Noah Wyle

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Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Good Hang. Boy, we have one of my favorite actors on today from one of my favorite show parentheses shows. And that is Noah Wiley. Noah Wiley is joining us. And we're going to talk about so many fun things.

We're going to talk about, well, people falling asleep on set. We're going to talk about what it was like playing basketball with George Clooney. We're going to talk about a little show called ER that I've watched in its entirety three times through. We're going to talk about the pit, a little show that's winning every Emmy, including 1,000 awards. Oh, and speaking of awards, we're going to talk about the fact that Noah Wiley announced here for the very first time is People Magazine's Sexiest.

Madaliah. Yeah, baby. OK, we're going to get into it. But before we do, we always try to talk to somebody who knows our guest or has a question for me to ask our guests. And we are talking to Sean Haddissey.

Yes, Dr. Jack Abbott. The Knight Crawler himself, the man from the Night Shift from the Pit. And you know, Sean, he's an incredible actor, director. You know, from Animal Kingdom, you know, him from Southland.

He's just our favorite crazy doctor who's bringing us along to the ride. So let's see if we can get Sean on the Zoom. Hey, Sean. This episode of Good Hang is presented by PayPal, brighten up the start to the festive season by getting ahead of the holiday rush. Shop your favorite online stores with PayPal this holiday, like Sephora for gift sets, Target for Toys and Electronics, and TikTok shop for fashion apparel and gadgets.

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Paypal, Inc.n.mls 910457. Let up. How are you? Sean, it is good to see you. It is good to see you.

You know, we just officially met in person just recently. The pre-EMI party. And we were near the bar area. And you did this thing, which I often do, which is I put my head down and walk away. And I was like, she doesn't want to talk to us.

And then your friend looked up. And there was a moment of recognition in my wife. I was like, he knows you were going to go talk to me right now. You're a wonderful wife, Kelly. I got to talk to you both.

And you're right. I mean, I get a little overwhelmed at parties. I understand. But we didn't give you that chance. We took you hostage for like 20 minutes.

And we threw up all over you. Thank you for. Oh, yeah, right back at you. I'm very, very excited to talk to you today. I mean, Sean, I love your work and have for a very long time.

And it's been awesome to watch what you do so naturally and so well coincide with this huge hit show. Like, you know what it is to work in this business and to be on shows that are really, really good and that don't have this kind of momentum behind them? Yeah. What's it like to be on a hit? You're on a hit, baby.

You do so many shows at the beginning. You're like, this is going to go forever. And then it like gets canceled after five episodes. So when you're starting a show, you just sort of kind of go, I don't, you know, it feels like we're doing good work. I'm not sure.

I got to say with the pit, you know, with all the elements in place, I've worked with John Wells, who was the executive producer on other shows and they didn't do as well. But there's something about this that felt really solid and obviously with Noah and, you know, his contributions to this type of show. And then the fact that it's, it's taking something that we're familiar with, but changing the concept by putting it in one day, it just it gave a very like immersive quality to it that just felt really, you know, exciting. Let's talk about John Wells for a second. Like what a giant of a producer.

I've never had the chance to meet him. He has done so much TV, incredible work. How did you guys first meet? I was a guest star on ER. My manager brought me, you're going to go audition for this.

And I was like, I don't know if I want to do like, I was doing a lot of movies at the time. And she was like, no, you need to do this one because John is directing it. And when he directs, you know, it's a big episode. So I read it and it was of course, you know, multiple personalities, very like transformative characters. Very cool.

And so it really was wonderful. And at the end of it, I was like, I really want to keep working with you if I'm so lucky. And you know, then Southland came a couple years later, and it just has worked out. You know, it's one thing to be able to write a show, but it's a whole other thing to be able to produce a show and know how to put the people in place to make a quality show. He's very loyal.

He's, you know, fortunate to work on three shows shot in LA. I think people sometimes think that making television feels like, like, it's just like people dressed up in fancy, you know, clothes going to Emmy parties and talking to each other. But it's a weird factory where you're just in there with, you know, the same people every day and you're grinding. And I show like the pit is very much that because we're in one location, which feels like an office, right? That the lighting is the same.

And yeah, I mean, but like, as you know, there's also an immense pressure. I watch your show, Parks and Rec, and it's funny every time. Like you guys are presenting something that clearly works because it kept going and going. At a certain point, you feel that pressure to deliver, which also creates a special kind of environment when working together, if that makes sense. I'll tell you what works, the Nightcrawlers.

Sean. Okay. First of all, the little pep talk, the Friday night lights pep talk that Dr. Abbott gives to the night shift. Yes.

Fantastic. It takes a certain kind of person to work, or to choose to work nights. You know what it feels like. Totally. I think that that's such an interesting and like it's investigated more in season two.

And I hope it continues to be, which is what personality trait constitutes a night person and someone who wants to take a night shift. Like, you know, whatever the job is, I would just love to pitch without we take Nightcrawlers. And we just develop Nightcrawlers as a separate show. I'm going to talk to no more. All right. But I didn't tell you to do that.

Okay. So we're talking today. And I mean, I'm going to talk to him about all this stuff because I think I'm really fascinated by how like our people are age were about the same age. I'm a little older, but like how we like to work now, like I love listening to people systems of how they work, what works for them, you know, no matter what their job is. It doesn't just have to be acting.

But I think one of the nice things about being your 50s is you start realizing, oh, this kind of version of work works for me or I do better when I'm around these types of people. Like all that stuff. I think there's a little bit of wisdom that comes with that. But I feel like he feels like a very serious guy and kind of private are either one of those things true. I mean, he is a serious guy, but he has a really good sense of humor about stuff.

You know, he's like a big brother, you know, a much older big brother. Yeah, much older. Much more. Much older. That's really nice to hear because that the vibe on that show is like there's just a lot of fraternal love between your characters.

And look, we as viewers, we're just looking for like positive masculinity. We're just looking for examples of it, honestly, anywhere. We can find it. And the way you guys play these very, you know, complicated and accomplished men who are taking care of each other, sometimes in limited ways, but they're still trying. It's really, really moving to watch.

Yeah, the thing that excites me the most about the relationship and just sort of the the competence competency when it comes to the medical, like you just those are the guys you want if something is going wrong, like there's nothing that can come through on a gurney that they can't fix. They have all the answers like right on the tip of their tongues. But when it comes to their mental health, you know, they just are idiots and they just don't have the tools. And because of their position as leaders, as men who are supposed to be counted on, it's hard to raise your hand and say, Hey, I'm struggling. I need help, you know, and I think that the fact that we're tackling that and in the way that we are is is incredibly positive.

Okay, so do you have, I asked all my, my zoom guests if they can give me a question to ask my guests, big or small, anything you might think no one wants to talk about or anything you want to know about him. I was thinking about this and sort of what we were talking about, like he's such a masterful performer when it comes to acting, his ability to bring out the medical jargon. I've seen it as an actor and also as a director, his, his access to vulnerability, his ability to play a motion, heavy emotion. And like the stamina that is required to do it over and over again, he never changes. And the other thing I really think Noah is good at is listening.

