Hollywood Handbook - Andy Daly, Our Close Friend

Episode Date: December 30, 2013

Sean and Hayes give some tips on how to get rid of your screeners the right way during Disk Tsk Tsk. Then, TV’s ANDY DALY stops by to open up about moving on from The Daily Show, tell us about his upcoming podcast project, play a character guessing game called “Yours, Mine, or Ours,” and speak on being unable to leave the funny zone as we reach into the Popcorn Gallery.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a HeadGum Podcast. And I'm like, well, you can let out the crotch a little bit, you know? Like, it's your, this is your job. I had a nickel. Hey, welcome to Hollywood Handbook, an insider's guide to kicking butt and dropping names in the red carpet lineback hallways of this industry we call showbiz. What up, what up? I'm Hayes Davenport. I'm here with Sean Clements. What up, what up?

Well, tis the season to get screeners, as it were. Around this time of year, there are 8 to 12 packages on my doorstep every night when I get home from really working hard. Which is a thing I want to say. I work very hard. People think that because I love what I do and because it sounds fun to make movies that it's not work. But it is work. Sorry, just that's a side note, but I've just been pissed lately that a lot of my family members have been calling my job play. It's all work.

I mean, sometimes you're shooting 80, 90 days a year. You're going in and recording voices. You're doing press. You're looking at reel after reel of girls taking their clothes off for the big scene in your movie where you need to have a really sexy girl in that scene or it's not going to make sense. And when you're not doing anything, it seems like you're not doing anything, you're figuring out what you're going to do next. And that's work, too, choosing the path.

Anyway, speaking of paths, let's get back on ours. Anyway, I get home from work, and here's 8 to 12 packages each night. It's a total of about 300 movies is what they send me. And these are screeners. They're sent by the studios during awards season so that people who vote on these awards can watch the movies and make a decision about whether to vote on them. It's not because they can't afford to go pay for them in the theaters. It's because the companies that make them basically want to pathetically beg us for our votes. Yes. So we

get all these screeners and there's a message when you put the screener in that appears on your screen, which is why they call them screeners, and it says, When you finish this movie, I'm paraphrasing, but please destroy this disc by breaking it in half. Because otherwise, the movie gets into the hands of these, these pirates and, uh, and pirates, as we all know,

are the biggest threat facing the movie industry today. Uh, I don't want to get too fired up about pirates, but the short version is people work really hard on this material. And the fact that you're going out and distributing it for free is just a great big middle finger to all to all the people who put their blood sweat and tears and i would go one step further and say that you're putting the middle finger you're sticking it inside their ass and you're wiggling it around in a way that's uncomfortable so it's not just flipping them

the middle finger but you are jamming it as far up as you can. And you're moving it sort of against the walls at awkward angles to kind of make them pretty uncomfortable with where you're putting your middle finger. Yeah. And TV, just as one example, if you're distributing TV for free, all they get is ad revenue from the shows appearing on TV. And with just ad revenue, TV's going to go away. Sorry. You know, if you like it, you got to pay for it. Now, I don't own a TV, but I know a lot of people do. And that must be a pretty scary proposition for that to go away.

So think about that. Anyway, we take this warning on the screeners very seriously for that reason. We don't want these movies to get into the hands of pirates. And so it's very important for us to make sure that doesn't happen. So this is a segment called a disc, tsk, tsk, which is where we give our listeners, because we do have a lot of industry people listening, advice on how to dispose of these screeners. And if our non-industry listeners do ever get into the industry, they'll need to know some of the ins and outs in terms of...

Or if they find a screener on the street that was dropped by someone careless, Giovanni Ribisi, they may be afraid. They don't want to get arrested, go to jail. Because that's one of the easiest ways out of the industry is to be trusted with these screeners which are laser tagged with your name and then when they get on the open they realize that you are the one who leaked it you you might not be seeing any more movies after your watermark shows up you know in the corner of a screener that's been pirated onto the internet, Darren Aronofsky, you may not be able to work with a Hayes or a Sean next year like maybe you wanted to.

So our advice for when you get these screeners, what to do with them to make sure they don't get into the wrong hands. What we do, first of all, is we don't watch them. That's the fastest way. If you love movies as much as Sean and I do, and we think movies is the best, the fastest way to get information about a movie out into the public is to watch it, and then you just got to talk about it. Yeah, and if you catch yourself talking about the movies,

and then the movies is just available to everyone, basically, from some of the stuff you said, which is a little too specific, Maggie Smith. And so when you're talking the movies, and everyone who can hear you is listening, that's breaking the law. Yes. Because Sean and I, our knowledge of cinema and the mise-en-scene and the chiaroscuro and- And the denouement. And the cameras is-

