0:04

What do you do when life doesn't go according to plan

0:07

that moment you lose a job, or a

0:09

loved one, or even a piece of yourself.

0:12

I'm Brookshields and this is

0:14

now What a podcast about

0:17

pivotal moments as told by people

0:19

who lived them. Each week, I sit

0:21

down with a guest to talk about the times

0:23

they were knocked off course and what they

0:25

did to move forward. Some

0:28

stories are funny, others

0:30

are gut wrenching, but

0:32

all are unapologetically

0:35

human and remind us that

0:37

every success and every setback

0:39

is accompanied by a choice, and

0:42

that choice answers one question.

0:45

Now what Okay,

0:49

so you're married to me?

0:53

Shall we get work off?

0:55

Do you want to shout out at something about can

0:59

you talk about that a little bit?

1:00

Like?

1:01

Is it weird being married to me? Like I had

1:03

to tell you in the beginning not to beat up paparazzi,

1:05

Like, okay, what was it like in the beginning where

1:07

you're like, oh shit, I'm this is a pain in the ass.

1:10

No, I was never the paparazzi was alive in

1:13

the early days.

1:13

What do you think of like y'all of a sudden you're like, I know,

1:16

no, here I don't want to hear anything, but I

1:18

know.

1:18

People would like into restaurants very easily.

1:26

My guest today is simply

1:29

my guy. He's the man of my dreams.

1:32

Chris Henchy is my husband for

1:34

more than twenty two years. He

1:37

is a wonderful father to our

1:39

two daughters, and he's quite

1:41

possibly one of the funniest people on the planet.

1:44

He and I met on the Warner Brothers lot back

1:47

in the nineties. That's when he was

1:49

working as a comedy writer and I was doing

1:51

Suddenly Susan. And since then

1:53

he's continued to write, direct, and produce

1:56

some of the biggest films and TV shows

1:58

of the past two decades, including

2:01

Spin City, Entourage, I'm

2:03

With Her, Impractical Jokers,

2:05

The Other Guys, The Campaign, Daddy's

2:08

Home. The list goes on. Chris

2:10

is also one of the founders of Funnier

2:12

Die and has been instrumental in helping a new

2:14

generation of comedians get off the ground. I

2:17

adore him, and while I am quite

2:19

shocked that he agreed to do

2:21

the show, I am not the least

2:23

bit surprised at how great his interview was.

2:26

So here is the wonderful Chris Henchy.

2:32

All right, Henchy, thank you for being here.

2:34

Have we started?

2:35

Yeah? We started. I can't say I really did

2:37

any preparation, or I can say I

2:39

did twenty two plus years of preparation.

2:41

I'm not quite sure years years.

2:44

He hates sitting down talking about feelings. He hates

2:46

sitting down talking about anything. You have the attention

2:49

span of like a gnat.

2:51

Well, you're the one whose glasses are flogging up.

2:53

All right, I know, I get you know what. I'm around

2:55

you, Henchy. You still fog my

2:57

glasses up. Okay,

3:00

So people have been asking all sorts of questions,

3:02

so I don't even know where to start. But I remember

3:04

the day we first met. Yes, take me

3:06

through it. What do you remember?

3:09

I was twelve, I just

3:11

purchased a ticket for the lagoon,

3:14

and.

3:14

I have here no jokes. Tell

3:16

me, seriously, before I could even

3:18

say that, you started with a joke. Do

3:21

you remember, seriously? What do you remember?

3:22

I remember? I was I

3:25

was at Warner Brothers on the lot and

3:28

why I was doing intelligence

3:30

show there and writing,

3:32

and I went to the gym because I work

3:34

out, and there was a

3:36

I was working out and there was a dog in the gym, kind of running

3:39

without with a leash, but no, you know, like

3:42

nobody taking care of it. Real

3:45

good foreshadowing. So

3:47

I go to pet the dog and was at least literally

3:49

went around the corner, so it was.

3:51

She had the leash still around.

3:52

At least she was around. She was around the corner. It was

3:55

a kind of pit mix. So

3:57

I started petting the dog and lo

3:59

one hold around the corner. It comes Brookshields

4:01

and we just started chatting. Now what I've

4:04

told you once, I don't think you remember or

4:06

anything like that. I so Brooke was doing our show, Suddenly

4:08

Susan I was doing another sitcom. But

4:11

you're on a lot and there's just a bunch of other TV

4:13

riders running around, so you know, Andy, it's a small community,

4:16

so you know everybody. So I think I went

4:18

over to see somebody at Suddenly

4:20

Susan and you were eating lunch

4:23

because there was other writers over there that we know, and

4:26

you guys were having Suddenly Susan cast was having

4:28

their lunch on one of the sound stages, and that's where

4:30

before the show on Friday night, they put a whole spread

4:32

of food.

