Hello!
Hi, Ed.
It's good to see you.
And we'll talk about both of your movies
because you're hilarious and then your beautiful performance
also in Together Together.
It was really lovely to see that.
So you had-- and speaking of that,
you had a little girl since I've seen you.
Yeah.
No, I haven't seen you in a while.
We had a three-year-old, and she's
incredible and quite a handful during the pandemic.
[LAUGHTER]
Sure.
She's three.
That's going to be a handful anyway.
And you took her on a road trip?
Well, yeah.
We've just tried to get out and around to see family which--
and they don't live very close, which
normally isn't a big deal.
But now we have to drive like 14 hours.
So what do you do with a kid in a car for that long?
Well, fortunately, we don't show her
a lot of TV in her normal life.
So when we get in a car, we can just put an iPad up
and it's like the greatest thing in the world to her.
And it actually kept her pretty chill
for this extremely long drive.
But it was also maybe a miscalculation
because when a kid doesn't get much TV
and then gets like this massive dose, it's like heroin.
You can't get them off.
You can't take that iPad away.
It is a brutal battle trying to readjust a child to no TV.
I don't know.
it was a mistake.
Yes.
No, I would imagine.
I mean, you can't give them something
that addictive and then take it away
and go, OK, now we're here.
Get out of the car.
Is she-- so you're very musical.
Can you tell at that age already?
Is she musical at all?
This was really cool.
So she bangs on the piano a lot.
And usually-- it's just open hands just banging on the keys.
And it's just fun for her to kind of make all that noise.
But we watch the Pixar movie Soul--
you know this, right?
Have you seen that?
It's about a jazz pianist.
And there are all these beautiful shots
of his hands moving on the piano keyboard.
And so our daughter saw that and then suddenly,
she started to like move her fingers
on the keys of the piano.
And it kind of sounds like jazz.
Well--
It's incredible.
It really-- she's playing individual notes.
I mean, it's not, but it sounds really good.
Well, that's what jazz sounds like.
It's sounds like somebody doesn't
know how to play piano and--
I mean, the bad jazz.
Not good jazz.
Bad jazz.
Yes.
You sing to her, I imagine.
All the time.
I make up song.
Well, I sing a lot of songs to her.
But then she always wants me to sing whatever's
going on in that exact moment.
She wants me to like narrate whatever is happening.
So I wind up singing these dumb songs
about like eating granola bars or playing with toys.
They're not good songs.
No, but that's-- you're very funny.
So I imagine they're fun songs for her to hear.
I'm sure you heard this because somebody must have told you.
Over this COVID thing that we've been going through,
so many people binge watch The Office
that-- it was popular to begin with.
And now there are people that watched it or watch it
for the first time.
It's hugely popular.
[APPLAUSE]
Yeah.
I mean, the staying power of that show
is it's just mind boggling.
People love it.
And I'm so proud to be a part of it.
That's all amazing.
I do find it weird however--
the audience is getting younger and younger.
People are showing this to their toddlers.
And that's-- I mean, it's just weird when
my friend's four-year-old is like Nard Dog!
I don't-- and not just--
I mean, it's not like an R rated show.
But I mean, it's PG, right?
I don't know.
I feel like it's--
I feel like you shouldn't watch it till you're like 10.
But what a great--
I mean, it's popular obviously because great writing,
great cast.
Just a very few shows have that kind of star power and writing.
Hey, Ed, we have to take a break.
And we're going to come back.
We're going to talk about both of your wonderful movies.
We'll be back.
So the Rutherford Falls which we just showed is a TV show,
and you co-created that.
Very funny concept.
You came up with this?
So this was actually--
it started as a conversation between me
and Mike Schur who a lot of fans know as the creator of Parks
and Rec and the Good Place.
And way back, he was a writer on the Office.
And so he was a very good friend.
We started talking about what we could do and got into themes
of history and narratives and who
writes these narratives, what happens
when these narratives are wrong, why do we cling to them.
Anyway, with a story we wanted to tell,
it involved a strong Native American component.
And we realized we're not equipped to tell those stories.
So we roped in our good friend Sierra Teller Ornelas,
and she's Navajo.
And the three of us hatched this show in this world.
And so, really, the three of us--
we're all co-creators on it.
Fantastic.
Well, it's a funny show.
It's great show.
And your movie, which is Together Together,
is really, really sweet.
And what a great idea.
And it brings up so many conversations
about that kind of relationship between a surrogate
and a single man trying to have a baby.
Yeah, thank you.
I read that script and I just was blown away
that this incredibly simple and elegant story had never
been told before to my knowledge,
out as a movie or a TV show or anything.
And so it's very poignant, it's very real, it's very grounded.
And I'm incredibly proud of it.
Yeah.
Well, you should be.
--co-star Patti Harrison is incredible.
Yeah, she's fantastic.
It's really great.
Before I let you go, you said you like to make up
songs for your daughter.
I have a garden gnome here.
And he's just standing here.
And I just thought to give him some attention,
maybe you could make up a song about my garden gnome.
His name is Dave.
His name is Dave?
OK, I do have--
I always travel with my trusty ukulele.
Oh, wow.
Well, it's small enough that it's easy to travel with.
Let's give it a whirl.
Hear that OK?
Yep.
OK.
(SINGING) Well, there is good old Dave
sitting there with a red hat on, looking real mad.
I don't know why he's mad.
Maybe gnomes are just very serious,
that's their general disposition.
Good 'ol Dave.
Dave Dave Dave.
Good belt. It looks like it came from a Santa costume.
I love that belt. No offense.
Didn't mean to reference another jolly fellow
with a beard who also has a red hat and a big black belt. Dave!
[APPLAUSE]
I don't know.
I mean, it's hit or miss with these songs.
I like it.
Dave is still angry.
He doesn't like anything.
Ed, it's great talking to you.
I hope to see you again soon in this chair when
this is all behind us.
It's always so great to see you, Ellen.
Thank you for having me.
Great to see you, too.
And again, congratulations.
The season premiere of Rutherford Falls
will be on Peacock this Thursday,
and Together Together is in theaters Friday.
We'll be back.
Thanks, Ed.