"Nick Kroll"

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Well good day. Good day. Fifty-nine. Nine sixty-two. What the hell? No, but be but we be real. I'm I I I I actually what are you? I'm 57. I think you're 50. You've always been a year younger, right? Are you still? Or did you pass? I think you passed me. What Oh god, this backfired so much. Welcome to Smartless.

Oh hi. I'm just finishing up a text here and sending. Okay. Wonderful. Yeah, now I'm back with you. I'm glad you could come today. And JB, we're having a little bit of an earlier start today. So I'm imagining your morning because I know you bake in two hours, baseball season is on. So you're active on the trade front, you're managing your various leagues. Yeah. Well I've I've uh I've fast forwarded through the final six innings of uh last night's game. Right. You tape the games? Every night.

Every one of them. I I watch every He watches them at like five A. You watch him live. Well I I I f I I don't I just don't get'em done before I go to sleep. Um and so I finish'em up the next morning. That's it helps me get out of bed. I've got the rest of the game to watch. That's a reason to wake up in the morning. Okay, so let me f ask you a question. Do you fast forward in between each play? Yeah.

I watch Wheel of Fortune the same way. Not even kidding. I'll fast forward through the picking of the letters until they get the the the puzzle kind of halfway down to It's something that you can figure out. Yeah, exactly. Sean and do uh does uh anybody ever get like get one guess one so early that you just It surprises you so much that you that you like you have a mistake with the with the canned cheese. Like does it go all over your hand at that point? Like oh Ha ha ha.

Or do you ever like point it to your temple like as if you're trying to kill yourself, you know, and you just squeeze it all over the side of your face? Like like what is it called? Cheese wig? So so J B, so so I know J B does a bake in, so he bakes in the time. So bacon is dodger game speed through, right? Then as soon as it's over and not before, I then go to my scores, my my points, how many points I've accrued on my fantasy baseball. Coffee coffee is accompanying all of this.

Coffee's very fur. Very phenomenal. Sure. And it it's a long fuse, so it needs time to burn down into the For the bomb. You need to light the fuse with coffee. I never that's why I don't drink coffee, is because I don't want to be dependent on it. Well, uh, it's not that bad to depend on, you know. Like you got uh a half hour TikTok until the dynamite gets hit and then off you go. Right.

You don't have a fuse mechanism. You could find yourself leaving for your day and then you're out in the middle of the community and um In the community. And you know what in the community? So you smell something burning. You know? You gotta get to a bunk. For sure, I understand. And that's unfortunate. All right, so we're back to baseball. I I check my scores. Check your score.

And then um and then I start doing my loop around the internet. And um it's pretty uh it's a pretty highbrow loop, you know, Will. I'm not dicking around with So it's not. Gossip sites. Yeah, I'm seeing what's going on.

And actually it's funny you say that. So this morning I had that same thing where I woke up and I did I did my little my games with my little crew, coffee, obviously accompanying it and then Oh right. So w yeah yeah. So your your your bake Still in that old. Yeah. So he's still doing wortal, quirtal, and octortal. Yeah. Uh-huh. So that takes you um and and the gum is as good as it sounds. Sorry, just checking real quick. Um

What what um how long does it take you usually to do those three things? Twenty minutes. It depends because the way we play it is the winner from the day before picks the starter word that you have to use for all three uh boards the next day. Mixed it up. The starter word that you have to use on all three boards the next day. Oh really? So today's word was sadly. Um Yeah, they always get you with an L Y.

Oh and and like and you know, certain people like will pick dicky words to to fuck you over and it fucks themselves over too. Sure. Um And and a dicky word would be something that doesn't really provide a lot of vowels or a lot of consonants. On Easter on Easter our our pal put in bunny. Sure. Okay? From the night before. It's fascinating, but B U and N Y is a desert when it comes to the U.S. Yeah. So it really messed us up. So today, so you do so I do that, get that wrapped up, and then uh

How'd you do today? You feel good about your sport? I did I made a I made a Here we go, Sean. This is why I don't know. Really well here here was interesting. The n the day the word from yesterday was Sadly and this morning it was a word on Octurles, so we all had a one. Oh. Which which is rare, yeah. And so and then I was like, Oh, I'm killing it, and I made one error on the third word in a turtle. Yeah. Good Sean, get him. Um, what was your what was your error, you fucking moron?

I I don't even want to go into it. I actually this is what a loser I am. I audibly went, No! Because the letter was already not supposed to be there and I did it and I had like a brain and I'm fucking anyway. Uh but what I was gonna get to was I I then I turned on the news, I looked at some of the news online, you know, did a little search around, same sort of thing. And it was such a bummer and I thought to myself, and I it's not the first time I thought

Why am I starting myself out in a rut? Mm-hmm. I gotta now I gotta rally to die at this point. I'm so low. Right. I'm so because the news is, as we know, so much of it is so depressing and so and and I thought By the time I stopped looking at New York Times, Bloomberg, Washington Post, all these I I I thought Right. Well then what's the w the alternative is is is maybe uh tweaking your algorithm such that Just not or not looking like

But what if you go to Instagram and it's and it you've you've managed to get the algorithm pointed towards, you know, unicorns and and rainbows and stuff and you get uplifting messages and all that stuff. Sure. Sure. I think that that's pos f for sure. But I think that actually what I what I came to today was I talked to Shawnee earlier, uh after I got off the thing and I talked to him, we talked about stuff and it kind of that was good as a palate cleanser.

And then I was like, you know what, I I think from now on I should play my game, put my My three games, put the phone down and do some go outside like two days ago, because I was still a jet lag, I started my little walk that you've done with me before, Loma Vit. I I started at six fifteen. This is with the ankle weights, wrist weights, uh leg warmers and the weighted vest. With my elbows, right? Way to vest. Ha ha ha. Way best with with with a with a visor and spiky hair.

