The multi-high-phenate talks pot, pots, and the Santa lie.
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Grinches arent born, theyre raised.
Also to have a delightful conversation about where hes at as an artist, famous person, and collaborator.
Below, you could read an edited excerpt from the transcript or listen to the full episode.
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I couldnt be more sorry.
If nothing else, my ego is intact tonight.
My wife would have never fucking heard the end of it, so she thanks you.
So well be talking about your new animated showSanta Inc., the holidays, comedy, your career.
Lets talk about her as though shes dead!
The only right thing to do in this situation, I think.
Do you remember when you first became a fan of hers?Yeah, of course!
Then I started to become a fan of her stand-up.
I moved to L.A. when I was 16, and I was on this showFreaks and Geeks.
If only one of you has seenThe Larry Sanders Show, none of you have seenTake This Waltz.
And now you are in an HBO Max animated show together calledSanta Inc.We are!
So how did this project come to you?
We were both writers on the TV showUndeclared, which we made in 2000, 2001?
It premiered one week after 9/11 maybe why you havent heard of it.
And they went quite mad.
Can you explain a little bit about the world of the show?
Did you have any inspiration for this sort of version of self-congratulatory allyship?Ali did!
I know her well, and its something you encounter a lot.
Im sure Ive been guilty of it many times throughout my life.
I remember being happy when James Lipton died so I would never have to do that.
What did you think of him?I thought it was pretty silly.
I thought it was funny.
And whats funny is, I would say to my sister like, These stupid fucks!
They think Santa Claus is real!
How dumb are these motherfuckers!
Little do they know, only the Tooth Fairy is real, and everything else is fucking bullshit!
Like, I thought it was funny to tell kids that there was no Santa Claus.
How old was he?He was like 12 or 13 or some shit like that.
I just destroyed his life.
Yeah, real bummer.
He grew up to be a great guy.
A very successful writer-director.
Is it going away?
Do people still believe it?
Does the average kid still believe it?
Like, specifically to tell them one day its not real.
That is a weird practice, I think.
I think from what I understand, its fun to watch them slowly figure it out.Great!
I dont have children; I should make that very clear as well.
But if you bring your kid near me, I will tell them there is no Santa Claus.
Thats like, a very specific pop in of A very specific thing.
Its a service I will provide as a Jewish man.
What was your relationship to Christmas?
Did you guys do anything?No.
I had no relationship to Christmas.
I never had a Christmas tree.
I was like,Oh, they do it!
They do the lights like from the movies!I think everything I know about Christmas is fromHome Alone.
Did you have a favorite Christmas movie other thanHome Alone?Home Aloneis the best Christmas movie.
I dont know, theres that whole debate.
Physical comedy is great.
Its a hilarious movie.
All interviewers are just going to name Jewish people We could just name Jews.
Theyre making lists, you know!
Do you have a favorite Christmas song?The Run-D.M.C.
one, Christmas in Hollis, is one of the better ones, I think.
I dont know, no!
I have almost no relationship to Christmas, honestly, except a cinematic one.
My entire relationship to Christmas is through movies about Christmas.
Thats what the people wanted to know.Exactly.
So now were gonna keep on talking about other holidays.Okay!
confirm they know what were gonna talk about all the time.
Were gonna transition to another holiday We will reframe it.
Or as we call your Thanksgiving, Canadian Thanksgiving.Canadian Thanksgiving.
What was your familys relationship to holidays generally?
Did you celebrate Canadian or just Thanksgiving?No, my family did not celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving.
They told me Jews didnt celebrate Thanksgiving, which I only found out later was not true.
Pretty recently, actually, I found out!
But they said in Canada, Jews dont celebrate Thanksgiving, and I didnt question it.
But Canadas Thanksgiving is a much more optional holiday, I would say.
So then how did you find out?
and they were like, Yes, your parents lied to you.
And I asked my parents eventually, Why did you lie to me?
And they said We just didnt want to deal with a whole other holiday.
Wed have up to 50 people.
Fifty?Yeah, wed have up to 50 people.
Wed bring in tables.
It was a lovely thing.
Thanksgiving is the best holiday, because all you do is eat.
Even though Thanksgiving is about that, they dont talk about that, so its nice.
They bury it underneath the food.
Any favorite turkey?Well I dont like turkey.
Your favorite holiday and you Grinch everyone.Exactly.
Turkey is gross objectively!
Theres a reason you dont go to any restaurant and turkey is on the menu.
Youre not going to fine dining and theyre like, Try the turkey!
Theres never turkey because its gross!
Theres squab, theres hens, theres chickens.
You got people eating fucking goats!
Turkey is the last thing you ever want to be fucking eating.
They had to make a whole holiday to sell turkey!
What kind of ribs?Smoked ribs.
I have a smoker.
And Ive had a lot of instances where, again, youve got to be careful.
My father-in-law smoked weed recently and I almost killed him.
So youve got to be careful.
