SmartLess

"Jonah Hill LIVE"

76 min
May 8, 202623 days ago
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Summary

Jonah Hill joins SmartLess for a live episode at the Evelyn Hollywood, discussing his journey from comedy writer to acclaimed actor-director. He reflects on his career trajectory from Super Bad through Wolf of Wall Street, his decision to move to San Diego to raise a family away from entertainment industry pressures, and his current projects including the Apple film Outcome and upcoming theatrical comedy Cut Off.

Insights
  • Early mentorship and access to industry professionals (via school and connections) was more valuable than traditional nepo baby advantages; Hill credits Crossroads School for normalizing entertainment careers rather than family connections
  • Strategic career pivots—like joining Sasha Baron Cohen's writing room despite being more famous—helped Hill avoid ego traps and maintain focus on craft over fame management
  • Deliberate retreat from LA and entertainment bubble after achieving early success enabled personal growth, family stability, and a return to comedy from a healthier emotional place
  • Comedy writing remains Hill's primary identity and passion; acting and directing are extensions of that core skill, not replacements for it
  • Mentorship from established directors (Spike Jonze, Bennett Miller, Martin Scorsese) provided a 'Harvard education' in filmmaking that shaped his directorial approach and taste
Trends
Decline in theatrical comedy film production; Hill positioning himself as advocate for reviving the genreHigh-profile directors (Scorsese, McKay) increasingly taking on acting roles in projects directed by younger filmmakersShift toward family-centric lifestyle decisions among successful entertainment professionals, moving away from traditional LA-based careersWriter-directors gaining prominence as auteurs who understand both script development and visual storytellingMentorship-based career development in comedy outperforming traditional agent-driven pathways for emerging talentBrazilian jiu-jitsu and physical hobbies becoming normalized wellness practices among high-stress creative professionalsStreaming platforms (Apple TV+) becoming primary distribution for prestige comedy films with theatrical ambitions
Topics
Comedy Writing as Primary CraftCareer Trajectory in Entertainment IndustryMentorship and Industry AccessWork-Life Balance and Family PrioritiesDirectorial Vision and Filmmaking EducationTheatrical Comedy Film Production DeclineImprovisation in Comedy PerformanceThe Simpsons' Influence on Comedy WritersJudd Apatow's Role in Launching TalentStrategic Career Pivots and Risk ManagementSkateboarding Culture in 1990s LAArrested Development's Cultural ImpactMartin Scorsese's Directorial ApproachStreaming vs. Theatrical Distribution StrategyPersonal Wellness Through Martial Arts
Companies
Apple TV+
Outcome, Hill's recent film starring Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz, is streaming on Apple TV+
Warner Brothers
Distributing Hill's upcoming theatrical comedy Cut Off, starring Kristen Wiig, Beth Midler, and Nathan Lane
Universal
Hill received a two-picture deal at age 19 after pitching scripts to Judd Apatow
Fox
Aired Arrested Development, the show that launched Michael Cera and influenced Hill's early career trajectory
Strong Baby
Hill's production company with business partner Matt Dines, now producing films independently
People
Jonah Hill
Guest discussing his career from Super Bad to directing Outcome and Cut Off, now based in San Diego
Jason Bateman
Co-host who conducted the interview and shared personal anecdotes about working with Hill
Sean Hayes
Co-host providing commentary and questions throughout the episode
Will Arnett
Co-host who met Hill at Crossroads School and worked with him on various projects
Judd Apatow
Mentor who discovered Hill, gave him writing opportunities, and shaped his early career trajectory
Martin Scorsese
Collaborated with Hill on Wolf of Wall Street; Hill directed him in Outcome and credits him as major influence
Spike Jonze
Hill's biggest mentor; collaborated on Mid90s which Hill wrote and directed
Michael Cera
Co-star on Arrested Development; Hill mentions their friendship and parallel career trajectories
Bennett Miller
Directed Hill in Moneyball; Hill credits him as brilliant filmmaker who shaped his directorial vision
Seth Rogen
Co-wrote Super Bad script with Evan Goldberg; Hill praises their writing as flawless
Keanu Reeves
Co-starred in Hill's film Outcome; Hill describes him as American treasure and great collaborator
Cameron Diaz
Co-starred in Hill's film Outcome alongside Keanu Reeves
Kristen Wiig
Co-stars with Hill in upcoming theatrical comedy Cut Off; Hill calls her American treasure
David Merkin
Iconic Simpsons writer and Hill's childhood hero; now mentors Hill on film projects
Dustin Hoffman
Father of Hill's high school friend; got Hill his first film audition for I Heart Huckabees
Matt Dines
Hill's best friend and business partner; co-founder of production company Strong Baby
Amanda Bateman
Jason Bateman's wife; mentioned as attending the live event
Quotes
"I'm a comedy writer. That's what I do. I write jokes every day. Like I go and write scripts. You don't know this cause you just see the front side of it. But I'm most of my job is writing comedy movies."
Jonah HillMid-episode
"I wasn't happy. And then I met, I had my family and I got happy and now all I want to do is be funny again."
Jonah HillMid-episode
"I cannot believe I get to write jokes for my job. I say it to myself every day."
Jonah HillMid-episode
"Comedy ultimately is human pain. And then you're just plusing it. A computer hasn't been dumped. You got to get dumped to write a funny movie about getting dumped."
Jonah HillAI discussion segment
"I'm dedicating the fort till you guys make me stop. I promise to try and make a movie every year that's funny."
Jonah HillClosing remarks
Full Transcript
This episode of Smart List is brought to you in part by Skinny Pop Popcorn, which, yes, is exactly what we were inhaling backstage at the live show. True story. There is something very satisfying about a snack that actually delivers and doesn't come with a paragraph of ingredients. Skinny Pop keeps it simple. Real ingredients, classic popcorn, nothing weird, nothing you have to Google. The original is light and airy, but still hits the spot. And if you want to mix it up, they got white cheddar, butter, sweet and salty kettle. It's one of those snacks that works for anything. Watching something, traveling, pretending you're only going to have a handful. Skinny Pop, deliciously popped, perfectly salted, popular for a reason. This episode of Smart List is sponsored by Ashley, the brand that helped turn our live event stage into a fully styled living space. And it's not just about looks. Their stuff is built to hold up to the real life with durable materials and easy to clean fabric. For the live show, we were on their Mod Max sofa. It's modular so you can kind of move it around however you want depending on your space. Honestly, that setup worked perfectly for the show. I'm not kidding. I would have taken that whole setup home. It looked great. It felt very comfortable. It really did feel like we were just hanging out in someone's living room. Ashley is all about style that's made for real life with white glove delivery right to your room of choice. Visit your local Ashley store or head to Ashley.com to find your style.哎哎 Welcome to Smart List Live at the Evelyn Hollywood. We're all good. Sorry, hi. I was pathetic. Sorry. Did you see the way he tried to come out last and make some big entrance? No, no, no, no. What happened? I got caught up back there. Anyway, hey, I'm here now. Hey. Hey, welcome, Philadelphia, Los Angeles. One more crack at it. Guys, we're so excited we're here and thank you for coming out tonight. This is very exciting for us. Yeah. I gave Sean a big smack across the face right before we came out. And I was just waiting for him to hit me back. So it just pardoned me if I'm over here. It was so loud. I can't believe you heard it. It's a little bit red over here. It sure is. It's become kind of a tradition before. There we go. This is how we'll do it. We'll do it. No. This is how we'll do it. Just keep them in a clinch. It was so fucking hard. Fix your mic. It's like I got a test. All right, so we're very thrilled to be here. The rest of the show is going to be less violent. Best violent. Okay, let's do it. Very happy to be here. Let's get to it. This is our second time here at the Alvalon. Thank you for having us. Let's sit. Come on, let's sit. Thank you guys for coming. I'm going to do a little set. You guys sit down. Okay, yeah, go for it. This should be good. Now, do the talk. Thank you guys for coming. Look at these. Nice. We want to thank our sponsor. We've got a nice stuff to sit on from Ashley. Yeah. We've got some nice stuff from you. I mean, it's real homie. From Skinny Pop. Right? It's like a little living room set. Hang on. Yeah, who wants to... Oh, yeah. T-shirts. Got a couple of T-shirts here. Look alive, everybody. No fighting. We're sorry there's no... I don't know. Close. Very close. I couldn't get it up there. We got more coming. We got more where that came from. That hurt. Oh. Jason leaves tomorrow. Jason leaves. I leave, yes. I'm going to go work tomorrow. Yeah. Because this isn't work. This is fun. I'm going to go... I have to leave my family for a good long stretch. Not even how my dad feels. Yeah. This is... It's high class problems. I'm not complaining. But it's hard because I've been home for like a year. I know. And now I'm not going to be home for three weeks. But it's exciting because you're going to direct a film that