Here's how I make a tuna sandwich. I take the celery sticks, that. Chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop. I put them on the. In the bowl before the tuna goes. And then I put the tuna in and the. Here's how I make a tuna fish sandwich. I open up the can of tuna. I put it in a bowl, I slice up the celery. It has to have celery. Cannot have celery. Cannot not have celery. Here's how I make a tuna fish sandwich. I open the can of tuna. Tuna can is. Here's how I make a tuna fish can. Here's how I make a tuna fish sandwich. I opened up two cans of sand. Here's how I make a tuna fish sandwich. I opened up two cans of tuna in water. Not oil. It has to be water. Oil is disgusting. And then you put it in the bowl, and I chop up a celery stick really, really fast. Such a super, like, fuck it. Welcome to smart life.

Smart Loris. Smart Loris. Smart Loris. You heard about Bennett? That he's doing some personal training now. Do you know about this?

You're late to the know.

Some of us get on a little.

Bit early, make sure our devices are working.

I like those. It's proven as a good bit, too.

For what time is your next session? I've got one at 945.

If we could start wrapping this one up, please.

What are you talking about?

Oh, there he is. Sean, we could have you start stretching, please.

And chaturanga.

Surprise guests.

Give us a little snap, if you don't mind.

Sean, can you hear us?

Yes, I can.

Sean, do you know what? Bennett's background is really quick. Do you know what that is?

It looks like a gym. Okay.

You're reading books, I see.

Yeah, you see.

Picture rolling.

Somebody's seen pictures of.

Is. Will is back from Georgia.

When did you get back, will?

Yesterday. That's cool.

Are you checking your text? Do you want to get back to us?

Should we hold the record? Somebody's calling me, so I'm trying to think why my do not disturb didn't work. But hey, we flew back yesterday and had some crazy turbulence early into the flight.

Wow.

And leaving love turbulence.

And it was maybe the worst I've ever had. And it was scary af. And the rest of the flight, the cortisol dump that I had from that was just so intense. It was like one of those side to side and up and down.

And being alone is scary, too, because I'm sure you were alone.

Well, I was flying.

Yeah.

Oh, so you were up?

I flew myself. Yeah, I was up front. So I was really scared because also, I don't know how to fly a plane.

Do you get really scared about turbulence?

I do, yeah.

Hang on a second. You guys talk about all your world travels. You don't remember flying next to this old gal?

Oh, that's right. Yeah, that's right.

I forgot, you know, that I am. And Jason, you know, she loves to.

Dig her fingers into your arm if you're sitting next to that.

She white knuckles it all the way.

I know.

If you don't bring a white russian in time, you're going to get some fingernails.

Oh, listen, I was just, like, at that point, anything was on the table.

Yeah, but was it, like, gaspy?

Yeah. And it was me and Eli and our budy Bob and Liz on the plane.

And everybody ends up just closing their eyes and not talking.

Yeah. Nobody know. It gets weird.

Are they as nervous flyers as you are, or were they more casual?

No, but I think that everybody plays a role. Once somebody is the most nervous, then everybody else can be degrees of less.

Yeah.

And I was definitely the worst. I've been better lately. But that one yesterday, and the guy had said to us, like, look, there's going to be some pretty. It's going to be pretty choppy early on. I didn't think that he.

Did you say chappy?

He said pretty chappy. Yeah, because I wanted to get it. What?

Chappie.

We got it good. He's in.

Pretty chappy early on.

Anyway, it was one of those, like, please don't let this be the moment, all that kind of shit.

Did you send off any text to any family members?

I couldn't even reach for my. Are you kidding?

He's doing it now. He was doing at the beginning of.

The show, you know. Well, the funny thing about it is it's the control, too. So it's like looking out the window, holding on, as if my worry or looking out or any of it's going to have any effect on the outcome.

Like if I grab the thing with the chair really hard, it'll brace my fall.

Have you thought about hypnosis at all?

I have, because I know our friend. She did it, right?

Yeah.

And it works for her.

Does it? Well, she won't play at night.

Have you guys ever done hypnosis?

Yeah, I did guided hypnosis or something, but I didn't really.

I don't know. What were you trying to do? Can we go for guesses? Eliminate marshmallows from your diet.

And it was half successful. Now he's just doing the mini one, drinking hot cocoa.

So it didn't work.

Are you really drinking hot. Are you having hot cocoa right now? Yeah.

Right now. Here's the thing.

I know it's like every day it's an eleven year old's birthday party.

No, he truly is one of Santa's elves. I think that's who Sean is.

Wait, last night. I went out yesterday and came back last night to Vegas to see you two at the sphere.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

Wasn't it? You guys went.

Isn't that the sphere?

Incredible. Mind blowing. I don't know how they do.

I saw that picture that you guys posted. Or you did. Or Scotty did. Of you guys with Jimmy and Deb and edge.

The edge. Yeah.

It's just edge.

Yeah. Sorry, Edge. Sorry, Mr.

Edge, man. Come on.

V is not his first name.

It is not.

It's mine.

He's a very cool dude.

Yeah, no, DJ, baby.

They're all so great. But anyway, it was great. It was amazing. I can't believe I lost so much money. We landed, gambled, ate, saw the show, came back home. That's how you do it. I can't sleep overnight there. It's so depressing.

But your game is, I think, will, you might know this, but a listener, you guess what Sean Hayes'game of choice is?

Well, I think he's mentioned it on the show before. He likes roulette and blackjack.

Yeah.

I was going to say.

Oh, is that our guest?

That's our guest.

Why don't we introduce.

Our guest is anxious to get.

We've never had the first time. That is a guest violation.

Yeah, it's the first one.

Could you tell by the way? Could you tell just by the voice?

Not yet, I couldn't. But we've started.

Okay, here we go.

In the penalty.

Starting in a two minute penalty box. Just a minor.

Well, my intro is about two minutes, so it's perfect.

