The Little Dum Dum Club with Tommy & Karl - 207 - Josh Lawson & Adam Zwar

Episode Date: September 23, 2014

Aliases, Haunted Houses and Michael J. Fox Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey mates, welcome once again into the Little Dumb Dumb Club for another week. Thank you very much for joining us. My name is Tommy Dasolo and sitting next to me, the other half of the program, Carl Chandler. G'day dickhead. No dicking around up top this week. Let's get straight into it. We've got two guests, one of which is on some time constraints that we'll get into. First of all,

returning to the show, you know him from Anchorman 2 and from the new movie, The Little Death. Please welcome Josh Lawson. Thank you very much. One man clapping, two men clapping. I just doubled my clap. Guys, just quick, straight out of the gate. I mean, my nose is blocked. I have

to answer phone calls. I'm so sorry. The perfect guest is what you're saying. I'm the shittiest guest you've ever had. You talk more this week than ever before in your life. Word content more this week than ever before. Who is that speaking? Who is that speaking?

Hasn't even been introduced yet. Someone's mum did not raise someone very well. Mrs. Zwa, shame on you. Never took him through the podcast etiquette. Shameful parenting. You know him from Lowdown and the Agony Uncle series. Please welcome back in the Little Dumb Dumb Club, Adam Zwa. Yes.

Thank you, guys. Good to be here. Well, to answer your question, it is the most I've ever talked, and it's the most I've ever talked about the same thing over and over and over again. Because we've sort of got you mid-junket. Yeah. Well, I'd say right on the end of the junket. It's the tail end of the junket.

Yeah, because I'm travelling around from city to city, and Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne. Melbourne. That's a tough one to know whether or not Block knows. Melbourne. So this is a film that you've written and directed and are in called The Little Death, which is in cinemas on Thursday in Australia.

Yep, Thursday the 25th around the country. So, yeah. So I know unless you're listening to it after the 25th, in which case it's now, it's showing right now. People might even be listening to it after the death of all kind of recorded media, which they still be, people will be travelling around the

wasteland doing a kind of live performance version of it. Yeah, Mad Max going around looking for petrol to fuel the cinemas. So you've been doing interviews around the country about the film. Have you found it's a film that kind of lends itself to getting the cinemas. So you've been doing interviews around the country about the film. Have you found it's a film that kind of lends itself to getting the same question again and again? Yeah, well, it's about sort of sex and fetishes

and relationships and stuff. So, I mean, people love asking about fetishes and I think the question that I get asked a lot is which fetish is yours or is it based on real life, that kind of thing. To which I always say the same thing, mind your own fucking business. Well, let's make a whole movie about it and then get touchy.

Yeah, well, that's your... Don't want to answer any questions. That's your fetish, dirty talk. Yeah, that's right. That's it. My fetish is I get off abusing journalists. Well, my question is, you know, it's a film that's about sex and all that sort of stuff

and I quite obviously am a virgin. So my question to you is, what's sex like? Yeah, I mean, well, tell me what a man loves a woman. Yes. Oh, God, no, I mean, even that is kind of not doing the subject justice. It's 2014, come on. I don't have time for this. I don't have time to tell you about sex.

Okay, I'll Google it later on. I'm a timeline. If only there was something about it on the internet, I'd be okay. By the way, the most Googled word on the internet is sex. It's probably not surprising, but it is just the word sex. I've never even thought to Google that.

It's the most Googled word. Yeah, that's just too generic. It's too generic. Yeah, my fetish is way more specific. They can't be bothered putting in big asses? No, no, no. It's like sex. They just assume big asses will come up at some point.

I like that's your go-to, though. Yeah, well. I'm fascinated by that They just assume big asses will come up at some point. I like that's your go-to, though. Yeah, well. I'm fascinated by that. Like, you're that desperate for porno that you're putting it into Google and thinking that you're going to have any luck. Like, that's, do you know what I mean? Like, that's such a... Or even that you're putting it in sex because you're like,

I've done all my specifics. I'm so bored with boobs and bums. Yeah, let's get back to the fundamentals. Let's just strip it all back. Right. Yeah, maybe the problem is I'm getting too specific. Let's just get off on broad brushstrokes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, just to segue very quickly into Google and stuff, now this is something that comes up a lot on this show that I'm always fascinated by. You know, we Google our guests, we do a bit of research, and once you get into sort of page four and five, you tend to find, you know, kind of different results of people. So I was doing a bit of looking up a view this morning, Joshosh lawson and i found on page four there's another josh lawson yeah military fraud josh lawson there's this whole website of guys that find people who've got like facebook

photos of them marching in anzac parades and whatever wearing medals that they never earned and there's a guy called josh lawson who they've got a photo of and he's just covered himself in medals. And there's all these guys that went, he's done one year of service. He hasn't got any medals. And so they've website outing people. There's a very specific type of porn right there.

