Hey and welcome back to the a24 podcast for this episode.
We switched up the usual format to reunite the for Minds behind
our new Showtime series. Moon base 8, Tim Heidecker, John
C, Reilly Fred Armisen and Jonathan.
Kreisel, it's a hilarious and touching conversation between
friends and collaborators and an unfiltered view into the
difficulties and delays that come with trying to get a
project made, especially when it's a little weird.
We hope you enjoy it. I love xun calls, I just love
it. I hope after this B, pandemics
over. We can keep this whole Zoom
culture going, you know, where I feel it at the end of a zoom
call in my back. I just afterwards on my God, why
does my back hurt from like being upright for so long and
like, just staring at the camera?
I was, I feel a little bit like my soul's been sucked out of me
by the end of the zooms. I've been masturbating during
the calls and it's not bad news. You can just Turn off the hear
about that guy. I know.
Jeffrey toobin. Yeah, he was.
It's like a fire. He was famous political
reporter. Like yeah, he was a huge, a
trout. He was playing with himself, on
a zoom, zoom call. Was he playing with silver?
Did he just show it? I don't know.
And that he claims. I was just a big
misunderstanding. I was talking to someone.
They got that signal kind of went out then their picture
dropped out and I like, what's Yoki?
You still there? Yeah, I'm going to the bathroom,
come on. All right.
Well let's talk about our show. Moon base 8 that we made in
conjunction with a 24 that's why we're all speaking on this
particular podcast. I've got my radio voice dialed
in. Everybody can kind of get into
their NPR's mode Slow and Low. I'm Larry mantle so we have me
Tim Heidecker John C Reilly Jonathan kreisel and Fred
Armisen. Red is coming to us via Zoom
technology up in where you up. I'm in Vancouver.
All right, well, that's I think that's all we got.
Can I had a question this morning?
I thought. Well, maybe we could start an
ice breaker question. This is the question Creedence
Clearwater, Revival. What is the name?
What is that name about this 60s was all about these long names.
I think like Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
It's like cause it's because of tidal wave.
Yes, where everyone was like the there's a the long every band
name is like an organization of an old-timey organization.
What was that 1912? Bubble gum company band?
Oh yeah. And what was that?
There are some of the guys from the birds started that Flying
Burrito Brothers. No, I'll have to look it up.
I'm sorry. Great anecdote Credence.
But the word Creedence Clearwater Revival.
I don't like a church. Yeah.
Survival. Is there water?
Yeah. Okay.
I think they wanted it to be sort of hard to figure out
something like a conversation starter.
Yeah, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
Are you girls a little different, Strawberry Alarm
Clock, John Fogerty would perform at my elementary school
to raise money for the school because his kids started going
there, really? It was kind of crazy.
No, it was amazing. It was in a little school
Amphitheatre. He's Been a long time, not being
able to play his songs. That's right.
But he was still playing them at
the school during that time so he would get it out.
Well, all right. Well, Moonbase ait's a show that
we made basically started from me.
I was on an episode of Port of Portland area.
A Chrysler. You were you had since moved on
from Portland. I just wasn't directorate every
episode at the you'd stepped away from the day-to-day.
Yes. Is that right?
But Fred, but I put Hired in it but I put in a good word for
you, to be honest. He's cool.
I was on there. I was hanging out with Fred.
We were laughing making each other laugh and I was texting
with John I said John Riley, I was like I'm up here in Portland
John's by the way lost in his Google.
No no I got it. What's the bandits?
It's the Fantastic expedition of Dillard and oh yes yes yes they
loved those big long. Sorry.
I'm like way after the Moment here but but they can edit that
all together to make it all work.
It's also like their band name fads do kind of go together.
Because remember in like 2002 is like The Strokes.
The 90s was very one word. Polvo, pulp blur, blur pulp,
Jane's. Addiction like a simple
statement. So what's up?
I have not, this is no joke. Not slept, since the election
I've just been up. Really?
Yes, it's now, it's a week and a half.
I just been watching. CNN.
I can't. Once they called it on Saturday.
I'm like, I can't keep. I gotta see how all the states
go. So, I've just been up, I watch
it. I just watched CNN, 24/7.
The pretty much counted now. There's not a lot of news each
day you'll wait. Do you see what happens next
week? Yeah, if you might be surprised,
you said yesterday, no one can stop.
It is coming, right? And I'm assuming he's talking
about the Biden presidency. Will you getting that that's bad
in front of every video you watch for a while before the
election with a just chubby bearded.
Fisherman going, how do I registered to vote?