Okay.

I'm so excited about my guests today.

They're obviously excited because they're already on the show.

No, I. Seriously. I've been trying to get him for a long time. He's considered rom.com royalty, but he's also done it all, guys. Exceptionally well, I might add. I'm a huge fan. And the best part is, he may be even nicer than me. When he first moved to Los Angeles, he worked as a bartender for nearly a decade. Over the years, he's become a very effective environmental activist, fighting for, amongst other things, climate change and a zillion other.

Ed Begley Jr. The rom.com king. Here he comes. Us is exciting.

Ed Begley Jr. Who I love, actually, by the way, I'm such a fan of this person. I can't wait for you to see who it is. You're going to love him. One of his characters makes me green with envy. Whenever I think of how to spell or say his name, I always think of the word buffalo. It's my hero, Mark Ruffalo.

Mark.

Yeah, of course. I broke the rules.

Wait, Ruffalo, are you a rom.com king?

Is that you?

I was going to go with Hugh Grant.

I know.

No, you've done obviously amazing dramatic work. But I love your.

Got, we've got matching peepers on.

I know, I saw that. I was like, what else can I use here? Do I have anything else, Mark, did.

I just see you got nominated yesterday? Critics choice award maybe something like that.

The national board of Review.

National Board of counting.

Yeah, come on. I mean, but I am a so, you know, I had a shoe win.

Mark Ruffalo, dude, welcome.

Will and I go way back. Do you know that?

No, tell me how.

I mean, like mid 90s, early ninety.

S. I bet you can give us the month, Willie.

Yeah, well, yeah. How about this? Fall of 96 is when you guys did this is our youth.

You're unbelievable.

How do you know that? How do you know that.

Mark did this is our youth with Josh Hamilton and my then girlfriend Missy Yeager, whom I've talked about. Great play that Kenny Longrigan wrote. And they did it off Broadway. What was that theater, Mark?

The first theater you guys did the.

Like. And Mark and Missy had also done a lot of, I guess was like Tuesdays at nine that you guys were doing a bunch of scenes that Kenny had written, right. For a few years leading up to it.

Yeah, there was some. They had that playwright, naked angels, had that short plays festival.

Yeah. And then.

Are you in a closet, Mark?

This is my office. My wife has the giant room upstairs at the balcony and I'm in what used to be a laundry room bathroom. And where I'm sitting is where the toilet was basically.

Wow.

Pretty awesome listener. It's wood paneled. It's got beautiful pictures on it, but it is narrow.

It's New York. This is like premium space in New York. I mean, people have apartments this size in New York.

Mark, it's so nice to meet you. I'm so glad you're here.

Thank you for bringing me.

It's really so cool you're just meeting him and he's your guest. Will and I both know him.

Why are you. Yeah, we go back, Jason and I go back.

He's my guest because I'm a big fan.

You guys go back a tiny bit.

We don't go back to the intern theater or whatever it was called. That's it. Sorry, bro.

Come on, bro.

But Mark is just. I think I fanned out quite a bit when I met you the first couple of times, and I'm kind of fanning out now. You're just one of my favorites, Mark.

Thank you. Coming from you, that's a huge compliment. Thank you, any of you. Thank you. Sean.

I'm excited. Whenever I see Kenneth Lonergan name, I was like, I think it's Kenny Loggins at first glance. But tell me how, because Will mentioned.

Wait, can we back up into that compliment one more time? Whenever I see his name, because Lanagren just in his early grave. Real quick.

No, I know, but I'm just. But wait, this is our youth. First of all, it was a huge hit. And every actor in the world does scenes from that. Now, isn't that wild?

My son is doing scenes from it in no way. Acting class.

Yeah. Every actor does it.

How old is your son?

So crazy. He's 22.

22.

Dude, that is so fucking crazy.

So it happens.

You have to understand that when these guys did, this is our youth, when it came out, it was like shot out of a cannon. It took everybody by surprise in this way that you can't believe. People were like, all of them were so. I mean, Josh and Missy and Mark. But Mark was so good in this part that people were, like, tripping over themselves to offer him. They couldn't believe what it was. It was so good. And the play is so well written. Mark, you can speak to that beautiful character. So perfect almost, that play.

Yeah.

You want to hear something crazy? We just did a fundraiser here in New York City. Me, Missy, and Matt Damon, who took the play to London a couple years after we did a white beard, we did a. Basically, it was kind of turned into the stage reading. Like, missy remembered all her lines. I remembered some of mine.

Wow.

Of course Missy remembered all hers. Of course she, Damon was just right there. And literally, it was the play. I mean, we had the hat, we had the major Matt Mason. And it's funny because it just tells you what you could get away with on stage. I think people bought that. We know.

Yeah, right?

Even with my big Santa Claus beard.

I'm so jealous. I have zero theater history in my.

You would be great in theater, man.

I remember reading for a couple in my early 20s in New York and was so nervous to get out on stage and audition for those three silhouettes deep in the house, speaking that you can't see their faces, but I just thought it was.

Thanks. We're good.

Yeah.

From the darkness. Yeah.

I just felt like I just did not belong here and that they're doing me some kind of a favor. Get your sitcom ass off the stage. We need to cast some real actors here.

By the way, I've been thinking of this. This is upper bow of nothing. I'm sorry to hijack it here, but I've been thinking about this character. I was watching tv the other day in the trailer, and I saw one of those judge shows. They have so many different judge shows. Judge this and whatever, midday shows. And I thought, I want to do one called Judge Camp. And he's like, a super campy judge, and he's like, you're wearing no shoes into my court.

Guilty.

Get out of here.

Sean. Sean would crush Sean.

Love for you to tell.

How good would judge camp be?

Oh, my.

Not with that blazer.

Out with that tone. I'm ruling for your mother. You owe her $300.02 years.

Fashion jail.

Yeah, exactly.

Judge camp, that is.

Thanks. We're good.