I mean, look, that's really horrible to hear that because I didn't fake fight for my country to be accused of that sort of nonsense. Just to be ridiculed. Do you remember there was an article that came out I think a couple of years ago.

There was some fugitive on the run, a hitman for someone or other and his alias was Josh Lawson. So his name wasn't Josh Lawson but he was going around and he goes, well if someone's calling himself Josh Lawson, get him. That was kind of the national advice. And so I was like, I've got to get the fuck out of here.

I love the fact that someone is trying to, you know, not get any attention drawn to himself by naming himself after a celebrity. Like, that's almost double bluffing the cops. This is a horrible reality. I don't think he knew who I was. I think he was going like, I'm just going to call myself some shitty name like Josh Lawson.

I don't think he knew that he'd accidentally stumbled across a D grade celebrity. And your Google alert's going off going bang, bang, bang. You're like, I've made it. I've made it. I'm going to jail. Doesn't matter. Any publicity is good publicity. I'll take it.

I almost think it's like a genius move. If you were like on the run and you just used the alias Tom Cruise, because then they'd put out an APB on you. And it's like people are just going to be in the cinema seeing a trailer and then the police are flooded with hundreds of calls going, I've just seen him. I've just seen him on the screen at Hoyt's. And they're so busy dealing with those that you can just walk away.

There's like a whole squadron at the Coburg drive-in and you're running off interstate. Yeah. It's genius in a way. It is. There was a thing with aliases. There was a thing recently, this guy who'd committed a crime like 15 years ago, and I won't go into the details

because it's quite brutal, but they finally caught him. They had this thing on 60 Minutes about the undercover sting that they did, and they kind of led him into this organised crime set-up thing and sort of tricked him into it. And it was like he met the big boss and it was like, well, you've got to... Oh, I know what you're talking about. Is this up in Queensland?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was like, so just before you're in on our organised gang, you've got to tell us every crime that you've ever done and we can sort of make it go away. So he's confessed and then they've got him. But the alias that they used for the big boss of this crime ring was just Mr big yeah which just i love that you can evade the cops for decades and then you get brought down by the

laziest alias of all time like yeah i mean but if you put too much thought into it maybe you'd give yourself away if it was like scorpion or something you know what i mean it'd be like giving away a friend of mine uh his dad was a Vietnam vet, and we were at school together, this guy and I, and his dad was a Vietnam vet who had moved from America to Australia, to Cairns, actually, and became a drug runner. And he shot a guy called Johnny Indonesia. Oh, right. I mean, if you want a subtle alias, you know.

That's almost like Indonesia. You misunderstood, Tari. He said almost like Indonesia. You misunderstood, Zawahiri. He said he shot him. He shot Johnny Indonesia. So over there, maybe over there, because, you know, like over here, your alias would be, you know, Mr. Smith, John Smith or whatever. So maybe over there, that movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith was called Mr. and Mrs. Indonesia.

That's a great one, Johnny Indonesia. We're going over to the Indonesians again for dinner tonight. Oh, God. What are we having? Nazi goring. Yeah. Now, Josh, I love your story in that, you know, you've come from doing a lot of TV and stuff in Australia

and then you've made that leap of faith to go to LA and all of a sudden it's massively paid off and you're going from, you know, smaller productions here into massive productions there. And what I want to know, can you answer, what is the difference between performing in Home and Away and Anchorman 2? Well, it's just simple, there's no difference at all. Really?

Two classic Will Ferrell vehicles. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Working with two legends of the industry. Yeah, that's right. Well with two legends of the industry. Yeah, that's right. Well, Home and Away is a machine. I mean, you can't even underestimate how fast they shoot. I mean, it's kind of hilarious how quickly. I remember in the middle of a scene one time,

I was doing something and my little lapel mic, excuse me, lapel mic came loose and it just fell on the floor in the middle of the scene. I was like, I'll just keep going. And then I cut, moving on. I went, oh, no, no, no, I think my mic fell out of yours. Yeah, no, I think we probably will fix that in post. They just don't care.

They're moving on. Oh, wow. Yeah, so. So what's the most takes you do on a scene? What, in Home and Away? Yeah. Oh, two if you're lucky. One mainly because they're just burning through it.

If you said the C bomb by accident, then you do a second one. No, I reckon they'd work through it. No, I really do. I reckon they'd keep that in. What if your mic's falling out? What they just called it? That'll be the silent episode. It'll be a homage to Charlie Chaplin. Let's keep going.

Oh, yeah, A and R. A, D, R. A, D, R. Yeah, so can't could be something else. Just change it to something else. So you'll see the mouth say can't. Yeah. I'll just implant, I don't know, blunt. Well, we're going to have to do that to this podcast now that you've said the C say can't but I just implant I don't know

blunt well we're going to have to do that to this podcast now that you've said the C word so no no no not at all tee off I was just reading this

book called Poking a Dead Frog yes great book and Terry Jones talks about Python and about censorship and stuff

and there was a gag in the summarising Proust sketch you remember that one where it's the game show of summarising was a gag in the Summarising Proust sketch. You remember that one? Yeah, yeah. The game show of Summarising Proust. And in the intros, it tells a bit about yourself.

