The Mess Around with Hannah and LamorneMAX GREENFIELD IS HERE! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! SCHMIDT IS IN THE BUILDING! Okay, now that we've calmed down, we're excited to welcome the final lead cast member to mess around with us.
Injection fellas, Oh, is that the theme song? Yeah, I just do a romantic Ottoman humping theme song.
We we could do a refresh on the theme song.
I'm yeah, that's actually not the This is not erotic at all.
There's not everything you do is erotical.
This is true. Thank you, Yes, that is true.
That is factual. I agree.
I can't help yourself.
What do we do any of if it's not erotic?
Folks, if you're just tuning in and you wonder who the hell that person is speaking, it is none other than the most beloved TV character of all time, mister Max green Field. Max the squinty eyes works. It works, my friend.
I should say, considering what your your title is, lamarn for yourself on these these record sessions, we put it out Max that you were coming on the podcast and ask for questions, and I would say half of the questions were how did Max not win an Emmy for Schmid? Half the fan questions were that one singular question, Well.
You know, it feels good to be nominated, and.
As one more can attest to, you know, winning an Emmy is kind of like a loser move, because then what do you do from then? You're like, oh, yeah, I won. Good for you. You got an award for acting. Congratulations school like in the group. And you're like, I didn't win. You're like, that's kind of cooler, right right. I think so, although it did not feel great when I lost.
But you know, do you remember what you told me I saw you at the night before party.
I do remember, because.
I was like, man, listen, I'm telling you, just know that if it doesn't go your way, there's about thirty seconds where you can't breathe and you go.
This is humiliating.
Obviously you didn't experience that.
Well, you were, You were so prepared to experience it that the wind took you so off guard.
Yeah, yeah, I listened. I took that to heart. I knew I wasn't going to win, but I was thinking to myself, just work on your loser face, don't be don't be a piece of shit in this moment the morn and like be sad and mad about it and put just work on your youth. Known you smile and all that, and I and I just and I was going to do a bit ax so much. If I told you this, Max, I was going to do it. No, if I lose.
No, he was, so he has being prepared. Yeah, he had something prepared.
I was going to curse out the camera's and like grab it and stuff. I was prepared to do that. I was like, just la morn, just you may never get nominated again.
Like for you to grab the camera that was going to happen.
I'm sort of like knocking into whoever was sitting in front of you and injuring someone like Diane Weister, Kathy babs.
Ring behind the hospital.
Welcome Max, Please please make yourself at home. We want to dive into this episode. So in this episode, Nick and just break up but decide not to tell anyone in fear that they might ruin Winston's day after he learns to get accepted into the police academy. Meanwhile, Schmid decides to help CC's study for her ged because she's stupid. But after everyone secretly finds out about the breakup, minus Winston, that's all they can focus on. This leads to a honey roast for the Ages. We'll be right back and we are back Max. This director, first of all written by Berkeley Johnson and Kim rosenstock Uh, two of the best writers the director, though even Shida. We're gonna go Toshida all right. Directed a hell of an episode.
Nailed it, nailed it one.
We start this episode off, we uh. Nick wakes up with a note on his hand that reads you and Jess broke up.
Yeah, full Memento style.
That's right, that's right. Bed got burned. It was not a dream. Writing left handed is hard, all those things, and there is a makeshift bed on the floor where where Jess slept. It goes to grab some clothes out of the closet, only to get scared by Jess, who was in the closet changing her clothes. Are you like me Max when I when I watched this show back, Well you probably don't watch it back, but what I watch it back just be because we do this recap. I get so confused with the breakups and then get back together.
I'm like, what you could have stopped you could have stopped with I get so confused.
I'm always like, do you think you ever in real time? Are you always like? Are we breaking up again? Because the same happens with Schmidt.
And CC wisconsinant on again, off again? I mean they you know, but that's the.
Show, right, I never think about it.
You show what you're told.
Yeah, you know.
I in real time, I'm the exact same way. I'm just like, yeah, they wrote it, I'm gonna do it. I feel like they'll piece it together themselves.
But now I talk this, I've talked about this a couple of times with people, you know, so we people try to will ask me what's the difference between the Neighborhood and New Girl and the Neighborhood because it's a multiicam, you know, And it's like you look back at a show like Seinfeld, which is a show that I loved, which is the same style of show, and.
You can look back and you go, oh, this was the.
Souper Nazi episode, or this was the even friends you know friends like specifically.
Was called like the one with the or whatever it was. And you really can isolate episodes and.
With New Girl, because the shooting of that show was so wild and spread out, and one episode mixed into the next.
Episode, and well we were supposed to finish on Friday, went into like the following Wednesday, and storylines were ongoing and ending and coming back up again. It all felt like one Like every season just felt like one long episode that never ended. You never felt like you were you know, where you would shoot the button of an episode or the tag of an episode and go, oh, we finished the episode because you were then shooting something right after it, and you just you never had any sort of idea of what a storyline was within an episode.
It just felt like one long, insane.
Yeah, like epic movie age. It didn't necessarily have any ending. And so when you talk about like storylines, I was always like, I was like, man, I don't I don't know where were I lost? You lose the plot after after, after some point, and you just are doing bits.
