Transcript

Jeremy Allen White | SmartLess

From SmartLess · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 7 min · 14,453 words · 377 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Jeremy Allen White | SmartLess", an episode of SmartLess published December 22, 2025 (1 h 7 min, about 14,453 words). It mentions 15 people, works and ideas, including Jeremy, The Bear, The Bear, Shameless, Shameless.

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Crimeless, Jeremy, Alan White, Bennett Barbau
  2. – 20:00: Jeremy, The Bear, The Bear
  3. – 30:00: Shameless, Shameless, Jeremy
  4. – 40:00: The Bear, The Bear, Shameless, Shameless
  5. – 50:00: Jeremy, The Bear, The Bear
  6. – 1:00:00: Bisby, Arizona, Jeremy, The Bear, The Bear
  7. – 1:06:46: Jeremy, The Bear, The Bear

Notable quotes from "Jeremy Allen White | SmartLess"

  • I want we did and I want to say I want to say a lot of it has to do with our friends Michael Terry and Bennett Barbau and Rob Armar. Those guys these are the winds beneath our wings.
    about Bennett Barbau · at
  • Aware. This is a great little child of Smartless Media. Little baby called Crimeless. Okay. It's called Crimeless.
    about Crimeless · at
  • And not only that, not only that, Jeremy, before you start, welcome. He's also he was also my surprise guest for our rained out Hollywood Bowl.
    about Jeremy · at
  • Is real, but I thought that you had to That makes sense. I also I did a show before the bear also set in Chicago. So I've been on like a Chicago set show really my whole adult life.
    about The Bear · at
  • I got a job I was very lucky right out of high school I got a job on a TV show called Shameless and Oh, yes, of course. Of course you on that. Yeah. Fantastic.
    about Shameless · at
  • And the first stop was Bisby, Arizona, which is like a very small town. It looks kind of like Laurel Canyon. Like the buildings are very pastel colors and there's it's kind of.
    about Bisby, Arizona · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Jeremy — Person · 20 mentions · first at
  • Jamie Coo — Person · 2 mentions
  • Bennett Barbau — Person · 1 mention · first at
  • Michael Terry — Person · 1 mention · first at
    I want we did and I want to say I want to say a lot of it has to do with our friends Michael Terry and Bennett Barbau and Rob Armar. Those guys these are the winds beneath our wings.
  • Rob Armar — Person · 1 mention · first at
    To say a lot of it has to do with our friends Michael Terry and Bennett Barbau and Rob Armar. Those guys these are the winds beneath our wings.
  • Josh Dean — Person · 1 mention · first at
    It's by journalist Josh Dean and comedian Rory Scoville. Yeah. What do they do? What do they do?
  • Alan White — Person · 1 mention · first at
    He was just nominated for Golden Globe for delivery me from nowhere. You guys, it is Mr. Alan White.
  • Rory Scovel — Person · 1 mention

Books & papers

Companies & orgs

  • The Bear — Company · 13 mentions · first at
    Is real, but I thought that you had to That makes sense. I also I did a show before the bear also set in Chicago. So I've been on like a Chicago set show really my whole adult life.
  • Shameless — Company · 6 mentions · first at
    I got a job I was very lucky right out of high school I got a job on a TV show called Shameless and Oh, yes, of course. Of course you on that. Yeah. Fantastic.
  • Crimeless — Company · 3 mentions · first at
  • FX — Company · 1 mention

Places & events

Full transcript with timestamps

Hi, good morning. Good morning everybody. Good morning to you. Oh, wonderful day. Oh,

or a good evening for for maybe some of our listeners, it could be an evening lesson.

I'm just saying depending on where you are, good that time of day. I think most people listen to this show during the day or during the night.

You know what? That's a really great question and we'll get to it right after this all new episode of Smartless. God smart. Smart L. I will say in the blind right now, my wife said to say to the guest that she loves them. So, I don't know who this is but

just know my house loves you already. Oh, that's nice. Yeah. But yeah, cuz Will talks to my wife more than I do, and that's something we should get into.

Hi, Willie. Let's go there now. Let's go there now. Will, why do you talk to my wife so often? You talk to her as if

uh I don't want to say something's crashes, there's something going on, but it's uh it's uh let's put I'm married to her. I'm married to her and I live with her and I talk to her x amount. You talk to her x plus amount. So, where does that put your relationship with?

Well, let me just say this. Is there something going on? Don't ask me point blank.

Should I ask you kind of in a nuanced way? I'm just saying don't ask me point blank

cuz you don't like to lie to me. I don't like lying. Okay. Uh if if you were to cheat on one of your friends uh wives, uh would you would I be in the running?

Or husbands? You be Yeah, you have been in the running. Sorry. You would. Sorry, this is hypothetical

about Amanda or you are the running. Well, I thank you question mark. It's a compliment to you that I love your wife. No, I do love your wife so much and she she and I have a special she and Sean have a special relationship as well.

Um um are you talking to us from a gorgeous uh new place in New York? Not new. No, no, no. I'm I'm just in that same place.

Wow. The rental. Yes, sir. But [snorts] did you not just get another new kind of

Maybe? Yeah, I maybe did. Maybe I did. You might actually. I want to stay there. Can we stay there when we come visit?

But but not but not yet. You have a place here. Oh, that's right. That's right. You're right.

It's uptown though. I'm sorry. Should we take a break? We'll just Yeah, we'll just give you a minute.

Are you still on lunch? We're not back yet. Snicker doodle. [ __ ] man. It's not It's just 11:30.

I know. I I I know. Oh, I have I have a late lunch. So, I just had a I had just had a chicken wrap and a snicker doodle and a glass of milk.

Wait, wait, but you just said you have a late lunch coming up, right? So, why are you eating Why are you eating lunch food? And let me just ask, what's this? Is tidying you over at 11:30 to what time's your lunch?