And he goes, oh, well, my hobbies are torturing animals, sleeping, and masturbating or something. And obviously the BBC had a problem with masturbating. So what they do is

they just silence masturbating. And so what ends up happening in the sketch is he goes, torturing animals, sleeping. He kind of says something and it's a pause. And then the audience go crazy after this tiny silence. That sleeping joke, that's a slow burn. It took the audience a couple of seconds to find that funny. It's funny that you mention that book because I'm reading that

at the moment and it's written by a guy who wrote a book about seven years ago called And Here's the Kicker, which is... Yeah, that's right. I read that. It's great. And that writer, like the other day, the guy who wrote that on Twitter, he went and followed like a whole heap of Australian comedians.

Like he followed... On Twitter. Yeah, on Twitter, yeah. And a few people kind of responded to him and went, oh, that's so weird because I was just reading your old book. And I just went through his timeline and he was just hitting up all these comics and going, is my book out there would you like me

to send you a free copy it's like dude this is a little bit of a desperate marketing push do you know what it all is now I mean

everything's desperate yeah it's true it's still one up from a podcast I find myself doing it on this film I know that it's

like on Twitter I feel sorry for my followers because I'm just showering them with like desperate pleas for people to go and see the film but I think

on the indie level particularly no one else is doing it for you yeah yeah sure well you put up a thing this morning on Facebook that I enjoyed seeing

which was a link from the Toronto Film Festival yeah and it was cut by Troy Kinney who was over there and he cut that together yeah great

so it's a recording of the audience watching the movie and laughing and really getting into it. And it was really cool to see because I haven't been to a movie in a while, much less a comedy film, and when you go on that opening night and it's like people really into it. But I love it because it's reminded me of my favourite marketing push

for movies because you don't really ever see them doing that for comedies but they do it a lot for horror movies when they come out. You know, they'll have the night vision filming of the cinema. And the old school ones when they used to have horror movies and they'd say, and here's footage of someone spewing outside the cinema after. Do you go, is that good?

I never saw that. People were getting hospitalised and stuff. Trust me, you'll love it. Just someone hanging themselves after the film because they can't deal with the horror. I want to see the porno version of that. Just dudes jerking off going, people seem to love it.

But those paranormal activity ones where it's just this, just people, just popcorns going everywhere. It's like, no one's reacting like that to a horror. Horror films are scary like horror films kind of have the

opposite effect where you're better off seeing it at home alone with the lights off like in the cinema it's not scary you're around people

you know how do you behave when you're actually scared I mean are you a screamer I'm not what I am because I watch

horror movies with my girlfriend or a spewer so I I'm a I'm a provoker so I watch movies with my girlfriend. Or a spewer. I'm a provoker. They're your only options. I'm a provoker. So I watch it with my girlfriend with the lights off.

And I'm doing a bit of the heavy lifting for the film, like kind of grabbing her on the arm every three seconds and stuff like that. I like to make it a 4D experience. I'm a freezer, like a silent freezer. You know on a roller coaster, same thing on a roller coaster, one of those drops, you know the Tower of Terror? Yeah. You either scream or you just go, or you lock up and you do nothing.

And you just, I'm that. I reckon that's real because I remember I used to, I lived on campus at university and we used to put, you had a rollercoaster? We had a rollercoaster. Yeah, he went to college of wet and wild. It's good.

So I put, you know, in the middle of the night, you put your hand through someone's window. And so there's kind of a disembodied hand. And the person would wake up. And instead of screaming, they'd just go, fuck off. So I think that's probably a natural reaction to just bare face fear. I do a lot of swearing before I know the thing is going to happen. So when you're on the giant drop, just before the point of dropping,

just going, fuck this, fuck this. And it's the same in a horror movie when someone's going up the stairs. I'm just like, I don't know what I think it's going to do, but just bracing myself. You know what I am? I'm a laugher. I'm the same way before I get a needle at the doctor. I just start laughing and laughing out of like,

you know, I get nervous or anxiety that this sharp thing's going to go down. Well, we went to Universal Studios when we were in America. I mean, my girlfriend and we went in the, what is it called? The Haunted House. Oh, yeah. I know the one you made. It's pretty good, actually. Yeah, it is. In terms of scariness, it literally is because instead of any sort of bells one you made it's pretty good actually yeah it is in terms of scariness

it literally is because instead of any sort of bells and whistles it's just dudes coming up and going yeah yeah yeah fuck but I'm

I'm just doing that I'm just laughing the whole way through it and my girlfriend is just punching me it's so funny shut up this is annoying me more

it almost goes too far because you're right people kind of jump out at you and whisper I'm going to fucking kill you what what but I guess that's the big ask of having a haunted house in Hollywood It almost goes too far because you're right. People kind of jump out at you and whisper in your ear, I'm going to fucking kill you. What? What?