No, that's one added just kept saying it over and over and over
was targeted to write to you like, hey, I kept getting Stacey
Abrams saying, Time to vote. Wait, do you guys?
You guys have ads on your YouTube videos?
Oh yeah, I paid. I paid a not.
Yeah, it's changed my life. It's changed my life.
How much is it? It's like a hundred bucks a
week. I'm gonna weekly do you think
about what it would cost you to buy those videotapes stacking?
All these videos, just click on one.
Did you guys read that story about the guy that's catalog.
And every Letterman episode ever, he started taping them.
He started on cassettes. Just taping the audio.
Yeah. And keeping a database of what
who was on and what the sketches were and he eventually started
taking it on VHS and he's he's just surrounded by tapes in his
apartment. He's like fully like enclosed by
these tapes. What was his stated reason for
this? He could never stay up late to
watch it so he would, I don't know.
I don't know. I think it was probably that
like just like a completionist. Yeah, it's got to finish it.
I have a friend whose father obsessively collects magazines.
Like he gets many many subscriptions to magazines and
then it's turned into this hoarding thing because the
Magazine's come and he needs to read them in order.
Oh my God. So he's got his many years of
magazines ahead of him. He's like, no.
I have to read every page of every magazine that I'm
subscribed to God. It just sounds like a hell Zone.
It's so irrelevant. By the time he gets, I know he's
reading like the New Yorker from three years ago, 99% of magazine
articles. Don't need to be read at all
right. You get to the end of your like,
I was trying to read an article today about geothermal energy.
There's like a new, I know. And I was like, I want to learn
about this. I think this is cool because
it's going to be this new Revolution.
It is by the way. Yeah, I have a brother who's a
contractor in there doing that with all the new homes.
I, I checked out halfway through I'm like assume the rest of the
I get, I get really mad when it starts getting low.
I might come on. I feel like I have a million
three and then four pages in. All right, just finish it out.
Yeah you feel a little bit of padding going on?
All right, let's get back on track.
We're here with John C Reilly, let's sort out this this origin
story because as we started to do press it changed.
It seemed like you guys didn't totally agree with where the
space Colony idea came. How are you?
Are you reading every interviewing to know No, I'm
just remembering when we started talking about it.
Like, because from my point of view and granted the whole
thing, all four of us just started piling on adding ideas
and certainly. But I remember incorrect me
right now on the record if I'm wrong.
But we were trying to think about ideas when you were up
there in Portland with red and then the subsequent days and
weeks and days. And we started, you know, with
three stooges bubble. All these different ideas, Civil
War reenactors was one. That was And then I remembered
that I had. This idea for a horror movie
that took place in the South, and the South Pole, in a
research center, and it was during the like 60, or 80 Days
of Darkness that they have down there and I thought that would
be a brilliant cheap movie. And then you could make, it's
all about like the monster is in there.
Is them is their personalities and how they deal with each
other. And that idea was inspired by me
looking at a National Geographic article.
It showed this kind of really homogenous very National,
Geographic friendly version of this base.
And then it had these little things in between the lines that
I noticed that said, like during the many days of darkness,
strange relationships, develop. It was this sort of coded thing,
like, wow, they lose their minds during this darkness and they
start sleeping with each other and start drinking to excess
because and there was a picture of them unloading cases and
cases of beer base but I have this vague memory.
Three of sniffing out a show and I don't know if it was ever made
since that we sniffed it out I have a vague memory of sniffing
out that there was some kind of Ice Station.
Yes. Of course, I'm going to
Antarctica shows on Fox. They made a pilot for it.
Right. And I think we sniff that out
early and now we said, oh, that that idea is taken.
None of this sounds like a discrepancy sounds like we.
Yeah, I don't. I know that was really hard.
Trying to figure out is, where did we Steph Eames?
And what shit did we step in? I think we're all agreed.
Yeah, we're rolling. Greed on an all-in that now Tim.
Do you remember what we were joking about on Portlandia two
things. I'm very strong.
Memory of it one. Is this reboot of Punky Brewster
that we were talking about? That's actually happening.
It is. Yeah.
Well God, but it always we were talking about it in this way.
That as we do in real actually do sometimes you end up
gossiping about who's involved and who's writing on it and it
and, and how many Versions. It's gone through right?
I heard it. Also the cameos.
Like the cameos are always like you won't believe what they got.
Ya would hassle, huh? Oh my God, actually getting it.
But also like I heard wrote Seth.
Rogen like did a there was a went through him for it.