4:33

And you like a good spread of food, like stray food.

4:36

And I walked through and I'm looking good. I'm

4:39

in shape from the gym. The hair's parted down the middle,

4:41

feathered back. I got, I've got clothes

4:46

came back in ninety six. I

4:49

had clothes that I bought on lot at the sample

4:51

store from because you know

4:53

the productions when they would go out, they'd sell their clothes

4:55

that there was a market there, see you

4:57

by actually kind of cool clothes.

4:59

Cool clothes from Secon.

5:00

It's like from old from Wardrobe

5:02

Wardrob. When they wasn't used, they were going to be used.

5:04

They were used. Your you're buying used clothes, but they're

5:06

always really.

5:07

We got him as actors. We got him at half price.

5:09

And then we would go buy them after that. But

5:11

I was walking through, I was looking good, and you did check

5:13

me out in the story.

5:14

That is what you remember that you

5:17

had.

5:17

Curlers in your hair, and I remember you just you held

5:20

the gaze. Yeah, you held the gaze for about five

5:22

seconds.

5:23

Really anyway, that was prior to

5:25

the gym.

5:25

Prior to the gym. So a month later, do the gym. You're

5:27

in the dream world and then I go back to my office

5:30

and that was it. So but then

5:32

this was probably October like a week later,

5:34

so I get a call to come and write an

5:38

NBC holiday special and

5:40

then they I said, who's hosting? And I

5:42

they said Brook. I go, oh, tell her the guy she

5:44

met at the gym a couple of weeks ago as the guy

5:47

who's writing the show.

5:47

So you know, it's like a hat.

5:49

Yeah, you have, hopefully what you think

5:51

is a funny writer.

5:52

It's funny because I remember going coming

5:55

back from the gym and calling my roommate from college

5:57

and going, I just met a really kind

5:59

of cute guy. I like, he's like a really normal guy,

6:02

and I think you should date him, and

6:04

she goes, oh, well, I kind of like somebody else.

6:07

And so I never even knew your name

6:09

until they told me you were writing

6:11

the show. And then I increasingly

6:13

got again foreshadowing more

6:16

and more and more pissed off at

6:18

you because you never

6:20

gave me my material, right,

6:22

and I wanted to get my material and be

6:24

the nerding Brook that I am.

6:26

Yeah, but they didn't tell you. What

6:28

I told them is I'm not going to get it till Friday.

6:30

I'll start writing, but I probably won't get all until Friday.

6:32

And you have Saturday's on teleprompters. You can do it. You're pro

6:35

and.

6:35

So I like highlighting and memorizing and

6:37

underlining.

6:38

You have highlighted and made notes

6:40

on our life that you know I don't know.

6:43

Ye, well, got ready for a book, Okay,

6:46

go back. I mean, I know the answers to

6:48

these, But a lot of people don't know

6:51

how you became a writer, what your trajectory

6:53

was. You didn't plan on being a writer.

6:56

You went to You were kind of

6:58

an army brat, right.

6:59

Yes, we moved around a lot.

7:01

Uh. I was born in New York, but I

7:04

went to college in New Mexico. Wanted University

7:06

of New Mexico. Uh. And I wanted to be a comedy

7:08

writer, but had no ties,

7:11

no connections, no

7:13

no anything.

7:14

So I know you wanted to be a comedy I

7:16

don't know.

7:17

I just would watch sitcoms. I'd watch Started

7:19

Night Live. Letterman seemed

7:21

to be funny around my friends, and uh

7:24

and they seem to think so. But it was like, yeah, you

7:26

know, it was just let me try it. I

7:29

said, let me move to New York under the guys who work

7:31

on Wall Street because I didn't want to tell my parents.

7:34

After four and a half years, of college,

7:36

yes four and a half. Uh that

7:38

I was going to go to New York and be a comedy

7:41

writer, because they would just say no. So what

7:43

I did was no,

7:45

that's not my family. Everybody wanted.

7:48

My whole thing with family was my

7:50

grandmother. Everybody was get your benefits.

7:53

You know your bennies, So get a job that has

7:55

benefits.

7:55

So I am your grandmother from

7:58

Ireland, from Ireland.

7:59

So I basically sort

8:01

of used the Wall Street connection or

8:04

job had agree in finance. I should have studied

8:06

something more fun. But look, I'm here right now doing

8:08

my HEARTRITI here with my wife.