Yeah. And you do one of one of the uh sort of a face shield, one of those droopy um masks to keep the sun off your No, I've got I've got pharmacy like Florida sunglasses you can put over your glasses full around Okay. We got Watchman headphones. Any sort of reflective material on your back so you don't get run over? But I'm full sleeves, full sleeves. Yeah. Субтитры сделал DimaTorzok But to wrap it up, I think that that's the way because I I feel like I it was starting in.

Have you tried meditation? Have you ever tried meditation? I have to do a Shutting the fuck up. How about that? Huh? Let's get to the guests. Thank you, Sean. What do you got for us today? Wait, really quick. No. No, no, no. Um last night I was walking and uh I ran into, you know what a bollard is? One of those cement stoppers at the end of a s up a street or a sidewalk. Yeah. And it was like na oh god I ran. You walked in and Oh oh you're talking about something that's about nard height.

Yes, exactly. It's just a little higher than a fire hydrant. And it was painted black. Okay. So that people are not going to be able to do that No, no, it's at the Waverly Inn restaurant. Oh. Nice out there. So did you catch it right in the nards? Ah no, right above the knee and I couldn't. And that got hurt. Did you did you call Graydon Carter uh for a reservation? Yeah. No, no, no, no. Oh, you didn't? No, no. Did Scotty throw you over his shoulder and walk you home?

Basically it was right in front it was right in front of a taxi and we were saying goodbye and I was like I ran right into the thing with my Well let's Okay, well, great time. No. I just walked right into it. Yeah. No. All right, let's get to it, right? What's your step count a day? I I'm guessing. Four hundred? Sorry. Ha ha ha ha.

My guest today accidentally taught his two year old son to say, I'm a coward, which made me laugh when I read that. He went to Georgetown and majored in history. His father's job included tracking the hidden fortunes of dictators. After bombing at his first college comedy competition, the guy that won invited him to audition for a sketch show and that changed the course of his life.

He's voiced about eighty animated characters, for real. And the kid he met on the first day of first grade became his best friend and creative partner, helping turn their own humiliating stories about puberty into one of Netflix's longest running scripted originals. It's the insanely funny and super talented Nick Kroll. Nicholas Crowe. Hey boys. Okay. Oh, you gotta take it. He's gonna take it down.

I have not spoken yet today and I'm listening to my voice and I that was like the first thing I've said all day. Wouldn't it wouldn't it be amazing if we all wouldn't it be amazing if we all had a w had a had a word limit each day? Like if every person For you it would be, yeah. But could you imagine if you had to budget out your words for the day? That that would be pretty interesting. Imagine, huh? Well, you come up with some fun ideas.

Nick, you are East Coast because you've already got a smart looking jacket on. I'm I'm on the West Coast. I was debating on taking the jacket off before, but I'm dealing with what you guys are seeing is this center stage video where I'm gonna be constantly cameras gonna be following me. Thank you.

you can turn it off if you want I d I know I can I can't figure out how but Wait, why do you look you look so damn good already this morning? That's the one. Did you have a call back earlier? I got uh yeah, I've it's a Lipton cup of soup. It's uh the three p.m. slump. Did you crush it? It I felt good. I felt really good in the room. feedback yet. Yeah. Supposedly they wanted a better looking and older though. Oh Oh. You are in the running. Yeah, so I you guys are honestly We're the demo.

Telse's calling, guys. Nick Crow What's up? Man, it's been a long time. How are you? I'm great. It's really good to see you guys. Um See you. Nick, the first time I met you was I think was at Ted Saranders' a couple years ago at the Grammy dinner thing. Yes. Right? What were You two doing it a Grammy. Yeah. Yeah. category. And we were doing a duet. It was a Bet Midler and Barry Manilo thing and they had us play Who played bat?

Right, right. No, but I I you were so kind and I felt uh I immediately felt this like rhythm with you and I was like, Oh, I would love to get to know you more Yeah. Here we go. Fuck it, this is unbelievable. Every time I felt a connection with you. Money. Let me get put your number in the chat. Fucking number you joke. Yeah. Let's go for lunch and wrap up how we think we did. I'm close by. What's your story later? All the time. You're so smart and funny and handsome and Uh

Let's go on a run. You wanna go for a run? Wait, wait, wait. Yeah. Um Wait, so that that was the first time that you guys had met? I actually met you many, many, many years earlier. There was a guy who used to do uh a like treasure hunts around LA like Yeah. A lot of you're talking about the LARF. I don't know if that's what it was.

Before Amazing Race. I remember that. And it was it was just like the Amazing Race. And this this guy organized just a bunch of people to go do this around Los Angeles. It was really fun. Yeah, so I you were there and you w like I was just sort of starting and you were one of the most uh famous people in the world. in that group of thoughts. And uh so I saw you and I said one day they're gonna make podcasts, and I'm gonna hit on him at Ted Sarrando's podcast.

Wait a second. You're skipping over that you predicted podcasts. Yeah, yeah. We had to get to Madame Tussaud's to find uh That's true. That's true. Oh wait, so I JB, do you remember in the 90s they they the these guys had a game going for a while? And they were both out of Stanford. There was one no, there was another one where we went around and everybody had a s you had a squirt gun and it was like a game of tag around. I did that as a kid. My daughter does that as senior.

and I was like, Can you imagine walking onto a lot now with a with a water gun? So so it it at uh at Franny School, so it's senior assassin, um, the uh if you get hit with a s with a water gun, you're out. Um and the only way that you can sort of uh protect yourself, inoculate yourself from getting some sort of a surprise hit

is wearing swim goggles out in public all day, every day, or swim floaties. So you see like these students are all around town, you know, like markets and shoppings and It's really fun. It's pretty it's pretty cool. But these scavenger hunts things, these high end scavenger hunts, I'm pissed that they've gone away. We should resurrect that. Let's do it. Yeah. Let's do it guys. You guys have a lot of free time. Do you want to start getting into Let's do Organizing. Look at that.

Local city tra scavenger. I'm gonna organize it.

