Hi, everyone. I'm Katie Couric and this is next question. You know, when I was getting ready to interview the actor Adam Scott, I wasn't sure what I was in for. I didn't know that much about him. Of course I recognized him from a lot of different roles, but I really didn't know what to expect, and I have to admit I ended up really really liking Adam Scott. Hello, Adam, Hi. Hi, it's Katie. Hi. I learned a lot about him during the course of our conversation. That I would have loved his mom, That he lives close to the house we've been riding in l A for the past couple of months. That he loves building forts. You're going to think it's really weird, but I'm doing this under a blanket because this room is super echoy. I don't mind. Let's just pretend like we're in a fort that we made as kids. I love it. I love forts, and I love coziness, and it's cozy, And and that nothing was going to stop him from becoming an actor, even though he may do with bit parts scraping a living together for fifteen years. Nevertheless, he persisted, you look back and you're like, oh, oh my god, I was nowhere. Ironically, after wanting to break into Hollywood for so long, the first big acting gig he got was playing a hollywould want to be stuck in a dead end catering job and the now cult favorite show Party Down. Were you were? You that guy? You were? You were totally that guy that is bananas? I remember that. I remember you? What are you doing working here? Will you remember me from anything else? Spoiler alert? It works out for our dear Adam. He has start in some truly vengebile TV, from Parks and Wreck to Big Little Lies to now front and center in a new series called Severance. Hello, my name is Mark S and I have of my own free accord, elected to undergo the procedure known as Severance. We get into the show Adams scrappy beginnings, that magnificent quoth, and much more. I hope you enjoy our chat as much as I did. I'm excited to talk about Severance because when I first saw billboards advertising your new show on Apple TV, I thought, Wow, that is really extraordinary timing. Here we are on the heels of the pandemic that has left so many people of all ages, rethinking the workplace, rethinking you know, what we want to do with our lives. There's the Great Resignation, which other people have called the Great Reset. But it seems almost uncanny that this show is coming out at this moment. Was it complete serendipity or was it Um did you foresee something happening in the culture. It was complete serendipity. I mean the show was written pre pandemic, and we were going to start shooting April of and had to delay, you know, obviously for seven months and started that. We started shooting the day after the election in November. Um, so we were shooting right in the heart of pre vaccine New York pandemic. It was, uh, as everyone knows, it was a crazy time. And so no, I think it was complete serendipity. But um, you know Dan Ericson the creator and writer, and Ben Stiller the director and executive producer, you know, kind of the creative forces really behind the show. Um, you know, serendipitous, But I think also the the kind of everything we're feeling right now and kind of the result of of everything that's happened the past couple of years. You know, you have to think that the seeds of this have been planted for some time. It's just we were accelerating for the past couple of years. That's so interesting. I think you're so right. I think millennials and now Gen Z of people I don't know, gen z ears Um. I think this sort of restlessness and this questioning of career tracks and the idea. Remember giving a commencement address and saying most millennials will change jobs and average of fourteen times in their lifetime, you know. And I think we've seen this slow shift from people who work for one company their entire lives, retire with the know of old watch a lunch and a pension, and this this very different view of work and priorities. So I think you're right. Everything accelerated. I think all these pre existing trends accelerated during the pandemic. But while you were shooting it, did you sort of feel like this feels very of the moment. We've kind of captured lightning in a bottle in terms of some of the themes that this show presents. You know, it was tough to see the forest for the trees while we were shooting, because, um, it was such a gargantuan task in front of us, in front of you. I remember Amy Poehler used to call it being at the bottom of show mountain when you're just starting a new show, that that that no one knows what it is, so there's no definition to it, and you're at the bottom of the mountain. H when you know, when you're at episode one of hopefully as many as possible, but you have to shoot the show, but you also have to construct and define it, find the tone, all of those things that make a show work. Um Uh, you have to sort of figure it out as you're doing it, because there's no really really knowing what it's going to be, what it's going to feel like until those cameras are rolling, when you have everyone in the room doing it, and so it is like being at the bottom of a mountain. And and that's that's how it felt. And um for me, never having been at the center of something quite so big and challenging, um, I just was you know, day too, going trying to just jump from one lily pad to the next, keeping up with the work and and under these extraordinary circumstances in the middle of COVID where you guys, we're probably being tested on a regular basis and having to keep your distance and we're masks when you're not, you know, when they don't say action. I mean that that must have been really tough. It was really interesting. And the isolation of it what you just said, they you know, the moment they called cut, putting a mask and a shield up in front of your face. We never even saw the cruise faces for the ten months we're working on the show. And then also you go home and I was away from my family. I was in New York, so I live in Los Angeles, so I was by myself in an apartment in in New York. And pre vaccine, New York was, especially in the fall of was pretty locked down. It was pretty and it was pretty very As somebody who lives in the city too, you know, you would walk out on Park Avenue and in the middle of the day and there it was empty, no cars. I mean, honestly, it was like a movie. I know, it was crazy. It was like a mid nineties like Wolfgang Peterson movie or something. So um. So yeah, I I would shoot the show for twelve hours or whatever, get in a van, go back to the apartment, eat, sleep, wake up, get in a van go to the show, and the show was this kind of stark uh isolated, um, strange environment and so it was very severance, like my kind of existence parallel to the show. It was. It was very uh, very strange, and I was, you know, grappling with a loss in my life and alone for the first time in six months after this intent time with family. You know, we're like we all did we really buckled down. I buckled down with my two kids and my wife for six months and had this extraordinary time together. Um and then to suddenly just be boom, You're by yourself uh in uh in a in a in the city and and and working, and you know, it was a it was like slamming the brakes on and then getting into a car you've never driven before and trying to figure it out. That's a metaphor that I'm not going to keep following. I was so excited to see your your mug on the billboard and that pretty serious head of hair of yours, although it was kind of slicked down in the billboard. I'm not obsessed with hair. Your hair just happens to look lovely today and very much, very fresh and maybe just washed, but anyway, Um, you know, tell me about the plot, a little bit about your character m in the show and and how this whole idea was turned into I guess what I would describe as a psychological thriller of sorts. Yeah, I think, Um, I think, I think that's right. I think it's a bunch of different things kind of there's a few balls that are in the air with with the show. And I think that's what really kind of got Ben really Ben still are really interested in and it is that it has this sort of this the entry into the story sort of feels uh workplace, like a fun workplace comedy in a way like office space or or the Officer parks and wreck even this sort of light, fun bantery um way in and then that you sort of sense that there's something a little more sinister maybe lurking underneath. And then you kind of realized that this is this fun office vibe that involves people who have no idea what they're doing there or who they are. Um. Yeah, I mean the conceit of the show is that we live in a time where there's this technology where you can get a chip inserted into your brain that bifurcates your memories. So when you go to work, once you cross the threshold of your workplace, you lose all of your memory of who you are in the outside world, and your entire life and perspective on your life is there at work, and so that is who you are. And then when you leave at the end of the day and cross that threshold once again, something is triggered in the chip in your brain and you have no access to the memories of what just happened at work, and you have no idea