Hi, this is Larry David. I've been asked to say that I'm going to be on the show later, so I'm complying with that request. Yeah, welcome to... What is this? I don't even know what I'm on here. What is this?

Smart. Lias. Smart. Lias.

Hi, everybody. Jason, I love that you're still here in town. I didn't know you were going to be here for long.

I am working remotely this week, yes, from Los Angeles. Wonderful. Where it's got New York weather today. It's nice and rainy. I love it.

We had some nice rain.

Warring rain.

Do you guys like weather or you love the Southern California 75 and Breezy?

I'm not single, so I don't know where this is going.

Hey, guys, what's your favorite season?

Hey, do you like weather? Come over here real quick. Can I talk to you for a second? Yeah, it's nice.

I prefer it. Well, it's very Chicago-y.

Yeah, but you would like 75 and breezy, 365 days of the year?

No. Yeah, I don't like the heat, so that's an issue.

I don't mind it.

But you wouldn't mind some snow and some rain, would you?

That's what I'm saying. I actually enjoy this.

I think I've told you this before. I grew up in such a snowy point. Well, not really that snowy, but cold, to the extent that This morning, dropping the kids to the bus, it was raining and stuff. I saw this one road.

Isn't that great, Sean? How he just takes them just to the bus stop. Can't take them all the way to school like some of us.

I don't live in the valley. Anyway, I see a road that's going up off Beverly Glen, really steep little side road. I had this in my old house. Like, boy, man, it's going to be tough when it gets icy. It doesn't get icy.

No. So your brain just immediately My old house, when I was going to buy it, I thought like, fuck, how am I going to get up this thing when it ices?

And then like, oh, it doesn't get icy.

Never ices.

That's incredible. I know. By the way, sir, go ahead, Shani. You were going to say something. You go. Well, I was just going to say because I realized as I'm talking, I did another mistake. I got one of those emails and it had the thing and had reviews buried in the email. I opened it up and then it has a couple about the podcast. One of them was one star and it said, does we only get one hour to speak a week because he just wouldn't shut up. I'm like, I'm giving this guy satisfaction. At the same time, I'm thinking like, it's free, right? Yeah. He didn't pay anything for it. He could turn it off.

Yeah. But he's implying that he would gladly pay a little bit to shut you up a lot.

I guess so. And or it made him so mad this thing he's getting for free that he went online and typed out a message, gave the podcast one star.

He's got time.

But, Willy, don't read. You always read those.

Well, I do it for you guys. I'm out here. You want me on that wall. You need me on that wall.

But it's a specific subset of our listeners that actually take the time to write something not so nice. Is it a full representation of our audience? I don't know.

It was very hostile towards me.

We take it under advisement, though.

Yeah, we take it under advisement. So I'm going to shut up.

I wanted to tell you- Don't do that. No, don't do that.

I wanted to tell you- Maybe what he's saying is he likes you at an eight, he'd love you at a five.

No, No, he wants me at a zero.

I love that you're just like, then just don't listen. I get it. I was chatting with Will very briefly this morning.

You guys talk before we talk?

Not usually.

You guys running over bits? Yeah. Okay, so listen, so you set me up with to say something about Easter.

Jay, I texted you a lot last night. I was like, I think I reached my text limit with Jason.What last night? Last night or two nights Wait, let me look here.

I don't see any text from you.

Yeah, I was like...

I don't see any text from you. Oh, wait.

No, we were texting back and forth.

Oh, about Scotty?

Yeah, about Scotty.

That wasn't a lot. Yeah. Did you hear about Scotty, Sean? Will? No, what happened? Sorry.

No.

Oh, yeah, it's not working out. Scotty's out.

Scotty's out. Almost 18 years. Yeah.

So Sean is trying to figure out what to do with the weekend to take full advantage of it.

Let's talk about the weather, Jason.

He's tech available, Is that what you're saying?

Yeah, he's just ordered a box of glow sticks from Amazon for the weekend.

No, I wanted to tell you. I was eating breakfast. I walked past the bathroom, and This is the craziest thing. Scotty loves peanut butter.

Why is my sound going out?

Can you hear? There we go.

Okay, go ahead.

Hang on a second. Sorry, let me remind you where you were. Scotty loves peanut butter. Go ahead. Wait, by the way.

No, this is Do you think that this would fit into the breaking news category? Absolutely.

Did you guys find each other on the PB&J freak site? Well, that's fun because I love jelly. Where What's your address?

John's dying laughing.

Why is that? It's not even that good.

I guess it is. Could you imagine a PB&J?

Love to spread a little of on me.

Like a food dating site.

The two of us together would make a great meal.

By the way, it's not supposed to be a dating site.

It's supposed to be just- Just a culinary site.

A peanut butter appreciation site turned into a dating site. They got married at the Jif headquarters.

Okay, so here we go.

Do you like Jif? This is funny.

This is funny, actually.

Do you like JIF? Scott, Alvin?

I'm in a JIF. I do like JIF.

Scotty loves peanut butter. I would love to see a taste test between Jeff and Skippy. Sorry, go ahead.

Let's do it. When his blood sugar is low, okay, because he's got diabetes, he'll go in the pantry and scoop out a spoon full of peanut butter. Every time any one of us goes to get peanut butter, Ricky, the dog, can smell it, and he comes over there and sits there and he drools like crazy, and there's a puddle of his dog spit. Sure it spit? It's cute and disgusting all the same time. It's created a bad habit because we always cave in and give him some peanut butter. Now we have to find a way to sneak the peanut butter when the dog is sleeping in another room. This morning, I walked by the bathroom near the kitchen and I'm like, Are you in there? He said, Yeah, I'm eating peanut butter. I said, Bathroom? He said, Yeah, it's the only way to avoid the dog.

Boy. I remember when...

What?

When I was a kid, that was the only place to get privacy, and I would do different things in the bathroom than sneak peanut butter.

He really, truly brought the jar of peanut butter.

But you know what? Both you and Scotty have the same... You end up with the same result. You both finish full release.

I thought that was odd and funny. Guys-it was.

It's definitely.

Here's somebody who's funny but not odd. How about that?

Not great, but go ahead.

He's a very talented pal of mine. He's had more success than the three of Us Combined. Like many comedians, he's got standup and Saturday Night Live on his resume. But before making his mark on the comedy zeitgeist of the last half century, he got his bachelor's degree in history, worked as a private chauffeur with a uniform and everything, and was selling bras at wholesale. Things took a major turn from in 1988 when he started to work on a little pilot called the Seinfeld Chronicles. It's my very hilarious friend Larry David.

Larry.

Oh, look at him. He's already bored. He's already bored.

How about 15 minutes?

I apologize. It definitely comes out of your time, so that's a good thing. You're only going to be with us for another 45 minutes.

But here's the sad part. By the way, the dog thing. I love when the dogs are out of the house so I can have a meal.

That's what I'm saying.

And relax.

That's what I'm saying.

You can't eat with them.

That's what I'm saying. That's your fault, probably, or Ashley's, right? You fed them, and now they don't forget that.

No, she started feeding them from the table. It's all her fault. I gave her a dirty look, but she did it. And now...

Why don't you make her eat outside with the dogs, I'll teach her, and she'll never do it again.

I'm telling you, I take snacks into my bathroom. I do.

Because of the dogs?

Yeah, because of the dogs.

That's what I'm saying. Yeah, you can relate.

Larry, I'm so glad you're finally here. We just finally made your deal. It took so long. I know. What do you mean? God, your business affairs was just... I guess, was your agent just beating us up?

What are you involved in business affairs? We're not.

We're kidding. This is all free. You're not getting paid for this.