And the speakers. Is such that when we talk about some of these movies, the people listening can basically go recreate them for themselves. We express it in such detail. And sometimes the movies we're describing is even better than some of the ones that we originally saw because we like to make little tweaks. We're natural storytellers. And so if you are one of these Hollywood ripoff artists

that's going to listen to us and then go make something similar, Kevin Nealon, then that's against the law. Yes, that's breaking the law. And that is federal. That is federal. So good luck. The other thing we do, so nobody else can watch the screeners either, is we drop them right in the tub. And then because of how the technology works that shorts them out nobody's able to see them anymore after that and what's in the tub applesauce you need something thick and viscous it can't be just water the screeners are too smart now for that then what we do is we create sort of a decoy screener uh so that the people who are prowling around our properties pirate bait tried to get at our screeners uh they get the fake one instead and sometimes we cast these new screeners in sort of a way we wish they had been originally done

like for the wolf of wall street i thought idris elba would have been really uh great in that role that the little shrimpy guy did like he just didn't he wasn't as intimidating as a wolf i think should be yeah and for uh inside lewin davis i thought there was a real missed opportunity and not having uh gilbert godfrey um and bobcat Goldthwait in the two lead roles sort of doing some crazy voices. Because as great as that movie was, the voices were not very crazy. And sometimes, regrettably, this does happen. We will create a decoy screener and it will get out into the world and it will actually become a popular movie that does end up getting awards uh this happened with silver linings playbook a couple years ago we just sort of threw together

this idea of like uh like this guy's crazy and they they go dancing and uh we like football so we threw some football stuff in there and like bobby de niro is in it. He just happened to be over. And so that thing we shot as a decoy... We were having a meeting of gentlemen who share a particular attribute. De Niro has this. Hayes and I have this. Yeah, who are endowed with sort of a blessing.

Yes, which... So to speak. And we talk about... It's tough to explain to people who don't... We talk about sort of navigating the day-to-day. The ins and outs and resisting the urge to perhaps... Unfurl. And insert into... Anyway, Bobby was over for that.

Yeah. So we shot him sort of being mad at his crazy kid. And we didn't know Chris Tucker was in the movie. No. He was sneaking in. He sometimes stands outside our window hoping to get into shots of our movies. And he did get into that one.

And as we all know, that was one of Oscar's faves last year. So after we've shot the decoy screeners, the real screeners get loaded up into a time capsule. And we shoot them right into space. Because those are for basically if another civilization, and I do believe that we are not alone in this universe. Please, it is so cocky and narcissistic to think that in a universe which is infinite, you're the only intelligent one. Look at the numbers. Look at the books. The math is right there.

We have company, so to speak. Right there. We have company, so to speak. Mm-hmm. And if we are ever, when, I should say, we are visited by some of our galactic neighbors, what I want them to know about us is that we did movies. Is that we did movies and also that we broke the movies because we were scared of pirates. Yes.

We're assuming that we'll have the technology at that point that will be far long enough to recover the data from us throwing the screeners in the tub. And that is actually why we do it that way in the tub and Hayes and I don't ever punch the movies because that would actually shatter them. That would destroy them. There is no technological development that they could recover from one

well-placed punch to a screener. One medium speed punch from either Hayes or I would basically disintegrate the screener so that there was no evidence it ever existed. And I'd also like the aliens to see what a breath of fresh air Jennifer Lawrence is in this era we live in

of everyone's so coached anorexic models and like people thinking that those are real women and just and just spouting out these rehearsed statements and it's like is anybody a real person anymore one person is. It's so refreshing to see an actress with big titties rise to this level of fame because usually you're not allowed to be famous if your titties are really big. And so she's on billboards, she's on bus ads with her titties right out there for all to see. And call me crazy, I think that's really brave. Yeah, and it's a great point. I don't think people are talking about how there hasn't really been any full-bodied actresses. It's all these twigs and these bony skeletons.

And it's like such a breath of fresh air to see some juicy titties spilling out of a dress on a billboard. It's like she doesn't care what anyone thinks. She's like, yeah, so my titties are big. So what? She's not ashamed the way that women are and are told they should be. She carries herself with a very refreshing confidence, and she gets the Hollywood Handbook Bravo Keep It Up Award for

this week. We've got a killer guest coming up today. Andy Daly from TV and Movies is here and we're going to talk to him a little bit about some of his famous characters and just really get into the good stuff with Andy when we come back.

Hollywood Handbook. So at this point, I've caught him, you know, rummaging around in the trash. And he pulls out the scratch off. And he goes, sir, you've thrown out a winner. And I go, yeah, it's for like a freaking $10,000. I'm not going to bother with that crap. He goes, can I cash it? I go, no, it's for like a frickin' 10,000 bucks. I'm not gonna bother with that crap. She goes, can I cash it? I go, no, it's my trash.

Yeah, get your own trash. It's so frustrating. They didn't earn that. Yeah. Hey! Hey! Welcome to Hollywood Handbook, an insider's guide to kicking butt and dropping names of the red carpet lineback hallways of this industry we call showbiz.

