We are. Chin wagging. Yeah, that's it. Serious chin wag. Very much.

But now I believe the audience gets a chance to chinwag with it.

Yeah, I see that they put a mic stand up there. Does that mean we're going to have a little uh oh. Hello. Hey, guys. Hi. I want us to know, Paul, do you ever feel like, I love you, man is like real life? Do you ever think it's like real life? Sure. Yeah. I love you, man. Do you ever feel like it's kind of like real life? Like, building friendships, maintaining them over a long period of time, having real conversations face to face? I get it. I'm feeling you, man. I totally you're. You know what? You're a great guy. You're a really great guy. Thank you. Thank you, man. What's your name? Drew. Nice to meet you, Drew. Let me know if you want to join a fantasy football league. I do think that is a very common thing. And as you certainly when you were kids, we're in school, we're surrounded by other people. You're open to social events. It's easier to make friends. And as you get older, I think it becomes a little harder. And you're not sometimes always in a place to really make friends. Yeah, I think it does get harder.

We get a little more guarded too. I'll talk to you later, Drew. Yeah, you guys will. Yeah.

How's it going?

Good. How are you?

Good. Hey, so you mentioned not really having a fear of public speaking and not really a phobia of yours. Not so much there. But I wanted to ask, do you think that led to your journey as an actor, a successful actor, and what were the obstacles there? Because obviously different levels here. Public speaking is something that, as an actor, you're up, you're holding the mic. It seems pretty natural. Walk me through kind of what led to your success.

I don't know. It seems as if when it came to public speaking, I had a teacher in junior high who was just really funny, and the class was really fun. And there were a couple of guys that were older than me that were in that class that I saw them do an improv comedy thing, and I was like, that looks like it's just fun. So I had such enthusiasm for it that it almost overrode everything else. And then I was, like, such a David Letterman fanatic, and I took a radio and TV class in my school, and I used to make these little movies and videos. And for some reason, I think I just always had this idea that that's what I wanted to do. And even though I would sometimes get a little nervous before a show or something, it's always the one thing, I think, in my life that I had real focus and drive and stuck to it. So there are aspects about career like moving out of the Midwest and trying to pursue it or leaving my friends, because that's what I need to do to do this. That I feel like I was somewhat fearless in that regard, but I think the fearlessness that I had in that regard probably spilled over.

So that fears in other aspects of my life were maybe greater than other people might have. I have a real thing with indecision that kicked in much later. That's a genuine phobia in life where it's like that happened to me somewhere in my 20s where it's like I was never indecisive when it came to stuff about what I do, but in other aspects of my life, it started to really build up. And that's something that I think I wrestled with for a long, long time and still do some extent.

I remember I speak in public for a living. I'm a professor, so I talk to people, crowds like this all the time, but I also perform as a blues musician, and I got to play with Bo Didley, and they said Bo is going to come in around 09:00 p.m., and you guys can maybe practice. And the gig starts at ten, so 10:00 rolls around low. And so they're like, well, why don't you get up and just start playing something? So we get up and we start playing and I'm like, oh my God, we didn't rehearse anything. We don't know what key anything's in, what the tunes are. And what was tricky about that is you have to improvise. You guys are improvisers too. You just have to figure out you're already on stage, there's no rehearsal. You just have to do it in the moment. And the high stakes forces you to bring this incredible attention to what you're doing and to sort of adapt to what's happening. And I know it can go badly, but it can also be amazingly exhilarating too.

You're completely present. It's one of the only times in your life where you really feel like, okay, I just have to listen and be completely and fear has to go away and you're just kind of locked in. If you think about the scenario, you'll get tripped up, or if you think about it but 30 minutes before it's going to happen, that's going to happen, you're like, oh, I can't do it, I'm so nervous. But when you're in the moment and you're doing it, you kind of don't think about it, and then it's exhilarating after the fact. In a way.

Yeah, I just wanted to expand on that because I'll be at work and I'll have to deliver a 30 40 slide deck presentation. I'll be honest, I'll look at it like the day before, maybe the hour before sometimes, and somehow, by the grace of God, by the end of the presentation, people are like, good job, you handled business. So is it the pressure that enhances the improvisation, or is it the feeling that when you're done you know it's going to be a good feeling. What is it that drives you during that particular time?

