because of their lack of an audience or fans other than you know the olympics

uh now but the rower is going to be but it is not a huge fan uh draw but uh they have to make up other reasons to make themselves feel important and uh so they take it out on the young uh young people and uh or the younger classmates so then i joined the football team because i knew a bunch of guys on the football team and it was kind of on a whim and it was great and they care i mean the the it was dangerous but all they cared about was winning uh for the most part i mean because the team was good and and that was like we need to fucking beat usc this week and so we're gonna play usc's music over and over and we're going to dream about hitting those players. And I was like, this seems how you do it.

Sure, you might be knocking someone's head off, but it's like the team is to win games. And so that was really fun. And I got out with any major injuries. So did you play at all? No, I didn't play. You're playing in practice. Yeah, I play freshman year. I was terrible.

Then they redshirted me, which meant they kind of cared. But then I ended up leaving because I booked a commercial. You booked a commercial out of Washington. In Washington. Out of Seattle. And I was like, I didn't really go like, this is a sign, but I was doing lots of theater at night and I was doing football practice and i thought i need to kind of get serious here about what i'm doing and uh then i left and um so that's 91 95 is when i graduated so that was 93 when i left started really pursuing

it you came down here no i got onto a television show in seattle called almost live i'm joel and i'm the newest cast member of almost live that was like on comedy central yeah yeah so it was that was a locally produced i remember that yeah that went on uh comedy central for a few years but it was locally produced in seattle the NBC affiliate, which was at that. There used to be a lot of locally produced programming all around the country, but this one really was a hit. And I came into it 10 years after it already had been on and had launched like Bill Nye, the science guy, Ross Schaefer was the first host. And then it got him, John Keister took over. And those guys gave me a job.

So you're on a sketch show. So I'm on a sketch show in Seattle. It's about 94 when that happened. 95 or I was in college while it was happening. Yeah. And so I got on this show that was – we pushed Saturday Night Live to 1205 because obviously – In Seattle. Yeah, by the time –

Not everywhere. Relax. Yes. It was fun. Lorne Michaels had to approve it. Like he had – Did he really? Yeah, and he – it actually drove their ratings up.

It held their ratings, which again, I just joined this thing. I had nothing to do with the creation of it. And so we got these crazy audiences. And, yeah, all of a sudden I was like, oh, this is how it works. You work at a show and they give you a job and then you're on TV. And what's your inner life like? I feel like are you like a drinker, drug person? Oh, I love wine.

But I don't do drugs not yet maybe kids are out of that empty today ayahuasca hello somebody's done his research I looked you up yeah but I again I look at that word I'm like that that's just you don't know how to spell that's a word salad yeah it'll never spell yeah stay away it's like these You don't know how to spell it. That's a word salad that I'll never spell. Yeah, stay away from it. It's like these... You don't have to spell it. You just drink it. Yeah, the acai bowls. When I see that, I'm like, what the fuck? Yeah. You just go granola.

It's a chai. No, I love wine. Still? Yeah, I love wine. So you're doing good, and you're like, what does your family think? What do you think? As you know, I'm assuming as you know uh before you're famous before you get on tv uh someone saying you're a struggling actor might as well just be

like yeah you just registered sex offenders have better chances of getting jobs and um at that time i met the woman who i married uh and she she would come to see my like improv shows. And I'm like and I think her mom at the time was like, you're dating an actor. Are you crazy? And yeah. And then I got on TV and all everyone was like, oh, isn't it great? Yeah. Yeah. So I got married way back in 96.

And we then then then I thought I need if I'm going to go to LA, I need to go. I need to become a real actor. I was like, the sketch stuff is great, and I'm having a great time. Are you playing characters or just like guy enters? No, I played characters to which I sent tapes to SNL, to which they absolutely ignored me. And I don't blame them. I thought I should learn how to be a real actor and so I went to graduate school for acting at the University of Washington which had uh to this

day has a really good drama program and that's like play play play play play lots of plays very little camera uh you know practice and stuff but just it was really great for just reps just you're doing it same thing with i mean the sketch show was great because you're working your ass off writing sketches and and just you're getting that whatever that secret i want to hear like 10 000 hours man 10 000 steps apparently 10 000 is the most important number we're officially doing a podcast now you said 10 000 hours now we're now we're podcasting oh we are now it's gonna feel like 10 000 hours did you okay so you looking back how much training did you need for what you've done with your professional career well boy because you kind of think like how much better are you now than you were on the sketchup

oh much better i mean in what ways? I'm much older and I'm, you know, like, I do think for me I think some people, you know, like I was not Jim Belushi. Cheeseburger! Cheeseburger! Cheeseburger! He meant John Belushi. I wasn't this revelation.

I think it was like, oh yeah, that guy's okay. I think I'm a better actor now definitely because I'm much calmer and uh less worried about it do you think that that makes a difference oh yeah being calm i think that you know the cliche of kind of getting out of your own way and i think it's a combination of talent and work and luck and being being showing up. And I think that's a ton of it. But, yeah, I think I'm, I think, like, when I finally got the soup, that. What year? 2004.

That was, like, a really great thing. When did you move to LA? So you finished grad school in 99? I finished grad school and was deciding to move between here and New York york like all graduate students go out and do their showcase yep and they're like i got a response from these agents and i got a response from these and i decided i mean with my wife because we were west coast people and uh but more so i was like well the whole business is really there in la and uh i really want to do television and movies if they'll have me. And so I got here with no, you know, you get here and you're like, well, no agents or anything.