Oh, you were joking. Here's He was joking.

By the way-I get that a lot. A lot of surprise. Oh, sorry. It was humor? I really sneak up on folks. Check your six.

What the fuck? Can we talk about Sean's appearance on Curb this year?

Wow, it was going to get there.

I haven't seen it yet. Has it been on? If we have to. All right. So speaking of making deals, you made a Sean Hayes deal and got him on the show.

Yeah.

And? And? He's a long time coming.

Do you have notes?

Be fucking real. Be honest. Be honest.

I'm going to be as honest as I can. Yeah. He was fantastic. I don't know about it.

Really? I bet he was just fine.

Listen, no. Fantastic. He played a lawyer, and you believe this guy was a lawyer. He had to do a scene where he wakes up in the morning. It was like Jean Hackman from the French Connection. Oh, boy. The acting display of him getting up in the morning. Sure. The whole deal. My mouth dropped. I was in love.

It was incredible. I added Wipping My Eyes, just to make it real. What?

Wipping your Eyes?

It was real Jean Hackman.

Did you start with a...

Yeah, a little bit.

Which Sean has the worst sleep hygiene, I imagine, of the four of us here. So that must have... You had to dig deep. Did you study people sleeping? How did you do it, Sean?

Because you have no I watched hours of tape. Yeah, okay. Of just people sleeping.

People that weren't wearing the mask, right?

Lair, but that was one of the... I don't know. Curb has been one of my favorite shows forever and ever, and I loved being on it. I was honored to be asked. I was honored to do it with you and on the last season, nonetheless.

Yeah. Will, did you ever get on that show?

No, I was never asked.

Yeah, me neither. Oh, boy.

Not once.

Oh, boy. Larry said to me, Larry, do you remember this? Like about a year ago, I ran into you and Larry said, Hey, you should be on the show. He said, How come He did. He goes, How come you were never on Curb? I said, First of all, I said, What? Because I think I'm too tall. Then I said, It's your show. You never asked me. That's why. It's the primary reason.

It is true. Just about everybody in Hollywood has either been on that show or Law and Order, not us. Although, Willy, you've done a Law and Order.

I did Law and Order. But I would say this, now I take pride in the fact that I wasn't. Now it makes it more... I'm in a more exclusive club.

Yeah, there you go.

I'm like the Marty Scorsese of never winning the best Oscar for directing with regards to-Or Susan Lucci.

Sure. Well, it does sound like, I will say, it does sound like a really, from what I've heard from my friends that have been on the show that it's like one of the greatest experiences. It's like up there with Saturday Night Live. It's just an incredible group and you're improvising.

I think it's the improvising. Actors really love to improvise.

But I bet you've had some that have been like, Forget it. I will sink in that atmosphere. I'm not coming on.

Yes, not many, but there have been a few who really couldn't.

Had a tough time.

What do you do about those who say, Oh, yeah, great. No, I love improvising, and they come on and they're just horrendous. Who has a conversation with them? You or the director?

You mean somebody who we've asked to do it?

To do it, and they clearly are way over their skis with improvisation. Do you do a, Okay, guys, let's take a quick five. Can I talk to you for a second?

It's only happened a couple of times in the show where people were trying to be funny. That's the worst thing you can do.

That's a hard note to give. What does that sound like? Do you pull that aside?

It sounds like, here's the note. Don't try to be funny.

That's the note. Oh, shit. Wow. Don't do it.

One of your great cast members, the fantastic, the incredible, Vince Vawn, who I just think the world of. He gave me a great note once when I was trying to improvise doing a job with him. We've done a couple of movies together. He was doing something genius. Then I said something, and he just stopped. He just looked at me and said, Do you think that's helping? I thought it was part of the dialog, the improv.

But it was out of character.

It was Vince saying to Jason, Shut your mouth and let me do my thing. It was a good note.

What a gut punch.

But Larry, thanks for being here today.

Hey, Larry.

Wait a second, Sean, do you have an agenda you're trying to get to?

No, I just want to ask him a question.

I haven't even gotten to the point yet that I feel so bummed out. Yeah, because I would have loved that environment so much.

Larry, it's not over.

It's not over. I'm going to fucking... I mean, I run into Larry on the golf course. I keep calling him Gary. That's why I run into him on the golf course.

Maybe that had something to do with it.

I run Larry on the golf course before, and I've never been able to say it, except for the one time when he asked me where I haven't been on. I was like, Man, I really wish. It is one of my true regrets. I was like, That's an environment I feel like I would have really like because I like to fuck around. But anyway, so, Larry, welcome to the podcast.

Welcome to our show.

How do you feel? Scale of 1-10, how do you feel today about being here right now?

Before I ever do anything, any show ever, I always regret that I said yes. Yes. I feel that way today.

We're going to get you to the other side of that by the time we're done.

Okay, I hope so. Or not.

It'll be worse. But are you good about saying no, or are you terrible? Do you say yes because you don't want to displease people?

No, I'm good about saying no.

Yeah, good. That's a great quality. That's good. Will, we had a friend who told us once, Look, if you don't want to do it tomorrow, if someone says, In a few months, and you're like, Sure, yeah. The better thing, if you don't want to do it tomorrow, say no today, even if it's a couple of months in the future.

Larry, can we go back, Sean? Can I grab the reins here for a second? Sure.

I just ask you, I know that you were a stand-up back in New York.

You started as a stand-up, right? I know this from... I got a history of you through our mutual friend, Jim Valley, the great Jim Valley, who I adore.

The great Jim Valley. He lived in my building.

He lived in your building. In New York. I remember him telling stories. When Tannis' daughter was little, and Jim was a stay-at-home dad in a lot of ways, right? Yeah. He would talk about you living in the building at Manhattan Plaza, right?

Right.

What was that like being a stand-up back then? What were your ambitions when you were doing that back in those days, living in Manhattan Plaza? Did you want to be the world's greatest stand-up?

I wanted to be a great stand-up. I wasn't, but I wanted to be one. I really would have settled if you had told me in 1987, and you offered me $200 a week to do stand-up in New York at the clubs, $200 a week for the rest of your life, I would have taken it.

Wow.wow. We have an offer for you.

I had no hopes to do anything.

But what about... Sean said in the intro that you studied history. To be a professor? No.

No, just to get out of college.

That was world history or American history?

Both.

Will loves himself some world history.

I took history. I dropped out of college, but I was a history major, and I love history. I read mainly Yeah, I wasn't interested in show business. Right. Really?

Yeah.

But dad, parents, Jewish, by the way, both sides or just your father?

It's a both.

It's both. And grew up in that- You sound so disappointed. I know.

If you would have split it up, I don't think it would have been the worst thing in the world. If you would have given me half and half, I admire the hafs. Sometimes somebody will tell me he's a half, and I'll go, Oh, that's great. Were either one of them particularly funny or funny enough for you to feel like, Oh, maybe I'll be a stand-up.

I got it in my jeans.

No. My mother was funny without trying to be funny, without realizing she was being funny. She had a a Gracie Allen quality about her. In fact, my friends called my mother Gracie. But it wasn't purposeful. She wasn't cracking wise.

And we will be right back.

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Now, back to the show.

After college, you were in the Army Reserve?

Yeah, because Vietnam was going on. I didn't want to go. I didn't want to go, and I signed up for the reserves. And never got drafted? No, I never got drafted, but I got out of the reserves after two years with a psychiatric discharge.

Let's hear more about that.

I told this, I think, on Howard Stern. It's a long story, but should I make a long story short?

No, we have a 45-minute-We've got a completely different audience.

