Episode Transcript
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0:00
Whether you're doing a dance to your favorite artist
0:02
in the office parking lot, or being
0:04
guided into Warrior One in the break room before
0:06
your shift. Whether you're running
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on your Peloton tread at your mom's house while she
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watches the baby, or
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counting your breaths on the subway. Peloton
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is for all of us, wherever we are, whenever
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we need it. Download the free Peloton
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app today. Peloton app available through free
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tier or paid subscription starting at $12.99 per month.
0:30
Dana's and Becky's. Hardly
0:32
a moment in my life goes by
0:35
where I don't get asked about the show's
0:37
closing theme song,
0:39
Listen to Your Heart, by
0:41
the phenomenal Edie
0:44
Burkell. Where can I find it?
0:46
Why can't I find it? I need a copy
0:49
of it, please. I have looked everywhere.
0:52
Please release it to the public. I
0:54
love it so much. Over and over.
0:58
Unfortunately, this has not
1:00
been possible
1:01
until now. Go
1:04
to DontAskTig.org
1:06
and click on the Announcements tab to
1:09
stream the complete recording
1:12
of the song
1:13
with courtesy from Edie
1:15
Burkell herself.
1:18
Enjoy. And now you
1:20
can stop asking. Also, a reminder
1:23
that I'm still on the road.
1:25
I'll be in Jacksonville, Oregon,
1:27
July 21st.
1:29
Eugene, Oregon, July 22nd. Colorado
1:33
Springs, September 25th.
1:36
Breckenridge, Colorado, September
1:38
28th. Boulder,
1:40
Colorado, September 29th.
1:42
And Brooklyn, New York,
1:45
November 4th at King's Theatre.
1:48
There's two shows. I believe the first one
1:50
is sold out. I apologize
1:52
again for having to move my
1:54
taping from June to November.
1:57
But because of the W... I
2:02
had to move it to November. So
2:05
go to TigNotaro.com for all
2:07
show links and ticket information.
2:09
Now let's start the show.
2:13
Can we get a little taste of what a chicken sounds
2:15
like? Oh God, why am I walking
2:18
myself right into this? I
2:20
don't know, God, so long ago. Oh
2:22
God, oh God, oh God. Oh yeah. She's
2:25
Tig's like, I'll give him a little turkey gobble,
2:27
now get him going. Come on, come on. Yeah.
2:33
You're hired, we will
2:35
see you at 30 Rock, son. Yeah,
2:38
God.
2:39
God. ["We Are
2:42
Not Alone"] Yeah,
3:00
yeah, yeah. This is Don't
3:02
Ask Tig. I'm Tig Notaro and
3:05
the jury is still out on my
3:07
advice. My next guest
3:09
is an actor who stars in films, including
3:12
the X-Men trilogy, Sonic
3:14
the Hedgehog and The Notebook, as
3:16
well as the hit new comedy show,
3:18
Jury Duty. The Emmy
3:21
nominated series, Dead to Me, which earned
3:23
him a Critics Choice Award nomination
3:26
and the film Walk of Shame
3:28
with yours truly.
3:30
James Marsden, welcome to
3:33
Don't Ask Tig.
3:33
Hello Tig, how are you?
3:36
I am doing well. Way to finish those
3:38
credits with the most important one. I
3:40
appreciate that. Of course, well,
3:43
I mean, I think that's where you got your big
3:46
boost in your career was working in
3:48
a film with me.
3:49
That was when I went stratospheric.
3:51
Yeah, well we did. When we did. Yes,
3:54
I was just sort of idling,
3:57
idling along until Walk
3:59
of Shame and then.
5:59
James, you have to do some...
6:02
Oh, well, no, they weren't great.
6:05
Well, this is a show called Don't Ask
6:07
Two. They were great by Oklahoma standards. This is, you
6:09
know, low stakes. You gotta give me a... Let's hear
6:12
a little something for your SNL audition.
6:14
Oh, God. What would I have
6:16
done? I think I was just emulating
6:18
everyone I was seeing at the time. It was like
6:21
I was just doing Dana Carvey bits. I was
6:23
doing, you know, The Church Lady and I was doing
6:26
George Dubya and all that. Basically,
6:28
I wasn't doing my own stuff. I was just ripping
6:31
them off. What would I have
6:33
done? I don't know if I...
6:35
Let's hear some George Dubya. Come on.
6:38
Well,
6:40
no, it wasn't George Dubya. It was at George Senior.
6:44
It was when he was doing the... Wouldn't be
6:46
pruding at this juncture. Yeah, the whole
6:48
thing.