He's got these eyes that when he's, he has to convey some sort of story point, just from listening, he does it brilliantly. And so all that aside, as somebody watching it, it just seems very easy to him. And I was curious, is there something he reads as an actor that he's scared of? Is there an insecurity? Is there, is there a, is there a, something that he would read in the script that he's like, oh man, I'm afraid.

I wonder if I can do this, because all as actors have deep insecurities. Oh my god. You know what I mean? And it's so I'm just curious, what does he read and go, fuck, I don't know if I can do that. That's a great question because he's had to do, he's, he's, he's gotten a log script over the years where he's had to do things and they, you know, especially certainly on ER, it was like big physical comedy and big emotional moments and like romantic moments and like big breakdowns that you know are coming and just like, what is the thing that you read on the page or, you know, you are in the room hitching that you're like, oh no, I'm going to eventually have to do this.

Yes. And then my second question is, he's putting together a basketball team. Okay. He can use anybody from the pit or ER. He's the point guard.

Okay. He needs to, he needs to bring on four more players from the pit or ER. What is that team? Oh, fantastic question. And I got to say, don't tell him this, but if he doesn't pick me, we're going to have to talk about that.

Yeah. He'll sense that in the question, you might be hoping to be picked, but I'll try not to deliver it that way. I think he's definitely going to pick George Clooney, right? Because he plays basketball still, doesn't he? I don't know.

I think so. I mean, he probably has some guy play basketball for him at this point. He's not having, he's not playing his own basketball. Yeah. He has a gentleman, an Italian gentleman who plays for him.

For sure. No way. Right. But you're right. I mean, basketball was a big thing in ER.

It was just like, they were always shooting hoops. And you're a good basketball player. You like basketball? I played a lot of basketball. And like, as a kid, high school, I play tennis now.

I play pickleball. So there's where they played basketball on the pit. I mean, on ER, that right next to the friend stage, there's a basketball court, but they put pickleball there. So sometimes at lunch, we'll go, not Noah. He has never made it out there.

But I'll drag some people out there and we'll play pickleball. A lot of people don't know that the pit and ER were not shot in Pittsburgh and in Chicago, but right on the lot in Los Angeles. Thank you so much for doing this. I know Noah will be thrilled that we talked and thank you so much for the time. And it was so great to meet you in person.

I love your work. I can't wait for the next season and all the good stuff. Thanks again. Thank you. Bye, Sean.

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Oh, wait, this is from your wife and daughter. Yeah, they found these and they know that you have all this little stuff and they thought you would think this was cute. Come on. First of all, a tie. They called it iJoy, just to look at these and get a little bit of a play.

Oh, this is really nice. This is an anthropomorphic pretzel. But like the one I asked for and same with a quesocement with legs. And then this is, oh, it's broccoli. I headed upside.

I thought it was an octopus. Seriously. It's probably listeners. Nowhere just came with presents and beautifully crafted presents. And I'm also going to read the card on air.

It won't be hard. My daughter's got the most incredible penmanship. How old is your daughter? She's 11. This one is 11.

Oh, come on. I actually don't know what it says. Is there anything nicer than 11-year-old girls? Dear Amy, my mom and I are big fans of your podcast and heard you collect fake food. Although this isn't realistic.

We thought you might love it. Love Francis and Sarah. All I ever wanted was a good, good hang and then she drew a picture. Come on. She used her cursive.

Oh, she broke out the cursive for you too. She's really showing up. What a sweetie pie. Girls are the best. That is so sweet, Francis.

Thank you, Francis. Thank you, Sarah. She's going to be so tickled. Oh my god. Thanks for bringing that.

We'll put it on the shelf before we're done. For continuity's sake, though, we got to leave it off. Noah Wiley is here. Noah Wiley is here. And also, Noah, I just want you to know, no pressure.

But you were like one of the first people that I, when people were like, who do you want on your podcast? You were somebody that I've been trying to get you for a long time. I haven't been playing hard to get. I've just been working a lot. I know.

I've been watching your work. I'm really happy to be here. And you've been very kind about my work through the years. Well, get ready. Okay.

Okay. Okay. I heard from your people that you refused to come until you were voted sexiest man. You said I will only be on this pod. It won't be something legitimate to talk about.

People are sexiest man alive. And I guess my first question is Jonathan Bailey was last year. How is your administration going to be different? What are you going to do different than the Bailey administration? I'm really disappointed that he's done on the international front and with immigration.

So you're going to start with the head. My administration is going to really crack down on the borders. A beauty. Congratulations. Yeah.

Thank you. I think that went to go to my mother and my father. But yeah, thank you. But I can almost remember chronologically the ones that came out during my formative years. Well, don't you remember?

I mean, people magazine was very big in my house. And it was and you'd get it and you'd sit down. You'd be like, here we go. Here we go. Go on.

Go on. Go on. Go on. Go on. Go on.

Was it like that cumbersome time or, you know, this week? Yeah. People. People just breeze through it. It's pie charts.

Yeah. Yeah. But I have genuinely wanted you to be here for a very long time. Thank you for being here. My pleasure.

And thank you for being here on what is like 120 degree California. It is warm out there. I was just in Burbank where I was 108 in Burbank today. Felt like in. You know, fall.

Yeah. But you like had LA experience growing up and then kind of like a ranch horses California experience. I have a very typical upbringing for City Kid. Because my grandfather back in the late 50s, he was a really brilliant guy. And he went to a symposium on population explosion in 1959 at Caltech.

And he came away thinking that water and land are going to be the two most precious resources in California. So he went looking for both. And he found this piece of property about an hour north of Fresno. In the exact geographical center of California, north of southeast to west in this little town outside of North Fork. And he bought this cattle ranch that's been in our family forever now.

And we all grew up kind of playing Huxin there, you know, getting dirty and riding horses and hurting ourselves and each other. And so I had a kind of country upbringing and a city upbringing. I had both. Oh, that's so cool. What a great place to be a kid and run around.

And that's awesome. You don't realize how special it is until you compare your child to other people. And I was very fortunate. Do you have an animal that like a do you have like a farm animal that you love? I've had pigs at my place.

I think pigs are really great and very character. Great. I mean, you know, not I've had the moose. I don't want to go. They're a little scary.

And they don't. They're not very social. What happened? Well, I was trying to feed them. And they got really aggressive after they had babies.

And I had a three-walled enclosure for them. And I had a trash can with their food. And they both came in. And they fight by kicking up their big talent feet at like Velociraptors. And all I had to defend myself was the lead of the trash can.

So I was holding it like a shield. You really caught it in America. And not quite. More like coward America. And I was crouched down thinking about all the headlines.

I would not want to read about how I was killed by an animal. So I kind of bum rushed them and got past them and thought, that's it. They're out of here. Yeah, you're like, I'm getting you out of here. Their poop is extremely rich in nitrogen.

So it makes great fertilizer for pot. And their feathers are what fly fishermen like to make flies out of. So I found a pot smoking fly fishermen who came down and took them all away. He was like, yeah, pot. Did you have when you were on the ranch as a kid?