8:10

But I but honestly, can I just tell you, I

8:12

don't know if you would be the kind of person who

8:15

then study creative writing and then go that

8:17

way. You're just you write the way you write,

8:19

and you write it instinctually, and you write instinctively,

8:23

and you don't like to.

8:25

I would have gone to Santa Fe become a poet.

8:27

If state seriously that would

8:29

have that would have.

8:32

No. So but I moved to New York

8:34

and worked at a big firm

8:37

that has since gone under

8:40

and created a huge savings

8:42

alone scandal. I had nothing to do with it.

8:46

But I, and it was it was a fun job,

8:49

and it didn't. I wasn't made out for

8:52

it. It wasn't going to last.

8:54

And did you like anything about

8:56

No, I hate it. I just liked the vouchers, the

8:58

vouchers for.

8:59

Cars we go out to afterwards. That I

9:01

had fun, but it wasn't. It wasn't

9:03

for me. I knew it. So when I when Drexa

9:06

was going under, they offered me a job in LA

9:08

which I turned down. And

9:10

it was then I said, if I'm going to write,

9:12

I'm getting a severance package from this company.

9:15

Now is the time to go rite. And I thought the severance package

9:17

would last a year. I thought it'd

9:19

be six months before I got a job writing,

9:22

and I thought my whole world was gonna be great. And none of

9:24

that happened. Well it was, I

9:26

burned through the severns in six months and

9:28

no job within a year.

9:29

So what happened when you told your mom and dad?

9:31

I didn't tell my parents. I said, I'm gonna keep looking for

9:33

a job. I remember someone got me an interview

9:35

at Oppenheimer, which was a bank back then, and I was

9:38

just I was just not into it. I was like, so

9:41

what I my in my head was

9:44

this sounds horrible, like to your parents, just string them

9:46

along, just keep saying I'm looking for work. But

9:49

it was a race, and like everything's a racist

9:51

with me. It's like, can I can

9:54

I make money writing before

9:56

I have to tell them the truth? I'm at

9:59

this time writing everything I can write them, learning

10:01

how to write spec scripts.

10:03

You know television sitcoms.

10:05

Script is a script that you just write without

10:07

getting paid.

10:08

They call it on spec, and that has

10:10

the idea that you might get paid. At my

10:13

level, You're never gonna get paid. It's really just a writing

10:15

sample to get an agent,

10:17

to get a manager, to get anybody to look at your stuff. I

10:19

was writing jokes for anything. Uh.

10:22

I was writ just writing everything that was on Tellivision

10:24

sketches and just constantly uh

10:27

writing.

10:27

And did you do any stand up at that

10:29

time?

10:30

I did stand up. I was. I would immerse

10:33

myself. I was. I wasn't horrible,

10:35

and I wish I kind of It's one of those things I wish i'd

10:37

kept up because I wasn't. It was

10:39

not great and bombed, but I was like,

10:41

oh I could this could be

10:44

fun? But it was such a I

10:46

mean, every bar had

10:48

open mic night every and then you'd go in there just

10:51

you see the same people, and it was like ten other struggling

10:53

bad comedians in a room writing jokes

10:55

and writing like taking hustle that it was bad.

10:58

It just wasn't great. It was, but I just

11:00

figured writing might be the better way to

11:02

go because the stand up world seems so flooded.

11:05

So that's that era. Do you remember, did

11:07

you sell your first joke in New York City

11:10

before the MTV situation?

11:12

Talk about so I So I

11:14

would paper the city with my made

11:17

up resume, just try and pad my resume with anything

11:19

I did. And then I

11:22

just write scripts, a Murphy

11:25

Brown scrap with a little red like like it was

11:27

produced what you lied? No,

11:29

I wrote one. It just wasn't the

11:32

never just no one ever read it. And then you

11:35

know, stand up at these these four clubs and

11:37

writing for a comedian that nobody knew about put

11:39

anything down. But finally somebody

11:41

at MTV picked up, he said, yeah,

11:43

these are good, and there it was back when MTV actually

11:45

had scripted content and shows. They had

11:47

a show called Remote Control that Adam

11:50

Sandler was a performer on it. And

11:52

is this that I want that's the I

11:54

want my MTV days. But remote Control was just like a Jeopardy

11:57

for MTV audience.

11:59

So I would write sample questions

12:02

and send those to those guys, and finally they hired

12:04

me to come write promos.