he... Right? Yeah. And it's very... To us, it's very thrilling. To you, it's work. But to us, it's very thrilling that you're going to get behind the camera again and wow us with this other talent that you have that not a lot of people have. And it's very exciting. I think everybody's happy that you're going behind the camera again. You know? I think that you make... Because you're a good director. Yeah. Right. That wasn't a compliment, was it? Did he sneak in an insult? No. But you just got back from working away from home for a long time, but you had Scotty with you. So all you missed was Ricky. What a show! Yes, we were gone for three months. We just got back last week. But Amanda will be with you in New York, right? No, she's going to be here. Franny's going to be with me after a little while. And then Amanda and Maple are going to come out for a little bit. You know what? Just email me the itinerary. We were good. Yeah. What did you end up doing with your dog when you were in New York for so long? We left the dog... Nobody knows, actually. The dog is still missing. No, that we left put the dog in a... What's it called? When you bored them? Prison. No, when you bored them? No, I'm just saying what it felt like for the dog. No, we... Yeah, it's cost a fortune, but he was with other dogs and he could play and he was good. He seemed happy. He seemed happy when we talked to him on the phone. Yeah. No, he was good. Are you guys just meeting for the first time? What's happening? This is the weirdest... I'm so far away. I know. Well, it's different than the podcast. We are going to have a guest that's going to come out here in a second. So that's why we're all separated. We do have a guest. Sean and I don't know who the guest is. I really don't. My guest, it is a he. That's a true story. Wait, but wait. We never know. Yeah. We truly never know who the guest. Every once in a while, somebody who on our... Except for like the presidents of the United States. The presidents we knew. Yeah. But we really don't know. And so it's always a surprise. And we do never talk about what we're going to talk about. Yeah. The difference with this though is that usually you guys, we guys, I don't do it, but you guys, when I bring on a guest, when we do... In the microphone. I see you guys typing on your computer, quickly Googling that person as soon as they come on. No, no, no, no. But not because they don't know it, but like to come up with like questions and stuff like, you're not going to have that. That's fucking bullshit. No, it is bullshit. I don't do that. I see you typing away. Sean definitely does that. I do it, but if I don't know the person, it's like if a sports person comes up. I do not do that. How dare you accuse me of that? What are you basing that on? No. Remember, what are you playing with? I'm fucking... I'm messaging people, dude. I'm busy. Playing... Yes, you're just going to have to wing it with this fella. No, but you're going to have to wing it. I mean, I don't know who it is, and so... You're going to like him. I like him. He's a friend of mine. Wait, can I... Before that, can I... I just have a little something I brought with me that I want to show everybody. Oh boy, he loves to prepare. You got to watch Buns Real. Yes. So today, today, only eight hours ago, at 11.05 a.m. this morning, Scotty and I chatted with a friend of ours. Did you say shattered? Chatted. Sorry. You can't hear ourselves up here. I'm so sorry. Hi, we brought a friend over. We just chat everywhere. At 11.05, we both happened to chat. No, no, we chatted with a friend of ours and a friend of ours and a friend of the podcast. And it's pretty unbelievable. And we cut together, Scotty cut together this 20-second video to show you what we did only eight hours ago today. This is what happened. Okay. Are we going to the tape? Yeah. We haven't seen this. Hello to everybody at the album. What? Isn't that crazy? Look at her shirt. That is so cool. Can you see my reflection? Yes. That is wild. I'm just looking at the shirt. Look at that. Okay, ready? Yep. Ha ha ha. I'm putting it to our kitchen right now. So this seems like our kitchen table. This is our, this is how we warm up food. Oh, we got some garlic and onions and some fresh fruit. That's got to make the place smell real good. Wow. Isn't that amazing? Wow. Yeah. So we, that is so cool. That was, that was this morning and, and she's like, do you want to just chat? I'm like, on the fucking international space station? Yeah. So for 45 minutes, we just, we just chatting. She showed us around. She showed us the Russian astronauts and the Japanese section and the, I don't know. It was crazy. So how cool is that to see our government tax dollars at work? Wait, did you say 45 minutes you talking? 45 minutes we hung out with her today. Isn't that cool? Was there a phone number? No, she, she, she sends us a link to like a, not zoom, but something else. But wait, yeah, what Google meet or whatever. So wait, I wrote down these things. She, they, they are moving five miles a second and they rotate the earth every 90 minutes. That's how fast they're going. Isn't that crazy? And I said, what experience are working on? She said something like astronauts get blood clots. So they're doing some of that. And they're growing, they're growing crops like Matt Damon and the Martian and their, and their DNA therapeutics, protein crystals, future propulsion systems. But what's fascinating is that she said when you go up there, something happens to the back of your eyes because there's no gravity and it flattened the back of her eyes. So she doesn't need glasses on earth anymore. Isn't that amazing? No way. She doesn't need glasses. And so she has 2020 vision. What's that book you're reading? I just saw you. It's my phone. Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you because that happened today. How are you? Cause I remember when she was on the podcast, we must have covered this, but remind me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How are you friends with an astronaut? Because of the podcast. What's with the look on your face? I know. It's so shitty. But he, this guy, Why are you mad at him? He doesn't know anybody. He doesn't, he never leaves his house. He barely knows his dog. You know, Scotty pretty good. What happens is he meets people and they want to continue to have a relationship because he's nice. He doesn't have a shitty look on his face. And by the way, you just described yourself and you were describing me. Um, yeah, isn't that wild? Anyway, isn't that cool? I just can't believe you can actually communicate. So she's currently on the space stage. Till September. Wow. And I'm complaining about going to Jersey for three weeks. Yeah, exactly. But we can talk to her again, like we can hop on there. I asked her tons of questions. She loves it. They love it. JB, were you thinking about like how fluid would move differently if you were up there, like in your face and stuff? You know, I, you do look puffy when they do those, those little hits from out of space. I wouldn't be into it. No, no. I just do radio from my face. But it does. It lifts. Radio. So you guys, camera's not working again. Radio from space. No, I don't care about this. It's just a bit. I don't care about that. All right. So, okay. No vanity. All right. Sean, do you have any more bits? Any more stuff? Any more pre-tape, Sean? Yeah. I was, I always have tons of stuff. I just said that we never do anything planned and then you did have, went to a video package. Yeah. Well, I, I wanted to make sure, I wanted to make sure I left space for her, but I didn't know how to plan it. Oh my God. I can't find my intro that I wrote for the frickin' guest. This is so real. Michael, bring me those cards down, please. God damn it. So what else is going on? Unreal. You know, I just quit smoking recently. No, you didn't. Wait, what? You did? Smoky. It's a one. Maple Bateman. Yeah, Maple. Maple Bateman. All right. This is going to be a disaster tonight. All right. Freestyling now. Intro the guest. It could be short. This guy. I'm an actor. I, this is supposed to be written for me and then I see. I can see your sweat. I know. I'm in deep sweat right now. Okay. So this is a fella who, he is extremely, I think he's one of the greatest comedic actors we have. Full stop. Okay. That's, that's a good start, right? See me vamping. But he doesn't just make you laugh. He makes you cry sometimes. Like, what else? What's all the phones are up? What's going on? I feel like, I'm going to be a little bit more serious. He's been nominated twice for an Oscar for fancy movies, right? Not just the comedy stuff. This guy's a big shot. He's also writes and directs movies, done a few of those. What is it? Ryan Reynolds? No, hasn't written or directed a film yet. And, and I have found that while he's been nominated twice for an Oscar for fancy movies, right? And, and I have found that while he's incredibly talented, his heart's even bigger because we've become friends over the past few years. Oh, you know him from forgetting Sarah Marshall. You know him from knocked up 40 year old Virgin. You know him from super bad money ball, Wolf of Wall Street. Ladies and gentlemen, the one and only Jonah Hill. Of course I'm sweating. I'm like, what is he going to say, dude? I was already nervous and like, oh, he already fucking. What were you thinking, Jonah? What were you thinking backstage when Bateman blew it with the total wipe out? I'm just coming back out here, like in crowds and stuff. My wife's here. I'm like, and I'm like, okay, Jason's going to hook me up. And he's like, oh, I don't have an intro. So I'm sitting back there going like, he's going to go, he's a guy that I'm friends with, that I text with and