2 2:00. Oh my god. So, you're going to eat dinner at 2:30? at kind of like it's like I'm going to be a weird thing cuz then who wants to eat at 5 or 6 when I normally

Are you powerlifting these days? Are you Are you into powerlifting? What's happening?

You got a big contest coming up. I would love if you just stood up and your legs, your glutes, and everything were just popping.

You know, I think I recognize that snicker doodle from uh from the Country Mart.

No, cuz I had one this weekend. Oh, yeah. No, they're they're they're they're pretty big.

I do like a snicker doodle. It's they're really good. They're like, "What's your current favorite cookie, Willie?"

It's always always It's current and always chocolate chip cookie. I'm always in search of the best chocolate chip cookie. It's my thing.

You know what I You know what I like? I like a nice peanut butter cookie cuz they're usually soft and gooey in the middle.

They're They're often too dry for me. You remember we were we were on the set of Is This Thing On coming out or it's already out, I think, and folks and the craft service lady made fresh chocolate chip cookies. remember those, Will? And Will's like, "I know. I couldn't believe it." And you're like, "Boy, that smells really good."

Oh, sounds like someone on the set was honoring the fact that it was an on camera job. Sean,

not me. I ate like five of them. You still eat like you're doing a podcast? That's right.

Eat like you're doing a podcast. That's really good. Hey, kudos to us on the podcast. We got a little recognition today.

Found out today. We got a little Golden Globe now. And I I want we did and I want to say I want to say a lot of it has to do with our friends Michael Terry and Bennett Barbau and Rob Armar. Those guys these are the winds beneath our wings.

And that's why that's why I'm happy. I'm I'm happy for those dudes because of how hard they work and and we love them so much in in what they do.

Thank you guys. We love you. We don't need to hear from you. We love you. Who turned your mic on?

Uh you know you know what Bennett and Rob and Michael would like? They would like probably for the three of us to show up to set award show in the event we're lucky enough to win. They'd probably like us to get up there and give a nice speech and not be stuck in New York at a play or stuck in Long Island petting a dog or something like that, you know.

I I would love to, but I'm not going to be Yeah, I can. I'd love to. But Robin, Bennett and Michael should go in ourstead. That's what I

No, you're both coming. Wait till Amanda gets a hold of you both. You both I know, by the way. She already did. Yeah.

Yeah. Willie, maybe we fly back together just for the night. Yeah, there you go.

Well, we'll talk about it. All right. Oh, guys, the one thing I do want to mention before we go any I want to say that we want to let you know about a new Smartless Media show that that is celebrating the world's dumbest criminals. Right.

You want to let the audience know. You don't want to let Sean and I are well aware. This is a great little child of of Smartless Media. Little baby called Crimeless. Okay. It's called Crimeless. It's by journalist Josh Dean and comedian Rory Scoville. Yeah. What do they do? What do they do?

What do you mean? Every week Josh tells Rory a story or two or three, you know, about some ridiculous uh stranger than fiction crime starring some of the most hilarious ding-dongs that you guys could possibly imagine. I want you to think of like, you know, like Cohen Brothers films, but it's it's real, you know.

Yeah. Crimeless. It's like Dum Dums. It's like crime dum dum fing crime. Talking like like stage deaths and what? Like pretend hitten or fake drugs?

Yeah. Right. like insurance scams but but done by idiots. Wow. People that don't know how to pull it off.

Well, okay. So, we got new episodes of this. And when when are they coming out? If people were like, I want to get when does it when would you want to hear it? You'd want to hear it on a hump day, right? You'd want it just to get you through the week.

To get you through the week. Wednesday. Perfect. On a hump day. Hump day is where you get your podcast. Crimeless.

Okay. So, any um Hey, Will. Uh you feeling good about your guest? I'm feeling really good. In fact, I want to say, speaking of which, our guest is a Golden Globe nominee. Freshly minted. I think he has a couple.

Yeah, that's right. Guys, we have somebody who is Okurant, as they say. He's he's a he's a a very a he is an awardwinning celebrated actor.

Who says Okurant? I do. Uh and my mom uh you know him as a lot of people know as as Car uh from his acclaimed FX. Okay. He's he's he's earned him an Emmy, a Golden Globe SAG award for best actor. He was just nominated for uh Golden Globe for delivery me from nowhere. You guys, it is Mr. Alan White.

You know, I will second my wife's love for you now that I see you. Everybody's love for you, my dear.

And not only that, not only that, Jeremy, before you start, welcome. He's also he was also my surprise guest for our rained out Hollywood Bowl.

I just found that out. I just found that out, too. This is uh this is this is this is not as good as loving up on you on the Hollywood Bowl stage, but we'll we'll take it. We'll take it for sure.

I'm so happy uh I'm so happy to see you guys. I was just texting Amanda uh as you guys spoke about her.

Oh, with you guys. Everybody's sleeping with Amanda. Let me Jason, let me say and I mean this turns you, that's going to be it.

Jason, I mean this in the most friendly way. A friendly friendly. And I mean this in a nun, but your wife really gets around

um to texting people. Let you finish. Let me finish. God is what I said to her. Yeah. Now listen,

she's a she's a lover. She's a real lover. She's a lover. We love her. Jeremy, welcome. Welcome. So nice. It's so nice to meet you here. So happy to meet you. Yeah.

Congrats on the nomination. You guys have never met. Yeah. Congrats on the nomination. And you and Jerry Ellen White have never met.

Never met. But I'm a big fan. I'm a big fan. When you meet him, you you be you'll be in love. I'm serious.

I thought the I thought the eating thing also I listen to the show a lot. I'm a subscriber. Uh all of it.

I thought the eating thing was like a bit. It's all a bit. No. A lot of time. When you brought out that cookie, I couldn't believe it.

Show them the milk, too. I bet you got milk right there. Unreal. The milk. But Jeremy, here's here's one thing. First of all, Sean, enough with the Foley work. Do you need to keep it in your bag? Like, are you trying to No, I'm keeping it fresh. I'm keeping it fresh.