But I guess that's the big ask of having a haunted house in Hollywood because you're going to see scarier shit just on the street working into Universal Studios. So you've got to up your game pretty significantly. I'm a little bit fascinated because we also went on the Map of the Stars. What's it called? The Map of the Stars. Or like a bus tour or something. Yeah, on a tour and whatever so um are you in any are you

any near any sort of map uh the stars in hollywood where you live i don't think so i always thought it'd be funny to to if someone lived at one of those murder sites you know like you know you know because you got those hollywood almost murder tours where they're like this was man this is where manson murdered somebody or isn't that be a bit terrible to go pick up the paper in the morning and there's people just taking photos going, is that where he was murdered? Yeah, yeah. I'm like, oh God.

Yeah, yeah. I don't think so. I've never seen a bus drive past my little street. Are you close? Is there anyone famous in your street? Are you in a location where you've got other actors and entertainers and stuff like that?

Well, Daniel McPherson used to live in my building. Oh, yeah? But he moved out. Right. Fucking deadbeat. We all voted to kick him out. No, he just moved on. I think Seth Meyers

used to live in my apartment block. Oh, that's pretty cool. Yeah, yeah, he moved out. Well, because he earned too much money. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now he can afford more. I don't think so.

I mean, you do obviously run into people all the time. Yeah. I just had this fantasy moment because the tour I went on, it was all these big A-name sort of blockbusters. Yeah, I don't live on those streets, Carl. But I thought maybe there was

an equivalent where it's like the supporting actors in their little suburb and you're next door to Ned Beatty and Charles Durning and people like that. Half my luck. What I love about that question is that we've got a man here who works on a show in close contact with the great Don Cheadle. Yeah.

And you're going, do you live near anyone famous? Yeah. That's what you can find. Do you share real estate with someone that's been on a telly show? Yeah. That's what idiots like me like to hear about. Yeah. Yeah.

He's real, man. He's still from the block. Yeah. Give him a break. Well, Adam, last time we talked to you, it hadn't quite come out yet, but Russia was picking up Wilfred.

Yeah. I remember reading about that. You're right. I haven't seen it. Oh, you haven't seen it? No, no. Russia are making a version of your show

and you haven't bothered to watch it? Well, it hasn't, the DVD hasn't been sent to me yet. Has it been on air? Has it aired yet? It has, yeah. I haven't got the response.

I didn't produce Wilfred. It was one of those situations where we created it and gave it to producers. We're basically at their mercy. If they choose to send us information, I'll happily take it. So it's not on YouTube, it's not on anywhere? I don't know.

I'll actually check. Thank you for bringing that up. But, you know, I'm more interested in just checks at the moment than responses. You know, the compliments wave, you know, kind of just fall over me, whereas, you know, money? Money sticks. Money sticks.

It's probably worth mentioning we're going to have to buy the soundtrack to whatever's going on in the background of this. Oh, yeah. We're in a cafe and we've got the Cafe Del Mar soundtrack going on in the background. And we're also, if we sound a little fatigued, we're upstairs in a room that is 45 degrees Celsius. It is very hot.

It doubles as a sauna, I guess. I don't know if you're aware of this, Adam, but Wilfred has become kind of a go-to calling card thing for any role that you audition for now that involves costume work in any way. Wilfred is the reference point. Yeah, it's true. Last year I've been to maybe six different auditions where if you get the role it involves you wearing anything,

not even an animal, any kind of suit. It's like, think Wilfred. Oh, fuck. Tommy, have you got the think Adam's wire yet? Think Adam's wire? No. Because that did come through in a character breakdown recently. What, to you?

That would be so funny. Be more like you. I really needed the money, didn't I? So not your character, think you as a person? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. And how do you think think Adam from Wilfred as well

so if we get one of those auditions how do we think Adam's wife come around to my place get a show that gets made into a

Russian version and not watch it and then you're halfway there well how did I not get called in because every now and then people on

Twitter will make the say that you and I look similar people seem to think that how did I not get called in? Because every now and then people on Twitter will say that you and I look similar. Yeah. People seem to think that. How am I not getting this audition when it says, think Adam's wife? That's right. Speak to your agent. Who is your agent?

Think Adam's wife, not look Adam's wife. Australia's number one female Adam's wife. Oh, for God's sake. For fuck's sake, yeah. Oh, God, no. Well, I went in for an audition the other day, and it was like you get the brief, and you go, yeah, cool, and you're reading the thing.