12:07

So I would come in and write a promo once

12:10

a month and sit and try to immerse

12:12

myself and go, hey, can I sit while you guys produce it just as

12:14

I can learn? And I made one hundred and fifty

12:16

bucks. And then there was a show they had

12:18

on at night, this kind of fake news

12:20

show, and then they hired me to write and then hire me. They would

12:23

buy your jokes at one hundred and fifty bucks a pop,

12:26

and so you would be lucky to sell two jokes.

12:28

So once a month I was making three

12:30

hundred to four and fifty dollars. And

12:33

that's where I was able to tell my parents, I'm a

12:35

professional comedy writer. You can't tell

12:37

me no. Look at these checks that are coming

12:39

in.

12:46

Talk to me a little bit about our

12:49

beloved Gary Shandling.

12:52

How did you meet him and what

12:55

was that like? Was he a mentor?

12:57

I through that MTV

12:59

show met a bunch of people, and there wash

13:02

there were three amazing

13:04

basketball games in Hollywood, all

13:07

run by Gary's.

13:09

Pickup game, and

13:12

uh, I thought that meant

13:14

you went and just picked up girls.

13:16

Come on. So

13:18

anyway, a friend of mine said,

13:20

hey, you and I was starting

13:23

to you know, like meet people, and it's like, do you want to come

13:25

up and play at Channey's game. I was like yeah. So

13:28

I got invited to that game and it was like one

13:30

of the most amazing things. And it's been written

13:32

up in like ESPN

13:34

dot com and stuff like that. It was you were playing, I

13:36

was playing, and and

13:40

and you know, I don't talk about that off because

13:42

it's kind of a private game. It was a private well you

13:44

had to get invited again, you had to be invited,

13:46

and you had to you know, like Gary curated

13:49

that list so that it was always great

13:51

people, fun people, and you know, people who

13:53

can weren't going to dominate the game,

13:55

but just we're there to have, you know, uh,

13:57

two hours of fun basketball and then hang out for two

13:59

hours.

14:00

But they were funny people. We had Sarah Silverman on the

14:02

show and you know, she was one

14:04

of the only girls asked to couple.

14:06

You came and played, I didn't play.

14:08

I came in babysat to Covenany's kids.

14:11

You played a little there,

14:13

yeah, very but but it was it was,

14:15

you know, it was what kind of got

14:18

me. You know, even those

14:20

days I was struggling because I remember, uh,

14:23

breaking up with a girlfriend and having

14:26

what yeah, and having stuff and most of my stuff in the

14:28

car and go and play basketball instead of

14:30

trying to figuret where I was going to live insteading

14:32

of his house, going you didn't place to

14:34

live. I'm the only guy up here who's homeless.

14:37

And so were you just living at

14:39

her apartment?

14:40

We were living together, but I moved out.

14:43

Okay, it's good to know.

14:46

And then uh uh, so I moved

14:48

out, so he will move out and we'll move

14:50

out, so

14:53

uh and then I went to a friend's house.

14:55

But then, okay, so that's like the that's

14:58

the trajectory part of it. One

15:01

personal thing we do all get back to. But one of the one of the

15:03

things that I want to just say is I remember

15:05

one of the ways that not the ways, one

15:07

of the reasons why I was so

15:10

enamored with you. First of all, on our

15:12

first kind of date, it was all about SNL

15:15

sketches and we just laughed so much

15:17

but when you started talking to me about nanime

15:19

and how you used to go take care of nanime

15:22

and buy her groceries.

15:23

My Irish grandmother up in Yorkville,

15:26

Yeah, Yorkville. What in New York City?

15:28

In New York City? Where did she?

15:29

What was her?

15:30

Where was her apartment?

15:31

She had eighty eighth and first and

15:33

then she was like a sort of housekeeper.

15:38

We used to river dance.

15:39

I should go, I go entertain or take

15:41

her to movies. Uh, take her out to dinner

15:44

every Sunday, loved or she would

15:46

cook.

15:47

She had odd jobs even though she so.

15:48

She worked for this guy who

15:51

lived further down and I would uh First

15:54

Avenue and she would have me come up there and help

15:56

her take curtains down to go to

15:58

take me to the cleaner whatever. I'd help out. And

16:01

he would also go away for most of August,

16:04

and she used to watch his cat and

16:07

he would leave her enough money

16:09

to buy fancy feast

16:11

cat food. And that's the

16:13

expensive that's that's nobody

16:15

uses a phrase anymore. Well, that's the Cadillac

16:18

of cat foods. It's the flat mignon of cat foods.

16:20

Back in the early nights. I'm sure there's much better. It

16:23

was fancy feast, and he would

16:25

leave you know, a dollar can.

