- So it's nice to see you in person.
- Nice to see you in person.
- [Kelly Clarkson] I know last time-
- We had a Zoom.
- Yeah. And you had all that crazy stuff behind you.
I love that part of Zoom.
You got to see who people were. (chuckles)
- You get to see in people's houses.
- [Kelly Clarkson] Yeah.
You had just given your wife I believe a brain
or something like a toy brick.
- [Rainn Wilson] Yeah. Yeah.
- [Kelly Clarkson] 'Cause that's normal.
- [Rainn Wilson] Yeah. I gave my wife a human brain
for her birthday.
- Yeah. (chuckles)
- She loved it.
It's one of those...
No, is it anatomical brain?
- [Kelly Clarkson] Yeah.
- You can take it apart and see how it works.
- [Kelly Clarkson] I actually think that's cool.
- [Rainn Wilson] It's educational.
- [Kelly Clarkson] I'm being funny. Oh!
- [Rainn Wilson] There she is, Holiday Reinhorn.
- [Kelly Clarkson] I want that hat.
- [Rainn Wilson] Isn't she lovely folks?
- Where are you?
- Yes she is. (claps)
(audience claps)
Oh yes!
- Wait, where are you?
Do you remember?
- This is in Central Oregon.
We have a cabin up in the mountains of Oregon.
- [Kelly Clarkson] That's beautiful.
- [Rainn Wilson] Yeah, don't go there. Okay.
- [Kelly Clarkson] Don't go there. (chuckles)
Yeah. Like keep it nice and small.
I have a place in Montana, I get it.
Yeah. You like you like it small.
So one thing we didn't talk about last time,
you play bassoon I didn't know that.
- Yeah, you need a bassoonist in your band.
- [Kelly Clarkson] Totally.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
- What do you pay?
- Well, just free 95. (laughs)
(? laughs)
We play for our heart. (chuckles)
No, no. We will pay you.
Do you like playing bassoon?
How long have you been playing bassoon?
- I started bassoon in like the seventh or eighth grade.
- I love how many times we've said bassoon thus far.
- [Rainn Wilson] Yes.
I don't think a bassoon has been played
as much, has been said as much. (chuckles)
- No one plays the bassoon!
Like how in the world?
So you started this in, did you say middle school?
- [Rainn Wilson] Yeah. My middle school band teacher
convinced me that it was the coolest instrument on earth
and that I'd get all the chicks.
- [Kelly Clarkson] It does look like a giant bong. (laughs)
(audience laughs)
- (chuckles) It really does.
A bassoon bong has not really been done before.
Well, they're a little pricey,
so I don't know if that would work.
So I played it all through high school
- [Kelly Clarkson] That's such an interesting instrument.
- There's like a parallel world
in which I didn't become an actor,
I just am like the principal bassoonist
for like the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
- I love that life.
Have you ever read "The Midnight Library"?
- No.
- [Kelly Clarkson] Okay. It's a good book.
- And it's like you're in between.
- Would you read it to me? - Right now.
No, but the synopsis is what your life would look like
if you took different paths.
- That's like Gwyneth Paltrow in "Sliding Doors".
- [Kelly Clarkson] It's a little like that.
Yeah. It's a little,
but it's a quick read.
It's cool.
- Okay.
- [Kelly Clarkson] But do people still recognize you
from the voice over?
I mean, I feel like you're Dwight everywhere.
I feel like you can't go anywhere
and people still recognize you.
- I will be Dwight to my grave.
- I will be the girl that sings "Since U Been Gone".
So, here we go. (chuckles)
- [Rainn Wilson] You sang that?
(Kelly and Rainn high fives each other)
- Yeah. (chuckles)
- I love that song.
- That's what I will be.
- Well you're also "Kelly Clarkson!"
- [Kelly Clarkson] Yes. That too.
Thank you, Steve Carell.
Yes, yes. There's that as well.
- Yeah. What was the question?
- [Kelly Clarkson] That's all I've done in my whole career.
(chuckles) That's what I would say.
No. I heard that you tweeted this.
So let me show everybody what you...