He had developed it for a while, but then it kind of, it wasn't
working. So then Judd and a couple other
guys were like talking about this thing.
That was like, so painful to get done and get made, and every
read, the latest revision. Yeah.
Mase is the Golden Rod, Paige. Age is really, everybody's
taking a crack at it. It's got it's getting really
good and also being less super super like in the know about it.
Like oh here's the kind of a dick thing that I can do right
now. Okay.
Which is the whole reason that Tim was up there, doing portly?
Yes. Is a good one.
And I did mention that once and then I thought that's such a
shitty thing to say, to 10, but I just bought help myself.
Because in some way I can take credit for Tim and Fed working
together on that Portlandia episode because the role was
offered to me and I was like, I'm not going up there to do
that is not enough to do or something.
Yeah, you know, like any funny. Oh I thought to myself any funny
person can do this. It's not a huge workload.
Even Tim could handle this. No.
Not even to but you know like it didn't require my services, you
know. Like at this point I'm getting
old and I'm like, unless it really has to be me.
Me right? I can just pass this along, you
know and then next thing you know Tim fight me.
Hey man guess what? I got this gig on Portlandia, I
was like all right good for you John how to Tim do in the
Exterminator part? I'm very good.
I thought the episode turned out really got.
It was very funny, he was great. He was so good in it.
I wanted to use, I wouldn't yeah, that's right.
What's the other one? That's huge, the Portland the
Webby, the Portland, acting Awards Portland.
Acting Awards. I just want to bring up the
other joke that we work. I'll make it quick.
Okay. Other bit that we were doing was
I think we did a Serial bit? No, I'm going to correct you but
then you can go off this Peter Pan.
Yeah, he does not sound like you've visited the factory or
something peanut butter Factory and how they're cool.
This is actually became like a building block of the show, that
kind of joke. Yeah.
Because yeah, we realized like Oh wouldn't it be funny to have
the three of us sitting around? Just debating Petty?
Things that really have no bearing on anything and don't
there's no resolution to these things they're just do you like
you know, Jimi Hendrix better or you know or the stones, you
know, it's like who cares like but in the end there's not much
of that in the show that really I think the show kind of went in
a different direction than we maybe originally thought it was
going to go but that's how it happened.
That's what that that pettiness. That Think of this, not letting
something go and needing to be right.
And you know pushing things right?
When you should just be nice and just let it go, you know,
because member that astronaut we talked to he said that you all
look like you're always supposed to say when never had anyone has
a suggestion in space. Thank you.
Even if you think it's the dumbest idea, these three guys
did not get that train, right? Because they're immediately
like, I don't, I don't know if that's a good idea, so Christ
will came in because the three of us said, let's try to do
something. I think we had Come up to the
space idea. Pretty quick Arie.
I literally remember saying, like, well who's going to be the
fourth Beetle here? Why don't we go?
Just aim as high as we can Steven Spielberg and that's he
was unavailable. No, I mean John was literally
the First and Last Choice. Contrary to the actor
conversation. We were just having you really
were the only person we want to because we thought, well, here's
someone all three of us immediately trust and someone.
Already knows like how to get the best out of us.
Right? What was it like from your point
of view over my point of view. It's like it's so exciting to be
like, oh this is done like the idea.
There it is. I can imagine it.
I'm excited to like watch from the sidelines of like laughing
and just I know how small it could you know, just what you're
talking about these little petty arguments and like yeah, I love
that kind of thing. So didn't already have a group
that's going like oh we want to do that.
That you go. Yeah, well that's will be just
fun to scrimmage around in this world as we were heading into
actually making it happen. And when it went from like a
bunch of insane, ideas, and character ideas, and images.
What did you think was the biggest challenge to actually
turning it into something real? It's kind of like yeah, just
sifting through all the ideas. You know, I was thinking about
this after so many years of like trying to get this made and you
know, you have all these meetings Talk about episodes and
then you could go, it might never happen.
But yeah, it was really just, I remember there was a couple
meetings of like, well, then, you know, somebody could get
sick and that could be an episode where we have to
quarantine, you just go, I like, I immediately know.
Okay. I could put that whole episode
together, right? I have everything is crystal
clear. So just and it's just talked
about a moment. How ideas come from very small
things and I like one episode, the move the base episode.
I remember Fred just going to keep You know, when people pay
someone who's talking about packing, I'm just like how anal
people can be about packing. And he said something about Fred
where he can like find something really specific and really
granular. And it's something that really
bothers him that maybe he only picks up on but finds really
funny. And then that becomes our all
right. Well, why would these guys need
to move? What, how can we do scenes where
we're packing, you know, like why would this threat and so the
most work backwards from them. But I come in there and I go
guys and just a minute. We're on a bad energy left,
unexamined decision. You guys go.