And then at the bottom it was like the role that I was auditioning for was someone with comedy skills, maybe a stand-up comedian, someone like a Jermaine Clement, Stephen Merchant type. So you look at it and you go, so not really me at all there. Like, well, my chances of this are pretty good. Feeling good about this one. So you just went in there as a misanthropic kind of slightly balding. Put some stilts on.

Put some stilts on, yeah. Yeah, you became New Zealand-ish. Yeah, yeah. But you can't listen to anything they say. Because I tweeted this the other day. I went for this role. Bradley Cooper. Now, it wasn't him who ended up getting this role. It was James McAvoy. But the idea is I'd gotten this role. Bradley Cooper. It wasn't him who ended up getting this role.

It was James McAvoy. But the idea is I'd gotten this script. This role was incredible, absolutely incredible. And I was like, God, there's no way I'm going to get this. Like, this is, I mean, you could win a frigging Oscar for this. They're not going to give it to some unknown. You know, it's opposite Clooney and something. I was like, okay.

And they went, no, trust me, the director really wants an unknown. And I'm like, uh. Think Adam Zwar. Think Adam Zwar. Not Adam Zwar, but think Adam Zwar. And I was like, are you sure? I really feel like. The director wants someone who someone on the run could use their name to get away.

Someone that unknown. I'm your man. I am your man. So, of course, when he did all this work for it, your fucking days go past. You're working on it. You're working on massive chunks of dialogue for the audition. You do it the next day, they're like, no, James McAvoy's going to do it. I was like, oh, is he, you fucking bastard? Yeah.

Has he seen the script? No. I mean, of course McAvoy wouldn't have auditioned. Why would he? He's freaking James McAvoy. But, you know, it's the same thing with, you know, the Jermaine Clemence thing. You can't, they don't know what they want. Well, I talked about this a few weeks ago on the show. I got called in for an audition and it was,

the description was an unattractive male who, if we were to rate him on a scale of one to ten, this guy would definitely be a one. And you go and you go, oh, fucking great one. So I go in and I don't get it. And now the ad's on the air. It's out there. And I've seen the guy and it's like...

If you're going to make a good quote, if you can do it on mic, that'd be really good. If you could talk into the microphone. Did you have a strong word to your agent about this one bullshit? Well, my agent's me, so there's just a lot of crying in the mirror. You've got the point across.

Yeah, you got 15% of that crying. Yeah, yeah. But then you look at the ad and you go, that guy's not a one. What a fucking loser. Yeah, yeah. What a great argument. Way more hideous than this guy. Yeah, joke's on him. I'm a fucking...

It is nine grand. What a fucking loser. Not even losing his hair. Fucking weird. Josh, I read a thing where you said, where they asked you about accents, and you took particular pride in how strong and consistent and how you've never slipped out of your American accent.

Well, I mean, look, I read that article too. And out of context, that did sound like I was being a real dick. No, no, no, no, no. I was impressed. I thought, no, no, no. But only because, the only reason I made a point of it was because I work so hard on it. Yeah, yeah. Like, I was impressed. I thought, no, no, no. But only because, the only reason I made a point of it was because I work so hard on it. Yeah, yeah.

Like, I live in it. Yeah. And in a way, if I did all that work and it still was shit, I'd be like, oh, well, what's the point? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you and Ben, when you were kids, you'd practice the American accent. Not just practice. I mean, we did, absolutely. But we also did American TV as kids.

You know, we were doing Flipper and Beastmaster and stuff. All that stuff up in Queensland we're shooting. So we were doing American. You were on those shows as a kid? Yeah, I was on Flipper, the TV show. Really? Yeah. Oh man, I'm so much more

impressed by that than Anchorman 2. I think it's on YouTube. I don't know if you remember. Yeah, I remember playing a kid who got in a boat accident and I literally had to say the line, I can't feel my legs.

Oh, great. Yeah, which is awesome. You pray for a line like that. It's like a master class for a young the line I can't feel my legs. Oh, great. Yeah, which is awesome. You know, you pray for a line like that. It's like a masterclass for a young age. My legs, I can't feel my legs.

Can you just do it for a second in the American accent? In the American accent? I think it was my legs, I can't feel my legs. No wonder

James McAvoy missed out on that one. I know. That's not for the faint of heart. McAvoy couldn't have gotten that wrong. So what's your tips and tricks like when you do an American accent, what's the for the faint of heart. A McAvoy couldn't have gotten that wrong. So what's your tips and tricks? Like, when you do an American accent,

what's the trap for young players? Like, are there certain words or vows or, you know? I always find that people add R's where there aren't R's. You know what I mean? The R's are really tricky, I reckon. Yeah, you know, kind of anything. You know, the classic older English actors do that, like Albert Finney

and you know they all add R's everywhere he's in your apartment building Aaron Brockovich yeah Aaron Brockovich and I was like

no there's not an R in Brockovich you know yeah so is there a policy among Australian actors in LA

to make sure you maintain your Australian accent when you're talking to each other yeah I think you do get a bit is there a bit of bullying if you don't if you're talking to each other? Yeah, I think you do get a bit. Is there a bit of bullying if you don't? If you've got to slip a little? Don't you remember

when LaPaglia did Enough Rope and his accent was just a little American? Everyone fucking attacked him. They jumped on him. He's not Australian. The thing is when you do work in America and all you're doing is the American accent over and over and over again, the muscles in your mouth just get stronger and stronger and stronger in that area.