like, I was like, oh, fuck, he probably wrote something nice and now it's going to get like dumbed down to, you know, you know how to improvise. I'm all right at the improvising, but you're the, you're the Mac dad. You and Vince Vaughn, no one better. Brilliant. Ever. Brilliant. All right. So, right. So you're not in front of you're not in front of crowds all the time. You're not up in LA. You're down in San Diego for the most part now. Are you living in San Diego? Oh, yeah. So, okay. So real quick before we go in any further, my wife is here. My best friend and business partner, Matt Dines is here. Shout out to my beautiful wife. Where is she? Oh, what's up, baby? And then so, so I live in a very small town in San Diego and it's amazing and my neighbors are incredible people. And when we had our first kid, we moved out there three years ago and my neighbors are so cool. I want to leave LA and raise a family outside of Los Angeles and, and, um, away from entertainment and I can maybe come back and then, you know, go back and forth. And my neighbors are so cool. They never like treat me weird or ask me about my job or anything. And my neighbor is one of my great friends, Dr. Sean. Uh, he never, he never asked, he's here tonight. Whoa. But hold on. He never bothered me or was like, Oh, what's this person like? And then like after like a year, we were in the sauna, just chilling like two dads. And he goes, he goes, can I ask you one question? And I was like, yeah, sure, man. And he's like, it's Jason Bateman, a cool guy. And that was his one question about show business. And I was like, yeah, he's an amazing guy. And he, and he goes, he's like, he's like, it's fucking cool. I'm a big fan of his. Shout out to Dr. Sean and Dr. Bob and Heidi and Laura. I love you guys. Well, you know what? It sounds like JB, you might be able to get in that sauna with these guys. Yeah. Listen, I love a good sauna. One more. What do you think? Dr. John, you think JB is good in the sauna? I get super nice in the Schvitz. Um, Jonah. Yeah. Nice to see you all. Thanks for, uh, thanks for having me. Jonah, thank you for doing this. This is a very easy no. And you said yes. Yeah. You know, you could just say, oh, I'm down in San Diego now. Yeah, we drove in today. It was awesome. Right? Now, will you stay overnight or will you drive back? Yeah, we're staying at a hotel. We brought both our kids. Oh, that's nice. We have a new little baby who's like, uh, just a Luke brand new baby. And then we have an almost three year old. Oh, that's so nice. So now what do you miss about LA when you come up? What do you like to do? Oh, you know, nothing. City walk. I grew up here. It's, LA was such a cool place to grow up in the 90s because you could like, um, you know, you could go skateboard downtown or you could sneak into a movie premiere or you could go sneak into a comedy club and see like Chris Rock or something. You know, you had access to like show business stuff, but you had access to like punk and, and, and skating and graffiti and all the like naughty stuff. And, um, there was no internet. It was just so awesome. And it was where you were skating, right? Cause your first film mid 90s, which is awesome. That's like, you certainly were at least familiar with the skating culture. Do you know your way around a skate park? I mean, yeah, I still skateboard every day. Like, come on. Yeah, you do really? Okay. Cause my daughter, Maple is, I took her to the skate park this morning, Pedlow over there in, uh, in the valley. Um, she's working on, um, pop shove its Oli's. She just dropped in last weekend. Um, amazing. You're already better than I ever was. When I say skateboard every day now with my son, we surf skate, which is like way easier. It's like, um, like, like I don't do tricks or anything anymore. I'm too old. I'm 42. So surf skate means you're on a longboard. And you just kind of crew. Let's not go crazy. I'm not on a longboard. Jason. I'm on a short. You were part of that skateboard, but yeah, um, you were part of that skate culture just a little bit. Yeah. I loved it. Yeah. It was amazing. Like anything skating, hip hop and comedy. When I was a kid, I was like anything about any of it. All I could, did you cross paths with spike Jones at all back in the day? Well, I did a ton and spike is my biggest mentor and one of my best friends. Incredible director. What a nice guy. He's like one of the most amazing people. And, and, and, uh, before I directed mid 90, I wrote mid nineties at his apartment. Oh, really? And New York, we were both living in New York and, um, I basically spent like five years, uh, you know, after kind of what was it like, I've been gone for a while. So I'm kind of coming back and I'm like excited because I got all like serious for a while. And, um, and I wasn't happy. I wasn't happy. And then I met, I had my family and I got happy and now all I want to do is be funny again. You know, so it's, uh, you were always funny. It's a freaking blast. It's just like, that's why I said yes. I'm like, I want to go fucking be funny in front of a crowd and that'd be awesome. You know, but the humor, do you find that the humor is coming from a more substantial place now that, that it's, I mean, you're still, you couldn't shake funny if you tried, but now you've got a whole deeper well of, of reflection and knowing yourself more and you've, you've peeled the onion and now you've got a bunch of other stuff to draw upon to feed your humor. Yes. Yeah. I think, I mean, speak for me. That's fine. Um, but that's my special. I don't need to be here. There's no intro and I just drive back to stand here. I put the question in the answer and then I say, he could have just zoomed in. Yeah. Totally. No, that is a good, that's a good. Thank you. Next question. It's more like, um, like if you're bummed, you don't feel like being that funny, right? Right. And if you're happy, the first thing I thought about when I got like, like had my kids and was so stoked, it was like, uh, I connected to back when I was just like 12 and I was just being funny for fun. Right. And I was like, that's the thing I fell in love with my whole life. Like I dedicated my whole life to learning everything about the Simpsons and comedy. Who did you, when you were growing up in the nineties, who, who were your influences? Who were you like, God, that, that guy is so funny or that show is so funny. Everybody. Everybody. Everything. Like anything good, bad or in between it was like, But like you, but you're so like Jason said, you're such a genius at improvisation. The first time I saw you was on a show called campus ladies. Yes. And one of my best friends, Carrie Aisley is here. She's right there. Carrie. Yeah. And you were on the show with her. Oh my God. Hey, Carrie. You met Dr. Sean. Dude, Carrie, Carrie, Sean couldn't get them seats. You probably can't see them. Carrie gave me a huge break. Thank you, Carrie. He gave me a huge fucking break when I was like 18. Yeah. But you, but I watched you on that show and I'm like, oh my, of course you skyrocketed. You were a brilliant performer, actor, improviser, all of it. And I was just like, who is this person? So you must have had mostly the Simpsons. I think the Simpsons is like the number one thing in the entire world. Like if anything's left and impact on my life, it'd be the Simpsons. Some of the greatest comedy writing of all time. It's pretty, it's like such a heavy weight, but it was, but that's, that was obviously, there's no acting in that except for the voices. Obviously we're so were you following like the, the writing of that was writing the first poll for you, not performing. So if you like shook me in the middle of the night and like, what do you do? I'd be like, I'm a comedy writer. That's what I do. Like I write jokes every day. Like I go and write scripts. Like you don't know this cause you just see the front side of it. But I'm most of my job is writing comedy movies. That's like mostly what I do. And when I was young, I would VHS record the Simpsons and then pause it on the writers and write them all letters. And to this day, one of my biggest mentors and friends is David Merkin, who's like an iconic Simpsons writer. And every time like you've been to a screening of early cuts in my movies for notes, like David Merkin comes to every single screening, every table read. And he was like my childhood hero. So I wrote them all letters when I was like seven, eight years old. And that was my dream. Like, like if I had written for the Simpsons, that's like would have been more than enough for, did you write a spec Simpsons script? Yeah, I've written a ton of specs. Oh, you did? Did they ever buy one or pick? No, I never like sent them to them. I wrote them like, as like an eight year old. Yeah, they can't receive. Okay, well then when did the performance part of it start to take hold? Like when did you think that you could be in front of the camera? Well, I think all three of you were like hams, comedic hams. What happened? Like, did you just drift off? He's narcoleptic. He said we're all hams. Must have been hams when you were little kids. Like if there was like a party at my parents house, I'd do like a comedy show. Everyone here can relate to that. So it was just always like people were like, oh, you're funny. And then when I got to middle school, people's parents were like, you should pull them out of school to my parents and like make them a comedian. Yeah, people would like say that to me. I went to school where there were some people that were in the business, like the center and crossroads. People think I'm a nepo baby, by the way. My wife and I were just laughing about this, that I'm a nepo baby. My dad's a fucking accountant. Ask these guys, he directs a lot of shit. Do you ever hire your business manager son for a fucking black rabbit or whatever? Yeah, yeah. You hire Jeffy Goldstein to play like the heavy and foot. But Jonah, how old were you when we met? We met when you were like, you were young. Should we take a snack break? Yeah. Yeah, you were like hanging out at my school like a trench coat on? Yeah, no, that was a different. You had something different. No, it was that like, I'm leading by example. You had this like van. It was at the Wister's. So I went to the school called Crossroads, which is a like full leg up because if you grow out here and go to the school, everybody's parents are in entertainment. So to be fair, it wasn't an abstract job. That was like my big leg up where I was like, everybody's parents here works in entertainment. So if you want to like write for the Simpsons, that's not the craziest idea in the entire world, right? So that was a huge leg up for me to just not be like show business is abstract in far away, right? Right. We were literally at it was Henry Winkle. We're doing the first season rest development and I went over there for breakfast one Saturday and you and Max were. So Max was like my best friend in high school is Henry's son and he's an amazing guy and a great director. He directs a lot of the Ryan Murphy stuff. A ton of amazing stuff. The Charlie Hunnam show he just did was incredible. Freak monster. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's an amazing dude. Yeah. And so I met Will and I remember meeting Will. You were a kid. I was so hyped because I was interning for his brother and arrested development and just come out and Jake Hoffman was another buddy of yours. He he interned on arrested development, didn't he? Yeah. Dustin Hoffman's not a TV show. Oh, yeah. Very funny. Jonah, Sean's never seen it. Never seen it. Is that real? Not a bit. It's real. I saw the first episode. You guys have the best job in show business. I'm so jealous of you guys because you're on it. This is your joining us. We're looking to replace one of us. But like you guys have like it's like being in a writer's room like you're just bullshitting with your friends, but you don't have to make the thing at the end. You just get paid like a hundred million dollars to just show up to the writer's room and never have to like make the good jokes in or edit out the bad ones. You're just like, man, let's just sit on the couch and order food and like, all right, but so wait. So you want to be a writer, you start doing it at a, you're in a school, schools where the pathway to entertainment industry is not unreasonable. But at what age do you get the first sort of on camera idea and then it actually happens? Are you still, you're still in high school? I was 18. So like fresh out of high school, I started working. So what's that first job? Do you get an agent? No, no, no. So it wasn't like that. I went to new school. I went to Boulder for one semester and got kicked out. My mom calls it her $40,000 sweatshirt. And she's really funny. My parents are really funny people and awesome people, but they, they, since then I went to new school and in New York City and I started just performing in like in theater school, but then performing at bars and doing like kind of stand up. Stand up. Yeah, like stand up and then like short plays and like, they would let me perform at this bar called black and white, which is an awesome bar. Did you do black and white? Will you? No. It was so fun. It was like the most fun time. And then I started getting like a crowd of people and I was already like, it's on dude. So now you're like, it's so going to be on. Cause like, You're comfortable in front of an audience and then so going to a camera then is not that much of a leap. No. And then I got my first job in a movie called I Heart Huckabees, which was like my first job. Oh yeah. And Jake Stad Dustin was like, you should be a comedic actor. So how did that, how did that come to be? How did you get in front of Dustin? It wasn't like a performance thing or anything. We were just, I was just friends with his son and he would see me do stuff and I was like, And I make prank call CDs. I'll make prank call CDs. I was like a ham. I was just like trying to be funny all the time. But you were just making Dustin laugh around the house and he says, Maybe like a Mabel had a friend over and you are like, you know, Rob Reiner, rest in peace to the legend. I fucking love that dude so much. But you know, Rob would bring Albert Brooks around and Rob would tell me that like his dad was like, Albert is the funniest fucking guy. But Albert was just Rob's friend. Right. You know, and it and Albert's Albert Brooks, right? So like, so like Dustin was like, I'm doing this movie. Here's I got you an audition. And so he got me an audition. You read for the casting director. You even knew? She passed it on to David. David said, yeah, great. And then you get on that set and what's that like being on a set? You're just looking around. Well, David O was fucking nuts at that time. I saw that. He was buck wild. And I'm like, homies with him. He's awesome. Super nice guy. But at that moment in life and I've had my own trust me, he was buck wild dude. There's like, you know, he was like screaming at Lily Tomlin and stuff. It's online and shit. And he'll talk about it. Like, you know, he's cool. He's one of the best directors ever. I mean, flirting disaster and three Kings. I mean, he's so goaded. It's insane. And and I got on the set. I was like, everyone's screaming at each other. He the first time I walked on set him and KK Barrett, the production designer, were joking around wrestling and then it turned into a real fight. And it was like joking that like turned into a fight. And these guys are like fighting. And it was, they were setting up my first scene to acting. Welcome to Hollywood. And I was like, Hollywood is so tight. This is so cool. I saw a fist fight on set once too. Really? Yeah, it was crazy. It was so crazy. Can you say the name of the movie? I don't remember. But yeah, it was this weird thing I did, but I was it was out in the desert. Listen, guys, everyone wearing clothes. But I saw these two dudes, these two big dudes, like a grip and a gaffer get into it. They end up there arguing and they ended up getting into a fucking fist fight. Well, full circle moment real quick, because I want to give KK some shout out right now. But if I was like, if I ever get to direct movies, I'm going to hire KK Barrett. And he did my newest movie, Outcome. He did. He was the production designer. So full circle, like 20 years later, he was the production designer. The greatest production designer ever, one of them, for sure. So that was like a full circle moment. It was like a dream of mine. So from there, you do a great job in that movie. You have to wait until the movie comes out, until the industry starts to see it. Or does word get out from like dailies and early cuts and stuff like that and get to... My part was so small that like it didn't make a dent. It wasn't like people were like, you know, trying to give me jobs and shit. And then I met a guy named Peter Principato, incredible manager who is my former manager. Awesome dude. And he introduced... He was my former too. That's why I was looking at Will, sorry. That's why I was looking at him, yeah. Legend. And he got me an audition for Campus Ladies. And that was my second job, was Campus Ladies. And I got like three or four episodes on that. And it was all groundlings people. And on that show, because it was like Will Forte and Maya Rudolph. And like every dope person I was like in love with came on to the show. And then my life really kicked off when I met Judd Apatow. So did those people kind of get in Judd's ear and say, hey, you got to check this guy out? I think I was just starting to do like table reads. It's like inside baseball. So this might be so boring. Is this boring as shit? Okay. So like when somebody's going to like has a script and they're thinking about making a movie, they'll get a bunch of really talented people around a table and they'll read it out loud and see if it makes everybody laugh. And the part... And I was like the funny like 18 year old. There wasn't a lot of like 18... Me and Michael Sarah would be at like all of them together, you know? So, and like Seth and Jason Segal, like all the young dudes would be at them. And then when Judd started blowing up was audition for four year old virgin. I met him and Seth and then my life from then on that day I shot four year old version. It's one scene in an eBay store. And it was rain... It was raining that day. So we were only supposed to shoot that scene for like an hour, but it was raining so they didn't have a cover set. So we shot it a whole day and I just improvised a whole day in front of Judd and Seth and Sean Robertson, one of my best friends. And Judd was like, what do you want to write? And I was like, you don't understand all I want to do is write. And so, but what about the movie? So he gave me... I had a... I pitched him two movies and he bought them. And my parents are like, who is this guy who's molesting you? I was living at home and I was 19. They're like, who is Judd Abbotown? Is he like touching your wiener because like you're like a fucking weird donor who like doesn't have a job. And like, why do you have a two picture deal at like Universal? And you're like, it made no sense. What were the films? One was called Middle Child, which a lot of those jokes, I won't say, but the movie maybe got swallowed into another movie. And then one called... One was about an imaginary friend, which is really clever. Neither of them got made, but it like ingratiated me with those