-Our first guest tonight is an Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning
actor you know from his work in "The Big Lebowski,"
"The Artist," and "The Righteous Gemstones."
He stars in "The Conners," which returns January 13th on ABC.
Please welcome back to the show
our very good friend John Goodman.
John, how are you?
-Swell! How you doing, Seth? Happy new year.
-Happy new year to you. I feel like this is the closest
our haircuts have ever been.
-Pretty much. I got a COVID-19 cut.
-Yeah, same here. Same here.
I know were you in New Orleans for a long time.
You're back in L.A. shooting "The Conners" now.
How was your time in New Orleans?
-It was great.
[ Chuckles ] I didn't want to leave.
The streets were a little emptier than usual,
but it was good to be home.
-You know, obviously, New Orleans known for
its live music scene.
Live music clubs are getting hit hard, very hard.
You did a fundraiser on New Year's Eve.
How do you feel about those live music venues?
And do you have some favorites in New Orleans?
-Yeah, I do, but it's...
Yeah, they're really getting whacked,
and it's been that way for a long time.
I met my wife at Tipitina's in like 1988.
And she kind of thought I was a zombie,
so I had a buddy of mine keep track of her,
and we started dating a year later.
Yeah, I kind of stalked her, real long-distance.
-[ Laughs ] But it's worked out, obviously.
-So far! 31 years.
-You guys are back doing "The Conners."
It's a show that's filmed
in front of a live studio audience.
You don't have one, I'm assuming.
-Not anymore.
We get a lot more done. [ Laughs ]
No, we shoot it differently now.
Those guys will laugh at anything,
and it's kind of hard to time things sometimes.
-I remember going to a show in the studio audience.
Like, you really are sort of whipped into a frenzy
by the warm-up comic, which is their job
and they do a very good job at it,
but I can imagine sometimes it messes with comic rhythm.
-Well, they're in this frenzy for hours, you see.
And I guess they like to hear themselves on the playback
when they watch it at home.
But, yeah, it's impossible to time anything.
-Is it hard to generate the same performance level
without an audience, or are you guys finding it's okay?
-It's okay, but we really got to think about it
and remember that that's a whole nother energy level
when you got people in the audience.
-Yeah. -Laughing at everything.
-We, of course, first met at "SNL,"
which is a live studio audience
that is not whipped into a frenzy
in the same way that a sitcom audience is.
I remember Norm Macdonald once said
he thought it was the last true audience in television,
because they're just -- you can just bomb on "SNL"
like nowhere else.
-Yeah, and it's weird when you watch it --
when you're doing the show and you watch it played back
because the studio audience is a lot louder
than they amplify it at home.
So you could be doing alright,
but it sounds like you just murdered somebody.
-[ Laughs ]
"The Conners" is actually gonna address the pandemic,
which is no surprise.
This is a show that has addressed real-life issues,
very modern issues,
things up to and including even opioid addition --
Addiction. Excuse me.
Is it interesting to be doing a show
that's sort of addressing issues in real time?
-Yeah, sure, 'cause everybody brings their two cents into it,
things they've experienced.
And, you know, why pretend it's not there?
I personally would rather
have them let me solve crimes on the show.
-[ Laughs ] You should.
Have you ever solved a crime on a show?
-I'd like to. I'd like to start doing that.
And at home, as well. [ Laughter ]
-Well, I feel like if you solved a couple crimes
on your own at home,
then they'd spin it into a TV show immediately.
-If I talk to some guys about it first.
You know, kick the interest up.
-You were one of my favorite shows from --
I guess now two years ago.
That's how time is moving.
"The Righteous Gemstones."
I know you guys were going back to do a second season
that got sort of waylaid by everything we're going through.
That must be a fun show to do.
-Yeah, it's great. Just every day is a lot of fun.
Working with some spectacular people,
and the situations are great.
It's gonna be a doozy this year from what I'm reading.
But, yeah, we got there,
I got my clothes out of the suitcase
and groceries in for the -- getting ready to start work,
and they canned us for two months,
which turned into permanently.
-I love Danny McBride,
but Walton Goggins has been one of my long favorites.
And I will say, the feud between the two of you
is just a delight to watch.
-Yeah. He's terrific.
He's just incredibly funny.
-Exciting news was announced that you and Billy Crystal
are going to be the voices
for a "Monsters Inc." television show.
That was a show that --
that movie, I should say, came out so long ago.
Is it exciting to come back to it?
-Yeah. It's a lot of fun.
I don't -- I haven't gotten to work with Billy
in the same studio yet.
That really gooses the energy,
because he's hard to keep up with.
-Your daughter was very young
when the first "Monsters Inc." came out.
As she grew up, what of your work has she engaged with
and enjoyed the most?
-Ah, not really any of them, so...
[ Laughter ]
-No? Not a Lebowski fan? -Nah.
It's just, "Dad's home again. Eh."
-[ Laughs ]
-Yeah, a lot of kids, that's what they know me from.
That voice.
-And when they hear it, do they...
Can you tell when a kid hears your voice
and recognizes it from that?
-I know they recognize something.
"Something's wrong with this guy."
-I mean, there could be any number of reasons
they react that there's something wrong with you.
You realize that?
It might not just be
that they recognize your voice from "Monsters Inc."
-It's the same vibe. [ Laughter ]
There's just gradations of it.
You have to be aware of that.
-I'm gonna let you go 'cause I know you have some crimes
to solve in the house. -Thanks, Seth.
-John, it's always a delight to see you.
Thanks so much for being here.