Maybe it's part of your brain shuts off and you just kind of have to do it. I think it is. It's an instinctual thing takes over. Yeah. Thank you, guys. Yeah. Hi. You teased a bit on some of the unexplained phenomena that you had over. I know I was a mistake. I knew it when I said it. You got to give us something. I've always hesitant to say it because I just sound pretty nutty. Yeah, all right. Maybe another chin wag. But it's good because it sounds like some freaky shit happened. The memoir. Wait for the mean. Yeah, sorry.

Firstly, thank you. I'm a huge fan of both Paul's Paul Rudd and Paul Giamatti. Specifically you, Paul Rudd. Back to the Clueless days. Friends anchorman josh and Mike Fucking amazing. But also, thank you to Draymond's. Mom for saving your life. Just have to say that shout out. But being here just reminds me of my bar Mitzvah days and me being a fellow bar Mitzvah pro. What was one of your favorite bar Mitzvah DJ songs to play? What do you used to rock out to?

That's a really great well, the big hits when I was doing this, I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt was okay.

Still, we rocked out to that.

And then also, Can't Touch this was also really popular at the time. And then occasionally we would throw on Moni Moni and look around because we knew when the kids here she comes now, singing moni, moni. Hey. What? Get laid, get fucked. All the kids would yell and all of their grandparents say, what are they what are they saying? That was always a great time. Yeah, that's cool. Thanks, man.

Oh, my gosh. This is like a fever dream. Sorry. I hope none of my it's like a fever dream. I'm looking, like, making sure none of my teachers are here because I was supposed to be studying for a test, but I'm still in high school, so my parents don't know I'm here. So let's just keep it like that. We're just going to forget about that. But one of my questions is for Paul. It's kind of random. I don't know, it's kind of weird. But I just finished Only Murders in the Building, which is so good if you didn't watch it. So good. And you're in season three, really, really good. And for one of the parts in the theater, they come up with this Gideon type of energy ghost. And I remember watching one of your interviews with Jason Siegel and you guys, I think, were high or whatever, but I don't know. Not that I know any of that mom, by the way, but you guys kind of came up with this Gideon idea. So did that have anything to do with Only Murders in the Building or was that just like a coincidence.

No, that was actually when we were doing the Press jungle for I love you, man. And we were completely out of our brains because we'd done so many interviews. And there was a kind of a mannequin in the corner of the yes, yes, I remember. And we just started referring to it as Gideon. And Jason hadn't slept. He was hungry, and we were exhausted, and he just kept talking about Gideon. And we lost our brains.

Was that how they got the name, like the Ghost and only murders in the building.

You'd have to talk to the writers. I just now got your question.

Okay, that's fine.

I don't know. Probably not.

Thank you. Hello. Hi. Thank you so much, all for being here and doing this. This has been a really fun night and totally in love with you since Clueless. He's okay with it. So we talked a lot about spooky things and fears and recurring bad dreams. Do you have a good, weird, happy dream from your youth or adulthood? Either one is fine. Or both.

I've always loved the flying dreams. Or a dream where I jump from, like, a super big height and I land and I'm okay. There's something really amazing about the flying dreams. And then, strangely, my dad died 15 years ago. 15 years ago today, by the way. Thanks. But it's what's strange, is I very seldom have dreams about him as much as I want to. And every once in a while, I do. And when I do, it's the greatest amazing. It's the greatest thing ever. And it isn't even like there's some kind of information being exchanged or like, did he really come and visit me? I don't know. I hope so. Can I ask, is he younger in his dreams? Is he the way he was when he was old? He got cancer, and then before he died, he lost? Yeah, I see pictures of him now sometimes. I have some pictures before he died, and it was like he aged 20 years, and he was on chemo, so he had no hair and all that. But when I see him, he's kind of probably he was in his 60s when he died. He was, like, probably looking in his 50s as I remembered him.

