Dax Shepard

Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert. I'm Dax Shepard. I'm joined by Monica Padman.

Monica Padman

Hi.

Geena Davis

Hello.

Dax Shepard

Today we have an icon, Geena Davis. She is an Academy award winning actor. Thelma and Louise, A League of Their Own, Beetlejuice, Long Kiss, Goodnight, the Fly Legend.

Monica Padman

Sometimes we get legends in here. It's pretty cool.

Dax Shepard

Oh, I loved her. Please enjoy. Geena Davis. We get support from quints.

Monica Padman

Have you been wearing the quince linen shirts?

Dax Shepard

Yeah, I've been wearing them a suspicious amount. Yeah, European linen ones. They're 34 bucks which is genuinely insane for how nice they are.

Monica Padman

It doesn't even make sense.

Dax Shepard

Well, here's the deal. They work directly with the factories, cut out all the middlemen. So you're paying for the actual quality and not some brand's marketing budget. Everything's 50 to 80% less than comparable stuff. I love it because it's all very classic and traditional and I know I'm going to be able to keep it for a very long, long time. And the quality's off the charts.

Monica Padman

That's true. The style is very consistent. Whatever you get there, you walk down the street, you're going to look good. They have these lightweight cotton sweaters which I love for when it cools down at night. It's nice. Drape around your shoulders in the summer and then throw it on when it gets a little cool. And it's not just clothes. They do home stuff. Ding, ding, ding. Travel stuff, everyday essentials. It's all the same model quality without the markup.

Dax Shepard

Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quints.com Dax for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N c e.com Dax for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com Dax this episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. So Monica, here's something that really stuck with me. Better Help's 2026 State of Stigma report surveyed 2,000Americans and revealed that 85% of Americans believe getting support is wise, yet 74% say society discourages people from doing so.

Monica Padman

That's a huge gap. Most of us agree therapy is a good thing. But there's still something holding some people back from actually going right.

Dax Shepard

And I think that's where just talking about it, normalizing it makes a difference.

Monica Padman

I mean, as you know, I'm obsessed with therapy. I've been in it consistently for years and years and years. And I have said this and I shouldn't say it, but I do think if you're struggling and you've been struggling for a while and you haven't sought therapy, I judge you a little bit.

Dax Shepard

Oh, wow.

Monica Padman

Okay. Yeah, I know. And I'm not. And I gotta go to therapy to work on that, you know, but also, there are options. You can help yourself. And better help makes that first step easier. They match you with a licensed therapist based on your needs. And with over 30,000 therapists and 12 plus years of experience, they typically get the match right the first time.

Dax Shepard

Don't let stigma stand in the way of support. Start therapy with better help. Sign up and get 10% off@betterhelp.com Dax that's betterhelp.com Dax he's an option expert.

Geena Davis

He's an option expert. Was looking for the seat belt.

Monica Padman

Oh, you were interesting.

Dax Shepard

You were. Because you think this is going to be a wild ride.

Geena Davis

I. I've been flying a lot lately, so. Okay.

Dax Shepard

That was it.

Monica Padman

It's just muscle memory.

Dax Shepard

That's really sweet. You really did just go for your seat belt.

Monica Padman

Yeah, I just.

Geena Davis

Who knows what's going to happen?

Dax Shepard

How long have you been in Studio City?

Geena Davis

Only less than a year. I'm just renting. Just live in the Palisades. Moved before all of that. Unfortunately, that house went. And then I rented a place in Venice for two years. Then I gave up the lease on that because I had to go to New Mexico.

Dax Shepard

New Mexico.

Geena Davis

To shoot a series. And then just as I was going to come back, I thought, oh, it'll be so easy to find. The fires happened right when I was coming back.

Dax Shepard

And so everyone was renting up everything,

Geena Davis

so everything was gone. I ended up in a guest house in the backyard of some nice Armenian people in Glendale.

Dax Shepard

Wait, hold on. You were in someone's guest house?

Geena Davis

Guest house in Glendale.

Dax Shepard

And were they aware that Geena Davis was their tenant?

Geena Davis

Well, it was funny. My assistant booked it in her name. And then I came to meet them and she said, it's actually her. And I said, by the way, maybe don't talk about that. I'm living here.

Dax Shepard

Don't tell the neighbors.

Geena Davis

Yeah, yeah, just don't bring it up. And they said, why? What do you mean?

Monica Padman

They were like, bring what up?

Geena Davis

Bring what up?

Dax Shepard

Are they first gen? Are they new to the country? They had accents, so they might have moved here. Okay, they weren't totally dialed into American pop culture.

Geena Davis

No, but here's the best part. So I asked not to talk about me, and they said, oh, oh, oh. You know who also lives in this Neighborhood. The guy who's the fifth billing on Brooklyn. Nine. Nine lives. And then that one lives over here at. I'm like. So I was just talking about. Okay.

Dax Shepard

Doing exactly what you just did. I pray maybe you don't do.

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Monica Padman

Like, so that. That's what I don't want you to do.

Dax Shepard

There's kind of a sweet naiveness to it, though. Like, perhaps in his mind, he was like, good news, there's more of you on this block. If you could get together and have coffee and talk about whatever you guys.

Geena Davis

People all probably want to get together. Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Talk about art and stuff.

Monica Padman

It's a very classy block. There's a lot of celebrities.

Dax Shepard

How long were you there?

Geena Davis

About eight months.

Dax Shepard

Eight months. Okay. So certainly I know you do. Massachusetts, New York, Sweden. Where did you spend the bulk of your time? What cities were you in? LA A lot.

Geena Davis

I moved here in 83 and I've been here ever since.

Dax Shepard

Oh, you weren't in New York for any of that?

Geena Davis

No. Right after college, I went to New York because my whole class was going to New York. I studied acting.

Dax Shepard

Yes.

Geena Davis

And they all wanted to do plays. I knew I wanted to do movies and tv, but nobody told me. Well, you know, you should actually go to LA instead. So I went to New York. How am I supposed to get in a movie?

Monica Padman

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dax Shepard

They don't make a ton there.

Geena Davis

And then I did.

Dax Shepard

Your town in Massachusetts that you grew up in is 300. And I did the math yesterday. It's like 312 years old.

Geena Davis

Yes.

Dax Shepard

That's impossible to be in America in a town that's 300 plus years old.

Geena Davis

Right. And I was in. They had a parade for the sesquicentennial, which was 250th, which the country is having back in the 80s. I was the parade marshal. My parents and I dressed in costumes from the era. My dad grew out. Mutton chops.

Dax Shepard

Pilgrimy stuff.

Geena Davis

Pilgrimy stuff.

Dax Shepard

Yeah, yeah. How close were you to Plymouth Rock?

Geena Davis

20 minutes.

Dax Shepard

20 minutes.

Monica Padman

Wow, that's so cool.

Dax Shepard

Okay. It's also Wareham.

Geena Davis

Wareham.

Dax Shepard

Wareham. It's also the gateway to Cape Cod, right?

Geena Davis

Yes, it is.

Dax Shepard

I just asked someone this the other day who grew up in a tourist town, but when I think of. Certainly it would swell in the summer. Right. The amount of people that were in your town or did they just pass through?

Geena Davis

They passed through. Cause it wasn't on the Cape. It's right before the Cape. But you must pass through it to get to the Cape.

Dax Shepard

Then this wouldn't apply. I'm like, every time I was somewhere for duration, like go to Northern Michigan in the summer, I would fall in love with a girl there and then I'd have to return home and then I just imagine, did that girl fall in love every year with someone that was out of town? Like that seems ripe for a lot of local long distance relationships.

Monica Padman

Fair.

Geena Davis

Well, I never had a boyfriend till I left town.

Dax Shepard

You didn't have one all through high school?

Geena Davis

No.

Dax Shepard

That would shock people. But I've read enough about you that I know why it's not shocking. 348 years. That's what it was. 1678, that was.

Monica Padman

That's crazy.

Geena Davis

Settled in. Isn't that crazy?

Dax Shepard

Yeah, 348, it's nuts. So your mother was a teacher's assistant?

Geena Davis

Sometimes.

Dax Shepard

Did she have a college education? No, she was born in 1919, I think.

Geena Davis

Yes, that's right. Wow.

Dax Shepard

Incredible. Really. Now my kids make fun of us. They say, you guys are from the 1900s. And I'm like, oh, wow, that is true. And that sounds really funny. I'm sure to them in particular. That's so funny back in the 1900s. But what kind of mom was mom?

Geena Davis

Fabulous mom. She grew all of our produce. You know, she had an acre sized yard. She grew so much that she would sometimes sell to the local little store her strawberries and stuff to them did she can canned. Oh my God. Yeah. Both my parents grew up rather poor in Vermont. And so every piece of foil got saved. I'm not sure they bought a second roll actually. Just used what we had. They were very, very careful about.

Dax Shepard

They would have been little kids in the Great Depression. Right?

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. That'll sear into your consciousness.

Geena Davis

Absolutely.

Dax Shepard

And dad was a civil engineer with

Geena Davis

the corps of engineers.

Dax Shepard

Oh, like the Army Corps?

Geena Davis

Yes, yes. His unit was in charge of maintaining the canal, Surveying it and maintaining it. And then he got assigned to go all up and down the coast, the east coast, to survey waterways and things.

Dax Shepard

And you were what kind of kid you were? Shy.

Geena Davis

I was very shy. And it seemed like every time I wasn't and burst out of my shell, somebody would say, oh no, no, no, no, no, go back into your shell. That's too much. Yeah.

Dax Shepard

You had a little gap in your paper route. Right. And then this little gap on your bike when there were no one watching, you just let it rip and sing at the top of your lungs. But you'd get bus house and a

Geena Davis

few other houses and there was a long hill where there weren't houses and There was a creek that went there. And first of all, I was very superstitious at the time, so I had to find sticks on the ground in the shape of a Y, which meant, yes, you can keep going. Oh, and if I found one in the shape of a V, that meant very good to keep going.

Dax Shepard

Oh, it made it very good.

Geena Davis

Right, right.

Monica Padman

Well, what if you didn't find any sticks? You just stood there?

Geena Davis

Well, look around.

Dax Shepard

You know, you find what you're looking for, don't you?

Monica Padman

That's true.

Geena Davis

Manifest people up the hill, you know, most of them were older and they wanted their paper and they'd come out and say, where is she? And they'd look down the hill and then they'd call my mother and say, I think something's wrong with your daughter. She's at it again, wandering around and not bringing the papers.

Dax Shepard

She's staring at the ground.

Monica Padman

We might call that a little OCD tendency now. Yes.

Geena Davis

And I'm so not superstitious now whatsoever. But I think I was worried about things and that was a way to feel better.

Dax Shepard

And you were very self conscious about being tall.

Geena Davis

I was the tallest kid in class, period throughout. Yeah, from minute one.

Dax Shepard

Okay, so let's get into the compulsive behavior, because I had a ton of it. I had a bunch of tics. I had so many tics. And then I did so many things to prevent bad luck. Right. Like I had to do every single thing twice. I had all these bizarre rituals. I had to take the toilet paper and leave the bathroom and touch the wall, then come back in. But I had to do that twice. I was afraid someone would see.

Geena Davis

Wait, what about toilet paper?

Dax Shepard

Did you say for whatever reason, at some point, at 8 years old, while going to the bathroom, I was like, if I don't take the toilet, pa. Toilet paper and string it out all the way to the hallway and touch the wall, then come back in. But I have to do that twice or it's bad luck. Then go again. Pray nobody in my house sees me, because I know it's madness.

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

And I just had a million things I was so busy with. Did you have any of that kind of stuff?

Geena Davis

Well, what I was very busy with was monsters in the house. And then I'll talk about the outside monsters. But there weren't just monsters in the closet or under the bed, which of course I had. Those are standards to be expected. Right. The worst one was it could read your mind. And so when I was in bed, I had to think that I was somewhere Else, so that it would go there to look for me.

Monica Padman

Smart.

Geena Davis

And get me. So I'd be thinking, here I am in the kitchen. Here I'm in the kitchen and I'm having crackers. And it would get exhausting. And I say, I hope it doesn't realize I'm actually in bed. Get up and spring out of bed. And then I say, yes, I am in the bed. I'm in the bed. I'm in the bed.

Dax Shepard

Trying to teleport your consciousness to deceive the monster. And what's great is the monster is so skilled it can read your mind, but it can also be tricked very easily.

Geena Davis

Right? Yeah.

Dax Shepard

That's the logic of a young.

Geena Davis

And it can't see clearly.

Dax Shepard

Clearly. Or it would just observe you.

Geena Davis

Right. I didn't ever really think about that.

Dax Shepard

Oh, none of these things make sense. If you try to unravel, like the whole evenness thing, did you have that at all?

Geena Davis

Evenness?

Dax Shepard

Like you scuff your left heel walking to school and then you just become neurotically obsessed with like, well, I have to make it a scuff on this side or it's imbalanced.

Geena Davis

I didn't have that kind of thing.

Dax Shepard

You didn't have any of the balancing

Geena Davis

or I have to touch things, right? I didn't have no touching, yeah.

Monica Padman

Did you have a visual of the monster? Like, did you know what it looked like?

Geena Davis

That one was invisible and the other ones were corporeal. Real. But I didn't think too much about how they actually looked, but that they would have grabby hands. But there was one.

Dax Shepard

They're very grabby. They're handsy. They want to pinch you, grab your ankles.

Geena Davis

I had to vault into the bed from very far away of. But there was one outside that was an enormous colossus, giant. And if you could see the horizon, it was just below that. And if I did something wrong, it would take one step toward me. And so I would look at the horizon, waiting to see the top of its head.

Dax Shepard

Is your current explanation of all this? Mine is easy. I had a stepdad that arrived in my life. He was an addict and he was violent. And then all these things took off, Right? All these OCD type things. When someone is like, oh, yeah, when your environment's very uncontrolled, you try to control things. Great, that makes sense, right? Do you have an explanation? Is yours genetic or was there something nurture going on that you had a hunch?

Geena Davis

I think there was kind of something about that. You have to be perfect, dad.

Dax Shepard

Was a deacon as well as a civil engineer.

Geena Davis

Yeah, I mean, they were very involved with the church. He and I also sang in the church choir. You played the organ for the young People's service.

Dax Shepard

So there was this huge fear that you would be not good.

Geena Davis

Yes. I hate that.

Dax Shepard

Don't you fucking hate that?

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Like I got in a debate with my mother in law. I'm like, look, I get it. You want to introduce the kids to your religion. That is your right. I wish you well. I do ask you to not introduce this concept of hell and sin to these little brains. I don't think that's a healthy concept.

Geena Davis

No, exactly. But it was even more than religion. It was sort of a maybe a New Englandy kind of thing where you had to help, help, help everybody ever could but take nothing. It was to the extreme where if somebody was handing me something here. Would you like to have some ice cream or a glass of water? No, thank you.

Monica Padman

No, thank you.

Dax Shepard

You said you'd be at a girlfriend's house and you like smell the chicken and garlic cooking and you wanted it and she invited you to eat and you said no.

Geena Davis

I said no. And then thankfully her mom knew about my mom. She called and said, lucille, Gina's having dinner with us. No, she is.

Dax Shepard

Yeah, she took charge.

Geena Davis

Oh, no, no, no. You can't say yes because it's too much trouble for me.

Dax Shepard

You don't want to be a burden. Politeness, where do you think that came from in them?

Geena Davis

I don't know. But they definitely both had this thing where you had to be the politest person. Not only polite, but just incredibly self sacrificing. Perfect way to be with absolutely no needs. But I'm going to give you everything

Dax Shepard

self sufficient and very generous.

Geena Davis

Yeah, that's tough.

Monica Padman

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

How did that play out with like friendships? Did people think you were over the top with that or was it standard enough ethos in that area?