It's like a tennis player using his right arm all the time. The right's going to be stronger than the left. And I could totally understand why he was talking more American, but, yeah, you definitely get bullied a bit, you know. Yeah, yeah, there seems to be some sort of kind of... Patriotism. Yeah, yeah, policing of it going on. Because then, converselyely in Anchorman 2

you're playing an Australian where you're going way over the top with the accent. So somewhere in the middle is a role for Josh Lawson where he just gets to talk in his normal voice.

I beg you. It was odd. They really wanted that cartoony idea. Because Anchorman's so absurd. Yeah. The whole tone of it. But it was fun to do

I loved it was great it was fantastic it was so much fun it was great but you were like you were like a one man in that episode of The Simpsons

where Bart where the family goes to Australia and all of Australia go we're not like that we're not like that that was you for this generation

I know I know I auditioned talking for I auditioned for that for that character in Modern Family that Rhys Darby got oh yeah yeah right

and oh wow and yeah it was the brief was I auditioned for that character in Modern Family that Rhys Darby got. Oh, yeah, yeah, right. Oh, wow. And, yeah, it was... The brief was, think Rhys Darby. Think Rhys Darby. No, but it was fun. So, obviously, it was for an Australian character. There's probably about five people auditioning for it,

including Kyle Sanderlands. Oh, no way. Yeah, yeah, because he was a radio guy, this character. Oh, right. Oh, wow. You know what? That rings a bell. I remember reading about that at the time. No way Yeah yeah Because he was a radio guy This character Oh right Yeah yeah You know what That rings a bell I remember reading about that

At the time How did he Not get the one out of ten Audition Someone jumped on it Real early And I remember being So it was like

Kyle's gonna be in Modern Family But it was like And then it came out It's like he's just been To the audition Was he that guy That groped a young girl

At the airport When they came out Was that him I can't remember I to the audition. Was he that guy that groped the young girl at the airport when they came out? Was that him? I can't remember. I never saw the episode. Has it been on? It has been on. And it rated really well.

So Reece Darby obviously played the Australian, which was interesting. Since he's not Australian. I was depressed I didn't get that one. Yeah. Did you feel good about the audition? Yeah, I did. Yeah, but I gave a – look, it was probably, you know me, it was probably a little downbeat for Modern Family.

It wasn't energetic enough. Well, you don't compromise. That's what I love about you. What a great waiting room. I can't. Whether I want to or not. You know there's that cliche of you go into a waiting room for an audition and there's like 30 guys that look just like you?

Yeah. But then for that role, it's you, Rhys Darby and Kyle Sanderlands all battling out for the one role. Oh, it's you, Rhys Darby and Kyle Sanderlands, all battling out for the one role. I've got a Rhys Darby story. So we were at the Anchorman 2 premiere in New York, and Andy Lee was over there at the time in New York. He came to the premiere to support me, and we were having

a few drinks. I was chatting to some of the crew from Anchorman. Andy and I, and I took off to get a drink, and Andy tells me his story after I left left and they were like, Josh, he's such a nice guy. He's terrific in the film. We were such big fans of his. Don't you just love him?

In Flight of the Conchords as the manager. And Andy was like, okay, I see the mistake you've made there. Because he's not restarted. Yeah, you're thinking of Adam's wife. Something else happened recently

because I'm on the show House of Lies in the States with Don Cheadle. That's the end of the story. It's still the best one on this show so far. And so a lot of people say House of Cards because obviously it's a more familiar phrase and it's a more popular show. But you got in first. Yeah, we were first.

One syllable. Yeah, yeah, easy. One syllable. Yeah, yeah. Easy. Come on. So someone came up to me. We get this all the time where people go, hey, love doing. I saw you in House of Cards. And you just go, yeah, okay, fine.

That's fine. I'm not going to correct you. But in the States recently someone came up and go, hey, man, I saw you in House of Cards and you were terrific. And I went, oh, man, thank you. That's really kind. He goes, no, no, no. I mean, I've seen every episode.

And you're just so great in it. You and Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright and I'm like no you're actually thinking of House of Cards now I don't know who you

think I am in that show but I'm not in it like I wish I was but who's going to be the first House of Lies actor to do

to do both the house the house double yeah yeah house house of Lies Cards. Yeah, and then house. Then house.

That's right, three houses. Yeah, and then they can bring out those episodes on a DVD three pack. It should be Hugh Laurie because then he can be like house in House of Lies and House of Cards. Yeah, yeah. There it is.