actually what your job even is. You just live in the outside world. So the the idea is, um, you can completely focus on your personal life and then you can completely focus on your job and never the twain shall meet. And so the work life balance is finally solved. Um. There there there is a complete balance in in in the work life conundrum. So I'll never leave here, You'll leave it five well, actually they stagger exit, so but it won't feel like it not to this version of you anyway. Do you have a family? You never know? I have no choice. Well, every time you find yourself here, it's because you chose to come back and tell us about the character you play. By the way, it sounds like Office Space meets Black Mirror. Yeah, yeah, sure, yeah, I think Twilight Zone and Black Mirror are certainly touchstones. Um uh, it's a certain as a fan. When I first read the scripts, that's the stuff that I love watching and have since. Twilight Zone was a huge thing for me as a kid, and so reading it, I you know, it was something that that I would want to watch as a as an audience member. Um yeah, my character Mark is in the outside world. A couple of years ago he lost his wife and you know too, and it's been two and a half years and he is not doing well. He's not moving on UM and a couple of years ago decided to get severed because he just didn't want to feel this Paine twenty four hours a day so he can wake up in the morning, have breakfast, drive to work, and then boom, he's leaving work and getting his car, driving home, eating and going to sleep. That's his life. He doesn't have to feel anything for eight to ten hours a day. And I think also part of his reasoning for this UM is that this grief and this pain is in a way all he has left of his of his wife, and he's that's you know, whether consciously or not, why he's grasping onto this and holding onto it, why he doesn't want to move on, is because this is this is what he has, and and being able to check out for most of most of the day is a way of holding onto it while not having to necessarily deal with or feel it. Interesting and do you think it's a metaphor for how sort of unhealthily entwined our personal lives have become with our work lives. In other words, the constant connectivity thanks to technology has made it really difficult for us to have what was for so long considered our two separate lives. You know, even for me, when I started out in television news, I would go to work, I would come home and that was time with my family. Now I had to do homework, you know, the night before, which was delivered. It sounds so quaint in an envelope with with actual you know, uh, papers and zeros and articles, yeah, and Manila folders and all that jazz. But I still felt that when I was not physically at work, I wasn't thinking about work seven and now the lines have been so blurred, So it is sort of this part of the solution for that, um all encompassing professional side that we now have. Yeah, I guess so, I guess that's the that's the idea. Yeah, I mean I know that. It's it sounds great to be able to sever the two things because I I always pictured that as well. I always pictured once my professional life, god anywhere, and I had any traction or any stability it, especially once I started we started a family that I would work and then come home and honey, I'm home and the martini in your bedroom, slippers and exactly like Madman or something. You know, that's sort of what you always picture. But by the time it happened for me, there was no you know, you walk through the door and there's a buzzing in your pocket and you know it's seven. There really is no stopping no matter what you're doing for a living. Um, you have to really draw the line for yourself and and if you want that separation, you have to put it in a drawer. But then, um, you know, if you're not reachable for two hours, uh, you know, people think there's something going on, there's something wrong, and um, it's it's now unusual to just be unresponsive for a certain amount of time. It is a strange a strange uh strange time. And certainly, um, you know, like you were saying earlier, how it almost feels like the pandemic or lockdown or whatever sort of accelerated what what what was already happening with the gig economy and and uh and and all of that. Yeah, it's uh strange. I mean what you were talking about with I would assume with the Today Show when you would come home and get to be with your family and then get that that big packet of homework that must have been you know, it's it's sounds like it sounds exhausting, but there is something really comforting about it now and sort of straightforward about this is what you have to do for tomorrow and that's what it is, and and and you're not going to be bothered and this is this isn't all going to be turned upside down and changed and changed. I mean, unless there's some big words, there's a big news story. But it's funny because you know, I always remind myself that iPhones didn't come out till two eight and so all through the nineties, in the early two thousand's, Um, you know, I could be with my kids at the park without an eruption. I wasn't looking at my phone. Uh uh, you know, flip bones were just kind of coming out then, and I could be so much more present. And I remember reading that Susan Surrandon and Tim Robbins, when they were married, had a house rule that they wouldn't answer the phone between five and eight, which is so funny now when you think about it, because people don't even have landlines anymore, and now we're all addicted to our phones, and to be able to be away from it for three hours, it's almost a herculean feet So it's just crazy how it's it's almost um, how much this new way of living has slowly, and I would say malevolently, seeped into our our very beans, you know. Um. And I don't think for the better coming up Adam's Aha moment, done dunune done done dunda. Oh that sounded bad. Right after this, I wanted to take a moment because I know you're from Santa Cruz, Adam, and I'm just curious. I always love to hear people's origin stories, and I'm curious how you got bitten by the acting bug in the first place, and and and how you found yourself on on this Thespian road if you will, Yeah, the the Thespian Avenue actor Lane. Um. Yeah, you know, I think it was really pretty simple and maybe shallow, but or not shallow, but I think it was pretty simple, which was I was always sort of interested. But then, um, I saw Raiders of the Lost Art and I think it was right at the age because it came out in what eighty one eighty two, and so I was eight nine years old. I remember seeing that movie. I remember getting back to my friend's house and rushing to a phone, to a landline and calling my mom because I had to unload all these feelings because I had just seemed something and nothing would ever be the same again. This movie didn't stop. It was just fun all the way through. And it was hilarious. And you know, you watch that movie now and there are jokes, not just like funny asides, there are jokes and good ones. Um uh and uh, and I just it just blew my mind. And you know something, you know back then, you know, I went to see that movie so so many times. Uh, And I still love it and have to watch it a couple of times a year. But I think that was the beginning of I say simple because it was as simple as I want to do that. That looks like, there's what else would you could you possibly want to do the other than that than the Harrison Ford. Jesus, that looks great. I mean, talk about getting the girls yet getting the girls getting to Jesus dirty. You're jumping from one thing to the other, smarter than everyone else, making mistakes but then making up for it. He's a flawed guy. He also was a professor. My dad was a professor, so there was a lot of that too. Like I saw my dad and him, I still do when I watch any Harrison Ford thing, I feel I feel my kind of see my dad in that. But the professor, the college professor, which is what my my dad was before he retired, and so uh so it was just the perfect recipe for me and millions of others. I mean, obviously it was this phenomenon and and then Temple of Doom. Maybe I may even like that more. I just of that too, So that was kind of the start of it. And it was just like the secret I harbored for years and years that this is what I wanted to do, but I was embarrassed by it, so I never really told anyone that this is what I planned on doing, um until years and years later. But that was the Uh, that was kind of the start of it. It was Raiders. It's amazing, isn't it how one film can be so transformative? And which is I think the beauty of all different kinds of art forms, whether it's a book or a movie or a piece of art anyway. But so when did you start for real pursuing this career? Um? Did you do dinner theater? Adam? No, but I I've been to the dinner theater, and uh, that's an experience, uh, actually getting like, you know, baked Alaska while you're watching Dames at Sea? Like what else? What else could you ask for? Um? I I did the you know, theater in high school and and all of that, and then um, and then uh went to acting school after that. You know, when I was like a junior in high school, I finally kind of said