Yeah, there was the episode, even the episode before the two episodes prior on this podcast, we were there's this guy, this guy named Buster who comes into the bar.
Do you remember this episode I'm just called Fired Up where CC a young man comes into the bar. He's twenty and they named him Buster after Brett's son, and she like wants to date em, even though he's like ten years younger and can't even legally be in a bar thirteen years?
Was he cute though?
Hot? Australian from hearth And when I when I was rewatching it, I went wait, Schmidt and sees he broke, wait, hold on, where are we?
I was like cheering her on to date the child. Yeah, yeah, that when I remember, I was like, what are we doing? What's happening in this episode? That was a weird one to watch. And then you put this episode. He's so sweet to her and they're like back with their little chemistry thing.
And I don't know if you guys felt this, but because like you know, we weren't always involved with the Nick Jess stuff because they were so isolated, I never knew what was happening. Never It's funny, but a director would say, you're reacting to this, and I go, oh, okay.
This episode, I should say we. Our producer picked this episode because she's like, oh, this would be a great one because it's really sweet between Schmidt and cc. He helps her study for her ged it's a fan favorite for that couple together, and because Cec is like so sweet quiet in it and it is just giving them all these looks. She's like, this is the feedback we've got. This would be a great episode for Max to do. And so I talked to her today and I said about this episode, I was what I remember this episode the sickest I've ever been in my entire life. I was so ill and I remember calling Aeron O'Malley and I was like, I can't get out of bed at a fever of like one hundred and four or something crazy, and they were like, so sorry, but you have to come to work, and they brought me into work and I had, like, if you watch that episode, I'm barely squeaking out words, and I'm just sitting there kind of just like looking at you sweetly, but I'm like not even there, Like I'm on all of these fever medications, just like barely holding it together. And I have these pictures of when we were at the Honey Roast and I had to sit there and I was sweating with this fever and Damon just kept like rubbing my back because he could see that I was so sick. So all the loving looks from CC to Schmidt in this episode is really just me on death's door.
I actually do. I don't remember you being sick at all. I do remember the Honey Roast really well.
Yeah, it was a weird. We shot it at night. Do you remember that. It was like at night? It was like it was so weird.
It was like that and True American, and there was one other episode but I can't remember exactly what, like how to articulate what was happening.
We were like in a tent, but.
The Honey Roast and True American were two things that we shot were collectively we all were like.
What what? What is this?
And I remember there were there were multiple writers, if not maybe even Liz on set, and they were sort of just like telling us what to say.
Yeah, they were trying to make the Honey Roast work. They were trying to figure it out.
It's the same thing with True American, where Jesse Peretz would be like, now do this or do that, and we'd be like, all right, man, I guess I'm just doing that.
No.
I remember a moment playing with the Honey Roast. Once we wrapped on that scene, I remember either talking to Liz or somebody going what, like, is this gonna work out? And they're like, Yeah, we're gonna, We're gonna figure it out. We're gonna together.
That's sort of like the craziness and the beauty of the show is that we would sit there in those type of moments and go, I have no idea, what's what's happening.
Yeah, we would be at.
The place where they're literally just telling us to say things or giving us jokes, and you're like, all right, and all of us are losing the mind, and none of us are like, you know, in our right mind to go to ask any more questions. And then they were cut it together and they've become sort of these iconic pieces of the show.
And you go, and much much later go, oh, yeah, I was wrong. I don't know what we're doing. This seemed crazy. It was really really funny.
It's funny because that's exactly I feel like why the Honey Roast worked so well, because we were all feeling that you damon and I sitting there being like, what is going on? But that is also what was happening in the Honey Roast is what the heck is going on? And you know, Jake getting to play high and you know Zoe getting to play drunk. It was just a perfect sloppy, weird, funny mess and they made it work.
Now let's let's rewind a second. Let's just go back. Let's just go back to Nick and just not wanting to tell anybody about they didn't.
Want to hijack the moment because they found out that that Lamar, you know that WinCE's got this great.
Great news. He's in the police Academy, which I think is important because as I hate to say it to you guys like this, but as varieties sorry has varieties top one hundred characters of a century. This was what This was the beginning, you know, making him a police officer who shouldn't have been a police officer. And I think this was the inception of it once he got into the police academy, because the rest is Winston is the biggest idiot which she could possibly that should not be allowed to have a gun. And I I look back on stuff like this and I go and I go, like in the moment when you're filming it, you're like, it might not work. I don't know what the hell this thing is. But the level of adding on ridiculous after ridiculous after ridiculous, you look at it after the fact that you go like you just like you just said, Max, you go, oh yeah, all right, I guess that was wrong.
It was a smart move.
It reminded me of like you know Ghostbusters or Stripes, where you go, okay, well we got Bill Murray and we got Dan, like, what's the thing that, what's the thing that we believe them as the least? You're like ghost scientists and like members of our armed forces.
Winnie the Bitsch is a LAPD cop.
Yeah. Shouldn't. Yeah, shouldn't have never happened in real life. Now, Nick and Jess where are we right now? Him?
They're falling apart. They're falling apart, but they're pretending that they can hold it together for one day. She does what you do, you call your mom sobbing and Nick Miller does what Nick Miller does. He goes in talks of Tran.