Okay. All right.
Yeah, I guess we'll have to deal with that.
Yeah, you know what I remember early on, when we're coming up
with ideas for the show of of loving, my favorite TV show of
all time is The Andy Griffith Show, mines Mad About You, Paul
Reiser, it's my favorite shows, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, sorry,
Andy Griffith. I literally was I remember being
in the room with you guys and we were trying to come up with
ideas and once we figured out the kind of sameness of the
environment and once the characters got kind of set, we
realized you know, each episode doesn't have to be some
intricate plot. It can just be about one thing
that one little conflict because in a world where everything's
the same all the time, one little thing becomes a whole
story Delia. And I remember pitching you guys
there was this great episode of Andy Griffith where Aunt Bee
Makes pickles like she decides she's gonna get into pickles and
then Andy and and Barney try. The pickles are like oh my God
these pickles are terrible. Terrible pickles.
But she's a sweet old lady and so they decide to hide the
pickle, like empty them out and hide them.
And then she sees the empty charge, oh, your voice, like my
pickles, and she starts, giving them more and more pickles in
it. Yeah, the whole epic.
That's it. But I just about like, they
don't like her pickle, right. So I thought like, Like what's
our version of that? I'm trying to think, how did
that turn into it must have turned into something things
like, you know, whether we like this candy bar, right?
We ran out of water or we're we have a cow.
Now we have to hide the cash decide like is really.
I mean, I'm a fan of the show and was nice about making it,
and then it's sitting on the shelf for a while, is like,
watching it again now, after not seeing it for a while and like
forgetting about lots of things about it, but like Just like the
little runs of jokes like me wanting to make use this cow for
milk, and you cap keeps saying like and then we're going to
turn into steak and it's just perfectly time where there's
like, three of those little asides.
Like me, then it's time for chops.
It's just like, you come again, come closer and closer
emotionally to. Yeah.
And I'm just salivating thing about A1 Sauce.
Yeah, you have to leave the, you know, if to leave reality a
little bit, for some of those kind of jokes to work, those are
clearly about John and Tim being funny and enjoying each other's
sense of humor. Then like it being a character
fact that we don't know what NASA stands for, you know.
I like to kind of rationalized that by saying like well just In
the Heat of the Moment they couldn't remember but they do
know somehow but I think from now on I might not when I make
something like a film or show or whatever.
I might wait two years to look at it because when this was
first done, like we had some early screenings at all.
Remember thinking like, like, I don't know, I was just add some
health concerns at the time, I made the show and I was it was
reminding me of that. And then I just felt like I'm
sure about my own performance and I didn't like the way my
hair looked or whatever. And now like you said, like I
forgotten about all those insecurities and now I just
watch it like it. I love it.
Yeah, I love it all removed. All the stuff that that all the
bad parts that have been cut out that I don't remember are just
now distant, you know, they're not even didn't even come into
play anymore and I just enjoy it like a fan, which is a good way
to enjoy things. I don't generally like watching
or listening to myself. No.
It's what about you. Fred?
You like watching your own work. I love it.
Are you have the Fred asan every year?
Where you show all your favorite things?
I'm even surprised. It's me.
Oh my God, I love this. What am I watching?
I got so lost in it. Did I do this?
Yes. That's one thing that's really
hard to predict is whether something is going to age?
Well because there are things that I've done that thought like
oh man, this is as good as it gets and then three years later.
Like this is feels very dated and not.
So that's I didn't know. I'm always looking for stuff
that might have legs. You know, that might that might
be that, you know, might have relevance to people in the
future but it's very hard to predict.
I did this one movie a few years ago and Was a very small
independent movie and my scenes are like, some of the funniest
things I've ever done. I think not really.
That's, that's overstating. But I'm the funniest thing in
this movie, but I feel like I'm in a whole other movie.
Like, you know what I mean? Like, the rest of the movie
isn't like this at all. Yeah, and my scenes are like,
I'm just improvising as this kind of low-rent manager who's
on the phone and just, it's all that dislike, really?
Dumb stuff. That but I was like, cracking
myself up. But that's what I had when I was
at, I can wear I can Of myself from it a little bit.
I've had this thing happen a couple of times where I did
something small like a little movie and then it changed
titles. Hmm.
So that when we did the movie like that together, where I'm
like, I actually will some I'll see a clip of them like I do
not. What is this?