Little Noah, were you a funny kid? Were you performing as a young person? I was a very moody kid. I was a very temperamental kid. Occasionally, one of those temperaments would be funny.

And I figured out early that I could get attention by being a storyteller in a bit of a comedian. So I kind of latched onto that. But I was always trying to find my tribe, always trying to find my rhythm, always feeling a slightly step out of my class and my group. But I'm surprised to hear you say that, because I know you made some big choices, very young, about what you wanted to do with your life. You decided, I'm not going to go to college.

I'm going to be an actor. That's true. That's a big swing for somebody who knows it. Well, that was after I found my tribe. I went away to do this theater program that's sponsored by Northwestern University in the summer program, called the chair program.

Kind of an all-star program for theater kids from all over the country. And I went and was like, oh, here you are. My people, let's play. And I came back just committed that college knowledge. I want to start.

I'm going to get an apartment with my best friend, and we're going to hustle. Did you weigh tables during that time? I did. I worked for a man named Demetri Demetri, David Bailasz, who told Demetri's now going to become a rather famous character in this town. But when I was 17, he hired me to bust tables for him.

Is this the Demetri? That's the pleasure of his pleasure. OK. Sunset Tower and Sunset Tableau. He is very famous.

Demetri is like an incredible character. He's in my A&E biography. Talking about how he molded me from a scruffy young street or chin into a rather accomplished busboy. He's kind of like you don't make him like that anymore, Demetri. And I met him.

He was a Mater D. And he was the epitome of what you would imagine fancy service would be. He drilled into us this wonderful phrase, the nobility and humility that you're not subservient because you're serving. And if you want to be an actor, think of this as putting on a show for these people. Give them the most incredible dining experience and play that part and pay attention to detail.

And his work ethic was so intense that one night, my job at the end of the shift was to make him to express it with four sugars while he counted all the money and tipped us out. And one night, he was just sweating profusely. He'd been really aggressive all night, telling us to change ashtrays and get more bread. And it was because he was working with a burst appendix. And once he paid us out, he went to the emergency room and had it operated on and showed up the next night for the shift.

So do you know how painful that is to work with a burst appendix? I do because I've watched a lot of your medical shifts. Yes. I do. Well, he's an absolute soldier when it comes to work.

Whoa, that's wild. And do you feel like you were a good waiter? Because I think there is something about waiting tables and being in the service industry in general that especially when you're a young person, where you get very good or you get practice anyway and figuring out how to deal with a lot of different people fast. Oh, absolutely. I think that's really true.

In fact, I've recommended it to my kids. I say, you know, you'll understand why you won't want to do it for the rest of your life really quickly. But you'll get this camaraderie, this bond with your fellow workers that you'll never forget. And it will battle test you for all sorts of different kinds of people. Yeah.

The idea that you have to very quickly make an impression is really. But you're so good at impressions. Oh, thanks. Why thanks? No, I'm learning.

OK. I'm too excited. Let's take a drink of water. I did not know that you were auditioning at 1819-21, like really young and auditioning. Did you ever do commercials during that time?

You know, I was really cocky. And I was really, I thought I only wanted to do theater and film. That was my whole thing when I started out. And I signed with a wonderful agent, a woman named Eileen Felbin signed me basically with a list of plays on the back of an envelope that I'd done in high school. And on the recommendation of a casting director named Gretchen Rennell, who I had met at a party, who was very kind to me.

And she was said, OK, that's what you want to do. And then eventually, when that didn't pan out, she sent me the pilot script for ER, which had been written as a feature script. And at that point, I was ready to do whatever. Did you feel like you nailed it? When did you feel good about your audition?

It's going to date it so specifically. Let's talk about facts as in pages. Well, I had just gone through a rather tumultuous breakup. My first big love had broken my heart. And I was trying to rebuild my life.

And I was sort of looking for those. And I'd gone back into therapy. And I was reading the Celestine Prophecy. Do you remember that book? And so I was so per into this idea of control dramas and recognizing what someone's trying to do to you and being neutral and all that shit.

And so I remember sitting in the hallway thinking about not letting the other actors that were auditioning around me is energy affecting me and what I wanted to do. And I went in and the first one went very well. And they called me back for the producers. And then I tested against one other actor, a gentleman named Rafael Sibar, who's very talented. Wow.

Changed my life. I mean, I just don't think I really understood how young you were when you were on that chat. I turned to 22 while we made the pilot. So I was 21 when I was auditioning for it. Yeah.

Wow. Which is what my daughter's age, which is crazy. I know. And that age is such an interesting age because it is that middle feeling where you're just, you're like, I'm not a kid anymore. I'm an adult, but you're just stepping into that.

It's so tender. That age. I had great big brothers on that one. I had George, Tony, and Eric, who were all 10 years older than me who had already been down those roads before. And I had a huge crush on Sherry.

So it felt very comfortable to be part of that ensemble. I didn't know that. I can't wait. I'm sorry. But nobody had a crush on Sherry.

You're going to have to bear with me because I'm going to ask you a lot of ER questions. OK. Where do I start? I think you share a similar love for television than I do. And I think there's something about television that is so personal.

And we revisit these people and these shows and these characters. Like if we're lucky enough to get to do that over and over again. When I first watched ER, like everyone else, I was in the 90s, I had just graduated from college. Then cut to I'm watching ER at 7 o'clock every night on TNT and reruns when I'm like ripping bongs and going away. You know, with not a care in the world, but I'm 20, you know, to whatever it is, 26.

Maybe that's a little old to be doing that. But then I watched it again. When in my 30s, I rewatched it again during the pandemic. I have rewatched that series a lot. It is my comfort.

One of my comfort shows. My first question is, have you rewatched it? Not in its entirety. And I start to finish. I've caught episodes over the years and kind of, you know, caught up on it.

Do you watch it when you say it? When my first started dating my wife, Sarah, she wanted to watch it from the beginning. And I had the DVDs. So I gave them to her. Everyone's still wanting to walk past and go.

What are you up to? Oh, yeah. Oh, that's a good one. But I'll go back to say that when I said I wanted to do only theater and film, it's so ironic that I've made my entire career in television. And it's been the most rewarding career you could want, because it is a family that you build up over a long period of time.

There is a culture that's within the show that you're making. That's just as fun to be part of that nobody else really gets to know about because it's so insular to just the environment of the work. And then this relationship that you build up with audiences who are attending you in their moments of their life that are important. And you kind of are an anchoring point for that. It's really, it's been astonishing to have people grow up with me and have me grow up with them.

They have these shared experiences and times. It's been wonderful. Well, I've said this, but the arc of John Truman Carter on that show is, I think, one of the best arcs ever on television. The anime shows that run 15 years, so you can get a lot of lifespan in that time frame. And they did.

But they also had, it was such a lovely book and to have his first day of work with the pilot of the hospital. So it's the audience's exposure to the environment. It's coming through this character. And even when I left after the end of the 11th season, left a few episodes in the bounce, I called it a divorce with visitation, right? John Wells was always adamant about me coming back and being part of the end so that we could close the chapter on that career and that the third-year medical student becomes the chief attending was a lovely road to hold.