16:28

He was gone for forty days. He'd leave her forty

16:30

bucks and tax. But my

16:32

grandmother would go to the grocery

16:34

store and buy the Grand

16:37

Union Grand Union brand three four dollars

16:40

and pocket the twenty five bucks. And

16:42

it was a big bargain. And I would be in

16:44

the living room watching television on a Sunday

16:46

and she's cooking dinner. But she'd go feed the cat,

16:49

and I'd hear from the kitchen and that brog that

16:51

it'd be no fancy feast for you tonight.

16:53

Tonight is Grand Union Jesus

16:56

man trying to make a buck.

17:00

That's enterprising. And in the Bible,

17:02

by the way, there'll

17:04

be no fancy fast for you. No, But

17:07

the cat didn't know the difference.

17:09

Well, the cat wouldn't be for three days, and she's like soon

17:11

enough. I

17:13

heard that.

17:14

I was like, good God, okay, so cut

17:16

to you. You

17:18

start working, you start making you have you've

17:21

I mean, whenever I mention you,

17:23

like especially if we're like in a

17:25

party situation and there's

17:28

like young guys there, I'll

17:30

go over to them and I'll say, like, do you know who that

17:32

guy is. And they'll say like no, and I'll say, well, he

17:35

ran on an entourage, she wrote Spin City,

17:37

The Practical Jokers, the movie. And

17:39

then then once I get to the campaign,

17:42

the other guys or Daddy's

17:44

home, they start like

17:47

absolutely palpitating because

17:49

they they they they'll come up and quote

17:52

quote things about the baby punch from the campaign,

17:55

or they'll start quoting. So how

17:58

did you was it Gary Shanling

18:00

that kind of started, you know, the.

18:03

Gary Shanling and I I

18:05

was lucky enough to get hired to come and write sitcoms.

18:07

And then Gary David Goldberg read something,

18:09

and then Gary David Goldberg, Gary David

18:11

Goldberg, and he and I wrote a couple of sitcoms

18:14

together that lasted this season. But

18:16

he was just an unbelievable mentor.

18:19

And then I went to Spin City and Gary Goldberg had

18:21

the other great Hollywood basketball game. So I was playing

18:23

a Gary's game on during the weekend, Challey's

18:25

game on Sunday. So I was and I'm

18:27

still not a great player, but fun

18:30

uh, I.

18:31

Was, okay, make some good screens

18:33

or what.

18:34

I said, screens. So you to

18:36

start, well, it was interesting, like you like I

18:39

never thought past writing for sitcoms, like being

18:41

on staff. That was as far as my dream

18:44

went. And now I was creating a couple

18:46

of sitcoms I wrote. I wrote a movie land

18:48

Lost, and that was finished writing

18:50

that, and I'm laying in my office trying to

18:52

figure what to do next. In my phone writing was my manager

18:56

mentioned that Will Ferrell

18:58

and Adam Kay want to start a company. And I done some punch

19:00

up on a couple of other movies like Anchorman

19:03

and uh Elf. And

19:06

we used to do round tables where they would get a script.

19:08

Play what that is?

19:09

Yeah, they'd get a script, and before

19:11

they would start shooting, they would want to bring a

19:14

few comedy writers in and we'd all

19:16

sit around the table. They'd throw

19:18

some food into the room like we're animals

19:21

and shut the door and uh and.

19:23

We're all still kind.

19:24

Of and we would write. We'd go through the script

19:26

and give alternate jokes and stuff like

19:28

that. Really, it's just a great time.

19:30

And managers said they want to start a company.

19:33

They keep saying somebody like CHRISSCENTI, would you consider

19:35

writing less and running this company?

19:38

And I said, let me talk to my.

19:39

Wife, And what did I say?

19:41

You said yes for sure, So I.

19:42

Went and agents weren't keen

19:44

on it.

19:45

No, my agent wasn't too keen on it. And because

19:47

he was like, it's going to take you out of the writing game, and I ended up

19:49

just writing more At.

19:50

The time, I said, are you nuts associated

19:53

with those guys? It's it's comedy mecca

19:56

and you'll kick yourself

19:58

if you don't do this and like

20:00

that you can't make is okay? Let me ask you this.

20:03

Do you think that you can't make safe

20:05

moves in Hollywood? Like do

20:07

you have to risk things like that to

20:10

to kind of keep moving?

20:11

For me? Yeah, exactly, because you always hear the safe

20:13

it's like fishing or gambling. You this. You

20:15

hear the safe movies that pan out. You don't

20:17

hear the safe moves that don't.