Geena Davis

You know, My only close friend was Lucienne, who lived across the street and who I saw and played with every day. But for some reason, the other kids. I was friendly with everybody in school, but I didn't get invited to people's houses, which was weird. There was one time when I was already driving, I already had my license and the cool boy from class called and said, hey, a few people are gathering at my house. Would you like to come? And oh, hold on. I was like, it's finally happening. It's finally happening. I'm a junior in high school or something. But hold on. And I went and Followed right to Ed. I said, can I take the car? Why? Well, I've been invited to go over to friend's house. And he said, but it's 9 o'. Clock. I said, that's okay. And he said, nobody goes out at 9 o'. Clock. No, it's too late, dad. But what if I left at 7? I'd still stay there till 11, so what difference? He was like, no, no. And I had to go back and say, no, I'm sorry, I can't come. And then never got asked. No, that was my one chance.

Monica Padman

That's awful.

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Monica Padman

So did you resent them? Your parents?

Geena Davis

I probably didn't really grasp it as well as I do now what was going on. I mean, I resented the hell out of not being able to, of course, live your life.

Dax Shepard

Yeah, I know. You went and studied in Sweden for a year in high school. Is it because you knew everyone was so tall there? Do you think that was in the mix?

Geena Davis

No, but that was interesting. I didn't know that. I found it out.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. You got there and you were completely normal, right?

Geena Davis

I was completely normal. My high school started this foreign exchange program when I was a junior. And the second I heard about it, I want to go. And I think it was that I somehow knew I could reinvent myself. They wouldn't know I was a geeky kid who didn't have a boyfriend. And that's how it turned out. They kept saying, you must have been so popular back home.

Dax Shepard

Had you taken any Swedish prior to.

Geena Davis

No. I don't know what the plan was or how this ever happened, but I got to Sweden without knowing how to speak one word of it. And I started high school two days later. Oh, my God, Really? I show up at the school and they say, so and so is going to help you to your classes today. And I'm in the first class and I'm like, hang on, it's in Swedish.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Geena Davis

How is this supposed to work?

Dax Shepard

Yeah, how are you going to learn anything?

Geena Davis

I went up to the teacher afterwards and of course they all do know how to speak English. I said, do you know what I'm supposed to do? And she said, I don't know. I've been thinking about it because I can't teach the class in English. So I started. I'd ask somebody, what was the homework? And I'd take the book home and I'd look up every single word in the dictionary. So I would translate the entire homework. But I learned it fast.

Dax Shepard

That's how the Scientologists learn They call that, like, clearing words.

Geena Davis

Really?

Dax Shepard

Yeah. You have to read everything with a dictionary next to you. I mean, they believe that the basis of all misunderstanding is that people misunderstand a word and then continue on. And they build all this stuff on top of a misunderstanding, so you're obligated.

Geena Davis

Wow.

Dax Shepard

I've worked with lots of Scientologists, and I've watched someone doing the clearing words thing, and I was like, what's going on here?

Geena Davis

Wow.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. So you could have invented your own religion and you just missed the opportunity. What was the family like that you were living with?

Geena Davis

They were conservative. I would say they were pretty strict.

Dax Shepard

There's a bummer. You left one constricting environment for another. You needed to go to the Skarsgard family.

Monica Padman

Oh, exactly.

Dax Shepard

Yes.

Monica Padman

They're, like, naked walking.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. Alexander said they were always naked and having wine.

Geena Davis

Oh, yeah.

Dax Shepard

Dancing.

Geena Davis

Well, the older girl, their daughter had a boyfriend who slept over. Yeah.

Dax Shepard

That was standard, right?

Geena Davis

Absolutely. And I was like, what? I'm sure they felt very responsible for her.

Dax Shepard

Alas. You did fall in love there.

Geena Davis

I did.

Dax Shepard

What was his name? Mats.

Geena Davis

Mats. Yes, Mats. We went on a school trip to Amsterdam, and I hadn't even really noticed him before in my class, but we started hanging out. And he was gorgeous and blonde.

Dax Shepard

How tall was he?

Geena Davis

Taller than me. So that was, like, unbelievable. And his family adopted me. They were like, just come here.

Dax Shepard

And they weren't strict?

Geena Davis

No. And they drank wine at dinner, and I was like, oh, my God. Wow, this is crazy. And then the dad had to go on a business trip one time. They said, would you like to come with us? Oh, my God, yes. And the people said yes. And they got a room for MOTs. And I. Oh, wow.

Dax Shepard

What a blessing.

Monica Padman

And you were like, 14.

Geena Davis

What world am I living in?

Dax Shepard

17.

Geena Davis

Oh, my God.

Dax Shepard

You maintained a pen pal relationship.

Geena Davis

Yes. And my parents actually invited him to come visit us in the summer after I came home and he came for, like, a week.

Dax Shepard

Had the magic fizzled out between.

Geena Davis

No, no, no, no.

Dax Shepard

So summer was nice.

Geena Davis

Yeah, it was.

Dax Shepard

Did you take him to Martha's Vineyard?

Geena Davis

No, but we took him camping in Vermont in our homemade camper.

Dax Shepard

How did that end? They're hard. Long distance back then was like a dollar a minute. Right.

Geena Davis

It's really hard.

Dax Shepard

So when you first got out of high school, you wanted to go to University of Boston? That didn't work out. For one reason or another, I wasn't home.

Geena Davis

In order to audition, you had to audition to get in the acting program. So I went To a college. New England college, which you didn't have to audition to become an acting major for the first year. And then as soon as I could, I auditioned to go to BU and

Dax Shepard

did you like it there?

Geena Davis

I did.

Dax Shepard

You got an F in body movement

Geena Davis

in movement class, which is sort of dance. But yes, because there were these assignments, like, you and your partner create a scene with three hits and a fall or something like that.

Dax Shepard

Okay.

Geena Davis

And all the stuff that I came up with was so ridiculous that she would say, very amusing, but again, not the assignment.

Dax Shepard

Did you start gaining confidence in college? When does the transition from, like, I'm an awkward duck till I know by the time we get to New York, we're ready to try modeling. So something has happened between those two, Right? It was college.

Geena Davis

Yeah, it was. Because now. Oh. I'm in charge of myself. Be however I want to be. I actually became sort of goth. A lot of eyeliner, and I pierced my own ears.

Monica Padman

You were rebelling. It was your time to rebel.

Geena Davis

That's my time to rebel. Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Okay. So when you get to New York, you start modeling and did that require, like, your first time doing it? That's a big leap of confidence. You kind of got to just, I think, fake it till you make it, maybe. I mean, does anyone feel like a sexy Runway model? I don't know, maybe like, five or six of them. And those are our supermodels. But is it awkward endeavor? Initially, no.

Geena Davis

It very much felt like I was faking everything. In fact, I guess because I was taller than most models, I would get a lot of bathing suit and underwear and pantyhose, those kind of jobs. And I was actually in Victoria's Secret one time. So I'm shooting all these photos in underwear, you know, very revealing. And then I go back to the dressing room to go home and put on my full big grandma, big grandma underpants. And I told myself, I just have figured out how to stand. That was all a trick, tricking them into thinking I'm attractive.

Dax Shepard

I don't want to be too dramatic, but do you think you were able to disassociate?

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Like, okay, we're going to walk out. We're going to act like we're a sex symbol, right? Yeah, we know we're not. So we're just going to vacation while that's happening.

Geena Davis

Exactly. I'm just going to pretend I'm all

Dax Shepard

that one story before we get to Tootsie. You were also working at Ann Taylor.

Geena Davis

Yeah, yeah.

Dax Shepard

Go ahead, Mommy.

Monica Padman

Just. Great story.

Dax Shepard

So imagine she's there in the 70s. I mean, I have to imagine this is Apex window display era of department stores.

Geena Davis

Yeah, right.

Dax Shepard

So you were working there and what happened?

Geena Davis

I was a sales girl at Ann Taylor. We would dress like Ann Taylor style. I was always made up and dressed

Dax Shepard

up, except for the undergarments, which were enormous underneath, except for my giant pants.

Geena Davis

And one time the window display was a cafe table, and two models were sitting at chairs and mannequin models. Mannequins. And there was fake fruit and all that, but there was one empty chair. And I kept looking in the window. Then I said to one of my co workers, dare me to go in the window. And she was like, yeah, do it. I had no idea what I was gonna do, but I went and got in the chair. And people were walking by at that time, and they were like, wonder what she's doing? And I got in the chair and I just.

Dax Shepard

Oh, yeah.

Geena Davis

And froze. And they're like, oh. And then they keep watching to find out what's going to happen. And then other people stopped and said, what are you looking at?

Dax Shepard

But they had missed you arising.

Geena Davis

Yeah. And they said, just wait. Because they're like, she's got to move at some point. So I started moving, you know, like a robot occasionally. And they'd go, whoa. And then more people come and say, what are you all looking at? Just wait. Oh, my God.

Monica Padman

You created like a whole scene.

Geena Davis

Created a whole thing. At some point, the movie manager of the store came over and said, gina, what are you doing? Get out of the window. And then she looked and saw this giant crowd outside and said, well, stay there.

Monica Padman

Oh, wow.

Geena Davis

They started barking every Saturday. No, for like five hours or so.

Dax Shepard

She had five hours shifts of sitting

Geena Davis

still, a little break every hour. I take like a five minute break,

Dax Shepard

you know, five or ten.

Monica Padman

Wow. It's like an art installation.

Dax Shepard

But I think even sitting dead still for 15 minutes would be far more grueling than people would expect. Is it not hard?

Geena Davis

I learned. I had no idea that I had this talent, but I learned that I had a tremendous skill at being motionless and that I could go a very long time without blinking, because they're all also waiting for me to blink. You know, I could go, like, at least five minutes or more without blinking. Then I blink and they go.

Dax Shepard

Did you ever consider rubbing a thin layer of Vaseline over your eyes without a pillow so that they wouldn't need moisturizing? Like, maybe you could convince your eyes that they could stay open permanently? Well, that's why you're blinking to moisturize your eyes.

Monica Padman

No one wants to put Vaseline on.

Dax Shepard

Of course not. But if you're committed to your craft,

Geena Davis

you can't be sure that would work.

Dax Shepard

No, you'd have to try it.

Monica Padman

Then your eyes would.

Dax Shepard

You'd probably fall down getting in because it'd be blurry.

Geena Davis

I should have tried. But you know what? People would be looking. Looking at me. And one time somebody said, ah, it's not a mannequin. It has hair on its arms. And so I was like, okay. And I went home.

Dax Shepard

She could hear them perfectly through the glass. Isn't that fascinating? I would love to hear people talking about me. Oh, yeah, I think I can hear.

Geena Davis

So from then on, I shaved my arms and I got a wig that looked like the other mannequin's wig. Wow.

Dax Shepard

This is the reverse of the movie Mannequin, where a mannequin becomes a real life beautiful girl. You are a real life beautiful girl who became a mannequin.

Geena Davis

Who became a mannequin. And then one time somebody said, that's not a robot or anything. She's not plugged in. So the next time, I had a very subtle little cord disappearing. Wow, she's plugged in.

Dax Shepard

This feels impossible. But you're first off audition as Tootsie.

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Monica Padman

Oh, my.

Dax Shepard

I mean, that really is nuts. How did you get it?

Geena Davis

Because the role required his dressing room mate to be in her underwear a couple of times. So he'd be like, what? They called model agencies and said, do you have any models who know how to act? And my agents knew that. I didn't say, we do have one.

Dax Shepard

She's currently acting like a mannequin on Fifth Street.

Geena Davis

And so they said, okay, so go. These are the lines, and you're gonna go to an audition, and if they like your audition, they wanna see you in a bathing suit. So just wear a bathing suit under your clothes. So I did, and I went to the audition and I read. And it was just an assistant to the casting directors.

Dax Shepard

The first rung on the ladder, she

Geena Davis

did the video and then didn't ask to see my bathing suit. So it just went completely out of my mind. Of course, my first time, nothing's gonna happen.

Dax Shepard

You flew to do a Runway show, right?

Geena Davis

Yes, I went to Paris. I went to Paris and I got booked for some of the Runway shows, and I was excited about that and then got a message to call your agent, and they said, you got the part. And I'm like, what part, Tootsie? Huh? What? They said, but you could stay and do the shows. And I was like, I'm coming home. I gotta come home. Which I didn't need to, but I really wish.

Dax Shepard

I regret Sydney Bollock had seen your tape. Right.

Geena Davis

He saw my tape when he said, I really like her. Where's her underwear photo? They said, oh, we forgot. We didn't do it. Well, get her back. Oh, turns out we can't. She's in Paris. Well, do they have any photos of her in a bathing suit?

Monica Padman

Oh, my God. Lucky.

Dax Shepard

It turns out tons of them.

Geena Davis

Definitely did. Yes. With everybody else in this office, you

Dax Shepard

know, what was your intimidation level? Because your scenes were immediately. With Dustin.

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

And Dustin's already being heralded as, like, the second coming of Brandor. Right. I mean, he is a God at that time.

Geena Davis

Right.

Dax Shepard

So, yeah. What was your kind of anxiety level as someone who trends high with anxiety?

Geena Davis

I get there on the first day. The first scene I shoot is in my underwear with Dustin. But I was just like, this is what was supposed to happen.

Monica Padman

Yeah. You felt confident as if it really happened.

Geena Davis

You felt fine for people. But I felt kind of fine.

Dax Shepard

Do you think the modeling helped? Like, you kind of already crossed a really big bridge to do that. That's way more awkward than acting. When I got to do a photo shoot for something, I'm like, oh, gosh, I can't stand this. It's crazy. I act.

Geena Davis

No, that's true. And so we started shooting the scene, and Dustin and Sidney were so gracious and kind with me. And then on one of the takes, Dustin accidentally ran into the door. And I went over and said, are you okay? You all right? So I was like, ad libbing Sidney Pollock said, hey, come here for a second. Why are you not nervous? And I said, am I supposed to be? I don't know. Oh, God. He was like, like, yeah, no, it's good. It's great.

Dax Shepard

But it's almost creepy.

Geena Davis

But it's a little bit creepy. He said, I mean, you're acting a scene when Dustin have. When you're in your underwear and you seem just fine with it.

Dax Shepard

Is it fair to say? Now, look, I've worked with really, really acclaimed actors that didn't have this ability. And then I've worked with really acclaimed actors where they have this ability, which is like, they're so good, they can just suck you into their bubble. Like, do you think Dustin's ability helped you for that first role?

Geena Davis

Yeah. Dustin was incredible with me and immediately decided that I was gonna have a career and just took me under his wing all day long, tips and advice. And the second day, he said, come with me at lunch. I'm gonna take you to dailies. And I didn't know what that was.

Dax Shepard

And for the listener, dailies are. When they used to shoot on film, they go process all the film. Then you'd come back and watch it all in the theater on edited.

Geena Davis

Right. And it's typically just for department heads and whatever to see. Was the mic in the camera or something?

Dax Shepard

Is the hair reading weird in the sliding?

Geena Davis

And Sidney was a little surprised when Dustin brought me in. He said, what's going on? He said, I'm gonna teach her how to watch dailies. Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Cause let's just add, actors are not invited to dailies. If you're Dustin Hoffman, you can go, yes.

Geena Davis

And so he was like, okay. So every time I did scenes, I got to go to dailies. And he would talk through it and stuff. And he wanted me to learn how to use dailies as a tool. And so the idea was, let's say you think something you did had some intention and you hope it came across well. Go see the dailies to see if it did.

Monica Padman

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Geena Davis

And if it didn't, you probably have some other scene where you could work on that aspect of the character. So that was incredible.

Monica Padman

That's great.

Dax Shepard

Well, also, you're, like, accumulating. I don't want to belittle it and say that you accumulate tricks, but you do accumulate the things you're good at. And no one's great at everything. And some things are totally unexpected. Some you've been doing since you're eight, and of course it works. But also, some of the things you were doing since you're eight on film don't work. There's a lot to learn.

Geena Davis

There is.

Dax Shepard

I was lucky. The first movie I ever did, they invited us to dailies.

Geena Davis

Really?

Dax Shepard

It was a mixed bag.

Geena Davis

Oh, were you self conscious?

Dax Shepard

Well, first of all, couldn't believe I was on a screen.

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

I was just like, oh, my God. Because they're showing the dailies on a movie screen in New Zealand.

Geena Davis

Yes.