That's one of the funniest I've ever seen. A Yeah, yep, that's one of the funniest relationships I've ever seen. Like if you could think of any like relationships that happened in television, Mactual, you watch a lot of TV, You're in a lot of TV. The Nick and Tran. The man doesn't say a word ever, but it's so funny. It's such a funny iconic duo.
And I feel like Jake didn't Jake sort of request that storyline.
Yeah, he loved it so much, genuinely loved it.
Yes, could you imagine on this show.
Ralph like showing by the way, We're like, we're all going, oh, this is tran and he's a spinky didn't talking about what about from his perspective?
Jake, Look, can I get a line? Put I get one line. I've been on this show for so long.
Could I get you know that guy he's got, he's going I got to get into a bathtub with.
Hold them like a baby.
Oh man. And this is when we get into the honey roast business. You know, Nick goes back Homeie tells Winston he needs to dream big. What do you want? He says he wants a honey roast? Nobody knows what the hell that is?
Is it, by the way, a thing like I genuinely don't know.
I I've seen. What I have seen is the uh, the complimentary rap battles. All they do is say nice ship.
Is it like for kids or like adults just coplementing each other.
It's adults, but they're like a real rat battle. Like it's like goons around, but all they're doing is saying nice stuff about their opponent.
It's quite nice.
It's quite it is quite nice. Where are we handed back at the bar this is this right here? Max Is. We think about it in real time, we're like, oh, this is you know, you know, she's a model, et cetera. But upon for the review watching this episode, I'm like, man Ceci is stupid.
What she really did not get her life together?
They be such an idiot, you're I mean, and those knock on people who didn't graduate high school. That's not what it's about. It's about you know, I know, if they know how.
To log on, Yes, not having your ged is one thing that's fine. Not knowing that Perth is in Australia is a different thing.
I'm like, oh boy, she needs help. Yeah. Do you what do you remember about this particular back and forth between you guys, because you know, again, you break up, you get back together, all the stuff, and now it seems like it seems like now you're you're you're helping her out a lot on this quest become better. What do you remember about the writing of this And it's hard.
To sort of like, again, I do remember a little bit of I guess the C. C. Schmidt arc. It's hard to know exactly. I was a little surprised this was season three, and then I I got confused, and Damon was there. I swore came in season four.
Nope, I couldn't have been.
I mean, I was so thrown off and I was like the whole episode, I go, wait, no, Damon season four.
So you don't remember anything?
No, No, I mean I don't think. I think most of us who are on the show, it's only because we're rewatching week to week. But I have not watched the show since it like when we you know, it aired, and so you forget huge chunks of things that have happened. Again, I only remember this episode because I've never been that ill in my life, and I can see it in my eyes there. And I will say I've said this many times before, but I said that probably the most generous scene partner and friend is you Max. And I do know on the day that I probably was like very sick and I can't talk of a fever one hundred and four, and you would always just be like, yeah, okay, I got I got it, I got you. And so I can see that dynamic because I can see that I'm like sweating and sick and should not have been there, and any other job you can call and sick to work as an actor that usually doesn't happen, and there's a sweetness there. But I think it was also just part of our friendship because you're like, this woman should be in the hospital.
But okay, it's a kind it's a kind thing to say.
You had to deal with me the entire time, which is not I mean, as wonderful as a scene partner as I am. You know I can be, I can be challenging time.
Well, I would say, especially because you're saying all these nice things about Max that he's living in the moments when you're sick. When I hurt my son getting off that couch, he wasn't very nice to me when I had the bubble guts and I had to go to the bathroom. Max wasn't very nice to me. It wasn't nice to me at all.
Well, we were never nice to each other. The boys were never nice to each other.
No, No, that's true. We got no love from each other. This fact. In fact, what I do remember the most is whenever I'm spiraling doing a bit and saying things that could potentially in my career, I just see Max going.
Poor.
Max will whisper of really bested up joke to me. You know, man, you should really say we.
Were doing that. Uh the seconds man a live interview, which and when Wren was on one, he was just.
This is when you were just nominated to right for the Emmy. You were nominated at that point.
Lamorn was on one, and you would answer a question and then continue answering the question, and you would hear people who are you know in the room go oh no, And I kept going, guys, it's totally fine, you know what.
Lamar wanted to just take that again.
Again, and we get worse and worse, worse, you know what, Everything's fine, Lamorn one more time, just like taking in the heart.
It just never got better.
What's crazy is I know exactly what you're talking about because so many people sent me that interview and basically we're like, oh my god, like light bulb moment. They weren't acting on the show.
There's some footage on the floor.
Man, I believe it.
I believe it, but it is really it is really strange, you know, like not knowing I swore Damon came in. If you would put a gun to my head and said when did Damon come back to the show, I'd say season four. I was so shocked, So that would have meant that did when did Merret Weaver come in? Beginning of season three?
Two?
Two?
That was the end of two?
It was two that was like the two was like got a bit right? Is somebody right with Mary? Joelle? Tommy? Am I right?
That?
It was the end of two, end of two.
Man, oh man, I'm a I'm a year on this show.
But yeah, the recovery of Schmidt from that storyline was like the everest that this show.
I felt like it was real tricky.
We we uh. I really liked what the Right Is done. I liked it and I was with it, and I guess not not everybody was.