guys. And then we went on this whole crazy journey. See, now I hear this all the time, like just those two, like the title Middle Child and something with imaginary friend with you writing it. Where did those scripts go? Like, why don't we resurrect them? They're around. I mean, like I could probably try and clean one up and get it made, but I have new stuff. What's that? You want to take a look at it? I'll do the table. There's a table right there. Are you accepting notes still? Because Sean... We'll be right back. This episode of Smart List is sponsored by Ashley, the brand that helped turn our live event stage into a fully styled living space. Ashley's whole thing is making your home feel like you with styles that balance timeless design and modern trends. Slower Sean. And it's not just about looks. Their stuff is built to hold up to the real life with durable materials and easy to clean fabric. For the live show, we were on their Mod Max sofa. It's modular so you can kind of move it around however you want depending on your space. And it's got that super soft performance fabric, which sounds fancy, but really just means if you spill something, you're not immediately in a panic shunt. So the accent chairs were great too, big, they're comfortable. The kind of chair where you sit down and you go, alright, I'm here for a while. And the coffee and accent tables tied everything together. Clean, simple, but somehow made everything feel finished. So true, Will. It's just a beautiful setup. Honestly, that setup worked perfectly for the show. The modular couch made it easy for us to fit however many people ended up on stage. Yeah, I mean, good luck with you, man. Thanks. I'm not kidding. I would have taken that whole setup home. It looked great. It felt very comfortable, you know? Really did feel like we were just hanging out in someone's living room. Yeah, and for Jason, this is the farthest he's been from his couch in weeks. It's hurtful. Ashley is all about style that's made for real life with white glove delivery rights in your room of choice. Visit your local Ashley store or head to Ashley.com to find your style. Popcorn, which, yes, is exactly what we were inhaling backstage at the live show. True story. There is something very satisfying about a snack that actually delivers and doesn't come with a paragraph of ingredients. Yeah, and skinny pop keeps it simple. Real ingredients, classic popcorn, nothing weird, nothing you have to Google. Yeah, the original is light and airy, but still hits the spot. And if you want to mix it up, they got white cheddar, butter, sweet and salty kettle. It's one of those snacks that works for anything. Watching something, traveling, pretending you're only going to have a handful. Jason, that's you. We had skinny pop backstage at the live show and it disappeared fast. Families, friends, zero restraint. Yeah, it's kind of our go-to movie night road trip before we record, during the record. White cheddar, butter, sweet and salty kettle. Sean, do you put skinny pop on your pasta marinara? Oh, absolutely. It adds texture. It's upsetting. Look, the stuff we want to snack on and the stuff we should snack on, usually not the same thing, skinny pop bridges that gap. Creates a bridge in between the skinny pop, deliciously popped, perfectly salted, popular for a reason. I'll say. And now back to the show. But what about the stroke of genius luck that you landed in front of Judd Apatow, like one of the greatest sort of finders of talent and nurturers of talent. Yeah, he's amazing. He's got a lot of people, chances and championing them. Like, look what he's done. Just you alone. I mean, and there's what? 100, 100 people. You can probably name 25 people right now that are household names that Judd has championed. Judd's like Kobe. I mean, like he's so... He's up there with Lauren Michaels as far as launching people into the comedy world. Yeah, there was like me and my friends, but then there's like Lena Dunham and it went on like Amy Schumer. You know, like he really just like saws, see something in these people and he's so great at like mining what you're going through and helping you find your voice. And what he really did was he put me through Harvard education of directing comedy movies. So like now that I'm 42 and we have our own company, shout out strong baby. Shout out Matt Dines, my bestie up there. And we produce the movies we make now. I like know what to do because of Judd. Right. You know, so I'd go, he was blowing up. So my favorite thing was going to the table reads because you'd have writers at the table reads and you'd dissect and give notes on the scripts. And that's what I love to this day. I love like the Rubik's cube of cracking and making better and making a comedy script better. Absolutely. You're not burdened by the idea of writing. I love it. It's my favorite part of the process. But I mean, do you love the part where you're sitting in a room by yourself and you're staring at a blank wall and you're just trying to like, trying to fill a blank page? Like to me, that's the hardest thing in the business. As, as dickheadish and insane as I was when I got famous at like 22, like, I don't take for granted a day that I get paid to write jokes. Okay. I actually think, and I've grown way past that part when I was 21 or 22, but like, I cannot believe I get to write jokes for my job. I say it to myself every day. I'm like, dude, structure and like character development and, and, and, you know, all is lost on page 75. And like all of this like stuff you've got to like, there's like, it's the best job. By the way, don't have your nose. Everything exhausts him. Yeah. Everything. Dude, if I was on smart list, I wouldn't fucking write scripts. It's so hard. Don't you guys have like a mobile, mobile company? Like, dude, if I was you guys, I wouldn't touch a computer the rest of my goddamn life. I live in Tahiti and fucking phone this in on zoom, dude. All right. So I'm out here. I got to work at Hollywood. It was like, doesn't exist anymore. I'm like, I'm basically a cobbler. I make comedy movies with like, me and two other people. Well, Jonah, talk to me about that. Like, I know you're more, you're half joking about Hollywood being whatever you just said, like it's over, you know, because that's the feeling out there right now is that, you know, where is this going and everybody's scared and everybody's like, what's going to happen with AI and especially in comedy, not especially in comedy, but like, Oh, thank God, a conversation about AI. Finally, finally, we can hear some. You can put in a prompt that says, write me a joke that Jonah Hill might say on a stage with three other dudes. Like, you'll get like six jokes. So like, does that going to like affect the whole writing stuff and no, because you can't replace comedy ultimately is human human pain. And then you're just plusing it, perhaps. It'd be like having some grom writers in the writer's room. Yeah. But I write like 50 shitty jokes that you could rewrite or something, but they won't be they won't have the human experience that allows comedy to be funny because you got to get dumped to write a funny movie about getting dumped, right? Right. A computer hasn't been dumped. They know. Maybe they have. I don't know. I shouldn't say that. I'm sorry. All the computers in the crowd and. Um, but like, I don't worry at all. I'm like, I just go until they fire me. Like I'm so motivated by what I do and my family that like, I just have two things. I have my family and writing comedy. Yeah. So like, where do I fit in in that? Yeah. Well, I'm here tonight. All right. So how close are we to super bad now at this at this point in it'll be 20 years. Oh, you mean like, yeah. In this in the story here. Oh, so it's 40 year old virgin and then a year later we made knocked up and then two months after knocked up, we made super bad. So like a year after I met Judd, we made super bad. So who I'm embarrassed. I should know this. And you guys were working with Michael right? We were. Who wrote super bad? Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg wrote the most brilliant script of all time. Yeah. And it read. We all improvised and everyone comes up with great jokes on those movies, but their script that they wrote was like flawless. Yeah. But like, do you remember Michael Sarah going away to do that movie that was done during the high years? But I tell you something. This is a true story. So, so years ago, right before like the year before super bad, there was a script that we were going to do at at a place I won't say because then you'll be able to know who was in charge. And, and it was about it's this crazy great script that Mitch Hurwitz and I worked on with Jim Valley and really, really, really funny. It turned out great. And I said to the guy who ran this particular studio. So this is super bad was 2007. Yeah. So this is 2006. I mean pause for a second. You with the dates. He knows dates like so. So, so. Mary Louenner. That is crazy. It's great. And he'll tell you what month was the film released in? Which one? Super bad. 2007. Oh, that I don't know. I don't know. It was 2007. Yeah. No. What month? Oh, probably a summer release. Right. You can guess. And, and, and there's this, this thing that we were working on called for this, this dude, this character I was playing and then these two teenage sons and it was two teenage boys who were best friends. It was basically like a, like a three-hander. And I said to the guy, this is before all that before 40 over Virgin, I go, it should be Michael Sarah and Joe, this kid Jonah Hill. No way. And he goes, what? No, man. What are you talking about? And I swear to God. I was like, I'm not fucking year later or whatever it was 18 