Nick Crow, let's get into it. You you first of all, thanks for being here. And and I did I didn't mean that. I just felt like a comedy connection with you. You were very funny right off the bat, and I felt like I'd known you. But anyway, And he's funny. Very nice. What's not to get a rhythm with? Um so wait, is that true? Eighty voices, eighty, eight, zero. I think so that's what I I think so. And a and and is it like if I threw out names, could you d you don't want to do that?

Probably could. I mean I'm a monkey. I'll give you what you need. Let's get it. Yeah. Okay. I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna do a a a a fat uh look here we had Gunter from Sing and Sing too. Oh yeah, this is Gun Top from Sing. Okay. Big move. Nothing makes me laugh quicker than a German accent. It's... Okay. What about douche from Sausage Party? Douche was uh Come at me, bro. Yeah. No but wait, but no but wait, do douche from sausage parties.

Okay, so wait. So Douchroom Sausage Party, we did that's the Rogan movie and they they ha I did the whole thing as like a sort of a British villain, like a you know, the classic Disney British like Jafar kind of voice and then or like uh scar from Lion King and it just wasn't working and we did one last record where they r rewrote it as that character was kind of a this character did Bobby Bottle service who's kind of yeah.

Remember Bob Bobby Bottleserwise. Wait, Nick, I'm you did your you did Nick, you did um your series on Netflix. Uh Big mouth. Yeah. And so we gotta clear the we gotta clear the air on this. Do you know what I'm getting you know what I'm getting at? Of course. So we've never talked about it. So for years people have commented me, hit me in the thing, talked to me in real life. I've been in line at the store. Do you do the voice of there's a character on your show that people thought was me?

Mori the hormone monster. Is that what it is? Everybody thinks Yeah. Ha ha And that's you, Nick? Nick Doing our net. No, it's I mean this is okay, so here's the backstory here. Let's clear the air on this. Clear and finally. Finally. Um So uh I we d we did the show Big Mouth. It's about kids going through puberty. And my friend Andrew Goldberg, who Sean mentioned, I met in first grade. We created the show together. He had been at Family Guys for years. We've been friends forever.

And he and uh Mark and Jen, our other partners, came to me with an idea about an animated show about kids about me and Andrew at thirteen going through puberty. Yeah. And immediately was like, great, this makes this I really see the show. So we started working on it and Andrew started talking, but he's like, you know, and and like I think my guy who he was a really early, early developer, you know, he just hit puberty at like Five.

And had a full beard by eight, you know? And he was, and he was sort of like, I think my character was like, with like something encourages him to jerk off. Like there, he's got like a hormone monster. And I immediately was, literally immediately was like.

Touch yourself, Andrew. And it was like that was the voice. Because I'd been doing this guy I'd been doing this guy, Nash Rickey. I had a sketch show called Croll Show, and Nash Ricky was sort of like a hair metal guy who was also like had O C D and Wait, did was Pete was Pete Giles part of that? Yes, P. Giles was part of that. Yeah. Yeah. We had a we had a song called LA Deli, and it was just about all the delis in LA, like like California girls.

Uh because all those guys like hung out at you know fucking canters and all this stuff. Anyway, so I did this voice. Nash Ricky. So I then we go to do Big Mouth, we develop it, we make it. It comes out. I've known Will forever. Will is on the air with Bojack at this, like so.

The same time, Bojack is like the the premier fucking animated show. It never crossed my mind that anyone would be like, is that our net? And then we start the show and it works and everybody's like Can't believe you got You sound like Arnette. Yeah. I am back. And Nick, I I'm honestly I can't tell you how many people over the years I'm like, no, it's not. I think it's I I didn't know if it was you, but I was like, I think it's crow. That's it's just Yeah. No, we did eight we did eight seasons.

That's remarkable. And whereas yeah, we'll we'll have done we we did m more of those than basically any other scripted Netflix uh show. I think besides Ozark, how many have you guys done now? 140? It felt like a hundred forty. No. It was uh four and a half, maybe, season? It's a good thing. So anyway, so we did it and uh and we're about to put out a new show uh called Mating Season. It's the same team. That looks so great. What's the what's a premiere on that, Sean? What's a premiere, Dave?

I jumped it. I jumped it. I got fucking. Scrolling, scrolling. I'm so sorry. Check the chat. Maybe Michael Granteria sent it to you. Oh my god. Double back at the end, Sean. Okay. We'll be right back.

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Your idea of banking that's personal happens here. RBC. Ideas happen here. And now back to the show.

Carl, so I know you so I feel like the first time I saw you was at UCB over twenty years ago. I think the first time we met you were maybe doing monologues at ASCAT one night. I think that would be a good thing. Makes sense. Like early two thousands. Yeah. And and I you were so funny. It was one of those like the first time I saw you was like, oh this dude is fucking hilarious.

Thanks like right out of the gate. And then you just went on to do what I love is that you went on and you and Mulaney did so much c cool stuff. Uh y it you did a you did a show on Broadway. You did you did show you did sketches, you did sketch shows. You've just done y what I love is how many different kinds of things you have done. You do stand up, you do all of it.

And is there a Is there do you now at this point do you go like, oh it feels too spread out, I want to concentrate on this because I know you just did a stand up special. I just watched it. It's so good. Kind of where you wanna go or do you feel like you still wanna just do millions of different things? I mean I like what I'm shooting for is like a B minus across the board. If you can shoot for a B minus, you can do so much.

Really you don't shoot too high, you stay general and broad, and then nobody can attack you for fully committing to anything. Oh I know that. It's all about longevity. It's all about just staying right in the middle for as long as possible and then they can't don't get too tired. Wait, th the three of us, J B, you, me and and Kroll did that animated show with Mitch Hurwitz. Um

Sit down, shut up. My that was very yeah, that was uh it was literally right after arrested. And that it was us and Forte. Before T. Yeah. Yeah, I want to watch that again. I remember the animation being. That we had. Yeah, pla I'm playing a character I would not currently play. Yeah. Copy that. Copy. No. Oh, let's let's explain. Uh his name was Andrew Legustambos, and it was a uh Legustambos. He liked he was a bisexual uh Latin teacher. Yeah. Do you think?