But but then.
So they sort of slowed played me back into the fold after that relationship I guess didn't play as well as we wanted to do.
Yeah, well it was like the dating two people and I don't have to choose, I think is what then? Like, you know, you were like such a hero on the show, and everybody loved Schmidt. It's a pretty unlovable thing and that was what they had to kind of like I really figure out.
I really bought into the idea that he was just like I loved both of them so much.
I will say what was hysterical for me is that when those episodes were airing, and you know, everybody was so in love with the show, and people would stop me right and be like, you have to take him. And I was like, first of all, I don't write this show, so I don't know if you know how this works, but like, this is not real, and I don't write this show. But none of it was ever even people in like the delirious nature of like this feels so real to me was like what a piece of shit geating on these two characters. It was. They loved you so much. I feel like Schmidt just would have been forgiven anything. It was amazing to experience people like coming up and like stopping me, being like you have to make this happen, and I was like, I have no control.
About them anything.
But I remember, I do vaguely remember it was either this scene this episode, or like it might even been this episode, but some of the scenes where you were at the bar and they have my character come in and it was just the two of us and the aftermath of that, and I remember being like, man, I gotta really be careful with these scenes. Because I can't go I don't have the same freedoms I once had, And we started the show because I'm working I guess from a deficit from what we were trying to like dig ourselves out of.
You know what I compare it to you became Lebron in Miami. He became the villain. It was like, how does Lebron get back into the good graces of people?
But you know, you bring up something interesting.
It was really cool that I think in a sense it worked out in a really interesting way because they had to sort of figure out what to do.
With me at that point and how to move forward.
And at the same time they were like, oh my god, we just found Winston, like.
Like they really tapped into your character.
And then there was a real shift in that moment where it was like, oh man, we can give like all, we can give all upun all the fund so that we used to give to Schmidt all to like where then they found you and like ran with you. And it was like that to me is why a show really lasts for a long time is because you you can when you figure out everybody, you can sort of then go nuts and like you can take breaks from characters and really like allow other characters to do their thing and play big storylines out with them, and it was it was interesting how that happened.
Oh yeah, I will say in this episode what I liked because yes, it was one very sweet and very gentle the Schmid's hec stuff. I also was just whispering, so it made it seem even more gentle the entire episode. But my favorite bit, because I was like, oh, there it is. That's the best part always is when at the end of the episode Max you come in and Schmidt he's like processing the breakup because they find out about the breakup at the end, and he's just like, I don't care, like you're an idiot, figure our life out CC, And I was like, Oh, that's the best. That's like why those two characters work is when those weird Schmidt moments happen and they kind of let you kind of like do your thing that you do so well, those.
Were the turns on New Girl that I love the most where he like comes in because I did watch the episode where he would come in and have like a really nice I mean, it's just a great piece of dialogue where which was not improvised which was something like it makes me so angry or something like that I care more about your future than you care about something like that or your and it was a really like it was a nice moment, especially in the recovery of everything that we were sort of trying to work backwards from.
And uh.
And then for you guys to then reveal the Jake and Zoe broke up, and.
For me to turn on you immediately after the show.
Yeah, it's the best. Those moments are the best.
Hey, let's go to a quick break when we come back. I know we already talked about this a little bit, but I do want to, you know, speak a little bit about this honey roast in a little bit more detail, and then we can keep the ball rolling. Hey, folks will be right back, and we're back. Jake Johnson is a piece of ship. So let's let's dive in to this honey roast. Huh what do you mean, Max?
I feel like this is like a honey roast of an episode we're doing right here. Very sweet.
One of my favorite parts about this episode is where the honey rolls does start. And I could tell you it's all I all I do is say does somebody did somebody say Winston? Every time I watch this episode or seeing this clip, I get upset with myself because when I read something or I visualize something, I start to laugh and then it's hard and you've max I'm sure you've seen this before when we won't do bits and I can't stop laughing at the bit and I can never officially get it out properly the way the joke was like, if I did the joke properly, it wouldn't land so much more. But I'm laughing so much that I can't do it.
I totally get it. And it's such a testament to the writing on that show and how good it was. Everyone like you would get lines and moments where.
You go, this is really yeah, then you have to go.
If I get excited about it or push it too hard, I'm gonna take away from what's there. I gotta like just allow it to happen. But I'm also too excited about what's about to happen.
Yes, And when that door opens, I just remember watching is says that somebody somebody say Winston. Every time I watch it, I go I had better takes. I just remember just one line it's ever going Like I kept laughing or adding to it and it wasn't working. I was like, just say a freaking line. I finally did it. I was like, ah, that was weak, but they used it whatever. So so now we're into this honey roast situation. You know what I love most about it is that on this show, we'll take something very like normal, like make the man a throne, and then but what does that thrown look like? When Nick makes it?
Right?
It's it. They use the personal traits of a character to add something to it. Every time I watch this or see a meme of it, I look at how stupid that the thing looks like, oh yeah, yeah. This is also a part of the writing, like they make they make this cool shit that people talk about out of just simply by saying because if if they were just said, Schmid's gonna make it, it would look completely different. It'd be leather, it would be you know, metrical, it would be clean, all these things. But they're like, no, let's Nick makes it and it looks like something you shouldn't be sitting on.