What is this movie promotion? Yes, is the promotion was
originally called Quebec, which I thought was a better title.
Yeah, me too. Well, can I just say something
about that? Steve?
Steve Conrad? Add who made the movie.
Have you seen his shows John Curtis?
I, they're like the greatest Patriot and this new show his
other show, Perpetual, Grace limited.
It's like, some of my favorite show I've ever seen.
He's one of the ground. He's brilliant.
He is really mad. I'm doing a new stop motion.
Animation show of his me too. Oh, thank you very much.
I actually, they asked me to do it and I couldn't do that part.
Then went to the other weird thing about this show,
obviously, we made this in this really unusual way, which Was,
we went to a 24, I think you are out of town or something.
When we actually went around to pitch this show, I joined in a
video call at 1 p.m. I remember, but we only went to
a couple years, just done a whole big pitch on another TV
show idea. I think we're both feeling
really discouraged. Yeah, used by the hens of
Amazon, and these kind of places, we're pretty bitter
about the process. We like, I'm not going in there
doing all tap dance again, but we did bring a 30-person chorus
with us to these meetings. For that pitch that's a whole
other story to go 30 Man chorus Menzies wire for Grooms to sing
for the heads of Netflix. Amazon Hulu who did them all and
we're over time. Yeah we did.
That Journey song right? We do know we did the Chicago
Chicago walking in a park Saturday in the Park that day in
the Park. Yeah.
And like a so what I'm saying? Major digress.
We felt really burned by that process.
We thought we made this huge effort was a great.
Dear for a show and then got nothing.
So I was like, I'm not going around and doing a tap dance
again for these people and then do a pilot.
And the thing that scared me was, we would try it.
We would sell a pilot. We would get all of our
schedules to align under the full moon and build a giant moon
base set, and then shoot a pilot.
And then who knows, if we'd ever get back together again, that
was my fear. That we would like capture
something great and then it would be impossible to do again.
So we were like, well, 2824 and they very interested in doing
it. And we just said, we want to do
six episodes and then you guys go off and sell it to whoever
wants it and I won't call them out.
But another company was in a bidding war with a 24.
Remember, it was down to two and they were both really wanting
it. And this whole thing.
I think that getting burned on that TV pitch experience,
actually made us feel like, you know what, I don't want to have
to like, listen to Executive opinions about whether the
script is funny or not Ida. Let's approach it like an
Dependent movie like that's my wheelhouse.
I come from independent movies and I thought the way you do it
is like if you create the vision, you get someone to
believe in it, they pay for it and then you send it out into
the world. Why?
Why should a TV show be any different than a movie in that
way. And and so we went to the
greatest contemporary independent film company out
there and lo and behold they went for the idea and the two
years that we're waiting, for this one to get snapped up by a,
by a distributor. The show just came into focus in
a way, like, none of us could have predicted, I think you said
Chrysler, we're like things just take so long sometimes and you
just have to say like Ravi at 8:24 everybody that was involved
with the show, they were true to their word and in a way that
was, like, sometimes hard to realize all the time, you know?
Because you're like, what is going on?
What? Yeah, I have a very, I think
very hard for me to trust people.
I'm always thinking like things are You know, I guess they're
all. I don't know.
You know no but you just had that feeling so much patience.
I was reading an article about that new Mad Max that came out a
few years ago when they were working on it for like 15 years.
Like, they started shooting they almost started shooting like 15
years before they actually made I'm like oh my God!
You must have to. Okay, we almost shot.
It was shut down for 15 years. Started again, they must just
have to believe in a blind faith.
You just have to do it. Otherwise, I think I was raised
with like, like, on the south side of Chicago, this whole idea
of like, who are you to think? You're going to be successful,
right? Who are you to think that you're
more special than everyone else? So, I literally was raised like
that. So it's less conspiratorial
Thoughts with me than it is self esteem like low self-esteem
confirmation. Like, well, yes, of course, you
know, I got lucky with that other movie because I was
working with those people, but right now, this thing that I
made, of course, know it Yeah, I know.
But I thinking like, man wants it I think and then luckily we
have these amazing people at 8:24 especially Ravi, he was
like no guys you know, even as humiliating as it must have been
for him to write these emails after months and months of
waiting. Like, hey man, you know, we're
still waiting for this response from that one, this one and that
one among us, we were going like, yeah, right, man, it's
over. It's over.
We had the joke going that Robbie's got.