And just started that process of I did done a bunch of commercials in Seattle and just trying to get, I couldn't get an agent. And then, uh, this commercial agency took their, took me under the, or took pity on me and were like, all right, well, we'll, uh, we'll, we'll, it's not a hell no. And, uh, and that's when I started booking commercials, which gave me confidence. That was just like, OK, this is beginning. All right. So at one point I only was I couldn't get a regular agent because I when I got here, I got, just like six lines. And I lied for the audition and said I was – they needed people that were over 6'7". And I just lied and said I'm like 6'4", so I bought here. And short people are so dumb and easily intimidated by the tall.

They're dumb and they're nearly blind. Yeah, they're like, oh, yes. Yeah, they're like – He seems 6'7". Like rabbits. Yeah. They're like, he seemed sick, like rabbits. They just like, all right. So I went into the Skechers factory on Van Nuys and bought healed boots.

Great. So I like, so excited. I was like, God, I'm willing grace. I can't believe it. First year here.

What a thing. And then like, uh, I got an agent and, uh, out of that, that was year one. And then they dropped me a year later saying I was too green. And I went, all right. And that was really fun.

And then I got – I had this friend named Sandy Smolin who now lives in Seattle, ironically, Tacoma. And he was director and he would give me little parts here and there and which was great and uh but i still couldn't get an agent then the soup happened because annie roberts who was the casting director at e god bless her um she saw me in commercials and she would bring in all like sketch actors and people on commercials and have them do like 101 celebrity oops and do like like comment on pop culture stuff and uh and then the soup thing came up and i still even when that was on i didn't first like six months it was on i still didn't have an agent uh my good friend what did you think it was that kaneer left? I'm very old. I remember that Greg Kinnear left in the 90s maybe.

Way in the 90s, yes. And then John Henson took over. Right. The show kept on being very successful. Hal Sparks did it a little bit. And then Aisha Tyler took the gig. And at that point, it was like early aughts and daily talk shows like the phil donahue's there was at one point there was yeah there was three talk shows on after three o'clock every day

and yeah the news and that kind of faded away it was heaven it was you missed this it was i mean real it was a paradise who would have thought that that Jerry Springer would have just emerged as one of the biggest stars? The leader. Yeah. God rest his soul. Okay, so what is happening in your inner life? Let me get to the meat of the podcast. Yes, so.

Tell me about your inner life. Oh, so I, you know, so I, my wife, I'm so, you know, this, and as you, if you meet her, and if you meet anybody that knows her, they're like, we wanted to meet you. And then we got to know Sarah and they were like, we're staying for Sarah. And she. Yeah, I don't know what I would have done. I mean, she she we've been together nearly 30 years, which is hard to even like. I'm like, wow, that's crazy.

And she really I mean mean she was she was game to you know move down here from her beloved seattle also my beloved seattle but like i was like just give me five years and uh to see if i can get this be solvent in this thing and and it was really fun and we you know we uh and but we still missed home. But as it started working, she hung in there for all my ups and downs. What are your main downs? I'm not happy if I don't get something and and at that point like I got here when I was 29 almost 30 and I was like I this hopefully should work soon but I'd like you like if you have that I

think actors and whatever when you're in a profession where you're basically a journeyman where you have this here's most which most people are yeah like except five people yeah where i mean i have friends that got jobs at a high school at microsoft and still work for microsoft and they're as long as microsoft's around they'll be working there and it's good for them and they get they do really well and it's fucking great at that point i was just like i wanted it badly and i was like i will do whatever i can to try to get you know make a living in this business because I don't know what else I'm going to do and there was no other I didn't really have a lot of I didn't I didn't almost didn't want there to be any options and this one acting teacher

was like we got to be like Japanese generals and I was like what they were like it's either win the war or suicide and I was like like, oh, you put it that way. Yeah. You really don't leave yourself many other options other than for it to work. And so it was exciting, you know, like when the soup, like it was also terrifying because I can't really, I couldn't really read and like reading teleprompter is bananas for me. So it, or did you figure it out? Yeah, it's still like i need to know oh you a dyslexic person doesn't you never figured out but you figure out uh alternative routes to get there in your brain because my brain because the brain still has to go doesn't have the it doesn't go it doesn't

immediately tell you exactly what it is because it doesn't go different parts of your brain which now people like it's an advantage i I'm like, okay, maybe. Yeah. Sure. Spell thorough. Yeah, yeah. You go right ahead. And so it would take me, when I first got it, I was nervous.

It would take me like four hours to get through 22 minutes of scripted jokes. And the crew seemed pretty patient. The crew was always really patient. I met one guy quit because of it. And he totally died of a heart attack like two years later. And I was like, I guess you should have stuck with the show, buddy. But yeah, they were very patient. Tom, who was our stage manager, he was always so funny and so supportive. Would you get like super embarrassed by it?

Yeah, I had a lot of anxiety over it. And then once you start doing it, and the good news was no one watched the soup for the first year. Like, it was very low-rated, but it was in this desert on 10 o'clock on Friday nights, which for you kids out there, peep used to tune into television. And then they would rerun it a bunch. Yeah, they were running like 40 times. Yeah. And it was so cheap for them to make at that time that like, well, this is there was nothing

there before. Yeah. It's outrating the reruns we were showing. Yes. It's pennies to make. Yes. And it was good because it gave me this time to relax and start just not being so worried. And I did get to, it took me years, but to this place where I was like, oh, you're going to fuck up the prompter and that's okay. And then we got to a point years later where we were doing the show live. And I would advertise it by going, I'm super dyslexic.