6:49
So you were a big Dana Carvey
6:51
fan. Yeah, I was doing him and chopping
6:53
broccoli and all that. Yeah,
6:56
I think that was my kind of time period
6:58
for SNL. It was like him and Chris
7:01
Farley and Adam Sandler.
7:02
Did you ever try to audition? I
7:05
do have a vague memory of
7:08
in Oklahoma, me and my buddy,
7:11
that we used to do like kind of comedy bits
7:13
together for drama class. We
7:16
heard that Saturday Night Live were like doing
7:18
a tour of the United States looking
7:20
for people and they were stopped in Oklahoma City and they
7:22
would like show up and come and
7:24
audition. So I remember doing that. This
7:26
is either a dream and it didn't really happen
7:29
or it really happened. And
7:32
I think, what did we do? I
7:34
think they just said, just show us anything.
7:37
And
7:38
I think
7:40
we literally just pretended we were chickens.
7:43
We just sat around, we just clocked like chickens
7:46
that were discovering one another and sort of like
7:49
this weird mating ritual. And
7:50
they didn't hire you? Shockingly
7:53
no. They did not. I
7:55
don't know why. You're like, fine. I'll just
7:58
join the X-Men trilogy. I'll
8:00
just go off and do that. Right,
8:02
right. Vills recognized my real
8:04
talent with this chicken bit that I'm doing. I
8:07
don't know why we did that. It was
8:09
like, wow, we really picked the wrong thing
8:11
to lead with.
8:12
Speaking of the junior
8:15
and senior Bushes, you have a place in
8:17
Texas? I have a place in Texas. I lived in Texas
8:19
many years. You did? Where? Outside
8:22
of Houston. I lived in Austin. I lived
8:24
outside of Dallas.
8:25
You have family there? What was the draw? I
8:27
have family. Okay. I grew
8:29
up part of the time in Texas. Yeah. But
8:32
we still go back. The reason
8:35
I took a liking to Austin specifically
8:38
was because it did...
8:39
I had a lot of friends that lived there and they were
8:41
always encouraging me to come visit. So I was.
8:44
For the last 20 years, I'd go get out on a lake
8:46
in Lake Austin. And it was just like, wow, this
8:48
reminded me of the good parts of growing
8:51
up in Oklahoma, but much prettier. I
8:53
mean, Oklahoma is beautiful. It can be beautiful. But
8:55
Austin in Texas Hill Country was just really,
8:58
really special. And it's a two hour flight
9:00
from LA. And so I've been visiting for 20
9:02
years and just playing with the idea
9:04
that can you live somewhere else outside of LA
9:06
and still work in this business? And the answer
9:09
is yes,
9:09
because we're always... I don't know. We have
9:11
a tendency to lead nomadic lifestyles
9:14
anyway. Was it hard to actually
9:16
put roots down there? Did you feel like, oh,
9:18
I live here? Or did you feel like, oh, I'm
9:21
away from home in this other
9:23
home?
9:23
The latter. It's,
9:26
you know, I'm there plenty of the year. But
9:28
when I'm there, you're right.
9:30
It was like, what's my life here? Because
9:33
I've lived in LA for 30 years now. You
9:35
can't intertube all day in Austin.
9:37
No. And it's a very leisurely
9:39
city. It's very like cold beer,
9:42
barbecue. Oh, I know it,
9:44
sir. Get some country music going, get out
9:46
on the boat and, you know.
9:48
You like country music? I do. I
9:50
grew up with country music. I was in a country band for
9:52
a little bit. Me too. I
9:55
play guitar and I sing. Wow.
9:58
Yeah. a
10:00
country band going, do you like new country,
10:02
old country? You like it both? I'm like prime
10:05
country on Exim satellite. Oh yeah.
10:07
That's like 90s country like Tim
10:09
McGraw. Sure, George Strait. George Strait,
10:12
Garth Brooks. Garth Brooks. Grew up with Garth
10:14
Brooks. Both of us went to Oklahoma State
10:16
and Stillwater. Yeah. In fact, my band
10:18
in high school and into college, all we did
10:20
is Garth Brooks covers. Love
10:22
me some Garth. Garth's
10:24
great. Yeah. My ex-wife,
10:27
who I'm still very, very close with, she's like my
10:29
bestie, her father wrote Colin
10:32
Baton Rouge, that Garth Brooks song.
10:33
That is my favorite
10:36
Garth Brooks song. Are you kidding, really? I
10:38
love that song so much. I'm going
10:41
to send you his demo
10:43
that he played for Garth. It's
10:46
so different than how the song turned out because a lot
10:48
of times, his name's Dennis Lindy. He also wrote
10:50
Goodbye Earl for the Dixie Chicks.