If you're smart, this is the last answer you'll give.

So good.

Work the clock, Larry. Yeah.

Tell us.

And by the way, just make it up anyway. We're not going to check.

No, I was in the army, the reserves. I went to basic training. It was horrendous. It was the worst experience of my life. I was ducking under live ammunition and firing weapons and- Jumping over walls. I had baanets. I did that for eight weeks, and then I had occupational specialty school I was a petroleum storage specialist. What? And then we had to... Yeah, well, you have to fill up the tanks with gas. Sure. Somebody has to do it. Then after I got out, I had to go to meetings once a month at the Floyd Bennett field, a big airplane hangar, and it was freezing. I had to go home, and I stayed at my apartment, at my parents apartment in Brooklyn. I stayed with them for Friday night and Saturday night, and then I'd go home back to New York on Sunday. But the meetings were Saturday and Sunday. Then I heard about a psychiatrist who was writing letters to get people out. Sure. I borrowed $250. I went to see the psychiatrist. I convinced him that I was insane. He wrote me a letter saying I was insane.

Stop there. How do you convince him you're insane? What was your flavor?

My flavor was I wanted to kill myself.

Okay. You went in there and you really tried to be convincingly-Yeah, I had suicidal ruminations.

What was it you were trying to get rid of? What were you trying to avoid?

Life was just too hard.

Were you able to make yourself cry?

I was able to act.

I was able to act it. Yeah, you can see it on Max right now,.

I think I I think I could have fooled. I don't know if I fooled him because everybody was acting for him. But when I went to the meeting, armed with the letter, sure, now I'm really acting insane. Yeah, right. And these people who knew me for two years because I went off into the corner. I was huddled by... I was by myself. I was looking around, acting crazy.

Rocking back and forth a little bit. Good. Still rolling.

Where's the major? Where's the major? I need to talk to the major. Where's the major? I saw people pointing at me, talking about me. I know they were-Because you're nuts. What was going on with me. Then I went to see the major, and I gave him the letter, and he read the letter, and I'm sitting across from him acting as nutty as a fruitcake.

You should have chewed off a corner of the letter.

Well, he had the letter. He read the letter. He asked me a couple of questions after the letter, and then he said to me, Can you drive home?

Perfect. You knew you'd done it.

I knew I had him. I said, Oh, yeah, I'm a good driver. I'm a good driver. Wow.

That's crazy. Wow.

Now, you're not old enough to go to Vietnam.

I tell you what, we could have used some of that ingenuity in Vietnam. Now, I'm just saying we could have used people who had thought. The country could have used you. Yeah, the country could have used it, Larry.

I'm sure I could have made a contribution in some way.

Yeah, but look at the contribution you ended up making here. Wonderful, Larry.

But, Larry, now that you're here on this little smart list thing, and we didn't get a chance to really go deep on the set when I was working with you on Curb, I wanted to ask you the questions those days that we worked together, but I was too embarrassed. I know you're probably sick of I'm not talking about it, but Seinfeld, I've always wondered, how did you and Jerry even meet, and how did that happen? Because when you make a TV show, it's so rare that the talent and the writers or the showmenters, that everything hooks up and everybody has the same sensibility. It seems you and Jerry had the same sensibility. Did you know each other out, or was that a business? It was like set up meeting or something?

We were both comedians in New York.

So you knew each other?

We knew each other in New York. He generally performed at the comic strip. I was at the improv, but we would see each other a lot. We always enjoyed each other's company. We would actually go and write together in the afternoon. He'd bring his premises, I'd bring my premises, and we'd go over them. I had written a screenplay that somehow he had read. Then when NBC approached him about doing a show, he came to me and asked if I'd be interested in working with it.

Had you written a half hour script before?

No.

No.

That's why it's so damn good. It's just so different in form.

When you get When you went to that, started writing that half hour multi-cam format-Wait a second.

I did write a half hour pilot for Gilbert Gottfried.

No kidding.

Yeah. That was filmed, and they didn't pick it up. That was for HBO.

Was it also changing the format a bit? No?

Yeah. They didn't like it.

But But I love that.

Sorry, Willy.

I was just going to say, I want to get into this half-hour format. You do Multicam, but the way that you do Seinfeld, it's not like traditional Multicam because you have... Well, at least initially, you would go back and forth Jerry doing his stand-up, and then you guys finetuned that as you went, is my recollection, I get it. But then- The premise of the show, initially, was how does a comedian get his material?

We would go through an episode and you would see whatever happened to him on the show, he would turn into material. That was the idea.

Then it went after the first year, you guys tossed that, right?

I I don't think after the first year. I think it was a couple of years.

Then you just moved it to the end. Yeah, right. But did you, again, I don't want to get too in the weeds on the format.

No, go in the weeds. You can go in the weeds.

But we're already in the weeds. Did Did you enjoy it? I don't know. Was it difficult for you writing in that format? Was it a format that you liked or that you had to get used to or that you rebelled against?

No, I I was okay with it. I didn't mind it at all. At one point, I said to him, I can't believe they're letting us do this. I was really surprised.

Really?

Yeah, I felt like, How are we getting away with this?

Why are they letting us do this? Did you have a staff that you handpicked, or did they try to marry you with a bunch of more traditional writers? How did that all work out?

Well, for the first four shows, I wasn't the executive producer. They brought in someone who had experience and who had a show on the air previously, and they brought him in, and he was my boss. We handed in the first couple of shows, and then we were called into his office for for notes. He was just four episodes. That note meeting, it did not go well.

We just generally probably wanted to make it something a bit less specific.

Esoteric, probably. Less esoteric or?

I don't know.

They were probably going for something more traditional, something more familiar, recognizable because you're a major network, and let's round the edges a bit. You guys, thankfully, said, well, but... Because you guys, you famously did not start high up in the ratings. You probably figured, what? Give us a chance to grow and do our own thing.

I said no to everything he said.

Yeah. Right.

I said, I can't do that. Then I quit, and Then Jerry went to Castle Rock and said, Look, forget it. We're going to do this or not. Then that guy didn't really participate after that. It was essentially my show after that.

Larry, it should be noted. I was a friend of Jerry's. I saw him when I was 17. My buddies got me for my birthday to go see Jerry play in Toronto in a theater.

Oh, no way?

Yeah. It was a I'm really big fan of his standup. When you guys started the show, I watched first season. I just moved to New York. It was the fall of '90, right? When you guys came on the air?

I think that's right.

Or summer, maybe? Summer. Summer of '90.

Yeah. Summer of '90. The pilot came on in the summer of '89, and then the first four shows came on in June of '90.

Yeah. Wow, that's so crazy. It was the Seinfeld Chronicles, as everybody knows, right?

Yeah, the first season.

First season.

Or just the It was the pilot, I think. I think it was just the pilot.

Was it?

I don't remember.

I seem to remember. I think we talked about this maybe when Jerry was on, that the budget for the show at NBC came out of late night.8, right? That initially it was Rick Ludwin who-I think Variety. Variety. Variety. Was it Rick Ludwin? Rick Ludwin. Yeah. One of the greats.

He championed the show. The show would have gotten on the air if not for him. I love that.

By the way, while you were on Seinfeld, you had both your daughters or just one daughter?

No, both.

Both. Wow. Did you bring them around? Were they interested?

No, they were babies.

No, I know. But when they got older?

When they got older, it was off the air.

First of all, don't-Shon, you stupid son.

You fucking Sean.

I thought they were like-Shon, take a time out real quick.

Did the show do well with Sean, the show went off in '98.

My daughter, Cassie, was born in '94, and Romy was born in '96.

First of all, calm down. Second of all.