Is it, is it actually in like the, Barbados And he's fled the
country. You love you, Rose 824 was mad
at him for spending this money on our show and I'm sure there
were many other Executives in town who would have in the same
situation of him as him would have said, you know what, this
is going to be our tax write-off, but it's just I'm
tired of working on this. Let's just I got other fish to
fry, man. And thank you Ravi.
But, you know, stuck to me. It seems like into everybody
probably hear it. Feels like oh, it's Fred
Johnson. Only John cry.
So, like what wouldn't work about that or why wouldn't that
be big? But it still ends up.
It still ends up being a weird show that isn't for everybody
that it doesn't look like everything else and you all you
have to do is watch five minutes of like just flip around the
channels to see that like what what goes out into the world is
very different than anything I've ever made or try to make
and it's not easy for anybody to sell it or to defend it.
I think it was the case of Like you know these companies these
distribution companies are used to used to going and buying
Fabric and then having lots of meetings about what the cut of
the suit is going to be like and then trying a couple of
different fabrics and then at the end of the day, they have
this suit that then then they go and try to sell and we kept
going hey we got the suit. We already have a suit made its
really cool want to see it and like yeah, well we're thinking
of making our own suits, you know?
And then eventually I think the truth just one out and
especially With this quarantine yeah, pandemic thing.
It made the show make a lot more sense than it did originally I
think or didn't seem so weird. It didn't seem so hard though.
Well everyone's dealing with that isolation.
Make poor Fred right now. Look at him.
Yeah, I'm trapped. Thank you ver.
The other thing about doing it in six weeks, as we kind of
like, it got compressed or six episodes, as we kind of got
compressed into, this is the show we're doing and we're doing
it all now. So, In though, we knew what we
were doing there was, there is a benefit to sometimes doing a
pilot. We just went in fucking deep end
jumped in and we're learning about the show, as we're making,
it probably was, I was going to say, it is sort of a show about
roommates room, just getting along with your roommates.
Like friends, did you guys have a roommate experiences from like
college or like those years after where you're like, have
some weird person. Is released.
Yeah, I think I think being in a band is kind of like that like
you're in a van with these people who you're supposed to be
with and you love them and then somewhere in the middle they
just drive, you insane, just by recommending a restaurant.
That's like we should hear those words will just really drive you
crazy. Like how could you suggest that?
That would just suggest that place and you're going to use to
there. Smells in the van.
Just like, I can't believe I have to be with this person.
Even though I started to loving them and I remember he breathed
in college. My first dorm, I had my first
roommate, you know and it's such a shocking experience really to
have just suddenly you're like I'm living with this stranger
and they're like it's a small room his bunk bed.
Like this guy's is my is my life now.
He's like my partner in life and I just met him.
I grew up with five brothers and sisters.
So my whole life was roommates. My whole, I mean, my bedroom, we
were four boys in my bedroom for until my older, brother started
to get, just turn into, you know, teenagers and young adults
and they kind of moved into the playroom but even they had to
share another room. So by the time I left the house
I was like determined not to have roommates to this day when
I'm alone, when I'm in the house and my family leaves and I'm
suddenly alone in the The house. I'm like it was like sense of
like Adventure in like privacy and I can just do whatever I
want and you know, like it's and it's from the childhood of just
never having privacy at home. Never I think of just I'm too
settled in my own odd ways. Now to really be someone that
could share a bathroom again with well, I was just thinking
like one interesting thing was kind of saying this earlier, but
like the idea of like doing six episodes without Really stopping
and looking and seeing what we were actually getting.
Yeah, it was, it was weird because now when we kind of we
shot them out of order, like what are we grabbing things from
olive oil because we shot everything inside?
Yeah, we went outside so it's not that's a ballsy move for.
It's a tough, It's a tricky way to do something.
And I say I always think like you really don't know what
you're doing until you've kind of done it.
You know, a little bit like all of our shows.
I think we've you know, you make couple episodes like oh, this is
the show we're making. Then you follow that like seeing
the show. Now with Steven drozd music, the
guy from The Flaming Lips like that music does such an amazing
job of setting the tone. I think it just in it.
It changes the way. I would make more a little bit
and just you know I mean it would it would inform the way
you make more. Yeah you'd learn about what the
show is and you'd say oh that was really that really works.
That doesn't work as much. This really like do more of that
kind of episode, you know, it was really a Older on TV in
general for a long, long time. I mean until very recently
honestly, it was only when I saw that escape at dannemora.
Oh yeah. That I was like oh okay.
We're in the new era. Where if you have a good idea
and you have good actors in this great performances, like, of
course, you want it to last as long as possible, Right?