10:52
Oh my gosh. He
10:53
was a legend. He's not with us anymore, but
10:55
he was an incredible songwriter. But he was
10:58
like this character. He took on
11:00
these characters when he wrote these songs and sometimes
11:02
intimidate the artists. A lot of his
11:04
songs weren't sing-songy ballads. They were
11:06
like Warren Zevon and Randy
11:08
Newman structures and stuff. Anyway,
11:11
the demo of that is so
11:13
lo-fi and simple, and he's playing a kazoo
11:16
on it at some point. You'll love it. But now
11:18
you go to an LSU game, the
11:20
entire stadium is singing Colin Baton Rouge.
11:23
And
11:23
it's pretty cool to see. I had no idea.
11:26
I have family out in Louisiana,
11:28
Mississippi, all that. But
11:30
yeah, that's my
11:32
hands-down favorite Garth Broke
11:34
song. I love it so much. Love
11:37
that
11:37
tune. But yes, country music's always been something
11:39
I've been a fan of. Did you grow up? Did you? Forgive
11:41
me. I should know this, but did you grow up in Texas? Mississippi, Texas.
11:44
Yeah. Hard to avoid the country music
11:47
influence coming from those parts. It is very
11:49
hard. It's all over there. You either grew up hating
11:51
it, or you grew up embracing
11:53
it to some degree. Or you grew up hating
11:56
it, and then you get older and you go, oh, this sounds
11:58
good again. It's kind of good. Yeah, you can. You go out
12:00
on a boat, have a drink in the sunshine.
12:03
Put in on some Clint Black and some
12:05
good skill. Yes, sir.
12:08
Oh, man. Yeah, I do enjoy all
12:10
that. Yeah, so I'll get the guitar
12:12
out occasionally when I'm in Austin and we'll
12:14
have little sing-alongs here and there. Oh,
12:16
I really can't wait for our band. Now,
12:19
James, let's talk about
12:21
your latest project, Jury Duty. Yes.
12:24
It's gotten a lot of buzz. For
12:26
my listeners who have not seen it, would you
12:28
explain what it's about?
12:30
Sure. So, it's a TV
12:32
show. It's
12:33
as if you took
12:35
The Office and The
12:37
Truman Show and sort of fused
12:39
them together with
12:41
a backdrop of Jury Duty. So
12:43
you have essentially
12:45
a whole cast of actors,
12:48
improv artists, myself, who's
12:50
I'm playing myself, and I sort of heightened
12:53
entitled hop. Did you do any chicken noises?
12:56
No, no, no. They didn't ask
12:58
for it. I offered it up, but they were saying, we
13:00
don't need it. We're good. They're
13:02
lost? Yep, they're lost. And one
13:04
guy
13:05
that thinks the whole thing is real,
13:07
and it's all fake. So
13:09
you're thinking at this point, if you haven't seen the show, is this
13:12
a prank show? Are they just fooling
13:14
him for a couple of weeks of his life? And
13:16
I wasn't interested in doing it if it was
13:18
going to be anything mean-spirited or cruel, because
13:20
three weeks is a long time to keep somebody
13:23
in the dark. One person in the
13:25
dark and the rest of us are following
13:27
these scripts. So there were scripts, but there was no scripted
13:29
dialogue. It was like comedy
13:31
beats. Mars then stands up and
13:34
tries to get out of Jury Duty by saying he's a distraction.
13:38
Todd walks in wearing chair pants, stuff
13:40
like that, and then we get to kind of play with it on top of
13:43
it. So that's basically it. They've
13:45
said, we're not doing a prank show. We
13:47
want to see if we can create a hero's journey
13:50
for somebody. So the idea was we're
13:52
going to surround this guy who doesn't know
13:54
the whole thing is fake with absurd
13:57
scripted circumstances and
13:59
see how...
15:54
from
16:00
him, like disappointment. He
16:02
was so empathic,
16:04
like if we were embarrassing somebody because
16:07
it was scripted, he felt bad
16:09
for that person. So it was like, you
16:11
didn't want him to feel bad for
16:13
this person. But that was the hardest thing
16:15
was like, I really struggled with that every
16:17
day. Like, boy, what is, what are we doing to this
16:19
guy? You know, this is his reality. He's getting
16:22
to be friends with us. We're getting to be friends
16:24
with him and like
16:27
really caring about each other and having genuine laughs
16:29
and yeah, orging these real relationships.