I think I can do this and and and there was sort of a social stigma of being a theater person at my high school, so I didn't really want to commit fully. But but then uh, did and and and and sort of let it out there that this is something I want to pursue. And and went to acting school after high school and in Pasadena, California's where the acting school was, and I was in nine one. I came down here and I went to the school for a couple of years, and then came here to Hollywood and nine fall of ninety three and just started, you know, doing extra work and our background and uh, scrounging around for auditions, just doing anything I could, you know. Yeah, well, you know, I've been in l A for a couple of months and it's made me think of, you know, the entertainment industry a lot, and being an actor must prey on every insecurity you have. And it no wonder so many of the kids who who have fame early on in their lives are so screwed up later. I mean it is. It is really destabilizing. How do you handle kind of the uncertainty and the really I guess capriciousness. I'm, by the way, very impressed by my vocabulary during this podcast, too excellent. Thank you. I wouldn't expect anything less. I'm pulling out all the I'm pulling out all the safety words today for some reason. But you know, how do you handle the uncertainty of being an actor? And you know, always kind of now that I've made you probably start getting pitted out by even discussing this, But the uncertainty of where your next role is going to come from. Yeah, that sort of thing never goes away. I mean, I I think, you know, I think back to starting out, you know, kind of hustling for roles and stuff, trying to piece something together and Fall of ninety three, so I was, I was, um, you know, I auditioned for Scream and Scream too, and I know what you did last summer and all of that. I was around for all of that stuff and didn't get any of it. And uh, like I was, you know, went on thousands of auditions and was rejected thousands of times, and uh made my living doing like guest spots and stuff and cobbling something together. But it wasn't until fifteen years in that I even started to get real traction. But had kind of deluded myself into thinking that I was getting traction all the way, just keep going, and but then once you actually get traction, you look back and you're like, oh, oh, my god, I was nowhere and the people that loved me were so generous by kind of being, you know, helping keep me afloat with that delusion all along, or you know, so anyway, Um, so you just kind of delude That's how you kept going because I imagine there are many of people who come to Hollywood, you know, hoping to be discovered at the soda fountain, you know, or you know, just having one perceptive soul and a casting in an audition see something into you or kind of give you your first big break. But so many people just never get that. And you know, um, and so it sounds like you deluded yourself initially. But is that? Is that how you kept going? You kept you kept just saying, well, I'm I'm kind of all that right now, and I'm just going to kind of build on this. Or what other things kept you from saying, you know, I'm going to go to business school or I'm gonna I'm going to get the business side of the industry, because this this is for the birds. There was something, yeah, I mean there there was something that I always sort of felt I I had that and doubted over and over and over again and gave up on over and over again. But something I felt like I still kind of had to offer no matter what. And um and I don't know how I kept believing in that because there were so many times where any logical person would have abandoned it. But I think there was a lack of other options because I, like I said from Raiders and Pulls Dark, never wanted to do or even thought about doing anything else. So I had hadn't nurtured any other real interests or skills and uh. And so if you didn't make it as an actor, you were kind of hosed at him. I think I think you're right. I think that's you're hitting the nail on the head, which is why it's been terrifying and still is terrifying. You know, you never know. Um uh. You know. Also as I was, you know, going through the nineties and stuff, and and I did see a lot of people get discovered at the Soda Fountain and get this big flush of fame and attention or get that plumb role in this or that, and then you see them disappear. I've seen so you know, I've been here almost thirty years. I've seen so many people come and go. I've seen people come and stick the landing and know what to do with it. Like you see Matt Damon, Uh what he would He's you know, he's someone that I used to see on auditions and and then you see him no exactly what to do and how to do it. But then that for every one of him, there's a hundred others that, um just kind of come and go. And I'm so glad I didn't get scream or I know what you did last summer because I would have sucked or I would have not been ready and not known what to do with the opportunity and made stupid decisions. So uh, you know, UM, it's a it's it's kind of a puzzle. I wanted to ask you real quick about some of your favorite roles because it seems that you've done, you know, a real variety at them. Tell me about some of the highlights that when you look back, you're like, wow, that was just that was just perfect. You know. Yeah, Um, I've been super lucky and that I I do have a uh several of those. I can look back on it with so fondly. Um for such a tough business. Sometimes, Um, I've landed in several spots where it's just been terrific and and so much fun. And I certainly attribute that to luck more than anything. Um, like you were saying, luck plays a huge part, and I've certainly been lucky. Uh. Um. You know, I think that something that really turned it around for me just internally was uh, Party Down, which was a show I just did with my friends. Right. It wasn't for career reasons. I don't think my representatives were particularly interested in me doing this. Um. It didn't seem to have any advantages at the time, and it was simply because I wasn't able to get anything else. And my friends We're like, hey, how about we just do this and it seemed fun and uh, and so so I did it and it was fun. It was the most fun. Uh. And that really makes a difference in what you push then push out into the world that you're all enjoying yourselves, you know, and um and sort of discovering this fun thing together which is what we were all doing on on that show, and feeling like, probably no one will ever see this, so let's just do it for us and each other and have a blast. And that's what we did, and then got to do twenty of them two seasons, and then eventually years later people did catch onto it and and and I found this this audience and uh and so that was sort of the reason I say it was sort of uh uh. I don't know if I said it was a game changer, but it sort of was just internally because I felt like, oh, this can be super enjoyable and that makes a big difference in what I put out there in my work. Um, when I watched it, I can tell that's better because I'm having a lot of fun and just sort of letting myself have a lot of fun. Um. So that and and then Parks sort of came out of that Parks and Wreck, and that was another example of this is a terrific lovely group of people. Um. And we became fast friends. And that was five years I was doing that, and it was you know, driving to work every day with your friends and doing silly things, um and heartfelt lovely things as well. That was a really beautifully written show and character and everything. And so I think with those experiences it kind of set a new blueprint for me as far as what what I what I should do. And it was a good lesson, like do something that is fun and that you would want to watch, and and that has never really failed me. Not that I've always done that. I've certainly done things for other reasons, but it usually works out for me when when those are the components. I see, not everybody gets along, Nathan, I mean, can't we just be comfortable not liking each other? It doesn't have to be a reason. Of course. You also, I know Adam played uh the Slightly Losers husband of Reese Witherspoon and Big Little Lies, which, um, must have been an interesting experience working with all those strong women, right, Yeah, it was incredible. Uh, And that was something I Parks and Record just ended, and I wanted to try and do something a little more dramatic or or or whatever, and um, and really sought that out and went and and auditioned a few times. I really wanted to do that, and really had wanted to do anything with Reese for years and years, and um, I was so excited to uh to to land at and get and get to do that. And it took place in Monterey, which is right next to Santa Cruz, and so I kind of felt a little connected to to a geographically and um, uh yeah, and getting to work with those incredible women was was was an experience as well. They're also um so talented and uh and smart, so smart and cool. It was really it was really a great experience speaking of strong women. When we come back, Adam talks about his incredible mom and the weight of losing a parent before we