What do you mean? Piece of wax paper that's open on one end. How is that keeping it fresh? What? From 6 minutes that you're taking to eat it.

Can you grab a hat? What's going on with your hair? I know. I'm sorry. It's like you're going to catch on fire in a second. I'm going to buy you some product for Christmas. We're gonna get Jen to send some Lola V over. She should have an emergency crew. Should have

I'll call her on Smartless Mobile to get me some Lola. Smart. Very smart. Anyway, Jeremy, where are you?

Welcome. Yeah. Where do we find you? I'm in uh I'm in Los Angeles. Uh I just got back the other day. I was in Vancouver for a little while and I'm uh I'm in

Are you in an office in your house? Yeah, it's like um it's I try to make it an office, but it's just becomes kind of storage.

How do you feel about that AC unit that's sticking out of the wall? I mean, they they work, right? They work really.

I'm wearing the hat right now. It's like my house is falling apart. Nothing really works here. I got that put in recently. It doesn't work. So, it's pretty chilly in here. But, this is like a separate kind of room, not a guest house. There's nothing in here other than the acoustics are good. See?

Yeah, the acoustics are great. Can you give us Rob are laughing right now? No. No.

Hey, is that is that a chef's apron behind your left shoulder? Yeah. Yeah, I've got um I've got Yeah, the chef's apron. It's like a collection of little stolen things.

Everybody needs a spot for you. And Jeremy, you can you can you can tell us those stories into the mic. That would be great.

Oh my gosh. I like I like gesturing. Can you guys hear me? Now we can. Okay, good. Good. So, Jeremy, this I want to kind of get I I I finally want to put the Amanda issue to bed again. And uh but but Amanda, when I knew that you were coming on um to our live show,

Yeah. Amanda was so Amanda Anka was so excited because she had explained to me that you and Jason are kind of newish friends in the last few.

We got set up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We We've seen each other a couple times now. Couple times. Cool. Pretty exciting.

JB, cool it. Today, Jeremy, I feel the same. I feel the same way. That's really

Tell me tell me how this new found I love new male friendships and how they start.

How did this start, Jeremy? I want to hear Jeremy's tail, baby. Well, it was it was Jamie, who I think is friends with everybody. Jamie Rahi, who set us up, a great great connector. Um, yeah, she set us up. We went to see some movies over at the house first. So, we had like a group hang first to make sure that everything felt

it wasn't awkward. Felt right and it wasn't uncomfortable. But then we got to go we went to a Dodgers game which was really the two of us.

Always happens there. It was like an hour long ride. The first one's free. Yep. And then you sit next to me for a few hours. Um I've got the radio in one [snorts] ear. So it's still not super pressured, you know.

Yeah, that's true. Well, and also you don't have to fully connect with the person. So you don't have to be too

vulnerable. You got something going on. Yeah. Did you Did you get to sit on the side of of the ear that had the thing in it or not?

No. No. No. No. He's always How dare you, Sean. He's on the on the open ear. I've had both. I've had both happen to me.

You've had both. Sean went to the playoff the longest baseball game in playoff history.

Yeah. Oh yeah. Will got That's really exciting. I mean, yeah. I was thinking about you a lot during Oh, last year. Ah,

I went I went last year the World Series, but but Sean went this year. Yeah, it was great. I loved it.

Even though it was 18 innings. A little more enthusiasm next delivery. I really did love it. I love going.

He really he got he got thrown in the deep end though there with that 18 inning game. I

I learned a lot. Yeah. I don't know a lot about baseball. So Jeremy, I mean, you must have You must have learned a lot from like hanging out with an older dude. Yeah.

Um because I know that he's always looking to We call him Dracula because he's always looking to suck the young blood. He said he's always he's like I need I need

I worked on my outfit for a couple of days. I need to get me some youth. I need to get an injection of youth in my

I went for I went for a looser cut on my jean uh that that day. I don't know if I'm good for that. Yeah, I'm not sure. Did you get anything?

I did. I picked up on a couple of things. I I don't really want to reveal it here, but maybe on our next date you'll see uh you'll see some improvements.

But did you find JB saying a lot of stuff like that sounds pretty dope, dude? Like Yeah. And I think I called a couple

That's fire. That's so fire. A couple things were a couple things were sus. And um and uh Jeremy definitely had a lot of riz uh that day.

Wait, Jeremy. So I don't know anything about you. Where did you grow up? I [snorts] grew up uh I grew up in Brooklyn, New York.

Oh, see now because of the show, I think Chicago. Like I think that's real like like that you No, not that the show is real, but I thought that you had to

That makes sense. I also I did a show before the bear also set in Chicago. So I've been on like a Chicago set show really my whole adult life.

That's what I So I understand. You don't shoot the show in Chicago. Sean's always wondered what Tom Celich felt about growing up in Hawaii.

We shoot um we shoot all of the bear in Chicago. Yes. Tom, you sir. Oh, how many how many?

We got to get Tom off the show. We got to get Tom Sin dispel that. But you got the Detroit Tigers hat now. What's

was one of your parents from Detroit? So Jeremy, did you eat the food in Chicago?

Were your parents from Detroit? Jeremy. Jeremy, all your time in Chicago, did anybody ever bring up Glenn Ellen?

No. Not once. Well, let me ask you. Let me ask you this. Did you eat portillos? Yes, I love Portillos.

Isn't it great? Portillos is great. Well, if you could just back the gum off the mic.

Yes, the chocolate shake is the chocolate shake is delicious. Yeah, it's incredible.

From Portillos. Sean was waxing on about it before we went to Chicago. We're like, "Okay, okay." And then that chocolate shake arrived and I was like, "This is the real Cake Shake.

It's great." Oh, and J and by the way, Jason mentioned the cake shake, Pertill Cakeshake in Ozark, and he didn't remember that.