Larry, how did you What did you guys do with toddlers? Did you guys get a lot of toddlers? Oh, yeah.

But, Larry, Curb, correct me, has been on longer than Seinfeld was?

Kerb has been on for 24 years.

24 years. Isn't that amazing? Not consecutively. No, not consecutively. You take 10 years off.

But when we started, we started. Holy shit.

Wait, I want to go into Curb more because how did you come up with the... Being there, I was like, Oh, this is how this works. You get a little outline for my sister Tracey who doesn't understand. It's not written like, say, Seinfeld was. It's all improvised, like we were talking at the beginning of this episode. But how did you-It's a story outline. The story outline, yeah. You have to hit those points. But it's so fun because you spend an hour just improvising one scene, and then you cut out the fat in the editing room, and you have all great stuff. It's such a great format. So who thought of that and why did you think of that? I heard once, because when you and I did the three stooges, you said to me, I hate memorizing lines.

Yeah. Well, Well, it was Seinfeld had ended, and I was thinking about what I was going to do next. Jeff Garland had an office at Castle Rock, and Jeff Garland had an office next door. He said to me, What are you going to do now? I said, I'm thinking about going back to stand up. And he said, Well, you should film it. And then I thought about, Oh, well, what is that going to be? Filming it? That sounds intrusive. I don't know. What are they going to do? The camera is going to follow me into a dry cleaner? I could understand. I could see how it's going to be on stage. That could be somewhat interesting to see the growth of the act from beginning to end. But off stage, I didn't I like the idea of filming myself. The camera is following me around. I didn't feel I'm all that interesting to follow. I thought maybe if I wrote some fictitious stories that we I do that around the standup. The standup could be real, but the off-stage stuff would be just stuff I made up. That's what I did. I wrote an outline.

I made Jeff my manager. Sheryl auditioned. She She was my wife. We had kids in the first special because that's what it was. It was a special. It wasn't a pilot. It was just a one-off special.

Right, we got it.

Did you get it? Or should I repeat it one more time?

I just can't wait to hear what happened to the kids.

Well, I didn't really want to see the kids, I realized, and with the special. Sure.

How did you off the children?

I just pretended the first show never existed.

It's the best way to do it. I love shit like that.

Never came back. Never.

I don't need to fucking explain it. No, I don't need to explain everything. I love that. Just fucking changed it.

I didn't want kids in the show. No. Who does? I just thought the show would be so much funny here without kids. I didn't want to deal with kids. I didn't want to keep having to explain, what about the kids? Where are the kids? Are the kids okay? Who's watching the kids? I didn't want to have to keep justifying everything that was going on and having to explain where the kids were.

So Kids aren't funny. Kids aren't funny. Hey, the other thing is, Larry, do you think... God, you did something really genius, which is you were able to play this version of yourself, if you will, and you get to be cranky and say whatever you want. It must have, God, I'm so obvious. It just bled into your real life that you're able to now... Because people just buy it and they're like, It's just Larry being Larry. He's from the show. Now you can go to a gas station and give a guy the finger and people will See you later.

Scream at the slow group in front of you. You can do whatever the fuck you want on this planet.

What the fuck are you doing? I don't know about the planet, but the West Side of LA in Manhattan, you could do whatever the fuck you want.

It's made my life so much better.

Jesus fucking Christ. Now I'm jealous. I'm really getting heated now when I realized this fucking carte blanche. You literally printed yourself a carte blanche to say whatever the fuck you want in the places that we-You're just doing research.

People are I'm disappointed if I'm not that way.

I know. People are like, Fuck the guy paid his bill, and he didn't tell me to go fuck myself. What am I doing wrong?

You're making the people happy by you being cranky. It's so great. But do you notice that honestly, that you get some stuff out there as this other version of yourself, and then your real life actually ends up being a little bit more placid and less dramatic?

I haven't noticed that, but it is acting and doing that Larry David on the show. It is so much fun, first of all, and a little cathartic in a way.

I know what you I mean, because you can-A little cathartic in a way.

Way to couch it. I mean, when you're talking, obviously, it's the fucking greatest.

You get to say all these horrible things.

By the way, how about... I wasn't even going to bring this up, but it just hit me. Marjorie Taylor-Greene First of all, she said she was watching Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is already, oh, we watch the show. Then she got upset because she thought you painted people in her state or in the south as racist or whatever. I'm paraphrasing, so I don't know her words. But weren't you blown away that she even watches your show?

I was pretty surprised by it. But it was just about a law that exists in that state.

Right, exactly. Where you can't give people of water or food or whatever when they're in line voting.

It's outrageous.

It's so unbelievable.

It's so stupid. It's so great.

I remember when I heard about that law, I wrote it down in my notebook, and then I knew I was going to... You had to use that at some point.

The whole season is around that, isn't it?

Yeah.

Yeah, it's great.

Then, Larry, so the show has had this incredible long, successful run. You've brought to this beautiful conclusion. I'm not going to ask you what's next, but I would imagine that you're good, right? You've worked your nards off for however many years at a really high level. You've accomplished probably 10 times what you thought you would accomplish. You feel satisfied. Are there areas in your life that you would love to try to find equal success you're going to be in? Or other areas of the business or different industries?

No.

You're good. You're all set.

Any other industries you want to get into?

I'd love to be an offensive coordinator for an NFL team. Okay. That would be my dream job.

Very offensive coordinator.

But truly, you do love football, and specifically, do you know about plays and all that stuff?

No, I don't know anything about it, but I feel like I'd be good at it. I know nothing. But I feel like if I studied it, if somebody took me under their wing, I feel like in a year or two, I feel I could design great plays. It's a creative endeavor, really, when you think about it.

From what I understand, if you just play Madden, you really learn quite a bit. So maybe try that. Get yourself a PlayStation. Oh, really?

Oh, no, I've never done that.

Could you imagine Larry David on the field just calling shots? Yeah. Throwing his headset. With the little I set screaming into that thing.

I honestly feel I could do it.

You'd just be yelling like, Just throw it and then catch it. How hard would that be?

What team would that be? Would that be the Giants or the Jets?

Well, I'm a Jet fan. I'm also a giant fan, but I'm more jets than giants. When Joe Namet came in in 1965, I really took to him, and so I became a jet fan.

Larry, when When we were working together, I asked you the same thing Jason was asking. I'm like, Why are you ending? Why are you stopping the show? And you just said, Look at me. I'm 76 years old.

Look at me. What do you mean? You're in incredible shape. I know the way you take care of yourself. You eat great, you exercise, you're out there every day.

76. When's your birthday, by the way?

Quick.

July second.

By the way, do you hate birthdays?

You hate holidays? It becomes a job returning the birthday the emails and the text. I agree. It's a bit of a job. Yeah, I don't like it.

I really don't like it. You know what I don't like is when people sing Happy Birthday to me. I don't know what to do. It's the worst minute and a half.

All you could do is make a face and shake your head. Yeah.

Wait, what about all the other holidays? But I get the birthday thing. It becomes a job.

I detest all holidays.

I detest them. Not one.

Not one. There's not one holiday that I like. What Particularly, I hate Halloween. I hate Thanksgiving. I hate Christmas. New Year's, I can stand because I know that the whole thing is going to be over soon after that.

Yeah, but you got to stay up.

You hate the staying up. No, I don't stay up. I haven't stayed up past 12 in 15 years. Why Halloween?

Because you got to dress up.

The costumes, the kids, the bothering. You're knocking on the door. By the way, my house is My house is in darkness on Halloween. Of course it is. All the lights are out. He's walking around with candles. Nobody knocks on the door.