Dax Shepard

And I'm like, this is happening. So maybe the first half of the times I went, I just couldn't believe I was in a movie. And then the last half, I was like, we gotta stop doing that, that and that, you know.

Geena Davis

Right, right, right. Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Like, once the thrill of being in a movie wears off, Right. And you're like, oh, I could be doing a little better at this.

Geena Davis

Yeah. Or I could be not doing that.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. Maybe I don't need to do so much period.

Geena Davis

Right.

Dax Shepard

I think that's what you really learn a lot of times. Like you don't need to be that busy.

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Stay tuned for more Armchair expert if you dare. We are supported by Allstate Checking Allstate first could save you hundreds on car insurance. Not checking your gas gauge before hitting the road. You genuinely thought you could make it. You were wrong. That's a very long stretch of highway where you learned exactly how far fumes can take you and it's not far enough. Yeah, checking first is an excellent plan. So check Allstate first for an auto quote. It could save you hundreds. And for fast, reliable help when you need it, add an Allstate Roadside Plan. Today you're in good hands with Allstate. Potential savings vary. Insurance and roadside assistance plans are subject to terms, conditions and availability. Insurance provided by Allstate North American Insurance Company, Northbrook, Illinois. Roadside assistance plans provided by Allstate Motor Club Incorporated and Allstate Affiliate we get

Monica Padman

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Dax Shepard

This episode is brought to you by the new Max Original Comedy Series. Stuart Fails to save the universe from the world and creators of the Big Bang Theory comes a new comedy series. Stuart Bloom, comic book store owner and lovable underdog, accidentally breaks a device built by Sheldon and Leonard and kicks off a full blown multiverse Armageddon. Now he's on a mission to put reality back together alongside his girlfriend Denise, a geologist named Burt, and physicist Barry Kripke. Along the way, they're running into alternate universe versions of characters you already know and love. Check out the New Max original comedy series Stewart Fails to save the universe. Streaming July 23rd exclusively on HBO Max. Subscription required. We get support from ZipRecruiter. Go get recruiting. I'm constantly looking for ways to claw back time. In my day, I've got the meal prep dialed, the grocery delivery locked in, the whole morning routine down to a science. We all have our own time saving hacks for everyday life. But if you're a business owner, how can you save time hiring ZipRecruiter? They have a new feature that quickly shows you the most interested qualified candidates first, so you're not buried in a pile of applications from people who aren't even the right fit. Their matching technology is seriously powerful and candidates can actually explain in their own words why they're interested in your job. That context upfront saves so much back and forth. There's a reason they're the 1 rated hiring site on G2. Save time and meet great candidates sooner. With ZipRecruiter, 4 out of 5 employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. Try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com Dax that's ZipRecruiter.com DAX meet your match on ZipRecruiter. So that movie comes out. It's enormous. I think it gets nominated for 10 Academy Awards. Something outrageous like that.

Geena Davis

Big hit. Yeah.

Dax Shepard

And how are you computing? Having gone from being a living model.

Monica Padman

A mannequin.

Dax Shepard

A living mannequin. To that moment.

Geena Davis

So I'm home visiting my folks at one point and my best friend's mom comes over. She's talking to my mom and she says, no one can believe somebody from Wareham is in a movie. Nobody can believe this. My mom says, well, she studied acting in college.

Dax Shepard

Yeah, with 13 other thousand kids that year.

Geena Davis

But I remember just now my brother and I took them to see the movie, a matinee. Hardly anyone was there. The movie finishes, we get in the car, dead silence. Mom says, so what do we have for dinner tonight? Oh boy. I think it was because I had underwear.

Monica Padman

I know. I was going to ask how you were handling the underwear exposure.

Dax Shepard

Well, double whammy. There's the underwear, but then there's also just the like. We're a very pious, low poppy family. And you're a model and now you're an actor. Then this almost have been quite threatening with how worldly you were getting.

Geena Davis

Maybe. Although my mom really latched onto me being an actor and she one time said, you're a mole. I would pay if you want to have it removed, if that would make any difference. And she also said, I read that blonde actresses get more work. I would be happy to pay for you to get your hair done.

Dax Shepard

All terrible advice, but really sweet.

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

That freckles like, that's Geena Davis.

Monica Padman

Yeah. The intention was kind.

Geena Davis

It was.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. It's very. Okay. So at that time, I just immediately built a huge fantasy around this. Tell me if I'm right or wrong. Your husband at the time was a restaurateur.

Geena Davis

Yes.

Dax Shepard

So when I think of New York, I'm thinking of Billy Joel's big shot. Like going out to Elaine's. The whole New York City, 1980 now. It wasn't so thrilling and glamorous.

Geena Davis

It wasn't glamorous.

Dax Shepard

It wasn't.

Geena Davis

No, no.

Dax Shepard

What did he own? Pizza shops.

Geena Davis

He worked at. At various restaurants.

Dax Shepard

But none of them were sceny ones.

Geena Davis

Nothing.

Dax Shepard

You weren't seeing Billy Joel jacked up in a corner? No.

Geena Davis

Nothing like that. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't do that.

Dax Shepard

Were you going to Studio 54?

Geena Davis

No. Although my agency had a Christmas party at Studio 54, and they wanted to have models jump out of a giant present box.

Dax Shepard

Sure.

Geena Davis

That would, you know, the walls would fall down and sing Jingle Bell Rock.

Monica Padman

Oh, wow.

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Monica Padman

Classic.

Dax Shepard

Classic Esteem Builder.

Geena Davis

Yeah. So because I could sing ish and do harmony, I was one of the other two. Were, like, pretty famous, but I got to do that. So we dressed in these skimpy little dresses which had jingle bells tying together

Dax Shepard

the sides, picturing, like, almost the Hugh Hefner bunny outfit in that world.

Geena Davis

Exactly.

Dax Shepard

Okay. With some bells.

Geena Davis

Yeah, with some little bells added.

Dax Shepard

What was your identity doing that? You thought you were a wallflower in high school, but now you're quite beautiful and you're in movies and lots of men probably are giving you a lot of attention. How are you integrating that into your identity?

Geena Davis

I think I still thought it was kind of a trick. Oh. I also thought because somebody happened to video me while we were in college and showed me the video and I was like, I'm kind of photogenic in that instance. I am a trick.

Monica Padman

Oh.

Geena Davis

If it's a photo or on screen,

Dax Shepard

you made space for. There's a version where I'm beautiful, but it's only through a lens.

Geena Davis

Only in this circumstance.

Dax Shepard

I'll tell you my story.

Geena Davis

Okay.

Dax Shepard

I have been embarrassingly vulnerable to female attention and approval my whole life because I had this big window. I was like, no girls are ever gonna like me. And I want a girl so bad. So did you have any of that where you just felt like that affection or approval held a weight that maybe otherwise it wouldn't have?

Geena Davis

I think so, yeah. I was also very impressed if somebody took interest.

Monica Padman

You were, like, surprised I could like

Dax Shepard

someone just because they liked me.

Geena Davis

Oh, me too.

Dax Shepard

That's what I'm saying.

Geena Davis

Absolutely. Yeah. If they said, I really like, I said, I like you too.

Monica Padman

Yeah.

Geena Davis

Oh, yeah.

Dax Shepard

That's a tricky. A tricky lane.

Geena Davis

Very tricky.

Dax Shepard

Then you're just, like, at the mercy of lucky. Well, I hope the right dude arrives in front of me and says, I like you, because I will like that person back.

Geena Davis

All you have to do is show interest in me.

Monica Padman

Yeah. It's not knowing yourself. It's not knowing what you really like or what you want or what you want or need. Yeah, yeah.

Dax Shepard

Also, it just goes to show, like, what you think you're meaning when you're an adult. Like, you just don't know people's childhoods.

Monica Padman

No, exactly.

Dax Shepard

Like anyone that's meeting you and you're in movies and you're six feet tall and you're gorgeous. They're like, like, yeah. This girl's had every option her whole life. I'd be so lucky if she says hi to me back.

Monica Padman

Yeah. And then you're sitting there like, oh, my gosh, I just want someone to say hi.

Dax Shepard

I think this guy actually likes me. Something's wrong with him.

Geena Davis

Exactly.

Dax Shepard

Okay. So then for the next few years after Tootsie, you started doing a bunch of television. You were in some of the greats. You were in Knight Rider, fricking Remington Steel, Family Ties. Now you were on Buffalo Bill for a year. I don't even know that show, but I was really excited to learn that you wrote an episode of it.

Geena Davis

I did. So Dabney Coleman was in Tootsie, and I met him there. And then he was getting ready to do this sitcom, Buffalo Bill, and recommended me to play his assistant. And I flew out to LA and immediately got the part. And then I had an idea for an episode that heavily featured my character,

Monica Padman

Assistant Heavy.

Geena Davis

And I told one of the producers, producer, writer about it, it, and he said, well, okay, write that. And I was like, no, I don't know how to. Well, write it.

Dax Shepard

That was cool of them.

Geena Davis

Yes. So I started writing it, and I thought, maybe this is good. And I wanted to show him. He said, I'm not reading it till it's done. So that forced me to finish it. And then with everybody tinkering with It. But yeah, we did it.

Dax Shepard

Was that so enormously rewarding to see an episode of Television on air that you wrote? Yes. Yeah. I'm shocked you didn't get more addicted to that.

Geena Davis

I know. Because forever I've wished that I could write a screenplay or something, but I don't know. Have you written?

Dax Shepard

Oh, yeah. And I pride myself on it way more, of course. Like when we're traveling, if we're meeting people who have no clue who either of us are and they say, what do you do? I'll always say writer. That's what I have the most pride in.

Geena Davis

I totally understand.

Dax Shepard

Okay. I just have to ask you this one, because this is my all time. It's a three way tie, but it is number one. My all time comedies are Raising Arizona, Florida with Disaster and Fletch.

Geena Davis

Oh, boy.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Geena Davis

I love your body, Larry. You're one of the guys who would come up to me and say, I

Dax Shepard

wouldn't have done that to you. But yes, I would have been very thrilled you were around. That's for sure.

Geena Davis

Right.

Dax Shepard

What was that movie like? I just watched the Chevy Doc. Oh, did you watch that by chance?

Geena Davis

I didn't even know there was.

Dax Shepard

I'd be so curious to hear from someone who did a movie with them. It's interesting. Most of the people that I've had the conversation with, they didn't walk away with what I did. I can just tell you what I walked away with, which is like, he is a genius. He's deeply uncomfortable and he has this crazy wit and he acts out with it a lot and he's mean to people a lot. But I also don't know that he knows he's mean to people in the way that he clearly is mean to people. But at the end of the day, he is unhappy. He's uncomfortable and unhappy. So I have compassion for him. It's not like he was an asshole and he's having a blast. I think he's suffering the most.

Geena Davis

No. Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Was there any hints of that when you were doing Fletch?

Geena Davis

Well, you know, I had such a small part. I originally auditioned for the lead female character, Mrs. Stanhope.

Dax Shepard

Alan Stanhope's wife.

Geena Davis

Watched it a lot.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. So many times. I could do every line.

Geena Davis

I'm pretty sure they said, you're not attractive enough to play that part. Oh, but we think you're so funny. We want you in the movie.

Dax Shepard

And this was 85, where they would tell you, you're not a crazy.

Monica Padman

It was so crazy.

Geena Davis

I was wearing my hair all Curly and weird. Anyway, they said, oh, there's this part of the morgue chief whose name is Larry, but we'll change it to a female for you. And I said, but I still want to be Larry.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. It made it very memorable that you were Larry. But was he grouchy?

Geena Davis

Not at all.

Dax Shepard

He was also at the peak. Everything was going his way at that moment. Yeah.

Geena Davis

And he might have really enjoyed that movie or something because he seemed fun and funny and chill and great.

Dax Shepard

Okay, so you did the movie Transylvania. Know 6, 5000. And you met Jeff.

Geena Davis

Yes.

Dax Shepard

Had you seen him in things prior to that?

Geena Davis

Yes.

Dax Shepard

Okay. Because I think the Fly's my introduction to Jeff Goldblum. He's immediately a unicorn. Right. He's so peculiar in the most fascinating way.

Geena Davis

Fabulous way.

Dax Shepard

And was he that way on Transylvania?

Geena Davis

Yes. Yeah. I was immediately smitten.

Dax Shepard

You sounded like him just then.

Geena Davis

Yes, yes, yes. Sorry, Jeff. But yeah, yeah, we hit it off.

Dax Shepard

It was pretty immediate. Very off to the races. Okay. Yeah. Then you do the Fly. And the Fly is a mega movie.

Geena Davis

What a movie really was. Yeah. David Cronenberg, who wrote it also. You probably never saw the original fly, but it's goofy. It didn't mean to be.

Dax Shepard

That was in that spell of weird monster movies.

Geena Davis

Monster movies.

Dax Shepard

Swamp Thing.

Geena Davis

And I wouldn't be surprised if Vincent Price was in it. And when the character turned into a fly, he had a human body and a giant fly head. And then they showed the fly toward the end, had his human head on it, but tiny. They were saying, help me, help me. But then it gets eaten by a spider.

Dax Shepard

This has to be a very joyful phase of your life. You meet someone, you fall in love. He's a unicorn. And then you guys do three movies together, back to back to back. Was there any stress or challenge to that or.

Geena Davis

No, no, it was all fun. And in one, he's a fly, in another one he's an alien.

Dax Shepard

Earth girls are easy.

Geena Davis

Earth girls are easy. Yeah. It was kind of crazy.

Dax Shepard

So the fly is huge. I guess I would have expected after Tootsie you'd had more movie type offers.

Geena Davis

Right.

Dax Shepard

But it takes the fly that kind of gets the ball rolling. And then the kind of big breakthrough for. Well, that Beetlejuice is huge. What's it like working with Tim Burton?

Geena Davis

Oh, so great. I went to meet him to talk about being in the movie. And he's an illustrator, too. You know, he used to do animation and all the walls were covered with his drawings of what Beetlejuice was gonna look like. And it was fabulous. And I found out later that this happened, that I said to him, I wanna be in this movie. Cause I get it. I get this movie. And he told me later that he wanted to hire me because he wanted at least somebody on the set who knew what the movie was. He's like, cause I sure don'. So that was great.

Dax Shepard

Okay, Accidental Tourist, then kind of now everything changes because you get nominated and then you win an Academy Award for that. You're pretty young still.

Geena Davis

Yeah, I'm just like 32 or something.

Dax Shepard

Yeah, 32 feels very young to win an Oscar nowadays.

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

And what did you have to learn on that movie with William Hurt's Just Kind of Darkness, actually.

Geena Davis

So. So for that movie, I hired an acting coach. I had studied acting, but I had never worked with a coach. But I thought, oh, this is so important. I don't want to mess it up. And he actually had heard what Bill is like to work with. So he was like, we're going to proof you from being drawn off track by the way he is, because he did live at a dark place. I think all of it was kind of painful for him in some way. And so I was such a. The caretakey, people pleaser, type. If he had been like that, and I had no idea he was going to be like that, all I would be trying to do is make him happy, fix him up, you know, what can I do?

Dax Shepard

So if he's unhappy, given your childhood, you would have likely interpreted that as like, well, I've been bad.

Geena Davis

What is it about me that he doesn't like? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I learned what to do if that happened. The coach said, if you say, oh, how are you? And he said this, I'm terrible, you're going to say, I'm sorry to hear that. Okay. Just not get sucked into that. And it was really unnatural.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Geena Davis

But I practiced it and I was able to do that.

Monica Padman

Yeah, it's like very codependence teaching.

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Breaking right. Yeah. And submersion therapy all at once. True immersion submersion. Well, yeah. This is the kind of. The theme of your memoir is basically like a lot of these roles have forced you to take on qualities that otherwise would have maybe been unobtainable. And that certainly feels like a really good one. Not that you perfected it, but if I could have learned at 32, I'm currently learning it. I live with three women, and it has occurred to me I can't be affected by their emotions or this isn't gonna work. This Will be untenable if I'm upset every time they're upset and trying to figure out what I gotta do to fix it. It I'm gonna die. But it's like taking that life experience and forcing me to learn that. So I would have loved to have Learned that at 32.