So you were "At dentist's office.
Put on a mask
because the woman next to me has a Dunder Mifflin shirt on."
(audience laughs)
- Yeah
- Which you have to be a hardcore fan.
I'm just saying
to be wearing that shirt.
One, did your root canal go well?
'Cause you were at the dentist
and I heard it was a root canal.
But two, do you get nervous in that situation?
'Cause you're trapped.
You're like trapped there.
So you can't be like nice and then head off.
- I was going in without a mask
and I saw her and her kid
and she had a Dunder Mifflin t-shirt
and so I was like, "Oh this is so awkward.
I'm gonna have to sit for 15 minutes with this woman."
So I went and got a mask so-
- [Kelly Clarkson] Or maybe longer in the waiting room.
- Maybe longer.
So I went in incognito,
so we just didn't have to have the awkward conversation
but I appreciate the fans so much.
- But it's not about the awkward conversation.
It's like, it's a fine conversation
then it's awkward when it's just quiet
and you've talked about it-
- Right.
- and you're just sitting so closely together.
Yeah. That's the awkward part
where you're like, "Yeah we're just both here."
- Post conversation.
- Yes.
- But speaking of the root canal, it's pretty sad.
The doctor was like,
"Yeah. You know, when you get older
and you hit middle age,
your nerves and your teeth start to decay
and rot away and bacteria builds.
I'm like, "Oh my God, I'm decaying!"
- Debbie Downer.
- That long, slow, inevitable decay of the human body,
I'm witnessing in front of my dentist.
It was horrible.
- You have like Eeyore for a dentist.
That is some devastating.
- [Rainn Wilson] Yeah.
- Like why even tell people that?
- He's horrible.
Yeah. He's the worst.
- [Kelly Clarkson] But you know what
the good thing about a root canal is?
Is that they give you the nitrous.
They give you the laughing gas?
- I'm scared of that.
- [Kelly Clarkson] Are you?
- Yeah. I'm scared like-
- What does it say about me,
that I'm like "You should probably go ahead
and give me more.
It doesn't affect me as well."
So I like think it's so fun.
- [Rainn Wilson] I'm afraid I'm just gonna start talking
and spill like family secrets.
- [Kelly Clarkson] I don't care. I spill that already.
(Rainn Wilson laughs)
Like I don't care.
I'm like, "I just think it's the funniest thing ever."
I always think it feels good. (laughs)
(Rainn Wilson laughs)
(audience cheers)
His new Paramount Plus movie is called
"Jerry and Marge Go Large".
(audience continues cheering)
So this new movie is based on a true story, right?
- Yeah. It's this real life couple in Michigan.
And this guy was a math genius, engineer.
And he figured out that this certain lottery game,
if you played it in the right way to the right numbers,
you could actually win in the long haul.
It was kind of-
- See, I don't call that cheating.
That's just smart.
- [Rainn Wilson] No, it's not cheating.
- Yeah.
- He just saw the math of this certain lottery game.
So he pulled the money of his town and his family
and they would drive to Massachusetts
where the lottery was every week
and buy like tons of lottery tickets.
- Yeah.
- And they ended up winning millions and millions of dollars
for themselves and for their community,
more importantly, for the town.
That they put into the town.
- I love that.
(audience claps)
And I just think it's crazy
when people are so "I'm horrible at math,"
but even when people get upset
and they're like, "Oh they're counting cards in Vegas."
I'm like, "If they're smart enough to do that,
they deserve to win."
- Absolutely!
- Yes! If you're smart enough to get away with it.
That's that's our problem.
- No question.
- [Kelly Clarkson] Not theirs.
(audience chatters)
So you described your (chuckles)
You described your character as everyone's drunk uncle?
- Yeah.
- So is this like Cousin Eddie? (chuckles)
- What was your inspiration?
- My character Bill in "Jerry and Marge" is...
He's like everyone's drunk uncle.
(Kelly Clarkson laughs hysterically)
- The vice.
- [Rainn Wilson] You know this guy as soon as you see him.
He's the one who sells him the lottery tickets
from his own liquor store.
It was super fun.
