-Our first guest tonight is a Golden Globe-winning
and Emmy-nominated actress
who you know from her work in "Alias"
and movies like "13 Going on 30,"
"Juno," and "Dallas Buyers Club."
She stars in the new film "Yes Day,"
which is streaming now on Netflix.
Let's take a look.
-How about this?
If you say no one time,
I get to go to Flea Fest with Layla.
No adults, no parents.
Just us young, underage, vulnerable girls.
-Wait, honey, are you sure?
-I'll take your wager, missy,
because I know that I won't say no.
And when you lose -- and you will lose --
I am so fun that you will still get to go to your concert.
-Really? -Absolutely.
With me!
I'm gonna sit right next to you and we're gonna hold hands
and we're gonna put our hands in the air like we just don't care.
-Please welcome back to the show
the wonderful Jennifer Garner.
How are you, Jennifer?
-Hi, Seth. How you doing?
-I'm doing well. It's so nice to see you.
It was so nice to see you
on the cover of "The Hollywood Reporter."
You look so full of joy, so vibrant, so full of life.
And yet I saw you doing some other promotion
on the "Hot Ones" YouTube show
where you eat hotter and hotter chicken wings.
Did you enjoy that experience? I've done it as well.
I both enjoyed it and hated it. How did you feel?
-I don't know how I felt about it.
I mean, he gives such a great interview.
-He does. -He's so smart.
But them my mouth blew up, and we had to, like, pace --
I had to ice it because these things, they got --
I had issues. I had definite -- -Yeah.
-It looks like I had been sunburned or punched or --
-My issue was afterwards.
People said, "Drink a lot of milk and eat two bagels,"
and then that was a whole nother thing.
It was not a good 24-hour period for me.
-[ Laughs ] Yes. It wasn't --
I'm too old for that, is basically what we learned. Yeah.
-So, this movie is based on a book.
And it is a book that not only did you produce the film,
but this is a book you used to read to it your kids, right?
-I used to read "Yes Day!" by Amy Krouse Rosenthal to my kids.
We adopted yes days before they were a thing.
I think the whole world was kind of quietly starting to do them.
And then we made a movie of it.
So here it is.
-And basically, the premise behind this is parents
having to say yes to everything their kids come up with.
And you actually did this with your kids, your real-life kids?
-I did, but I kind of would -- I would kind of set it up.
I mean, the movie sets it up
like you should have these big asks.
It's really colorful wish fulfillment,
the most fun, joyful version.
I kind of set it up with my kids like,
"Hey, maybe you should ask for a picnic," you know?
And they were like, "Okay."
Now, I am scared for our next yes day.
And parents who have watched this movie
are like, "Oh, my gosh."
And I say, "No, just go, you know, at your own pace."
Would you ever do it? -I think if I had two girls
I would do it, but my boys are idiots and I would be very --
[ Laughter ]
I'd be very skeptical of
whatever they would plan for the day.
-Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, smart.
-Plus, my 2-year-old is very hard to understand.
And I feel like I would do everything he asks,
and then at the end of the day he'd be like,
"This was all the opposite. You got it totally wrong."
-Yeah.
-You did some things in the film
that are outside of your comfort zone.
So, even though you set it up for your kids, in the movie,
which you were in control of,
you do look genuinely unhappy to be on this roller coaster.
-I was so miserable.
Most of that footage of the take --
this is called the Twisted Colossus at Magic Mountain.
It is not something I would ever do,
even on a yes day.
My own children would not ask me to do something this odious.
And I did it.
I wrote it -- We wrote it into the movie,
and then the time came,
and suddenly I had to get on that stupid thing.
I cried, I cussed, I made the whole thing unusable.
We had to shoot it again.
Yeah, it wasn't my proudest moment.
I mean, look at that poor girl. -So is this something as someone
growing up, did you also not like roller coasters?
-No. I was fine. It's just as I've gotten --
I mean, I used to jump off buildings.
I used to be, you know -- Nothing scared me.
And now I've just gotten a little more like,
"Oh, you only get one life and it's precious.
And don't jump off of buildings, maybe."
-See, I wouldn't worry I would die on a roller coaster,
but I've definitely reached the age where I might hurt my neck
in a way that would last 19 months.
-[ Laughs ] Yes.
-You also sang in the movie,
and it's something we definitely have in common.
I do not like singing.
You put yourself through that. How was it?
-I do not like singing in front of people.
-No, no. -I like singing to my kids.
I like singing at church, you know.
I'm fine with a lullaby.
But singing in front of people was miserable.
I had to play the ukulele, and I've never played the ukulele.
The only string instrument I know -- I played the violin
at school long enough that my mom finally said,
"Jennifer, would you please quit the violin?"
'Cause she said, "I can't listen to it anymore, honey.
I don't think you're ever going to get better."
And so I did.
I don't know if it came in handy, my violin gifts,
but I did spend, you know, weeks and months,
especially over Christmas break, obsessing with the ukulele.
And, luckily, I could focus on that.
And I could say to the crowd before I sang in front of them,
"Look, I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know.
I'm so scared, I could pee. I don't know.
We're just going to have to get through it together."
-[ Laughs ]
Now, does that mean that you are someone who,
in your normal life, does not like karaoke?
-The problem -- Okay.
Let's get serious about this. The problem with karaoke is --
-Let me just jump in and tell you
I'm so enthusiastic about your tone,
and I can just tell you're going to be right.
-[ Laughs ] Okay.
The songs are all too -- Nobody needs the full song.
One verse, one chorus, be done.
If you get to the bridge, you have gone too far.
-Yeah. My thing is when my friends say,
"Hey, we should do karaoke,"
I'll say, "How about we'll get in an Uber,
and you guys sing whatever you want,
and then we'll get to a place that doesn't have karaoke?
We'll just karaoke in the car and then go to a bar
where we can have a conversation like adults."
-I never want to go to karaoke. -Yeah.
-If I am with you guys,
can we agree to not go to karaoke together?
-Of course, and it's always your friends
who can sing who are like, "Let's go do karaoke."
It's like being with a bunch of --
if all your friends were tall and they're like,
"Should we do basketball tonight?"
And you're like, "I don't want to do basketball."
-Yes. [ Laughter ]
-"Why do we always do basketball?
Why do you guys decide?"
Hey, I want to ask, before we go, you have chickens,
which you're very kind to share on social media.
How many chickens are you at right now?
-I think we're down to nine.
But they keep -- they keep living,
even after they're done being cute.
-So, when you say down to nine,
what's bringing the number down?
-Death, Seth. -Yeah. Noted.
-Yeah, death. [ Laughter ]
Yeah, no, we had 13.
We had a baker's dozen.
But I mean, we've had them for six years.
-Oh, I see. I gotcha.
-Yeah, and they're supposed to live
between one and three if you're not eating them.
-Oh, wow. Alright. Gotcha.
-And so these guys -- I have a bunch of grandma chickens,
but they're not, you know -- they're not going anywhere.
-You should bring them on that roller coaster.
[ Laughter ]
I feel like it would not go well for them.
-I'm going to bring them to you, for your sons.
You need them.
-Hey, it's always a pleasure to see you.
Congrats on the movie, and look forward to the next time.
-Thank you. Great to see you. Thank you so much, Seth.