Geena Davis

Yes. But it didn't apply to anybody else.

Dax Shepard

You didn't wrap it onto anybody else.

Geena Davis

Learned how to do it with Bill Hurt.

Dax Shepard

So you're good. If you're with him, you're fine. But anyone else, you're still vulnerable. Okay. Immediately after. Now we're on a fucking roll. Now we go into Telma and Louise. That are pretty cool. Quick after that. And Ridley Scott, obviously one of the great kind of masters to ever do it. Just a genius, heartbreaking end. What did he bring to that?

Geena Davis

You know what? I just watched it with a friend two nights ago. I mean, I've seen it a million times. But I watched it again and I was just so bowled over by everything he brought to it. There's so many details that I could. That was Ridley's idea. That was Ridley. He did that. You know, like a motorcycle suddenly screamed by or some vehicle shooting water out at the car. And we dodge it and all kinds of just visual stuff. A prop duster plane flies over the convertible. And just. He brought such profound visual element to it. Besides being a genius director with all the acting and everything.

Dax Shepard

As an actor, you can miss all that stuff. You're, like focused on your scene. We have this three page scene in this car. You don't even notice. A fucking prop duster probably flew by in the back. Or if you saw it, you would think it, right?

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. You're kind of unaware of how much of the sausage is being made around you.

Geena Davis

He made that movie so much bigger than it could have been.

Dax Shepard

And then Susan arrives in your life as kind of a real signpost of, like, some things you'd like to take on. Yeah.

Geena Davis

Oh, man. She changed my life more than anybody. And we're still Ride or Die. So the first day I met her was a good example. We were getting together with Ridley, just the three of us. We're gonna go through the script and see if anybody had any comments or thoughts. And there was a few little things I wanted to bring up. But I had tried to figure out the girliest possible way to bring them up with this. I can just mention on the set,

Dax Shepard

your pattern at that time was every sentence you said was mitigated with, this is probably a dumb idea. Or I'M sorry to even bring this up. Right. You were constantly apologizing for having an opinion.

Monica Padman

Apologizing for existing.

Geena Davis

Let alone having thoughts about something. But. So we sit down, crack open the script. And on page one, and Susan says, ridley, you know what? My first line here. I don't think we need it. Or we could put it in the next scene. And he was like, yeah, sure. And I was literally like, what is she doing?

Dax Shepard

What's this?

Geena Davis

How did she just do that? How come she didn't find out first how he'd react or something? The whole day was like that. The whole experience. And then the entire movie was like that. I had never been in the presence of a woman who doesn't apologize for existing ever.

Dax Shepard

And advocates for herself without any fear

Geena Davis

of advocates for herself. And everybody loved her. It wasn't like, we like Gina better. Cause she's so wimpy. Right. Everybody adored her. It wasn't like she was fighting. But she just knows what she wants and says what she wants.

Dax Shepard

Were you trying to figure out how she had become that way? That would have been. My great fascination is like, how did she end up this way?

Geena Davis

Way I never thought about. How did she manage to be that way? She was the oldest of many siblings.

Dax Shepard

She's a boss.

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

She might have also just decided or understood that her value was more than just how she looked or being this very female presence. That she offered something else. She offered thoughts and her brain and something maybe she was rewarded or seems to like.

Geena Davis

It should be absolutely natural that you

Monica Padman

would feel like that.

Geena Davis

But it sure wasn't for me.

Monica Padman

Not for a lot of women. It's hard.

Dax Shepard

Now, what's interesting is everyone now will recognize that movie as, like, this very seminal feminist movie. But I don't think I even realized this till I was researching you. That that was not the takeaway at the time when it came out. Like, talk about some of the weird things that were happening around that movie. Because it was wildly successful.

Geena Davis

Right. A lot of the reviewers had a problem with it. Like, a week after it came out, Susan and I were on the COVID of Time. But there were two editorials denouncing the movie about how bad this is, is a horrible idea. And a lot of reviews were like, this is male bashing.

Dax Shepard

You mean rapist bashing. There's hopefully a difference between men and rapists.

Geena Davis

And there's seven important male characters. And. And, oh, my God, what a horrible message. Now the women have guns.

Monica Padman

Oh, my God.

Geena Davis

So it was really frowned on. But it didn't impact its success. People really liked it and it did well.

Dax Shepard

But. But culture was not there yet.

Geena Davis

Right.

Dax Shepard

So you got nominated for that movie.

Geena Davis

And Susan too.

Dax Shepard

And Susan as well. We did talk about Susan a lot. So I don't want to be accused of. Now I gotta talk about the one man in the movie.

Geena Davis

Oh, no, no, no.

Dax Shepard

But I'm so in love with him. I'm just so head over heels in love.

Geena Davis

Harvey Keitel is just gorgeous. I know Harvey. Oh, you're mad. Oh, you mad?

Dax Shepard

No, I was like, the piano. He's nude in the piano, which. I appreciate it. Harvey Keitel. Yeah. But obviously Brad Pitt, this is his breakout role. Did you think when you were watching, like, yeah, this motherfucker is going to really be a thing.

Monica Padman

He's a star or.

Geena Davis

No, I didn't think this motherfucker, this wonderful human being is just going to be all that. I was positive that the reaction he got was the reaction he was going to get.

Dax Shepard

And you have a nice fun glimpse of him because you have a glimpse of him. Probably more auschucksy Missouri boy than this international movie star.

Geena Davis

Absolutely. Yeah.

Dax Shepard

So what was he like back then?

Geena Davis

Oh, God, yeah. He was so fun, so sweet, so excited, so happy to be doing it. And playful also, which I think you could tell in the way he plays the character. But he was just having fun with everything and loose. And for his first really big role, he just killed it.

Dax Shepard

Was everyone in love with. Yeah, yeah, sure.

Monica Padman

Well, duh. We still are.

Geena Davis

But I have to tell you a funny story. Did you hear about my George Clooney story?

Dax Shepard

No.

Geena Davis

So I was getting on a plane in Europe one time, and all the flight attendants were waiting at the door for me to show up, and they said, guess who you're sitting next to? George Clooney.

Monica Padman

Oh, my God.

Geena Davis

And for once in my life, I said the right thing at the right time. And I said, guess who he's sitting next to.

Monica Padman

That's right. Right? That is right. I thought it was.

Geena Davis

I was like, I can't believe I came up with that.

Monica Padman

Oh, good for you.

Geena Davis

So I sat down. He's charming, he's gregarious, he's telling stories and we're talking, and then at one point he says, you know, I hate that Brad Pitt. I said, isn't he like your best friend or something? He said, no, I hate him because he got the part in some of the movies. I said, oh, oh, really? Did you want that part? And he said, couldn't you tell when I auditioned with you?

Monica Padman

Oh, wow.

Dax Shepard

He had read with you.

Geena Davis

Yes.

Dax Shepard

That's hilarious. Were you embarrassed?

Geena Davis

I'm so wimpy. I didn't say no. I didn't remember you at all. You know, I said, oh, right. No, I did.

Monica Padman

Oh, no.

Geena Davis

He would have laughed if I say,

Monica Padman

of course he would have.

Dax Shepard

I would mind on the same thing. Yeah, yeah.

Geena Davis

No.

Dax Shepard

Make someone feel like they were unmatched. He made.

Monica Padman

He made her feel like. You don't remember. Then you could be like, I don't know.

Dax Shepard

That's a take.

Monica Padman

That's a Susan take. So it. Susan. What it.

Dax Shepard

Yeah, I think it's like, like, because I've been in this position a bunch of times and it's like the last thing you want is to tell someone, like, oh, yeah, you're unmemorable. Not like, hey, I've met 11,000 people this year.

Monica Padman

But he is putting her in the position. It's one thing if he's just like, oh, yeah, I auditioned with you, then you might be like, oh, I know, I remember. Like, then you want to make them feel good. But if it's like, you don't remember, it's a trap.

Dax Shepard

So then 92, league of your own comes along. This is a huge triumph as well. Open number one. 10th biggest movie of the year. You Tom Hanks. Madonna. Had Madonna done much before then?

Geena Davis

Acting? Yeah, I don't think so. Evita was after that.

Dax Shepard

Yeah, for sure. Evita was.

Geena Davis

Yeah. And we didn't know what to expect when she was gonna. Exactly. She's gonna have an entourage or what is it gonna be? She was so normal. Low key. Team player. Yeah.

Dax Shepard

For people listening today, you have to imagine Taylor Swift's in your.

Monica Padman

Oh, yeah.

Dax Shepard

I mean, and then some. Right. Madonna was Beyonce.

Monica Padman

Oh, my God.

Geena Davis

Beyond.

Dax Shepard

She was already an icon, but she was still very young. Were you guys bros? Did you get on well?

Geena Davis

All of us got along great. I was mostly close with Lori Petty.

Dax Shepard

This is again, in your book. This is another one of the things, like you had done no athletics and then you have to be the best baseball player alive anyone has ever seen. A female. But you took to it really quickly. You surprised yourself.

Geena Davis

Yes, and I surprised everybody, I think. But everybody else had been training in baseball for a while, but I had to catch up. And the coaches soon started saying, you know, you have a lot of untapped athletic ability. And I'm like, when did I ever think I was going to hear that? That's crazy. And I did, and I pulled it off. I think. Definitely thought I could really play up

Dax Shepard

to this point, you've had a really wonderful incremental. Everything gets a little better than the last thing. Had you settled into like, oh, that'll be the pattern. Or were you looking around and going like, no, everyone takes it on the chin. I will also take it on the chin. What were you thinking? Do you think it was just going to be a completely linear rise and all the movies would work?

Geena Davis

You're asking me questions that not only nobody asked me, but that I haven't even thought about. What did I think?

Dax Shepard

Because we got to go back to 1992 for this question. This is a minute ago.

Geena Davis

I think I felt like things are going to work out pretty good. I didn't have a feeling like, well, I've been the leader or one of the leads in two movies in a row, you know, a year apart and

Dax Shepard

nominated for all the movies, winning a Golden Globe. All the proof is there.

Geena Davis

Yeah, I don't know what I thought. I honestly don't remember what I thought or if I was surprised that didn't happen or anything.

Dax Shepard

I didn't have nearly the run you had, but I did have a run where I had a few hits in a row and they were all things that shouldn't have been hits. And I went, oh, well, duh. Now when I go to this movie that's got a big budget with a great director who fucking knows what's going to happen. And then like, that movie didn't work, I was like, oh, Jesus, now what? I thought for sure, okay, we made it out of the ten year fucking doldrums where finally it's happening and then I climb up to this rung of the ladder and then very rude awakening, like, no, if you have a couple in a row that don't work, it's rough.

Geena Davis

That's right.

Dax Shepard

So anyways, you had a couple in the row that didn't work. As anticipated, one of them is my favorite movie that you ever did, which is Long Kiss Good Night. If you haven't seen Long Kiss Good Night, in fact, I got to show my.

Monica Padman

No, I want to see it. I'll watch it tonight.

Dax Shepard

My God, let me hit with the premise. She is a housewife kind of mom type lady.

Monica Padman

Uhhuh. Trad wife.

Dax Shepard

She gets amnesia.

Geena Davis

Oh, she has amnesia.

Dax Shepard

Had amnesia. Doesn't realize she had amnesia. It's before born. It's kind of born and then slowly starts realizing after an accident that she's got skills she can't explain and she's actually an assassin.

Monica Padman

Oh, cool. And very born. Yeah.

Dax Shepard

The script's great. You're brilliant. The premise is perfect. And then Sam Jackson, come on. What's that line? He has? Like, you ask him if he's Mormon, he's like, yeah, that's why I just had two Jack and Cokes in a pack of Newports or some like that. He has some great line.

Geena Davis

So great.

Dax Shepard

He was just coming off of Pulp Fiction. Y.

Geena Davis

He was very.

Dax Shepard

Were you so pumped to work with him?

Geena Davis

Oh, my God, yeah. Yeah. And then. He's the greatest guy ever.

Dax Shepard

He's the coolest dude.

Geena Davis

The coolest dude ever. And all we did was laugh and have fun. We had so much fun.

Monica Padman

But it didn't work. Work.

Dax Shepard

That one did fine.

Geena Davis

We thought it was gonna.

Dax Shepard

The movie before Cutthroat island was in the Guinness Book World Record is the biggest financial. That's been way blown away by now. Yeah. Even when I see the price of that movie, it's kind of cute. There's like 110 million. That was the biggest disaster ever.

Monica Padman

Oh, God. Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Now people are writing off, like, $400 million.

Monica Padman

Exactly.

Geena Davis

I know, I know.

Dax Shepard

How did you process that heartbreak of that you're also married to the director. I'm guessing when I've had movies that failed that I wrote and directed, I've got three months or I'm just depressed. You know, I did that for two and a half years, and now that happened.

Geena Davis

Oh, I see.

Dax Shepard

And I'm naturally gonna be depressed. And now if my wife was also shouldering that same thing, I don't know who's available to nurture.

Geena Davis

Yeah. We kind of had to nurture each other through that. And we knew we had long kiss coming up, so that helped. But I was gonna tell you about the pirate movie.

Dax Shepard

Oh, yeah? Yeah. Tell me. Cutthroat.

Geena Davis

Cutthroat Island. Yeah. So Cutthroat island, it was going to star Michael Keaton. He asked Rennie. I was already with Rennie and maybe married already. He wanted some substantial actress to play the female part, which was much smaller than his and all that. So he was begging Rennie to get me to do it. And I was like, I think I really do want to do it. And Rennie was begging me, please, please.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. Is that part stressful?

Geena Davis

Oh, it's very stressful.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. That is.

Monica Padman

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Like, you want to do your husband or wife of whatever fav. I don't wanna gamble my career.

Geena Davis

Yeah. So anyway, I finally got my arm twisted enough that I said that I would do it. And then Michael eventually dropped out. He just suddenly I'm not doing it. And Rennie and I. I mean, he wasn't that crazy about the script either. And so we were like, we're getting out of it. We don't have to do it. Oh, my God. Yay. We're, like, dancing around. And then Mario, Cassandra, it was Caralco was the producers, and I had the same agency as Michael. And I thought, well, easily. I'll get out of this. And they were told, no, there's no way Gina's getting out of this. She is doing it. We'll sue her. What does Michael Douglas get to get out of it? And I don't get to get out of it. I'm only a small potatoes compared to him.

Dax Shepard

Wait, was it Michael Douglas or Michael Keaton?

Geena Davis

Michael Douglas.

Dax Shepard

Oh, Michael Douglas.

Geena Davis

Michael Douglas.

Dax Shepard

Okay. Yeah, yeah, that's great. Great, great, great.

Geena Davis

Yeah, Michael Douglas. So we were like, oh, my God, now we gotta do it. And we got Matthew Modine, who is fabulous in it and a great guy and a lot of fun, but it was really against our will, Right?

Dax Shepard

So it was one of those ones that didn't feel right from the jump and then turned up. So maybe we learned, like a gut intuition lesson off of that one.

Geena Davis

Well, yeah. I mean, don't get talked into anything ever again. But we went into it with a good will, you know, And I trained a trade to do piratical stuff. I had to learn.

Dax Shepard

You learned a swashbuckle.

Geena Davis

I buckled my swash. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I had to learn horseback riding and all that stuff.

Dax Shepard

Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert, if you dare. This episode is brought to you by ServiceNow. Look, I have my dream job. I get to talk to folks I admire like crazy and ask them virtually any question that I want to. I can't imagine a better way to spend my time. But even dream jobs have some not so dreamy parts. The stuff that gets in the way of the actual work. Now, that's where ServiceNow's AI specialists come in. They don't just tell you what you should do about your busy work. They actually do it. Start to finish, cases closed, requests handled, no extra work for you. So you and your team can focus on what matters most, which for me is are they obsessed with male bodies on the same level as I am?

Monica Padman

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Dax Shepard

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Dax Shepard

Okay, I just. One fun thing that people certainly wouldn't know is that in 99, you. You tried out for the US Olympic archery team.