go, I wanna want to talk about your mom first of all, I know you lost your mom. I believe ad him in it. Yeah, right before luck. It was March five, so it was right before everything sort of turned upside down. But that was, I know, just a devastating loss. You know. I'm I've done um a lot some fundraising or contributed to Project a l S because I became very friendly with Jennifer Estes, who started Naked Angels, a theater company in New York City, who was diagnosed with a l S UM when she was very young. And uh, it is such a cruel, heartbreaking disease. I mean, you know it firsthand. And what was your mom sick for a long time or was it relatively fast? It it really tore through her quickly, it was you know, it's a particularly cruel disease. It's it's just devastating. And uh it it was just a couple of years. Uh it you know, she was in her early seventies and and yeah, it moved quickly. I know sometimes it moved slower, but with her, it was just a couple of years sort of end to end, and um, yeah it was it was. It was devastating. It's a sort of disease where you just don't want to think about the nightmare being trapped in your body, right, I mean, and mentally most in most cases, I'm not a doctor, so I probably shouldn't make this proclamation, but I think mentally most people are pretty uh sharp, and their bodies just betraying them slowly but surely. And let you know that you and your mom were extremely close, and uh, tell me a little bit about her, because sometimes I think we focus on the way people died instead of the way they lived. Thank you. That's really uh sweet. Um she was a really uh incredible person and uh uh a person who kind of lived you know, turned it up to eleven. She was you know, out outdoor, it was always out running or walking or you know, grew up in Santa CRUs so we had you know, I grew up with a little bit of a hippie ish vibe to everything. Not that she had time to be a hippie because she had was raising three kids and she was a public school teacher. Um, but being kind of outdoorsy and granola was something I always uh teased her about and always have fun fun with. Like we didn't really have a TV in the house. It was that sort of thing, um, And she probably had what what was it when we were kids. You're, as I said, you're probably ten or fifteen years younger than I am, Adam, But what was it? What like the precursor to granola was like gorp or something or gorp. Oh I as I grew up with gore. I was going to say, it sounds like it sounds like a very gorpy household. One dent a lot of spiro leina. Uh yeah, you know. Whole Foods is like I grew up going to the Staff of Life, which was the health food store in Santa Cruz and and I just you know it was making jokes about it by the time I was like six years old. Um. Uh. You know, she was an incredibly unique person. I was allowed to cuss as much as I wanted as a as we were in our home, and so were my friends when they came over. So when we were in elementary school, they would come over and immediately walk in the house and be like f you and and she'd be and she'd just be like, hey, f you you little shit. Uh. And they I mean loved it. And these are like twelve year old kids. They get to come over and cuss. Um. Yeah, it was very And once I had kids, I had mixed feelings about her doing this with my you know it, you know, really put it to the test. Um, But it was it was great. And so she was the ultimate cool mom from from day one. And um, like I said, she was a public school the special teacher at at the high school I actually went to, and uh, it was just an extraordinary person. And so and we were very close. And she was the first person I shared, um, my ambition to be a professional actor when I was fifteen or sixteen, And her reaction is what kind of gave me the confidence to then share it with with others. You know what her reaction her it was, Um, I was watching the Academy Awards whatever the year was, when River Phoenix was nominated for Running on Empty I don't remember him and stand by me. Oh sure. Running on Empty is a Sidney Lumette movie. He was nominated for for Best Supporting Actor. But it was the Oscars were on and she came into my room and I pointed to the TV and I said, hey, you know, I think I think I can do that, and I think I can do it, uh better than than some people. And she just said, yeah, I know, you can't go to bed and close the door. It was just she didn't even think about it for a second. She just and that was. Um, you know, there was no condescension in her approval of my idea. It was just logical to her. And uh, you know, it was always beyond, you know, supportive to the point of of of like any son with their mom being overly supportive get annoyed by it. But um, just you know, I was properly loved growing up and that's that's really what you can ask for with with a mother. And so you know, um, it was a particularly devastating loss, I think, you know, for anyone losing their their mom and stuff. Yeah, I agree. I think you just there's no if if you're lucky enough to be the product of good parenting, you know, and I realized as I get older, we are very fortunate because so many people, for whatever reasons, don't receive that kind of unconditional love from their parents. But um, you know, we're so so fortunate. And I in my book, I wrote, my minister told me after my mom died, I was just devastated. I can't remember it was after my dad or my mom died. I was just just I mean, I was just so lost and so so upset. And he said, those who love deeply grieved deeply. And that always made me feel It always made me turn the loss into a gain, if that makes sense. It always made me really appreciate my good fortune and having really wonderful parents. And also, you know, I lost my husband and my sister, so I've had a loss and a lot of loss in my life. And um, but I think for I think for especially for parents, you think that really profound, deep deep loss. Um is because I think you feel I feel even more when you have you know, you've been the recipient of unconditional love. So yeah, but your mom was too young. Your mom was too young for sure. Yeah, It's something I didn't anticipate, you know, because she was sick. For a while, we knew what was coming, but then the moment it happens, there's a shift in It's a your your world does change the moment it happens, no matter how much you are expecting it. And what I realized was, you know, with parents, you're you realize that you part of what you're doing throughout your life is for them for them to see and for them to be able to tell them about something or let them kind of see what you're doing out in the world or with your family or whether kind of everything. It's sort of a uh, this watchful eye that's suddenly gone, that uh that is you know, it's it's something that it's it's it's more of a feeling than trying to intellectualize it like that is tough. It's tough to put put into words, but it's an emotional thing that that it's almost hard to explain unless someone has lost a parent, um and a good parent especially Yes, exactly exactly. I would imagine it's different if if it was a different situation, Well, I I'll have to think about if I ever have grandkids, if my my domicile will be a you know, cuss what do you call it a cuss zone? Like you can say whatever you want kids my care you would totally not approve. I have to be honest with you, Adam, My my dad would would give, would never really let me cuss as a kid. But um, you know, now everybody drops the F bomb so much you're walking down the street. It's just like every other word. But I sound like a you know, prudish year old lady. But um no, I agree it it needs to be artfully done in order for it to land properly. And by the way, if I ever did it disrespectfully or did it with anger or disrespect, you told your mother to go at herself. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no no. It had to be certainly in a in a joking manner. Otherwise I was in huge, deep trouble to be sure. Well, I'm so happy that we got a chance to to talk. Please forget my blanket. It's so cool, are you kidding? I mean, I've never done this before and it is kind of hilarious. So maybe we'll have to run a clip of this podcast to show how you can start that Katie Couric podcast hood that you wear it for recording and that's ane, that's an idea. Well, thanks again. I really enjoyed. I really enjoyed getting to know you and talking to you, and uh I hope our paths cross again someday. Same. Thank you, Katie, thanks for having me. That was the ever charming Adam Scott. I know it's weird, but I kind of want to be his friend. His new show is called Severance and it's streaming now on Apple TV. Next Question with Katie Kurik is a production of My Heart Media and Katie Kurk Media. The executive producers Army, Katie Curic, and Courtney Litz. The supervising producer is Lauren Hansen. Associate producers Derek Clements and Adriana Fasio. The show is edited and mixed by Derrek Clements. For more information about today's episode, or to sign up for my morning newsletter, Wake Up Paul, go to Katie Rick dot com. You can also find me at Katie Curic on Instagram and all my social media channels. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Hi, everyone. I'm Katie Couric and this is next question. You know, when I was getting ready to interview the actor Adam Scott, I wasn't sure what I was in for. I didn't know that much about him. Of course I recognized him from a lot of different roles, but I really didn't know what to expect, and I have to admit I ended up really really liking Adam Scott. Hello, Adam, Hi. Hi, it's Katie. Hi. I learned a lot about him during the course of our conversation. That I would have loved his mom, That he lives close to the house we've been riding in l A for the past couple of months. That he loves building forts. You're going to think it's really weird, but I'm doing this under a blanket because this room is super echoy. I don't mind. Let's just pretend like we're in a fort that we made as kids. I love it. I love forts, and I love coziness, and it's cozy, And and that nothing was going to stop him from becoming an actor, even though he may do with bit parts scraping a living together for fifteen years. Nevertheless, he persisted, you look back and you're like, oh, oh my god, I was nowhere. Ironically, after wanting to break into Hollywood for so long, the first big acting gig he got was playing a hollywould want to be stuck in a dead end catering job and the now cult favorite show Party Down. Were you were? You that guy? You were? You were totally that guy that is bananas? I remember that. I remember you? What are you doing working here? Will you remember me from anything else? Spoiler alert? It works out for our dear Adam. He has start in some truly vengebile TV, from Parks and Wreck to Big Little Lies to now front and center in a new series called Severance. Hello, my name is Mark S and I have of my own free accord, elected to undergo the procedure known as Severance. We get into the show Adams scrappy beginnings, that magnificent quoth, and much more. I hope you enjoy our chat as much as I did. I'm excited to talk about Severance because when I first saw billboards advertising your new show on Apple TV, I thought, Wow, that is really extraordinary timing. Here we are on the heels of the pandemic that has left so many people of all ages, rethinking the workplace, rethinking you know, what we want to do with our lives. There's the Great Resignation, which other people have called the Great Reset. But it seems almost uncanny that this show is coming out at this moment. Was it complete serendipity or was it Um did you foresee something happening in the culture. It was complete serendipity. I mean the show was written pre pandemic, and we were going to start shooting April of and had to delay, you know, obviously for seven months and started that. We started shooting the day after the election in November. Um, so we were shooting right in the heart of pre vaccine New York pandemic. It was, uh, as everyone knows, it was a crazy time. And so no, I think it was complete serendipity. But um, you know Dan Ericson the creator and writer, and Ben Stiller the director and executive producer, you know, kind of the creative forces really behind the show. Um, you know, serendipitous, But I think also the the kind of everything we're feeling right now and kind of the result of of everything that's happened the past couple of years. You know, you have to think that the seeds of this have been planted for some time. It's just we were accelerating for the past couple of years. That's so interesting. I think you're so right. I think millennials and now Gen Z of people I don't know, gen z ears Um. I think this sort of restlessness and this questioning of career tracks and the idea. Remember giving a commencement address and saying most millennials will change jobs and average of fourteen times in their lifetime, you know. And I think we've seen this slow shift from people who work for one company their entire lives, retire with the know of old watch a lunch and a pension, and this this very different view of work and priorities. So I think you're right. Everything accelerated. I think all these pre existing trends accelerated during the pandemic. But while you were shooting it, did you sort of feel like this feels very of the moment. We've kind of captured lightning in a bottle in terms of some of the themes that this show presents. You know, it was tough to see the forest for the trees while we were shooting, because, um, it was such a gargantuan task in front of us, in front of you. I remember Amy Poehler used to call it being at the bottom of show mountain when you're just starting a new show, that that that no one knows what it is, so there's no definition to it, and you're at the bottom of the mountain. H when you know, when you're at episode one of hopefully as many as possible, but you have to shoot the show, but you also have to construct and define it, find the tone, all of those things that make a show work. Um Uh, you have to sort of figure it out as you're doing it, because there's no really really knowing what it's going to be, what it's going to feel like until those cameras are rolling, when you have everyone in the room doing it, and so it is like being at the bottom of a mountain. And and that's that's how it felt. And um for me, never having been at the center of something quite so big and challenging, um, I just was you know, day too, going trying to just jump from one lily pad to the next, keeping up with the work and and under these extraordinary circumstances in the middle of COVID where you guys, we're probably being tested on a regular basis and having to keep your distance and we're masks when you're not, you know, when they don't say action. I mean that that must have been really tough. It was really interesting. And the isolation of it what you just said, they you know, the moment they called cut, putting a mask and a shield up in front of your face. We never even saw the cruise faces for the ten months we're working on the show. And then also you go home and I was away from my family. I was in New York, so I live in Los Angeles, so I was by myself in an apartment in in New York. And pre vaccine, New York was, especially in the fall of was pretty locked down. It was pretty and it was pretty very As somebody who lives in the city too, you know, you would walk out on Park Avenue and in the middle of the day and there it was empty, no cars. I mean, honestly, it was like a movie. I know, it was crazy. It was like a mid nineties like Wolfgang Peterson movie or something. So um. So yeah, I I would shoot the show for twelve hours or whatever, get in a van, go back to the apartment, eat, sleep, wake up, get in a van go to the show, and the show was this kind of stark uh isolated, um, strange environment and so it was very severance, like my kind of existence parallel to the show. It was. It was very uh, very strange, and I was, you know, grappling with a loss in my life and alone for the first time in six months after this intent time with family. You know, we're like we all did we really buckled down. I buckled down with my two kids and my wife for six months and had this extraordinary time together. Um and then to suddenly just be boom, You're by yourself uh in uh in a in a in the city and and and working, and you know, it was a it was like slamming the brakes on and then getting into a car you've never driven before and trying to figure it out. That's a metaphor that I'm not going to keep following. I was so excited to see your your mug on the billboard and that pretty serious head of hair of yours, although it was kind of slicked down in the billboard. I'm not obsessed with hair. Your hair just happens to look lovely today and very much, very fresh and maybe just washed, but anyway, Um, you know, tell me about the plot, a little bit about your character m in the show and and how this whole idea was turned into I guess what I would describe as a psychological thriller of sorts. Yeah, I think, Um, I think, I think that's right. I think it's a bunch of different things kind of there's a few balls that are in the air with with the show. And I think that's what really kind of got Ben really Ben still are really interested in and it is that it has this sort of this the entry into the story sort of feels uh workplace, like a fun workplace comedy in a way like office space or or the Officer parks and wreck even this sort of light, fun bantery um way in and then that you sort of sense that there's something a little more sinister maybe lurking underneath. And then you kind of realized that this is this fun office vibe that involves people who have no idea what they're doing there or who they are. Um. Yeah, I mean the conceit of the show is that we live in a time where there's this technology where you can get a chip inserted into your brain that bifurcates your memories. So when you go to work, once you cross the threshold of your workplace, you lose all of your memory of who you are in the outside world, and your entire life and perspective on your life is there at work, and so that is who you are. And then when you leave at the end of the day and cross that threshold once again, something is triggered in the chip in your brain and you have no access to the memories of what just happened at work, and you have no idea