Thanks. We're good.

How many things have you done with Kenneth Lanagren?

That's what my mom calls him. Lagerne Lanergen. Lagernet.

Lanergan.

Yeah.

What did I say? Lanagren.

Yeah. But everyone does it. It's amazing.

What is it?

Lon Ergen.

Lon Ergen. How many? Well, you've done two films. At least one.

I've done two films with him.

Two films and how many plays?

I only done one play with him. I directed a version of this is our youth. I directed a version of you can count on me.

Damn it. I love that.

A one act version of you can count on me. I acted in a one act version of you can count on me.

Wait, like on stage?

Yeah. It was part of that one act festival that Missy and I did with Rob Morrow playing my character.

You can count on me for my sister. Tell my sister who Missy is.

Oh, Missy Yeager is just the most brilliant actor. She's a writer now.

Daughter of Steve Yeager and granddaughter of Chuck Yeager.

Not true, but really good.

Thank you. That covers the jaegers. I know.

Good calling. People associating with other yeagers you've heard of, really?

From the Jaegermeister dynasty that Misty comes from.

Talk to us about how exhausting. It was trying to prop up that talentless actress, Laura, Lenny. And you can count on me. Such a good movie.

I mean, you know, some talent.

Yeah, it'll wear, you know, just love her so much.

Love her so much. The most brilliant, sweetest, most humble.

And you could tell because you two are so high quality in just being people that that was like this extra special rocket fuel in that movie, in a movie that the chemistry and the brother sister connection had to be sort of palpable, tangible. I imagine it wasn't luck that they put you two together in that you're both so kind and such a match that you could just kind of feel it through the screen. That extra little bit that gave that.

I love that. Yeah.

I was not supposed to be in that movie at all. I had to literally beg Kenny Lonergan to give me an audition for. Yes. We were actually. We had lunch. We had the great success of this is our youth. We were having lunch one day at Cafe Lou 13th and we were walking out and Ethan Hawke was sitting at the bar and Kenny's like, hey, Ethan, did you read that script? And Ethan was, I did. It's just not for me. I just did this other thing that's basically the same character. So it's good, bro, but it's not for me right now. And we started to walk out and I was like, what script? And he's like, you haven't read it? I was like, no, I'm going to direct a movie. And I was like, can I read it? He says, just don't get your fucking manager on me. I love that. And finally he acquiesced and it was basically like, fine, we're going to fucking. I'm casting Timothy Oliphant this weekend. You don't look anything like Laura Linney, but I'll let you audition just because you're such a pain in the ass. And he brought me in on a Sunday in the casting direct into the casting office with him holding a camera in one hand and reading the script in the other.

Oh, my God.

And that was my audition after the first scene. He's like, that was really good.

Damn.

It might be good in this part. All right, let's read the next one and reread the next one.

No way.

That's crazy.

It's like, you're really fucking good in this.

Great.

Just great.

That's hysterical.

And we will be right back.

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Mark, there's two things I'm obsessed with. Theater stories, if you got one, and medical stories, but you don't have to do either one. And you can not answer any question you don't want to. But what happened to you during you can count on me is fascinating to.

Me medically, actually, that was after all that, okay. And I was on my way, all the big agents and everything. Yeah, I had a brain tumor. After the success of you can count on me and you had a dream.

About it or something.

Yeah.

Wow. Crazy.

Yeah, it's the craziest thing. I was actually shooting the last castle with Gandolfini and Robert Redford, and I had about a week left on that. My son, sunrise was like nine and a half months pregnant and the baby was eminently coming. And I had one of those like 04:00 a.m.. Calls. And I woke up probably around three, and I just had this crazy dream. And it wasn't like any other dream I'd ever had. It was just like, you have a brain tumor. It wasn't even a voice. It was just pure knowledge. You have a brain tumor.

That's insane.

You have to deal with it immediately.

That's crazy.

Jesus.

Wait, were there any symptoms?

No. It's funny, I had, like, an ear infection that night that was hurting me. So I went to the cast doctor the next day who was literally sat on the board of the Nashville Presbyterian Hospital, and I said, listen, this isn't going to sound crazy. I had this dream last night. Brain tumor. Fucking actors. She said, that is crazy, but there's no reason that you should have to worry about it. I'll order you a CAT scan, and we'll go right after work today and we'll show how crazy you are. And I was like, great, I am crazy. Just do it anyway. And I went. And then we went up to the neurologist office, who's going to read the scan, and the nurse calls the doctor out. I could hear them talking in the other room. And she comes in, she's just kind of like a zombie. And she says, you have a mask behind your left ear the size of a golf ball. And, yeah, we don't know what it is. We can't tell until it's biopsied.

Same ear as the earache. The ear infection?

Yeah, same ear as the earache. And I said.

Yeah.

Wow, anxiety. How old were you?

Yeah. Oh my God. I was 33.

33. And thank God it was benign.

About to have a baby.

About to have a baby.

And you just finished. You can count on me.

And you've worked super hard and you've just done all this stuff, and now you're making a movie with Robert Redford and Gandalfini. It's all coming together. And in this moment, you're.

So. I didn't tell Sonny because she had the birth plan. She did the yoga, she had the Doula. We had the hot tub ordered for the party after. This is like her wedding, man. This is like her christening, her quinceignero. And I just was like, I can't. She's already like, oh, God, him again. Is everything got to be about him? And so I just couldn't. And a week after the baby, I had to go in and meet the neurologist and decide what I was going to do.

And had you told Sonny yet?

I hadn't told her.

No way.

What a thing to sit on until the night.

I mean, yeah, like Jason says, like, you're sitting there with all this stuff going on. What a thing to sit on. What a thing to have literally in your head and also swimming around in your head in both mean, that time between, you know, and telling her must have been just absolute torture.

They like, shave your head and cut into your scalp and take, I mean.

It was a full on, I have a big scar, that quarter horseshoe thing.