So we're doing it live. And I don't know how this is all going to go. So here we go. Would you be more, would you have more anxiety for the live ones? Or would, at that point, were you just like, fuck it? It was a combination of, i had had thankfully so much practice and uh and i had the anxiety had gone down so i was kind of like oh the and this is something that david letterman in a way taught me he's like in a way taught me he did because

he when he didn't like a joke he would you know he would start repeating it. And later on, he would go, Paul, do you remember how I said Purell for oily hair? And I was like, oh, that's what you celebrated. That sort of lesson. And the adrenaline of we are live also helped focus me. Oh, okay. So it was always was always i was like get to the end of it i'm like hey that went pretty well and like i fucked i would fuck up and sometimes go back and redo it and then i noticed that the audience would comment like it was so funny when you fucked up the joke and went back and redone it and i was like yeah oh yeah it took me you know

like i i got to this business when i was older so So it took me, I was always like, yeah, it just took me a long time to learn these little things, these little lessons. But like it took me a long time to get good at that. And then finally, then they canceled it 12 years later, which I was like, oh, good run. Too bad they, I could have just walked away. 12 years of you hosting. Hey, guys. You ever get a stench about you because you forgot to put on your deodorant?

Does that three-in-one shampoo leave you needing a second shower just hours after the first? From the founders of Lume, Mando Whole Body Deodorant is helping men conquer their odor in a new way. Formulated with mandelic acid, Mando has long-lasting 72-hour odor control that actually stops odor before it starts. Best part is you can put Mando anywhere. Pits, packages, feet, skin folds, back, knees,

should I go on? Neck. Pro tip, try their best-selling scent, bourbon leather. It's a game changer. I say that firsthand experience wearing it right now. You wish you were in my pits to experience what I'm doing right now. You, bro, you don't even know. It's good in these things. Special offer. New customers get $5 off a starter pack with our exclusive code and link.

Use code NEAL at shopmando.com. That's S-H-O-P-M-A-N-D-O.com. Promo code Neil. What do I like about Mando? You can wear it in your pits. And I also like it in what we call my haunches. Like a dog. I put it a little, you know what I mean?

Tasteful. I've gone upper crack. As a matter of fact, the upper peninsula of my butt crack, I've used Mando on there and it worked pretty good. Didn't burn or anything. It didn't seem to no one, you know, pretty uneventful, pretty good. It's a whole body deodorant and it's seriously safe to use it anywhere on your body. Pits, belly buttons, butt cracks, stinky crevasse. You like, buttons. Butt cracks. Stinky crevasse. Do you say crevice or crevasse? Crevasse is fun anyway.

Because it's like, why are you saying it like that? Stomach folds. Feet. Whatever. Top of feet. Bottom of feet. Whatever you want to do. It's created by a doctor who saw firsthand how normal BO was being misdiagnosed and mistreated.

Mando whole body deodorant is powerful enough for the toughest body odor, but gentle enough to use anywhere on your body, allowing you to put Mando anywhere on your body. And you don't have to worry about it because it's aluminium free, baking soda free, cruelty free, dye free, vegan thing. And it's clinically proven to control odor better than a shower with soap alone. 12 hours after a shower, the average man's grundle odor level was a five out of 10. With Mando, the average grundle odor level is a 5 out of 10. With Mando, the average grundle odor level is a 0 out of 10. Can you believe it? Mando's starter pack is perfect for new customers. It comes with a solid stick deodorant, cream tube deodorant, two free products of your choice like mini body wash and deodorant wipes, and free shipping. Luckily, I have a discount code to help you get hooked on

my favorite smelling whole body deodorant on the market. New customers get $5 off a starter pack with our exclusive code that equates to over 40% off your starter pack. Use code NEAL at shopmando.com. It's time to smell better naked. Your partner will thank you. And if your partner is yourself, thank yourself. No judgment. Love and love.

Shop Mando. Code NIL. You start in 04. Community starts 07? 09. 09. Pandora. Be love.

What does be love mean to you? I definitely would say my be love role model is for sure my sister. Unconditional, infinite love. Something that is never ending, that you know is always there. Never questioned. Never questioned. No matter if you fall off a cliff,

she's there to catch you, you know? Be Love. Shop now at Pandora.net. This episode is brought to you by PC Optimum. If you like a curated playlist, why not try a curated grocery list? With Swap and Save, the new feature in the PC Optimum app, you'll get PC Optimum's best price for your grocery items. Simply add products to your shopping list in the app,

and it'll show you similar items at a lower cost. Add coffee to your list, then swap it for one that's cheaper. Craving chips? The app will suggest some on sale. To get started, just open the app. It's as easy as that. See the PC Optimum app for details. Yeah, and I barely got that. How did you barely get that?