No, but literally, if you started that today, do you think that um today's culture would attack as much as it did, let's say, even six months to a year ago? No, I think everything is I feel like things are kind of settling. I mean, I don't think I would play that character right now, but I but I but I do think things are settling a bit. Like all of that stuff. um that I think you're we're finding a l different levels now to it, you know? Right. Right. Yeah.

Wonder why. I mean the issues haven't gone away, but maybe the the the the tolerance and the Exploration of finding humor in things that are more challenging is is is more uh around. I don't I don't know. I think there's a general I I mean, I think there's polarizing views of it, but I think there's a general attempt to be more thoughtful about what we're doing or how we're doing it. And if you're generally more thoughtful, then I think there's more.

A little more r room for rep different versions of people playing different versions of people. I think in that way. You know? I th I think also there's there's a the interesting we have to pay more attention to intent. You know? And and and if the intent is to injure or to sideline or to to Minimize. Yeah, yeah. Then there's no room for it. That for our personal friendships, right? Yeah, of course. Exactly. In family. In family.

Uh wait, so Nick, when you first started out and mentioned in the intro, you you you bombed fresh mirroring comedy competition. Yeah. And the guy who won and then gave you the opportunity was Mike Burbiglia, right? Yes. No way. Yeah, that's crazy. I mean that's crazy. Where was

It was at Georgetown. We did this thing called the funniest act on campus. And I'd never done comedy before in any real capacity. And there were you know, it's like flyers up. Yeah. And I went and did it. I was really nervous about it. And I just uh I showed up and my whole bit was that I was gonna get on stage and go, you know, I thought I'd be so nervous, but I'm super relaxed and then I was gonna piss my pants. Like that button That's a great bet. It's a good bit, right? I got that.

Well except I did not prepare. I got I was like, you know, I was a freshman. Yeah I was I was like had drank and like you know I was just like so nervous that I showed up. And I had not I had not I was gonna bring like a water balloon and a pen and like pop the water you know what I mean? I thought I didn't so but I forgot all of it. So I grabbed like a empty a sandwich bag in the trash and gr and grabbed a pen and just Got on stage and just like jammed. Over and over.

The pen into this like water bag in my pocket so it just looked like I was jerking jerking off on stage basically, which is what I've been doing ever since.

But Mike Mike won Mike had like a solid five minutes as like a sophomore and he won the competition and uh got to start hosting at the DC improv and then He was doing a sketch show later that year and invited me to audition and I did that audition and then got cast and we went to like a kid's apartment on campus and read uh all these sketches and I like l it was truly the one time my life I walked out of that thing I was like This is it. Yeah. This is all I this is it. This is what I want to do.

What were you s what were you studying at Georgetown at the time? I was studying history and uh minoring in art and Spanish, just kind of like coasting, coasting on privilege. Waiting waiting for something to hit you, um to to to do or were you going to make a career out of history? I was gonna I I don't know. I think I was just

I truly was coasting, you know, I I just was like I liked history'cause I think I liked telling stories. Um but I think I was still scared to like write in you know, so English wasn't didn't feel entirely Safe and then we started doing and so we I auditioned for that sketch show and we literally then went at the we did our sketch. And then and it the show was I mean, we bombed, but I met all these guys who I continue to know and work with still, including Brabiglia.

And then UCB was just about to come on the air and they came down to GW and did a show uh at GW. It was like a big improv festival. And it was the first time I saw those guys and I f my mind fully exploded. Did they do Bucket of Truth? Yeah. It was little Donnie. Yeah. And uh but I saw that and then and then moved to the city that summer or kids started going to the city. We did it at a workshop at UCB and

And are Will, you know Owen Burke. Very you guys all know Owen. Owen was my brother's roommate in college, and Owen started had just started at UCB. So I started going to UCB, started going to ASCAT as a fan, you know, as like uh and could not believe what I was. Seeing. I agree. I had the same first of all, I had the same sa sensation. I saw them do Bucket of Truth uh in nineteen ninety-six. They c just moved from Chicago. Can you tell me what bucket of truth

It w it was a sketch show that they did. Um and and they it w they did it downstairs at the West Bank on on forty second street, the r the restaurant. They had a little space down there. And I was like, What and it was Walsh and Amy and Besser and in and um

uh Ian Roberts and I was like, what the fuck? Like watching what these guys did. So I loved it. And then they they started doing it, uh they started doing Ask At at that other place, solo arts on seventeenth Street before they moved into their theater. And I would go every Sunday And uh JB, you remember my old roommate Duff. I had lived with Duff and I had been roommates years, but you know Duff too, right? I know Duff, yeah, a little bit through Owen and

True Owen. And so I said to Ow I I said to Owen and Duff, I go, You guys gotta I said, Let's go to this thing and see these guys. And Owen came along to I Oh wow. I brought him to his first UCB show and he ended up as artistic director of UCB. Yeah isn't that wild? Okay. Yeah, that is well.

Good man. And and that was sort of so I started coming and and we would go and I and I was, you know, I went to solo arts once or twice and saw those shows and then would go to the theater at twenty second street and like sit on the side, you know, wait and sit on the side and look up and it was like all these people, you know, who were you know, who were just popping on Conan and Like Glazer and Tina and McKay would be there and all.

Yeah, it just was like it and as soon as I literally as soon as I saw it The first did st did that sketch little sketch show and then join the improv group myself where it was like done. I'll do back to sort of what you're saying, I was like, I'll do anything. Get me get me close to this. I'll do anything.

But but to speak more about you know, cause you uh I'm just I'm always fascinated with people at that age where you uh need to or you think you need to uh commit to a career and you have to really think about making rent and feeding yourself and like you're you're out from the nest at home. And um a and so you're at this opportunity at an incredible university. Um you're you you haven't really picked uh uh an occupation, an industry, uh a path.

Um at what point did you feel like, oh okay, there's enough momentum going in this lane where I need not can continue to consider other means of support? Well, for me after Silver Spoon, I just wanted to have fun. You know what I mean?