Did they say that the prognosis was like, were you super concerned, or were they like, listen, this is something we do a lot. It's early, blah, blah, blah.

I was super concerned because I hadn't met with a neurologist. What I was told by the doctors was like, it's a brain tumor. But from the dream, the dream was so intense, and it was literally like, you have a brain tumor, you have to deal with it immediately.

Right?

And it just had the sense of doom. And I'm like, no, that's just the tumor talking. I know. You know how my tumor ran away with me? Really?

But I love that it was close enough to your ear to actually speak to you and say, hey, come get me.

That's just crazy that you had a dream about it.

Oh, dude.

So they take you in there, they shave a spot, they cut open your scalp, they cut it out, and then is there an extensive rehab process or are you out and about that afternoon?

No, man. Well, first of all, I just got to say, when I told Sonny about it, first, she thought I was joking, and then she just burst into tears and said, I always knew you were going to die young.

Oh, my God.

That'S horrible.

But so good. If you wrote it in a script, it would be too much.

But just play that instead of saying it. Here we go, everybody.

Exactly.

It's so good.

My God. Wow.

I think I might. They took it out.

It was benign, but it left you a little deaf in your ear, right?

Not a little. Just totally.

Totally.

Really? Completely deaf in one ear.

Completely left deaf in one ear. When I woke up, the left side of my face was totally paralyzed. No. Like, I couldn't even close my eye and was talking on the side of my mouth like this.

Did they say that to expect this, or was that a shock to you?

They said to me, I had a 20% chance of nicking my nerve on the left side of my face and killing it. And then I had 70% chance of losing my hearing, which went, and at that point, like you in the airplane, you're like, yeah, okay, I don't really believe in you, but take my hearing, let me keep the faith, and just let me be the father.

Foxhole prayers, right?

I mean, reverse for me. They took my face, but I can hear great.

You're beautiful and you have incredible hearing, by the way.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

You're welcome.

Mark, can we start at the beginning? And I want to know more about you. You grew up in Wisconsin. When did you move to LA? What made you move? Did the whole family move to LA?

Yeah. And why? No, no, the whole family didn't move to LA. We started in. Know, the family business sort of blew. My, my family business was they had a construction painting business.

Construction painting?

Yeah, like huge jobs. Like the Libby factory, GM Motors, american motors, but sandblasting paint, the whole huge, huge jobs. And that went under. And my dad was trying to start a new life. And so that took us to San Diego, and he had the original soda butler, which was you could make your own soda at home for fractions of the cost to carbonate your own soda.

Yeah, I remember that.

That was his baby, and he was ready to take off like we see it today. And Coca Cola and Pepsi and all those brands stopped selling, wouldn't sell him the syrup because it was a home delivery kind of system and there's an antitrust law against that. They have to sell those syrups to the public.

Really?

And he's like, this is against the law. And they're like, fuck you. Take us to court. And basically, once those high end brands weren't available to people, they just sort of lost its popularity and that crapped. But. So we were living in San Diego.

With nothing to do.

Yeah. And we moved there the day after I graduated from high school, and I had no support group there. And I was, I mean, I'd been surfing since I started living in Virginia beach. All I was doing is really surfing and smoking weed. We all know that.

Sure.

And wrestling, by the way. You were a wrestler?

Yeah, I was a wrestler during high school.

It's going to get us to foxcatcher. At some point in this interview, if.

I ever show, someone said, go to know. You want to be an actor? Go to Los Angeles, go to the Stella Edler conservatory. You'll meet people there. They'll take care of you.

Where'd that acting interest come from? In Wisconsin, was it?

You know, my family's Catholic. My grandmother was a born again Christian, and my father was a baha'I. So I had like the whole, you know, a good part of the middle east living in my. And, and they still couldn't get know. First of all, I'd go to church and I was like, wow, that guy's. Wow, he's captivating. Captivating as a priest? Could be. Then I was saved by Jimmy Swaggert at the first assembly of God. And I was like, whoa, he's got a band. He's sweating. He's like, elvis. I got an idea what it was like to perform, and it was weird. My grandmother, one night, I was probably like, eight. Everything that happened to me, that's, like, core experiences were my grandmother, whether it was my first enema or it was. And my last, by the way, I.

Was just going to say, not your last. Yeah.

And being saved by Jimmy Swaggart, but also letting me stay up at night and watch the movie of the week. And that one was streetcar named Desire.

Oh, wow.

And I saw Brando, like, at eight years old, and I was like, I didn't know it was Brando. I don't even know. I was like, grandma, who is that? She tells me, I was like, what is he doing? She says, he's acting. I want to do that.

She's like, let's get finished with this enema first, and then let's clean you out first.

I have just the thing for you. We're going to cure you of then.

So then that kind of goes on pause through, and then you move up from San Diego to LA to pursue that.

Yeah. So I'm like, dad, I kind of want to go to the school. And he said. I was like, but it's in LA and I've never really been away from home. I was 18. And he's like, why not? I was like, I don't know. I'm afraid. And he's like, well, what's the worst that can happen? What are you afraid of? I was like, what if I die? And he's like, well, if you die, who gives a shit? You'll be dead. You won't even know. Yeah, I mean, I'll be sad, but you're not going to know.

I like your dad.

I do, too. And I went up there and I was taking the train. We didn't have any money at that point. We were just poor as church mice. So I'd bust tables at night, and then the next day, I went to school every other day. So I'd work one day and make just enough money to pay for a round trip train ticket and buy a burrito that I'd cut in the thirds. A bean and cheese burrito right off Hollywood Boulevard at dos burritos.

Wow.

And that was it. And I just had my mind blown. And I'm like, this is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life.

And then from that acting school, was there like a showcase in there where agents came by and you got an agent and then you started getting some auditions and got a couple of jobs and just sort of a natural progression.

I was there for seven years. Wow.