Geena Davis

I was thinking, what did I do in 99?

Dax Shepard

Which you started in 97. So you'd only been doing it for two years.

Geena Davis

Two and a half.

Dax Shepard

And what, you had seen it in something. Why did you even get interested?

Geena Davis

I had to learn to play baseball and then I had to learn smashbuck, you know, and horseback riding and gun shooting and then ice skating and gun shooting while ice skating for long as Good night. All these skills, and I was kind of going good at all of them. And I had not had any clue that I was coordinated. And so it was so much fun. And then I thought, I think I'd like to take up a sport in real life and not the movie version of it. Because no matter what, if I didn't catch the ball. Got to do another take.

Monica Padman

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Put in the stunt double.

Geena Davis

So then I was just watching the Olympics on TV in Atlanta and there was a lot of coverage, coverage of archery because the American men's team was winning all the medals. And I thought, you know, that's really beautiful, and it's very dramatic. And I did learn how to shoot pistols really well, and it's kind of a weapon. So I thought, I'm going to try archery, and found a coach and became utterly obsessed with it.

Dax Shepard

Like, how frequently are you doing it?

Geena Davis

Practicing every day, like four or five hours.

Dax Shepard

Four or five hours in your what? Backyard? Shooting at a hay bale?

Geena Davis

No, no, don't be stupid, dad. No, I. No, I was. Hey, Bill cannot stop an arrow. You really have to be somewhere safe to do that. So I go to a range and meet with my coach constantly. And then he told me I had to start competing, and I was like, oh, no, I'm not anywhere near. He said, no, no, no. It's about getting better. You go to get better. So I be competing and competing. And then I won the California cup one year.

Dax Shepard

Wow. And you said what you liked about it is it was objective, ver, subjective. Your career was exactly.

Geena Davis

Are you hitting the target or not?

Dax Shepard

Do you think it was a sav for dealing with the kind of disappointment and uneasiness about what was next?

Geena Davis

Could be, yeah.

Dax Shepard

Because again, it's a control thing. Back to the compulsive behavior. It's like, repetitive. It's singular.

Geena Davis

Very repetitive.

Dax Shepard

You narrowed your world, which is scary right now and unpredictable, to a red dot. I mean, this all feels very regulating.

Geena Davis

Yes, very regulating and very specific. And I had the time. I didn't work that soon after long because. Good night. So I had two and a half

Dax Shepard

years to do archery.

Geena Davis

Only on that.

Dax Shepard

So you entered in 99 to go to the Olympic trials.

Geena Davis

I qualified as a semi finalist for the Olympic trials.

Dax Shepard

300 people entered and you finished 24th.

Geena Davis

Oh, my God. It was 300 people at the national tournament. And then they took the top 32. Could be in semi final finals.

Dax Shepard

You were in those?

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

And then you somehow got a wild card and went to Athens, Sydney.

Geena Davis

In Sydney. So Sydney built all of their venues way before they hosted the Olympics. And a year before it, they tried out every single sport, and they had the top people come just to run it and make sure everything was dress rehearsal. Yeah. And so the real team went. They said you could come, too. So I get to wear the uniform and walk out and hear the music and everything. It was so fun.

Monica Padman

Oh, my gosh.

Dax Shepard

That's fancy.

Geena Davis

I didn't win that one, though.

Monica Padman

That's okay. That's okay. You got to go.

Dax Shepard

How old were you? When you had your daughter 46. Okay. So I wonder if you have. I have such great gratitude for waiting to 38. Right. There were so many times when both little kids are screaming where I'm like, oh, man, I don't know if I would have had the patience for this in my twenties also. My career was sorted enough. I just. All the mountains I was trying to climb, tired of that. And so this I could really. Do you have that kind of gratitude for waiting later, or did you have moments where you're like, God, I should have done this 20 years earlier?

Geena Davis

No, no. I always was grateful that it was later. And I felt like it was important that I had a stronger sense of self, who I was. Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Because you're gonna have to model what it is to be a woman in this society of ours.

Geena Davis

Yes.

Dax Shepard

But you're watching children's programming with her when she's like two, and you start noticing a lot of little boys in these shows.

Geena Davis

I did the very first thing I showed her. I had her on my lap, and I'm thinking, oh, this is great. It's a preschool show. I think it's because of Thelma and Louise. And it really heightened my awareness of how women are portrayed because women had so few opportunities to come out of a movie feeling empowered by the female characters. So I immediately noticed that there seemed to be far more male characters than even looked it up. And they had one female character in this large cast. And I was like, well, that's weird. And then rented a video, and it was like that. A movie that came out. And I'd go, wait a minute.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. You know, and you were thinking what I would be thinking, which is like, oh, this has already been fixed.

Geena Davis

I had thought that.

Dax Shepard

Yeah, yeah. We're like. We're 12 years past Thelma and Louise. I assume this has been straightened out.

Geena Davis

Oh, right, Absolutely. And then I immediately kind of went global with it because. Because I'm like, wait, so we're training kids from minute one to have unconscious gender bias. How can they not get it when every single situation has one female turned

Dax Shepard

out to be three to one Little Rascals?

Geena Davis

You know, like when they got Darla, and that was.

Monica Padman

Yeah, we got it.

Dax Shepard

We got Darla. Back to the boys.

Geena Davis

Right.

Dax Shepard

How could a young girl not into it? Well, there's one third as many role, one fourth as many opportunities for. For me, like, I should recognize that that's the world I'm entering.

Geena Davis

Right. And also how our boys aren't going to recognize that they're more important Than girls.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. Right.

Geena Davis

How are they even going to care about the female character?

Dax Shepard

They're being told what's important.

Geena Davis

Right, right.

Monica Padman

So.

Dax Shepard

But you had a novel approach to addressing this.

Geena Davis

Well, I went to the Olympics in it. Everything I do, I had to be careful about taking it up, because whatever it is, I want to go to the Olympics. But I asked people constantly in the industry, whatever meeting I had, whoever it was, I'd say, have you ever noticed how few female characters there are in entertainment made for kids? And every single person said, oh, no, no, no, no, that's not true anymore. No, that's been fixed. And they said, we fixed it at our studio, at our production company, whatever. And they would very often name a movie with one female character as proof that gender inequality was not a thing.

Dax Shepard

And anymore it's like saying, well, we have Obama as a president. Racism's over.

Geena Davis

Exactly. So it made me realize this is utterly unconscious, and they think it's not true. So if I was able to, with data, show them that it is true, this big imbalance, maybe they will want to change. So I sponsored this largest research study ever done on kids, TV and movies

Dax Shepard

through the Annenberg School at usc. Were your partner.

Geena Davis

That was.

Monica Padman

That's incredible.

Geena Davis

At that time. Yes. And then started visiting anybody who makes children's entertainment. The first studio that we went to, we finished the presentation and their heads were in their hands, their jaws were on the ground. They were like, how did we not know this? All we care about is doing right by kids. And we never thought of this because

Dax Shepard

at that time, at the conclusion of your study. Right. Was it was three boys to every girl.

Geena Davis

Right. And the lead characters, it was 11 to 1.

Monica Padman

Oh, wow.

Geena Davis

To a lead female character. And crowd scenes and everything were wildly imbalanced. So we went everywhere, everybody was horrified. And everybody started changing. Wow.

Dax Shepard

What they were doing. That was 2004. Where are we at now? I think 2020 was the dad I read. So even four years ago, where was it?

Geena Davis

Yeah. Now we're at parody in children's TV shows.

Monica Padman

Oh, that's amazing. Oh, my God.

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Monica Padman

You should be so proud.

Dax Shepard

Sixteen years.

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Monica Padman

Oh, that's incredible.

Geena Davis

Yeah. The latest study we did, we looked at specifically at new kids programs that just came out, and it was 50. 50.

Monica Padman

Oh, my goodness. That is so. What an accomplishment. Of all your accomplishments, I hope that's maybe one of your highest. That's incredible.

Dax Shepard

She also created the Benton Film Festival. Bentonville. Are you friends along the way? Waltons. Is that a Walton project?

Geena Davis

No, Walmart Came up with the idea, actually, of having a film festival that focused on diversity and somehow thought of me.

Dax Shepard

Probably not somehow. You're, like, the most Seminole feminist movie ever.

Geena Davis

Yeah, I co founded it.

Dax Shepard

A cool thing about the Waltons is to get their inheritance, all the children, they have to take on a large public works project and make their community so, like, Bentonville is this very weird town in the middle of Arkansas. Right. Have you been there? I have. Yeah. But they have, like, one of the best museums in the world, and they have the best bicycle parkway. Right. They have all these, like, incredible installations because of how they get their inheritance,

Geena Davis

which is so cool, so incredible. And Alice Walton just built the best medical school ever built. And it's. I think it's either free or something. Oh, wow. If you agree to stay in the area and work for a certain number of years. It's this pocket of progressive explosion. It's incredible.

Dax Shepard

With, like, some of the best art pieces in the world. It's hilarious. You can imagine one day Bentonville being, like, this weird Eden that they have created through all these public works projects.

Geena Davis

Wow.

Dax Shepard

Okay. The Burrows.

Geena Davis

Yes.

Dax Shepard

I'm watching it, and I love it. It's sweeping. Netflix by storm. Right. I think I saw number one. This is so wonderful and encouraging. Okay, so the Burrows. You explain how you want to explain. Explain it. I'm gonna use a reference that only people my age will like, but I want to hear how you would set it up.

Geena Davis

It takes place in a fancy, fancy retirement community.

Dax Shepard

I want to live there. It, like, looks very appealing.

Geena Davis

That's been my dream life. I want to live in a camp. Yes. But for adults.

Dax Shepard

Golf cart, shuffleboard.

Geena Davis

Right. They say, well, now we're gonna go canoe. Oh, okay. Now we're gonna take a field trip. Okay, now it's lunch. Yes, now it's lunch, and I don't have to decide anything.

Monica Padman

Yeah, yeah.

Geena Davis

You know, that's what I want. So retirement community, and it focuses on a group of friends, live all in the same cul de sac, and then something spooky and dangerous starts happening a la Stranger Things.

Dax Shepard

It's Duffer Brothers. So there's, like, some. I don't know. There's a creature. Is he an alien? Is he a weird animal?

Monica Padman

Is he a monster from your childhood?

Geena Davis

Monster. Ooh, Right?

Dax Shepard

What I like about it, and I hope you take this as a compliment, because I fucking love this movie, and it speaks to how much it transcended that. I would have watched this movie at 10 and loved it, but Cocoon is still one of my favorite movies ever. Do you remember Cocoon?

Geena Davis

Oh, yeah.

Dax Shepard

There are these. Did you ever see Cocoon, Monica? There are these alien pods. These little cocooning aliens are in a swimming pool and it's giving them magic powers. And they all get very youthful now. What's incredible is, have you ever seen the Instagram post that says all of their ages from that movie?

Geena Davis

No, they weren't really that old.

Dax Shepard

Brimley was like 52 years old.

Geena Davis

Oh, my God.

Dax Shepard

All the ca. I don't think anyone in the cast was over 60. 60. Maybe Alan Argon or something, but nobody's even over 60. And we watch that movie like, oh, look at these grandpas have superpower that Crazy.

Geena Davis

That's crazy. It is.

Dax Shepard

Same with Golden Girls.

Monica Padman

Yeah, Gold.

Dax Shepard

They were all young.

Geena Davis

Estelle Yetis was like, almost the same age as her daughter. Yeah, yeah.

Dax Shepard

At least it was like in their 40s on that show Retired Grandma.

Geena Davis

Did they think people just couldn't stand to actually watch old people?

Monica Padman

It's such a different time. The way we looked at age.

Dax Shepard

I've had this moment several times where it's like I get offered a role and the character has an 18 year old or a 24 year old, and I'm like, yeah, that's correct chronologically. I just think this job has a very weird ability to remind you in a very cruel way of how old you are all the time.

Geena Davis

Yes.

Dax Shepard

It's like you're getting like, oh, I'm someone with a terminal disease. That's who I'm playing. That's where. Brat. So did you have any shock of like, yeah, it makes sense that I would be in a show about this.

Geena Davis

Yes, I was like that. But like you, I mean, I turned down any number of roles because the character had adult children or grandma. And I was like, at no time on earth am I going to play a grandmother. But no, I was very. Whatever age I was, but I was. I don't even want teenage kids. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But this.

Dax Shepard

I've been on a couple shows where the older cast members are going to have to die. Right. Like, I was on this great show, Parenthood, and Craig T. Nelson, who's just a blessing, he's going to play someone's dying. I mean, vaguely of old age, you know, like just in a heart thing, but still. And I just remember talking to him being like, is this tricky dude? Like, I think it would be tricky for me to go like, wait, this makes sense to everybody that I'd be playing someone that might drop dead. Right? Now, like, is this a lot, I think, to contend with?

Geena Davis

Exactly. Well, the good thing, I think something I really like about this show is we're all very able. We can battle dangerous things and there's no beats about how we can't even get up there.

Monica Padman

Right?

Dax Shepard

No, but there is a scene where you're all showing off your scars.

Geena Davis

That's true.

Dax Shepard

And everyone's had a massive operation, Right. Their whole front cut open. Someone's had their back cut open. You've had your hip replaced.

Geena Davis

That's right.

Dax Shepard

First, I just love the show. It's so good. Your character is so fun. You're kind of the vixen of the scene. You're ex music manager, so you're like hip and cool and you drive a cool fairlane convertible. And you're awesome. You're a rock star. But I was like, we are still a little bit caught in the notion, like, you wouldn't be in a retirement community. In reality, they need to be 15 years older. Everything's changed. Changed. When I was young, all 70 year olds were in retirement communities. That's not how it is now.

Geena Davis

It's not how it is now. And my character is the only one who didn't plan to go there. My mom bought that house and I had to take care of her. And I also lost all my money. And then I just ended up staying. But a few times I refer to the fact that I don't really belong here.

Monica Padman

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dax Shepard

Had you worked with Alfred Molina or Bill Pullman before?

Geena Davis

This is my third thing with Bill Pullman. My third project with Ed Begley Jr.

Dax Shepard

I've done three with him as well.

Geena Davis

Really?

Dax Shepard

What a sweetie.

Geena Davis

Isn't he the sweetest? Oh, I love.

Dax Shepard

It scares me how sweet he is.

Geena Davis

But also Bill Pullman is like that. He's so sweet.

Dax Shepard

And I've never met him.

Geena Davis

Yeah. Oh, God.

Dax Shepard

It's so weird to say this, but he's weirdly a revelation in this show, right? He is. Even though I've seen him a million times, I'm like, this is great. He's like a fudgeing beach stoner, retired dude. So chill. Yeah, he's incredible.

Geena Davis

It makes you go, oh, no wonder they got him.

Dax Shepard

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Monica Padman

This is great. This sounds like it's doing, like, anti ageism work.

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

You have a very young lover.

Geena Davis

He's 40. Yeah. He's 30 years younger than me.

Dax Shepard

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Monica Padman

Fun.

Dax Shepard

So.

Geena Davis

But Renee's like, so what?

Monica Padman

Yeah, she's great.

Dax Shepard

Feeling very confident and so is he. And everyone's winning. But I will say I was watching it with my wife and our 13 year old and 11 year old daughters last night and I love these situations. Right. Like I'm feeling a certain way and I'm like, I'm going to bring this up to everyone. And I said during that scene, we were watching the sexy scene with you guys and I said, isn't it crazy, you guys, that we have seen at this point point a thousand movies where the age gap was this, but it was the guy and the woman and you don't notice. But this is highly noticeable.

Geena Davis

Yes.

Dax Shepard

And isn't that really something like, let's just talk about that for a minute.

Geena Davis

It really is.

Dax Shepard

You wouldn't think about Michael Douglas is in something and he's got a 40 year old. You know, you just.

Geena Davis

Yeah, it happens all the time in films.

Dax Shepard

You don't even notice. But this is very noticeable, right?

Monica Padman

Yeah, because we're not used to it.

Dax Shepard

That's why.

Monica Padman

That's why it's noticeable. Yeah.