Yeah. No, I don't remember that either. That's wild. He doesn't Well, he was in a blackout at the time. You know, do you want to address these rumors or

Okay. So, wait. Go ahead. All right. So, Sean, you were happy they put the cake in a shake. Have you ever asked them to do it in an IV? Like, that would really just get it straight to the bloodstream.

So, uh So, Jeremy, we're in Brooklyn. We're in Brooklyn. We're uh we're just learning how to read and write. We're watching

Your parents were in the theater when you were a kid. Is that true? That's true. That's true. You read that correctly? Absolutely. Um, and they say to you just as you're learning how to read and write, "Hey, here's why don't you read this play or why don't you write, did it start that early?" How how'd you get started?

No, no, they they weren't they weren't particularly uh uh pushy with all that. Um, you know, I when I was a kid, I had a lot of energy and I think they just wanted to get rid of the energy. So I I played sports and that wasn't enough and I did dance which was kind of my first like getting on stage and performing sort of thing and

dance and uh yeah so I I did ballet ballet tap and jazz for a long time in New York.

That's great. Can you still do it? I can I can look like I can do I mean tap was my favorite. Um and I can I can shuffle a little bit but but no it's been a long time. But when you're at a when you're at a party and there's a dance floor, like to me that's it looks like a a quicksand pit. Like woo, watch out. Don't don't get anywhere near it. Like I've got an allergy to it. Are you are you thinking like okay all right there there's my plan for a little bit later on. Like are you excited to dance?

There was a there was a time like in my mid20s I had in LA and New York like a dance spot for almost every night of the week.

Oh my god. Wow. Yeah. Not like not like ballroom dancing, but like there was like a dance yourself clean night and there was a spot in Chinatown that was like an 80s night.

There's a level of confidence to your dancing that it actually it's something that you look forward to. And this is it's a bit of a it's a little bit of a flex when like you've you've I don't want to put you on the spot, put words in your mouth, but it's not something you avoid. Let's put it that way.

It's not something I avoid. I like to dance. God, I wish I'll say it. Hollywood is going to go nuts for you because you're straight and you can dance. They're gonna put you in so many.

Yeah. Wait till Hollywood gets a notice of you. You're gonna do great. No. No. I meant like what's that Ryan Gosling movie?

Oh, La La Land. Yeah. La La Land. Yeah. Jeremy, but let's say let's say it's a Tuesday night and you know of a place in New York. You're like, "All right, I'm going to go out. There's like a a 70s dance thing." And you've got you've got your new buddy JB and it's late for him cuz it's 9:00 and he's a little nervous about how long he

has to go to the disco. What would Could you teach him how to dance? Do you think?

Yeah. I mean, there was a place Sway in New York. They had the Smiths night and I think you could you could do that, right?

I love that. Sean and I dance. Yeah. It's like Smith's pure like, you know, you can you could figure it out. Yeah.

Wait, how old Jason, you shut your mouth. How can you say I go about things the wrong way?

Right. So, I can just s sort of just rock and sway as opposed to boogie. I I'm not much. But you've got boogie moves. Yeah.

I mean, I feel like the more we talk about it, someone's really going to try to get me to

But you've got Man, I was looking for something. I can dance. Yes. I've got I've got some rhythm. I can dance. I can dance. Yeah,

man. I'm very jealous. Um, and I'm sure you could do it, Jason. Yes. So, you So, so you're singing and dancing as a kid, which you've continued into into adulthood. And And then what what happened? Did you start doing theater?

Yeah. So, I joined uh I I did I I joined a kind of a new school in middle school in seventh grade and I joined the dance program naturally cuz I'd been doing that for a while, but um I didn't find the class took dance seriously enough.

Oh boy. I didn't feel the teacher took it seriously enough. Wow. Uh and so I switched to the drama program. Did you have leg warmers on at the time you were in this level of disdain?

Yeah, I was stretching. I had the warmers on. I did the whole thing and I just didn't think they were taking a big boat. My belly my my belly was showing these.

But um I just didn't think they took it ser truly though. I mean it sounds ridiculous but at the time I was like this doesn't feel you know it's like they're not taken seriously enough. And I found a drama teacher at this school, John Mciny, who took things so seriously. And some of my best friends were in this school already in this class. And um and yeah, my first time acting was like in a little blackbox at this school in Brooklyn, this middle school in Park Slope. Um, and I remember, yeah, getting on on that stage for the first time and and really feeling like a sense of, I don't know, um, like focus or presence or something that I hadn't been able to find like a real like ease.

Did you feel anything from the audience? Was it a comedy? Did you get a laugh or drama? Did you feel that you'd move them? It was no, funnily enough, it was like an exercise where we had to have two actors where a monologue was being performed, but there were two actors on stage and I was the actor not speaking. Uh and

dream job and Yeah. And but it was amazing to feel like if you could feel focused on the person across from you and really be listening like I I felt attention on me even in silence just kind of like focusing on somebody else

and I felt like uh I don't know my mind wasn't racing I wasn't a like there is something and still that's why I like acting so much like I find I'm I'm so ahead of myself a a lot of the time or anxious or you know and then when I'm on set or performing there's like a real like simplicity or focus or something happens that's really

it's a really interesting way to play. Yeah. Do do you have like a little bit of add or something like that and then Yeah. Same. And then when I'm I'm doing this I'm working on this play right now and it's a monologue. It's 40 pages and I find that when I have the one thing like you're saying to focus on it actually calms my mind.

Everything else gets kind of quiet and there's something really interesting. Oh, you would you would describe yourself Sean as having a little bit of ADD. Did you say 40 pages?

It's a oneman show. It's another way to put a oneman show. He's learning. I can't believe they're bringing puppetry of the penis back. That's

so exciting. Where where is the show? At Studio C View, uh, which is John Krosinski just did a show there last summer, I think.