Without representation, my craft and bartending at the chateau marmot. Right. But didn't you drive a motor? You rode a motorcycle everywhere. Which is my first thing was when I read you had a motorcycle and you drove it to auditions. I was like, what about your hair?

It was amazing because there was no helmets back then, which. My hair was awesome. It was all wind blown. I look like it crossed between Sal Minio and John Travolta. Yeah. And bozo.

Bozo, yeah. No, it's wild that you drove a motorcycle everywhere.

I couldn't afford a car. It was like, I had a $250 1974 Honda XR 250 that I could personally work on when it broke down. And that was the only way I could get around LA. I was living in a closet for $200. My whole nut was about $300 a month.

So then was there a big job that kind of launched you, or was it sort of like a little bit here, a little bit there, and just sort of a slow progression?

It was a very slow progression. I mean, there's really no reason that I should have tried as long as I did, because that was from 18 to 28.

Such a long time to stick with. You want to talk about stick with it? There's so much opportunity in there for you to say fuck it and throw it in and go do anything else.

I tried.

No, but I mean, yeah, I'm just thinking the similarities between your story and Sean's story.

Yeah, I love that.

No, I am. No, but because I'm thinking about, like, I think if I'm remembering correctly, you came to LA and you smoked a lot of weed and wrestled, and you'd never nut for less than $300 either. If I'm putting all the pieces, if I'm thinking back, if I'm thinking of.

The right $300 for a nut, that's.

Why Will was silent for the last two minutes.

He's been constructing that, shaping that joke. We love it.

It was so well executed, too. It was beautiful.

I was like, wait, that's not my story. I moved to LA and got a sitcom right away.

God bless you. I love you for that.

But, Mark, Mark, let me ask you this, because my recollection is, so you're 28, but when you came to New York and started doing stuff in naked angels with those guys with Missy and Kenny is when I first met you, when you guys were doing the short plays. Before this is our youth. You guys were doing. And you had done. No, right before. This is our youth, you had done a movie and I feel like you had an agent at that point. Like right before this is our youth. Am I right about that?

Yeah, I did. Yeah, I'd done a few softcore horror films.

No, that's not true.

Yeah, it is. Mirror, mirror two and mirror, mirror three. Raven dance and the Voyeur.

I will be looking.

No, there was something.

What was the other movie you did?

Like a teen movie or like you did a ski movie? Am I remembering this right?

No, I had a one day role and there goes my baby. I don't know if you remember that.

That sounds like a made up name of a movie.

Yeah, I know. And then you know what? I actually did have a couple pilot shots. Pilots that never went. Oh, with Kenny Marino. Ken Marino.

Ken Marino. Yeah.

No shit.

Yeah, that was like my first job and it was a play. Like the little Nair. Do know you guys would be great brothers.

Did you guys play brothers?

Yeah.

Did you really?

Yeah, we were brothers. Me, him and Sean Aston.

Oh, wow.

Love, Sean.

Yeah. Killer cast.

Love, Sean. Love Ken Marino. Ken Marino is an all time great dude.

Yeah, we should have got that. They blew it. Someday someone will show that pilot. Hey, you know, I had an idea. You guys could probably actualize this. Why doesn't someone start a movie, a streaming station with all the. All of the fucking failed pilots and.

Television shows that for a long time you'd think that the networks would just like during the summers, show all the pilots that they didn't pick up just to sort of cross monetize what they did. And the reason they don't do it is because they don't want one of those pilots to be well received and then they look like they're not ordering it. That's the only reason they don't do it.

It's the same reason that they don't want to say that they hate putting movies in turnaround and letting other studios make the movie. On the off chance that another turnaround is for tracy is that if a studio is developing a movie and then they decide they're not going to make it, they have the potential another studio to come in and say, like, hey, we'll pay you for whatever it costs you to develop that script and we want to make that movie. They don't like to do it because.

Rather eat the fee on.

Well, yeah, because if it goes to another studio and it does really well, then the guy who decided not to make it gets fired. Right, right. And it happens all the fucking time. But you're right, Mark. That's a great idea. There's so many great pilots out there. There are people who do show them sometimes because what's that great one that Owen Wilson. Jack did black about the talking motorcycle. And Owen Wilson's the voice of the. Have you ever seen this?

No.

No, I want to. What were they on?

It's hilarious. There's so many. That's how I met Andy and Akiva and Yorm. Those guys, Lonely island. They did a pilot, a Lonely island pilot that Phil Lord and Chris Miller produced.

Wow.

That was all sketches before they got SNL. And somebody showed it to me. I was like, these guys are fucking hilarious. And then know didn't pick it up. And then imagine if you showed that whoever that person is, they'd be banned from showbiz for.

Well, they're probably gone already.

Yeah, it's true.

I mean, they really burned through all.

Those turnovers fast there. Yeah. So, Mark, with those humble beginnings and an extended period of incredible. What about when you.

Let's not romanticize.

Was it difficult at all when you just hit the massive amount of success that you're in now? Was that also a slow progression as well? Or was there a moment where you got a big fat check or a big fat job and the transition was uncomfortable or difficult for you because of such humble, extended beginnings?

All I know is my big break was a play with Holly Hunter and Carol Kane and Bill Pullman. And it was the hot thing in Los Angeles at the time.

Hot la play. You don't hear that often.

No, but it was those know, Holly had already won the Academy Award and Carol was huge and Bill was huge.

Where was he playing? Almondson?

No, it was at the Met theater. They started their own theater? Yeah, it was in the early ninety s. And that was going to be my big break. And I, of course, was fired four days before we opened.

No.

And a stage hand fired me because Beth Henley was the director, but she just couldn't bring herself to fire me. So they basically had a stage hand who told me he was the producer. Fire me.

What was your problem? Why did you get fired?

I sucked.

No.

Why else do you get fired?

I'll bet their taste was up their ass.

No, you know what? Honestly, I was probably. What I was told was I was in a different play, which could possibly. That's a director's fault.