Oh, yeah. So satisfying to watch that. Which felt like real time, even though. And spoiler alert, if you haven't watched DR Fast Forward now, but if you haven't, literally what's wrong with you. But the way, talk about bookends, Dr. Green getting woken up.

Come on, let's go. Dr. Green and ending with John Carter saying, Dr. Green, are you coming to Dr. Green's daughter?

Boy, you're crying. I mean, could Lord, I mean, I mean, the circle of life. No, it's good stuff. It's good stuff. I know.

I get very, I get very, yes. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. And also what was so incredible about that show. And honestly, what is incredible about shows that deal with people who do that kind of work, is there is this feeling of celebrating life.

Like, one must. Yes. One must, because it's all we have. Yes. And so I know, just anyway, that was so beautifully done.

And OK, but I haven't even started. That's a great Pittsburgh poet who wrote a poem called A Brief for the Defense that has a line in there that I think about a lot. I love this poem. Do you know the poem? You must have the stubbornness to accept your gladness and the ruthless furnace of this world.

The purpose of this world. I love this poem. I just send it to a friend who's going through a hard time. Jack Gilbert. OK.

48 million people who watch the R. It's such a hit. It's insane. I just want to talk about what I believe was the most, for me, anyway, the most important relationship on the show, which was you and Eric Lassalle, Dr. Carter and Dr. Benton.

Dr. Peter Benton. Peter Benton, who was the surgeon, who was everything about that portrayal was ahead of its time. Eric's choices, your choices together, the writing of that character, the way that character changed, the way that Eric, I think, and all of you kind of fought for ways in which to make sure that that character stayed true to himself. How would you describe that relationship?

And what did you two talk about to make sure to maintain its integrity? It's such a beautiful. It was very instinctual. And it wasn't very verbalized. Eric and I just fell into a really great rhythm early on with each other, where because of the power imbalance being the exact opposite of what you would imagine it to be, where the young white doctor is killing himself for the approval and approbation of the older black surgeon and holds his estimation as the highest level of validation.

And Eric got to play the sort of, I always laugh when I went to Japan on a tour on a press tour once. They showed me ER in Japanese. And of course, they gave Eric the very deep, like, shoulder, attack, attack, attack, attack, attack. And then they gave me the. Yeah, attack, attack, attack, attack, attack, attack, attack.

Short, status. And the journey was to have my voice deepened and to have his voice soft. In my mind. Yeah. I mean, even watching him when I was a young person, I remember thinking, wow, Dr. Benton is so mean.

He's so uptight. He's like, you know, he's so tough on Carter. Ask the post office and all the ladies will go. He's so mean to you. He's so mean to you.

Just the physicality, when you watch the way you two walked. I mean, the way he was like striding constantly down the hallway, the way he was always behind him over his shoulder, appearing until eventually, you know, throughout the seasons, you just become literally on the same plane as him. The way you are constantly watching him is so, it's just what a relationship that was. It gave me a lot to play off of. And I have said many times how much respect I have for what he was doing in a way without, I think, recognizing what he was doing consciously, but what he was representing at a time that wasn't being represented.

And, you know, to us occasionally, it seemed like Eric's been kind of stubborn. You know, he doesn't want to be a team player and take this picture this way. And we didn't really understand what he was trying to represent, which was a different stripe of blackness, maleness, professionalism. And I have a given with a tremendous amount of credit and have through the years for that. But I didn't get it in the beginning, and I really got it now.

It was so beautifully done because his tension about being successful, being right, being at the right time, like advancing, comes from a much different place than Carter's. And the clash of that was so interesting to watch. Eric and I come from very different backgrounds, but we have a lot in common. And it was really interesting to sort of mind both of those arenas, how different we are and how much we end up liking each other, despite our differences, maybe because of our differences. Did you guys get a lot together?

No, you get glares. Yeah, he has a very infectious laugh. And getting Eric to break is one of the great joys in life. It feels like you kind of were a couple of goofballs at times. We were all the class clowns in our class trying to get attention.

So the idea that we would all be serious doctors, you know, is a finite concept before we all want to start making fun of what we're doing, especially when you've got George Clooney in the scene. You know, it was people that, and he really set the tone. Let's work really hard. Let's play really hard. Let's take this work seriously.

We not take ourselves seriously. Yeah, I could tell it. I mean, I think we have to be on time, be professional, erase the division between cast and crew, between foreground and background. Let's just see if we can make this feel like a company. And I've taken that exact ethos and recreated it with the pay.

That is how that was baked into the intentionality of the pay. Just how can I recreate the environment of family? Hard, good, relevant work, and, you know, a respectful, inclusive environment at the same time. Did you like his pranks, though? No, the answer is no.

No, well, you know. Who likes the pranks? Are you a prank guy? Are you a prank guy? I'm not a big pranker.

No. Who's a prank-pranker? We don't have the time. I like this, like, when my son was small, he was super into trains. And when he would fall asleep, I'd run downstairs and create these elaborate train layouts for him, and then tell him, like, the layout fairy must have come.

That's a good point. And so he lived in the layout fairy. Like, I like magic making, and I like blowing people's minds that way. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This episode is brought to you by Marshall's.

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Okay, back to that. Okay, sorry. I only watched it 5,000 times. Over here. Come on, yours.

Thank you, Dr. Peter Benton, being someone that I, it took me a minute just like the character of Carter to realize, like, oh, I'm talking about, someone's had a different experience than me, and I'm learning about their experience with this character. Lauren is Carrie Weaver. What a beautiful performance he gives. Yes.

Oh my goodness. I was at her audition. I sat in on maybe two or three auditions in 15 years. I just happened to be in the office when they were casting that role, and I had a friend who was reading for it. So that's maybe why I was there as sort of an anchoring energy for my friend.

But Laura walked in and walked out or limped out with the part. It was just, it was, it was, it was like a revelation, what you do with that part. And that is a part that again, when you mature, I think, at least for me as a woman watching the show, when I was in my fifties, I was like, oh, I mean, suddenly that character who, honestly, frankly, sometimes has to be the one that's like, stop having fun, guys. We got to get back to work. You realize the pressure that that character is under to keep that hospital going, which you, you really take a hard look at in the pit.

This idea of like, there's a whole other world. There's like the world. There's like the street level world of stuff. There's the bird's eye view of stuff. Then there's like this, this management piece that is just keeping the lights on.

She's so, so good in that. And when, and in the scene, when, when Dr. Carter is a spoiler alert, when he has to go to rehab, when they call him out, what, I watched that scene. I don't even have a question. Such good acting.

Noah, you're so good in that scene. I think I got good on that show. I got, I mean, the luxury of getting that writing week after week and those directors week after week and you're working with guest stars that are Academy Award winners and icons and legends and you're getting to share the stage with them every week. I got better so that when, after year five, when George left, after year eight, when Tony and Eric left and I inherited some of the bigger, more media storylines, I was ready for them then in a way that I wouldn't have been ready for them in those early seasons. So I credit longevity to preparing me for, for the juicier stuff, but those were great.