20:27

I call the show now what because it's like those

20:29

moments when you're like, oh, fuck, now what do I do? Like

20:31

I didn't see that coming and then all of a sudden something

20:34

happens and you

20:36

have said that Land of

20:38

the Land of the Lost wasn't now what moment

20:41

for you?

20:41

Why? Well? It was, you know, it was.

20:43

It was so funny.

20:44

It was funny. It was the

20:46

movie was like, it was just not

20:49

what people wanted.

20:51

But was it what you wanted?

20:52

Yeah, we wrote a funny movie. Maybe

20:55

another time it would.

20:56

Have been now it would

20:58

be really well.

21:00

People do come up to you occasionally talk about

21:02

how funny it is, less so than back

21:04

then. But it was just it

21:06

wasn't the time for it. I guess I don't know. It

21:08

just wasn't what people wanted.

21:10

And how do you know what people want?

21:13

We took a swing and it just didn't

21:15

work, and or it didn't work then I

21:17

think it. I'll stand by it,

21:19

and I'm proud of proud of it, and I will

21:22

come beyond. I'll watch I go this is there's some funny

21:25

stuff here and.

21:25

Wouldn't you rather take a swing at something big

21:28

and kind of lose? Then?

21:29

But so the crazy thing was and

21:31

when you I Go. It came out the same

21:34

weekend as The Hangover,

21:38

and it was it was like six weeks

21:40

before, you know, people start tracking movies and

21:43

I remember, my age is going and

21:45

I'm like I'm feeling common, like I'm so naively

21:47

like this movie's gonna be great and it's gonna do great.

21:49

People and love it. How they not love it, you know, And

21:53

six weeks out, you know, this hangover movies.

21:54

Track tracking track,

21:57

it's the worst word you can hear.

21:58

Its like

22:00

five weeks this hangar movie is really

22:02

growing. Like like three weeks out, this Hangover

22:04

is gonna be a monster. And then it just was the

22:06

biggest phenomenon and it's

22:09

opening weekend and we I

22:11

was in New Orleans writing here's the

22:13

crazy. I was writing the other guys in New Orleans

22:16

and working on a small movie we did down there, and

22:19

just sitting in a hotel room getting hourly

22:21

reports on Friday on projections,

22:24

and they kept going down and hangovers kept going

22:27

up, and then getting on a plane and

22:30

my wife and my daughter and I'm just sitting there staring

22:32

at My daughter goes, what's wrong? Dad? She's like, that

22:35

is I learned a lesson? Yeah, don't

22:38

tell your kids everything about your career. What's

22:40

wrong? Well? Yeah,

22:43

And she knew about land loss and she's probably

22:46

she's like six years old. I go, well, daddy's

22:49

movie is not doing so well. And she's

22:51

like, oh no, why she all got super

22:54

protective and upset. I was like, I stought that

22:56

it was gonna be fine.

22:57

The thing was because I can picture you're

22:59

talking to a six years listen to the protections are

23:01

the box office well,

23:04

and

23:06

it's underform.

23:07

The worst thing was is outside of our

23:09

apartment was a billboard for the Hangover.

23:13

We were in downtown and soho.

23:15

At that point we had two children.

23:17

I was on lipstick

23:19

younger, I think, and every time I got in a

23:21

cab that weekend, it was it

23:24

was the Sandy Canyon movie moment,

23:26

and.

23:26

He'd go, Sandy Kenyon.

23:28

Canyon is a critic in the city.

23:30

Yeah, Sandy Kenyon does the TV critic,

23:32

movie critic in the cabs.

23:33

Right, the cabs, So you get it every

23:36

time, like Sandy Kenyon with the movie, and

23:38

he'd rave about the un about the

23:40

Hangover, and uh uh.

23:43

Then he'd go, h On the other

23:45

hand, lad you

23:50

you couldn't You couldn't get to

23:52

that X to mute it and shut it off quick

23:54

enough, kind.

23:55

Of like a little bit of a loop. Even now it's

23:57

hard to mute.

23:58

And it was just like, oh, my first movie

24:01

was a kind of a public

24:04

failure.

24:06

And so that happens, and how is

24:08

it? And now what moment?

24:09

What do you? What are you? Just like you say, wow,

24:11

I am I

24:13

going to get another at bat.

24:16

How do you do that?

24:18

Well, you get talking about this

24:20

and I, like luckily was writing the

24:23

other guys, and we

24:27

kind of rushed that script a.

24:28

Little bit and was that already going to be made?

24:30

It was not green lit, and.

24:33

They could have not green lit and then.

24:35

Then you're under a magnifying

24:37

class. But and we almost like

24:39

the movie almost didn't get green lit, and they were like, you got

24:41

a week to get to figure the script at

24:43

out, and McKay and I knuckled down

24:46

over July fourth weekend and

24:48

fixed the script.