But singular. This is why I'm so curious about it,'cause it was like I'd had this momentum since I was a little kid, but I I I I still at eighteen I thought, well, is it ever is it gonna last? I maybe I should I should study something else that's a little bit more reliable. Well so so going back, so the other thing my connection to to Jason a bit is that you you're originally from Rye, right? Or your family. So I'm from Rye, New York. Oh no way. Yeah. So um you know, I grew up with

plenty of privilege. So I went to c I never had like the the privilege was that I could sort of be like, what do I wanna do? And I went to college and I started and I, you know school was never exactly my thing. I was fine at it. Right. But as soon as I started doing improv and comedy and sketch, I was like, I'll do anything, like I'll print f you know, like I'll d I'll go anywhere at any hour to get this done. And when I moved to New York

I had I did have the the real n the privilege of knowing that I could fall back. Like if it didn't work, I could go get a job somewhere. Like I was gonna it was gonna be okay. Yeah. Um But I it was the I the thing I feel so lucky about is that I had such a clear I knew I knew I wanted I knew as soon as I started doing it this is all I wanted to do. And any work now the question of whether I was gonna make it is the intangible.

Right. But I think the idea for me was like, well I'm gonna regret the fuck out of this if I don't try. Right. You recognize that it was something that really fed your soul, that you were decent at it, you liked the the attaboys, and it was sort of self perpetuated. Yeah. And it's never it's never waned, in at least for me. Interest because it's interesting because J B you do have that as well at the same time.

This was that this was your thing since before you can remember doing anything else, really, since you were a little kid. There was never like, hey, I'm gonna try my hand at this. You were in it. You were always in it, right? I mean I don't mean to say that you Yeah, I'm trying to you know I'm I'm not saying that you didn't have a choice, but that was your in a lot of ways, it was your job. It became your passion.

Yeah, I I I'd I'd I had realized that I was halfway decent at something before I needed to have something that I was halfway decent at. And so that was a that was a And and and I think for you on that. Like, stop it. God. Let's get our rhythm going. Yeah. Number in the chat. No, oh no, not another rhythm connection.

Uh but JB, you had that that second gear for you. The thing that you found was when directing and seeing you light up at this stage of your life when you talk about directing is the same way I think that I I certainly did and Nick the way you describe it, discovering this thing where you go. Oh I love this. I gotta do this. I'll print flyers. I'll do whatever it takes. True. You kind of have it for direction. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like ten, twelve years ago or fifteen years ago.

Right. And and if and like anyone out there, you know, if if you if you were lucky enough to get paid t a little bit to do something that you would pay somebody else to do, right?'Cause you it's you you you love it so much. Um, that's the sort of fuel that can really travel you into success and longevity and uh instead of just punching a clock, you know, if it's something that really is passion.

Nick, just quickly did you do uh cause you worked with a lot of great people. We mentioned Mitch Hurwitz and and obviously Mulaney. You've had a lot of great partners and and collaborators. Uh another funny dude that we know that we all connect with is John uh Levenstein. Worked on a call show. Yeah. Super, super funny. Funniest, most bizarre man in the world. Sweetest man, too. And honestly I just have to say it since we just mentioned it, the Kroll show is one of my favorite shows of all time.

I mean it's so funny. And Levenstein was a big part of that, right? Yeah, he was the I'm uh y he was the showrunner uh and he had come uh we hired him I mean I met him doing this uh cartoon called Life and Times of Tim. Oh yeah, ended up on HBO. That was like and Giles, that's how I met Giles. Good job.

Yeah, that's how I met Giles originally, which made Yeah. And uh one of the great voices. Talk about our You think we got some gravel. That motherfucker You can catch him, you can hear him everywhere. Yeah. It's the world. Serious? He's on fuck. Uh so it is, yeah, I mean I uh hey by the way, Jason, I'm so sorry Zootopia didn't work out.

But uh They can't all be winners on the V stuff. I do I do envy what you guys can do with VO. I I still feel like I'm just leaving voicemail messages. I I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing. Jason Jason, oh Jason, I forgot to tell you last week I was uh I was out east and uh I was with ha out for dinner with my little guy Denny, who's five.

And there's this couple sitting next to us and they're talking about and they've got like a seven year old girl and they're talking about Zootopia and and my guy Denny goes, I saw Zootopia too, and they're like, We love Zootopia too. And he goes, And he comes up and he goes, Dad, can I tell him? And I go, Tell him and he goes, About Jason. And I got... Sure and it goes. My my dad's friend Jason uh is the voice of Nick. Yeah. My son is five. It was so sweet. I know. That's sweet.

I love that. Nick, can I ask about growing up? Because we touched on that a little bit and I think it's fascinating and this is when when I read this I laughed out loud that you grew up in Rye, New York and your parents sent a limo to pick you up from school. Is that is that every day? Yeah, no, no, no. Every once in a while. When you're So it wasn't uh Made me laugh out loud when I read that. I'm like, is that true? Yeah, it was like different strokes, right? Like you just Exactly.

That's true. Well what happened to all those limos? You you remember we used to see stretch limos everywhere? Where did you? Oh my god. I thought wouldn't it be funny to pull up to like the Academy Words in a white stretch limo? Oh my god. Where they went literally like you th uh I guess scrap metal yards or do they put'em? Waymo, yeah, yeah. Send them to Eastern Europe. So, Nick, I mean. They're all playing in Europe. You talk through playing in Europe.

That's a great joke. So you had to there were occasions where you had to be driven to school.

You guys Jay, do you know about his dad? No. Please should. Yeah, yeah. And when I read about it, Nick, I I I understood ten percent of it. So can you Drug dealer. That's low crap. 'Cause it's two different it's you know, they you gotta find the guy who's gonna come in between'em. Um was that what that Jonah Hill movie was about those guys remember the movie? Yeah, I like that movie. Uh-huh. War dogs. Yes, War Dogs. Was they were that is that they were doing it?