actually what your job even is. You just live in the outside world. So the the idea is, um, you can completely focus on your personal life and then you can completely focus on your job and never the twain shall meet. And so the work life balance is finally solved. Um. There there there is a complete balance in in in the work life conundrum. So I'll never leave here, You'll leave it five well, actually they stagger exit, so but it won't feel like it not to this version of you anyway. Do you have a family? You never know? I have no choice. Well, every time you find yourself here, it's because you chose to come back and tell us about the character you play. By the way, it sounds like Office Space meets Black Mirror. Yeah, yeah, sure, yeah, I think Twilight Zone and Black Mirror are certainly touchstones. Um uh, it's a certain as a fan. When I first read the scripts, that's the stuff that I love watching and have since. Twilight Zone was a huge thing for me as a kid, and so reading it, I you know, it was something that that I would want to watch as a as an audience member. Um yeah, my character Mark is in the outside world. A couple of years ago he lost his wife and you know too, and it's been two and a half years and he is not doing well. He's not moving on UM and a couple of years ago decided to get severed because he just didn't want to feel this Paine twenty four hours a day so he can wake up in the morning, have breakfast, drive to work, and then boom, he's leaving work and getting his car, driving home, eating and going to sleep. That's his life. He doesn't have to feel anything for eight to ten hours a day. And I think also part of his reasoning for this UM is that this grief and this pain is in a way all he has left of his of his wife, and he's that's you know, whether consciously or not, why he's grasping onto this and holding onto it, why he doesn't want to move on, is because this is this is what he has, and and being able to check out for most of most of the day is a way of holding onto it while not having to necessarily deal with or feel it. Interesting and do you think it's a metaphor for how sort of unhealthily entwined our personal lives have become with our work lives. In other words, the constant connectivity thanks to technology has made it really difficult for us to have what was for so long considered our two separate lives. You know, even for me, when I started out in television news, I would go to work, I would come home and that was time with my family. Now I had to do homework, you know, the night before, which was delivered. It sounds so quaint in an envelope with with actual you know, uh, papers and zeros and articles, yeah, and Manila folders and all that jazz. But I still felt that when I was not physically at work, I wasn't thinking about work seven and now the lines have been so blurred, So it is sort of this part of the solution for that, um all encompassing professional side that we now have. Yeah, I guess so, I guess that's the that's the idea. Yeah, I mean I know that. It's it sounds great to be able to sever the two things because I I always pictured that as well. I always pictured once my professional life, god anywhere, and I had any traction or any stability it, especially once I started we started a family that I would work and then come home and honey, I'm home and the martini in your bedroom, slippers and exactly like Madman or something. You know, that's sort of what you always picture. But by the time it happened for me, there was no you know, you walk through the door and there's a buzzing in your pocket and you know it's seven. There really is no stopping no matter what you're doing for a living. Um, you have to really draw the line for yourself and and if you want that separation, you have to put it in a drawer. But then, um, you know, if you're not reachable for two hours, uh, you know, people think there's something going on, there's something wrong, and um, it's it's now unusual to just be unresponsive for a certain amount of time. It is a strange a strange uh strange time. And certainly, um, you know, like you were saying earlier, how it almost feels like the pandemic or lockdown or whatever sort of accelerated what what what was already happening with the gig economy and and uh and and all of that. Yeah, it's uh strange. I mean what you were talking about with I would assume with the Today Show when you would come home and get to be with your family and then get that that big packet of homework that must have been you know, it's it's sounds like it sounds exhausting, but there is something really comforting about it now and sort of straightforward about this is what you have to do for tomorrow and that's what it is, and and and you're not going to be bothered and this is this isn't all going to be turned upside down and changed and changed. I mean, unless there's some big words, there's a big news story. But it's funny because you know, I always remind myself that iPhones didn't come out till two eight and so all through the nineties, in the early two thousand's, Um, you know, I could be with my kids at the park without an eruption. I wasn't looking at my phone. Uh uh, you know, flip bones were just kind of coming out then, and I could be so much more present. And I remember reading that Susan Surrandon and Tim Robbins, when they were married, had a house rule that they wouldn't answer the phone between five and eight, which is so funny now when you think about it, because people don't even have landlines anymore, and now we're all addicted to our phones, and to be able to be away from it for three hours, it's almost a herculean feet So it's just crazy how it's it's almost um, how much this new way of living has slowly, and I would say malevolently, seeped into our our very beans, you know. Um. And I don't think for the better coming up Adam's Aha moment, done dunune done done dunda. Oh that sounded bad. Right after this, I wanted to take a moment because I know you're from Santa Cruz, Adam, and I'm just curious. I always love to hear people's origin stories, and I'm curious how you got bitten by the acting bug in the first place, and and and how you found yourself on on this Thespian road if you will, Yeah, the the Thespian Avenue actor Lane. Um. Yeah, you know, I think it was really pretty simple and maybe shallow, but or not shallow, but I think it was pretty simple, which was I was always sort of interested. But then, um, I saw Raiders of the Lost Art and I think it was right at the age because it came out in what eighty one eighty two, and so I was eight nine years old. I remember seeing that movie. I remember getting back to my friend's house and rushing to a phone, to a landline and calling my mom because I had to unload all these feelings because I had just seemed something and nothing would ever be the same again. This movie didn't stop. It was just fun all the way through. And it was hilarious. And you know, you watch that movie now and there are jokes, not just like funny asides, there are jokes and good ones. Um uh and uh, and I just it just blew my mind. And you know something, you know back then, you know, I went to see that movie so so many times. Uh, And I still love it and have to watch it a couple of times a year. But I think that was the beginning of I say simple because it was as simple as I want to do that. That looks like, there's what else would you could you possibly want to do the other than that than the Harrison Ford. Jesus, that looks great. I mean, talk about getting the girls yet getting the girls getting to Jesus dirty. You're jumping from one thing to the other, smarter than everyone else, making mistakes but then making up for it. He's a flawed guy. He also was a professor. My dad was a professor, so there was a lot of that too. Like I saw my dad and him, I still do when I watch any Harrison Ford thing, I feel I feel my kind of see my dad in that. But the professor, the college professor, which is what my my dad was before he retired, and so uh so it was just the perfect recipe for me and millions of others. I mean, obviously it was this phenomenon and and then Temple of Doom. Maybe I may even like that more. I just of that too, So that was kind of the start of it. And it was just like the secret I harbored for years and years that this is what I wanted to do, but I was embarrassed by it, so I never really told anyone that this is what I planned on doing, um until years and years later. But that was the Uh, that was kind of the start of it. It was Raiders. It's amazing, isn't it how one film can be so transformative? And which is I think the beauty of all different kinds of art forms, whether it's a book or a movie or a piece of art anyway. But so when did you start for real pursuing this career? Um? Did you do dinner theater? Adam? No, but I I've been to the dinner theater, and uh, that's an experience, uh, actually getting like, you know, baked Alaska while you're watching Dames at Sea? Like what else? What else could you ask for? Um? I I did the you know, theater in high school and and all of that, and then um, and then uh went to acting school after that. You know, when I was like a junior in high school, I finally kind of said