24:49

Then came came the campaign then,

24:52

which he wrote.

24:52

Them with the campaign with Will

24:54

and Zach Galvinakis, and that

24:57

was a blast.

24:58

One last thing about Land of the Last. Do you think

25:00

that there's something about like

25:03

if you're ahead of the curve, it's

25:05

not good, and if you're behind, Like

25:07

if you're ahead of the wave, it's not good. If you're behind

25:10

the wave, it's not good. You have to be right on

25:12

it, and who could know when

25:15

you're right.

25:15

I don't know if these days.

25:17

Is it like that? Was it like

25:19

that then? And not like that? No?

25:21

No, it's just it wasn't a curve. It was just

25:23

like, uh, it just was

25:26

the wrong time, and I think it's I

25:28

do think it's aged.

25:29

Well, talk to me about a very very

25:32

serious, very important project,

25:35

bruddies, what is it? Explain

25:37

what buddie's is.

25:39

Uh. So I've done several

25:41

movies with Ben Falcone, who I love,

25:43

and Melissa McCarthy and Steve

25:46

Mallory, who's were always together

25:48

on a lot of movies, and Mallory

25:51

and then and I just have a text shame we're working,

25:55

you still have it all the time, and you're

25:57

still jackasses about all all the times. And

25:59

we arted with Mallory.

26:01

We go, and Steve Mallory is

26:03

also.

26:05

So we were saying how we are very

26:08

stilted texts like we are buddies

26:11

and uh, and I wrote back to Ben and

26:13

Malories on there, but we're not including him. I we are

26:15

brothers. I go, And then we were we are more

26:17

than buddies, but we're less than

26:20

brothers. We are bruddies, and

26:22

uh we laughed. Then

26:25

we go and we told Steve, I go the show's bruddies,

26:27

just go write it. He's like, what are you talking? It writes

26:29

itself, bruddies. And

26:31

so Steve the next day comes in with

26:34

like three pages of

26:36

of something. It's pretty fucking funny.

26:39

It's

26:42

Ben Frampton and Chris Henley, so they're

26:45

slightly based on.

26:46

Us, Ben Falcone and Chris Henchy.

26:49

If we were badass mercenary

26:52

soldiers, which just

26:55

and we do a lot of eater handshakes,

26:57

and I would rewrite, then Ben would write. Before

26:59

long, we had like seventy pages of something called

27:01

Bruddy's and we

27:04

took it out and we had an animation company

27:06

come with us, and like

27:08

we took it into some studios and like, wait, what do you want to do?

27:10

Or like they're they're eight

27:12

minute scenarios.

27:14

There's very little plot. It's

27:16

mostly just all those scenes.

27:19

It's it's a Michael Bay best

27:21

of animated and it's just

27:24

jackass dialogue. And and then

27:26

we realized we need a little story. So we

27:29

ended up like the guy, uh,

27:32

the guys at Tripper, Like we kind of love this, Why

27:34

don't why don't we just do it? Because they're going to start a

27:36

streaming platform. We're like, all right, great, So

27:39

we got paid to write Bruddies

27:41

and we put together a great cast, which

27:45

would be it has most

27:48

of McCarthy, Ben Falcone, Joel

27:51

McHale, Reno Wilson, Richard

27:53

Grant, Octavia Spencer,

27:58

George to Kai and you're why

28:00

what oh so we are working

28:02

together? Yeah, and brickshields.

28:05

Can we talk a little personally?

28:07

No, I gotta go.

28:09

You know you're not going yet. You were talking about having

28:11

lunch. So I get ten more minutes with you.

28:14

God, you're you're the worst, the worst.

28:16

Okay.

28:17

We have two children, seventeen

28:19

year old and a twenty year old. What do you

28:21

think our biggest strengths are

28:23

as parents?

28:26

But but the I think we're

28:28

relatively normal tradition, even

28:30

though we're untraditional traditionalists,

28:33

Like we what.

28:34

It is traditional?

28:35

Like you mean, well, we don't. Like there's

28:37

certain things we do every year, you know,

28:40

like are Thanksgiving generally as a tradition.