Dax Shepard

It's a juicy thing for you to get to talk about with your kids. It's an opportunity.

Geena Davis

Right, right.

Dax Shepard

To hear what these young girls think about that. Like, oh, wow, why are we seeing this for the first time?

Geena Davis

Yeah, that's so cool you brought that up.

Dax Shepard

I really dig that we're watching something from the 70s or 80s and something gnarly happens, you know, it just doesn't happen that way anymore. Like the way guys are talking to women or something would just pause and be like, what do you guys think of this?

Geena Davis

Oh, that's so cool.

Dax Shepard

That was standard biz in the 80s. That was like standard guys would just say like that to women. And you know, what do we, what do we think about this?

Geena Davis

I was figured to watch it with your kids. When my kids were. I watched everything with them because I felt like I could be their media interpreter. I would say, why do you think she's wearing that if she's going to go rescue somebody? Doesn't that seem like it's not a person? Or did you notice? Do you think girls could do what all those boys are doing? Why don't you think there's more? So you got to the point where. And even if we're out of the movie, if I just went like this, I go, I know mom, there's not enough girls in that scene. I know, I know, we know. I'm aware.

Dax Shepard

It's so great. That's the best part though. Kids are supposed to fuck with their moms. My wife's constantly Talking about what neurologist she just saw on Instagram and what new hack we have. As soon as my wife starts talking, either girls, like, is this one of your neurologists from Instagram, or did you actually. Yeah, and they're like, 11 and 13. They've already got it dialed, you know.

Geena Davis

That's hilarious. Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Okay. Last thing I want to talk about is you just kind of went viral second weekend of Coachella. You were a guest at the Sabrina Carpenter show.

Geena Davis

Yeah, not just a guest. I was on stage.

Dax Shepard

Oh, yes. I guess guest means you were in attendance. No, you were on stage in a convertible Cadillac or something like that. Very much Thelma and Louise esque. And Susan had done it the weekend before.

Monica Padman

That's so fun.

Geena Davis

I had no idea when she did that. I thought, oh, that's cool. I had no idea they were then going to ask me to do it. But that was Google.

Dax Shepard

Does Sabrina Carpenter herself call you?

Geena Davis

No. I mean, they called my agent. Her people did, I guess, but she was the one that wanted me to do it.

Monica Padman

That's awesome.

Dax Shepard

What do you think of her? I love her.

Geena Davis

Oh, I love her so much. And she was so wonderful in person and so charming and gave me a T shirt. I guess the title of her show was Sabrina Wood, and so she gave me one that said Gina Wood.

Monica Padman

Oh, cute.

Geena Davis

I loved it. It was so fun, but I didn't expect it to blow up like that. Somebody said, you're trying to get a line.

Dax Shepard

What? Yeah. You never know what's coming.

Geena Davis

You never do.

Dax Shepard

I have so much gratitude for her, for Taylor Swift. I've taken our daughters to both of those performers. Oh, that's great for them to be little girls watching these women who have created. Created a true matriarchy. They have their own world, and they are the top of that world. They don't have to suffer any fools. They're in charge. There weren't a ton of examples like that, and now there's a ton.

Geena Davis

It's true. It's true.

Dax Shepard

It's incredible.

Geena Davis

Yeah, it is.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. I'm delighted that that happened with. Had you ever been to Coachella? No. Yeah, me neither. I think that's the way I want to go the first time I want to be on stage. Biggest, the most loved performance of the night.

Geena Davis

Exactly.

Dax Shepard

Okay. And then lastly, where are you at? Are you still susceptible to if a guy likes you or have we evolved in that? If a guy just simply likes you, is that enough anymore? No, it's not enough anymore.

Monica Padman

Glad you said that.

Dax Shepard

And what did you Learn when that shifted. When you start thinking, wait, what do I like? Is that what it was?

Geena Davis

Right? I had been attracted to. To extroverted, flashy, shiny men.

Dax Shepard

And now not so much anymore.

Geena Davis

Not so much.

Dax Shepard

So Brad Pitt doesn't have a chance now?

Monica Padman

Well, he's.

Geena Davis

He's actually. Well, we'll make an exception. I should make an exception.

Dax Shepard

Let's not exclude him from the pool of bachelors.

Geena Davis

We'll consider.

Dax Shepard

Oh, well, Gina, I adore you. For real. Sincerely. Long kiss Good night. It was one of the first films I think I owned on Blu Ray that I watched over and over again. Oh, my God, I just love it. I'm so in the mood to watch it again. I can't wait. See, to. To show my daughters. It's an honor to meet you.

Geena Davis

Thank you.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. I'm really excited.

Geena Davis

I am. Well, I just want to tell you one thing about luckx tonight. Sam and I, well, we changed the ending when we were shooting because we realized we'd love to do a sequel. And in the original script, Sam's character dies. So we reshot the last scene and made him live. And I know it's all these years later, but we still. Sam and I know, don't talk about. We're dying to do a sequel.

Dax Shepard

Oh, I would love you, sure.

Geena Davis

Well, I know, but we gotta get somebody to do it.

Dax Shepard

I nominate Netflix.

Monica Padman

Yeah, let's get Netflix.

Dax Shepard

If you're there, you're crushing. They want to be in the Gina business now.

Monica Padman

Gina would.

Dax Shepard

Let's get. Yeah, Gina would.

Geena Davis

Would Gina do a sequel? Yeah. Gina Woods.

Dax Shepard

Gina is open to a sequel. All right, well, lovely me and you. Thanks for the work you've done on the gender parody with kids shows, and hopefully that moves up upstream all the way. And everyone watch the Burrows. Thanks so much, Gina.

Geena Davis

Thank you. This is really fun. Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Just a quick reminder that as part of our summer break, here's a rerun of one of our favorite fact checks.

Monica Padman

I got my hair cut today. Barb did my hair.

Dax Shepard

Where'd you find Barb? Barb Chopstick. What did you say?

Monica Padman

Don't ever say that.

Dax Shepard

No, what did you say?

Monica Padman

Barb Thompson.

Dax Shepard

Thompson. Okay.

Monica Padman

She's awesome. And she's done my hair before. She did it for a gala. One of the only galas I've ever been to. And she's great.

Dax Shepard

Always a bridesmaid, never a gala.

Monica Padman

I know. And she said you did a great job.

Dax Shepard

Are you growing your hair out on your legs, too?

Geena Davis

Don't look.

Monica Padman

I just haven't shaved.

Geena Davis

Fuck.

Monica Padman

Oh.

Dax Shepard

But I didn't know if you were making a decision like everyone's making. That was a fair question. What happened?

Monica Padman

I can't believe you did that.

Dax Shepard

I wanted to celebrate you if you were embracing me.

Geena Davis

Fuck that.

Monica Padman

No.

Geena Davis

Okay.

Monica Padman

I take care of my hair. I just haven't. And it's hot out.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. That's great. Can you understand there's a movement where women aren't shaving anymore? And I thought maybe you joined that movement.

Monica Padman

It was really actually self conscious.

Dax Shepard

Oh. And I mean, it would notice.

Monica Padman

And I was like, there's no way anyone will notice. And you noticed immediately.

Dax Shepard

I'm very observant. You know this about me.

Monica Padman

I know.

Dax Shepard

I don't miss a thing.

Monica Padman

It just takes a long time to shave.

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

I'm in the same boat. I shave my arms now. I have all this money tied up in these tattoos, and I want them to be visible.

Monica Padman

That makes sense. Well, you know, I also. I have to groom my arms, my legs, my armpits, my vagina parts.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. And I feel terrible for you. I've said that. Now that I'm. Now that I'm grooming a lot.

Monica Padman

Yeah, it sucks. Speaking of, how's the cashmere? We haven't even seen it in a while.

Dax Shepard

Well, you know who's a real producer is Delta. Yeah. Yeah.

Monica Padman

Are you collecting?

Dax Shepard

Yeah. Yeah. It's growing. Although I may have a big. I might have a. I'm now thinking I might have a nice deposit in the drawer in my bathroom. I think maybe I haven't transferred some to the.

Monica Padman

Okay, great.

Dax Shepard

The main storage.

Monica Padman

Okay, great, Great.

Dax Shepard

Okay. I had been wanting to tell you a story.

Monica Padman

Oh, yeah.

Dax Shepard

Okay. So we all went to Monster Jam on Saturday.

Monica Padman

Yeah. Who's describe we all?

Dax Shepard

Okay. So we all is Charlie and the boys, Ace and Wilder, the two handsomest men in Los Angeles. And then my girls, Lincoln and Delta. And then Delta's friend.

Monica Padman

Fun.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. And then Eric. Eric. Yeah. That's all. So we went. It was immediately fun. It's so fun. Monster Jam. So fun. We got to ride in the like, 12 passenger monster truck. That's great. I was kind of not clocking any of this, but apparently Delta and her friend had brought their two most important stuffies in a red bag. I didn't know that. I probably would have been like, maybe we don't bring them into the event.

Monica Padman

Can you describe the stuff?

Dax Shepard

Yes. It's imperative that people understand the state takes here. So anyone that knows Delta would know her son, Groot.

Monica Padman

Oh, my God. I don't even Count Groot as a stuffy. When you said that, I wasn't thinking of him. He's a real boy. He really like the robot.

Dax Shepard

I don't know that I've ever seen. And I had very deep relationships with my stuffies. I had three bears that I loved, and I thought about them, and if I was gone too long, I felt guilty. Like, I was very in touch and close with my stuff. Their names, I don't. I didn't name them. One was a polar bear, one was a brown bear, and one was, like, a panda koala bear. They were different breeds, so I didn't breeds the species.

Monica Padman

So you just said koala polar.

Dax Shepard

I just never was, like, you never called dressing them. I was just squeezing them and feeling guilty.

Monica Padman

But what if, like, it was downstairs and you had to tell your mom, like, oh, my God, polar is missing.

Dax Shepard

That would never.

Monica Padman

Like, it would never happen.

Dax Shepard

I. I would never, never lose track. Never.

Monica Padman

Okay.

Dax Shepard

And they didn't travel out of my room either, because I was too afraid something would happen to them in the wild.

Geena Davis

Okay.

Dax Shepard

But to put like, this in perspective, Groot goes everywhere with us. Groot has truly a bigger wardrobe than Delta. He has many different jammies. He has swimwear.

Monica Padman

He has, like, Delta's birthday. She'll often ask for clothes for Groot.

Dax Shepard

That mostly, that's all she asks for, is things for Groot. And he has books, he reads, and he's an artist, and she makes him dinner. Like, it's. So. It's such a huge part of her life.

Geena Davis

Groot.

Dax Shepard

And then I didn't know this. I learned this recently about Groot. She was kind of explaining what was going on with him athletically. And then I said, is Groot disabled? And she said, yeah, Groot is disabled. And I said, oh, what's his disability? And she said, well, he's half tree and half boy, so he needs to breathe carbon dioxide as a tree, but he needs to breathe oxygen as a boy. So his lungs are, like, half dedicated to breathing. And so that's kind of an impairment for his cardiovascular additionally.

Geena Davis

Stop.

Dax Shepard

This is all real. Like, I didn't even know Groot was disabled.

Monica Padman

Well, obviously.

Dax Shepard

But I just had a hunch there was some way she was talking about his athleticism and his outfit.

Geena Davis

Sure.

Dax Shepard

I don't know. I asked. And he is. And then she went on to tell me another challenge. He has Is. Is. He's got both veins.

Monica Padman

Uhhuh.

Dax Shepard

And then he also has to have plumbing for the water, so it's like his body's Sharing a lot of wow.

Monica Padman

Double duty.

Dax Shepard

Double duty. Also, his bark hasn't come in, and that's going to make him more stable.

Monica Padman

Oh, wow.

Dax Shepard

A lot going on.

Monica Padman

Okay. Wow.

Dax Shepard

And I'm going to be honest. I love Groot. Like, he's also my grandson. And when we snuggle at night, I go, I want a little time with Groot. So he has to be in my.

Monica Padman

Does everyone have to leave?

Dax Shepard

No, no, no, no. Just. I will want Groot in my left nook and Delta in my right nook if we're all laying together. But she's got to give me some grandpa.

Monica Padman

Okay, never mind.

Dax Shepard

Anyone. Oh, never mind.

Monica Padman

I don't want.

Dax Shepard

Okay, good.

Geena Davis

I'm afraid.

Monica Padman

I know, because you like him in your neck and like. Like a kid. Like a kid.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. Like a little baby boy. So, okay, so, great time. We're having the best time now. We're up in this huge suite. There's like, 50 people in there. It's a blast. It's hectic. And Delta comes up, like, mid show again. I'm going to say it. I've said it before. There's no better show on Earth than Monster Jam. It starts and it doesn't let up. Race, race, race, race, race. Stunts, Stun stunts. So it's a party. We're eating food. And then Delta comes up to me and is. She's passed. Like, she's. I don't want to say. She's hyperventilating. She is so scared and panicked. And she said, we don't. We lost Groot. And I'm like, what do you mean? I didn't even know Groot was in here. We lost the bag. So her friend was in charge of carrying the bag. She brought it in here. Someone maybe stole it or whatever. I'm like, okay, no one stole it. Everyone that came is still here. No one left. Left mid time, you know? So now we start scouring all the bathrooms in there. And then we go through systematically, and we look under every single chair. This takes 35, 40 minutes. I'm missing the Monster Jam.

Monica Padman

Sure. But you can hear it still.

Dax Shepard

I can hear it. That is helpful. And I say at some point, okay, it's not in here. Which means it didn't. It didn't come up here. Oh, now, we arrived, and we went right out onto the. To the arena floor to take that right ride. So it's like we're seven stories up. That was pre show. I don't.

Monica Padman

So now take him into the monster truck.

Dax Shepard

Yes. So, well, here becomes the Investigation. So then Charlie and I are. I'm like, oh, I made a video of them get. I'm like, did they even bring the bag out of the car?

Monica Padman

Right.

Dax Shepard

I took pictures.

Monica Padman

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

I take some. Oh, yeah, there's the red bag. Then I have footage of them getting on to the monster truck, and she's carrying the bag. We don't have footage of them getting off. But I'm like, but this is. She would have never set it down in the elevator or on the walk. It definitely had to get left in the truck. So now. Exactly. And we're now mid show. This is hours later. And I see.

Monica Padman

And is that truck, like, out on the thing?

Dax Shepard

No, that truck has now been already put in a trailer to go to the next Monster Jam. So I like, this is like a movie. This is my friend Sally, who I been, you know, going to Monster Jam with. Sally as our host for, I don't know, eight years now. She's an incredible lady. She's an armchair.

Geena Davis

Aw.

Monica Padman

Shout out.

Dax Shepard

She's so sweet. And I'm like, I don't know what else to do, but, like, here's the situation. She's a mom. She put out a full court press. Oh, look. Okay, I'll try to get into that truck. Like, I'll try to find the truck in the parking lot and try to get into the semi to get into this mom's.

Geena Davis

Oh, my God.

Dax Shepard

So, like, an hour goes by, and Delta's really, like, she lost her son.

Monica Padman

Oh, my God.

Dax Shepard

And I'm. I'm very pessimistic. I'm like, who knows? They set that bag down anyway. There was so many bags and so many things and so much equipment. It's in an arena. So I was really, really pessimistic. And then the show ends. And then we just sit there for another 45 minutes while the whole place clears out. We're kind of, like, waiting to see if they're gonna Fine group. And then she says, well, you guys are free to if you want to just wait in the car. So anyways, we go sit in the car now. And then I get a text from Sally, and it's a picture of her, and she's elated, and she's holding the bag. She found the bag in a random golf cart somewhere.

Geena Davis

No.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

It was on its way to the trash.

Dax Shepard

On its way to a sex trafficking saved.

Monica Padman

Don't say that. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. What a tale.

Dax Shepard

Oh, my God. It was. Was the amount of relief I felt so obsessed. Scary when that bag Returned. You know, I was starting to think about what our next two weeks to a month. Like, I was like, imagine what it's

Monica Padman

like to lose your son. You never get over it.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. It's gonna be devastating in a way that I'm not sure how we're all gonna deal with. We lost group forever.