When I dream about my dad, he's young and his hair is black, jet black, and he looks great. It's wonderful whenever I say, but for some reason, I dream about him young. I don't see him. Do you dream about him a lot? Not very much, no? Very seldom. It's a really common thing, I find, sometimes of people who have lost loved ones that they want so badly to have a dream with them, and it doesn't happen. So that on occasion, very rarely.

We interviewed a dream specialist, Deirdre Barrett, and she's at Harvard, and we were asking her this question about, you want to see? Because my father passed away, too, and I want to see him. And she said, if you do practice this technique, you can prime yourself to dream of your father, but you sort of have to keep reminding yourself right before you go to bed, like, I would like to have a dream of you. And she said, It actually works. Says it works, but not always. It's just very random, but it can improve your ability to dream about a loved one.

Very comforting. Thank you.

Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Rudd. Mr. Giamani, sir. First and foremost, I just want to say Paul they came together is my wife and I's. Favorite comedy of yours. Thanks. Sorry, I didn't eat. They came together. Wow. Thanks. I'm telling you, we watch it all the time. Yeah, every time we get we do that. Mrs. Giovanni. Yeah. Shoot him up. You are extremely terrifying. Thank you. And I love you. I love you for that. I was so happy in that movie. When I got killed in the end of that movie and everybody cheered in theater. It's the happiest I've ever been in a movie because I played such a bad guy. Everybody cheered, and I was like, awesome. My question is, how do you process and deal with fear right now? Deal with fear now? Yeah. Not well, I don't think I do it well. It's funny. Yeah. I don't know. I do things like try to meditate, but I don't do it regularly enough. I do kind of things like that not well. I don't do a great job of it. Yeah, that's what a great question. I don't think I do either. And my fears are different because I have a family now.

I think I've resorted more to I just want to find more instances where I'm laughing. It used to be that I just wanted to I love watching really dark movies and intense things, and I'd watch the news. I don't watch the news so much anymore. I don't have any social media. You don't do any of that? None of it. I don't do any of I never have, though. But I think that I try and make my world a little smaller. I really try and remind myself in the moments of what's like, oh, man. Anytime you're just laughing with your friends or having a nice time with your family, that's it. That's the best thing there is. And you hope for the best, but it's a constant struggle. My wife this week especially, I mean, it's been so awful what's been going on in the world. I mean, it's brutal, and it's very some really intense conversations happening in my house. And I even told my wife, I'm like, Just put the phone down. It's really scary. We all feel, I think, probably pretty helpless and scared, and you want to be engaged citizens, but I think we all have to just kind of remind ourselves what's good and try and stay in those spaces a little.

Bit while still being an engaged citizen and doing what we can to try and make the place here a little better while we're here. Tell me something. Be honest now. Would you say that you're a good gift giver? You put a lot of time and thought into buying gifts for loved ones.

In my own head, I'm a great gift giver.

Oh. But in actual practice, yes. You fall short.

Yes, I do.

Yeah. I have a hard time. I get very tied up in knots because I get very worried and very oh, how am I going to find something interesting? But I'll tell you something, Steve, that's where uncommon goods comes in. Uncommon goods makes your holiday shopping stress free, my friend. You can find all kinds of things. Now, I found something really great recently on uncommon goods for a friend of mine who's a guy who likes know, cocktail hour drink. I got a gourmet smoking cloche set on there. You seen these things where you can sort of make the drink kind of smoky, that kind of thing. Cool. You can get one of these things that's awesome. From these folks. It's perfect. I never would have thought of it on my own. There it is. Smoking closure sets, steve, to get 15% off of your next gift, go to uncommongoods.com chinwag. That's uncommongoods.com chinwag for 15% off. Don't miss out on this limited time offer. Uncommon goods. We're all out of the ordinary, my friend.

Um, first of all, my day started at 11:00. This is not about me, but we drove from Pittsburgh to get here to come and see you three. Thank you. And all three of you because the science and the knowledge is amazing and I love how it all mixes in know conjecture and fact and silliness and an amazing guest. But when you are talking, Mr. Jimati, about the fact that you could dress up as an orangutan easier than being on stage, I've heard some actors say that it's much more threatening for them to be themselves than to pretend to be somebody else. And I was wondering if even on stage as a musician, if you go into that role, if it's just more the vulnerability of being yourself outweighs acting and taking on a character for any of you.