Was Game of Thrones out at the time.
I believe that's so funny.
That was the thought I had too. I was like, it feels like this the whole thing is inspired by a Game of Thrones.
I think so. I could be wrong. I think so it.
Must have been forever.
I thought there was a Game of Thrones reference in this. But I could be wrong. I could be wrong. Max. Have you ever been to or have done I feel like you have been to this set at least you know everybody in this town. I'm not like you did a set visit. I do.
I know a lot of actors that actually went out to Spain to like go on set and walk around.
Want they don't want my kind up. There no time for bits on the set of games.
Uh.
But yeah, like the the the writing of them doing you know, saying nice and cool and cute. I remember about that is that I genuinely, even though it was confusing and we were in those moments, I genuinely thought it was funny. Even though I was like, I don't know where we are. You know, all the nice stuff, all of our reactions to it, I thought that was all pretty u pretty damn solid.
It was so weird because like Jake is, you know, playing high, and Zoe is like a drunk cat and The whole thing was so all over the place, and I just remember we shot really out of sequence, and I think it was because I was that's sick, and Aaron's like, we got to get out of here. She's to go to the hospital. And so they were shooting like our reactions and then like that moment at the end holding hands, we did that like first we did all this stuff like completely out of order. Yeah, it felt a very true American ish where you're like, what's going on? Why are we doing it like this? Nobody's fully like in their character. Really, everybody's playing like weird versions of themselves. But man, on a rewatch, it was hysterical.
Yeah, Zoe was dressed up like a cat.
Like Ferguson, because that's what when he wanted.
That's right.
Yeah, but she was dressed up like a cat and doing stand up and we were just sitting there going.
What's happening? And then Warn walked in a tuxedo and I was like, I'm on, I'm on, I'm on drugs for real.
Jake's got his sunglasses on and pretending he's online paint heads or something.
Schmitty's Little Helpers.
Schmitty's Little helpers now, uh, and then the honey roast is postponed to the next day.
Well it gets it turns, right, it turns because Jess gets so pissed she turns into a real roast. And then she starts trying to say mean things. Yeah in a Jess way.
Have a big head. Was like, that's it all right, cool man, you got me. But yeah, later that night, just watching Dirty Dancing in the living room and she's crying. And here's honestly, if you just played a scene from Dirty Dancing and then you just played a scene from Ghosts, I would like.
Just one ghost.
It's important. Ghosts, well, Ghosts. You know, it was also a great show CBS. But if you played a scene, I would be like, I'd lose if Max, you've been on Jeopardy if I if you played.
As I would know the difference between Dirty Dancing and ghost this.
One scene, would you why? Because swazy, it's swayzy, it's you know, it's it's romantic, and there's like the same era. So the film grain looks the same, you said, confusing In my life, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
This is this is right up there.
What are you there. If it would be go Berg in there, then I'd be like, Oh, that's ghost but yeah, but didn't. I'd be like, what movie because I get the actor place.
In the camp and the other takes place in New York City.
When is it a camp?
Oh?
God, have you.
The camp?
Oh?
Dirty? No, I would get dirty dancing and Roadhouse confused? Oh for sure?
Okay, yes, what what this is?
I would be I'm just telling you. I'm just telling you. Got to announce it like this is a dirty dancing. Then I'd be like, I get it. I understand. Also, I haven't seen any of these movies for sure. I haven't seen it. I haven't he brings it man, Yeah the greatest. Now, the Roadhouse remake was great. I like that movie.
Greg in there.
Yeah, that was coolest. Billy Magnus, let's go. We end with them both singing hungry eyes, which is a scene from Ghost Sta and we are back, Hannah. Let's uh, let's mess around a little bit. That's not something weird that we do. Maxis, I'm not on.
Premise, and I'm aware of the premise.
We uh, we put it out there that you were coming on this show, and we got I don't even know one hundred to two hundred, and it was insane questions just for you. So we uh picked a few to ask from the fans. So let's start with Melissa. She said, what was the best part of playing Schmidt and what was the hardest? You absolutely killed it. You had me laughing every single episode even rewatching it. Best part of playing Schmid doesn't feel comfortable was a past Melissa, He said, pass.
The most difficult for sure was memorizing uh a lot of the dialogue because there's some there were some real chunks, and having to do that day of a lot of the times was was sometimes challenging, as you guys would witness.
The one that I still think about to this day is when they had you name all of Romney's kids.
I know that one, by the way.
I did no research on that, and I was like, I can't believe he has all those kids, and they were like, we just made those names up, and I went, you know, I still could have just said anything, I like, memorized it in order.
And did a whole torture.
But memorizing some of those things was was was challenging.
Also, you know what, the most the worst part of Plane. Schmidt was the choreography I Hannah, you probably remember her name.
Do you remember the choreographer who came in who choreographed the Bollywood dance?
No, but I should. I would just like to say, very quickly, is that I think the original idea, if this makes me feel any better, is that I was supposed to join in or be part of it. And then they saw my skill level, which is somehow worse than Jake Johnson's. So they brought me in on a Saturday to that rehearsal to watch you guys, and I just sat in a chair and they were like, we're done. And I'm like.