Like that thing could have been twice as long and I would have
just gobbled it up like so then Maybe really realize like you
know, these ideas of, you know, I do still have hesitancy about
working in TV only because the pace if you are a little weird,
you're a little freaked out by the pace of the show.
Yeah. The pace of the work day, right?
Because, you know, yeah, they like well we got it in 3 takes
what are you worried about? Like, it's not that I'm worried
that we didn't get something that's a, if we did seven takes
what would we get, right? You know, would we get
something? And, you know, when I work
First-time directors, an independent film.
I always tell them like don't err on the side of like
building. Beautiful sets are on the side
of getting yourself as many days as possible shooting so that you
can incorporate new good ideas, you know, right.
I mean luckily with us we're just improvising constantly felt
free to do whatever we want. Everything's going everything's
gold that comes out. But yeah I mean You could also
argue on that point. That film sucks.
I find most movies. Pretty boring.
This this man's, if this very naughty, 24 movies, if moon
base, 8 was a movie, it probably wouldn't be as good as the show.
I don't think no way because you would have you'd be forced to
like cut down on the weird stuff in order to have stuff that
really fed the plot. And You would lose a lot.
So yeah, I'm starting to come around to the idea of it.
Mean, my big thing is, I always advocate for that central vision
for it to seem. And that's another thing that
going to messes me up about TV is like, when different
directors come in and then the director is by definition, kind
of a guest star, right? And then the actors have more
power than the director, then the writers have more say than
the directors all sudden. Like, I don't know how to work
in that environment. I grew up doing movies and
right. It's a pyramid.
The directors at the top of the Pyramid, that's how Paul Thomas
Anderson works and he makes great movie.
So why would you change that structure?
But what we operated kind of like a movie in that sense.
Yeah, there wasn't like a big right there was no writers room,
that that's one thing. I'm very proud of the way that
we did it. We're all strong personalities
with our own little egos and our own, you know, sent our own
right to say, I know what's best in this moment, right?
But somehow, the four of us treated each other like a true
democracy. Yeah, and I really felt like all
of us had equal say in this which is it's hard to do that
with two people let alone for yeah.
Well the I think we all complemented each other in the
right way Crystal's Vision. His like visual sense in the
show, is very strong. It's like a cool-looking show.
Yeah, you never want me every time I see a still or anything,
I'm always really happy about it.
How it looks. It just looks so great.
I'm so happy about that and those suits that we We attested
wearing look great. Yeah.
Photograph, I said if we do more of the first scene is us getting
new suits. Wow, that's not gonna work.
I just thought I was just thinking about that because
that's not going to work because they're in the base.
They can't suddenly get, most NASA can give them whatever they
want guys. The low-budget show those suits
are those are the suits okay, congrats to make them better.
We should put cooling systems in them like that.
Like, I have for my fat suit on Stan and Ollie.
There was that There was attempts that never really
worked. There were like cool when we
just shoot it in the winter. Yeah, that's the answer that of
the hottest or simple answer. Or I always also this is
controversial. But as like, you know, the key,
it's about the three of us. So like, maybe we're just now
divers in in the Pacific, you know, in Hawaii and we're the
truth. Isn't that like the Gulf of
Mexico I would do like I was watching over the Halloween,
I've watched and Costello Meet Frankenstein with my kids and
you know they loved any good. It's there's some great.
My friend have you must like that movie?
I can't remember. You should watch a part of it.
Well yeah, it was great moments but then there's one of those
movies that everyone says that they've seen.
And I'm like, do I really sound peacock?
It's actually on peacock, if you have that streaming thing, but
then the second That like the end that movie with their like,
they introduced The Invisible Man, at the end of that movie
and then the next movie they made was they meet the Invisible
Man, but they're two completely different people, you know, not
there, like detectives different names and like this idea.
Next was gonna be called oil based on a platform in the Gulf
of Mexico oil, riggers, transitioned out of there.
That's why I like them up. At Movies.
They're always meeting each other for the first time and
every movie. Hi, I'm Kermit we're journalists
now. Yeah.
Well, Fred final thoughts. Um, I think we should maybe
invest in a 24 in some way. Maybe there's some way to like
help them find, you know, with finances and stuff.
Maybe that's the new my money. Yeah.
With your money. But what is the future of
movies? Not just movies, but the whole
thing of communal Gathering. Yeah.
Concerts everything is the least of our worries.