Monica Padman

That is.

Dax Shepard

And then I said to her, I was like, once we had group, I was like, you know, I started thinking, like, what do I do? Would you have wanted me to find the same group? And she's like, no. Yeah. Because it's real and he's real and there's no replacing them.

Monica Padman

Well. And so she answered our long lasting question about would you clone.

Dax Shepard

Would you clone your dog or your kid? She wanted. Yeah.

Monica Padman

I guess she's like me.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. She has. I guess she has ethics.

Geena Davis

I don't know.

Monica Padman

We don't know.

Dax Shepard

We don't know what that means ethically.

Geena Davis

Oh, gosh.

Monica Padman

That's why. But okay, if he had gone in the monster truck and then got sent to the next Monster truck show. That's a kid's book. That's a children's book.

Dax Shepard

And, like, they love him. And he becomes kind of a mascot for Monster Jam. Yes.

Monica Padman

But then he returns back home. Always.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. But he's like. Now he chews tobacco and he's grown up a little bit.

Monica Padman

We have different.

Geena Davis

A couple.

Dax Shepard

Well, he's on the Monster Jam tour.

Monica Padman

Yeah, he is. He's on the.

Dax Shepard

He's not going to, like, symposiums on

Monica Padman

physics, but he's very. It's very Toy Story.

Dax Shepard

Yes. Yes. He could have been on a real adventure.

Monica Padman

I don't think all the dust from the monster truck would be good for his lungs.

Dax Shepard

Well, not given what I've learned about this. Yeah. Now, what if, like, the driver of Gravedigger found him and started keeping him on the dash?

Monica Padman

Aw.

Dax Shepard

And we could, like, then we were watching, and he was riding on the dash proudly.

Monica Padman

Oh, my God. That's terrifying.

Dax Shepard

Oh, it was really an event. Yeah. So I missed a good half of Monster Jam, both looking for and then panicking over Sally.

Monica Padman

Really? Hero.

Dax Shepard

Oh, my God. The hero of all heroes.

Monica Padman

Wow.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. I mean, if you were to ask me at some point what I would pay for his safe return, it would have been embarrassing.

Monica Padman

I know. But, Dax, that's life. It's like, you can't. You can't buy houses, health. Well, actually, I mean, to an extent, you can, which is a problem. But.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

You know. Yeah. That's why health is the most important thing we Have.

Dax Shepard

And just being there, I guess.

Monica Padman

Being alive.

Dax Shepard

Yeah, yeah. Being there, being present.

Monica Padman

Well, I'm also grateful because I immediately got codependent for the girl, the friend. Can you imagine?

Dax Shepard

No, I know. So that was all happening. She now feels so guilty, and she's crying. Delta's crying inconsolably.

Monica Padman

Yep.

Dax Shepard

Her friend's crying.

Monica Padman

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

And this is the worst. I'm like, the dad watching. And so I kept going. Oh, sweetie, it's totally okay. Delta should have been carrying her own bag. It's not.

Monica Padman

Oh, that's nice.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

I was, like, trying to comfort her and trying to comfort Delta.

Geena Davis

Her.

Dax Shepard

Groot is in there, too.

Monica Padman

Oh, it is.

Dax Shepard

She's got the double whammy. She's lost her stuffy. And she lost Delta's stuffy.

Monica Padman

Who was her stuffy.

Dax Shepard

I didn't get a good gander at it. Once they were all reunited, I didn't even know we were bringing Stuffies to Monster.

Monica Padman

Not anymore.

Dax Shepard

I hope not. And then. Okay, now this is the thing that we go back to. We've been talking about this the last few episodes. I'm like. And I'm talking to Charlie and Eric. I'm like, you know, all I gotta do is keep trying to find Groot and not say, this is why we don't. What you want to say as a parent is this is why we don't bring to sporting events.

Monica Padman

Yep.

Dax Shepard

And I was like, she has learned that lesson. She. I don't need to tell her that. She is in major discomfort.

Monica Padman

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

And so I let it go. But then I. On the way home, I was just saying how grateful I was that he's back.

Monica Padman

Flipping it in a little bit.

Dax Shepard

A little bit. And then. And then I said, he's just so valuable. We got to make sure that we're safe when we bring them places. She goes, but he can't just be a. A boy that lives at home and doesn't go and do things he. I can't just be protecting him from. And I'm like that. I know. That's a great point, but there's a ton of things we can take him to so he's not stuck in the house, but that are also maybe not so distracting as Monster Jam.

Monica Padman

This is complex because this is how you feel about your kids. This is how you parent them. You're like, you know, they're. I'm going to let them go explore the world. And another person could say, look, they're a little too valuable for that. Don't let them just go down the street to Ralph's.

Dax Shepard

Right.

Monica Padman

Where there's crazies.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

So. Looks like she's.

Dax Shepard

She's inherited my parents.

Monica Padman

Looks like it's nurtured.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. In this case. Wow.

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Monica Padman

I'm grateful. I'm so grateful. I would have been.

Dax Shepard

You understand?

Monica Padman

Yeah. It would have been so sad if group. I mean, I would have been happy for him if he was on an adventure. Adventure. But we. We know that really, he would have gone in the trash.

Dax Shepard

Well, he's. He's so cute.

Monica Padman

Dax, missing persons. After like 48 hours, they're dead.

Dax Shepard

Okay, so you think he might. Someone murder him.

Monica Padman

Trash.

Dax Shepard

Okay. I just can't imagine holding that little guy. He's so sweet looking.

Monica Padman

Oh, I know.

Dax Shepard

I told her. That's why I didn't know he had a disability, because he's so. He's so smiley. I have no idea he's suffering from anything. He's in a perpetually great mood.

Monica Padman

Well, that's the thing, is he's got the best attitude.

Dax Shepard

Or it sounded like there's some pain accompan.

Monica Padman

Okay.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

The whole carbon dioxide trick her into getting, like, pain meds for them.

Dax Shepard

I might see if we can get.

Monica Padman

No, no.

Dax Shepard

Some nerve blockers.

Monica Padman

Oh, my God. Wow. That isn't quite an adventure. I'm. Yeah. I'm really glad that had a happy ending.

Dax Shepard

Oh, me too. Anything fun happen to you?

Monica Padman

Yeah. Okay, so you've been gone a couple days. In the meantime, I've watched two full seasons of you. The show you. Which reminds me, I want to play

Dax Shepard

the thing that's a show about me.

Monica Padman

Exactly. It's about time that we revisit that because I'm watching it.

Dax Shepard

Oh, it's such a great exchange.

Monica Padman

Okay, let's see.

Dax Shepard

Laura Ingram.

Monica Padman

Yeah.

Geena Davis

You want me to put on the tv?

Monica Padman

Oh, yeah, you can. This is my favorite clip of all time. And now it has extra meaning because I'm watching the show.

Dax Shepard

Is it a great show?

Monica Padman

I love it. It has really Veronica Mars vibes.

Dax Shepard

Oh, fun.

Monica Padman

But it's like Dexter meets Veronica Mars. But I've never seen Dexter. Okay, let's watch this real quick.

Dax Shepard

You know, I was watching an episode

Geena Davis

of you where measles came up. Wait, wait, wait.

Dax Shepard

When did I mention measles?

Geena Davis

I don't know.

Dax Shepard

It was on you. What was on me?

Geena Davis

What are you talking about? I never had.

Dax Shepard

The measles was on you. We never did a. We never did a measles and vaccine episode of my.

Monica Padman

Is this a joke?

Dax Shepard

I know it was on you.

Geena Davis

It was on you.

Monica Padman

I've never had Raymond.

Geena Davis

I've never had Measles. What are you talking about, stupid? It was an episode of a show, Laura. What's it called?

Dax Shepard

You.

Geena Davis

You.

Dax Shepard

I just completely give up.

Geena Davis

We got.

Dax Shepard

I Give up.

Geena Davis

Called you on Netflix.

Dax Shepard

I'm moving on to Adele.

Geena Davis

I can't explain this. What was he talking about?

Dax Shepard

So stupid.

Geena Davis

It's so funny.

Dax Shepard

It's a real life. Who's on?

Monica Padman

It really is.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

Oh, my God. Anyway, so I. Yeah, I started. You random. It, like, popped up as the next. This never worked Works out.

Dax Shepard

You're right. Right.

Monica Padman

Auto play or whatever. And I was like, sure, why not watch the whole thing? And then last night, stayed up so late, I couldn't even look at the time. I was too afraid to look.

Dax Shepard

Oh, wow.

Monica Padman

And watched all of season two.

Dax Shepard

How many episodes in each?

Geena Davis

10.

Dax Shepard

So you watched 20?

Monica Padman

They're like 45ish minutes. Whoa. Yes. Oh, my God. Okay, so it is Pen Batch from Gossip Girl who I loved back then. Dan Humphrey.

Dax Shepard

Okay, great.

Monica Padman

And he recently. He has a podcast, but also I saw there's, like, an Instagram kind of viral video of him, like, dancing on one of these talk shows. And I was like, well.

Dax Shepard

Or.

Monica Padman

Well, okay. In my opinion. Yeah. Yeah. And so I was like, oh, yeah, I love him.

Dax Shepard

Oh, yeah.

Monica Padman

And then he.

Dax Shepard

Oh, so dancing is attractive. I guess.

Monica Padman

It. You know what?

Dax Shepard

It is.

Monica Padman

Okay, I'm gonna. I'm gonna circle back. I didn't say it wasn't.

Dax Shepard

Right, right, right. You just didn't put it back very high on the list.

Monica Padman

Yeah. But turns out it's really high.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

So anyway, then it pops up, and he is a. He's a stalker. Like, he's obsessed with this woman. There's, like, murder.

Geena Davis

O.

Monica Padman

He's a psychopath, but it's a love story. And he's hot. And it's. It's conf. It's confusing.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

It's sexy, but scary.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. It's very thin line for women. Women there.

Monica Padman

Well, I know. And I. I hated myself, of course.

Dax Shepard

Sure.

Monica Padman

I heard him say on an interview, something like that, like. Or someone asked, like, what do you think of when people say he's hot?

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

And he was like, he's a killer.

Dax Shepard

Right.

Monica Padman

So I saw that clip before I watched the show, and I was like, yeah, he's right. This is. People are crazy.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

And then, of course, I'm like, he's hot.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

He's also tricky because he's, like, kind of a good boyfriend. If he wasn't A murderer and putting people in character. Cages.

Dax Shepard

Right.

Monica Padman

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Who. Who, who just was everyone obsessed with that salsa was a murderer? Wasn't there recently someone everyone thought was hot? Is it the United Health? Oh, Assassin. Were people, like, really horny for him?

Geena Davis

Luigi.

Dax Shepard

Luigi.

Monica Padman

That one. I. That's real life. So I find that much more complicated. I do not think he's hot.

Dax Shepard

You don't think he's hot?

Monica Padman

No, I don't think there's anything good about that.

Dax Shepard

Would you think he was hot without the murder?

Monica Padman

There's no way for me to know.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. You can't go back in time, have very powerful eyebrows.

Monica Padman

I don't think murder is hot in real life. And I don't think vigilantes are hot.

Geena Davis

Okay.

Monica Padman

I'm going to say that.

Dax Shepard

Good to know.

Monica Padman

I'm not. There's a lot of people that are, like, good for him.

Dax Shepard

Oh, yeah.

Monica Padman

And I. I disagree.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. Yeah.

Monica Padman

I disagree.

Dax Shepard

Holy.

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

I think that industry is evil. And I don't think you're allowed to kill people.

Monica Padman

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Except in the show sometimes he does kill some people I really don't like. And it is vigilant and, like, it's for kids. He's protect. Sometimes he protects kids. He's weird. He's like, kind of this, like, good

Dax Shepard

friend and hard to pin down. Mixed messages, really.

Monica Padman

Mixed messages.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

Anyway, I am loving it.

Dax Shepard

Oh, wow, that's great.

Monica Padman

Five seasons.

Dax Shepard

Oh, there's five. Oh, so you're fucked for the whole week.

Monica Padman

I know.

Dax Shepard

So what time did you go?

Monica Padman

I really don't know, but I was so tired when my alarm went off at nine.

Dax Shepard

Okay.

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Monica Padman

And so when I had to go bed two or three, probably three.

Dax Shepard

Wow, you're nasty.

Monica Padman

I can't help myself.

Dax Shepard

I know you're indulgent.

Monica Padman

And because I'm scared a little. Like, it's very cliffhangery. It's very good at keeping you on the hook. So I'm a little too scared in those scenarios to go to bed. Like, I need to know how it's completed. But they do a good job at the end of each season, too.

Dax Shepard

You never know.

Monica Padman

I did start episode three, but then I was like, monica, no.

Dax Shepard

Yeah, you got to stop.

Monica Padman

I got to stop. So I turned it off about halfway through that. When I woke up this morning after so much murder, I was like, I think I need to take a break today because it really gets infiltrated. And then it made me think, this is what's happening with boys and vegan video games. Oh, they're just it's like a constant. They're living in this world that's dark and bleak and they're shooting people and stuff, and then, like, reality starts to disappear.

Dax Shepard

You're feeling that happen to you.

Monica Padman

Well, I just could see it.

Dax Shepard

This is your ocd. Like, this is. You think you're a per. You're a killer or you think you're a pervert.

Geena Davis

I don't.

Monica Padman

Okay. In this show, it's a lot of voices. Voiceover. Because you're. You're hearing his thoughts.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

And so then today, I was kind of hearing my thoughts like that.

Dax Shepard

Right.

Monica Padman

And I thought, I need to take a break.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. Take a little break.

Monica Padman

No. But I also really want to know what happened. All right, let's see if there's anything else I want to talk about you. You know, you really. Tunnel vision. It is easy. I get why. I get how it happens.

Dax Shepard

She's only so culpable. It was very, very confusing, but it was just. And he didn't do a good job. Like, he should have recognized what was going on much sooner and said, it's a television show on Netflix, and the title is you.

Monica Padman

And the title is you. Y O, U.

Dax Shepard

Yes. And not.

Monica Padman

Laura did end up saying, it's a show on Netflix called you and she.

Dax Shepard

Well, but he did. He did say, I was watching you about seven times before. It's a show on Netflix.

Monica Padman

It's so good. I almost feel like it's fake. And I don't want to, like, look too.

Dax Shepard

I don't think so.

Monica Padman

I don't.

Dax Shepard

It is such a genuine reaction from her.

Monica Padman

All right, well, that's it. Let's move into facts.

Geena Davis

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Yeah, facts. Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert, if you dare.

Monica Padman

So, facts for Nick Kroll.

Dax Shepard

When he said daddy's money, when he brought that, I keep thinking how funny that was when he said that. Do you remember that?

Monica Padman

Yes.

Dax Shepard

I don't care, because I have Daddy's money.

Monica Padman

Yeah. That was so funny. Also, I wrote down, specifically when he said sick little cutie, I laughed so hard at Sick little Cutie. I thought that was the funniest. Just a sick little cutie.

Dax Shepard

Yeah, he was a mess. He was coughing and snorting little indigestion there for a minute. I loved it.

Monica Padman

It was great. And then I was kind of like, oh, sick little cutie is kind of like my kink.

Dax Shepard

That is your king. Sick little cutie. That could be your clothing line.

Geena Davis

Sick little cuties.

Dax Shepard

Sick little cuties.

Monica Padman

Anyway, that was just. I. That really made me laugh. He's so funny.

Dax Shepard

But it's more than that. He's got that thing some people have where he is just, like, infinitely comfortable in his own skin, which is so appealing.

Monica Padman

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

It's such a comforting personality type.

Geena Davis

It is.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. The women came after me. Just. Should I tell you that.

Monica Padman

What do you mean?

Dax Shepard

What I thought was an incredibly obvious joke about period period underwear and Tampax. Such a joke. Some women really came at me.

Monica Padman

Think they also might. I don't know if they really think that or if they're, like, playing along.

Dax Shepard

They're playing your role, maybe.

Monica Padman

Yeah, exactly.

Dax Shepard

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We really did uncover, though, something with

Monica Padman

the X. Yeah, I know.