We have a very exciting guest today. We sort of like to think of this as the intro to other Earwolf podcasts. We're sort of the gatekeepers. People come to this one, and in that way, we like to tell you sort of what's coming up around the network to sort of spread awareness to these guys who are really sort of like our family. And we have a very exciting guest today in that vein, Andy Daly. What's up, bros?

I'm so excited to be here. He's doing one of his characters. Sometimes I throw around bros. Not all the time, for sure. But under certain circumstances, you know, people don't know, we're doing this kind of late at night. And the hour is right for throwing down bros. Felt really natural over here, Andy.

Well, it sure did here. I'll tell you that. I'm excited to be here. Thank you for allowing me and my show to pass through your portal, your portal, your portal, that this show is.

And also, the other reason I'm excited to be here is that a lot of the time when I'm speaking publicly on podcasts or on television or wherever I am on stage, which is, as you know, my first love, I try to sound humble about show business. But this seems like a safe zone to really kind of take credit. Because you don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, people who might not have gotten to the places that you've gotten. Sure.

So you make it seem like it's not a big deal. A lot of times the people hosting these podcasts are doing it because they couldn't cut it elsewhere. Uh-huh, right. Well, that's not the case here. That's not the case in this one, so you can feel free to boast. You're not going to make us blush.

I guess I try to project an image a lot of the time, like I'm just some regular normal guy who's just sort of stumbled into this fantasy world of show business, and I'm kind of like, wow, it's weird here and whatever. You know, the reality, of course, is I'm far from a normal regular person. The three of us are, you know, we're special.

Yes, exactly. It's also a better story that somehow luck was involved for you or like it wasn't always going to happen. Like what kind of story is like you were born talented. Or even that it was like hard work. A lot of times people talk about hard work. Right, right, right. That's not it. As if you could work your way in.

It just hasn't been hard. We can say that here on this show and not in many other places. It hasn't been hard. No. Yeah, I mean there's nothing weird about it, you know, and we're special. So that feels great to just say it. This isn't the first time we have crossed paths with you, Andy. We have sort of a little history.

We haven't spent much time sitting down together, but I feel like Sean and I... No, we have a lot of walking meetings. If we're going to have a meeting, it's a walking meeting. It's like an episode of a Sorkin show with us. It's all walk and talks. It's up in the canyons or, you know. Hi, Aaron. It's all walk and talks.

It's up in the canyons or, you know. Hi, Aaron. But I feel like we almost get mistaken for you a lot because people remember. Well, they remember there was a transition period sort of. You used to do a weekly show on Comedy Central called The Daily Show. Yes. That was The Daily Show. The Andrew Daily Show. And so at a certain point uh we were

kicking around ideas with the execs you were kind of bored with it and we said we think we could be that funny literally every single day right and so we brought in doing but we said the daily works we said something about this really does fit we love the title and so uh Hayes and I at that time were doing this sort of Tony Clifton-esque sort of brash insult comic character by the name of Craig Kilbourne. Where Sean would sit on my shoulders. And you guys had a suit that it looked like. Yeah, it was who's in the suit.

You never knew who was in the suit. Yeah. And so we sort of brought that to the screen, and people didn't really notice the difference. Yeah. What, between my show and your show? Yeah. Yeah.

And I was ready to move on, so it's all cool. Sure. There's no hard feelings there at all. I was ready to move on from the weekly daily show, and you guys... And that's good that you were ready. That was a good all. I was ready to move on from the weekly daily show. And you guys... And that's good that you were ready. That was a good coincidence that you were ready to move on just at the moment that they were forcing you to. Yes, exactly.

That was a lucky thing. Yeah, I mean, it's hard to say. I mean, it was one of these weird things where I took a meeting with Comedy Central, and I'm saying the words, I'm ready to move on, at the precise same moment that the president of Comedy Central is saying, we need you to leave the building. Like we said that simultaneously. And then I simultaneously said, I am going to see myself out while he was saying the security guard is going to walk you out of the building.

I mean, to the point where I didn't even necessarily hear it. Only later did I go, wait, what was I hearing while I was talking? And it was that. I know what I was saying. Well, that's the universe. You visualize your own reality. Right. So you saying, oh, maybe it's time for me to move on to the show. It's like the universe

responds and the ratings collapse. And so you sort of get what you put out there. Oh, I think that's very true. Absolutely. There isn't a single project in show business that has failed where the person behind it did not desperately want it to fail. Every single time. That's, you know, I'm working on a book, a showbiz book,

called You Failed Because You Desperately Wanted To. single time that's i you know i'm working on a book a showbiz book called you failed because you desperately wanted to and that's i mean that's the whole that's all i have so far well are you i won't read it because i can't relate uh-huh right no i know but uh but some people will really find that helpful yeah what's the process been so far for uh do you are you doing it yourself are you sitting down with a guy? Oh, no, no, no. I sent it to a team of writers in India that are, you know, they've got like, I don't know what, 50 or 100 guys on a floor. There's so many people there. They bang out these books.