months later, super bad comes out and it's like a huge hit. And I'm like, this, this dumb fuck. Yeah. Fucking guy blew it. Yeah. And he got fired. Did he? Yeah. You should have. I'll tell you, I'll tell you after. Thank you. I'll tell you after. Cause when I met Will, like when I was 18, I met him at my friend's house and I, I was bugging out dude because he was Joe from arrested development. I was like, holy shit, dude. Like so good. Couldn't believe it. Yeah. These guys anyway. All right. So super bad happens. That's very, very cool. Very exciting. Yes. But I would imagine it was game changing too. That's my question. Was it disruptive or did you, did you flow with it pretty good? Cause I know Michael Sarah was, cause arrested development was, was, was just finished. Right. We were just, we were just done arrest development. We had finished the three seasons at Fox. Cause yeah, cause we finished in, in December of 2005. Okay. So then that, so are you allowed to say Rainman? I remember, he is Mary Lou Henner. Are we okay? Okay. No. I remember Michael was just, even though he'd already had some, some fame, some notoriety from arrest development, super bad was a whole nother level. And there was a level of adjustment for him. I know for sure. For you as well. Was it, was it comfortable for a bit or? I mean, it was exciting as hell, but it was crazy. It was just bizarre, you know, it was like, Can't walk down the street anymore. Yeah. And Michael and I hung out every day still. So we would go to canters. I live behind canters in Cecil department and Michael and I would just walk to canners and their people would, we'd be talking about the shit like in the, like our lives were like that movie and people would see us and they'd freak out because it's like we walked off the screen into the deli. Yeah. You know, like people think you're shooting a sequel. Yeah. It was just so bizarre, you know, it was, it was creepy. But, but are you thinking because you're, you're, how old are you at that point? 20? 22. 22. So you're at an age. I don't think I'm at will. 22 or 23. So you're at an age where you're thinking about, okay, I've, I've, I need to have a job, a career. I need to be starting thinking five years, 10 years in the future. I got to provide. I got to. So this is, are you thinking now this is, I've got some momentum. This can be my career. Is it, does it align with what your plans were, what your dreams were, what your goals were? I was obviously stoked because I loved the movie. You know, I didn't know if I'd get to work on shit. I loved, I knew I'd work in comedy in some capacity. Like I had the confidence enough to know, like I am professionally funny, even at like 18 or 19 or whatever. But I didn't like super bad was like my dream. I was like what I wanted to see. You know, so I could, I was so stoked that Judd was in the position to make the kind of movie. Those films are being made. Super, super bad comes out. You've got a pretty good idea that shit's working out. It's a huge head. It was, it was. I'm going to watch that comedy features were a huge business. I'm going to watch it tonight. I mean, I've seen it, but I'm going to watch it again. Right after arrested. Yeah. I mean, I have kids. I'm like, Oh my God, imagine when like my son, like who's three, like imagine him watching that movie. Oh my God. I never thought about that. Maybe loved it. Maybe. Is your cool kids still watching and stuff? She loved it. That's right. I love it a lot. She was very excited to be here tonight. Yeah. What I could want to know is, but it was psycho. It was psycho. Like we couldn't walk around and, and, and, and it was like so exciting and kind of scary. And then like you just cannot not become obsessed with yourself when something like that happens. It just is like, it's impossible not to become like a weird dude for like a year. Everybody's telling you, you're great. Right. So everybody's going, you're the greatest. You just have all your friends that you're still friends with from high school, but all of a sudden one of you people like respect and pay attention to. So like you just are kind of a self centered person because it's about you a lot of the time. Yeah. And like, God, that time is over and it's not about me anymore. Yeah. But you're skipping over a very interesting part where you're like, you're kind of you're munching on all the junk food of all that fame and all of that access and relevance and whatnot. And then you start to think, this is a question. What should I do about dramatic work to make sure that I'll tell you the smartest thing I did was like Michael, Michael had Juno come out like two months later. Michael Jackson. Have you seen Juno? But for real, Michael Sarah had super bad and Juno come out in like six months and it was like, he really, he was more famous than I was and, and he retreated inward and I was like, I'm going to watch Juno tonight too. Sorry. The best movie about Alaska you will ever see. So I've spoken in inward. But he, he is still, I will say to this, he is top three best friends in the world to this day. A great man. We still talk like once a week. Just finished directing a movie. Yeah. He's in post on his movie. It's going to be amazing. He's so fucking brilliant and cool and a great human being. And but what I did was I got offered a bunch of movies for the first time and I was in the comedy space or all the comedies. Yeah. And I was like, I can't make a move. None of these are as good as super bad. So I said, what to my age and what writing jobs are available? And Sasha Baron Cohen was looking for writers for the Bruno movie and I auditioned for the writers room. And I was in the writer audition like, it's like you get like a day sitting in the writers room, but I had been in the writers rooms with judge in those guys. So I got the job and I was like super, I was like arguably more famous than Sasha was at that time. And I was like a pimply writer in his writers room for like six months. I would ride by bike to the lot over here on Formosa from my apartment on Fairfax and people would be like, yo, and I would just go and write jokes because I didn't want to think about like the outside world. I didn't want to think about the pressure of like, what do I do now? Such a funny move to do that, to go to go from that to then all of a sudden just to be a writer, a staff writer on the Bruno movie. It was the best time of course, because it was like, I was like, I just got to work with one of my heroes and pitch like, I love Bruno. Like when the allergy show came out, it was like, it was like when a rest of development came out, I was like obsessed with Bruno. So like all of a sudden I was writing jokes and like Mickey Mouse was saying my jokes. Like, you know, it wasn't just like someone cool. It was like a character that I already love. He's an incredible talent. Yeah. He's an awesome guy. He was an awesome boss. I kind of want to get to it. I think you were trying to get to it, but man, you take a long time. No, I do. I'm sorry. You're allowed to. You're supposed to be speaking. We want to hear from you. Maybe am I being boring or no? No. No. This is fascinating. We love Jonah. This is one of your favorite episodes. We love this. Or do we flip over to like Dax's podcast on or no? Do we keep listening to this or fast forward? I want to, Joe, I want to get into because then you go and you start doing interesting things like Wolf of Wall Street, which you're amazing. Thank you. You're so dude. You're so. Don't skip over Moneyball. Well, I'll tell you this. Moneyball. Oh, dude. Moneyball. First of all, like really hard film to make from that book is a great book. And you're thinking, I remember thinking like, don't never do it. So far. So that movie is so great. You are so great in that movie. So you do Moneyball. Well, can I say one thing before that? I don't want to jump straight to there. We missed the credit. I know the question. I know the question. I'm trying to get to it. The question you're trying to ask is this, in my opinion, is this, is that I got, I was working for Sasha and got offered all the big comedies and I got offered the Hangover and Cyrus at the same time. And I did Cyrus. Wow. And this is why we need agents. I wish I did both because the Hangover rips and is an amazing movie and I loved Todd. But like, I was like, Cyrus didn't know what they're doing. No, no, no, but it changed my life because I wanted to do dramatic movies and comedic movies and that script in that part was incredibly and very deep and emotional and a lot like my work today. And guess what? Bennett Miller probably saw Cyrus and he probably did not see Hangover. So he saw Cyrus and he cast me in Moneyball. Let him speak. Sorry, I get so excited. Now we're caught up. I'm just bridging the, just doing a little bridge, little bridge work. So then you work, Bennett Miller, and then you work with Martin Scorsese on Wolf of Wall Street and with Leo DiCaprio. That must have been just a mind blow with the first day. Well, Moneyball was unbelievable. Yeah, of course. Like Moneyball was such a trip because like, remember my dad was a fan of that book and he was like, how are they going to make this? Michael Lewis. Yeah. How are you going to make this a movie? Didn't Aaron Swerkin write that script? And Steve Zalion. I mean, Bennett Miller is not like a household name, but if you make a movie, he is. He is such a brilliant director, the director of that film. He hasn't made a movie in years. Since Foxcatcher, I think. Yeah, since Foxcatcher. I mean, he's an amazing guy on top of so much. But didn't you want to direct early, early on? Okay. So guys, I would just work for them and sponge for them and write for them. And like Spike at that time, I