16:32
And he thinks, I mean, I was named James, but
16:34
everyone else had a fake
16:34
name. And then at the end of it, he's like, wait, so you're
16:36
not really Ron, you're not really
16:39
genie. So
16:42
it just was kind of like you just had to cross your fingers
16:44
and hope that our endeavor
16:46
to
16:47
create this hero's path for somebody
16:50
that he'll end up feeling it.
16:51
And that he will have
16:53
enjoyed the experience. Right, right.
16:55
That was the hardest part.
16:57
And actually, as you go
16:59
on, the Jenga tower gets taller.
17:02
As you get closer to the end,
17:04
the stakes are much greater because if
17:06
we screw it up now, right, then Amazon
17:09
has two and a half weeks of footage that they can't use. So
17:12
it's kind of wild. Wow. Yeah.
17:14
Any advice you would give your younger
17:17
self just starting out as an actor, as
17:19
we almost transition into our
17:22
advice questions? Right. Yeah.
17:25
Boy, don't force anything.
17:27
A good performance is never going to come
17:30
from
17:30
really muscling your way through
17:33
it. Have fun.
17:35
Have a great time. When I look back on the things that worked,
17:38
it was because I was just having a blast. And that's jury
17:41
duty is a perfect prime example of that.
17:43
I was having so much fun.
17:44
Are you good at giving advice?
17:48
Depends on the topic. But yeah,
17:51
I typically, I feel like I'm a pretty good
17:53
friend that way, but I would never try
17:55
to do something, give somebody advice where
17:58
I'm out of my jurisdiction. I would not.
17:59
Okay. Well,
18:02
you play a juror who is less
18:04
than perfect. Maybe you
18:07
can still help. Well,
18:11
are you saying the jury's still out on that? Jury's
18:14
still out. Maybe you can help with
18:16
the first listener. Okay. C.C.
18:19
writes, I have lived in my apartment
18:22
in Manhattan for four
18:24
years. In the past six months, I've
18:26
received three postal letters for
18:29
the former tenant for jury summons,
18:32
all with an urgent notification.
18:34
I haven't opened the letters and left them
18:36
in my mailbox. Should I try to contact
18:39
the person this was originally addressed
18:42
to?
18:42
Should I contact the local government?
18:44
What is my civic duty here?
18:47
You get a lot of government officials listening
18:49
to your show. That's the only, my podcast,
18:52
my standup, everything. It's all government
18:55
officials. Okay. Well, yes, you contact
18:57
that gentleman or wonderful woman and you
18:59
let them know. I was going to say, pitch
19:02
him because he's probably just going to pitch him anyway. Well,
19:05
yeah, I was also going to say, just do the very
19:07
lazy thing of return to sender.
19:10
I mean, you know, you can just write that on
19:12
an envelope and drop it in the mail and you've-
19:15
How old is this person? I don't
19:17
know that- They don't disclose their age because if they're
19:19
under 30, they don't even know what
19:21
drop it in the mail means. You
19:24
said it'd be lazy, but that actually
19:26
sounds like to a Gen-Zer, like
19:28
a lot of work. But I
19:30
think it's the right thing to do. Yeah.
19:32
Locate a pen. What's a pen? Write
19:37
on the envelope where it's addressed
19:39
to the old tenant
19:42
and write off to the side, return
19:44
to sender, underline it. If you don't
19:46
know where to do it, Google where to write
19:48
return to sender and then Google
19:51
what a mailbox looks like and
19:53
then walk
19:55
out of your house and
19:58
drop that into the mailbox. box. She's
20:00
in New York, right? Yeah. Well, there's pigeons
20:03
there too. You could attach it to a carrier pigeon.
20:05
Well, there you go. James and I. We're going
20:07
way back
20:10
in time. Back in the days
20:12
of classic country. Yeah. So that's
20:14
how you do it. I've never done the return to sender thing. You
20:16
just write on the envelope, return to sender, and then
20:19
drop it in one of those blue mailboxes that
20:21
are on the side of the street.
20:22
Or even in your own mailbox. Right.
20:24
Okay. And then they return it. Yeah.
20:27
And then if they don't, at least your conscience is
20:29
free. Oh, and you can also write
20:31
on there, no longer at this address.
20:34
Can I write that on all the junk mail that I get
20:36
in my mailbox? You can write it on
20:39
a wall. You can write
20:41
anything you want anywhere. You might get
20:43
in some trouble, but yeah, you
20:45
can write it on a wall. I'm going to spray paint
20:47
it on a wall, return to sender.
20:50
That's a good plan. Cece,
20:52
James and I
20:54
find you guilty of not forwarding mail.