It's the same company Bill O'Reilly uses for his Lincoln and Kennedy books and stuff like that. It's just like 100 guys on a floor in India. And they do great stuff. They do great work. And have you read the stuff they're sending or like are you just going to read it when it comes out if if you you know i'm going to probably ask that it be broken down into bullet points for when i promote it you know what i mean um and that because because basically the person who's interviewing an author has bullet points sure you know why should the author have any more than that?

And they're not going to interview those guys in India. You know, it's not like... No, absolutely not. This is not to be insensitive, but they wouldn't understand what they were saying. It just wouldn't make any sense. Their accents are so heavy, and they aren't successful or famous.

It just wouldn't make any sense. Why would they do such a thing? Well, why am I being interviewed? That's the only question they would have. Yeah. Well, and from what I understand, if one of them was interviewed and talked about their role in writing any one of these books, they would immediately be put to death. That's just part of the deal.

And it's a good deal. Hey, that's India. And it's better than the alternatives over there in a lot of cases. Oh, I don't even, no one knows what those alternatives are. We want to talk a little about, you have this character based podcast coming up. Yes. Do you

want to speak on that a little bit? No, I don't. Oh, okay, okay. No, I will, alright, I will, I will. It's a new podcast here on the Earwolf Podcast Network. I assume you're on the Earwolf Podcast Network. I assume you're on the Earwolf Podcast Network. We're in their building.

Yeah. And it's called the Andy Daly. The funny thing is, I listened today to the teaser episode, and I got it wrong on the teaser episode, which is very embarrassing. The teaser episode begins with me getting the title of the podcast wrong. And that's a real rookie mistake. You really got to try and get the name right. Was this one of those things where your manager, you wake up that morning and you call your manager

and they say, what am I doing today? And they say, oh, you have a podcast now. And so you go, you just show up at the mic and sometimes you haven't been fully briefed on what this thing is that you're supposed to be doing. Apparently not. And I fired, I think I fired nine people this morning when I heard that podcast. I just said, I fired one guy and I said, and pick eight other people and you fire them.

And so I don't know what the upshot of that is, but firings have occurred. But anyway, it is called, and I'll read it here because Paul F. Tompkins wrote it on this table. It's called the Andy Daly Podcast Pilot Project. Very easy to invert podcast and pilot in that. And they both work. But anyway, the point of it is it's going to be eight pilots that have been compiled, that have been contributed by aspiring podcasters.

And they put together pilots. You know, that's it. It's late. It's hard to explain. But I think people understand it. Sure. We spent a 30-minute podcast explaining it, me and Matt Gurley and Scott Aukerman explaining it to one another.

And we grappled it. We wrestled it to the ground, this concept. Well, if we really want to drive it home, we had sort of a game we thought we might play because as actors, the three of us, we all play characters. That's sort of what I like to say acting is, is playing characters.

That's an interesting way of looking at that. Yeah, but we've looked at it that way and we've always said that. So you play so many characters mr everybody they call you uh we wanted to play kind of a fun game called yours mine or ours and the way the game works is we are gonna name bundles of characters and then you go and just dig around in your noodle and go, are these my characters? Are these their characters?

Or did we all do these characters together? And I think it's going to be fun. And so we'll just rip off a couple bundles. Character bundles. Yes, yes, yes. Just as an example. And as example. Okay, yeah, now I'm feeling the late thing you were talking about.

To start off with, I got three iconic characters. Are these yours, mine, or ours? Ferdinand the Bull, Charlie Hunnam, and Elmo. I feel like there's almost a trick because I did do Elmo from 98 to 2001. I was the voice of Elmo for those three years, but I've literally never heard the words Charlie Hunnam together. That doesn't mean I haven't done it, but I don't think that's my character. And what was the third one? Ferdinand the Bull?

God, I've played a lot of bulls. Kind of a gentle bull? I've played a lot of bulls. I gotta say, those aren't mine. I'm very sorry, Andy. Those are your characters. Those aren't my characters? Did I play Ferdinand the Bull? Yes. Wow. And I created these characters, you're saying.

Hey, nobody said this game was going to be easy. Yeah, you came up with those. You did mo-cap for Ferdinand the Bull in the children's book. In the original children's book, they get someone to do motion capture. Oh, yeah. And you did sort of the Andy Serkis role of showing up and getting the ball. Right, right, right. I was covered in the ping pong balls.

Now, of course, I remember that. So someone could draw you. I remember both being a bull in ping pong balls and being timid. Yep. And then Charlie Hunnam. What is that? He's the actor who starred in Pacific Rim this past year.