Dax Shepard

Maxi Pad.

Monica Padman

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Tam packs.

Monica Padman

Maxi Pad would have been the first, probably. Yeah.

Dax Shepard

And then Nyx and then thinks, what is it?

Monica Padman

Thanks.

Dax Shepard

That's another brand of Spanx. And they go on your. They cover your. Okay,

Monica Padman

yeah. Women.

Geena Davis

X.

Monica Padman

Because X.

Dax Shepard

Someone said that. Someone suggested that in the comments, and I think that's brilliant. And I don't think that's what it is, but that's a brilliant.

Monica Padman

How could you possibly know?

Dax Shepard

I'm just trying to imagine the Tampax people going like, okay, let's call it. It's. It's a tampon. But let's. Let's build on that and let's add X because of the chromosome. I just. I.

Monica Padman

What's your. What's your, you know, idea that they

Dax Shepard

wanted to imbue a sense of max, like, Max comfort, max absorption, max freshness. Max. What was the word?

Geena Davis

Huh?

Dax Shepard

They had the word attached to Tampax in the ad we showed. Oh.

Monica Padman

Radiant.

Dax Shepard

Max Radiance.

Monica Padman

But it's not. It's Tampax.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

Not Tam. Max.

Dax Shepard

Tampaximum.

Monica Padman

I think it's X chromosome.

Dax Shepard

Oh, that's good. It's good. We'd have to track down whoever named Maxi Pad.

Monica Padman

That's the original. I bet. I bet you can. You can do that and come back to us.

Dax Shepard

Are you. Do you think they're alive?

Monica Padman

Probably. They're kids or kids of kids.

Dax Shepard

Okay, well, why you read a fact. I'm going to ask AI if the inventor of Maxi Pads is still alive.

Monica Padman

Okay, great.

Dax Shepard

Is the inventor of Maxi Pads still alive?

Monica Padman

If people listen to the CTE episode with Chris Nowinski, and then also it came up in another episode, the Pee Baby. Huh? We had AI make a video of us originally talking about the Peaby, the original story of Peaby.

Dax Shepard

Oh, really?

Monica Padman

Yeah. And we're. I'm going to post it tomorrow, but. So by the time you listen to this, it will be Posted and I really, really recommend people going to watch this. It'll be on our Instagram because for one, the story is just you need a good reminder of the pee baby. But the AI ey is hilarious.

Dax Shepard

Oh, I can't wait to see that.

Monica Padman

And it's like a version of you and me. Like the AI Made versions of us. It's so cool.

Dax Shepard

I can't wait to see.

Monica Padman

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Were you holding this as a surprise for me?

Monica Padman

No, I was just forgot. I'm doing stuff. You got things to do anyway, so check that out. Check out the P baby and the A.I. it just reminded me A.I.

Dax Shepard

okay, great.

Monica Padman

Did it respond?

Dax Shepard

Well, it had to have. Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner, an African American inventor, is renowned for her development of the adjustable sanitary belt, a precursor to the modern maxi pad. Okay, so they rarely went back. That was 1912.

Monica Padman

Oh, wow.

Dax Shepard

She passed away in 06, so that's off the table. Kenner's invention patented and featured a moisture proof pocket designed to hold menstrual pads securely in place. You know, innovation. Okay, we're in. Krenner face racial discrimination. That's a bummer. And of course was awarded five patents. In summary, Mary Beaches Davis and Kenner passed away in oh six. Okay. So I don't know if we're giving her credit for maxi Pat or. She did the belt.

Monica Padman

Okay.

Dax Shepard

Okay.

Monica Padman

All right. So we didn't learn anything.

Dax Shepard

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Monica Padman

Great. Now, what are the most watched shows on Netflix? This is on Wikipedia. And notoriously Netflix doesn't really release this information, so.

Dax Shepard

Or they do it weird. They do it. They'll do like a minute. Like so I just saw this and congrats to Dumal and Minka Kelly, friends

Monica Padman

of the pod, Ransom Canyon.

Dax Shepard

Ransom Canyon has 2.6 billion minutes viewed and to put it in perspective, Mobland, which I love and is seemingly ahead everyone I know is watching. It had like 580 million, so a 4 1/2x of second place. But they do minutes. Right. So that's an interesting, interesting way to. To. To quantify it.

Monica Padman

Interesting.

Dax Shepard

As opposed to like households who watch

Monica Padman

minutes or hours minutes. Interesting. Okay, well, this is just Wikipedia.

Geena Davis

Oh.

Monica Padman

And it's most popular television series by hours watch in their first 28 days. Number one is squid game season one.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

Stranger things.

Dax Shepard

Oh yeah.

Monica Padman

Is number two. Three is Wednesday.

Dax Shepard

Okay.

Monica Padman

Four is squid game season two. Five is Dahmer monster, the Jeffrey Dahmer story.

Dax Shepard

Wow. I wouldn't have picked that up just from walking around and people telling me to watch stuff. Yeah, that one's a surprise for me.

Monica Padman

Six is Money Heist. That was a big European show. Yes. I think six. Maybe it was in Spanish, I think.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. Anna turned us on to.

Monica Padman

She loved it.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

Oh, wait, no, sorry, that's. So six is money heist part five. Okay, interesting. Seven, eight and nine are Bridgerton season one, two and three, and then ten. Money heist part four. K11, stranger things.

Dax Shepard

I need to give Money Heist another shot. It was. It was subtitled.

Monica Padman

Yeah, I think so. I know.

Geena Davis

I would.

Monica Padman

I would watch. Watch that. I'm still in er.

Dax Shepard

Oh, I know when I started, which is so good. The Pit Deli Boys.

Monica Padman

Oh, I want.

Dax Shepard

You gotta try it.

Monica Padman

Yeah, I want to.

Dax Shepard

It's such a unique tone that they are pulling off beautifully.

Geena Davis

Nice.

Dax Shepard

It's fantastic.

Geena Davis

Cool.

Monica Padman

I love that.

Dax Shepard

You know, I like discovering these hiccups in my thinking.

Monica Padman

Huh.

Dax Shepard

And so there's a joke in Deli Boys. They have to deal with this Italian mob boss quite often. And they're Pakistani and the patriarch of. Not even the patriarch. One of the partners in the criminal organization, an older guy, he hates Indians. Right. He's constantly talking about how he hates Indians. And so he's sitting across from this Italian mobster and he says, pakistani, But I'm telling the truth, Indians are terrible. And the Italian goes, oh, I thought you were Indian. And he goes, no, I'm not. They are our mortal enemy. And then the mob. The Italian mobster goes, so you guys look identical to each other and you hate one another. And he goes, oh, cookie just got cancelled. He's like a. Then they all laugh. The notion of a mobster could get canceled.

Monica Padman

Oh. Oh, that's funny.

Dax Shepard

But then I was like, I think people do go, how do these two people hate each other so much? They're clearly related. And then I was like, yeah, I would never think that about the Irish and the English.

Monica Padman

Exactly.

Dax Shepard

The French and the English.

Monica Padman

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

And then I wondered if people in India are looking at those people going like, wait, you guys are the same people. Why are you fighting? Well, I wonder if it's like, whatever. In group, you're in the out. It seems crazy.

Monica Padman

On the outside, it's always about land and religion. Often religion. But, yeah, who owns what? And it's. I mean, that's very timely because India and Pakistan understand were.

Dax Shepard

Well, this was obviously made before. They've now launched missiles at each other.

Monica Padman

Exactly. But they're in a ceasefire.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

But Anyway, okay, Seth McFarland and Nick, that conversation, that's the SAG on the SAG, AFTRA Foundation. YouTube. Yeah. So you can watch that there if you're interested in animation.

Dax Shepard

Pretty unique conversation.

Monica Padman

Okay. The seasons of Seth McFarland shows. How many? Family Guy, 23 seasons. American Dad, 19 seasons. Cleveland show, four seasons.

Dax Shepard

46.

Geena Davis

Wow.

Dax Shepard

46. Television. 46 seasons of television.

Monica Padman

That's really it.

Dax Shepard

That's all the facts.

Monica Padman

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Well, Nick Crow, we love you.

Monica Padman

Well, there was one more.

Dax Shepard

Not really a speedy recovery.

Monica Padman

He's going to be sick for another 10 years or so.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. Like six. Six more years he's got of being sick. We're not sick anymore.

Monica Padman

Well, you kind of are. You're still kind of sick.

Dax Shepard

Probably more sick than I was pre. Kids in general. But like, they just stop putting their fingers in each other's mouths and butts and like. Like they just. They get a little more separated as they get older.

Monica Padman

Speaking of kids. Yeah. I wasn't sure if I was going to bring this up, but. Why not?

Dax Shepard

Yeah, why not? I said I was racist.

Monica Padman

Just, you know. Well, no, this isn't negative towards kids.

Dax Shepard

Oh, right. I'm just saying I revealed a lot, that I had some vestigial racial thinking that I caught myself.

Monica Padman

Sure.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

Mother's Day. We just had Mother's Day. Right.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

It's getting increasingly harder for me.

Dax Shepard

Okay.

Monica Padman

And I think from. For like so many reasons that feel overwhelming.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

And I'm just tracking that. That it's starting to feel really tough. I'm glad I go home. I go home. I've gone home the last couple years. And it's nice to be with my mom. And I know it makes them very happy. So I like doing that. But there is something about being there that's hard when I'm there, especially for myself. Moments, events, yearly events. The passage, like, time starts to feel very oppressive. The passage of time.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

You know, we go to the same places and, you know, I'm going to this, like, mall that I went to when I was in high school. And to see it be so much the same and also so different, it's just. It feels. It feels sad. It feels melancholic.

Dax Shepard

Right.

Monica Padman

And. And then seeing my parents age.

Dax Shepard

Yes.

Monica Padman

Is so hard.

Dax Shepard

The lack of permanence to everything.

Monica Padman

Yes.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

Yeah. And I keep kind of Buddhism. I know. And I. When I'm not there, I can detach from it when I'm here.

Dax Shepard

And you can keep it. Time locked in your mind and memory.

Monica Padman

Yes. And I. I think I can just compartmentalize in a way. Like they're there and that's Happening. But I'm not seeing day to day, like the little things that are changing. So it's kind. It's kind of hard to be there. Even though I'm glad I make that decision. That's a little hard. And then I also know being here would be hard because all of my friends have kids.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

And that is painful in its own way. And like, it just feels sort of like this day hard.

Dax Shepard

Is it painful because you feel like you're missing out on the mothering experience, or is it painful because you feel excluded from your friends in a way?

Geena Davis

I.

Dax Shepard

Which pain is it?

Monica Padman

I think it's both. I think it's. It's so tricky because it's not like on a day to day I think of the pain of not having children, but on that day, yes, I am aware. I'm just very aware that I don't.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

And that it's not. It wasn't really a choice. It's just the way my life went. Right.

Dax Shepard

Unfolded.

Monica Padman

Yeah. It unfolded in this way. I made decisions that took me in certain places. I, you know, I'm not married to my high school sweetheart. I didn't have one, you know, and yeah. I'm just like, aware, like, oh, my life hasn't gone. Didn't go that way.

Dax Shepard

Right.

Monica Padman

And yes, I can still make decisions that might lead to that, but it's different. It's like really different now. The. Me having a kid now is a real choice. It is not like, oh, I fell in love with this person and then maybe we'll have kids. That's the next step. It's. I have.

Dax Shepard

Oops, I'm pregnant. What do we do it? Let's do it.

Monica Padman

It's real, real hard decision making.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

It kind of. I don't. Yeah. And that's. That's an annoying thing to have to think about. Yeah. So, yeah, I guess.

Dax Shepard

Did it push you closer or further?

Monica Padman

I don't know. Like, makes me feel. Feel like, oh, I wish I had that. But does it make me feel like I'm gonna take those steps to do it?

Dax Shepard

If I were you, I would just want to be crystal clear if it is a desire to have the experience versus. Versus the A student in you. I know that's hard to know which is driving it, but I think one is worth chasing and one is worth overcoming.

Monica Padman

Yeah, I know. I don't know. Again, that's a question that I. I have to ask that I'm kind of resentful that I have to ask. Resentful towards my. Towards Life, I guess. Because I know that if I was married and in a partnership, I would, I would have kids.

Dax Shepard

Right.

Monica Padman

I would want that.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. So what does a guy in your situation do? Like, what is this 37 year old guy who can't go get a donor? Well, they could, I mean, yeah, they could. And then they got to get a surrogate and it's definitely more complicated. You're like, you're a stop at a sperm bank away from having a kid.

Monica Padman

Well, maybe, I mean, well, maybe because

Dax Shepard

of fertility, but you know, like a, a, a dude who's not loaded and can't pay for a surrogate and, and egg and all that stuff. I wonder what, how they wrestle with it, you know?

Monica Padman

Yeah. I mean, I, I assume it's the same feeling and the same thing. Like, I guess I have to figure out if I'm going to like, just be with a person I don't want to be with or, or take those steps in some ways. I mean, it's, it's all hard. But I think for a man, if they have the means, I mean, a lot of women don't have the means to do any of this either.

Dax Shepard

How much is a sperm donor?

Monica Padman

That's not terribly expensive to your egg. Like, you know, do retrievals and it's

Dax Shepard

expensive, but let's just say you, you

Monica Padman

have to remove the eggs in order to make the embryo.

Dax Shepard

Oh, they can't put a baster in you and do it.

Monica Padman

Oh, they can try ovulating. Yeah. Some people. That works for some people. It's pretty hard.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

For it to take, but it works for some people. But then if that doesn't work, you spent money doing that and then you have to, you know, it's a lot.

Dax Shepard

Right.

Monica Padman

But for a man, they can make the embryo. You know, they'll take the egg, the sperm, they'll make the embryo and then they'll implant it into a surrogate.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. I imagine that's a pricey endeavor.

Monica Padman

I'm sure. Fertility is so expensive. Another thing that's like, that's a cost. That it wouldn't be a cost. I mean, having kids is an insane cost.

Dax Shepard

Right.

Monica Padman

In general. General.

Dax Shepard

But mental health and.

Monica Padman

Yeah. Diapers. Diapers. Ding, ding, ding. That came up in Nick Kroll's fat types that your diapes and they went bankrupt.

Dax Shepard

Yeah, my diapers went bankrupt.

Monica Padman

Bad for business. Anyway, I just thought I would share it because I'm sure it's complicated for a lot of people, surely.

Dax Shepard

Mother's Day.

Monica Padman

For so many reasons.

Dax Shepard

Carrie sent me this Incredible post that a girl at our high school had put on Facebook. Facebook. And she was a grade younger than us, I believe. I didn't like. Of course, I didn't recognize her right away, but it was this really heartfelt, beautiful post about the complicated nature of Mother's Day and how she basically had to say goodbye to her mom at 16 because the mom moved to Arizona and the mom was not healthy. Mom. And so this girl was living. Going to my school.

Monica Padman

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Living on her own.

Monica Padman

Oh, my God.

Dax Shepard

Painful. An apartment. She sent it to me because she goes, side note, that's fun. I was once in detention and Dax Shepard said to me, what they put you in for?

Monica Padman

Oh, that's funny.

Dax Shepard

And then went on to say, don't worry about all this. Your life's really going to start in two minutes. And I know mine's not ending here in this det.

Monica Padman

Oh, wow.

Dax Shepard

Whether I said that or not, who knows? Maybe in her mind I said that. But I'm delighted that on that detention we had, you know, like, a fun.

Monica Padman

Yeah. Interaction.

Dax Shepard

Yeah. But it was just a really sweet post and a reminder of, like, man, some kids, like, the experience can be so rad. Carrie said to me, going, I'm such a. For bitching about my two loving parents who, you know, whatever.

Monica Padman

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

But, like, yeah, there's kids in your high school that are, like, they're supporting themselves and living in an apartment.

Monica Padman

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

And they don't have any parents.

Monica Padman

Yeah.

Dax Shepard

Yeah.

Monica Padman

Okay. Anyway, well, that's it. All right.

Dax Shepard

Love you.

Monica Padman

Love you.