20:56
You are sentenced to listen
20:59
to the rest of this episode, which
21:01
will return right after
21:03
this break. James, don't go anywhere.
21:07
Hey listeners, Don't
21:10
Ask Tig is sponsored by BetterHelp.
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25:34
That
26:01
is an interesting one. I mean, but also what
26:03
do the polycules expect? I
26:06
think they want it all. They got it all. I
26:09
guess the bride and groom are not polyamorous,
26:11
otherwise they would be marrying a host of people. Right?
26:13
It would be. But they have lots
26:15
of polyamorous friends.
26:17
Seems like we need to figure out what
26:19
this is before we can even guide anybody.
26:22
I agree. I feel ill-equipped
26:24
to answer this. I feel like because
26:26
I'm in the LGBTQ world
26:29
that I should know all this, but
26:31
I don't. Even though it's not
26:34
necessarily bi or gay
26:36
or trans. It's not specific to LGBTQ, right.
26:39
If anything's gender or sexuality,
26:42
usually it's like, come on into our
26:44
group. Maybe it just
26:46
depends on the bride and groom's intentions.
26:49
Maybe if they're wanting to open up their
26:51
mind to exploring polyamory
26:54
on the day that they give their vows. Maybe
26:57
they do allow a couple extra guests,
26:59
but I don't want to be presumptuous to say that
27:01
that's what they're exploring. I don't think they are.
27:04
Yeah, I think if just by the books, just
27:06
you get a plus one. That's it. You get a
27:08
plus one. All right. You get a plus one.
27:10
That's an easy one.
27:11
Eardra weddings are tricky,
27:14
but congratulations to you and your fiance.
27:17
And keep us updated if you add a plus
27:19
one to your marriage. James, this next
27:22
question was sent in by a listener
27:24
named Fiona.
27:26
Fiona writes, how do I handle
27:28
my 13 year old daughter's tantrums?
27:31
She's going through a lot of changes and
27:33
finding life a bit confusing, but
27:36
the tantrums are hard to cope with.
27:38
She didn't have them at two years old, and
27:41
I think this is harder. Help.
27:43
I only
27:45
have two nearly seven year
27:48
old boys. And
27:52
it's one of those things where I think of, is
27:55
that down the road of having
27:57
tantrums? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe,
28:00
maybe not. I mean, I have two
28:03
boys and a girl and my oldest
28:05
boy is 22. My girl is 17. You
28:08
know, there's a lot
28:09
going on there for boys and girls, but I
28:11
say specifically girls, and this is, you
28:14
know, through my ex-wife kind
28:16
of teaching me about it, changing their bodies
28:18
and hormones
28:19
and... Also the time of what's going
28:21
on now in the world. In the world and
28:23
your self-worth is you feel
28:26
like it's measured
28:27
off of social media and I just, I'm like,
28:29
God, I just hate that for young girls.
28:32
It's a bit, I don't know what the tantrum is about. I do
28:35
know that
28:36
these storms come by and
28:39
the storms pass. It's
28:41
usually all good at the end of it and
28:44
finding a balance of,
28:46
let's talk about your feelings while they're
28:48
screaming and throwing **** across the room. Right.
28:52
But also you can't be screaming
28:54
and throwing things and hitting people and like,
28:56
no, you can't do that. So I guess it's
28:58
just a tricky thing. It depends on the personality of the kid
29:01
and allowing them to
29:03
have these tantrums. Or if you're going
29:05
to have the tantrum, go have it in private.
29:07
Well, you know, it's funny because I was imagining
29:11
what would my instinct
29:13
be just based on not having
29:16
this experience yet. Our big
29:19
punishment in our house is, all
29:22
right, you're going to have to go sit by the front
29:24
door and they are
29:26
terrified of that. And
29:29
they want to avoid sitting by
29:31
the front door at all costs. But
29:33
when I think about what if it escalated,
29:36
I just wonder if, and
29:38
I hear what you're saying, you don't want to get to
29:41
like, I feel this and I
29:43
think this when somebody's losing
29:45
their mind. But my instinct
29:48
would be, do
29:49
you have nature around
29:51
you? It might be really
29:53
nice and calming and this might be
29:56
some hippie side of me, but to
29:59
go sit by.
29:59
an ocean to go take
30:02
a walk in the woods.