I think I can do this and and and there was sort of a social stigma of being a theater person at my high school, so I didn't really want to commit fully. But but then uh, did and and and and sort of let it out there that this is something I want to pursue. And and went to acting school after high school and in Pasadena, California's where the acting school was, and I was in nine one. I came down here and I went to the school for a couple of years, and then came here to Hollywood and nine fall of ninety three and just started, you know, doing extra work and our background and uh, scrounging around for auditions, just doing anything I could, you know. Yeah, well, you know, I've been in l A for a couple of months and it's made me think of, you know, the entertainment industry a lot, and being an actor must prey on every insecurity you have. And it no wonder so many of the kids who who have fame early on in their lives are so screwed up later. I mean it is. It is really destabilizing. How do you handle kind of the uncertainty and the really I guess capriciousness. I'm, by the way, very impressed by my vocabulary during this podcast, too excellent. Thank you. I wouldn't expect anything less. I'm pulling out all the I'm pulling out all the safety words today for some reason. But you know, how do you handle the uncertainty of being an actor? And you know, always kind of now that I've made you probably start getting pitted out by even discussing this, But the uncertainty of where your next role is going to come from. Yeah, that sort of thing never goes away. I mean, I I think, you know, I think back to starting out, you know, kind of hustling for roles and stuff, trying to piece something together and Fall of ninety three, so I was, I was, um, you know, I auditioned for Scream and Scream too, and I know what you did last summer and all of that. I was around for all of that stuff and didn't get any of it. And uh, like I was, you know, went on thousands of auditions and was rejected thousands of times, and uh made my living doing like guest spots and stuff and cobbling something together. But it wasn't until fifteen years in that I even started to get real traction. But had kind of deluded myself into thinking that I was getting traction all the way, just keep going, and but then once you actually get traction, you look back and you're like, oh, oh, my god, I was nowhere and the people that loved me were so generous by kind of being, you know, helping keep me afloat with that delusion all along, or you know, so anyway, Um, so you just kind of delude That's how you kept going because I imagine there are many of people who come to Hollywood, you know, hoping to be discovered at the soda fountain, you know, or you know, just having one perceptive soul and a casting in an audition see something into you or kind of give you your first big break. But so many people just never get that. And you know, um, and so it sounds like you deluded yourself initially. But is that? Is that how you kept going? You kept you kept just saying, well, I'm I'm kind of all that right now, and I'm just going to kind of build on this. Or what other things kept you from saying, you know, I'm going to go to business school or I'm gonna I'm going to get the business side of the industry, because this this is for the birds. There was something, yeah, I mean there there was something that I always sort of felt I I had that and doubted over and over and over again and gave up on over and over again. But something I felt like I still kind of had to offer no matter what. And um and I don't know how I kept believing in that because there were so many times where any logical person would have abandoned it. But I think there was a lack of other options because I, like I said from Raiders and Pulls Dark, never wanted to do or even thought about doing anything else. So I had hadn't nurtured any other real interests or skills and uh. And so if you didn't make it as an actor, you were kind of hosed at him. I think I think you're right. I think that's you're hitting the nail on the head, which is why it's been terrifying and still is terrifying. You know, you never know. Um uh. You know. Also as I was, you know, going through the nineties and stuff, and and I did see a lot of people get discovered at the Soda Fountain and get this big flush of fame and attention or get that plumb role in this or that, and then you see them disappear. I've seen so you know, I've been here almost thirty years. I've seen so many people come and go. I've seen people come and stick the landing and know what to do with it. Like you see Matt Damon, Uh what he would He's you know, he's someone that I used to see on auditions and and then you see him no exactly what to do and how to do it. But then that for every one of him, there's a hundred others that, um just kind of come and go. And I'm so glad I didn't get scream or I know what you did last summer because I would have sucked or I would have not been ready and not known what to do with the opportunity and made stupid decisions. So uh, you know, UM, it's a it's it's kind of a puzzle. I wanted to ask you real quick about some of your favorite roles because it seems that you've done, you know, a real variety at them. Tell me about some of the highlights that when you look back, you're like, wow, that was just that was just perfect. You know. Yeah, Um, I've been super lucky and that I I do have a uh several of those. I can look back on it with so fondly. Um for such a tough business. Sometimes, Um, I've landed in several spots where it's just been terrific and and so much fun. And I certainly attribute that to luck more than anything. Um, like you were saying, luck plays a huge part, and I've certainly been lucky. Uh. Um. You know, I think that something that really turned it around for me just internally was uh, Party Down, which was a show I just did with my friends. Right. It wasn't for career reasons. I don't think my representatives were particularly interested in me doing this. Um. It didn't seem to have any advantages at the time, and it was simply because I wasn't able to get anything else. And my friends We're like, hey, how about we just do this and it seemed fun and uh, and so so I did it and it was fun. It was the most fun. Uh. And that really makes a difference in what you push then push out into the world that you're all enjoying yourselves, you know, and um and sort of discovering this fun thing together which is what we were all doing on on that show, and feeling like, probably no one will ever see this, so let's just do it for us and each other and have a blast. And that's what we did, and then got to do twenty of them two seasons, and then eventually years later people did catch onto it and and and I found this this audience and uh and so that was sort of the reason I say it was sort of uh uh. I don't know if I said it was a game changer, but it sort of was just internally because I felt like, oh, this can be super enjoyable and that makes a big difference in what I put out there in my work. Um, when I watched it, I can tell that's better because I'm having a lot of fun and just sort of letting myself have a lot of fun. Um. So that and and then Parks sort of came out of that Parks and Wreck, and that was another example of this is a terrific lovely group of people. Um. And we became fast friends. And that was five years I was doing that, and it was you know, driving to work every day with your friends and doing silly things, um and heartfelt lovely things as well. That was a really beautifully written show and character and everything. And so I think with those experiences it kind of set a new blueprint for me as far as what what I what I should do. And it was a good lesson, like do something that is fun and that you would want to watch, and and that has never really failed me. Not that I've always done that. I've certainly done things for other reasons, but it usually works out for me when when those are the components. I see, not everybody gets along, Nathan, I mean, can't we just be comfortable not liking each other? It doesn't have to be a reason. Of course. You also, I know Adam played uh the Slightly Losers husband of Reese Witherspoon and Big Little Lies, which, um, must have been an interesting experience working with all those strong women, right, Yeah, it was incredible. Uh, And that was something I Parks and Record just ended, and I wanted to try and do something a little more dramatic or or or whatever, and um, and really sought that out and went and and auditioned a few times. I really wanted to do that, and really had wanted to do anything with Reese for years and years, and um, I was so excited to uh to to land at and get and get to do that. And it took place in Monterey, which is right next to Santa Cruz, and so I kind of felt a little connected to to a geographically and um, uh yeah, and getting to work with those incredible women was was was an experience as well. They're also um so talented and uh and smart, so smart and cool. It was really it was really a great experience speaking of strong women. When we come back, Adam talks about his incredible mom and the weight of losing a parent before we