He's on Sons of Anarchy. And you played him in his story just a couple months ago. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. Yep. You know what, though? What I do when I look at a script, I say, take the names out.

The first thing I do before I even read it, I say, take the names out, because it doesn't matter what a character's name is. People don't say one another's names to one another in real life. Because it's all just people. Yes, exactly. Because it's all just people in the movies.

And if you're trying to communicate a lot to me through your choice of the name of a character, then it's lazy writing. I say, take the names out. I'll find out what I need to know about the character from what he says. Taking sort of a method approach, I see exactly where you're coming from. But I really want to immerse myself in the character. I see exactly where you're coming from. Yeah. But I really want to immerse myself in the character,

so I say with this character, take his name away and change it to my name because I want it to be... I want to be able to sink into this character, and if I hear a different name, it's going to take me out of it. That's even better. Yeah, I'm not going to turn around if they're talking to me. That's not my name.

Unless they say my name. It doesn't make sense. Because I want it to be relatable. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. I learned something. my name It doesn't make sense Because I want it to be relatable Yeah Yeah That's great I learned something I just learned something

I do that And then also I have one name That I'll have them use a lot If they don't want to use my name Trick Dastardly Uh huh Is a name that I think

Is very strong You go by that name a lot? If they If the For some reason The scripty Is unable to Plug my name in Oh I see Frequently for some reason the scripty is unable to plug my name in

oh I see frequently I've written the script and I'm directing the film and it's too confusing to have my name be the character's names yeah

so as a stand in Trick Dastardly is a name I'll use and I think it's got a real zing it's got a real zing internally when he thinks of

his own name and it's just sort of internal monologue. That's how it comes out, you've said. I like to go by Blanket Jackson. Ooh. I ask people to call me that a lot. And it feels great to hear it and to think that that might be me.

Hayes, did you want to lay a character bundle on my man? Yeah, let's do another bundle of characters, and you'll say something about them. Let's do another bundle of characters, and you'll say something about them. These three characters are Mr. Bean, Osmosis Jones, and Gandalf. I think those are mine. Sorry. Those are not your characters.

None of us played those characters. Mr. Bean was played by Rowan Atkinson. Oh, okay. Osmosis Jones was voiced by Eddie Murphy. Oh. And Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings movies was voiced by Ian McKellen. And we did say there would be a lot of trick questions at the beginning of this, and we did say that several times. That is very, very tricky.

Yeah, we did say that. I'm not sure Eddie Murphy was Osmosis Jones. I think it was Chris Rock. I actually think it might have been Chris Rock, too. This is a Hollywood Handbook timeout. Hey, guys. This is Hazen Sean. We just wanted to take a quick timeout from our interview with Andy Daly

to talk to you guys straight up. Talk a little bit about what happened just now. You may have heard when I was talking about the movie Osmosis Jones, I mistook Chris Rock for Eddie Murphy. I said that Eddie Murphy was the voice of that character when it was Chris Rock. And Scott Anchorman reviewed the tapes, and he has requested that we do— That we issue a formal apology. A formal on-air apology, and I think that's great.

I appreciate that he's not censoring us, and I think it'll give me something to think about. As always, we don't edit this show in any way yeah so we think it's important that you hear the raw version of one actual good man making an honest mistake and having to pay the piper and of course i have the utmost respect for Chris and Eddie's careers. Didn't mean anything as far as they're both friends of mine. And I think that's why I get them confused because I do have so much respect for both of them. And just to clarify and answer some of the nasty rumors that I'm sure will come out, Hayes does not think that all SNL cast members look the same.

I know they were both on SNL. And I despise that attitude, honestly. Putting them all together in one box is, I think, one of the biggest problems that we face in Hollywood today. And I like to think that with my career, I've tried to fight that as hard as I can. So it makes me just sick to think that I would do anything to hurt those two guys or any SNL actors who are... It doesn't help, of course, that he confused Bill Hader and Chris Kattan just a few months ago

at that awards show, but it's an unfortunate coincidence and that's it. So time in and back to the show. Sorry. And Gandalf, from what I understand, was, in the course of even a single one of those movies,

played by 30 or 40 different actors. I mean, yes, Ian McKellen was one of them. We talk about Andy Serkis, but he played pretty much every character in all those movies. You can sense that watching it. Ian McKellen is an old man. He can't wield a staff like that. Something's going on there.

Yeah, I knew something smelled fishy, and then we finally dug it up, and it sure does stink. Now, the next part of- You dug up a fish? Was it- Yeah, we dug up the truth of it. Missing fish. And we got it, and it sure does stink. Now, this last round is worth double the points How many

Alright nevermind Ratso Rizzo from Midnight Cowpoke Frau Farbissina And CM Punk I'm going to say not me But am I supposed to guess who it is Okay well Yours mine or ours I'm going to say not me. But am I supposed to guess who it is? Okay. Well, yours, mine, or ours?