It, you filmed that, and you felt you filmed me having a temper tantrum. I do have it, and I'm really I'm so bad with choreography and they move so fast, and there's an expectation that I don't know.
I always feel like they're looking at me like how are you not getting this?
And and the and the premise of that of that dance was that Schmidt was supposed to be very good at it, and he had really worked hard on it, and I was having a lot of trouble with it, and I was very I was very upset.
Well, you wanted to be great at it, you, I mean, it ended up being amazing. If you're comfortable this clip.
I ran into that to that woman, she was wonderful, wonderful choreographer.
I ran into her.
Outside of the Aminsen Theater and I was taking my kids to see I was saying, my daughter is see Evan Hanson with two of her friends. And I ran into her and she ran up and she said hi, and she couldn't have been like more lovely and excited to see me. And I was like, I need to take this moment and apologize to you deeply, because I was really I was challenged that week and I and I and if I took it out on you at all, I really sincerely apologize. And she was like, no, no, no, no, And I was like, I don't I don't totally buy it.
Honestly, she probably saw that your intention underneath it all was that you just wanted it, you wanted to be great at it.
Well, that's the thing.
You weren't frustrated at her.
Well, that's the thing people ask all the time, you know about the characters on the show, And I've always said this, I said, Max Greenfield is one of the greatest actors period, because you can't because I'm there in real time. I'm looking at the dialogue that he has to say, I'm looking at the song and dance that he has to do while saying it. And I'm looking at his level of commitment, even though sometimes it's so crazy what he has to say, the lists of things, the words that I'm quite sure you had to look up or just didn't bother looking up, that you just commit it, committed so hard to it. I remember there was a tie where you couldn't get a there was a specific tongue twister you had to say, and I just remember you going. You kept like you kept screwing up with a lot of you said to yourself, damn it.
Max, damn it.
Max. Happened a lot.
I just was in tears.
I was like, my god, I don't want to be him. I don't mean right.
They give him, They give you a different mountain to climb than the rest of us. That's true.
Would Jake would make fun of me when it's happening and you go, Max is going brandad again, Oh.
My god, you do a short circuit. After a certain point, when you've said something, it starts to lose its meaning. Like anything, it becomes nonsensical.
You you mentioned your daughter a little bit ago. Has has she watched New Girl yet? Will you let her watch New Girl?
You know what?
I find she like tapped into it for a minute. She's fifteen, she's a freshman in high school. She tapped into it for a minute and was like okay. And a lot of those kids like they know about it, but it's.
Not their thing.
It's not like their show, right.
It isn't until later I find that the kids that go crazy where they really or I shouldn't say where they really have where it really connects with them is when they go to college.
Yeah m hm.
And I think it's.
Because they're living on their own, they have roommates, they're in a dorm and it's probably co ed or.
Whatever it is. And then all of a sudden, there's a moment where like they have a.
Weekend, they're not doing anything or they're hungover. Oh, they get stump and they watch the show and they watch all one hundred and forty episodes of it and they.
Go, I'll never be the name.
Yeah, that's it's so funny.
I remember the first time someone said that to me. They're like, I just have you watched a new Girl? And I was like, oh, they're like this weekend and I'm like, you watched it in like one city.
My daughter does club volleyball, and so I'll have to drive to all these tournaments, right, And so she has her team, and there's other club teams there, and there's other ages sometimes there and never you know, it's like a bunch of high school kids, and you know, every once in a while more so you get like moms that'll come up to you and say stuff. But colleges have club teams too, And we went to one there was like a bunch of colleges teams were there and they I think.
Stopped the tournament and have my luck. They were just like, oh my god. And I had to take like a thousand pictures that day.
Like the other parents on the teams were like, does this usually happen? And I go, it's the it's if the college kids weren't here, it would not have happened.
That is, do you know what I can I can attest to that. That is christ I didn't realize how much the like I just thought you know, adult kids or adult people in their twenties, maybe mid twenties, early thirties were vibe into the show. A buddy of mine took me to my first ever UCLA basketball game, and you know, they show the people on the screen that are there. They showed my boy who was next to me. I was sitting with Norman Powell and I was sitting with Julia White, UCLA alums, and they showed them on the screen. People go crazy and as the cameras moving back, they see me and you can hear a murmur in the crowd. They go to Jessica Alba, they go to somebody else who was there, and the camera guy comes back up to me. He has no idea who I am, and he goes they want me to put the camera on you too, And I was like all right, and the people start screaming Winnie the bish. I was like, yo, I never experienced that before in my life.
Yeah, man, it's intense.
That question came from Chessa. By the way, Hannah, you got another question, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So this one's from Abby. She says, where do you still find Schmidt in your day to day? How has the character stayed with you past filming the show. Any schmidisms that have popped up in your day to day.
Yeah, I mean always, I think a little bit.
I find it like whenever i'm doing whenever I have to do a bit, or if I have it anytime somebody wants me to be funny and you go, okay, And you know, we've done now seven seasons in the Neighborhood, and we've gone through a couple of showrunners and like a lot of different writers on that show, and then there's just stuff that you'll get and you'll go, I know how to do this. It's the same way I did it while I was doing it on A New Girl, and you just do it.
I'm doing a thing right now, an animated show. It's not out yet, but the writing is.