Because when I read that pilot, and I'd done a couple of pilots that didn't go or missed out on. I was on a pilot with Richard Ayoade for the IT crowd, which is a recreation of a british one which was picked up by nbc and then they switched presidents and canceled it after they switched presidents and i was like oh yeah and i that's it was just i was like okay and but you know you it is it is almost about quantity rather than when you when you see folks out there when you

see a hit show there are a thousand yeah the bodies of a thousand other tries yeah at least uh along the road and um that came up and uh our community script and i was like this is amazing this is so good and i really want there was one of those things where I'm like, I really want it because I knew how many, I mean, you know as well as like, you can really want something, but there's so many other factors that go into it. Like, oh, the network already thinks

it should be this person. They're only bringing you in because you're a straw man. As a favor, yes. You're a sacrificial lamb. Yeah. Yeah. Dan Harmon's girlfriend at the time, she saw this, she watched the soup and she was like, oh, that's your guy. And so Dan ended up like, yeah, let's get that guy. And we the Russos are not that. Let's get that guy. Let's get that guy in to read. And the Russo brothers were executive producers. And so we were all we we did a read and it went well. And then Sony approved me. And I was like, this is going great. And then we met Danny Pudi, who we read with, who in the room knocked it out. Then it was like, OK, now it's your big network test.

work test and the other one of the other people there was michael rosenbaum who's now a friend of mine and so great and did the audition and uh and they like the russos came out they're like yeah the network uh really not sure uh but we're gonna try to fix this and i was like oh fuck so then the russos went back and they recorded me doing it they thought I think they thought it was like the network for whatever reason they thought I was nervous or something I didn't feel that nervous because I remember like I was like I think that went pretty well and uh but was it the thing of you couldn't relax well in those usually a network test I started getting good at network tests because people always like they're so awkward yeah but once you know what they are once you're in there like all

right so this is the theater that we'll be doing this show and and then i did it on camera which i actually thought wasn't as good but i was like okay uh and then they went then a day later, they were like, okay. And so then, yeah, it happened. I got it. And at the time, you know, you're just making a pilot. Yep. And you don't know if it's ever going to get two steps past that. And then the pilot turned out really well. And they picked it up, which was –

I remember even television reviewers, like getting to know some of the reviewers, they were like, well, the first few episodes are good, but good luck getting to a second season. It's nearly impossible. And then there was like some scathing reviews of me in the show. I remember one review was like, this show would be great except for the lead hard enough to take that personally yeah that was that was great um there was a guy named brian lowry who i think is at cnn now hey brian it's fantastic i don't forget things like that

why would you yeah it's enemy for life yeah just uh so you shouldn't have read it no yeah but there's no way now i don't i really don't care as much as I used to. Just don't read them. Right, yeah, ignore it. It's got nothing to do with anything. Doesn't help. Nope, and it also doesn't hurt. It doesn't hurt the chances of shit being.

Yeah, anyway, that was a very long explanation going, so what's going on? So my brain was like workaholic OCD. Oh, so you just wanted to work, work, work, and then if you don't work, what's going on so my brain was like workaholic ocd oh so you just wanted to work work work and then if you don't work what's happening i i noticed like once it started working i was you know very happy like you know like yeah this is fucking working i've got these two little boys who are the greatest thing so you had boys what me. So you had boys what year? 2005 and 2008. So you started to have a little money. Yeah.

So I solvent. Pull the goalie. Let's go. Let's have a kid. Yeah, let's do it. And it was, you know, those magical, when they're that age. I mean, still, I mean, they're the best. Take nothing away.

They're the best. But you don't get to cuddle with your tiny child as much when they're enormous, hairy men, adults. I mean, maybe they, I mean, I can steal a couple hugs once in a while. Yeah. Do you have to sneak them? Well, I'm like, I'll give you five bucks for a hug. Oh, yeah, that's no problem. And so it's great.

like i'll give you five bucks for a hug oh yeah that's no problem and uh so it's great uh but but it's we went on a vacation to mexico and i noticed once i had like kind of stopped it was like i remember the first day i'm like oh now you're you've got a bunch of anxiety and uh so not working not working it came rushing in yeah and is it what it's just generalized anxiety i don't know it's, it seems to be. I mean, I know everybody has it apparently. But that was back in 2010 or 2011. So do you go, well, I've got to work all the time? Or do you say, I have to take care of the anxiety?

Oh, mostly I've got to work all the time. Yeah, this will fix it and uh but it um yeah i mean that it has come and it has it has gotten more intense and then kind of eased off and i think i mean it takes on different reasons why it happens but uh okay so what how are you with parenting are you you like it are? I do love it. I like it a lot. I don't know if I'm good at it, but it's, yeah, I, our friends told us way back in the nineties, like your first job is to love the shit out of them. And I was like, okay, check that. I love them so much.

It's annoying. And, and then, you know, like my wife who is a true adult, she's much more responsible than I am. With what? You know, she handles the doctors and like all the little things like that. And it's way – she's – yeah, she's a freaking saint. Like if I'm home though, I'll do all the cooking and cleaning. And that is helpful to her and to the boys. How do you compare the way you were parented versus like your approach? I guess I'm less like my parents don't like me swearing.

And I don't care if my kids swear. And do they swear a lot? Yeah. I mean, I would say it's an average do you say like hey you know at a certain point you're gonna you can't hurt do they understand that like they can't curse oh yeah in certain yeah yeah oh yeah yeah yeah yeah no but if my parent my parents were yeah they didn't like it at all then on the soup i was always swearing and yeah they didn't give a shit your parents yeah they were then you're you're 30 what are they gonna do yeah what

are they gonna do my mother-in-law was always like i'm ready for you to be off that show and uh like she said that and i'm like are you ready for me to stop providing for your grandchildren and your your daughter so i agree with you with loving the shit out of them like it's it's and it seems yeah so the the hard part is loving the shit out of them in the face of them having child's interests yep like right that's the part i find i get impatient with where i'm like this you're the best i love you but like you wanna you reading anything you oh you well i guess i had i was like well i can't read and i like, well, I can't read. And I'm like, maybe you read. Somebody at your readability.