I say that I have a fear of getting up and giving a toast and things because essentially I feel the pressure to be myself and that scares me. It's been a journey to feel more comfortable being myself. I think I am probably more myself up here, but it brings up all kinds of complicated questions about what myself is anyway. But, I mean, I think for me, acting was a very peculiar way to connect with people, but it was the best way I could find to do it. And it was the connection that was the most important thing. Playing somebody else was oddly important. I don't know why. I don't know why. That's something that gives me satisfaction to be somebody else, except that I was able to connect with people, the other actors and the other people in the audience. So for some reason, that mask gives you the ability to do that. But I feel like as I've gotten older, I don't need a mask so much anymore. And that's a remarkable feeling. It's really cool. It's like, I can get rid of the mask a little bit more, and that's nice, but I still like to wear the mask.

But then also, I begin to feel like even when I'm acting, maybe I don't need a mask as much. Right? I used to think I needed a mask. I needed a limp and a funny eye and an accent and stuff, and I don't need as much of that anymore. And I don't know what that is. That's just some kind of maturity, I guess. But it's interesting in that sometimes I've been, like, even this last year, working on only murders in the building. I'm working with Steve Martin. Martin Short and Meryl Streep. You're right. And certainly, I mean, those are the three all time greatest. And Steve Martin, for me, my whole life, that was the guy. And sometimes it's like, okay, just to sit around. I'm nervous. I'm like, nervous to be around or just engage in a conversation. I try and get better. I think I'm okay now. But sometimes I have been lucky enough to work with some real legends, and I feel like I'm 14 years old. I'm nervous. I don't want to be a jerk, and I want to be engaging and interesting. But when we're acting in a scene, it's a different story.

All that goes away. It all goes away, and it's weird. And then it's like you finish, and then it's like you got to talk to them again and say, Nervous. That's really true. So there's, like, even the mask of just having the scene, therefore, and your characters, and you're supposed to engage at work. It's like a switch in your brain, and it changes. It's a wild thing I'll say in.

Terms of music performance, it's a little weird because you want to show like, I play a lot of jazz music, and there it's oftentimes instrumental and you're trying to show something of yourself, but it's like emotional vulnerability or, like, rage or these softer emotions, but you're not really showing. Okay, here's what Steve really believes. These are my opinions. These are my political views. None of that is ever exposed in the music, but something even more important, which is this emotional, like, are you having an emotionally honest experience? And if you play a lot of music, then these greats, like Herbie Hancock and Miles, they were able to do that, like, on command almost, and show this part of themselves. But it's emotional identity.

I'm sorry. Two questions. Do any of you or have you looked back on your childhoods and noticed a different kind of pretend play that you engaged in that maybe enabled you to be able to play a role now, does that make sense?

That's a cool question.

Any kind of play we had as a child that fed into I once wrapped myself up in toilet paper from head to toe, and I pretended to be the Mummy and walked around. I think I did a lot of play acting like that. I did a lot of kind of acting like that, wanting to play the characters I saw. So it just was a continuum. I don't know that I used to yeah. Even as a really little kid, I could do these kind of funny, dumb little dances. It'll make my parents laugh. And I'm still doing it. I mean, I'm making a living. I actually think that's a really good because somehow it's uninterrupted. It doesn't feel different. Stops you. Stops me from wanting to wrap up like the mummy or him, do a stupid dance, and make people similar feeling. It's the same exact same feeling, same feeling when I was ten to now. And so I think a lot of those kinds of playing and pretend is.

I'm just trying to keep it going, that a lot of people forget that play is a kind of research. And when kids do it, they're figuring out their bodies, they're figuring out how other people are responding to things. And so we think of it like it's entertainment, but really you guys were researching stuff, but the know, and then you take that into adult life, and it's why they're such great actors, is they did all this know and they retained it.