One of those episodes where you actually have the family guy meets the Simpsons. Oh, yeah, yeah, that's right. Listen to, what's the guy on Twitter? He's called The Sulk. Oh, yeah, Alex Sulk. Yeah, Alex Sulk. And he wrote this episode of Everyone Loves Raymond

where Raymond's brother was Tony Soprano. And so he did it on spec. It never actually went to him. Yeah, right. And this is how he got his break into writing scripted comedy. Oh, really? Yeah. And because he said, everyone said, oh, we're sick of reading the same old scripts and everything.

Well, he goes, well, if you want your minds blown, here we go. And this is going to get me in. And it got him in. I think it's good. That's great. Is it available to read online? I don't know. He just mentioned it

in this podcast I was listening to. It'd be great if you could check that out. That's a weird thing that it's like you get your break by writing

a really irresponsible script where you can never air it and people go, great. But I reckon that's a lesson in comedy. Sure. To do what the other guy's

not doing in a lot of ways. Totally. I mean, if you look at, it was tweeted the other day, it was, is it, his name Doug Allen, the guy who created Entourage? Entourage, yeah.

Yeah. And so his pitch document was tweeted the other day. And it is, I mean, we talk about, you know, the Python's not being able to use the word masturbation and everything. Well, this just goes to show how things have changed. Yeah. And this like, you know, just talking about Vince getting three hair jobs a day. Yeah, right.

It was just, it was muscular in its vulgarity. And it was such a great document. And you could see how it would have just broken through. And this is how they get shows up on cable. It's about, and it's scary to write a pitch document like that. Yeah, yeah, totally. It's really hard. I'm really to write a pitch document like that. Yeah, yeah, totally. It's really hard. I'm really,

it's not, that's not the easy option. No. The easy option is to water it down and to make it like palatable and like, you know,

it's like this meets this, you know, but to come out of the gates and just go, yeah, heads up motherfucker, Vince is getting blown. Whoa.

Yeah. But that almost feels like that became sort of popular with, I guess maybe Sex and the City was sort of popular with, I guess, maybe Sex and the City was sort of the first show to do that, like a cable American show

where they could sort of show everything and now it's almost like, it feels like there's like a quota on those cable shows where it's like, let's just have as much boning. Like, I think Entourage

certainly started to just run wild with it. Well, because of course it's premium cable so you're paying extra money for those channels so in a way you kind of want I think they're offering more bang for your buck. You're getting what you

can't get. But it's interesting how documents are changing and I've noticed a trend recently maybe a little bit at the ABC too with what they're programming as well they are getting those ideas those really high end,, high-concept ideas,

which are crazy kind of one-line pictures. But it'll be very interesting to see how they're executed and whether they sustain. For instance, if you look at Seinfeld, it's not a high-end idea. It's just a couple of people living in New York, you know, hanging out. In a lot of ways, you could say it's a show about nothing. Well, guys, we've had fun. We'll see you next week.

I want to talk about this. I actually had a little falling out. Hang on, I want to hear the Wilfred Pitch sentence. A guy and his dog suck ponds. Basically, two guys are in love with a beautiful woman. hang on I want to hear the Wilfred pitch sentence a guy and his dog suck bombs basically two guys are in love with a beautiful woman

one of them happens to be a dog see that's fucking great no seriously that is a great pitch but also you had the short to back it up

as well and the pilot we did the pilot you shot the pilot on your own see that's so cool we had to and these days

I think it's more and more necessary to shoot your own shit first even if, yeah. See, that's so clever. We had to. And these days, I think it's more and more necessary to shoot your own shit first, even if it's a teaser. Because I don't think anyone, you know, I said, we talked about this, Adam did a Q&A with me

in Melbs for the film, and I was talking about how hard it is to get comedy off the ground, you know, on a pitch level, because comedy's so subjective, and it's really opinion-based. And drama's not like that.

For instance, if I write in a drama that a pregnant woman gets shot, undisputable that that's drama and that's horrifying and no one can deny that. There's not going to be someone in the room going, I don't know, not edgy enough. You know what I mean? It's just so, it's fact. But comedy doesn't work that way.

Oh, wait, that wasn't the comedy? Oh, sorry. You're such an edgy comedian. You should have seen from me spewing out the front of this conversation that that was horror. But what I find funny may be different from what the funding body finds funny, and therefore we're at an impasse. The pregnant woman, that's a tangible thing,

whereas comedy is like, how are you going to make this? I know you so well, and I read The Little Death, and when I saw it it it was a completely different film to the one i read right okay and i know where you know i understand your tone of humor so it's that's right you know if i'm reading it differently can you imagine what other people are doing absolutely yeah so yeah it's a massive leap of faith in any context to make a comedy so so the idea of shooting a pilot or some sort of teaser is so clever because it actually minimises the room for misconception. That's right.