And to give Carter the drug addiction, I remember thinking, I'm telling John Wells, like, I don't know if I buy this. He goes, that's the point is that you're the most unexpected face for drug addiction, but the face of drug addiction is every face. And that's the point we want to make. And lastly, I know you've worked with incredible people, but do you remember working with Adam Scott? Yeah, well, it was reminded me by Instagram.

So he told a very funny story about that. Do you remember it? I was on a granny and it was you and Ming not doing your scene. And he, I think he's just supposed to lie there as a patient and he realizes he forgot to put the, the breathing thing in the tube. He, he forgot a prop basically.

And you guys have all this jargon. And he's like, Oh shit. And he's like, he kind of raises his hand like, it doesn't matter that I didn't have my thing on. And where everyone's like, yes, I'm asking. I'm going to forgive Adam and put that all in our prop department.

That would have been Rick. Like I know you've answered. Yes. I know you have promised her on the pit. Yes.

Yeah. So that's the next issue, people that really make it very lovely. A good prop master is no better feeling. You, it is so. Well, you know, I mean it's from SNL and all.

I mean, it's the best. Well, I didn't want to make comparisons, but I'm going to, I'm going to compare SNL and compare Parks and Rec to the pit. I'm sorry. Do it. But SNL was like a comedy emergency room.

And I know we are not doing the kind of work that, that emergency. Way higher stakes. Way higher stakes. Way higher stakes. Not at all.

Please know that I'm not making that comparison. But what I notice is, you know, you just, there's no time to panic. There's no one running around being like, what are we going to do? Where are we going to fix this? We go on air in a minute.

There's just, in fact, more stressful things get, the quieter people get. And when you start to work with those kinds of people, you never want to work with anybody else again. Yes. They're just the people you can depend on when the shit goes down. I'll give my father a lovely compliment.

My dad is a brilliant man. But in life, you know, it sort of comes off occasionally like an absent mind to professor. He's also a small plane pilot. And I've been with him in the plane when something isn't working. And that's when you want to be in Stephen Wiley's plane because he's got an engineer's mind who just says problem, work the problem.

Yeah. Motion, fear, all those other things don't seem to kind of come into play. And it's a really, I don't have that ability. I lead with emotion and empathy. And so the first thing is like, well, what does that feel like?

As opposed to like, you know, what would be the right thing to do? You don't have that? No, no, I can act it though. Yeah, you sure can. My wife will tell you, she slammed her finger in the car door and Dr. Robbie was nowhere

to be seen. Just in the early summer crying. You're like, oh my God. What are we going to do? I would be to drive the dogs to Santa Barbara for like three hours, comes back, ghost urgent care and while I'm still boiling water and finding hotels.

I get a moment. I get a moment. I got to find my feelings. Okay. Oh, here's my other, you know, clumsy comparison.

But first of all, congratulations on a wonderful show and a beautiful, well-deserved and satisfying rise as you made it. Like, it feels like you got to make the show before the show became, do you know what I mean? Like, you got to make what you wanted and then people noticed. Yes. That's not always the time that happens.

It was a whole confluence of events, which I'm sure you're well aware of that we were going to start down an ER reboot road that then came to pass. But we sort of set a table of expectation for a medical show from us that we were then allowed to really fast-track the development process through because of that vacuum that we created from the near miss. And so this just happened so quickly that it seemed like there was a larger force behind it. And we just need to stay on the surfboard and let it push us. What creatively came out of that like early stutter step that you're so happy it did?

Well, I'm sorry to say for all the ER fans, but once we uncoupled ourselves from that IP, it suddenly liberated the storytelling. It wasn't about who do we see again and what have they been up to? It's what are the issues of the day and how is the most cogent way to put them across. So in a lot of ways, it's kind of liberated the narrative for us. It allowed us to reframe and kind of modernize it and not have to pay any homage to the travel road.

Yeah, because the why I think about Parks and Rec when I think about the pit is the show is about a place. And the place is this beating heart that everybody is gathered around. And the place is like has its own system. And the people kind of almost like come alive when they're in the place. And sometimes you kind of feel like they're like at rest, like computers, whether or not in the place.

And the other thing I'll say is that I feel like people really want to watch people who are good at their jobs. 100%. I do. I mean too, it's like competency porn. Look at those people, they care and they're good at their jobs like signing up.

It's what we're desperate to see. I recently we watched all the President's Men and just watching Redford and Dustin Hoffman embody Woodward and Bernstein and seeing that Washington Post office at the very familial to the detail, the specificity of everything and what everybody's doing is so good that you don't question anything. You're just along for the ride. That's what we're making its best. I've been to ask you know, you had the chance to work with Rob Reiner.

I did. How was that? Oh my goodness. It was a dream. It was an absolute dream.

He was everything you would imagine and wanted to be. I'm happy to share it as many times I'm asked about. I got to the set early for my first day of work. I saw Rob Reiner talking to Aaron and I didn't want to bother them. So I started to move away and this big booming voice said, No.

I turned and Rob came at me like a big lumbering bear and he picked me up. You say, Man, I'm so excited that you're here. We're going to have so much fun today. This guy's fantastic. You saw the audition.

He's great. It's going to be great to him. Listen, it's a little overcast. We're not going to get to your stuff for a little bit. Go check out your room.

Go get some breakfast. This is going to be great and he walked away and if he had said, go kill that guy. He said, you've got it. so excited that I was so welcomed that he made me feel comfortable and confident, competent, all about eight seconds. And I took that lesson on every set I've ever been on.

And I got to tell him 20 years later when I auditioned for something I didn't get. Listen, I just want to thank you for this gift of set deportments that you gave to me, because I've welcomed every guest around every set I've ever been on in the same way and gotten their best work and gotten them to be relaxed and feel comfortable in the same way that you made me feel. So that's my takeaway story from that is, you know, you can get such better work out of treating people with kindness and generosity than being austere or sort of aloof and making somebody wonder whether they belong and having their insecurities and imposter syndrome be the ruling emotion, you know. Oh, what a great story, a beautiful story with him. You know, I do want to just you're not asking me for feedback about the pit, but I'm going to give you a little bit of feedback. Are you ready? I'm ready. If you're going to show so much guts and blood,

you're going to go there, which you go there and it's incredible. Your makeup team is incredible. The stuff you do is bananas. I don't watch most of it. I cover my eyes, but I mean, I can't take some getting help. You need the pit lenders. Yeah, if you're going to show that much, you got it.

Every time you do that, you got to get a little smooch. Someone's going to do a little little smooch. Oh, you think it's one for one? One for one. Just a tiny smooch.

Just one for one. No, no, no one for one. Maybe I would discuss maybe a one to four ratio, but certainly not one to one. Little smooch. Okay. You're going to show the guts. You're going to show

some butts. We do show butts. You do show butts, but you know, in a romantic. Oh, no, we don't show those kind of butts. Okay. And then also Robbie riding with the motorcycle without the helmet and incredible.