30:03
Oh, you're right. Or go if
30:05
there's a big piece of land or
30:07
pasture to lie down in and
30:09
just look at the sky and talk to your
30:12
child. And I'm not saying
30:14
it like it's as easy as that. This is
30:16
totally coming from somebody that
30:18
has seven year old boys
30:21
that are scared to sit by the front door. That
30:23
would be my instinct is to try
30:26
and go talk to them in wide
30:29
open nature,
30:29
try and connect there. I
30:32
agree with that. I also think it's important
30:34
to see if they want to
30:37
speak to a therapist, somebody that isn't
30:40
directly related to the family.
30:42
Great advice, great advice. See
30:44
if the therapist would come to the beach with you and
30:47
lie down and look at the sky. That's
30:49
really smart. Because sometimes it's just like
30:51
getting them out of that space and like, go
30:54
move the legs, move the furniture around, go walk.
30:56
Well, and to see that the world
30:59
is bigger than what's
31:01
going on right under your nose.
31:04
And that's
31:05
looking at a sky so huge
31:08
or an ocean so huge or a forest
31:10
so deep in the woods.
31:13
And so-
31:14
It's a reminder that your problems aren't as
31:16
big as maybe they feel. Yeah.
31:19
And I've truly gone and
31:22
would lie down in a field and
31:25
stare up at the sky. I
31:27
remember once when I was heartbroken. I mean, that
31:29
is what I did to just kind of take in
31:33
and deal with my emotions. They
31:35
say to get in touch with the earth too. Like
31:37
where you're actually laying on the grass
31:40
where you're feeling the earth underneath
31:42
you actually does something physiologically
31:44
to you and emotionally to. I think
31:46
the other thing too is,
31:48
and this is a tricky one because it depends on
31:50
what the tantrums like and what they're gonna
31:52
fit about. But give yourself permission
31:54
to not have to fix
31:56
it. Yeah. Sometimes it's just
31:59
like let her get it.
31:59
it all out. Yeah. I feel like as parents, we always
32:02
feel like we have to create a solution or
32:04
provide a solution. And sometimes
32:06
it's just like, let this just run its course and
32:09
be a quiet, supportive presence next
32:11
to her. And she'll remember that.
32:13
Fiona, James and I are both parents.
32:16
So that was some expert
32:18
advice, I would say. Thanks
32:20
for writing in and all of the best to
32:22
you and your daughter. James, before
32:25
I ask this last question, do
32:27
you smoke weed?
32:28
I promise it's relevant.
32:30
I don't. I've never
32:32
been much of a weed smoker, but what I have discovered
32:34
recently is a specific
32:37
strain of sativa
32:40
or whatever it is that actually helps me sleep
32:42
in the form of like a gummy.
32:44
I don't take any of it to like take
32:46
my brain to the places where I can
32:49
write more interesting stuff or
32:51
have more laughs in a conversation. The
32:53
application for me is always to chill me out,
32:56
turn the brain off and go to sleep. It's
32:59
been great to not have to take anything else.
33:02
Yeah. So Sarah in
33:04
DC writes,
33:05
Hello, Tig and guest. I am an almost 50
33:09
happily married lesbian mother of two.
33:12
I work part time as a pediatrician
33:14
and have a great village of friends. I
33:16
consider myself medium fun.
33:19
I have so far never
33:21
tried marijuana and I'm ready to
33:23
do so. It is legal where
33:26
I live.
33:27
Could you suggest a perfect scenario
33:29
for my first maybe only experience?
33:32
I will do whatever you suggest.
33:34
Wait, careful there.
33:36
She will do whatever
33:38
you suggest. Okay. This person
33:40
feels like my speed. Medium
33:43
fun. Yeah. Well, just like, okay,
33:46
I don't do drugs. I'm
33:48
ready to try it. The robot
33:51
is ready to let loose. Tell
33:53
me
33:53
you're ready. It doesn't sound
33:55
like it. Sounds like you're already
33:58
giving yourself
33:59
You're probably walking into paranoia land. I
34:02
get that feeling though, because I guess
34:04
she's like, I need to maybe loosen up a little bit
34:07
and got a village of friends. That's great.
34:10
I wonder if they all smoke.
34:11
Or even, you know, I'm not
34:14
a pot smoker, but my wife
34:16
Stephanie and I went to Amsterdam
34:19
and we wanted to have the typical go
34:21
to Amsterdam and buy weed
34:24
and get high. Sure. And
34:28
we, neither
34:30
of us are pot smokers. And we,
34:33
we
34:33
got our drugs. We went to
34:35
our hotel room, we smoked
34:38
it. And we turned into cartoon
34:41
versions of high people. We
34:43
were in so much pain laughing. We were
34:46
crying so hard, we could barely
34:48
breathe. And it was the most
34:51
fun. And then we went back to
34:53
Amsterdam a year later, we bought
34:55
pot again, and we tried to recreate
34:57
the moment, but we didn't know what strain
35:00
we had purchased the first time. And the
35:02
second one, we just were
35:04
sitting out next to one of the canals.