Oh, can it be ours? It is ours. It is ours. We cooked these three up after one too many appletinis one night out in Santa B. Arbor. Got it. to be Arbora. Got it.

And we just, you know, we were riffing and just having a laugh, and we wound up creating three huge characters that are still part of pop culture today. We said, what if Dr. Evil had sort of a female sidekick, and what if there were a straight-edge wrestler, and what if the were a straight edge wrestler? And what if the Midnight Cowpoke had a friend? Yeah. Great. Who was dying of tuberculosis.

He said he should cough a lot. That was my one note for that character. Yeah. And we were bussing up. Yeah. And then we went out and we bus up America

with those characters. Great job. That was a good game. I thought it was fun. I'm not sure. Did anybody win? Oh, the listeners always win on this show. All right.

Oh, good. We want to talk a little about, you've done some improvisational, some improv comedy. Yes. In the past. You have some experience improv comedy. Yes. In the past. You have some experience with that. Absolutely. Sean and I are big fans. Okay.

I love watching it, but. We've always, we have a lot of questions about it just from the outside. Yes. Well, to me, possibly the only thing scarier than Frankenstein's is improv.

Oh. Okay, okay. Fair. Fair play. Mummies. And then I would say improv. Oh, okay. Because going out there, I mean,

how scared are you? Well, one of the things that, people don't talk about it too much, but you know how there are like four different levels at UCB. And, you know, if you make it past level one and level two and level three and you're on your way into level four, what happens is that you at that point are brought to see a doctor. And this doctor, and it's a very, they've gotten it to the point now, I mean, literally thousands of people have come through the system, where it's minimally invasive and it's not dangerous at all, but there is the fear center of your brain that is simply severed.

I mean, they've gotten to a point where they can just find where fear resides in your lizard brain and just take it out. And it's gone. And it's great for improvisation. It's terrible for so many of the other aspects of an improviser's life, like driving. I see all these improvisers driving very fast around the city. They literally have no capacity for fear. Wow.

And fear, you know, some might say, is something that has evolved within us as a way of protecting us from danger. Mm-hmm. You know, but that's, look, I mean... But it's also protecting us from doing good, funny improv. Mm-hmm. Yep, that's exactly right.

And if you want to make it into level four, which also, there are lots of other perks of level four. Somebody brings... Ooh, speak on that. Somebody brings cookies to every class. Ooh. And, you know, I'm not saying that they're the best. We're not talking about little schoolboy cookies or anything like that.

I mean, those are the best, right? You're not professional chefs. No, no, no. You're not the little schoolboy himself. Yeah. But sometimes they're day-old bakery cookies you know the ones that are shaped like leaves and whatnot and you know nobody likes those out of season yeah yeah yeah yeah sure yeah but uh but there's cookies there nonetheless and so that's you know and you're not

afraid to eat a stale cookie at that point there's no oh yeah i've had that experience that i think we've all had in the city where we're in some group event with improvisers, and they'll just start bass jumping. Yeah. Just out of, you know, you'll be having a conversation with them, and then they'll just run away and bass jump. Yeah. The survival rate for people who do this is low. You know, you don't live long once you've had the fear center of your brain removed. But it's worth it.

I mean, you burn brightly on stage for those few years that you're around before you go plunging off a building. What great scoops for our scoop troop this was. A real peek inside how the UCB works. I've always wondered, just as a fan of this kind of comedy, what Ryan Stiles is like when he's off the stage. And is he doing that stuff, does he have that same energy?

Is he coming up with as much good stuff just when he's having a personal conversation with a friend? Well, as you know, the UCB, he's Matt Walsh, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Amy Poehler, Ryan Stiles, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Amy Poehler, Brian Stiles, Imogene Koka, and Mel Brooks, and then there's a bunch of other guys. But yeah, Stiles is always on. He is never off.

To the point where he has gotten to a point where he can be doing those bits and getting a solid eight hours of sleep at the same time. So you, I, it's horrible from what I've heard, you know, to live with him or share a hotel room with him or whatever, because he's literally sleeping, but he is doing those bits that we love from whose line is it anyway,

while getting a solid eight hours of sleep is it literally always on is it true that he has a full-time prompt guy prompt guy like what do you mean a guy who gives him prompts for improv like suggestions and stuff like that yeah yeah oh he has to he absolutely has to it's not it's not something he wants necessarily it's just if he didn't have it he'd run out of stuff and God only knows what would happen. So yeah, there's just a guy that walks around with him who at this point they've got it down to Stiles doesn't even have to ask for it. This guy knows, I'll throw in

a location. I'll throw him an occupation. You know, if they're out and about. In the style of a western. Yes, yes. A genre. If they're out and about, he'll grab something that could be used as a prop, you know, and hand it to him and Stiles will just like come up with different uses for the prop or whatever and you know

it's fine it's not a big deal actually you just get used to seeing him with this guy you know but they're out 24-7 I mean this guy I don't know when

this guy sleeps because during the night while Stiles is getting his 8 hours of sleep and doing bits this guy's throwing him stuff and it's it's another reason

you don't want to share a hotel room with Styles. To double back for just a moment, I've heard that Imogene Coca can be pretty mean between improvs. She's electric on stage.