Great. Yeah. And when does it go up? Uh, January 31st it opens. I can't make that. That's exciting.

That's fine. I know. Oh, no. Well, I think that's previews start January 31st. Anyway, but I know what you mean about it being you being able to focus. Uh it gives you something to focus on

that you can put all your energy towards as opposed to Yeah. Just a calm feeling very like scattered. That's the way my brain works. I feel very scattered and

same. And we will be right back. And now back to the show. So, so you find this thing and you're like, I'm locked in. I feel locked. This is something that I respond to and I like. Yes.

And then you and then you go you start auditioning for professional roles. What happens?

Yeah. This this teacher um who was so serious. I mean he had us doing we did McBTH and 12th Night as 12y olds back to back. He was just so serious.

That's crazy life. How does a 12-year-old learn Shakespeare? He would wake up. He lived near the school and he would come to school with like nose bleeds when we were doing dress. He was so like in it and focused and you know um he really

he was in something. I mean he cared he cared very much uh about it. Um and he would send me out on like he would go to backstage uh which is like you know where you could do uh open casting calls

and uh and I got my first couple jobs. Yeah. Going on the backstage. Oh, that's great. No way. That's so rad. What was the first one? Do you remember? Uh, I did this off off off Broadway play called The Present. Um, and that was kind of my first job. I think we got paid. I hope I hope we got paid. But um, but yeah, that was my first job. It was like on the Upper West Side. Um, and you were in middle school.

I was in middle school. Wow. And then I think I got a commercial maybe. And then

my first movie, uh, they came to do an open casting call at the school. Um, and a great casting director, Cindy Tolen, was casting that film and she told me, you know, we don't know if this movie is ever going to come together. It'll take a long time. It was a very small budget film, but she said, you know, you're you're good at this and and you should really audition more. And so, she wrote me a really great letter to take around to uh agents and stuff. So, I ended up getting an agent. Great. Um, that's great. Wow.

Yeah. Thank you, Cindy Tolen. Now, was singing ever a part of this? I forgot. No. It was not.

No. No. Just dance. Yeah. So then musical theater was never really a a draw or a temptation. But how about now? Now that you've taught yourself how to sing, I mean,

your performance is so mindblowing in the Springsteen thing. I don't want to embarrass you. We don't have to talk about it cuz I'm sure you're tired of talking about it, but it's just

effing incredible that the fact and the fact that you learn how to sing in someone else's voice on top of that and learn how to play guitar, I think, too. So,

you had to learn you had to learn how to play guitar for this to take on that. At least look like I could handle it. Yeah. Yeah.

Wow. Wow. Incredible. Huge huge nards taking that on and doing such a great job.

Yeah. Jason was telling was going on and on about how I'm so sorry I haven't seen it yet, but it's on my list, I swear. But Jason was just raving about your performance and as everybody else is incredible. I can't wait to see it.

So now that you've got the singing and the dancing and I don't know if you need the guitar part for musical theater, but like do you think about doing like a musical on Broadway or something like a la film? Oh, I mean I it's never been I mean I have no no issue and I've like enjoyed musical theater, but it's it's like seeing it, but it's never been

like in high school I went to a performing arts school and and I would do theater, but it was usually kind of straight plays and stuff and um uh yeah, I don't know. I've never had that that draw to be in it. I've been I've been a fan of it.

You wouldn't run if somebody brought you something. Let's say like like like the new Hamilton kind of thing.

Or like or like as Sean would mention for 50 times, La La Land. Jesus Christ. Bunch of

merry La La Land 2. I would definitely be interested in doing How about the Christmas sequel? Fall La La Land. F La

JB, that's really good. Thanks, guys. You know, um Wait, so so are you do you play an instrument now? Like do you play anything piano or anything else? No, I mean I never really learned how to play anything and and I remember, you know, I had about six months to learn guitar, which, you know, isn't enough time really to learn how to play the guitar. Um, but I got together with a really great teacher. And um, and we just learned the couple songs that I needed to learn, but it makes it very hard for me to learn or to play other things now cuz I didn't learn in a traditional way.

So even if I try to learn something else, I kind of end up playing Mansion on a Hill or something like it doesn't it doesn't translate.

You still have calluses on the tips of your fingers or have those gone away? Yeah, they're still a little rough cuz it hurts.

And I still pick up I mean, you know, Bruce Springsteen has he was so involved in kind of the process of making the movie and and really lovely and supportive all the way all the way through. But um

yeah, you seem to really love it. Yeah. Yeah, he Yeah, he's seen it a lot. Um, but he bought me a 1955 Gibson J200, which is the same

model and almost year he he recorded it on 1954. Um, but after our first meeting, he sent me this guitar, which is very beautiful guitar and

and so I do pick it up every once in a while just because I feel guilty letting it

Oh, cool. sit collect. That's so cool. Yeah. Is it there in the office in your in your uh in your

You know what? As I said, my house is falling apart. When that rain was happening, I was nervous that there would be some moisture in here. So, it's actually under my bed at this moment where it's really safe.

Yeah, it's smart. You know, I bought a Christmas tree here yesterday in New York and I dragged it back to my my place here. We decorated yesterday. Did

somebody film it? And I thought, you know, yeah, I obviously I film everything and and I thought about I thought about it like if if I ever wanted I'd have a I'd have a Christmas tree stand down on Spring Street, you know, just this season and I'd call Spruce of Spring Street, you know what I mean? Just nice.

Nice. Bravo. That was worth it. Wait, we'll tighten it up. So, Jeremy, so what was the first thing then after all that theater experience that got you out to the West Coast?

I got I got a job um I was very lucky right out of high school uh I got a job on uh a TV show called Shameless and uh

Oh, yes, of course. Of course you on that. Yeah. Fantastic. You were on for like a decade. Am I right about that?

I was Man, I was 18 when we did the pilot and I was 30 when we finished. Wow. Wow. Takes you through 12 years.