35:08
And we just turned to each other and
35:10
said, I don't want to do this ever again.
35:13
It was such a different
35:14
experience from
35:16
the first time. Like truly gasping
35:19
for air. I mean, it was
35:22
so fun. So I guess my suggestion
35:25
would be if your spouse is
35:28
interested or one of your medium
35:31
fun friends in your, in your
35:34
village, I would say do
35:36
it with somebody that
35:38
is your silliest friend that's
35:40
open to doing it. And Stephanie
35:43
and I laugh very hard without
35:45
any pot on a daily basis.
35:47
We destroy each other. Find
35:50
the person that will destroy
35:53
you and have a grand
35:56
old time. That's what I suggest.
35:58
Great advice. Yes. I would.
35:59
say, if you're the medium fun person
36:02
in your group, I would find a
36:03
friend in your village that is the
36:06
most giggly, the most easy to
36:08
laugh, just positive, have a great time.
36:11
It's so important though, like
36:12
the sort of tone that you
36:15
carry with you when you step into that world, right?
36:17
Like you want someone with positivity
36:19
and like perpetually grinning to
36:22
do that with and maybe you, you know,
36:24
that maybe there's an old movie from the 80s
36:26
or 90s or whatever that you guys share
36:28
that you always thought was funny. Maybe put
36:30
that on too. Yeah.
36:31
Go rent a hotel room or something
36:33
and just watch a stupid movie.
36:36
Get into costume, put costumes
36:38
on and then take it. Buy some junk food.
36:40
Yeah. Yeah. Give us the Twinkies and
36:42
Doritos. Go have the dumbest
36:45
time you could possibly
36:48
have. Yeah. Without any expectation.
36:50
Don't put expectations on it. Like I'm supposed
36:53
to be laughing or I'm supposed to be listening
36:55
to this music or I'm supposed to be just,
36:58
nothing matters. It's a free day.
37:00
Even if you don't laugh that hard,
37:02
you'll at least laugh at how you
37:04
didn't get that high and you're
37:07
sitting in a hotel room with Twinkies
37:09
and a bad movie on and that'll make
37:11
you laugh probably.
37:12
Yeah, it'll make you laugh and go easy.
37:14
Maybe kind of baby steps into the dosage.
37:16
I remember the first time I smoked, I was 21 or
37:19
something and the person that introduced
37:22
me to it
37:23
was my future wife, which was my
37:25
wife at the time. She was actually
37:27
pretty good at it. She was like, okay, we're going to have
37:29
a joint and I hear you smoke this.
37:31
I'm going to go to the bathroom and when I come
37:33
back, we're going to have some fun. And
37:36
she went to the bathroom and I took 10 hits
37:38
off of this joint thinking that you smoke it
37:40
like a cigarette and I was
37:43
out of my mind. Yeah. So maybe
37:45
take the baby steps of dosage.
37:47
Yeah. I can't wait to hear how that turns
37:49
out. Sarah, I'm
37:51
not sure why you asked me, but that's why
37:54
the show is called Don't Ask Tig. Happy 420.
37:57
James, you played an actor.
38:00
superhero cyclops
38:03
in the X-Men movies. So
38:05
the last segment I've selected,
38:07
especially for you, is one I call
38:10
Don't Ask Your Heroes.
38:17
Everyone always says,
38:20
don't meet your heroes, but what about
38:22
asking your heroes for advice?
38:25
Don't Ask Your Heroes is the part of the show
38:27
where we imagine what your hero
38:30
might have to say about a particular
38:32
question that's on your mind. So
38:35
James,
38:35
you might have more than one, but
38:38
if you had to name just one
38:40
person, who would you say is your hero?
38:43
I
38:45
mean, I have a lot of different kinds of
38:48
heroes, but I'm saying like my
38:51
ex-wife taught me a lot about
38:53
how to be a good person in this world
38:56
and how to be a good father and
38:59
how to participate in a life in a really
39:01
great
39:02
way. And sometimes it can be in a very simple
39:04
way. So she's been great
39:06
for me and I owe a lot
39:08
of what I've learned in life to her. That's
39:11
nice. Yeah, yeah. We started
39:13
really young and like
39:15
I said, we're still very, very close, but are there
39:18
heroes? Well, there's like industry heroes,
39:21
like people that you looked up to as far as their
39:23
work and things like that. Thank
39:25
you. I always loved Paul Newman. He
39:27
seemed like a guy who
39:29
could do drama really brilliantly,
39:31
but also had a sense of humor and could do
39:33
comedy as well. And then he had a whole other life
39:35
outside of this business. Yeah.