A toddler. Yeah, my – like my mom was and continues to be like being – like they did a – like everyone was like, oh, my parents. And I was like, sure, there was things, but they actually did a pretty good darn job. things but they actually did a pretty good darn job like i know like like i'm just looking but like even like talking to my brothers who were all very you know hyper critical of things and they did they learned how to do it kind of like when we finally got to high school it was like okay your curfew is going to be this freshman year and then the next year was like okay it's one in the morning now and then by junior year they were like you have no career it doesn't matter you're an adult now you you figure this out and be responsible and get get don't you know be responsible and don't be a fucking idiot and um without saying and do you and i was like oh it gave me such sort of that was such a good

way to do it because i was like well that gave me i you know it empowered me to take responsibility for what i was doing and kind of motivated me and then you'd see your kids and other fellow high school kids that whose dads were like they're not going out and they're never dating and i was like that person's gonna be a drug dealer yeah uh sex worker very soon and uh it's just a matter of it's a matter of weeks just that is how the equation well can you parent that way now are people parenting like that now where it's free range i think so i mean the parents we know i think it this i think la gets this big or any big city goes how do they do it how do you raise anybody in these cities yeah i was like i don't know how do you raise someone on a fucking farm are they drinking are they doing all the shit you

were doing i i'm assuming they're going to parties and well my 19 year old is not he is on the spectrum and he would be the first to tell you and uh so he's very different than it's he is definitely not typical like a typical teenager. Thanks, vaccines. Go ahead. There you go. See, here we go. Thanks a lot, vaccines. You took another one. It's not the microplastics. It's the vaccines. Right. Yeah. And you heard it here. I am Dr. Neil Brennan. Thank you, Dr. Hydroclinicloraclide. Do you, when you realized he was on the spectrum, probably not that popular 19 years ago, right? Not what it is now.

Yeah, no, not nearly. Well, it's also, I think it's, you know, it is, you know, it's just more, people are much more aware of it of i'm like oh well that kid just keep just keep hammering at home yeah shave his eyebrows yeah and do you guys quickly realize what it was and could like sort of yeah we started it started yelling grade school we started circling in like oh okay he's gonna need some other scaffolding and a different way of learning. And yeah, it's a lot. There's a really great book called NeuroTribes. And that was quite helpful. And my wife really, you have to kind of be the CEO.

Just like any parent, you got to be the CEO of your child's life for a lot of it. But when you have a kid who's on the spectrum, it's even more so. But there's all sorts of things so uh we he ended up being homeschooled not by me not by my wife and not in some sort of and not in the home well in our home yes uh excuse me compound yeah yeah uh yeah our sprawling yeah did you uh how are you with discipline disciplining them they're not doing things that are like well now you we're taking away this we haven't we're not those type of parents we're because that's doesn't happen too much not like well you like they so far they

haven't been you know like like or even when were kids, like if they get shit on the walls or something, I didn't really care. Yeah. I was like, well, yes, this is a child. I wouldn't say like, hey, why don't you take all the silverware and throw it through the windows? That didn't happen either. So it wasn't, so we were, you know, we were guiding them hopefully.

But now that they're teenagers, it's, you know, like, I do subscribe to what my parents did, which was kind of like, this, you're so close to being an adult. So there's, like, little things, like, I don't know, still, like, learning to use the washing machines. Yeah. But also every pop song, like, or know cat's cradle or the circle game is right where it's it goes it is it is like a you know that ball is circling and is speeding up before

they yeah it's weird because it's uh it is aggravating a little bit yeah it's a little bit aggravated all the time all the time and you also feel the time running out like the back to the future like this is annoying and i need a break but i also know it's so goddamn cute and warm yep and it's hard to like know what to do yeah no it's a it's been set up in nature so interestingly yes it's it really you hear the cliches are all fucking true right yep it's hard and it's also like it's great yep uh but then you're like oh well that time he hugged me so hard, he squeezed my neck. And I was like, oh, I'm going to cry. But look, you made me cry.

But those little moments, I'm like, go ahead. Go whatever. Go deal drugs. Yeah. I'm okay with that. Well, as long as you get your hugs. He's paid so much money. And how much do you worry about them?

All the time right now, a lot. And how do you deal with that? You just go like... I know it's unreasonable to constantly be like, what are you doing? Yeah. I feel weird like there's those apps where you can just follow your kid doing anything.

I feel weird. I don't do that. i think that's an invasion yeah and so i'll be and i we've i'm like my 16 year old who goes out like he'll be at friends and he'll be like can you come get me and then i'll be like yes but he'll share his location and then he'll i was like i don't know i don't want to know what he's doing i don't want to go do your like yeah this is where i think kids teenage kids in a relatively if you've gotten to this point with them you like and they're you haven't fucked them up you've done something right but you're like this is where this brackish water between adult and childhood and it's moving into adulthood. You have to let them hang out and figure stuff out and let them do their thing. Because I think, I mean, you know, we grew up in relatively the same time and the same place for only two years there. But fucking around with your friends is important.

Yeah. And screwing around and just hanging out. I was like, because I see these parents are like, you know, these fucking activities lined up for every single moment of their lives. Yeah. It's like, let them ride a bike to a 7-Eleven and hang out. And you just have to hope that they don't get in physical harm. But that time, 15, 16, 17, I'm literally doing acid. There you go. And every single generation.