We put a sign out that says, Sorry, no candy, every single year. Soso they just keep walking.

Mary, you could probably get away with putting a sign that said, Go fuck yourself, and people would fucking adore you for it. They'd fucking build you a goddamn monument. I'm still really grinding on this over here.

I remember I've seen you at at Konan's Christmas party a couple of times, and it's great. Do you like going to parties? Well, that's like, it's not a dinner party, but they serve great food and stuff. But I imagine you don't like to sit down at dinner parties, or do you?

The thing about the dinner party is you don't know who's going.

That's right.

That's what really bothers me about it, that it's such a fucking secret as to who you're inviting. Then you show up, Oh, you're here. Oh, hello. Who needs Tell me who's going, and I'll see if I want to go. Why can't I know?

I should have a chance to educate my decision about the way I'm going to spend my night.

Exactly. All of a sudden, then you're spending two and a half hours with a stranger. You've got nothing to say to them.

If you're not going to go to the beach, you're going to look at the weather. If the weather is rainy, you're not going to fucking go for two and a half hours, right?

Exactly. I don't get it. A couple of weeks ago, I was invited, and I asked. I said, who's going to be there? A fence was taken.

Sure.

Okay. And I didn't go.

Good. Smart.

Because you found it Because they told you?

No, they didn't tell me.

Okay. Do you throw dinner parties?

Me?

Yeah.

Have I ever said, let's have a dinner party?

Or let's say you have six, seven, eight people over. Would you then tell the other people who's coming? Yes. Yes, exactly.

I'm golden ruling it.

I'm not trying to trick people over to my house.

Yeah, exactly. I'm golden ruling it. I'm doing unto them as I want them to do unto me.

I'm with you on that. I get offended. These guys know. If you invite me to a one-year-old's birthday party, I'm fucking mad. I'm like, Don't invite me to a one-year-old's birthday party. That's outrageous.

I'll go one step further. Don't invite me to your wedding.

Don't invite me to your wedding on a weekend in the summer?

The bar mitzv is even worse than the wedding. Oh, my God.

No, but my kids go to the bar mitzv because that's where all the makeouts happen.

Yeah, just the service. You just come to the service, not the party. It's so much.

Anything to do with it. They're just intolerable, top and bottom.

And you got to bring a check.

We'll be right back. This episode of Smartlist is brought to you in part by SkinnyPop Popcorn. I eat SkinnyPop all the time. Scotty and I will have movie night. We'll pop open the SkinnyPop and we'll put it in a big fat bowl, and we'll eat pretty much the whole thing because we can't stop eating it. That's our snack for the evening. I also use it sometimes as a substitute for potato chips. Like, while I'm making a sandwich, instead of grabbing the chips, I'll grab the SkinnyPop. It's so good. Skinnypop is light and tasty. It is a deliciously simple combination of popcorn, oil, and salt, and every bite of their perfectly popped original popcorn leaves you wanting more. In addition to their original popcorn, SkinnyPop offers a variety of delicious flavors, ranging from Chetter jalapeno to sweet and salty kettle, which I love. Shop SkinnyPop now.

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All right, back to the show.

I wrote a bunch of... I want to do a speed thing with you because I What? You hate that?

You're going to introduce a new format here? I'm not going to do that. Just one-word answers?

You think Larry wants to do the speed? Or you could say, Fuck off. We've never done a speed. Why are you doing it for Larry?

This is just a terrible idea. Terrible.

Make Larry the monkey.

Sean's upset. Okay, Sean, do one speed thing. One. No, no.

Go ahead. He's worked on it with Scotty all weekend. No. Let's hear it. No, no, no. This is going to be fun.

No, it's not going to be horrible now.

What about a stage story, Larry?

What about when he went to Broadway.

Oh, there you go. Let's do that. How about that, Sean? Larry, I saw your show on Broadway. You didn't see mine. I loved it, though.

If I had been in New York when it was on, I definitely would have got.

For six months.

I was going to fly to New York. Yes.

I flew to New York to see yours.

Who asked you to? I didn't tell you to do that. I would have dissuaded you. I would have said, Are you nuts? I don't want you to come. That's what I would have told you. You should have told me the same thing.

Like a good friend.

Now, tell me, I did see that show, and you were fucking great in it.

That's it. It's so nice of you to say it.

Which one was this?

I'll bring it back down.

Which show?

Something with Fishers. It's Fishers. I'm on the Fish. I'm standing on the Fish.

It was called Fish in the Dark.

Fish in the Dark. Fish in the Dark. But I I thought it was great, and you told me that you didn't love the experience of eight shows a week. No. Did you not know that that's what you were getting into?

I'm not shocked by that. How did that sneak up on you, Larry?

I don't know. It was the dumbest decision I've ever made in my life.

Have you spoken to that agent since?

It was my fault. I'm the one who agreed to it. It was my fault. I didn't write it to be in it. I got talked into it by the producer.Wow.Yeah. And you hated it.

How long was that run?

The first show was February fourth. The last show was June ninth, in 2015.Wow.Wow. So 144 performances.

How many months is that?

February, March, April, May.

Yeah, it's five months. You dig bad.

February, March, April, May. Four and a half.

Sean, how many do you do of Goodnight, Oscar?

Six months. Oh, no. I did five months in New York and three months, or two or three months in New York.

But how many performances? He knows his number.

He knows his number.I.

Don't know.I don't know.

How many shows did you do a week?

Seven.oh, yeah.That's better than eight.I couldn't sell the eight one.

I got a moment to rest for a second. One last. Yeah. But you had a heavy lift in that. You were driving the whole thing. Yeah. Yeah, and you hated it. Never again.

It was boring. Doing the same stuff over night after night after night, I found it boring.

Do you have any funny stories? Didn't she get hurt once? You lose your voice ever?

No, I don't have any funny stories. Okay, good. I did notice that- It's a great question, though, Sean. Thanks. That it becomes so rote and there's no creativity at all after you do the first 10. You're just doing the same thing over and over again.

It's fun, though, to find new things, to try new things that are so small that make the scene better.

He disagreed. Okay, I tried something new once. Yeah.

Oh, I guess you do have a story.

I got so thrown by it, the whole system broke down and I forgot the next line. Yeah. Oh, no. I looked a different way. Instead of looking to the right, I looked to the left, and all of a sudden, it all went to a skew.

How did you get back on track? Did somebody whisper something from the wings?

No, I realized where I was, finally, but that was the last time I tried anything different.

Yeah, exactly. I I was doing a play, and this guy was carrying a briefcase in one hand. Right before we went out, we went out at the same time. He said, God, my hand hurts from carrying the briefcase the same way. I go, You should switch hands. He goes, Oh. I go, But don't do it tonight. He goes, No, I'll do it. We walked out, he forgot every line.Oh.

My God. Yeah, that's exactly the story. Exactly what I'm talking about.

Yeah, I got it. I understand.

That's wild. Those neuro pathways are dug so deep based on what... Larry, what do you do when you're not When you're not not doing your show anymore and you're not doing stand-up? I know you like to play golf. Is there anything else that you like to do that you have any stupid hobbies or anything that you do to occupy your time that people wouldn't know?

No, not really.

No, nothing. What do you watch TV? What do you got? Cable news on?

I do what everybody else does. I read, I watch TV. What are you reading?

These guys don't read. No, I don't read. Do you read non-fiction Are you rereading stuff about world wars and things like that? Or you like good romance novels?

Romance novels?

Yeah, it's fun.

Do you read any spy novels? You get into that shit, anything like that?

I read a great book about the spies in England. I forgot the name of it.

Sorry. I apologize. I'm so sorry.