39:38
And he was very happily married
39:40
and had his charity and I don't know,
39:42
I just always liked him. Did you know
39:44
Paul? No, I had never met him.
39:47
No. Well,
39:48
if you could ask him one
39:50
advice related question, what would you ask
39:53
him? I could ask Paul Newman
39:57
advice related question. I'm
40:02
better at giving the advice. Boy,
40:06
how do you
40:07
cope with aging?
40:09
What's your secret? I
40:11
think he was famously known for sticking his head
40:13
in a giant bucket of ice water every
40:16
morning. Wow,
40:17
it's getting popular with all the polar
40:19
plunging that's going on. Yeah,
40:22
I guess so. The cold plunge stuff. What
40:25
is the most graceful way
40:27
to accept
40:29
getting older?
40:30
What do you think he would say? I
40:32
think he would say, just keep
40:34
getting older for as long as you can. I
40:36
don't know. I don't know what he'd say. Stick your
40:39
head in a bucket of ice water? Yeah, stick
40:41
your head in a bucket of ice water. Maybe don't take yourself
40:43
so seriously. That's the
40:45
advice I would give to somebody. Don't
40:47
sweat the small stuff and it's all small stuff, that
40:49
kind of thing. We just go through life
40:52
worrying about everything. Well,
40:53
that goes back to the, you know, go lie down
40:56
at the beach and go lie in a pasture
40:58
and walk through the deep
41:00
woods.
41:01
Let Mother Nature coddle you and cradle
41:03
you a bit. Well, James,
41:06
I couldn't agree more, first of all. And
41:09
second of all, it was such a pleasure to have
41:11
you on the show and to see you again.
41:13
That's great. It's good to see you too. That
41:15
was so much fun. Yeah. I can talk
41:17
to you for another couple hours. I know. I
41:20
was very lost in the episode
41:22
and I was surprised when it
41:25
felt like we were just laying on the
41:27
beach somewhere. That's right. It felt
41:29
like I'm in a kind of meandering little meadow,
41:31
staring up at blue skies.
41:36
I'm going to miss this. What am I going to do to
41:38
calm myself again? I'm going
41:40
to actually take a walk into
41:42
the woods. Or maybe we could
41:45
go lie down in a pasture in
41:47
Oklahoma and listen to some Garth Brooks
41:49
and just chill
41:50
out. I was going to say, what people do
41:52
in the pastures of Oklahoma is they go
41:55
find the old cow turds
41:57
that have fossilized and they find
41:59
little mushrooms.
41:59
growing out of those cow turds. Yeah.
42:02
And you take that mushroom, and I guess this is probably
42:04
not something anything I should be condoning. It's
42:07
probably illegal. But
42:09
you really want to turn up the volume on the color
42:12
spectrum and all that while you're
42:14
laying in the field.
42:15
Isn't that crazy that that would be illegal
42:18
to get mushrooms off of poop?
42:20
Like, how is that possibly written
42:23
in a rule book somewhere? You're
42:25
going to jail if you take mushrooms
42:28
off of cow poop and put it
42:30
in your
42:31
mouth and then see crazy things.
42:33
Yeah. All right. So I don't think
42:35
that's up to us to tell people to do it
42:38
or not to do it. There's poop
42:40
out there with
42:40
mushrooms. But we're going to. We're going to go
42:43
lay a cow pasture. We're going to listen
42:45
to Baton Rouge. We're going to listen to Baton Rouge
42:48
and we're going to experiment with some strains
42:50
of poop shrooms.
42:56
It's like the good parents that we are.
43:00
James, is there anything you would like to mention?
43:02
Retract. Anything you'd
43:05
like to retract or add to before
43:08
we head out
43:09
of here? I think I've added plenty. No,
43:13
that's been lovely. It's so great
43:15
seeing you. And that was a fun chat. And we'd love to
43:17
do it again.
43:18
Love to have you and loved having you. And
43:20
hope to see you again soon. Walk
43:23
of shame too. Yeah. Walk of shame too. Bye.
43:26
Bye.
43:27
Oh, my sweet child.
43:31
There's so much I want you
43:34
to know. Oh,
43:37
my sweet child. There's
43:40
so much I want you to
43:42
see. I
43:45
wish that I could give you the answers.
43:49
I wish that I could make you believe.
43:53
I wish that I could put you on
43:55
your back and set you
43:58
free.
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