Right. But is it true that it's sort of a David Letterman thing where when you're not actually in the moment performing, you're not allowed to look at her? I mean, you can look at her, but you will get punched, you know?

So it's just a trade-off. And I wouldn't go anywhere near like a flight of stairs when she's around just because it's irresistible for her to push somebody down or trip them downstairs. But other than that, like a lot of fun. Also a lot of fun. downstairs. But other than that, a lot of fun. Also a lot of fun. Andy, we know you like to keep a private

relationship with the media and with your fans and you don't really answer a lot of questions, but coming on this show, we like to break down those walls between fans and us. Well, as I said, I feel that this is a safe space to really let my real showbiz personality. So this is a segment called to really kind of let my real showbiz personality.

So this is a segment called the Popcorn Gallery. Great. Where we take submissions for questions from our listeners for our guests on the show. And we say popcorn instead of peanut gallery because popcorn is like a food that you eat at the movies. And this is a show about Hollywood. Hollywood movies. Where we make movies. Listen, I love that. So let's reach into the popcorn bag.

Yeah. Mmm, fluffy one. Do you always do that? Play the popcorn gallery sound effect? Yeah, yeah, we always have the engineer hit the soundboard button before every question and we play the drop. Oh, okay, all right, all right, good. gallery sound effect yeah yeah we always have the engineer hit the soundboard button and uh before every question and we play the drop oh okay all right all right good this question is from our listener joe mcgurl and this is a variation on something we've talked

about a little bit on this show uh mr daly when you are in the funny zone are you aware of what you're doing or is it like hulking out where you have no memory of what happened after you leave the funny zone oh wow well this is obviously an incredibly insulting question because uh the implication here is that i is that i do leave the funny zone yes uh i literally have no idea what it looks like outside the funny zone yes uh i literally have no idea what it looks like outside the funny zone i'm a little like the boy in the bubble in that regard he can't leave the bubble or he'll die i don't know the way out of the funny zone anymore i'd love to get out of the funny zone i'd love to be out there amongst regular people enjoying a regular life going to the post office

without being hilarious while i'm there going grocery shopping without realizing a thousand hilarious things about grocery shopping it can't be done i'm in the funny zone all the time i uh took myself out of it you remember a few years ago i had that little procedure uh to sort of see what it was like. And it was sort of like the movie Pleasantville. Have you seen that movie where everything... Only a million times. Where everything was in black and white. I've not seen Pleasantville, but I am going to pretend that I did. Yeah, black and white was very effective in that film.

Everyone wears lame clothes, and everyone is afraid of making social taboos. They're terrified. And I said, Doc, get me out of here. So you're saying a doctor helped you get out of the funny zone and you were immediately like,

put me back into it. Procedure, it's similar to the one you're talking about. They've located, unwrapping the human genome, a part of that is locating the funny zone, locating the fear center of the brain, and they can sort of move us in and out at will. I'm sorry you told me that

because now I'm going to be tempted to have a doctor remove me from the funny zone. Please don't because I tried it and my experience was sort of like that movie Blink, if you ever saw that movie. I did not, but again, I loved it.

A woman has her sight restored and it's coming back gradually. Yep. And so she's seeing flashes of things and realizes that she's witnessed a murder, but can't fully see all of it.

Or something like that. That's the exact same plot as Awakenings. Exact same plot as Awakenings. Exact same plot as Awakenings. I agree. And so I remember turning to the doctor and saying, Doctor, get me out of here by getting me back in there. And in there was the funny zone. Right.

Get me out of not being in the funny zone. Because what I realized was, without the ability to laugh, the world is a pretty scary, sad place. And so it was sort of like getting your sight back and witnessing a murder right away. As you see the tragedy, and it's just too much for me to handle if I can't just laugh and just throw my head back and laugh and laugh. If you want to talk about this procedure, if you want a card or something, I have actually been told that within a couple years you'll be able to just do it on your phone.

Oh. Just switch it on and off from your phone. Well, you know, that's going to be a real tough one for me. Like everything these days. Boy, I'll tell you, no kidding. These phones, unbelievable. They're literally like computers in your pocket. I'm glad you brought that up.

Speak on that. Please speak on that. Well, okay. Look, I don't want to date myself, but I was around before you had computers in your pocket, and now you do. That is all I have to say about it. Hayes slipped me a pretty funny joke on a piece of paper just a moment ago.