Um but uh so anyway, he he built this, he he sort of uh did uh the the larger umbrella would be like risk mitigation. So like it started um as like corporate investigations, due diligence, and during the 80s it was like Wall Street takeover, private all those like hostile takeovers, like doing uh of all like Ivan Boskey and all those kinds of characters. And then it was Um dictators like Saddam, like like the Kuwaiti government hired him to find Saddam Hussein's money.

Uh and Baby Doc Duvalier and Haiti and the Marcos. Hello, baby Doc Duvallier, now you're really going into it. Me and Melanie were trying to write a movie. Baby Doc handles Kimmel, handles Fallon, handles Robert. James Dixon, baby Dixon. Baby doll. That's baby doll. That's baby doll, James Dixon. Wait a second, Nick, didn't now that I think didn't did Duff write a book about your dad's company?

He may have, yes. He may have at some point. Yes. Yeah. And um so he and and then he you know, he he's he's gone on to to Uh continue to sort of work in various versions of that business. And he and my brother have a company called K two now, which continues to do Uh different versions of investigations and and risk mitigation and security and stuff like that. And they make great skis. I know I know everybody out there like Swal salmon.

Slalom. Hey, but Nick, you know, I I do wanna say and I'm glad you you talked about it because you didn't decide how you w w how what your dad did or how you were born or w and and your dad started a company and he was successful at what he did. Yeah. And and so I like that you just you you talk about it openly because what the fuck are you gonna do? Yeah. Right? You don't need to The internet will find you.

No, but why you don't need to apologize for uh where you came from. Wha what are you supposed to do? Right, exactly. Yeah. No, but it is I I I just got I mean I feel like I got real Lucky. I got dealt a real good hand.

Of course you did, but you a and I've as I've said I've known you twenty, twenty five years. You work really hard, you create a lot of stuff, you create a lot of stuff on your own, you didn't have family in show business, and you did it all through hard work and talent. So you know, fuck everybody. But he sounds really fascinating.

Get them to investigate Bateman, please. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Just look into it. Just look into it. But Jason, why do you keep keep going to Grand Cayman? Answer that. With the firm cosplay? Um but yeah, the kind of connections and and and know-how he's got That's that's like up there with I I w if I if I could pick a new career, if I could go back in time, if I was like seventeen and I would like to get recruited by the CIA.

I would love to be somebody in my mid fifties. Um like well I'm in my late fifties now that uh uh is still uh like I would like to be able to hold that secret uh from because you see you're not supposed to be able to tell Your family. Or you're yeah, right. I mean if you're really good. You wanna hold more secrets from your family? Yeah I've got a n I've got a little more room. I found a little more room on my drive.

Jimmy Jibby, we just went through your morning routine. You think that you're CIA ready? Are you fucking No, you that's what you do in the CAA. You watch the end of a Dodger game. Yeah. Uh no way this guy's a spy. Look how dumb he is. They're like, how do we kill that Bateman agent? Is that the golf club? Yeah. We'll be right back. Money. It isn't just money. It's your freedom.

Or your rent. Maybe your education. It can be the difference between confidence and anxiety. And it's why RBC is built for real life. Because we've got real people. We offer real support. Because your money isn't the whole story. You are. Your idea of banking that's personal happens here. RBC, ideas happen here. And now back to the show. Were were you gonna say Nick, were you gonna say you and Melanie were working on a script about it or no?

We were working on a screw it was the first the f we sold a movie called Most Glorious Friend and it was you know those like Nigerian email prints email scams? Yeah. Well we were the premise was The scams? Oh Willy. This our the premise of the movie was like this was the f this this time it was real. And it was gonna be Tracy Morgan as the deposed dictator of a country called Lyrobia. And uh his name is Lil Mo.

And uh and and that was so like a bunch of c a couple college kids respond to the email and then like Tracy Morgan shows up being like, Where's my money? Uh and we pitch It's so it was genuinely very I mean, I I was probably structurally I mean we had no idea we were doing. We r just sat there and reading Save the Cat by the chapter and then trying to write off of Save the cat is a screenwriting book. That's so that's so fun. That's such a fun

Uh taking w ch Schur and I uh worked on this thing years ago, Mike Schur we called the ambassador about the the basically he's too dumb to kill. He's the son of a senator and they make him envoy to the to the EU to to ruin all their trade deals. And then he's like getting chased like born, but he doesn't realize he's being like he's being chased. He keeps going, go around. Well all three of you guys could be spies. You guys should be like fifties the worst spies post Cold War spies. Right.

Spies like. Yeah, spies like us. But there's a it's just it's just how it's pronounced at the end. Wait, so this this made me laugh too because Big Mouth Big Mouth is about uh like you said, you and your friend at puberty, thirteen years old. But I read your sister Vanessa is now a professional puberty educator. Yeah. What does that even mean?

So yeah, my sister Vanessa is a um yeah, she became an expert in puberty. She started a thing called Dynamo Girl a number of years ago, um and it's like after school program for uh sports for girls and then As she was teaching these young girls, like they s as they got older and started going through puberty, she realized that there was just a ton of

There was this like a empt empty spot in that and sort of the education around that and like m having parents and kids understand what's going on. Uh so I mean it's uh crazy synergy, but I think it just speaks to a little bit of

I guess our experience, you know, she's two years older than me of going through that period of life together, it was o of interest. Like we had those books you you like what's happening to me, you know, those like groovy seventies books with like Dear God, it's me, Margaret.

Yeah. Yeah. Like all of that stuff I think loomed large for us and so it became an interest for both of us. She's and she's like a so she's kind of uh r writing about parenting and that kind of stuff. She's got four And then is she the one who is the one married to the men in one of the men in Blazer? That's my sister Vanessa who's married to Roger Bennett from Men and Blazers. Yeah, I know those I love those guys.

That's cool. And and all your siblings if there's four of you. Uh are you all funny people? Like are you all? I think so. I don't know how it works in your family, but like I don't uh I think it's pretty rare that a someone comes out of a family that isn't all s if they're funny, that isn't also funny. Right, right. Uh my brothers my brother's really funny. funny and and my sisters well yeah, I think there it was in the family there was a sense of humor. Did you guys get it from mom or dad?