Such a great detail. So great. So smart. Such tension in the in the in the second season because he's riding without it. And of course, he's of course, he's not a good patient. You know, all those things. And

it tells us so much. It's so good. I want him to come back from that motor strip and I want it to have been good. I think you're going to be okay. I think you're going to be okay. I can't take it. The fact that it comes back at all is a wonderful sign.

Exactly right. But I need him to have gone a little gone somewhere and had a yeah, it's good. Had some smooch somewhere. Oh, you know, maybe not so much. Come on. Okay. Have you ever fallen asleep or seen anybody fall asleep while they were in a

gurney on the show? Oh, happens all the time. Right? Yeah, we actually tell because you know, we tell our background like go party on the hates. Take a second job, come in. Just this is your job. Just, you know, and you hear them snoring or farting or whatever.

It's pretty hard to lay down for many, many hours and not falsely. Yeah. It's a great gig. Yeah, that's great. You know, it's not just our background. We intentionally have patients that are seated into the environment that don't pop until five or six hours later.

Oh, yeah. I'm just working with this week who's been there since week one in a gurney for seven weeks. After week five, we let him turn over. After week six, I think he sat up and now we're he's awake and is carrying the narrative for the next four episodes. That is so cool.

And that is a part of the show that's like just very fun puzzle boxy as you're just wondering who's going to be the main character in the next hour. And this is a show that audiences seem to like to pull from the back row. Like I really like Mateo or I really like Ahmad, the security guy. You know, people are really focused on the on the peripheral characters, which makes this feel like, okay, the narrative is working. If you're getting invested in people that only sometimes have two or three lines per episode.

And you know, we talked very early on about this idea of like knowing when you met your people like at that at that program in Northwestern, you love actors. I do very much. You've spoken about it and I find it really very moving the way you feel kind of yourself lucky to be among actors as a community. And I think the way you treat actors on the pit, you can tell your love for them. You give people a lot of opportunity to score.

I just want during the strike when I was walking around the piggy side of my hand, I was walking a lot with Matt Weiner and I was walking a lot with I don't know I had a lot of people that I was conversing with. And we were talking about work and what work should mean and what we'd want it to mean again. And I feel like that became the intentionality of what I wanted this to look and feel like. And I even wrote a letter that I sent to our cast and director saying, you know, this is the look and feel of the show. It's like an old all-man movie where you just you got to throw in like you're going to summer camp or doing kind of rep and TV and camp at the same time.

Leave your ego behind. Bring your creativity. You're never going to work like this again. This is a really immersive experience. So if you're thirsty for something like that and you want to buy into something and play hooky from your life 12 hours a day, come join our pirate ship.

And it was just like calling all pros, calling all pros. People just came and they show up to play. It is not hard for me to be focused at work because everybody's coming in there to give the best of themselves. And I find that so inspiring. That's what I love about actors is their courage and they can be petulant and they can be petty and they can be gossipy and they can be like cats that never want to get on their mark or come to rehearsal.

Once you get them there, they'll kill themselves for you. You speak really well about a lot of things that matter to you and you also show up. I could list a million things in which I've even in the past year I've seen you speak passionately about where's this feeling of justice and advocacy? Where did it come from? Was it in your family of origin?

I definitely think I grew up in a family that preached a version of social justice and was always conscious of inequality and our responsibility because we had opportunity or advantages was to try to level the playing field and democratize it wherever possible. So we all grew up with a sense of civic mindedness, the sense of you have to participate in society that there is a limit of enough for yourself and you can define what is enough and that makes the difference between want to need. What do you really need versus what do you want? And I had this wonderful, huge career in my 20s when I got all the big toys, the big house. I got to see what my grandfather said was true. You can only be in one room at a time and sometimes the bigger the space, the lonelier the space.

So I've been on my own journey of defining what is enough and what makes me happy and I've gotten to a place where it really is defined by meaningful work and meaningful family life. Anything other than that is give back. So I'm allowed to be philanthropic and feel magnanimous because my cup is full, which is a lovely thing to be able to say. And then being in a position with this show to have an opportunity to go to Washington, have doors open and have people listen to things that are important to me. Yeah.

An advocate for Los Angeles based production. A couple of other things have become very important. I loved watching you and your mom go together. That was amazing. To me, that's not an active charity.

If you get this incredible opportunity to be with your mother and have your two careers dovetailed together, I got to watch my mother, you know, I don't want to say my mother's age, but of advancing age, walking with her fellow nurses and feeling relevant at her advanced stage, which isn't always easy for women of advancing age. Sometimes you feel rather invisible. And for my mother to feel like like a bit of an icon, like an elder stateswoman who had put in the time and put in the years and was earning the respect of her colleagues was huge. It was wonderful to see when you saw her being a nurse. She was an ICU nurse.

She was an operating nurse 10 years. And then she was chief orthopedic nurse at Kaiser in Hollywood. When you saw her at work, I have two sons. I love hearing from men my age. What they took away from seeing their mother work.

Well, I've talked about it. My mother and I had a big moment after season one of the pet aired and she watched episode 12 where my character has this breakdown. And she came over to my house and she just said that it's triggered something for her. And she started having all these memories of all these cases that she didn't save the patient. She starts listing a gang member who had been shot that she was trying to help with two units of blood and little kid that she put into a more drawer.

And I was like, I don't know these stories. I've never heard these stories. And I said, where were all these? And she goes, oh, I don't know. I said, how old was that?

How old was I when you put the kid in the door? She goes, well, I think actually your brother was that age. And that's why that went down to me. But then in retrospect, what I remember is she made us dinner. She drove us to practice.

She helped us with her homework. She didn't bring her work home unless she was bringing us gauze to be mummies on Halloween or surgical tubing. So we could use them for our star wars figures layouts or whatever. Like I didn't learn about who my mother was professionally. It took 54 years old.

Honestly, a lot of kids don't learn who they're like a lot of times we don't see our mothers as people for a very long time. Yeah. No, I've been in her flowers now though. Because I have to say on the pit, there's just a lot of incredible investigations into like men's friendships and relationships. And you don't see the often see the kind of complexity of that.

And the relationship you have with Dr. Jack Abbott with Sean had to see is really something. Yeah. It's so good. And the same with Langdon, you know, to me.

I mean, to a extent Whitaker is well, like the mentor mentee, you know, it's it's really lovely to explore these things. Yeah. Well, we have this thing on the podcast where we love these not really masculine, adjective. Lovely. It's cool.

You know what? The guys are really cool. Yeah, the guys are cool. So we spoke to Sean. How to see how to see.

So many go with the other one. OK. OK, so when you go Cassidy, I know. Oh my God. I love Cassidy.

You want to hear an embarrassing story? Yes. OK. I love Sean Cassidy. I was a night where it was brokered where we were going to hang out and play for anybody under 55.

Sean Cassidy was like how he was kind of like Harry Styles. He's like the same with the show of me of his time. It's more TV than film. Any cut albums to it. He was I knew him as a musician.

First of course. Did you run run? Yeah, yeah. So we're going to hang out. We're going to play pool this night.

And I tried too hard. Sometimes I come on too strong. Sometimes I'm a little overly zealous in the questions I ask and the things I'm interested in. And I turned him off completely. Never got to go back.