And that was the first gig that like like the first or the first big gig I did. Yeah. I did some film and like every Law and Order and stuff like that when I was in New York. Um but yeah, Shameless brought me to Los Angeles and kept me in Los Angeles.

Yeah. That's so cool. That's so cool. That's incredible. You [clears throat] 18 to 30.

Yeah. It just doesn't happen, right? So, you're inside that cocoon that that that that comfortable cocoon of a series through your whole launch, right? And you you got great notices through that and and you're meeting everybody and you're getting other opportunities in the during the hiatuses in between each season a little bit.

Yeah, I try to do something, you know. Um Yeah, I try to do something. Each hiatus we shot about five months and yeah, if I was lucky I'd get a movie or or I did another like a an Amazon sort of series one time. But but yeah, I mean I didn't have to. I mean I was so happy and felt so lucky to have that kind of like I don't know that consistency and kind of continuity in my life especially in my 20s especially as an actor to kind of just

have um have some place you you knew where you were going to be. employ for four months every year, 5 months every year.

Did you have time to to to also have a life? I mean, that's that takes you all the way through your 20s. Like, that's that's a time when you really want to have fun. Did you find time to do all that stuff, too? It's

Yeah, definitely found time for all that stuff. Um, yeah. I mean, I bounced around like we shot the show here and I got a place back home in New York when I was like 22 and so I'd kind of like split my time between LA and New York and

and um and then Yeah. I mean, by the time we finished the show, I had, you know, I had my two daughter. A lot of life happened. I had two Ezie and Dolly.

Yeah. Yeah. Two daughters. Yeah. How old are they? Um, uh, Dolly turns five on Friday and Ezie turns seven in October. Amazing. I mean, you still look like you're 30, which is crazy. I know.

Yeah. Well, we were How old were we? I mean, I was 27. Yeah. When as he was born. Yeah. Yeah.

Wow. Yeah. And in that time, did you ever cross over? I think he wrote on your show. Michael Mali, didn't he write?

Oh my gosh. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. He's a good friend of ours, man. Wonderful. Mike was a writer on

He was on Glee at the same time, too, which was like such a huge show. And I was like, "Oh, wow. You're

you're such a big actor and you're writing on our our show." Mike's had a really cool career. the really cool career,

right? Mike Mike's had a really cool career so far. Yeah, he's done has he done acting, standup, writing, producing?

He's he's done it all. He's such a talented guy, such a talented writer. Uh and we all I mean I just He's such a great old old friend of mine and ours.

Not that old. Well, no. Right. He's just he's just the best. We love you, Mike. Anyway,

he's a sweetheart. He is a sweetheart. Um, so, so that takes you through to your all of a sudden. So, now you're 30 and it's [snorts] weird coming off a show when you've been on it for a long time, right?

That's a weird Yeah. Did you think like, okay, it's all going to be downhill from here? Like

100%. I felt totally lo I mean, you know, I leave the cocoon. Yeah, I remember. I mean, I really did. I I I did we did ADR for the last for whatever the last episode of the 11th season of Shameless. I was at Warner Brothers Tracy. That's uh that's where you you you re-record some dialogue if uh if it didn't if it wasn't recorded well on on the day. It's sort of a finishing uh

there. It Yeah, it means kind of the end. It's your, you know, your last connection often with the thing. And um

and I finished that and I was driving home uh from Warner Brothers and had a full like panic. I I had to pull over my arms went I was so Yeah. I mean, it had just been such a comfort

and you know, I was with those actors for 11 years and I mean, they're like my family, brothers and sisters. Like, I got so close with with everybody and

and I felt like I was saying goodbye to not only kind of like my my work environment and that sort of like comfort and security, but also saying goodbye to these these people who have been so solid for for me for so long. And

and yeah, [snorts] I just didn't know what was next. Um, and I had a very hard time.

How did you What was What was the thing that was most helpful that that that got you to Cuz I know that panic. Well, yeah. Um,

what do you did you did you lean on a friend? Did you go into the I mean, I'm just citing all the things that I friends therapy. Uh, I partied. I like, you know, I did everything. Yeah. [clears throat]

I certainly Yeah. was in therapy. Um, and and was talking about it a lot. And then but I was also very lucky like so I mean you know there's so much luck involved in all of this thing but you know I I spoke to Chris Store who created the bear um he produced this uh this movie I did the rental like after season 9 of Shameless and um and Chris I didn't see him on set a lot. He was kind of back and forth, but he comes up to me on kind of the last day and Chris goes, "Uh, hey, what do you think you're going to be doing in 3 years?" And I went, I you know, I don't I don't really know like, you know, I think I got a couple more years of Shameless.

And he goes, "All right, buddy. I'm going to call you in 3 years." And he walked away. And I was like, what a [ __ ] jerk. Like, what a Hollywood jerk. Like, there's no way I'm ever going to hear from that guy ever again. And uh he called me just as we were wrapping up season 11 and said, "I have the show The Bear. Um you know, I'd really like you to do it."

But I was hesitant at first cuz it was, you know, I love Chicago, but based in Chicago again. And and there was some kind of like family dynamics that seemed like similar upon first read to me. And so I just wasn't sure I'd do it yet. But I just kept reading the script for The Bear and the Pilot. And it was so great. And I got to the point where I was just like, you know, it's it's not my business to pass. I have no right to pass on something this uh

this good. So even though I was anxious about the future and all this stuff, I was shooting the pilot for the bear

probably 2 months after that panic attack, you know, I knew I was going somewhere. So I was able to kind of

throw myself into into something else. Yet it was still just a pilot, right? So you had to sweat totally the delivery of that the the the the the network reading it or sorry watching it and giving it a pickup. Right.