What is that?

We'll be cutting this, right?

We'll cut that. I probably read it.

I love at the beginning of this interview, you were like, I regret being here. And then my next question. I still do. I get it. My next question was going to be, well, what else would you be doing? And apparently, the answer is nothing.Reading.

A magazine.I'd rather be reading a magazine.

Is that true?

He'd rather be doing nothing than talking to us. He'd love that.

Before we let you go there, I have this Very quick, funny little thing that happened between me and you.

I'd love to get you to your speed round, though.

No, it's too late. It was going to be hysterical, but that's too bad. Listen, it's the I Love You story outside of HBO. I don't know if you remember this. I asked you to do a show a long time ago that I was producing, and you graciously declined because you're not afraid to say no. Then I didn't see you for a year or something. Then I was at the HBO building and I was waiting for an elevator, a HBO building in Santa Monica, waiting for the elevator. When the doors opened, you were there, and the first thing you said before I even said hello or anything, the doors open, you just go, I'm sorry. I just don't like those kinds of shows. I'm so sorry. They're not for me. I'm so sorry. You're great. I just can't do it. I'm like, Don't worry about it. I don't care. But I thought it was fascinating you hung on to that for over a year. Then when we were done chatting, I said, You don't have to ever worry about anything like that, Larry. It's no big deal. Don't worry about it. You said, Okay. I said, I love you.

Then you said, Yeah, I don't do that. I don't do that. I'm not going to say that. Then I laughed and you walked away. Two minutes later, we said goodbye. Way in the distance, you were getting your car and I was still at the elevator and you go, I love you, Sean.

You old soft.

That was real sweet.

Yeah.

Let's cut that, too.

Okay, great.

Sweet Larry.

We don't want that out in the public. No.

We're going to let you go.

Sean, real quick speed round, Sean.

Real quick. I got it. It's too... I was going to-Fucking go. Wait, let me see where they are now. I got to find them. Here we go.

Oh, it's on a computer?

Did you AI this? I wrote them down last night.

What is it? This is like a Rorschack thing?

No, I don't know who that is. Would Would you rather be subjected to someone showing you pictures of their kids for an entire afternoon or lose a foot? Do you ever pick up a dinner? No, that's not... Do you ever watch Shark Tank, by the way?

That's a good question. It's a very good question. But of course, I need the foot. You need the foot.

I couldn't buy golf without the foot. No, you can't. Would you rather wear only uncomfortable shoes whenever you go outside or comfortable shoes 24 hours a day and can ever take them off?

You can never take the shoes off? You mean even when you're sleeping?

Yeah, showering, swimming, things like that.

Now, listen, what about this one? Would you rather live without the internet or live without air conditioning and heating?

Easily. That's such an easy question. What do you think?

I'd rather live without the air conditioning.

I'd rather live without the internet, even without the air conditioning. Okay.

I hate the Internet. What's something that you just recently realized that you were embarrassed you didn't realize earlier?

What's that?

It's bad. What would the world be like if it was filled with What are the male and female copies of you? That's the last one.

I think it would be a much better place.

Much better.Wow.There you go. That's the only one we're keeping. Good answer. Larry David, you're the sweetest. I had the best time with you on your show.Thank you for being on this show.It's too short. Sure be your enthusiasm.

Is it called The Final Frontier? What's the name? Is there a subtitle?

No, it's just. I don't think so.

I think it's called That's Enough.

That's Enough.

That's Enough.

Yeah. I like that.

That would be a nice Larry David. Yeah, Yeah, that's very good.

Yeah. Sean, I'm really looking forward to people seeing you on Curb because you're fantastic in it.

Well, thank you. Thank you for having me. I loved it. It was so fun. Boy, we had some good laughs.

Will and I are happy to be involved in any of the reshoots. Promotion. Additional photography.

We'll just do promo for the-We'll just do the junket.

Hey, guys, this wasn't as awful as I thought it was going to be.

Hey, thanks, man. That's one of the best reviews we've ever had.

Did you have more fun Are you here or on Morning Joe? I was so excited when I saw you on my favorite show, Morning Joe. Was it great? I'm so jealous you were on that set. Yeah, they're great. I want to go over there and say hi to those guys.

Do you still golf, Lair?

Oh, yeah.

You do?

Not today. It's rainy. Too wet today.

Do you see these guys Are you there, Herb?

We've played. I do. I see them out there.

We're going to play together one day.

I'm off until October.

I'm around. I played over at your club the other day for the Proam they did.

Yeah, I don't I don't even get invited to that.

Is that true? Will just went ahead and won it. Come on. He won it. He won the Proam on Wednesday.

What?

Yeah, he had three birdies.

My team did. Yeah, I did have three birdies. Who did you play with? I played with Sebastian Manescalco and Who else did I play with? And with Jeff Azoff.

Who was your pro?

With Sam Burns.

Wow, really?

Yeah. He was great. Sam Burns went low that day. Jeff Azoff is great, as great as you know, he plays at your club. He's terrific. He's a club champ. Then Sebastian, forget about it. Then, just to put it in terms of he would understand. He's so funny.

Don't you find it curious that I'm not invited to play in that proam?

I find it very curious.

How are you not invited to play at the proam? It's your own club, and you're a huge star.

Then I'm there. Fucking ding-dong. Canadian asshole. Canadian moron gets invited. How are you not?

They're trying to go international.

Anyway, well, Larry, we'll get out and play someday. That'd be good. I'll show you around your own club and where to hit it and stuff.

What's your index?

I'm not terrible. I'm a 10-8.

You're not terrible. You're much better than I am.

No, you're right around there, Larry.

No, I'm not. This Bateman character.

You know, he shot a 70 at Bel Air two weeks ago. Wow.

Can you believe that? Scared the shit out of me.

70.

Wow. That was the last round I played, and I won't play again until October. We're Is that so? Where are you going? Where are you going? I'll probably shoot 105. Just working. I'm still out here humping, trying to dance as fast as I can.

He's gone to New York to work. He's back here this week.

What are you doing in New York?

I'm doing some crime drama I'm a bob. That's why I'm growing out all this crap, beard and hair and all this nonsense.

What are you playing? A cop?

I'm playing a loser, right? Look, how am I doing? Yeah, wow.

You didn't need to grow out the hair and the beard for that, dude. Hey.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

Larry, I miss you. I'd love to have at least some food with you soon. Please say hi to Ashley. You're very nice to be doing this today with us.

That was very you.

Very, very cool.

I don't know what to say to that.

A big fans. I know you hate it, and not to embarrass you. You've done so much great stuff in your career. For guys like me, and I can speak for these guys, it's a thrill. Honestly, you're such a funny guy. You're such a funny writer, you're such a funny performer, and it's inspiring to be totally honest. Again, not to put you on the spot. You don't have to respond, but it's great. We look up to people like to you and what you do. I think it's awesome.

What you do is not inspiring.

You make it look very easy, and People need to know that it is not easy. They'll say, Oh, he's playing himself. Guess what, guys? Not simple, incredibly talented.Thank you.I.

Know it's not... Sometimes it's not cool and comedy to pay those kinds of compliments or whatever, but it is true, and you are definitely an inspiration. So thank you for all the awesome stuff you've done.

You're very nice to say that. I wish I could take it in.

I know. You don't have to.

You'll think about it again right when you're going to bed tonight, and it gets a little grin.

A little thought bubble.

All right, guys. See you. Thank you. Take care.

Thank you, Larry. Hey, Larry, love you. Hi. Larry? I love you. There it is. You got it.

He's great.

I think I really do love that, man. I I just love being around him.