The director's got to get everybody in the same project.

Yeah.

Thank you, Jason. That's what I was trying to tell them. It's true.

We'll be right back.

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By the way, Mark, there's so many. I could ask you a thousand. Like the normal.

Start with one. You know what I mean?

Normal heart. And I thought.

You want a minute to think about it?

No, I don't need a minute. But this much is true. I mean, it was mind blowing. You played those two, brother. I mean, how did you do that? What was your approach to this much is true where you played identical twins, right? Yeah. It's just incredible. I mean, I look at that, I was like, God, the work. How did you even start? Where do you start?

Well, Derek and C and Franz. Yeah, Derek C and Franz, director, our director and the writer, he adapted it from the book genius.

Genius, man.

Yeah, he's a genius. I had gotten the book rights, and I immediately wanted him, and he'd only done his own stuff that he'd ever. And so he was taking a meeting out of courtesy because we love each other and we keep talking about working with each other, but we never were finding anything. He's like, yeah, man, let's meet, and we'll go for a walk and we'll talk about it. And he started with, no, this isn't for me. I don't want to do the CGI kind of thing with this. I don't know how to do that. And we walked for, like, 3 hours, and I just kind of, like, pitched him what I was thinking and seeing and how it related to his work. And at the end of it, he's like, okay, man, let's do this. And that was like a year or two before we started working on it together. A year or two before we ever shot.

So was it always going to be HBO? It was HBO, wasn't it?

No, we shopped it and everyone, HBO kind of was interested, sniffing around, but everyone was like, no way. This is. No. No one wants to see someone cut off their arm in the first ten minutes of a show.

It was wild.

And Francis was like, francesca was like, who was running Television for Francesca? Course. He was like, wait, no one else wants it? No, she's like, okay, we'll do it.

Yeah, she's a badass.

That's so cool. Yeah, that's so.

And we did know, but Derek had the genius know. He really approached it as two different films. Really. And he said, I want you to go out and gain the weight, and we're going to take eight weeks and you're going to. Yeah. I was like, no gym. Weight gain. Sign me up. Yeah, exactly. And that was really like having the space between that. And usually you do a twin movie and literally you run off. You put a mustache on, you run back in the same day, and you shoot it.

Well, that's how you did Lego masters this year, right?

That's exactly how I do everything.

Glue it on spirit gum. Let's tamp it down.

And I just use clippings from my wig.

And you're so damn good. And I hate you for that because I have to take eight weeks to get my shit together and grow on mustache.

Wow.

I know your performance deserved the nomination.

Thank you.

Just incredible. And of course, because you're sitting here and I'm a huge fan of the Marvel stuff. And how did you get the hulk? When I see what you guys do and the Marvel movies, I'm just, like, not having done a ton of movies myself, but enough to know that the schedules are, like, 15, 16 hours a day. But those, I imagine, where you shoot, like, well, let's shoot, like, three lines of dialog today. That's what it feels like from the outside. Like, they have so much money. It just must be so cushy.

Meanwhile, you spend 3 hours in the makeup chair before you even do those.

Downey says he won't do more than three words a day. I heard.

Yeah, well, he's on a per world rate.

That's when he's busting his ass.

That's when he's working. Why would I do more than three?

Actually, Downey could probably do ten pages of dialog in a day. He speaks quickly. I don't understand how he does it. He's a genius.

Amazing.

He's a genius. It takes me, like, a month to learn a line, truly. And so. Oh, God, it takes me forever. It's such a drag, really.

Do you have, like, a trick? Some people write their lines down that makes them remember it. Others kind of say it into a mirror. Do you have a way?

I have this app called scene study.

Really?

And I record each line, and then I could pull out my character's line, and it just runs in repetition over and over and over again, and then I'll learn it that way. And what I have to do, it's weird. I have to be walking to learn lines, to really learn them, and I just repeat them over and over and over a thousand times till I learn it. Like a song, kind of.

No shit.

The way lines go into my head is that I don't decide exactly how I'm going to be saying a line, but I fully sort of understand kind of what I'm saying and why I'm saying it. So there's a little bit of performance that's kind of in there. Like, I can't just learn word, word, period. There needs to be in context of something. So do you marry in a certain amount of performance when you're learning your lines? And if so, are you able to be flexible once you get on the set and now the other actor is doing it differently or the director is asking for a different tone, and you are unable to pivot your performance because the learning of the line is married to the performance.

Yep. I learned early know this is a technique that was taught to me from my acting teacher who had learned it from someone who learned it from Paul Muni. So this technique goes, like, way back. And the whole thing was that you just spit it out. And you start really slowly at first. So let's say, to be or not to be or whatever. So you do it. To be or not to be. Very slowly. And you work it up faster and faster and faster. To be or not to be. To be or not to be. To be. Or not to be. To be. Or not to be. And it's really just to teach your muscles to know it without having to think about it. So then when you are working, you're super free. And you've learned it in a way that doesn't have any inflection on. It's just very flat. So that you can be more open to what's coming at you. And you don't get stuck in a particular way of saying it. Although I do anyway.

Isn't it amazing?

Right?

Because the way that you learn it, if you do it that way, it can sometimes affect the cadence. Like, quite literally, just to get to the mechanics. The actual cadence of how you say it. Yeah, I was talking about this yesterday with an actor whom we all know. And he was saying, we were talking about this, and I said about this weird sort of quasi improv thing that we were talking about. And I said, I remember there were people that we worked with. I could count on that person delivering a line. They always delivered it the same way every time. And I knew that they were going to deliver it that way. Which freed me up, or us up, to do whatever the fuck we wanted. Because they were just like a spine. They would always do it the same way. So then you could just fuck with that. It was so freeing knowing that they were always going to be right on it. So it didn't matter. So I've always felt so free to just fuck around.

No curveballs.

No curveballs.

What's really beautiful in your work, though, too, it's like that freedom.