would just write for him for free for like five years, whatever commercial, whatever like short film he was doing or whatever I'd help on, because I was just an intern for all these great directors that I'd get the chance to work with as an actor. And then also the comedy writers. I was like such a nerd where I'd meet someone who wrote on arrested development and geek out over them at the mall and they'd be like, what? You know? So it was, I'm so privileged because I just love the actual work of what I do. You know? So then talk about that. That's a rare ass thing, you know? Yeah. I mean, you're so incredibly lucky to have been on the sets of all these incredible directors. You find yourself cherry picking from them, finding them. The Demm Marty's like another level. Right. Another level than everybody ever. I feel like there's a bit of a paternal element there between the two. You guys seem so close and it's warm. It's genuine. He did a great cameo in the last film. Yeah, he was in Outcome, which is on Apple if you want to watch it. Great movie. Keanu Reeves. Keanu Reeves. American Treasure. Yep. But yeah, the fact that I call Marty and don't have to stop and like apologize is psychotic to me. You know? Like Simpsons and Goodfellas, I guess, would just be the two things that I think are like, if you had to like take my brain and freeze it, you'd cut it open. It'd probably be those two things. And so like, so, you know, I got to direct him. This was the first movie he gave. Did you give him a note? Huh? Did you give him a note? And then you put it together. Marty, I guess I get your shit together. Time is money, man. No, I mean, like he came in so prepared. It was honestly, the whole thing was so psychedelic, like him coming to set and me directing him. It was so psychedelic. It was like childbirth. It was like, you see like colors and you're like, this is so trippy. But then he interviewed me for interview magazine and he had to talk to me about the movie and he loved the movie. And I'm directed to other movies, which he liked, but he didn't love. And he was like, I love, he's like, this is a giant leap forward and I love this movie. And that meant a lot to me. That was fucking so powerful. The critics did not agree, but you know, I am introduced on the toilet for the first four minutes of the movie. So there's that, but you know, like to have him love the movie was fucking rad. It was fucking cool and meant a lot. And he's just the best guy you go through withdrawal after you work with him because the poor unfortunate other directors you have to work with after cannot compare. No matter how wonderful prepared and amazing they are. Is there a, is there one thing that is louder to you about the experience of working with him that is different than other directors? Is it, is it just ease on set? Something comes within a billion miles, a billion with a B. What is the one main thing do you think that he does different with the most obvious thing? President company excluded, right? So you know how like he's everyone's favorite director? Yeah. So his ideology and taste in life and everything is like your favorite person. His, so it's like, it's not, he doesn't just, director's work is like their worldview. So the reason you love Marty's work is because you love him. Right. You love his lenses he sees the world through and like. His taste. His taste, his humor, his fucking realness as you know, like you see someone in life. Here's why I know I'll be friends with somebody when you're like at the mall and you see someone and the person's being a fucking weirdo and you look to like the person you're with and you both see it without saying anything. Yeah. Marty sees the fucking weirdo that you see. He gets it. Right. He sees it all even though he's and he's Martin Scorsese at the same time. Right. You know, like he's as human and real as like the fuck is that guy doing? And he's also the biggest genius you've ever met. You're so and we're also lucky to be immersed into the thing that we chose to do because we love to do it, right? And you've been enjoyed tremendous success, both writing and acting and now directing and everything. Is there something and that really stimulates your mind? Like you said, there's my family and there's work, right? And that's all you care about. That's all you love. Yeah. Is there anything else? We're not friends. Swear to God, Jason is my actual friend. Great friend. Yeah, yeah. He is an amazing friend. For sure. But say more and I look up to him very much. He's a I would call him a mentor because I admire his relationship with his amazing wife, Amanda, and the father he is to his children. And he's great at his job and they don't have to be usually. Let's hear it for Jason. That's true. He's a wonderful human being. It is very true. He's got to go to New York tomorrow. I don't know if you heard of what he's up against. Yeah. It's just he's going to be humping it in 36. You said the intro you wrote. Yeah, I love to read it. I kind of remembered it. It was pretty close to that. I interrupt you. What was your question? No idea. I'm sorry. No, no, no. I mean, to being immersed so deeply immersed in what we'd love to do, there's got to be other things that interest you. Like I'm obsessed with space and sci-fi and all that. What are the other things that when we think of Jonah Hill instead of instead of work and family, what is the thing that's like, you know what, it's skateboarding. What is the other thing that we're like, what? I didn't know that you absolutely love. Super great question because I would be like, hobbies are a huge part of my life and happiness as well. I love Brazilian jujitsu. I love, except my body is begging me to not love it. 42 isn't my wife is often like, you're not going to become like a professional fighter. You know that, right? Like you're a comedian. But let me ask you something. If we got into it, I would fuck you up. You'd fuck up, right? I would fuck all three of you. But truly, yeah. And that's the best part. My favorite thing is people are like, oh, Jonah Hill, a fucking fat guy from Superman. And I'm like, I would fucking annihilate you. I'm not kidding. Every fight, if you see me, try it. Every fight ends up on the ground. Very quick. Who's got it? I will. Unless you are way bigger than me, I have like a fucking fuck around and find out. And also, I'm surfing, surfing. But then your kids take all that, you know, it was all that stuff like, like pandemic, no life, selfish, have no family, no wife. But then, you know, kids, it's your life. For sure. You know, like it's, there is not a free moment. Like I ask permission now to go do my hobbies, you know, because like if the kid needs, the kids need me, you know, but then you got to fill your own cup. That's why I call guys with Jason, like Jason to be like, how do you balance this shit? Right. I have a secret fantasy of wanting to get into a fight. And because I've never been into it. It's not a fantasy. I feel really bad for the other guy. Sean just likes the ground and pound situation. By the way, I'm being funny, by the way. I would fuck you up, but I am being funny. You started, you like Jiu Jitsu. I'm going to start a new one called ground and pound. Yeah. I'm going to teach you. Groundandpound.com is not what you think it is. Get it now. Yeah. No, I've never been in a fight and I've always been like that has to feel like. Dude, acting and like I hadn't acted in a long time and now I'm out there. Maybe you're going to take a role and like start acting for other people. I'm so excited to act like almost like I'm excited about to serve for Jiu Jitsu. Like, because you've been away for a while or because of the directing and now you're going to bring that perspective to the acting. Yeah. Like I haven't done a movie where I acted for another director. I did McKay's movie, don't look up and you people with Kenya, which was such a fun experience. I saw Lauren London today. Shout out Lauren London. I fucking love you. Shout out Kenya. Shout out McKay. Shout out all the homies. And then what am I talking about? And then so your hobbies. Acting. Yeah. Like I was like, I might take a job and I'm like, dude, I'm so excited to like just put on the t-shirt you tell me to put on and go be funny. Yeah. Like I want to do like I'm so excited like I was when I was young and fun feeling, you know? Yeah, I do know. What about daddy stuff? What's your favorite part about it? You were amazing. I called you back. You guys see is this thing on Will was so incredible. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. And Bradley's just amazing. So incredible. Yeah. Who don't you like? I'm kidding. I'm just kidding. It's more like who doesn't like me unfortunately. What is your favorite part about daddy stuff? What have you found is your favorite thing to do with your kid that you kids that you didn't think that you didn't know you were going to love? I knew I was going to love it. I just prayed that I'd be able to do it in the right way. You know? So I'm so proud of what I get to do. Every second of it is so sick because like even when he's like three and crazy because one of the ones a little baby, you can only yell at him, scream yourself, horse it him so much. How's your swaddle game? I was a joke. How's your swaddle game? Are you a good swaddler? No, he's out of. Yeah. No, I'm not a good swaddler. I'm a good diaper change. Was a good diaper change? No. Jay, but there's a whole swaddler. Swaddling is when you take and you wrap up. Well, they're probably past the young ones probably past the swaddling now. Yeah. But like swallower. No. Swaddler. That's on ground in pound.com. Amanda, did Jason, did he get in the swaddle? He did. For real. A great swaddler and a great diaper changer-upper. Making your kid, like seeing your kid come up with something that he thinks is funny to make you laugh. Like knowing that he thinks of something that is funny in his three-year-old mind and then tries to be like, dada, and then says, which is usually, oh fuck, or wiener, because he's my son. And he'll be like, dada, oh fuck. And I'm like, family business, baby, get out there. Are you enjoying, well, he's still a little bit teal, but like, I'll bet you're going to enjoy starting to feather in like your sense of humor to him. And like, you know, he'll start to like pick up on that from you and it'll start to maybe become kind of his sense of humor too. Like I remember, I think it was, I think it was Maple, Maple, was it you or was it Franny? I remember, I'll never forget what type, what have I said to be like, daddy, how come you never smile after you say something funny? And it was like, you know, just like kind of like, well, because if you smile, then you know it's a joke. If you don't smile, then it's kind of dry. And that's like sarcasm. Like it was like so weird that I was trying to formulate what the answer would be to that. But like, you don't know what the answer is that it's just like, your kids have never seen you smile. Think about that. Yeah, that's what it is. Think about how fucking traumatized they are. Comedy is not supposed to be fun in our house. Stop laughing. I mean, you don't have to teach them. They just watch you. They just watch you. Right. That's what I mean. It's like you start to just like, I don't know. I just I don't want to go tomorrow. You're going to be brilliant. Yeah, I would be having a nervous breakdown if my kids were going to college because I think about I start crying sometimes. I'm like a little baby myself because I'll look at them and be like, if like you're a teenager and don't want to hang out with me, I'll I'll cry every night. You know, like I can't imagine them. Well, here's something that somebody said. Somebody said to me that sort of like got me off the ledge when when your kids go to college, you've got a long time to go and make it. You're not going to college. Maple's got another four or five years. So I'm still the tears are still pretty low. But when Franny, my eldest left, I was like, I'm not going to do well with this. Fortunately, she goes to school in town, so I'm OK. But somebody said to me a few years before she left, she said, you're not losing your four year old. Like it's not your four year old does not leave. It's an 18 year old that's probably been spending a lot of weekends out at friends, houses, stuff like so it gets feathered in and it's not like, boom, your your four year old, your 10 year old is like leaving the house. It's it's you're actually excited for them to leave the nest or flap in the wings. And it's it's you know, you've like knowing you relationship with your daughters. You've seen them blossom into these incredible people. So you're like, go shred. Yeah, you're excited to watch them go play the guitar. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, you'll love it. Radical. It's all it's all a blessing. Yeah. All right, we're we're about done here. These people, they probably want to pee or do something or get the hell out of here. In closing, though, we're done. Oh, my God, we don't take it. I was so boring. What? Oh, talk to us about the film that's out right now. And the film that's coming out that you I saw that one, too. That one's fucking great. You guys are going to have to wait a little bit longer on that. You're still in post on that. Tell us also gives the best notes because you're such a great director. Oh, yeah, yeah. So but you're a pro Jason. It says it. Incredible. And we'll and I are we'll and I are friends, but it's like a newer friendship. And then Shannon and I are going to become friends. That's right. Right after this. You're sleeping over tonight. Yeah, we're going to watch Superbad tonight. Yes, right. Beat beat beat him up. Yeah. If you'd like to shit beat now to you, please let me know. Sean's got to sing. Come on down to San Diego. Well, I'll treat you right. Looking to rear view mirror. San Diego, so Joe could beat me up. Traffic was a nightmare. Let's go. Yeah. So tell us about these two films. New movies called Outcome and you can stream it on Apple and it's Keanu Reeves and myself and Cameron Diaz and the great Matt Boomer, who's incredible and a bunch of amazing people. David Spade, Laverne Cox, really amazing cast. And it's a really funny movie. And if you want to enjoy yourself at home and then pause it and take a piss and get snacks and stuff, you can totally go do that. But it's also got filmmaker stuff in it. Like you shot it beautifully and it scored beautifully. And it's like it's it's you're doing it. And now and this and then this next one, this next one is just pure stupidity. So it is just all of what the concept is. It's dumb. I'm about to go on a run of just the dumbest shit you've ever seen in your entire life. So I hope you left your brains at home. So it's called Cut Off and Kristen Wiig and I play two dumb ass heirs, rich, rich kids in their mid forties who get cut off by their rich parents played by Beth Midler and Nathan Lane. So that's it. It is like Step Brothers, Clueless, Trading Places. It's so great. Classic comedy and Kristen Wiig is the American treasure. I've been so lucky. My last two movies, Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz and Kristen Wiig and Beth Midler and Nathan Lane. I'm the luckiest guy, but it's going to be in theaters. Shout out Mike and Pam and Jesse at Warner Brothers. And we are trying to bring comedy movies back to the. Yes. Yeah. It's about time. It's about time. There haven't been we've been there. Haven't been enough comedy movies getting made. And I think it's about time. And I hope that you're like I'm glad you're leaving. I am dedicating the fort till you guys make me stop. Yeah, the break is over. We want more of you more often, higher frequency, your breaks over, move back up from San Diego, or at least that I'm not doing. But I promise to try and make a movie every year. That's funny. Please do. Critics do your best. You cocksuckers. And then and I'm going to make people laugh. So fuck y'all. That's great. I love that. We love you, buddy. We love you, John. Jonah Hill. Jonah Hill. Thank you. Thank you. I hope that was OK. I love you, dude. I'm sorry I regret that. No, that's OK. That's OK. We're going to do the wrap up. We're going to do the wrap up. We're going to do the wrap up. Yeah. No, we got to do the wrap up. We got to do the wrap up. We're going to do the wrap up. Sean, I find is the most genuine, warmest, sincere, attentive friend I could ever ask to have. That's a true story. That's very nice. Will has all of that and just happens to make me laugh more than anybody I've ever met in my life. Yes. Thank you. You're pretty funny too. Jason. Take your time. It's going to take a minute. To think of something? You are. You're so Jason, you know? Which is what we love about you. You're just, you're like, no, Jason is such a sweet boy. This is awkward. No, it's true. And he's, and he's, you've made such a great thing of yourself. You've really turned around. I mean, you kind of grew up in the woods and you just, you got out and you're a beautiful person. And he's, and I give him shit. We give him shit for being so, you know, but he's so squishy on the inside. Yes. He is such a sweet boy. Yes. I love, I love you because you also are a genuinely kind person and you really think of other people. And I, you are one of the, you're grabbing my ass right now. And you're one of the smartest people I've ever known in my entire life. And, and yes, you're squishy inside. This fella is also super squishy. The funniest person on the face of the planet, both of them are, and I love you guys both. I love you too. And I said, Sean and I were texting last night about something and I, you know, you have those moments. What one of the great things is that about our friendship, and I don't know why we're doing this, but is we love each other. And, and I think it's the age that we've gotten to, where we can tell each other that we love each other. Yeah. And it feels really great to be able to do that. Yeah. And I said, Sean sent me a text last, we talked on the phone and then he sent me a really lovely text afterwards. And like Jason said, you cannot meet a person who is more consistently supportive and kind than Sean Hayes. You can try. No. And constantly, he checks in on everybody he loves. He's always so selfless and it's unbelievable. And JB's the same. I feel very, very honored that we get to do that. You guys listen to us. Yeah. Fuck around. I don't know if you guys get to work with your best friend. They are truly my two best friends. You guys let me work with them and have the greatest time of my life and talk to some of the most interesting people in the world. So we cannot thank you enough. Yeah. We really, really appreciate it. We do. And we do. I also want to say sorry. Thank you to Bennett and to Rob and to Michael Graniteri. There's Rob Armio. Rob, put your hand up. This is a. There's Bennett over there. Yeah. Rob. And where's Michael Terry? Michael Terry somewhere. Michael Terry is somewhere. But there's Michael Terry. There's it is. It is six of us. The six of us. Our great partners is serious, but it is the six of us that make this thing happen. And so without them, we wouldn't have. And we didn't want to let another moment go. Bye. Bye. Bye. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. SmartLess is 100% organic and artisanally hand-crafted by Bennett Barbicot, Michael Grant Terry, and Rob Armjurf. SmartLess.