FX I believe still is one of the it's it's I don't think it's like this kind of inside baseball but it's like you know I think a lot of shows will go straight to series these days with streaming. But um FX continues to sort of they shoot a pilot, everybody watches it, they see what it looks like, they take a look at, you know, um what you want to do with

Well, they make pretty good shows over there, so they're wonderful. Wait, I have a question about staying in. So those 11 seasons you did of Shame Shameless and then The Bear. Do you find a new place to stay every time you go or do you have a hub that [snorts] you stay at?

What a great question, Sean. That's great. Thank you. In what part of Chicago broker?

So we shot we shot most of Shameless in LA. Um but we go for like a week at a time.

Oh, I got it. Okay, got it. So we stay in a hotel. I thought you shot the whole thing there still.

No, no, no. Yeah. No. Um but first week in showbiz. We do. We're got it. We do we do shoot all of the bear in Chicago and we stay all in the same place and it's great cuz all of us are like on the same floor and we all cook together and eat together and

Oh, that's great. Yeah, exactly. Um Okay. Wow. But yeah, so Apollo 13 the movie didn't they didn't film that in space then? No.

Portion of it. Um okay. So you get the bear. So now you start doing the bear. So you you come out of this. By the way,

Sean, I was going to ask you, you also had that thing with like Will and Grace. How long was that on the air? That was like

total 11 seasons, but broken up to eight and 30. So did you feel when that was over?

Yeah. Well, you know, I tried to be self-aware. I'm sure these guys did too during rest development that you know when something's working and you have a gig and you have job security and somewhere to go every day and hopefully every year with each season that you start trying to think ahead like okay I'm self-aware enough to know that this is working now I have to use this to get another g I have to make sure I can parlay this into another gig and as hard as you try you just can't like Jason always say you can't control it you can't control you know where your career goes you can cry, but it's like, you know, just kind of do your part.

You do have to let go. Yeah. We never Well, certainly unarrested. We never had How long was arrested?

The first incarnation was 3 years and we But then you guys came back. We never had job security. Even when after we won the Emmy, we were like we were on the verge of being cancelled the next week.

That's crazy. It's such a great show. That's unbelievable. Every time we every time we go past the guard shack at studio, we'd wonder if we there'd still be a drive on for us. But you guys knew how good it everybody. Like you guys could all feel how good it was, right? I mean, it's like a boring.

We did, but it was like But we were all We're all a bunch of weirdos on that show. We're like, well, is this going to translate to Are other people going to think this is funny?

We never knew. I never had I never had that job security. I never had like a long-term job in that way. I've had

And yet you work more than literally anybody. I know. I don't know if that's true, but it's

You're doing okay, Will. [clears throat] You're doing all right. Thank you. Thank you. So, so you get that. So, now you come off that and then all of a sudden you're shoot you find yourself you're shooting the pilot and then the show gets picked up and could you could you have predicted that the bear would make would would resonate with fans and critics and everybody as much as it did when you were doing

Yeah. Even more so than Shameless. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, you know, I think all of you guys know that the feeling of kind of making something and knowing that it feels exciting and fresh and that you love all the other actors and everybody's doing such great work,

but then you know that almost doesn't matter. You know, you put something out and will it connect or will anybody watch? It's just a whole other thing. So, I think we all knew how exciting it was to make and we all hoped we could do more. But I think my greatest hope for the show when we were shooting the first season was like maybe we can find kind of like a niche sort of like market where like people in service really dig this show or like you know like it's like respected by I think that was the goal is like

will will kitchens like this show? Will back of house like this show? Does this seem real? Um, so the fact that it it connected with as many people as it did and and was watched as much as it has been was was [clears throat] definitely a a surprise. Yeah.

And you're on year what? You're on year four of the bear. We will start shooting five next year.

Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. How many episodes a season? It changes. It's it sometimes it's eight, sometimes it's 10, but it's always right around there. Yeah.

Yeah. That's great. And now you're a great big movie star on top of it all. Like, how are you going to stuff it all in bud?

Oh, man. I I feel like I want to take a take a nap. I don't know. I'm I'm very like I'm excited to go do the the you know, the next season of the show and then I'm I'm like uh I mean, it's been so lovely what the show has has given me, but I'm definitely um I definitely want to like hang out at home and take the kids to school and stuff, you It does seem like there are there are people that are uniquely suited to like constantly be

in a public position and and and and sort of do that whole thing away from home and all that stuff.

And then there are others that Yeah. that that that really like to be at home that are sort of private that are sort of shy um that that it's sort of antithetical to the whole public job, right? And you do seem to be someone that enjoys like like me. I I like I think all three of us who kind of enjoy being um uh kind of nest nesters.

Yeah. Trying to find a bit of a routine or a little bit of like uh I don't know rhythm, you know? I I I get very thrown

and when you go out you feel like you got to like kind of throw the switch a little bit and kind of okay now we got to kind of do this

a bit but it kind of becomes a part of you. Is that is it become a comfortable part of you?

Which part? like just like flying around and yeah and doing the thing and and and and promoting

showing up in the room and everybody's like looking at you and going like being a public figure there's Jeremy you know

I mean yeah I don't know I mean I don't think that'll ever feel for me like a comfortable thing but I think you can get better at sort of like hiding your anxiety perhaps. Yeah, for sure. You know what? You know what's funny, Jeremy? Like this weekend, actually, at one point, I was on somewhere on social media and a photo came up and you have and and our friend uh Jamie, who we just mentioned.

Yeah. Uh and and it and it was like a scene with unident and and I was like, there we go. You're there with Jamie who you work with. Yes. And then and then people sort of glob, you know, sort of lobbing comments and see like who's this person?