Is that one of the things that you like about theater, the fact that there is dialog there, that once you learn it, you don't have to learn anything? Like there's no new scene tomorrow and another scene the next day.

Yeah, but I would say, like, mark, not to get. I know we spent a lot of time on this is our youth. But maybe short of Kenny, I don't know if anybody saw it, especially that first run, more than fucking. That play has so much dialog. And you specifically have so much dialog in that play that it's mind blowing. It's so crazy. And from previews all the way through the end of the run, your performance changed a lot. It did. It evolved. And you were giving, like. I mean, you remember, how much dialog did you have in that fucking play?

Oh, so much dialog. It was two people literally on stage. Either me and one other person or me and another person, but you all the time, and me just all the time. And big monologs and lots of overlapping. So you had to learn the overlapping. And his writing is so crazy. It's like, yeah, you know what I mean? It's like, I don't like that it has so many stops and starts and idiosyncratic.

And for Tracy, out there in theater, you cannot change the dialog at all, or you get written up by the stage manager. Right. And then equity will find you.

You can't change anything. They're like, why did you change where you moved on that line?

Right.

That was set.

That was set with a director I would sink with. They're like, way too loose with the dialog.

The first act, it was two minutes too long. So could we just tighten that up again?

Yeah.

And you're just like, what are you talking. I don't care.

And if you really want to get out of there, it's five minutes too short.

No, they never complain about it being too short.

Yeah. First of all, have you ever. I read that your activism and your using your voice, you have such a massive platform to use your voice, and you're not afraid to use your voice. And I love that about you. Your opinions, you just spew them out. This is what I believe. This is what's right from wrong, and I love it.

Spew them out.

No, but I mean, it's, like, intelligent. No.

Yeah, Sean's right. It's remarkable, dude, how much.

It is incredible, and I love it, and I wish I had the balls you have. But tell me what the solutions project is. But wait, before I talk about the solutions project, have you ever spoken in front of Congress?

I've spoken on the hill with the Senate. I've testified.

So this is what I want to ask you. What is that like when you're sitting there? Because at home, when I'm watching somebody do that, they all look, like, bored.

And you're like, Scotty, who turned on CNBC?

Is it effective? Did you feel like being there? Was know?

So I did that movie dark Waters, which is about forever. Chemicals for Tracy. They're the chemicals that come from, like, teflon that stay in your blood and are linked to seven different cancers, and they're in everybody and all over the world. And the mother passes it from themselves to the baby through their breast milk. And it gets in your body, it accumulates, and it never leaves, and it's pervasive. So we did a movie called Dark Waters to tell the story of the lawyer who exposes this. It's a true story and brings all the lawsuits and wins the biggest tort lawsuit in the history of the United States to actually study this stuff. So I was asked to go and testify to the environmental committee. When you go there, it's half Republicans, half Democrats. The seats are like. It's a gallery kind of thing, and they're all there. These are house people. I didn't go to the Senate. And you're testifying and they're asking you questions, and you're getting peppered a little bit. But on one side, the Democrat side, there was literally every seat was taken. It was like 40 people. On the republican side, there's three guys.

And when they're done with their questions, they get the hell out of there.

Oh, he literally wasn't even a question. It was like, I know why you're here. You hate industry. This is all just a ploy for you to make a bunch of money and attack big corporations and the economic good of people. And that's all I got to say. And threw the mic down and walked out. I yield.

I yield.

Yeah. I'm like, you want to get a chance to answer that? Believe me, I know how to make a movie that makes a lot of money, and this is not one of them.

Right.

And there's nothing in here that's erroneous at all. Everything's completely vetted and backed up.

I'm sure you've been asked this before, so I apologize for not knowing the answer. But have you ever given any thought to public office?

No.

And because of the pain in the ass of it all, because of folks that have different ideas about why they're.

Was there. I was there lobbying against fracking, like back in the day when it was all just kind of happening. And I was in Harry Reid's office, and basically he didn't come to the meeting, but his chief of staff was there. And he said, listen. Closes the door. He said, listen, here's the deal. This city is overrun with fossil fuel money. We have to spend three quarters of our time on the phone raising money. You're in the wrong place. You need to do this on the regional level, on the state level. That's really where this kind of thing is the only place that this could get done. And I was just like, are you kidding?

Disheartening?

Yeah. Are you joking me?

And the reason they need the money, or any politician needs money is to buy 32nd ads, right. To get reelected and reelected, which only just puts them in a position of power. It's not like it's some extremely lucrative position to be a senator or representative. Some of them are there for ideological reasons, right? I would imagine. But initially, mostly, yeah. Not to be overly cynical, but it seems like, or sounds like a lot of them are there just because they enjoy the position of access and influence and power and getting their ring kissed at parties and stuff like that. It's just so heartbreaking.

And it's pretty like we see it's not really about policy that's going to help people. It just gets broken down along sort of these lines. And a lot of them are just ideological. And it's like, I need to get this money from this person. So there's a little bit of back and forth. I'm going to have to give them a little bit of something. I think that's more true than any of us really want to believe.

Yeah, but if you ran, you could start a change. If a bunch of people like you ran.

Well, I guess what I sense from.

You is, okay, I'll do it.

You can really affect. Yeah, no, but is that you can affect change outside like that there is no change on the inside. And that if you want to make noise or whatever, you have to keep banging the drum.

And you do. I mean, we banned fracking here in New York state. PFAS is mean, we know, but there's such power in storytelling and you can really change things with storytelling, especially if you're not like nailing, hitting it on the head. You're sort of just telling that story, that human story that we all relate to. We all relate to other people's stories. And there's been movies that the kids are all right right in the middle of the dialog on same sex marriage. That movie opened people up to being like, oh, gay people have it just as bad as we do.

Look at Sean's show. Will and Grace is one of the first shows that.

Exactly.