go, I wanna want to talk about your mom first of all, I know you lost your mom. I believe ad him in it. Yeah, right before luck. It was March five, so it was right before everything sort of turned upside down. But that was, I know, just a devastating loss. You know. I'm I've done um a lot some fundraising or contributed to Project a l S because I became very friendly with Jennifer Estes, who started Naked Angels, a theater company in New York City, who was diagnosed with a l S UM when she was very young. And uh, it is such a cruel, heartbreaking disease. I mean, you know it firsthand. And what was your mom sick for a long time or was it relatively fast? It it really tore through her quickly, it was you know, it's a particularly cruel disease. It's it's just devastating. And uh it it was just a couple of years. Uh it you know, she was in her early seventies and and yeah, it moved quickly. I know sometimes it moved slower, but with her, it was just a couple of years sort of end to end, and um, yeah it was it was. It was devastating. It's a sort of disease where you just don't want to think about the nightmare being trapped in your body, right, I mean, and mentally most in most cases, I'm not a doctor, so I probably shouldn't make this proclamation, but I think mentally most people are pretty uh sharp, and their bodies just betraying them slowly but surely. And let you know that you and your mom were extremely close, and uh, tell me a little bit about her, because sometimes I think we focus on the way people died instead of the way they lived. Thank you. That's really uh sweet. Um she was a really uh incredible person and uh uh a person who kind of lived you know, turned it up to eleven. She was you know, out outdoor, it was always out running or walking or you know, grew up in Santa CRUs so we had you know, I grew up with a little bit of a hippie ish vibe to everything. Not that she had time to be a hippie because she had was raising three kids and she was a public school teacher. Um, but being kind of outdoorsy and granola was something I always uh teased her about and always have fun fun with. Like we didn't really have a TV in the house. It was that sort of thing, um, And she probably had what what was it when we were kids. You're, as I said, you're probably ten or fifteen years younger than I am, Adam, But what was it? What like the precursor to granola was like gorp or something or gorp. Oh I as I grew up with gore. I was going to say, it sounds like it sounds like a very gorpy household. One dent a lot of spiro leina. Uh yeah, you know. Whole Foods is like I grew up going to the Staff of Life, which was the health food store in Santa Cruz and and I just you know it was making jokes about it by the time I was like six years old. Um. Uh. You know, she was an incredibly unique person. I was allowed to cuss as much as I wanted as a as we were in our home, and so were my friends when they came over. So when we were in elementary school, they would come over and immediately walk in the house and be like f you and and she'd be and she'd just be like, hey, f you you little shit. Uh. And they I mean loved it. And these are like twelve year old kids. They get to come over and cuss. Um. Yeah, it was very And once I had kids, I had mixed feelings about her doing this with my you know it, you know, really put it to the test. Um, But it was it was great. And so she was the ultimate cool mom from from day one. And um, like I said, she was a public school the special teacher at at the high school I actually went to, and uh, it was just an extraordinary person. And so and we were very close. And she was the first person I shared, um, my ambition to be a professional actor when I was fifteen or sixteen, And her reaction is what kind of gave me the confidence to then share it with with others. You know what her reaction her it was, Um, I was watching the Academy Awards whatever the year was, when River Phoenix was nominated for Running on Empty I don't remember him and stand by me. Oh sure. Running on Empty is a Sidney Lumette movie. He was nominated for for Best Supporting Actor. But it was the Oscars were on and she came into my room and I pointed to the TV and I said, hey, you know, I think I think I can do that, and I think I can do it, uh better than than some people. And she just said, yeah, I know, you can't go to bed and close the door. It was just she didn't even think about it for a second. She just and that was. Um, you know, there was no condescension in her approval of my idea. It was just logical to her. And uh, you know, it was always beyond, you know, supportive to the point of of of like any son with their mom being overly supportive get annoyed by it. But um, just you know, I was properly loved growing up and that's that's really what you can ask for with with a mother. And so you know, um, it was a particularly devastating loss, I think, you know, for anyone losing their their mom and stuff. Yeah, I agree. I think you just there's no if if you're lucky enough to be the product of good parenting, you know, and I realized as I get older, we are very fortunate because so many people, for whatever reasons, don't receive that kind of unconditional love from their parents. But um, you know, we're so so fortunate. And I in my book, I wrote, my minister told me after my mom died, I was just devastated. I can't remember it was after my dad or my mom died. I was just just I mean, I was just so lost and so so upset. And he said, those who love deeply grieved deeply. And that always made me feel It always made me turn the loss into a gain, if that makes sense. It always made me really appreciate my good fortune and having really wonderful parents. And also, you know, I lost my husband and my sister, so I've had a loss and a lot of loss in my life. And um, but I think for I think for especially for parents, you think that really profound, deep deep loss. Um is because I think you feel I feel even more when you have you know, you've been the recipient of unconditional love. So yeah, but your mom was too young. Your mom was too young for sure. Yeah, It's something I didn't anticipate, you know, because she was sick. For a while, we knew what was coming, but then the moment it happens, there's a shift in It's a your your world does change the moment it happens, no matter how much you are expecting it. And what I realized was, you know, with parents, you're you realize that you part of what you're doing throughout your life is for them for them to see and for them to be able to tell them about something or let them kind of see what you're doing out in the world or with your family or whether kind of everything. It's sort of a uh, this watchful eye that's suddenly gone, that uh that is you know, it's it's something that it's it's it's more of a feeling than trying to intellectualize it like that is tough. It's tough to put put into words, but it's an emotional thing that that it's almost hard to explain unless someone has lost a parent, um and a good parent especially Yes, exactly exactly. I would imagine it's different if if it was a different situation, Well, I I'll have to think about if I ever have grandkids, if my my domicile will be a you know, cuss what do you call it a cuss zone? Like you can say whatever you want kids my care you would totally not approve. I have to be honest with you, Adam, My my dad would would give, would never really let me cuss as a kid. But um, you know, now everybody drops the F bomb so much you're walking down the street. It's just like every other word. But I sound like a you know, prudish year old lady. But um no, I agree it it needs to be artfully done in order for it to land properly. And by the way, if I ever did it disrespectfully or did it with anger or disrespect, you told your mother to go at herself. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no no. It had to be certainly in a in a joking manner. Otherwise I was in huge, deep trouble to be sure. Well, I'm so happy that we got a chance to to talk. Please forget my blanket. It's so cool, are you kidding? I mean, I've never done this before and it is kind of hilarious. So maybe we'll have to run a clip of this podcast to show how you can start that Katie Couric podcast hood that you wear it for recording and that's ane, that's an idea. Well, thanks again. I really enjoyed. I really enjoyed getting to know you and talking to you, and uh I hope our paths cross again someday. Same. Thank you, Katie, thanks for having me. That was the ever charming Adam Scott. I know it's weird, but I kind of want to be his friend. His new show is called Severance and it's streaming now on Apple TV. Next Question with Katie Kurik is a production of My Heart Media and Katie Kurk Media. The executive producers Army, Katie Curic, and Courtney Litz. The supervising producer is Lauren Hansen. Associate producers Derek Clements and Adriana Fasio. The show is edited and mixed by Derrek Clements. For more information about today's episode, or to sign up for my morning newsletter, Wake Up Paul, go to Katie Rick dot com. You can also find me at Katie Curic on Instagram and all my social media channels. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.