Yeah, never got to call back. Because you gave on to strong. I believe that was what happened. In fact, that was I don't want to. Sean, I did get a review from the mutual for his like he thought he came out.

I mean, I'm sweating thinking about it. I'm sweating retelling the story. I know because I think about so many times when I audition for stuff and it is take the feeling you have of being on a bad date and multiply it by 10 when you're like, Oh, fuck, this date sucks. I am and you can hear your own voice and you're like, Mm hmm. Well, I thought we're great when home.

I'm like, we're like this now, maybe like I may go out on tour with him. You never know. And this you start going, maybe he didn't want to talk about Hardy Boys for now. Maybe. You know, when we talk about Hardy Boys, that's his problem.

He missed out. He's kicking those stories. If that's what you do, I do feel like, Noah, you I'm learning that you you go in. Yeah, and sometimes it came out for most of the time. I don't.

Yeah, I can tell. I can tell if you're going to be sexiest, you can't do that. You got to get out. Think Sean Connery did so. The sexy men of yesterday would look down upon my excepting for all the work that they did.

Oh, my God. I'm not holding on hard. I got to wait for them. I should have traded harder for this. Really.

I didn't realize that there was so much sexy forefathers did not battle so that you don't buy book. No, no, there's no. OK, so Sean, I was saying to Sean, we were talking about you talking well behind your back. And he's very, very in awe of your talent and what you can do and all that you do. And I was just saying, like, what I love so much about his character on the pit and what you guys have done is you've created this mystery, this nighttime mystery for the night shift that is so fun because we're just projecting a lot on them.

Yes. What kind of people they are? What did they like? You know, they kind of show up as the show is ending and you're like, well, those little tastes are so well done. He had two questions for you.

OK, OK, one is serious. And one is fun. OK, is there anything that you read in a script that scares you that you have to do? Like, you know, when you see something come up and you think to yourself, OK, this is going to be hard or scary. Um, that it didn't have to be necessarily in the pit, but like something that you know is coming.

What do you do and what is that? And what do you do when you know it's coming? Well, I can kind of answer two different ways. One, generally speaking, when I read a script, if I think, oh, I couldn't do that. Like what could you not do?

Well, for example, I remember the first time I read the pilot script for a show I did called falling skies where it was like, oh, this guy is a history teacher. I'm into that. Oh, wait, no, he's going to kill aliens with a machine guy. Oh, wait a second. I was going to want to see me doing that.

And so you start to think like, no, that's not me. I'm not an action hero. They're going to want to get, you know, that guy. And then you say, well, what, what are you afraid of? What is it that you were resistant to?

And you think, do you think this history professor wants to be an action hero? And you start to make logical leaps within to sort of figure out how you would get there if you had to be. And then suddenly that thing that is sort of scary is more of a mirror saying, look, you're post-divorce. You don't know quite what the future holds for you as a single father. You're rebuilding your life.

He's rebuilding his life. Maybe you're afraid of leadership. Maybe you're afraid of fatherhood. Maybe you're afraid of loss. Those are the three defining characteristics of this character.

Maybe that's exactly where you need to go. So I've tend to look at those things as barometers for where I need to go, rather than where I want to go. And then when I'm in the job, if there's a challenging thing that's coming up, you know, I protected like I'm like a caveman, try to protect the kindled fire. And so it won't go out. I just I know it's coming and I just keep blowing on it, and adding a little straw to it every day, thinking about it every day, you know, I can make it bigger and then okay, just just tamp it down until the day.

So that on the day, it is a day of release. It's a day of liberation. It's a graduation from having to attend that fire. And so it's not intimidating. I actually get excited when I go to work.

And I think this is going to be so fun to see what comes out now that I can actually listen in for no love that visual of that fire of keeping that going. Especially on this pit, you know, when you got in episode one, know that you're going to have a breakdown in episode 10. It's a long time to keep the fire that and that every day, you know, I'd be at breakfast with my kids and think is it there? Yeah, it's there. And I'd be, you know, shopping in the grocery store.

Could you do it right now? Yeah, I could do it right now. And to me, that is the technique I've always wanted to have. I wanted to be able to have a technique that required fresh coffee and a folding chair and I could do it anywhere. Fuck yeah, Noah.

That's so cool. You're really good at acting. Thank you. Well, that's going to help you in this basketball team because Sean, how to see it. The second question is you're the point guard of a basketball team and you have to bring my life.

You've never played point guard. No, I'm too tall. Yeah. Congrats, by the way, because literally in the world of actors, you're a giant. It's true.

It's true. Actors are pretty tiny. How tall are you? Oh, six one. Hey, um, change.

Six one and change. Six one and change. So you're six one and change. So okay, you're right. Maybe you're the point guard of basketball team.

I'm not playing point. Okay. You're just on a basketball team and you have to bring four more players from ER and the pit. Who would you bring? Obviously, I'm going to take Clooney.

You don't grow up in Kentucky without growing up with a basketball in one hand. So he is a great ball player and I played a lot of ball with him and he beat me out of a lot of games. Okay. So I'm taking Clooney. I got to pick how many more, three more.

Three more. Uh, but Sean asking to play is this like a, this is a great question. Was he like, you know, until I still got my heels, you know, I mean, I don't know. What do you think? I don't think he's asking for a spot.

I don't think I, he's a tennis player. Okay. He did mention that he plays tennis. I bet he did. I mean, but I'm sure if you asked him a play, he'd be psyched.

Lieutenant is really big. That's great. Am I bringing Luke for some size down low? Great. Um, that's your big guy.

That's, that's the tricky part. Uh, I mean, if I could go all the way back to the yard, take a Ben Ruby plays Jerry, the desk, Jerry, the desk, Jerry's a hell of a rebounder. He actually never ever played with us ever. He would play like a guy, chomping in sense and sit off to the side. Watch this play.

But he's like six, six, eight, six, eight. He's like six, eight. Yeah. Good ball player. Um, and then who else am I going to take?

I'm going to take one more. I'm going to take young scrappy. Garren how was probably never played the game before, but dammit, I'm going to teach him. You're going to have one person. I'm going to teach him.

He makes the winning basket by throwing it under hand. Just rewatch two years with my kid. The kid that makes the other hand frees her. That's going to be Garren. And you always need somebody that's like going to be like, give us the spirit.

Okay. So Sean was not picked. That's okay, Sean. He didn't want to be picked anyway. It's just odd that he would use a basketball metaphor and want to get picked.

I love it. I love that you got hung up on the fact that you weren't going to be the point guard, which is so great. I'm just like, I'm really like, like, why no, no, no, you can't dribble up. No, no, get down low. Get down low.

It is, it is a like, I always loved the fact when I was watching you guys. You're that I could tell you all were shooters like that's, but it's just a very satisfying thing. We had a way outside the sound stage, which my trailer was the backstop for. And we played all the time. We played every lunch.

It was the bane of all the makeup artists existence because they had to constantly clean off the sweat and like, you know, McCoolis off after lunch. But, you know, George was religious about it. And I could either listen to them play outside my trailer or join them. Yeah, that's awesome. Is there a show that you've watched over again?