So so good and it's so funny, and it's very quick, and I find myself doing a lot of I'm like, I mean, I guess this is just where I go when this is like when it's this type of rhythm, this type of stuff, and I was like, I can't I guess I can't help it.
Is that the show, your animated show, is that the show you ditched my show for the show was supposed to be me and you, and then you ditched it, and then now you're doing another animated show. No oh to me and maxiw supposed to do a show.
I know you had a personal question list that you just like are also reading.
I was hurt. I was looking forward to it, and Max was like, one morning, sorry, bro, you just.
Trying to have shows with each of these cast members, one on one. We got our show doing this, you and Max gonna go do a cartoon together.
I'm trying to work with everybody. Listen, I tell people all the time. Max, I'm not sure if you remember saying this to me. You said, I think it was maybe the finale you said it. No matter what you go on to do this this is rare, like this is. We got really lucky to be with a cast like this, a group of people like this. Everybody's having fun and to go this long. You're like, this is rare, so don't don't get used to you know, don't get used to that. And I took that to heart because and I've worked with some pretty good casts and make great casts and like a lot of people that I'm still in contact with, but nothing has been like this show. Where I'm like, oh my god, if I could just work with these people again, like that would be I would. I feel like I would. I would give ten times better performance this because I feel so comfortable with you guys. All you do is set me up for stuff and all we do is fuck around and do bits, and I go, my god, that's my wheelhouse. Get somebody write something like this, please.
I know it because there you've got to find, like you you find you go to these new sets and you've got to settle in and you're nervous and it's a different rhythm and you got to find the rhythm, and you've got to find the rhythm of the other actors and so oh, and.
It just there was something. There was also something so as intense.
As that show was, there was such a bonding experience that happened because of it. Oh yeah again, Like I don't think I remember so much of what we shot on that show because at some point we forgot that we were shooting a show, right, Like it was so secondary to you know, trying to make each other laugh.
There's a moment I feel like, I think it's in this episode where it's Lamourn and Damon are sitting on the couch right, and then as Lamour in whatever lines you're saying, you keep like tapping damon and you just here, damn, go like stop touching me. And then you do it again and he goes stop touching me, and then you put like your hand on his leg and he's like, get off me. And I like, none of that was in the script. That was just you guys doing your thing, and you realized that touching it bugged him. He wasn't gonna stop saying it. And it was in the show. It was in the show, and it's so funny.
That's the thing that I find that was so confusing and has probably ruined me as a profession as a professional, and that the things that we would do.
Just to make each other laugh m or deep into take you know, eleven.
Or twelve stuff that you were like, I'm only doing this now so we can move on because I know we have it and like I need rather than saying hey, because you can't say like, hey, we got it, guys, so you do something completely insane to let them know like Okay, we've lost them, let's move on.
You know what's so funny, Maxic is that show it's so funny. As we talked about this, what Lamarne was like a couple episodes ago. There's like a dance. The three of you guys are in the bathroom right and you could tell you could just if you know the show you're watching. And I'm like, oh god, this is like take twelve for these guys. And you and Jake do like a dumb dance and Lamarn's not doing it, and you hear Jake just go, just do the dance, man, and then Lea Morn does it, and then that's like, then that's the end of the scene. And I'm like, that was Jake getting so mad, being like, can we just do it? Because that's what they want? And we do the thing. We could move on and it was so clearly Jake's voice yelling at Lamore and so you guys could get out of the scene Justin.
When Justin came into the neighborhood last week, I think on day two we we realized that, oh wow, on this set, gosh, the sun is really bright. It's not in anything. It's not it's not in an a script, no one's written it. We're not we're not outside, we're on a soundstage, but you know, gosh amighty, and so we're rehearsing because you know, we don't shoot him until tape there.
So in every rehearsal he would come.
In and we'd be like, oh, hey, man, gosh and.
The director who would never who?
By the way, this guy, Victor Gonzales is one of my favorite directors, and he's done so many episodes of the show and never see him behave like this ever.
Was Hey, man, are your eyes? Okay? What's what's going on now? Man? That's really right up, because what are you talking about? I go, are you not seeing that?
I go, it's really like, you know, because we're playing this down by the beach in the hour, just playing the sun.
And he goes, yeah, you should stop that.
This is why they had to bring on trent o'donald. I would just like this. There was only one person who would go like, I can hang with this whole situation and laugh alongue with the never ending bits.
Okay.
So the last question is coming from Megan. What was it like to shift your character from douchebag to neurotic sweetheart? How did you make that work so seamlessly? It's such an interesting transition and it happens without us fully realizing it, maybe because for a while it all hinged on Schmid's love for Cci. Thanks to everyone for your amazing work that has made me laugh daily for years, Meghan.
Yeah, I mean I think that was a testament to Hannah.
I think that's the reason. I mean, Hannah was so good on the show, and.
They established her characters so early and our relationships so early, and they were like, only we can get away from this, and so I don't think any of us had There was no choice. I don't we We spent and two episodes, three episodes in you know, like womanizer, douchebag guy, and then dump and then by the way, they also realized, I don't think this guy gets girls in real life, and uh yeah.
And I just think I think it was all just.
It was that felt like it really worked early on, like a lot of the things that I think they did on the show, and they just wrote to it and it never stopped working.