I want to know the generation. They were like, nobody got hurt. I don't know how it happened. We finally figured it out. Yeah. Between 1933 and 37, we figured it out. No, that was, well, we were getting ready for World War II. They were safe for a bit, and then Hitler invaded.

Oh, no. Oh, it was the middle of it. And then it was over. It was also the middle of a crushing depression. Yeah, so long safety. And incredibly repressive laws. I mean yeah there was never a good good time and uh and never a bad i mean it was just like good old times don't like

the good old days do not exist okay now we're talking about this how much support financially will you give your kids and for how long i don't really know i don't i don't have a goal i don't have a set thing like a hundred thousand dollars a month no but i'm saying do you have a rule of like i'm not giving you fucking money like you're getting you i'll whatever like i'll give you a little something for a little something but in terms of um like this it's shaquille O'Neal one time said about his kids like, We ain't rich. I'm rich. There's no we.

So what I'm curious about is like, what's your plan? I remember I took a talk to Donald Glover's dad. He said this thing where he would walk in the room and start turning the lights on and off and go, Who pays for this? And I have totally stolen that. So I think I have a unique situation because like the kid on the spectrum, he doesn't spend. He doesn't. He's not outspending a ton of money.

And he has like he has the clothes he likes wearing. And that's pretty much it. And the 16 year old, he this is the perfect attitude that a kid whose dad like i like cars and when i go out i will wear nice clothes and he like i never told i don't know he'd probably be mad well he'd probably be okay with this but like i picked him up in my porsche at school and he was like don't ever pick me up in this again why he was like it's too much it's too much and it's like it's too calling attention yeah it's like you or your family or him yeah this is calling attention he's like i don't want to i don't want to yeah i don't i don't pick me up on this so does he not go to school in california

don't they all have isn't it then i picked then i have a restored land cruiser beautifully restored yeah i picked him up in that and he he was like, this one's worse. Yeah. Well, because then, yeah, you know, people know how much money went into it. He was like, just pick me up at the school bus. The block. Just the top of the block. Get a school bus.

Be fun. Do it. Do it. This school doesn't have school buses. Oh. You gave me a great idea. I'm going to buy a school bus. That's what I'm saying.

But it's going to be fucking. Refer. Amazing. I'm going to really murder it out, bro. It's's gonna be really nice um so he's a little embarrassed by your status yeah by like yeah well i have a question about your status and your yeah what is it well wanted to wanted to dress well that is a great question is? It's as legitimate a question as I've heard. What is your status? But what I'm curious about is,

this is just a vanity thing. Why do you wear nice clothes? I like them. What about them? I always have. That is a good, I think, I don't know. My little brother and my older brother didn't really care. Yeah.

But I was always like, I was obsessed with it. So I was a clothes horse. So I don't know what put the gene in my mind. What about the working out? Because did you always work out? Because I seem like either, I feel like at a certain point you unveiled your body. Am I wrong? There was like a point where I was like, oh, that guy's ripped.

I didn't. And of course I didn't like it. Oh, I wanted you to be lanky. That was, uh, because of community, which at that point I had never taken my shirt off on camera.

Yeah. So I always, yes, did work out. Okay. I was different levels of muscularity because I ha I think it's part of my adhd is that i had it was like running a golden retriever like here's the fucking ball until you collapse so like how often every day still yes and even more so i think the pandemic which as we know is a hoax right am i right yeah

dr neal brennan dr joel mccann we'll be right back. Thank you. Great. And I was a marathon runner for a while. But then before when I had time, but like when the pandemic hit, I was like, I have to work out every day or I'm going to go crazy. Because the anxiety was high at that point. And I'm like, I. The anxiety of not working? Not working. What the fuck is happening? I have a sixth grader and a ninth grader.

And this is a terrible, like, and you know, like we have, thankfully we have space and cause I know like so many other people had it so much worse. Almost everyone. Yeah. Had it worse. Almost everyone. And still I was was like what are you complaining about asshole and but that's where so my yeah my is working out every day as part of the

that's part of just part of who i always always have been so uh but different and that's just managing like comedian friends way back when we're, you can't be super in shape. I know. That used to be the. There's just such bullshit. Yeah. That used to be the like accepted wisdom. Which just was stupid and wrong.

This is not true. Anyway, that all said, yes. So definitely it's vanity wanting to look good. But being 52, there's a side of me that's like, I need to stay around for quite a while if I don't get hit by a helicopter falling on this building. But I was like, if I can maintain this shit for a bit, then we'll be OK. But I want there to be quality. I want to be able to walk around.

OK, so this is about you want to stick around. You're not talking about professionally, not chiefly. Oh, I think it's a multiple combination because you're still like there's something boyish about you do you know what i mean you're not a man not my liver you're not a man i'm gonna be honest you're not a man i'm a man you're not okay how uh no but there's something boyish about you so i'm wondering if you still feel like you there's something hot shoddy about you you know what i mean there's something like yeah uh well that's what that's why i'm like cutting to you

it's like oh who the fuck is this guy like i'll watch it but i'm but it's like that asshole no but it's just more like oh this guy's like sort of confident and like walks in and like shits on you know what i mean like yeah sort of uh oh well that paradigm like the bill murray chevy right 80s who there we go hey chevy shout out uh you i think that also comes from my uh yeah i'm an extreme extrovert right love people love you really do so it's it's you're you're an extrovert it you you get energy from talking to people i uh this will i gain energy from from being with people from from uh socializing it charges me up and definitely your wife same thing absolutely not yep shit and we got to uh we have like an agreement where if we go to a party, she'll absolutely be like, all right, see you when you get home.