It was a real bummer.
Huge bummer, after having one hit.
Everyone was looking, and eventually my father-in-law came to.
I brought him back to sit down because he didnt want to leave; he felt bad.
We gotta go!
I carried him out, and I have not gone back to Mortons since.
So I had like 200 motherfuckers being like Seth, what did you do?
You almost killed this man!
But I did give weed to the person who did smoke it with him, so, be careful.
Weed is strong these days.
So on Thanksgiving, you gotta get a sense of everyones tolerance.Get a sense of their tolerance.
Joints seem to be your way of consuming.
Now were being very specific.
Are you high now?
Did you smoke before this?I smoke weed all the fucking time.
There is no time the answer to Are you high?
is no unless Im in Singapore or a country where theyll execute you for smoking weed.
And I dont go to those places anymore, literally.
I smoke weed all day, every day.
How do you feel about it?
Do you feel like you have a desire to elevate it?
So I am accepting of that, as someone who has dedicated their life to it.
Comedys never gonna win awards; they dont even get nominated for them.
But like, they are not taken seriously as films.
You get to go to festivals?
You get to go to Telluride, Colorado, and do a Q&A in a park?
No, its fine.
But it is true; it is objectively true.
There are TikTok stars who are more respected than comedians, honestly.
How do you spell Hanukkah?Chet, alef, nun …
I dont know, with anH?
Cool, thats it.I dont.
How often are you
I dont know.
You Google Hanukkah, theres different ways of spelling it.
I didnt know if in Canada its more of aC.
Anyway, I imagine literally everyone here is Jewish, but in case Youre all Jewish now.
That water youve been drinking?
I spit in every bottle.
Thats how it works!
You drink the saliva of a Jew, youre Jewish.
But quickly, for those who arent, can you explain What Jew is?
Can you explain what the story of Hanukkah is?I dont know.
Does someone know the story of Hanukkah?
Theres oil, eight nights.
I imagine like most Jewish holidays, it starts with Everyones trying to kill the Jews.
This isnotthe tale were taught about as children where they all chose to commit suicide.
Thats Masada, a great Jewish fairy tale!
They all chose suicide over capture.
Thats the downside to having socialist parents: You dont get a lot of gifts.
Can anyone actually tell me when Hanukkah starts this year?
The 26th, 28th?
Thats whats funny about Jews relationship to Hanukkah, is that we dont even know when it is.
They change when it is every year!
They keep it moving for us.
Thats how fucked up, thats how much they dont respect our holidays!
Dont even keep them on the same date:Figure it out, Jew!
Do you do gifts?
No gifts?Sometimes, kind of.
Nothing about that story I just told is like, And then you get a gift!
I do make people pottery as presents, yes.
Look under your chairs!
No, Im joking.
That would literally take me four years.
I think they probably think its weird that Im doing it.
I think thats a big part of it.
Theres probably a story, like, Why is he doing this?
Im not the first actor to have, like, a side project!
Jared Letos fucking touring in some band half the year, you know what I mean?
George Bush makes those terrible paintings, you know?
So I think other prominent people have done this kind of thing.
I spend a lot of time doing it.
I love doing it.
I make my own glazes, I have a whole studio in my garage.
This is so boring, Im sorry, but thats how I make my vases, yeah!
Nothing funny about it.
I literally just cant.
My wifes a very good drawer.
Sorry, I hate to break it to you guys this will all be gone.
Its more something … an object, honestly.
It takes so much less [time].
Its nice to make something that doesnt take a huge amount of time.
Like, movies take fucking years years and years and years!
This show, weve been working on for three or four years or something like that.
But its also something I never thought.
I was like,Can I do that?
In what way?Its just something that I think Ive become much more aware of.
The way it hits in the lens is a very colorful, pretty show.
So yeah, its nice to do that.
Youve been working with Evan Goldberg for how many years now?
Twenty?Way more than that.
Since we were 13, and now were 40, so 27 years.
How do you work together literally?
Like, do you share screens?
It seems so fucking obvious!
Ive had Final Draft for 27 fucking years!
We sit together, side by side, physically in a room.
Have you guys ever gone to couples therapy?No.
We dont need it.
We have a very good relationship and a very good partnership.
And yeah, I definitely look back on how I was very overtly mentored.
It was not like, Hang out and youll pick stuff up.
Heres whyLarry Sanders Showwas funny.
Heres how we tracked the emotions of the episodes.
I was very young.
But I was very overtly taught.
I give a shot to explain things.
No, this is self-serving, dont get me wrong.
And again, youre about the age Paul was then.
And not everybody whos great at being a famous person is talented in any way!
We have a lot of those people in our culture as well.
They are two very different skillsets, and some people have both of them.
I was walking across it and our offices were there, and Will Smith was there.
and Im like, Sure do!
But yeah, again, Ive been around … some people are just terrible; theyre very uncomfortable people.
And Im like, I know!
They suck at this!
Name names.Its who you think.