We know what show we're making. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just can we quickly go back to you were saying just before that you, so you hosted a, you've been going around Australia doing screenings. Preview screenings. And then a Q&A afterwards. And Adam, you hosted one last week. And now, because I've

been in a couple of audience Q&A's and I find them to be like once you throw open to questions from the public I find it to be a very mixed bag of the questions that you get asked. It was good because Josh wasn't there so I introduced the film

and I said look I know it's a Melbourne audience so I know the questions are I said look I know it's in a Melbourne audience so I know the questions are all going to be intelligent but it'd be really great if someone halfway through the Q&A could ask Josh

to do his Michael J. Fox impersonation you didn't tell me that and I said it's really good you won't be disappointed and everyone I had no idea

watched the show and then all the way through it was all fine and I'd forgotten I'd even said it and this guy goes something about Screen in Australia, and he goes, and the second part, could you do Michael J. Fox?

Oh, wow. Shit, I had no idea that you'd ask them that. You need to just kind of spice it up a bit. And do you have one? Yeah, it's like I used to watch, I mean, I must have seen Back to the Future 30, 40 times. I mean, he is my idol. I love him. I used to, do you remember in Back to the Future 30, 40 times. He is my idol. I love him.

Do you remember in Back to the Future where he wakes up and he's kind of twisted around on his bed? His arm's behind his back and his face is sort of squashed into the pillow. I used to try and fall asleep like that. Oh, wow. To be more like my own Dave Bonds. Wow. Which explains my scoliosis.

And explains what he's going through maybe at the moment as well. Oh, come on. Oh, come on. Man's a hero. Yes. I love it. But what is it? Can we have a little bit?

It's visual. Oh, it's a visual. It's not so much of a man. But we can, I mean, let's do it. I don't know. And then you can write on your page. Just to make people jealous that they're not at this cafe. Yeah, that's right.

We can just describe it as that. Although it sounds like most people in Melbourne are. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they're kicking off down there. Yeah, because I'm fascinated with the Q&As because at the start of the year I went to the San Francisco Sketch Fest and they had a 30th anniversary screening of the film Top Secret with a Q&A afterwards with the Zucker Brothers.

And so, yeah, I've found with those kind of things, you get some nerds kind of trying to show off, like trying to sort of pull one over on the directors. And this guy stands up and he goes, yeah, it's just really interesting in this film because, you know, there's obviously there's so many jokes in it. But then you've got that scene where he's doing the song in the TV studio. And that's really interesting because there's no jokes in that scene.

It's just him doing a song for three minutes. And the directors go, what the fuck are you talking about? He's got the microphone stand that kind of bends. He's got the bit where he's trying to like kill himself by like lying down on the train tracks. You've got all the women kind of, they just went through a list of about 20 jokes that are happening and just destroyed this guy.

And then it got to the end and it was like yeah so what was your actual question and he's like oh well no I guess you've kind of answered it

and it was just a lot of I do notice a lot of the questions aren't questions they're sort of just comments look how much I look at me

and you say I'll take that as a comment yeah I often say when people like if you know the question starts

with just want to say really love the film I always go thanks very much next question. Just move on. Don't want to this can't get any better.

Something else is coming it's bad. Guys I it looks like I have to duck off. Oh yeah. We're wrapping it up. I just got the

you know the bat signal in the sky I've got to take off. Well maybe you can leave and, Adam, you can dish up some real dirt on Josh that he wouldn't be comfortable saying to us. Any more? Set up some more impressions for him next time he comes on the podcast. What a long setup.

It's going to take months. Do you want to end with a bit of Michael J? Sure. I love the lead, and you've got to say, no McFly has ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley. Of history of? Of Hill Valley. No McFly has ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley. Of history of? Of Hill Valley. No McFly has ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley.

Yeah, well, history's going to change. Oh, guys, I wish you could have seen that. That was sensational. Alright, guys. Thanks for having me. Josh Lawson, Little Death is in cinemas from this Thursday. Guys, go see it opening weekend.

I reckon. I mean, definitely see it in the movies. It's one of those things that, as Ads will tell you, I reckon it's way more fun to laugh with a group of strangers. Yeah, it's so much more fun. Yeah, go this weekend, check that out. It's really funny. And I don't mean to be disparaging of other Australian films,

but it doesn't look like an Australian film. It helps it all. It does look, it has a kind of a crispness, you know,'t look like an Australian film. It helps at all. You know, it does look, it has a kind of a crispness, you know, that's different to what we do. Yeah, I mean, we make a lot of social realism in this country, so it's good to see how things are.

It could almost be more like the Russian version of The Little Death than the Australian version. I cannot wait. Which Josh will not be seeing. Adam, something you'd like to plug before we say a lot of it here? So, The Agony of the Mind in two weeks, October 9

ABC 930 great awesome guys thanks very much for listening and we'll see you next time see you mates