And I'll stay. Two cars. Or Uber. Uber. Yep. Yep. Because if I'm having, if I'm drinking, I don't want to, you know, hop in the, hop in the. You don't, you don't, you have to drive an Uber.

Yeah. You have to do a shift. You don't want to. I'm like, sorry. Yeah, you got to. You got to. Hi, welcome. I know you can smell the liquor on my breath. Yeah, it's Joe McHale. I'm drunk to hire someone. Sorry. Yeah, you got to. You got to. Hi, welcome. I know you can smell

the liquor on my breath. Yeah, it's Joe McHale. I'm drunk. Yeah, whatever. It's cool though, right? I mean, remember? Yeah, it, no, I've always had that.

I think people always expect that I'm going to be a dick and I might be, but I think that's also why I've been cast so many times as a dick. Right, but I don't, but you look like it

and you're not. I look like a different kind of dick and i'm not i look like a stern uh like nerdy dick like i'll be dicky with my intelligence whereas you'll be dicky with your confidence and well i will say a person i work with she when she saw the schedule she was like he is the hottest talking about you don't mind if i do and she was just like that that that that boy that's the guy man and she's jewish and she was like you don't have to tell me she was jewish i knew she was like i thought he was jewish and i was like oh no i was like you really. No, I can almost picture her. I can almost picture this girl. So.

But you also have, you photograph very well and in person very well because you might be selling yourself short on your photos. Boney. I don't, well, you say I photograph pretty well. Look at the comments next time I do Rogan or the last time I did Rogan. I thought we weren't supposed to look at the comments. You don't, but I can, some of them seep in oh here you go this is what people thought of my last press run i look i did the google thing where you type in your name and then see what comes up the third thing that comes up is neil brennan sick so because you're i look sick well you're spelled which is sickly in america that's the other like

health is sickness in america if we go back to well my high school like people our age i don't know what the age is where people like well fuck it i'm not gonna move anymore i'm just gonna sit and i'm gonna eat like i'm 18 yeah that alone, that war of attrition, I know I'll win because I'm like, well, people are like, you look great. I'm like, yeah, because other people in my age range start not looking great. This is not – this is everyone else foot faulted. Everyone else – no one else is even trying. I don't like – you know when you see people from your high school

and you're like, this is what you're doing. Yeah. This is how you take care of yourself. Like you couldn't know Propecia. You have to remind me exactly how old I am. I transplanted all this shit. Of course you did. Come on.

I transplanted all this down here. You have the electrodes on your gut, on your fucking abs right now, baby. So it seems like you've had a pretty good life it seems like you got a pretty oh favorable personality i've sociable yeah attractive tall the right transplant at the right time athletic football two sport athlete well a few more great wife tennis uh no i know that like when i look i was like fuck it's i'm very lucky and very blessed and can't believe it and uh because you know like when you make this plan like i'm fucking acting and i can't believe this woman agreed to go out with me like those things like

to this like and people like wow you it's gone all right i'm like yeah it's gone all right and then uh you know i'll be like how come it's not gone better how come i don't have uh how come i didn't really you know like i was like i really didn't uh break into movies that well right but like that but i used i said to a friend of mine a long time ago, scoreboard is always wrong in Hollywood. That is so right. It's always wrong. Yeah, that is it. And when you think you got a huge lead, you don't.

When you think you're behind big, you're not. That is it. And my imposter syndrome can go off the charts. You're just going to die with imposter syndrome. Yep. Unless there's that one small chance that i'm that human being who doesn't ever die you're there's part of this whole mountain just yeah maybe magic is real and ayahuasca i can tell you look if you're real if you're serious about

ayahuasca we could talk about um no i saw and then you know obviously it became like the pickleball of drugs ayahuasca is the pickleball of drugs. Yeah. Thank you. That's a good way to put it. Okay. So what do you make of your life? You know, like when my self-loathing and imposter syndrome pops up, sometimes I have to go, okay.

Okay. Just calm down. It's going to be all right. And you have to look around. gonna be all right and you have to look around i kind of look around sometimes and not that i'm like touching my stuff uh but i'm like you it's it's all right the funny thing is i bet there are days where you forget about community oh yeah and then you go oh fuck i do oh yeah and then you go oh fuck i was on that for six seven years it's amazing how often you can hit that, like, I'm just starting out again. Yeah.

And I'm like, you're. Well, it doesn't, your body isn't, I don't think we're supposed to live this long or something. There's something about it where you go, I have, and I've been telling people on the podcast, I do a, like a checklist several times a day of and sometimes it's literally my possessions yeah no there's something sometimes it's literally like the facts of my life yes because it's so easy to forget and it's so easy to get caught up in threats and anxieties and it's like just fucking absolutely chill baby yeah i think it's also the nature of being in our business which is but and like many businesses and but as you said but like it really is like yeah well what did you do for me today and uh right and and i'll be like and i

like i will go do stand-up or something and i I'll be like, I will be filled with a sense of dread. Especially if I haven't done it for a while. I'm like, I don't know if it's going to work. But then, you know, you meet people that are like, fucking nailed it again. I'm like, what the? No, yeah, but that's, I. It's a different, that's a whole different. Yeah, it's a whole other issue.