They're both pretty funny. My dad's funny. Um and my mom's got a r a very good sense of humor. Uh, especially having to deal with me tell jokes about moms. Like she you know, she's like, People tell me am I w am I upset about the jokes about moms? And I'd say I d I'm not. They're both. Uh-huh. Yeah, so funny. But no, it's a funny family I think. But I think but me kind of being like, No, I'm gonna go be a comedian. Yeah. Everyone was like, Huh.

Uh see there was definitely it wasn't like well of course you're gonna m you know You know Jim you know Jimmy Valley. Yes. Um Jimmy Valley used to Another vet leven see another rested guy. Another wrestler. Jimmy v the great Jimmy Valley, who's one of the all time Yeah, one of the all time funniest and has jokes that nobody else can think of. The that are just so God, I fucking love Jimmy Valley. Anyway, he used to always say he'd say like

You know, if you come he was t we were talking about somebody said, Yeah, this guy sort of came from a good family. He goes, he had more to lose. And I go, What do you mean? He goes, Well in a way he could have gone into be he could have been a lawyer, he could have he went to a good school and stuff and he risked it all to do this. If you come from nothing. you got nothing to lose. A hundred percent. Yeah. And I go and I was like, Oh, that's interesting. I never I never looked at it that way.

Well, Nick, you you're so multi talented and you've done so many different um jobs in in in the structure of things. Um Wha what how do you decide what to do next? And like what would the perfect next five years look like. I mean, I don't know how strategic you are. I m I imagine and and I don't mean that as a pejorative, you know, like it takes a a certain amount of planning to get things done in this business.

Yeah, I mean you got look, he's got roommates out april seventeenth. He's got mating season on May twenty second. You're shot. Finally got it. Sean finally got it. A hundred percent with Sam Richardson and J and Benas and that's uh that's another another Netflix. I mean you have tons of stuff coming out. It's Wait, Nick, you need to know that Scotty was just off camera going, I just I just bumped it up in your email. Okay, so just He just held out he just held up shape.

He was like, Do you want me to stop warming the cupcake and get you your dates? Hotmail dot com backslash mail. Um we actually met it on Hot Mail. Anyway, so that's just a little joke. Just a small joke. It wasn't Sarandos' party. It was on hot. Hot mail, yeah. M A L in.

It just felt like a comedy connection there. Yeah. So um I my strategy is I keep and I feel like honestly you guys all d also do a lot and produce a l like I keep a number of balls in the air who are that are all at different stages of development and so You know, I'm and uh uh so I I think I like this show uh mating season is the follow-up to Big Mouth and it's about animals dating and fucking and falling in love in the woods.

So it feels like a natural sort of progression of that. And I've been working with my partners Mark and Andrew and Jen on that. It's me, Zach Woods, June Diane Rayfield and Sabrina Jalice. It's like uh, you know, like uh fun. Fun hang out, kind of in the vein of like an animated version of Friends or um I can't remember any of the other any of those other uh NBC shows. Uh Sort of. That genre. That genre. No, I mean there's none uh none really. There was science.

Yeah, so I felt wings. You're thinking of Wings was great. Yeah. Single. Yeah, Caroline in the city. And but then there was that show with the gay guys, two guys in a Yeah. That was ABC. Uh but th and that's about it. I guess that's that that that was that must see T V stuff. Yeah but um But but you but you're like in this ideal position of really kind of being your own boss and self self perpetuating and you've got this great uh sort of troupe of of

collaborators and colleagues and um for sure. Right. It's it's it's you it's is it as ideal as it sounds? It really honestly, I really feel it right now. It really is. I feel incredibly uh I it's at a time when the business is tricky and things are going away and there's contraction. And the fact that I I'm currently getting to make a bunch of different things um is

It feels amazing. Like and and we're I'm writing right now, we're writing a hundred percent here in LA. And uh and it's me, Manzuka, Jason Manzuka, Sam Richardson, Vanessa Bayer. And it's in the world of kind of like self-help. Influencer, um gurus, uh is so we're writing that. We're gonna shoot over the summer.

And that's and and then I've producing some other stuff, animated and and live action. So it's great. Um what the the strategy you were talking about, Jason, I have t I have two kids. I got a two I have a five year old and a two and a half year old. So that's a good thing.

That's the stuff that starts to play into like how do we how do I do this and how do I be around be also it like home and around and involved so that so the opportunities like it's like how can I set myself up as well as I can for opportunities that I get to some have some modicum of control over like where And be in t and be in Los Angeles too. Right. Right. That's and that's what's you guys.

Now they can travel with you but uh soon that five year old's gonna be stuck in school and you won't be able to pop around. Does he want to be home does he want to be homeschooled or he's just like He just wants to do it. You know what I mean? That's fine.

He likes to free solo. He saw that free solo doc and he just wants to go climb. Am I sorry? This is a that's very dangerous, Nick, for a child. We gotta let him. But we gotta let that it's lucrative. You can first you can get that you Jason knows you gotta get to work. So Nick, wa you so speaking about a peanut kid, you grew up conservative Jewish in a conservative Jewish kosher household, so no dishes for you separate dishes for meat and dairy.

But I read that you had one junk food day a year growing up when you eat and a and and and then what was the other thing I read about food that you did? Oh that oh that you fall asleep listening to a hypnotherapy tape telling you not to eat snacks? I went to a ther hypnotherapist uh Did it work? To quit smoking. We all you guys all went to fucking Carrie Gaynor at some point, right? Did you ever go to Carrie Gaynor to quit smoking? Nobody can kill. I just Iceman. Nobody can cure me. Ha ha.

She's my enemy. I'm unstoppable. Yeah. I would love to see that western, a little spaghetti western of you versus a cigarette in a standoff. No, we're on the same team. We're not against each other. So listen listening to those tapes at night, was this back in the day when uh we were told that you could learn languages from just l listening to the people speak to you?