You know, like how about just feeling a group identity and
being together with people again for you think something is going
to get figured out just only because everyone loves it so
much. Well, did you see that Flaming
Lips concert where? Yeah, the whole audience was in
their little hamster, bubble, that's not getting another one
for Mass consumption but no, but it's something where there's a
well-known Direction. Well, yeah.
Yeah. What about like something?
Like Woodstock? We could do a wood stock pile of
Woodstock, 99. Wow, you know spread them out.
Yeah. Member was it spiritualized,
those concerts with headphones are Flaming Lips did that to
other than Dave, Chappelle's done, a couple of concerts on
his farm. I think they'll be the vaccine
and then we'll get comfortable going out by next year, by next
fall, or something. That's even with a vaccine, I'm
going to be rocking a mask for quite a while.
Yeah, they say the The new reality for a while.
Yeah. But how great would it be if Jim
Carrey came back out with a new mask movie?
I mean, this is the time to seize 824, if you're smart, get
in and get in bed with Jim and did they do the math to the I
did? Yeah, there was there was there
wasn't Matthew. Yeah, speaking of Showtime, I'm
just glad the show is out and people are enjoying it.
That was the purpose of it. You know, it's like a little
bird that left the nest Finally flying on its own.
I've got a lot of met you don't you're not on social media.
No. But all you guys know I'm the
only one. So I watched The Social dilemma
and I had a couple social media accounts just to kind of keep
track of certain family members. As soon as that movie it said
the end, I turned it off. I got up and deleted both of my
social media accounts and I ain't going back.
Well, I but people like you, that's who I am and the messages
I get 9 to 10 10 to 10 to 1921 something like that, nine out of
those and seen enough thing. The funny thing is, I thought
somebody direct messaged me. This show is terrible.
I really want to talk to you about this man.
What do you think? Well, and he's like, I'm a, I'm
a fan of this show is to give me talk to you about that.
Why do you think I want to hear that?
Why? What about you thinks that I
want to hear from you about that?
I did you slide into my DS with that.
How do you think that's supposed to make me feel?
I'm hoping now that with the fact, That it's out there.
People are enjoying it, it's giving people pleasure, and it's
like an antidote for all the kind of like craziness.
We've been through. I hope there's like a
Groundswell where we get to do more, because it really was just
almost like an experiment. Will this work will be funny
like, oh, by the way, I was watching the last episode and we
do say that doctor her, the that's skips father's dead.
So we did have an idea that your father would come back, but but
then I was like, oh well, he just lied about He lied about.
He lied about buying making his uncle.
Who looks a lot like his twin brother.
Like you're weird your dad, my dad's been dead for a long time
but you know like the weird Uncle like yeah, it kind of
feels like your dad has some of the same opinions as your dad
but not quite. I think that would be worse in a
way than your dad coming to visit you or are you just forgot
that he's still alive because you cut you do like the
previously on moon base and he had passed away is like oh
you're right, he didn't die. I just I've just been in this
experience for so or here's another this is the this is
you're getting a good Glimpse at.
There are writing part of writing process or for I could
say well I told you guys he was dead because I'm tired of living
under his shadow I just wanted to have a place where I could be
my own man and you guys thought he was like out of the picture
and you guys like wait, what the cake sentiment?
We don't care. This is the reality.
I'm creating my own reality here.
This is my opportunity to live without him under my.
Do you think we can sell? Quiz Lord out on my God because
my favorite thing I love it. I think we could fill in the
gaps and just put it out as a game.
It has such a beautiful board, beautiful pieces.
It's got to be people that just do that.
That can be, this is gonna be our retirement right here,
selling quiz. Lord, that's Christmas season
almost. We got to get it out there.
You know what they did on Star Wars is they didn't have any
toys ready for the first Christmas after the movie came
out. So they so they sold an IOU.
You re so that when a toys did come out you, so at Christmas
time, people just got an IOU. So we could do that for quiz.
Lori's start order, started aren't exactly finally that I'm
very grateful for all of your friendships and what we all were
able to do here together and I'm very grateful to a 24.
Yes, for believing in us from the beginning to the end.
And I'm really Grateful that people are responding to the
show. Amen to that, Amen.
To Fred safe, travels back to the States, hopefully soon,
thank you. Amen, to that as well.
I agree. John kreisel, good luck in all
your endeavors the killer throughout the rest of the year.
I hope your family stays safe and well, all of you.
It's cold. Yeah, hang in there.
Keep doing good things and believing in each other and and
things will get better. Right?
Amen. A24.
Thank you. Thanks for listening, the 824
podcast is produced by us a 24 special.
Thanks to our editor Tom Wyatt and robot repair who composed
our theme