Oh, my God, I'm in love with these characters that are not heterosexual. So I guess gay people aren't so bad. Yes, it's making me laugh.

That shift, which was the biggest societal shift on an issue, Sean, that was the biggest societal shift on an issue with the largest spread of polling than any other.

Yeah. Well, thank you for saying that. And to your point, it's just telling a story. We weren't batting people over the head about it, just, like, presenting the people and the facts, and this is how normal everybody is, and we just frack a little differently.

Yeah.

Fucking asshole. That's so good.

Big money.

How long? That one just laid in so beautifully.

So really quick, before we let you go, Mark, I can't believe you were the bartender at that hotel for ten years. You were the bartender?

No, I was doing pickup work there. I was at another bar called. I was at two bars. I was at the olive, which was a hot little bar. And I was at.

I remember.

Yes, I was there. Yes. During that time. And I was at Smalls, which is kind of like this punk rock rock and roll bar right where Melrose and Gower met.

Wow.

And I was doing pickup work at the chateau, which didn't have a bar yet, so we'd go in and set up a bar for all the events.

Wow. Isn't that wild to be back? Would you ever go back and be.

Like, yeah, man, I'm there. And the young guy comes in at the food room service, and he's kind of looking at me, and I go to give him his tip, and he's like, wow, that's a huge tip. He's like, hey, man, you made it.

And then do you say, I started.

Right where you are?

They know. He's like, you used to work here, didn't you? That's cool. And I was like, yeah. He's like, you made it, man. That's cool.

That's so cool. I love that. Jason and I had lunch there over 20 years ago. He does not remember it. Mark, thank you for being here today.

Wait, I wanted to. Before you go, Will.

Truly dope. I'm looking at you right now.

How long have you and Sonny been married now? It's been forever. I don't mean it that way. It's awesome.

We've been together for 27 years.

Oh, that's great. That's amazing.

Yeah.

How many kids?

We have three kids.

It's incredible.

20. 218 and 16.

Can you believe your life?

No, man, it's really cool. My biggest concern was, would I have a place to live? I just want a place to live. I just don't want to be in the streets. If I can attain that, that would be great.

Yeah.

And now look at my office.

Not working on motorcycles anymore.

Well, I tell you what. I tell you what, man. Honestly, you haven't changed a bit. You're still the nicest, most talented dude and couldn't happen. I'm so happy for your life. You're such a. Always been such a great dude. You've always had such a great vibe, and it makes me happy every time.

Truly one of my favorites.

I love you. Me too. Thank you for having me, Mark.

Thank you for being here. We appreciate it. And you were on my list for a long time for a reason. And it's so nice to finally meet you and gush because you're great.

No, it's great. And you guys are great. And it was such a nice time and will came such a long way. And, Jason, you've always been so kind to me and Sean. Now we know each other and we'll be able to hug when we see.

Each other get together and frack.

Let's take things slow, dude.

I can't wait to see poor things.

I'm going to dying.

I got to go see.

I hear it's fan wave.

Let's get that link. Let's get that link.

I'm going to pay for it full price. Evening price.

Yeah, evening price. Soon it'll be just on the site.

Yeah, but I hear it's one. You can go ahead and enjoy a big screen.

Let's go see it in theater this week.

Let's go.

Let's go, boys. All right, Mark.

Field trip.

Yeah.

All right, Mark, you're the King. Thanks for doing this.

Have a great rest of the.

Great guest.

Yeah.

That guy hits me right in the center of my, like, target. There's just such a good vibe about him.

Guys always seem, like, so confident.

What do you mean? Those guys? Which one? I feel like him, crude up and Rockwell are like, came out of the same.

And you go, that's why they work, because they're ultra talented, obviously, but they also work a lot because you want.

To hang out like they're salted earth dudes.

Totally. And he's just very, I don't know, he's so authentic and he doesn't have to try and there's no pretense.

He's really don't a lot or did. Makes sense. It relaxes people.

Yeah.

Well, then segue into product.

Yeah. Do you have a new pen?

Gummy.

What's going on? New pen.

No one's calling them vape pens anymore.

It really relaxes people. Which reminds me, take a deep, deep breath.

This is my favorite, though. Thanks. We're good.

You know what's pretty awesome about what he does for my taste is that he's this incredible actor that you never see him acting. He's never taking these, I don't know, these obnoxious character swings that some actors absolutely can pull off for sure. But I never get the sense that he feels like he needs to.

Well, for me, he's in the John Goodman. I mention this all the time, the category of actors, and it's growing now because we've had a few on him. He's one of those doesn't matter what he's in, he is always great.

A right?

So you start thinking like, you think about like, oh, kids are all right. And you're like, oh, he's great in that. And you said foxcatcher, like, oh, he's great in that.

And they're like, you forget about spotlight.

Oh, he's incredible in that.

Really talented filmmakers are attracted to him.

Well, because he's always great. It's his story about Kenny saying to him, like, you're not going to do it, blah, blah, blah. You're really good in this.

Really undeniable.

That imitation is so funny of Ken.

It's so funny.

I like spending these days with you guys. I haven't seen you in a long.

This feels so lazy already.

Quite a while since you should be banned from doing. I wish we could spend more time as the days go bye bye.

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Slash Survey Academy is a new scripted podcast that follows Ava Richards, played by HBO's industries Maihala Harold, a brilliant scholarship student who has to quickly adapt to her newfound eat or be eaten world. Ava's ambitions take hold and her small town values break in hopes of becoming the first scholarship student to make the list, Bishop Gray's all coveted academic top ten, curated by the headmaster himself. But after realizing she has no chance at the list on her own, she reluctantly accepts an invitation to a secret underground society that pulls the strings on campus life and academic success. If she bends to their will, she'll have everything she's ever dreamed of. But at what cost? Academy takes you into the world of a cutthroat private school where power, money and sex collide in a game of life and death. Follow Academy on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of Academy early and ad free right now by joining Wandery Plus.