It was kind of the first big comedy role I've done
since "The Office".
Yeah. It was a super lot of fun.
- Cool cast as well.
- Yeah. Bryan Cranston, he's the best.
- [Kelly Clarkson] Yeah, Annette Bening.
- Annette Bening, come on.
- [Kelly Clarkson] Very, very cool cast.
So what were your uncles like in real life?
Did you pull from inspiration?
- Yeah. I have a very interesting family.
- I think we all do, right?
- [Rainn Wilson] Don't we?
- Yeah, if you're fine.
- And one of my uncles who is a dear close friend,
he's a professor of educational psychology in Idaho.
- [Kelly Clarkson] Oh!
And he studies beauty.
That's him! That's his whole thing.
He studies beauty and the effect-
- How we receive it?
Yeah. The effective beauty on your consciousness.
Like how uplifting it is and what it does for you.
And when you recognize beautiful flowers
or beautiful works of art and it's a fascinating field.
- [Kelly Clarkson] I wonder
does he ever do the juxtaposition?
Does he ever, like what it does to us?
If you walk in somewhere and it's like a darker vibe
or it's more depressing, does he?
- Yeah. Like ugliness or something?
- Well, I just mean you're not in a Stepford housewife,
you're in like the Addams Family's house.
Like what does that do to your psyche?
I'm just saying.
- Well, it certainly is clear
that beauty is incredibly uplifting and important.
- [Kelly Clarkson] Yeah. I like that.
- He's really convinced that it's the answer.
All the problems in the world can be solved
if we put our focus on beauty.
- You also have a travel show, which I think is awesome.
So you search for happiness.
So, you kind of pull from your uncle a little bit.
- Yeah.
- Do you think beauty is part of that?
- It's interesting that we're talking about this
'cause I hadn't really thought about that.
I'm about to leave next week.
I go around the world for a show
called "The Geography Of Bliss",
looking for happiness around the world
and what makes people happy?
Why are some cultures so much better at creating happiness
in their population than others?
And what secrets can we find
and kind of bring back home?
So going to Bulgaria, and Iceland,
and Ghana, and Africa, and Japan, and Thailand.
- Well. Who were you doing this with?
- Peacock Universal.
- Are you traveling with anyone though?
Like anybody in your family going or just you?
- It's just me searching for happiness.
- [Kelly Clarkson] That's awesome.
- But I think that this beauty idea
is something that I should investigate.
- Yeah. I love the idea of searching for happiness.
They always do that with what tribes live the longest
or what areas of the world.
They're called blue something or blue.
I can't remember what they're called.
- Blue zones or something like that.
- Yeah. Blue zones!
That's interesting though.
I wonder at the end of your journey,
if it'll be like, if simple is better
'cause I feel like we complicate life
with all the things, right?
I wonder if people that you find are living
more simpler or more happier.
- I'm not sure what we'll find.
I mean, there's some-
- [Kelly Clarkson] Iceland's beautiful.
- Yes. I've been before.
It's incredible.
It's one of my favorite places.
- It's got like so many things going on there.
Like the black thing, the waterfall,
there's like so many things.
- Yeah. I've been already four times to Iceland
and it's one of the happiest places on Earth.
And it's incredible because just like you said,
you'll be sitting on a black sand beach,
there's a glacier on one side of you,
there's hot springs over here.
There's like a thousand foot waterfall behind you.
And then you've seen like 10 of those and you're like,
"Ho hum. Oh geez, another thousand foot waterfall."
- [Kelly Clarkson] I think that affects us too though.
Happiness. That's why I like to get outta the city
and go into nature.
I think nature.
That's obviously why you have a place in Oregon,
like the cabin just to get out.
- Yeah. It's good to get out of the city.
- Yeah, it feels good.
- Yeah, absolutely.
- [Kelly Clarkson] All right.
- We need another break.
Stream Rainn's movie, "Jerry and Marge Go Large"
on Paramount Plus and look for him soon traveling the world
in "Rainn Wilson & The Geography Of Bliss" on Peacock,
which I will not be missing.
I'm excited about that.