Like, what is your ER? Oh, yeah. I have this very bizarre habit in that I travel with like a jewel case of DVDs and I pack a DVD player because most places don't have them anymore. And I carry with me the collected episodes of Colombo and MASH. And there's a few that I just, I go to all of them.

You've spoken about Alan Alda. Can we speak? Let's talk Alan. I love, MASH was really important to me too. And very important to my parents.

I had young parents and they were like, MASH was a really big thing in my home and I was growing up. And how important was it for you? What do you want to talk about? Well, I had that relationship with television shows and actors. I had television shows so ancient for me because I was the classic latchkey kid.

You know, I was raised by a square babysitter and, you know, I watched so much television that my parents were concerned with. Parents are concerned about video games or TikTok. My parents were concerned because I was, you know, playing a hooky from school so I could watch Big Valley and Bonanza in the morning and then Laverne's Shirley in Happy Days or Love Vote or Fancy Island or the White Shadow where Hoseby Blues or MASH. Yes. I mean, I just loved them all.

And I don't know what it was about the two actors, particularly Henry Winkler and Alan Alda. Like to me, I was like, Oh, I could do that. I could do that too. Like one, they both made acting seem accessible and I loved both of their characters. And I knew they from other stuff.

So I saw their versatility as well. But getting to meet and work with Alan was not always exciting to meet and work with your heroes, but he did not disappoint. Oh, yeah. And we've now been on a television show together. We did a play together.

We did a movie together and I've done his podcast. So we've been able to be in each other's company quite a bit. That's awesome. Anyone with Sally? Oh, she's good.

Who is Sally Field who is like our generation? She just incredible. I got to reconnect with her doing an actress interview, which was so cool. So cool. I mean, she is one of those people.

You know, it's like Disney Land. I remember Disney Land at three, five, seven, 11, 15. I remember Sally each stage of my life in development, whether it was a comedy, a drama. She was there. No, I talk about this a lot.

Norma Ray was one of those films where I mean, I don't know if I watched it and thought I could do it, but I watch it thinking I like whatever she is doing is the thing I want to keep watching forever. She just. That's how I thought about Ron Lehman in that movie. He was never better. I mean, he was so good in them.

Everybody is. And then what are you watching to laugh? My wife and I call it palate cleansers. If we watch something really intense, it's like we need a key appeal. We need a key appeal.

Yeah. Key appeal. Let's watch a key appeal on the way out. What's your favorite key appeal? Oh, my goodness.

that's like really hard to pick. But there's one that they've been showing on Instagram. Where it's a bunch of gang members sitting around the table and one of them is talking about how they've just lost a friend and it was a friend who grew up and they used to play carebearers together. He can is daring everybody else at the table to not laugh while my man shares his feelings. Manly tears.

Okay, let's watch. Those guys are incredible. What genius is there? I know. Okay, know what?

Look at them tears. Because it takes a big **** back on his crew. Go ahead, Carvel. Oh, my God. Noah.

I'm a sweaty. Oh, my God. Are you crying when you laugh? Yeah. I cried all the time, but this is a good.

These are good tears. Oh, my God. Key appeal. Come on and perform this live for Noah. I got to meet them at Comic Con once years ago.

That was super cool. I was with my son to instant street cred. Do you ever think about like hosting us an L? Did you want to say so? I when Julianna Margolie was with the host, I did a pre-tape sketch with her.

So I got to go out on stage and wave, which was super cool. And DMX was the musical best and I'm waving to everybody. I feel like, oh, and I turned and DMX like, come on, man. You're like, I'm holding at my hand. I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Mr. Mr. Dracks.

I'm so sorry. I would love to. I would love to. You would be. I recently met Lauren, you know, and kind of put the bee in his bonnet.

Yes, you would. You would love it. I would live at the studio all week. I would just, you know, overthink it. OK, don't live at the studio too much.

You don't want to shunt Cassidy on your hands. That's a really good point. We're at Kevin Bacon. That's so nice. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Great warning. Just go home at night. Yeah, right. Enjoy. Take it and take a load off.

Don't work too hard. I got pizzas. No, don't be that guy. Oh, my God. So many times I've been that guy.

So many times. But you know what? You I always want to go down swinging. I think you're that way too. Like no one's going to accuse you of not caring.

No, I will I will try and try and try. Yeah. And I think it would be amazing. So I mean, since I was a kid, I can from I mean, I watched the first cast in reruns, but my first cast was, you know, the Eddie Murphy. Exactly.

We were the same age. Yeah, it was just like, you know, I do every Joe Pisco, but it's yeah. I can do more Tim Kazurinsky. I could do all this stuff. I met Eddie once when I was a kid.

I asked the first autograph and I said, I really like you. I said, no, no, no, no. He goes, what are you doing up that late? And I said, uh, and I said, can I try to get these fuck off me? I'm like nine.

So I always sign autograph whenever I go from the eye sign that so fast. You want to hear a great story? So I told the story of my house and last year from my birthday, my daughter didn't know what to get me. So I let my 10 year old daughter printed up a picture of Eddie Murphy and then wrote on it. Dear Noah, you're a great kid.

Eddie Murphy. Oh my God. She spelled Eddie Eddy. Why? And I haven't framed in my office.

It's the greatest gift that my 10 year old thought, you know what? And then she came up with a story. She's like, Dad, you never going to believe a mom and I saw yesterday. Eddie Murphy. And we got what you've always wanted his autograph and then they gave me the gift.

Oh, Frances. Oh, she's a doll. Oh my God. What a great. I love that story.

And I also love Eddie's story too. I don't think I think we've turned we treat kids too nicely sometimes. You know, you used to be able to tell a kid to scram. I think you're going to get away. Scram.

You're getting out of here. Now, for a bit. No. All right. Let's end it on that note.

No, why everybody? Thank you. Thank you. Noah. Thank you for doing this.

Thank you so much. Noah. It was such a delight to talk to you and thank you for tolerating all of my fan questions and for the work that you do. And we mentioned a movie when we were discussing some of the legends and that movie is Norma Ray. If you have not seen Norma Ray, I understand why because it's so hard to find on streaming.

So if there's any people listening right now that like, I don't know, like Jerry Netflix or Dave Amazon or whoever is owning those places that can like flip a switch and get Norma Ray on streaming, please. That film is so incredible. It's Sally Field plays like a Southern mill worker who encourages her factory to unionize and it's so, so good. And also, you know, ties into a lot of what Noah was talking about. So check out Norma Ray on DVD, I guess.

And remember those and thank you, Sally Field for that performance. And thank you everybody for listening and see you soon. Bye. You've been listening to Good Hang, the executive producers for the show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss-Burman and me, Amy Poehler. The show is produced by the Ringer and Paper Kite for the Ringer production by Jack Wilson, Kat Sallain, Kaya McMullen, Alea Zanaris, Bridget Kirlings, Paige Garberini, Bell Roman and Drew Vanstein-Burgan for Paper Kite production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell and Jenna Weiss-Burman, Original Music by Amy Miles.

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