It was this was well I went to Carrie Gaynor and he was like you know, he was you go to his like uh you'd go to his garage in Santa Monica and there's like a a sun faded picture of uh Catherine Heigel. She was here at some point. And we think. Uh we hope. Um Yeah. So I used him to quit smoking. And then I got a w this woman uh from the D Pak Chopra Institute. And it was like uh this woman, she called me and she I talked to her about snack.

And then she like my cause I just was, you know, like you we it's gotta go somewhere, right? It's gotta go fucking go somewhere. So if you can't smoke cigarettes, like gimme some goddamn like, you know, Sour Patch kids. Gimme some fucking chips. Give me some. Some way. She just she's just recommending snacks? I'm sorry. She would she would put so she would make the snacks, she would be like

She would make the snacks, she's like, do what do you find disgusting? And uh again, using the Germans Thank you. I can turn that up like five different levels and I got a couple different Baker Martin. Do you find it? Videos disgusting. You're like I think I got the wrong number. So but she would equate something like m maggots are disgusting?

So imagine that you're basically imagine that your uh your jelly bellies are d maggots and they're going to you know, it's in my stand-up. I do it I can't remember any jokes anymore. But uh anyway, so I would listen to it when I'd go to bed and it w and it It's it worked for a while, but now God damn it, I wanna eat chocolate pretzels all day long. Well what if you just cut out the weed? You know, if you cut out the weed then you're not good don't get snacky at night.

We cut out the weed, we cut out the weed. I gotta be able to relate. Friends.

Um last thing that I think is really f fascinating that I did not know, uh, is Harry Styles helped you plan your proposal to your wife, Lily. How did that happen? Uh he we were making that movie Don't Worry Darling and which I think is most famous for the movie. It was the height of COVID. Tell you what, that Olivia Wilde knows how to direct a film. She sure does. That's amazing. Truly. She directed it was I had a b and I played her husband in the movie and um

So it's really fun to act with her like I mean you guys know it's like when sometimes when you act with someone who's directing, you know, it's different levels and she she was great. I mean she any anyway, so we um So h he it was the t height of COVID. Um and uh I was proposing to my wife. Uh we were uh and and Harry sort of like we were planning it out. We were at the we were doing the t we had just done the table read and the we were all hanging out and

And I was sort of figuring it out. And we just my wife and I had just moved into our new house and uh and uh so I like, you know, I had a a box. Uh and I was like, Can you just move this last box? And she was like, give me a fucking bri you know what I mean? Like you make me move the fucking box. Like, you know. And um I was like, I don't know, Harry. So no, I uh opened she opened the box. There's a bunch of

Flowers in the ring. But Harry and and then he checked in with me to be like how to go. So I told him basically before I spoke to like we spoke to our families to let them know that we were married because he was just had been checking in. That's so cool. That's so cool. What a story. I mean that's really, really cool. Sweet boy. Sweet boy.

Nick Kroll, it's you are a pleasure. Yeah, no kidding. I know. No sprint. Yeah. I just wanna say I I I I've loved so many things that you've done. Your top three Mm. No, no, the top Numbers in the Yeah. Yeah. I went to the boy boy so fucking funny and then Where are you from Larchmont? Is that where you're going? Ha ha ha ha. No. Um and then um of course uh oh uh cavemen. I I I Of course. I thought that was one of the funniest shows I'd ever seen. And it went six six episodes. I'm I left face.

With Will and Josh. Well and Josh, you guys had just done Blades of Glory and they and then they I was in four hours of prosthetics. My that was my first job. I was in four hours of prosthetics every morning to be one of the case. But I wasn't in the commercials and they everyone hated the show. They loved the commercials. Right. I love the show. The critics hated the show but what I always took solace in was that the public hated it as well.

We got canceled. We shot thirteen. I was impressed four hours every morning. It was the wor it was my first job. Uh and it's it was the worst job and perfect first. You know what I mean? Like Thank fucking God. There's no way I could have done it. later in my life. So it's so funny that you like that show. I love that show. And then um publicity, of course. Yeah, I'm a promoter.

You as Liz. Hey Jay, have you ever seen him play Liz from Publicity from the from the Crawl Show? I'm gonna send you a bunch of clips. It's It's like every yeah, you it's you've dealt with you've dealt with Yeah, yeah. Yeah, great. Thank you. Thank you. Well we want more Nick Kroll. Yeah, I know. In everything and anything. I'm stoked for your new show. Say how much fun you had today as Liz. Oh my god, you guys being on this podcast with you, one of the most coveted slots.

Publicness could just secure a side. Yeah. Spotify top twenty. Apple top twenty. The friendship. Absolute money grab that this It's perfect. Everybody involved. I'm an honor to be whole. And to be held by you guys. Thank you guys. Thank you, Nick. Love you to death. Yeah, so Good to see you guys. Thanks for having me. Thank you, buddy, so for doing this. Thanks guys. Bye. That's a good thing. The funny, funny Nick Crow, yeah.

Yeah, it's so funny and I love that he showed up to play and he I mean he's so Always ready to play. Yeah, he's uh and look, uh clearly he's got eighty thousand things going on. But well, how great are the these these interviews when they feel like five minutes and I know you never you ne you can you never I get to your questions, you know, just'cause the conversation's so good. That was so that was so quick.

He's a good fellow, that guy. Uh I d do s do send me uh some of that stuff, Sharon. I will and then I'll bet I'll go I'll go down like a YouTube. Do send me some of the Right after my toilet. Um yeah, he's in full drag as Liz. It's so funny. I mean, the the balls the guy has just to do anything. There were so many amazing sketches. Amazing sketches, yeah. I should probably But he did have he said he did play that one. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, the teacher from uh Sit Down Shut Up. Yeah.

Wha what was the thing you remember about that teacher? Fuck, here we go. You ready? Yeah. Smartless is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Bennett Barbaco, Michael Grant Terry, and Rob Armjarf. Smart, less.