28:42

And if we go on a road trip, we don't

28:44

eat at a chain restaurant. My dad

28:46

always drives off and sometimes it could take twenty

28:49

minutes for me to find the mom and pop restaurant,

28:51

and they would used to sometimes get mad,

28:53

but then they were like, god, he always finds the grayst restaurant,

28:57

Like like somewhere

28:59

from grilled soup

29:02

tomato place. I just found, like it looked like, you

29:05

know, sometimes I'm sneaking on my phone

29:08

like yelp review, like

29:10

oh here it comes a good place, it feels good. But

29:13

generally were and those are

29:15

things they've taken away, Like you know, you

29:17

went to go see Rowan at school, and

29:19

she had her her

29:21

local restaurants, and that's what mom and dad

29:24

avoid like and whenever we were checking in hotels for a movie

29:26

or whatever, we would find our local coffee place.

29:28

We'd find our you know, and and

29:30

and get to know them.

29:32

Food is a big food, a big big thing.

29:34

I think our kids realize that Dad says hi

29:36

to most bartenders and ends up becoming

29:38

friends with them. And you can see that happening

29:41

with our kids too.

29:42

How you doing great. I love it when the bartender

29:44

nurse your daughter drink

29:47

a choice. I

29:49

also think we have a lot of laughter

29:53

we you know, food is really important

29:55

to us, like that kind of around the you.

29:57

I just want to go visit Rowan and Italy,

30:00

where she's studying abroad. And Dad

30:04

made up two trays

30:06

of enchiladas that he learned how to

30:08

make in New Mexico with Hatch chili

30:11

green chili, and I traveled on the plane

30:14

with frozen enchiladas, and

30:16

it was a huge hit with all of her college

30:18

friends and things

30:20

like that. You know, we we do create our own

30:22

traditions. But really quickly the first

30:25

time that Chris asked

30:27

me if the girls could be in one

30:30

of his movies, was it the other the

30:32

other guys? I said, oh, sure. So he

30:34

brings both girls down and of course he treats

30:36

them like their actual cast members,

30:38

and as they were, they were actual well I know, but they

30:40

had a little trailer, a little honeywagon, which never

30:43

happens, and both they had hair and makeup

30:45

and.

30:45

They were tiny.

30:47

Was three three three

30:49

or.

30:49

Rowing was six two thousand.

30:54

Yeah, so three three and six. And so they

30:57

come back home and I said, oh, how'd you like it?

30:59

And they said, well, they couldn't do it

31:01

because they lost the light, so they had to go back. Well

31:03

they went.

31:04

Back full hair and makeup again, full hair.

31:06

And makeup again, full outfits, little honeywagon

31:08

got to go to craft services. And

31:11

then at the very last minute, Greer

31:13

says, well.

31:15

They yeah, it was it was.

31:18

I was in the scene. It was a dad and his two daughters

31:20

getting in a cab and Rowan comes

31:22

out smiling, ready to go, and she's got a little wardrobe

31:24

bomb Greer's hair for some reason, it's real boofontie,

31:27

like big, and she's got a purse and stuff like that,

31:29

and she sees three she sees

31:34

everybody went nope, bus and

31:36

just start crying. And then Greer

31:39

goes home and Mom says, how her?

31:40

I said, what would you do? She because I did not do it?

31:43

And I said why because I did not want to? And

31:45

I said why didn't you want to? And she said I did

31:47

not want to? And I said, wait

31:49

a minute. I said, you went through

31:52

hair, make up, wardrobe, got

31:54

snacks at the craft table. I

31:56

said, you never intended

31:58

on doing it? Did you not want to do it from

32:01

the beginning? You just wanted hair and

32:03

makeup? And she said yes. So

32:05

she went through hair and makeup and wardrobe,

32:08

just knowing full well that she was not

32:10

going to do it, but she wanted the hair and make it.

32:13

She wanted to be there, but she wanted to.

32:15

Be pampered and she wanted to get hair

32:17

and makeup. And she's still like that anyway.

32:19

What do you want to do next? What's not on the horizon

32:22

for Chris Henchi next divorce.

32:27

I am now, I'm just I'm out. You

32:29

know, the hustle never sleeps.

32:32

A couple of movies. I got a couple of movies out there

32:34

and talking and to one to direct,

32:37

a couple to produce, and uh.

32:40

One to write, Well, Henchi, I

32:43

love you, love you. That

32:50

was my love, Chris, Henchi, Chris babe.

32:52

Thank you for doing the show and thank

32:55

you for creating such a beautiful life with

32:57

me. That's it for us today, talk

32:59

to you next to.

33:05

Now.

33:05

What with Burke Shields is a production

33:07

of iHeartRadio. Our lead producer

33:09

and wonderful showrunner is Julia Weaver.

33:12

Additional research and editing by

33:14

Darby Masters and Abu Zafar. Our

33:17

executive producer is Christina

33:19

Everett. The show is mixed

33:21

by Vahid Fraser.