Oh, fantastic. Where when you said, I don't want to date myself, he said, hey, I don't want to date him either. And I think that it's just, he's just teasing. Sure. But I think that's a great example of being in the moment. Yes. That's not how I actually feel.

You know, like when you come up with a joke, it doesn't mean it's real. No, no, no, no, no. And that is important for people to understand. I think a lot of people who are outside of comedy don't understand that. That jokes are not... That all jokes is real. They're not necessarily the 100% truth at all times.

It's good that we brought that up. Such a powerful thing to teach them. Let's reach back into the popcorn bag. I really hope I'm not insulted again. into the popcorn bag. I really hope I'm not insulted again. Ed, you're breaking. You hit the button again.

Sorry. Mmm. Popcorn. That sounded slightly different that time. That's interesting. Do you have multiple takes of it on there? Same drop. It's the same drop?

Then I must be wrong. This is a question from our listener octard octopus andy you starred as the evil mayor brown in the live action animated movie yogi bear how much time did you have to spend in the motion capture suit for them to bring all of your lifelike motions onto you know, I guess it's not cool to say this because other actors were credited in the other roles. But I did the body motions of all the characters. Uh-huh. I knew it. Yeah. You can kind of tell, I think.

I like to think I have a versatile body. And I think. I like to think I have a versatile body, and I do. But there are times when you can tell that it's, you know, that's not Justin Timberlake. Sure. No effing way. No effing way that's TJ Miller in that. Right, right. In that one scene.

Yeah. We sometimes say that that's all acting is, is just moving your body. And I think no one embodies that, so to speak, as much as Andy Daly. And I think no one embodies that, so to speak, as much as Andy Daly. But to answer the question, I spent three years in a motion capture suit down there in New Zealand under the guiding hand of Peter Jackson. Not in the sense that he was there or had anything to do with the project, but just in the sense that if you're doing that kind of work, you are in some way guided by Peter Jackson, the spirit of him. His spirit pervades New Zealand. Yeah.

So it was about, what did I say, three years? About three years. Three years. Three years honoring P. Jackson, that suit. Yeah. Okay, I think there's one more question in the bag. One last question. Okay. Sound effect one more time.

Oh. I'm pretty sure it was an mm last time. Andy, here's a question from our listener, Scoops. Andy, you are one funny guy. Would you call your head a giggle nut or the laugh melon? Would I call my head a giggle nut or the laugh melon? Would I call my head a giggle nut or the laugh melon? Yes. My friend, that's what's known as a false choice.

My head can be both a giggle nut and a laugh melon. Sometimes you wake up, it's a giggle nut. Yeah. Sometimes it's a laugh melon. The idea that I would somehow have to choose between those two is I just call bullshit on it. I think it's both. I think it's always been both. And I'm proud of that. What is it today?

It is both. Okay. At the same time. It's a giggle nut and a laugh melon. And it feels great. And by the way, nuts and melons together is not your first thought of a dessert. But try it sometime.

Some walnuts, right? Cashews, along with some cantaloupe and honeydew melon. I mean, that's great. That right there is all I need for dessert. I'm sorry to be so controversial. You mean all those flavors of ice cream?

That's not what I'm talking about, but I don't disagree with that either. That's sometimes all I need for a dessert is four flavors of ice cream. Just four different ice creams. Four different flavors of ice cream, and I'm good. I'm good. I'm good to go. I'm not greedy. Just give me four different ice creams, unique ones like that, and I am basically all set.

Some kind of cookie to eat it with. A couple of cream pies. Well, naturally, if it's dessert time, there's cream pies on the table. But I'm saying in addition to that, I'm pretty much happy with just four ice creams, some kind of cookie to eat it with, and maybe a chocolate candy, like a peanut butter cup. Yeah, something like that

A seven layer cake Seven layer cake or a tiramisu I mean, that's all I need I'm a simple guy You know, as Hollywood as we get It's still the simple things It's still the little things We're just like other people

And that we like dessert In that one regard yes Eddie thank you so much for joining us oh it was my pleasure thanks for listening rate us on iTunes

chat with us on the forums we've got a Facebook page and please please buy the pro version we've got some really nice goodies in the pro version

this week it's so important that you buy the pro version we have our Skype Sean's and I our Skype names our our Skype IDs, so you can see when we log in and log out. We're not going to talk to you, but you can track our...

But just knowing that we're on there has got to be a big rush. You can track our Skype activity. That is a big gift. That's what they get with the pro package? Yeah, it's one thing that they get. And Freya bought the pro version last week uh and she wins today's pro version prize which is andy daly will turn her into a character okay uh and do one line in the voice of this newest character freya on this podcast right now. Yeah, that sounds great.

When does that happen? Whenever you're ready. Oh boy, I bought the pro version. Now I can take a bath. Bye. So long. Bye. So long.

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