Yeah, his deepest, darkest secret is that he's a sweetheart.

I know. Such a sweetheart.

I met his wife. Jay, you know his wife, Ashley?

Tiny bit, yeah. I met her once.

She's so sweet.

I met her one time.

Yeah, they're a lot of fun. I like them a lot.

Yeah, like Will was saying, he's one of the greats. That show has been on for, what did he say, four years, 20 some years?

I really, honestly, genuinely would love to be on a set with him. That would be really, really rewarding. So fun. I missed my chance. I got to cast him in something. He'll probably say no.

He'll do other stuff. He'll do other stuff.

Maybe this was it. I wonder. Maybe this was us working together. This was the beginning and the end of it.

He legit did say that, How come you're never on? I was like, What's your show? You never asked me.

Do you ever say that when somebody comes up to you and asks to be on Smartlist and you say, Yeah, why haven't we had you on yet? Meanwhile, you're thinking, You're not going to have them on?

Yeah.

It happens.

I guess. It's tough. I know. It's tough to hear the truth, I guess.

But he has his legacy. He can always say he has one of the greatest shows in the history of American television. Two of the greatest shows. Two of the greatest shows. And now this one.

And he's only done two. And he's only done two. Except for the Godfried failed pilot, I guess.

But we won't talk about that. No, we don't talk about that.

You just brought it up.

Well, but he's not even two for three. Because it was just a pilot, never aird.

So he's at 60% now. Now he's at 66%. I guess, second ago, he was batting 1,000.

And now, he's still Hall of Fame. It's pretty amazing. He only been on two television shows, and they're both probably in the top 10 ever in the history of television.

Well, three. The Gilbert Godfried thing. Anyway. I know. He is so incredible. He's so fucking incredible. I do mean it. Apart from that, not only did he write himself licensed to do what as he wants, in terms of his behavior and being as cranky as he wants in a way that invokes a lot of jealousy in me. But also he got paid really handsomely to do that.

I don't think so. I think the story is that he deferred all the money because he just did it for the art.

He never cashed those checks.

Did not get a dollar from Seinfeld. No kidding. Wow. Yeah, he just loved it.

He didn't talk about it.

Just being there. No kidding. Somebody about that. Yeah, we should call him back.

I just loved it.

No, seriously, somebody told me that, and they promised me that they are aware of this information, and they can prove it because they have an alibi.

Bye. Bye. Bye.

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Guys, Jason had to scoot very quickly and apologize this profusely for not being here for this little thing that we're about to do, which we're really excited about.

He's missing the party. He's missing the fun.

He's missing the party. He does feel really, really bad. But But we have a couple of guests with us today for a super quick plug for a new smartless media show called Pretty Sure I Can Fly. We can't wait for the show. We're super pumped. One of the hosts is a friend of the podcast. He's been on before, and actor-filmmaker has made us laugh for literally years. His partner in crime is a woman who we haven't had the pleasure meeting yet.

Sorry, and figuratively years.

And figuratively years.

You said literally years.

And figuratively years. But literally years. At least me. A woman who we haven't had the meeting yet who will be a friend of the show after this little chat and giggle. She's a brilliant writer and produced one of the all-time greats, This American life. Love that show. Willy, let's say hello to Johnny Knoxville and Elna Baker.

Okay, I'm going to say hello.

Hello. Hi, guys. This is so exciting that you're here. Tell us about the show. I can't wait. I mean, I know about it, but tell everybody else about it.

It's a show about people with more balls in a bowl and alley. It's people who have achieved great things while thumb in their nose at naysayers, established thought, failure, personal safety, and gravity.

Yeah, I love the press release. It says, For people who have done things that have never been done until someone did them.

Yeah, that's pretty good writing, huh?

Yeah, it's pretty good.

I will say, Knoxville, you've got some history with this. You've obviously spent some time in between over the years doing shit that other people won't do, stuff that seems really scary and gnarly. I can see it. But Elna, how much of an appetite do you have for doing shit that you didn't think people could do?

I mean, to an extent, I grew up Roman, so I wasn't allowed to do anything. For me, I guess it wasn't being brave in terms of jumping off a cliff, but it was leaving a religion, giving hand jobs. There were There were the things that I had to make it.

That was the first thing. Wow.

That's why I joined.

Well, that's what led you to leave, ultimately, one of the things, right? You were 28?

Yes, I left at 20. I touched a penis for the first time at 28.

Is that true?

That is true.

Yeah, 28. Was touching the penis the thing that opened the- Yes, it was. That was the gateway. Penis was the gateway drug?

The penis was the gateway.

When did you have your first Coke.

Coca-cola. Like Coca-Cola?

Otherwise, she's going to say 8:00 AM.

I know.

We were the Romans who drank Coca-Cola, but I didn't have my first coffee until I was 28.

I remember being so afraid to order it just because I didn't know what to say the word.

Wait, so everything happened at 28?

Everything because I left at 28. Yeah, once I touched a dick, I was…

Yeah, tell me about it. Yeah, tell me about it. Catholicism, same thing. Wait, do you still have family members in the church?

Everyone, yeah.

Everyone is still in the moment. Do you have a good relationship?

Decent. Yeah, great.

Johnny, what about you?

I started with decent. I'd love to dig into that a little bit. You open with decent. I'm going to take you a word of- I realized they might hear this.

Wonderful relationship.

By the way, if they're listening to this, then they're lapsed, and then they're just as guilty as you are, and now the playing field is level.

But, Johnny, what denomination did you grow up in? Catholicism?

Oh, Southern Baptist. It was intense. Oh, that's right.

I knew that. Yeah. That's right.

Was it hardcore?

Well, I didn't realize how intense it was at the time.

But it's not like the Pentecostals who handle snakes. But Southern Baptist, you're not supposed to dance. But my parents didn't believe in. They weren't that strict.

But if you hit the Pentecostals, they could maybe be on an episode of Pretty Sure I Can Fly because if they're handling snakes.

Oh, yeah. There you go.

That's what I'm saying. I'm saying being so repressed makes you want to go take these risks later on in life. Totally.

That's one of the things that I love about interviewing the different people we've interviewed is I remember this sports writer telling me that all the greatest athletes had some primal wound, that in that thing that happened in their childhood is what makes them achieve or even try. For sure. So many Any of these people that we've talked to, you find out, oh, like Manny Puig, who you've seen on Jackass and who Johnny knows. I had no idea that his father was killed by a firing squad in Cuba. The origins of what made him- That's crazy. Do these insane, brave things came from something really deep and real. Or like, Garrett McNamera, who's the 100-foot wave guy. He learned about his child. It's bonkers. He basically Basically, at one point, his mother was this hippie, but she put him in this cult. A lot of cults. A lot of cults, but the most memorable- He was in many cults?

Many cults.

But the one they had to renounce all their possessions, he and his brother had to wear bedsheets. They just walked around. They had to beg for everything. They couldn't buy anything. It was just so humiliating to be walking the streets in Berkeley in these outfits, begging for things. That's amazing. These back stories are what get them to do these things.

It's incredible. Johnny, have any of these stories inspired you to try something?

Well, I'm a little slow on the uptake, so I'm trying to not do things anymore. I'm trying to overcome my...

Addiction to- It became an addiction. Put yourself in dangerous situations.

It did become an addiction.

It must. Was there a common trait that you noticed in a lot of these people that you... Other than the childhood, a lot of them came from difficult childhoods. Anything else that gave you that fearlessness?

I think if there's a through line for people on the show, it's bravery and being colorful.

These people are extremely determined, very determined.

Yeah. Wow. Usually, it's complicated, though, right? Because you're talking about adrenaline junkies, right?