But I'm saying, like, it's going great. For me and you. Yes. I'm saying, I'm talking about you, but it's going for, yeah, it's going. Yeah me and you i'm saying i'm talking about you but it's going for yeah it's going yeah i mean look at us uh hello a self-produced podcast how could you um but but it is going incredibly well and not like i hope you appreciate it and guilty which is like no it's went really good it can also become become a pretty annoying disease constantly. Like, I don't know what's going to happen. I'm not great. All that stuff.

But also just taking a moment to go be thankful. Yeah. And I understand that, like, whatever, people believe in all sorts of things. But I feel like that's a universal, like, be thankful for your, like, this earth is always beauty and terror all the time. And people are like, it sucks. Yeah, but it's great, too, being here. And so being thankful for that and that that will melt some of the, you know, calcium. You can replace it.

Picture this. You finally get to the party. And it's the usual drinks and small talk. Suddenly, you spot something different. The Bold Seagram 13. Picture this. You finally get to the party, and it's the usual drinks and small talk. Suddenly, you spot something different. The Bold Seagram 13, a 13% cosmopolitan cocktail. You grab a can and take a sip. Suddenly, you're on a fresh adventure, becoming the hero of your own night.

Unapologetically full-flavored cocktails with a 13% punch. Seagram 13. Dare to make your own luck. Must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Available at the LCBO. Need a great reason to get up in the morning? Well, what about two? Right now, get a small, organic, fair trade coffee and a tasty bacon and egg or breakfast sandwich

for only $5 at A&W's in Ontario. for only $5 at A&W's in Ontario. You can literally replace one feeling with another feeling if you focus on the new feeling. Have you done that? I do it four times a day. How do you do it? I have a like spiral notebook

and I just write the date and then number one and then I go this this this this this this this I should do that and then I did it at I only did it once yesterday which is the worst day I've had in three months in terms of gratitude and then and then today I've done it I'll do it when we're done I'll go home and do do it. And if I can't, if I don't have a notebook, I'll just do it on a piece of paper in my car. Because you can replace your feelings with a different feeling. It's like acting. It literally is like acting.

Yeah. Where you just go, oh, no. It's amazing what the body does. Yeah. it's amazing what the body does yeah it's like the what if you start screaming in terror at for fun you're yes eventually you'll be terrified and also if you laugh same thing yeah it was that uh craig ferguson said it a couple times it was like when you stare into the abyss the abyss is staring right back at you yeah and i was like oh yeah that's real yes it also you become abyss yeah you just become abyss uh dick gregory is a great there's an audio recording of him saying that if you're you

it's about entertainment but he's talking about if you watch the sound of music you're watching the sound of music right and the spirit of the sound of music just gets in you right the sound of music you're watching the sound of music right and the spirit of the sound of music just gets in you right the doorbell rings when you go to answer the doorbell you're still the sound of music yeah and like you still have that energy and he's like and on stage i can become the audience becomes me but it's you can just trick your own fucking dumb ass body into it yeah into really being i can be dark and uh spiteful and i can just remember to not be i can remember to be grateful and i'll just be grateful and it's so simple you can't believe it works it feels like cheating and it is i guess i mean it but it seems cooler to be like the abyss it's so do you guys know about the abyss

first of all there's the claymation song just put one foot right in front of the other and then you'll be walking out the door and i was like like, I mean, even like, I was like, that's right. It was fucking do it. I can't. Let's just, you know, get a bunch of Advil knees work again. But people always would feel like comedians are so dark. There's so,

you know, you need to have that. Right. And I was like, no, you need to be funny. Yeah. Cause there's all sorts of people that are dark and fucked up,

but they're, you know, yeah. Yeah. Melanie had the joke about robin williams he's like you know how many people are depressed and aren't funny at all no there are depressed people who don't even have the decency to be great comedians not funny at all he was depressed but he was fucking hilarious so and then they go it's so no it's just you i've never written a joke from rumination or brooding yeah i've written jokes from just going that's fucking stupid yeah i'm gonna mock that i'll be like you know adam sandler he's a pretty from yes him a little bit he's a fucking hilarious person one of the the funniest people. Yep. And. Very.

It's kind of guys you'll ever meet. And I was like. He. And he is obviously done like that. That 9-11 movie he did. Which was extraordinary. Mm-hmm. When he did. Or Uncut Gems.

Uncut Gems. Right. The guy doesn't. He might have demons that I don't. But he's. But people. I was like. You don't need to.

No. Walk around. Scowling all the time. It's just trying to be cool, I think. Yeah, yeah. All right, well, that's all. I have no further questions. What the fuck?

It was nice to get to talk to you because I had curiosity. I came in with some anxiety. Not about this. I'm just like, what am I nervous about right now? And I'm like, I can't really. I couldn't put my finger on it. What was it

oh probably by my kids about that girl that jewish girl thinking that jewess thinking i'm hot oh my gosh i can't i don't feel like i'm allowed to say that word jewess no hot oh not now wait is what's happening with Gaza. Hot? So long, everybody. That's it. That's it. Thank you so much. Yeah, of course, man. I didn't even get to tell you how much I love your stand-up.

Oh, no, you didn't. Go ahead. We're done. That's why I love your stand-up. Ah. It wants to have it real My man All you have to do is open it Open up your hand My man My man