I agree. I agree, you're just doing your job. And guess what, the writers, the editors, they put it together to protect you. Yeah, that's what it is. I mean, if you were if you were a douchebag for a very very long time. I think I think we would have done maybe a season.
Yeah, it's funny. That's that fourth episode called C C Crashes where they turn and they do a big turn for Schmid's character. That's the one where I'll never forget. They were brought in a crane for like the hand holding moment in the bed, which was like the end of that episode, And that to me was like, Oh, it was such a huge gift for me because now I had something to do when someone to like be with on the show, and it gave you know, her story and all sorts of stuff, and then it showed this full other side that hadn't existed for three episodes with Schmidt and then yeah, and then it hit and then everybody liked it and they kept writing it for us, and it was always so fun and wonderful and weird and very different than being with the boys.
Oh absolutely, I could imagine. I was waiting for love scenes with between me and Max. Never happened. I will say they played the love scenes between Max and and Jake. They did it with Max and Hannah. I need to be on the neighborhood, my friend.
We tried to get you on. You were insulted.
Can I just say what this asshole did.
Let me tell you, man, I didn't do anything. They offered you a job. I didn't think about it. I did anything twice about it, and then you got all offended. You know, you know how people have gotten on the show nobody, nobody a job.
And I was like, oh, that's cool.
Cedric came down and he goes like this, hey man, we we offered them Mourner roll and I go, oh cool.
He wrote me a call and he goes, yeah, yeah, you should hit him up. Hit him up. I was like, okay, cool, great, that's it. Radio silence.
No, let me tell you. Let me say, Hannah, never tell you the story.
No. I mean, you've done everyone show, You've done Damon's, You've done Ootkarses. I've seen you show up for everybody all the time. I did not know this story.
Well, I got it. I was like I got the email from my agents like, oh my god, they want you to do an episode of the Neighborhood. I said, oh sweet, tell them I'll do it. And I said I'm in. I didn't even look at it. I was like, I'll look at it later, but I'm going to do it. And then my manager was like, question, did you read it? And I was like, I mean, I'm going to, like they do a table read, they do all that stuff, you know, I know how this works, and he's like, just read it. I just remember reading it. And the character was a crackhead who they like Chason. I remember what that seems like. The house they look up, he's on the roof. I said, you, I thought they were I knew in that moment. I was like, oh, they're fucking with me. And so I remember Max.
So to Cedric credit, there was a there was like a running joke on the show about a guy named crackhead Victim.
For real, And.
I think when Cedric had more ownership of sort of like what the storylines were, he said, I don't want to just like make this a punchline anymore.
I want I want.
To give this guy a backstory. I want you to like know what, like who he is and and who this character is. And it was attempt to really like humanize what was a joke on the show, and I thought they did a pretty good job with it. But there was there was one scene where he's running around and like.
Gets super speed and he goes like jumps over a.
Car and on the roof and stuff, and then and then and then the in the rehearsals, I like I didn't want to.
Be the one chasing him or like move too fast.
I was just like, I remember there's a video of me like holding a coffee, going better get back here.
This is not great, man.
Maybe maybe this video, you know, And I will say I will say that's when. That's how the episode it gets to the point where you're like, oh, this dude's a veteran, you know all this stuff. You know, he's really you know, a good, great guy. But I couldn't eliminate the jumping over.
It was crazy. It was it was a crazy crazy And then.
Get a video. I didn't get a call from Max and it was a video or or a FaceTime from Max and Sedgwick go ahead, look, man, we we we we respect you as an actor. We just try to give you something to like.
I was like, and he was like, what do you mean, man, And I was like, yeah, he's not a Why did I give up?
You offer me a crack head?
Oh man? But I actually still regret not doing it because I thought it would have been fun anyway. It's a good time, Max Man.
This has been like the honey roast of Max Greenfield. Y'all.
Yeah, dude, you could have been anywhere in the world today, but you chose to be here with us, my friend, so thank you for that.
I love to be in here.
You are being an absentee father in this moment just for us, and for that we appreciate you.
My son did papa his head in here because he's not feeling too good. He stayed on from school. I was in the middle of the story and he looked at me and he was like, not.
Fun, daddy's working. We love you, Max. Thank you for coming on the show. The fans clearly love you. There's a billion questions for you. So it's so crazy to see how this show. It's funny. You were just saying with your daughter, saying, she's fourteen, right, and I'm like, I will never forget meeting you for the first time, and she was months old.
I know it.
That's how long we've been in each other's lives. That is so wild, Like Lily is the marker of the beginning wild while that you did all of this with an infant also wild. You are amazing by love you. We will see you hopefully again soon.
Thank you folks for listening. I'd be sure to follow us on ig at the mess Around Pod. Send your questions, send more questions from Max because Max has already agreed to do this show five times in a row, so thank you for that. Max The mess Around Pod at gmail dot com. We're be back next week with episode three, twenty two Dance.
That was The mess Around in iHeartMedia Production.
Our executive producer is Joel Monique. Our senior producer is Abu Zafar Bei Wang provided engineering and editing services.
Additional production from Daniel Goodman, Wendy Heisler, and Kyle Shevron. Theme song was written and composed by Ronald Jukebox Jackson.
Catch you next time. Bye, mhm
Hm