Some are.

Some get in and then become addicted, and then they're trying to accomplish something great. But they're also putting their... I mean, you're a perfect example, Johnny.

You- Put your life on the- Yeah, you kept putting your life on the line and then ultimately suffered a traumatic brain injury.

There's this level at which you're on the razor's edge of admiring and also being like, You guys should stop.

Sean wants to know. I'm just asking because he doesn't want to embarrass... He doesn't want to embarrass himself. Can you get a traumatic brain injury from watching TV every night?

You can, but look at me. I'm still here.

Hey, Sean, have you seen 100 Foot Wave, by the way? No. You have to watch this, and it's by that guy, Garrett McNamur. I definitely told you about it. I'm writing it down right now. And watching what these big wave surfers do, not just Garret, but all those guys. When I see those guys when they're like, Man, there's a storm coming to Portugal, to Nazre. We got to get there. We've got 48 hours. We need to get there because there's a fucking crazy storm, and I need to get on a surfboard and have a dude tow me in behind a ski-do so I can get on the stormwaves. I'm thinking like, I'm looking for the closest restaurant that's got a happy hour. I want to make sure. What do they have on draft?

I'm looking for the next Harry Potter movie. Yeah, man. Crazy. But yeah, that's insane. Wait, so are you guys... Is it fun? Have you guys been having a good time? Is it like... It's got to be fascinating. You need to learn all these stories. They sound incredible. It's so fascinating.

I mean, just talking to Ty Stokes, who was on the Jamaican founding member of the Jamaican bobsled team, the real story behind that team is so much more interesting than the movie.

Cool Cool Runnings?

Yeah. Cool Runnings butchered it.

The actual story- Wait, now you're telling me that the Disney movie Cool Runnings that was trying to capitalize on the Jamaican bobsled team? It wasn't true.

I'm trying to take this away from you.

Really? That's great. Cool story?

It's an insane story.

He got put on this team a mere month before the Olympics started. They didn't have a bobsled. They didn't have a bobsled track.

They'd never been on ice.

Yeah, they They didn't have a place to train. They didn't even get to go down a bobsled down the... What do you call it?

The hill or whatever?

The track.

What?

Two or three weeks before the Olympics for the first time?

Are you serious? Yeah. How did they qualify?

Sean, do you know this? They ended up training for money. They trained on daqueries. They would go...

It's so stupid. How did they qualify? Anyway, you know what? We're going to listen to the podcast. That's how we're going to find out. We're going to listen to it. I can't wait. It's called Pretty Sure I Can Fly. It's Johnny Knoxville and Elna Baker together again. You guys make such a great pair. The show sounds so awesome. I truly can't wait to listen to it. It is available right now on whatever podcast platform you're currently listening to. Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Johnny and Elna. All right.

Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, guys. Thanks a lot. We appreciate it.

We're about to play a clip from Pretty Sure I Can Fly. Follow Pretty Sure I Can Fly on the Wundery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Ladies and gentlemen, Travis Mastrana.

Everybody in this house is now standing up and cheering on the 199. Go Travis.

Can you tell me the story of the double backflip? Because that, to me, was also... I mean, I got chills in that moment in the movie, but I would love to hear you tell me the story.

There's very few times in your life where something that means so much to you means so much to a group around you, and even more rare that it means that much to the world. I still have people tell me almost once a week, I get someone that still remembers where they were at that moment. My grandma and all her friends watch it. It's live on TV. My mom was crying because she had known that I'm about 75% in the phone pit. But if it comes around short, there's a really good chance of a broken neck or I was paralyzed.

It was a really cool moment. Even up until you did it, it seemed like, was it really like, I don't know if I'm going to go through with it or not.

We were just explaining, you always say, I'm in or I'm out. The reason this was such a tough decision for me, and I think The reason it got built up more was because I was on the fence on this. I have an opportunity to go out there and try a trick that I've been working for for three, four years, but I'm sitting third. So I'm like, if I don't do a double backflip, I still get a medal. I still to get paid, which is going to really help everything else that I've been putting into to rally. And is my goal to be a freestyle motocross rider, or is my goal to continue on in action sports and to have a career that's going to expand, hopefully longer? It worked out in rally. I said, You know what? I'm both. I said, I'm going to land this trick. Went out there and decided, literally last second, played Rock, Paper, Sc scissors with my red-neck friend, Hubert.

Wait, the deciding It was a rock, paper, scissors. Oh my God. It came down to that?

Right before I went up there, Hubert, we went rock, paper, scissors. I gave thumbs up to basically Sal and the guys, and they're like, All right. They raised the ramp.

No one has ever done this before.

At that time, I had done it to a sandpile in a controlled environment. That was a big step up. If you came up short or didn't make it, it sucked, but it was okay.

It was a hard surface that day, right?

It was just blue groove. It was pretty much worst case scenario for me. We took the ramp that was already existing and then raised it on two by fours. It looked like something we built in our backyard for when we were five years old. My dad's out there strapping the ramp down and trying to get it so it doesn't move because the ramp falls over.

Then I'm definitely going to deep-So you're up there and you're about to go.

Yeah, it was one of the coolest experiences ever. Got up there and the guy that He dropped me in. He gave me a thumbs up. He said, It's on you. Take your time. I looked around and every single person was on their feet. Entire sold out Staples Center. All of my heroes, you had Kevin Robinson, you had Chad Keggie. They were holding hands. I had Brian Deegan. All the militia was all down there looking. It was one of the coolest experiences. I remember inside my helmet smiling, and when I dropped in, everything went to slow motion. Usually, you get a slow motion if anyone's crashed a car or been in a really bad, where you think everything's going bad. I've never had a slow motion where I took off and I can remember the smells. I can remember the sounds. I can remember everything was so vivid. I came around on the first pull and I checked the landing. I remember thinking, as Trevor Jacob said later, it's like, Oh, you can't check. I'm like, Oh, no. Now I'm short. I whip my head back and I see the lights. When you practice this trick in the foam pit, you got the The sky above you within the ground.

But on this day, you've got blinding lights where you can't see anything straight ahead of you. Then below you is dark. I just remember just smiling again. I'm like, Well, I'm all in. I can't get out of this now. I came around and literally couldn't have hit better. I was just like, What the heck just happened? I dropped down and dropped the bike and I run up. The first person there was just some drunk guy out of the stands that just overpowered the security and gave me a big hug up top. I'm like, I don't even know you, but yes, let's go. Oh, my word.

Are you kidding me?

How many times can you find the Holy Grail in one building. A double backflip from Travis Pastrana.

That was pretty cool.

I was at home watching it live, and it was like I had tears going down my cheeks like the end of Old Yeller because it was It was such an amazing moment and so memorable. Yeah, I was blown away. You think that's the biggest moment of your career?

Moment that the world felt what I felt.

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Get to the choppa. I'll be back. Listen, I got to tell you, of all guests we've had on Smartlist, I don't know if we've had a bigger icon on our podcast than Arnold Schwarzenegger. I mean, what a treat it was talking to that guy. Arnold is an inspiration from having reached the heights of bodybuilding to then conquer Hollywood and become a global movie star. For his third act, he oversaw the world's fifth largest economy as governor of California. The man has truly done it all. In our interview, he shares the secret of how he's able to accomplish what he puts his mind to, what motivates him to keep working out all these years, and the extreme generosity that he received after arriving in America. You got to listen to this episode to hear what it's like to be Chris Pratt's father-in-law and how Arnold's first comedy, Twins, has made him more money than any other film he's done. Hint, he's also a great businessman. Give it a listen if you haven't. Bye. Seps.