Yeah. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Have a good trip back to Pittsburgh. Thank you. That was a great question. Mine is much more stupid. The Halloween question. Is that Bert Convey on your it sure is. It's Bert convy. I loved Bert Convey. Who doesn't? Yeah, you all have conviesque qualities. Oh, thank you. Compliment. Yeah. Really? I don't have any convies.

No, you all do.

You do. Okay, so my wife and I are getting ready to hand out candy for Trickortreaters. She comes home from the store with a big bag of Almond Joys. She thinks they're delicious. I know they're disgusting, that kids will reject them because it's like a wet coconut shrapnel. So just can we have you all weigh in almond Joys as Halloween candy or nay?

You're right.

Thank you. You're wrong. You're wrong. I agree with your wife. I'm down with an Almond Joy. I like a mound. But if you got a Bounty bar and it's from England, it's better. I take back what I say about key. The almonds are essential. I have a nut allergy. That's the problem. That's the only problem.

Hi. Thanks for coming to my neighborhood, because I'm only three blocks away, so that's awesome. My question is actually I'm sorry. Paul squared but it's for well, philosophy. Go well, that and mental health, whatever, but I'm very severely ADHD, and I have no fears of you guys were talking about sharks and heights, and I have literally no fears for that. Like, none of them. But I think it made me think of the way that your brain works when you talk. It was not neurodivergent, but neurodiverse.

Yeah.

It also reminded me when you told me the woman that had no fear, there was another woman that had her. She had epilepsy, and her name was Diane Von Dieter or whatever. Do you remember? I think I've heard of she was an epileptic. She got cured, but she has no sense of time or pain. So she's one of the best long marathon runners in the world. So I was wondering if you thought maybe because she had epilepsy, do you think there's correlation between neurodiverse people and that kind of behavior?

I don't remember the details of that case, but the general point, I think, is exactly right. The brain is so complex and strange, and it's so able to adjust to I mean, here's one example of how weird the brain is. You know what hydrocephaly is called? Water on the brain. And it's basically in the middle of the brain, there's like a little ventricle area, and it starts filling up with water, and it fills up on a kid who doesn't get the shunt in the back of their head and get it released. It just keeps building and making the head larger and larger. There was a case where the water filled the brain to such a degree during the development that the entire brain spread to the walls of the skull like a sheet of paper. And yet that brain still functioned beautifully because it evolved to handle that situation. So I think neurodiversity helps us understand fears, the lack of fears, and all the other complex diversity in human beings.

Cool.

I have one more question before I go, but it's for you guys. You said that you love getting dressed up as an orangutan or whatever. If you guys decided to not act anymore, how likely would you guys become mascots for professional sports team?

Come a mascot?

Yeah, it's my dream to do that.

Depends on the mascot. Depends on what I'm going to be. But yeah, I would do that. That would be hard, though, wouldn't it? I mean, that seems tough. That used to seem like they get hot. You'd have to just go to every game. You'd have to leave the house. That's physically taxing. I'm too old to be the Philly fanatic, by the way. I'm not on any social media. But there is one site somebody showed me that made me laugh so hard that I'm like, God dang it. I wish I had almost had a Twitter account or so they could look at this every day and it's mascots in a moment of silence and it's just pictures of people that are like, they've had it at a stadium. It's this giant. So I highly encourage all of you that's very look that one up.

I'm immediately going to look up at it when I get home.

Thank you.

That's it. That was the last question. Paul Rudd. What a pleasure. Oh, my God. Man. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you for coming. That's the chin wag. Thanks, guys. Good night. Good night. Thank you.

Chinwag is a production of Treefort Media and Touchy feely Films, hosted and executive produced by Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma. Executive producers for treefort are Kelly Garner and Lisa Ammerman. Dan Carey is executive producer for Touchy Feely. Our series producer is Rachel Whitley Bernstein. Original theme music by Luke Topp with additional music by Via Mardot. Oscar Guido is our executive in charge of production. Tom Monahan is head of audio for Treefort animation created by Alex Sokel. Editing and mixing by Jeff Neal. Lastly, for more information, go to chinwagpod FM and find us on Instagram or TikTok at chinwag pod or on Twitter at chinwag underscore pod.