Who's the person? Yeah. Who's the person? and you're just like, "Hey man, the guy's out where he's working or he's doing this and he's in the city." Like, it's just And this that part is bizarre, right? It's just it never gets really

Are you able to see that as kind of fun and funny? Yeah. I mean, you know, I love Jamie and I've known her for so long. So, like that kind of thing is funny and and and that's what I get for, you know, whatever staying at the Bowery. But, um but uh I just uh um but no, that stuff is Yeah, it's like uh it's strange. You certainly don't get used to it. Like I I have this farmers market I I love to go to and I've gone to for, you know, six, seven years that's very close to my house and I go every Sunday and and I feel like that thing that was mine or me and my daughters or like whatever that very like private kind of like nice routine has kind of been yeah like spoiled by that sort of uh the attention. So, so yeah, when those things happen, I mean, I understand it comes with, you know, I'm I'm very lucky to be working on this career that I've wanted to be in for so long and have these opportunities and this is

something that that comes with it. Um, but yeah, none of it is normal, you know? Um, none of it feels normal. Yeah.

Do you talk to your do you talk to your kids about it? Like, do you explain try to explain it to them? Are they old enough yet?

Yeah. I mean, I just try to explain it is like people get excited, you know, they know I'm on television and they'll see like posters and and things and, you know, I explain that people get excited about kind of thinking they understand a version of your dad, but it's not really your dad and and I'm, [clears throat] you know, you know me, and these people don't really know me, but that's they get excited because they see this version of me, I guess. But Ezie, my oldest, spots people, you know, quicker than than I do. [clears throat] She's got like a real like Hawkeye for for for people.

When someone pretends to be going through their email putting up their their phone or doing a double take, she'll be like, "We better keep moving." Um so

that's great. Is she seven? So, it's nice that she's sharp. Yeah. I I'm glad that she's, you know,

I was I was with somebody once and and somebody was taking like a sneaky pick of them and then came up and said, "Can I get a pick?" And they said, "You already got it."

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, respect. You know, respect. We'll be right back. And now back to the show.

JB, what have you have you ever What do you say to your girls? I mean, your girls are older now, but did you say it back in the day? Have that combo with them?

I made a mistake early on of um We know, but I want to know about this. Um, I remember once we were driving past the poster and uh and and one of my daughters said, "Oh, we were driving to school and she's like, "Oh, I can't wait to tell my friends that, you know, you're on a poster." And I my instinct was I I said, "No, no, no. You can't. you can't do don't don't ever say and I kind of because I didn't want her to be you know bragging or like being like I I try I I overcompensated and kind of

it landed in a way that was like panicked about right that you should hide the fact of what your dad does like they almost thought that what I did was a bad thing and so I kind of had to undo that but you know what do I I never had kids before is first for me

I mean how old were when was yeah how did you guys handle that kind of stuff you and Amanda

it's uh you know you just you try to keep an eye on when like when's the first possible moment they can understand the smart version of this conversation right you know and try to have it then as opposed to the dumb version of the conversations which is what I had and it's just sort of just like you know big dull you know dumb in blunt instrument you know saying no this is bad don't talk about it this is you know over here is good and it's just

was kind of stupid so I just kind of kicked can down the road for a bit, I guess.

Jeremy, what's your dream role? Great, great, great. I want to hear this. See, I know this is great.

One more thing on Chicago. So, what was the commute like from the place you guys were staying?

Well, Sean, I will I mean, do you do you go back a lot? Like, do you have a restaurant I should be going to that I don't know about? Like, what's going on?

It's a slippery slope, Jeremy. Okay, go ahead. I love the RL restaurant. The Ralph Lauren Polar.

Of course we Yeah. I mean that's really we can all walk. It's the best. Yeah. For lunch we're there. Chris Door, the creator of the bear is there every

It's attach and it's attached to the Ralph Lauren store. So you just I believe it's Ralph Lauren.

You know what the the one in uh the one in Paris is very good too. It's for real. Yeah. Really really good.

But um no but Jared like is there because you have so much going on. You have to balance we you know like you said like it' be nice to take my kids to school or whatever. Is there something that's coming up or something that you've always wanted to do where you're just like, "God, I really need to do that. I really want to do that. I have to get this.

I can't do it because of kids or or I can't or I have to or I I have to figure it out."

I don't know. I mean, I don't think of I I you know, I I kind of take things as they as they as they come. Um

like you were like, I have to play Bruce Springsteen. I want It was more like a collaborative, hey, what do you think about this?

Yeah. I mean, that came Yeah. Bruce Bruce came to me in the script came to me through Scott Cooper, who's a director. I've like admired for a really long time and I think that's how I always

move is sort of who are the directors who are the writers who are the producer like who are the actors I want to work with so like the the genre or the world while can those can be like very exciting things are almost secondary to you know

I really want to work with Paulo Santino or I really like every actor wants to just do like a line in a Paul Thomas Anderson movie you That's always kind of what I'm looking for. There's no sort of like archetype or or world that I'm necessarily like I need to I need to do this.

Got it. Got it. Got it. Sean, what about you? Something fun. What What would you like to do right now? I'm serious that somebody said you can pick a genre right now. What would you do?

I want to play I told you I want to play a complete [ __ ] maniacal serial killer

or someone who's just You would never ever expect me to play like I want to play the the super this super nice guy who is, you know, affable and kind of just like funny or whatever. And then he [ __ ] rips people's necks apart when nobody's around. I mean,

that's his mo That's his motives. He rips people's necks apart. That's right. I I wrote it down. You want You want me to send it to you?

Okay. What kind of weapon would you would your guy use? Uh, Sean, me just my hands. Wow.

How about a cake knife? Hey, how about Think about it for a second. Jesus. Let me get the question.

Try to cover up the motivation. to finish the excuse my hands. But no, you know, kind of like, you know like

ripping throats out with your hands, you know, like Anthony Hopkins and Silence of the Lambs when we saw that movie, you're like, you're like, who is this guy? Like he can't like No, he wasn't I mean, you worked all the time before that, but that was what made him famous. You're like, "Wow, that's such a cool crazy."

Sean, do we need to go look into your garage? Is this something we need? Check your search. Everything's fine. Everything's fine.

Willy. Willie, what about you? Yeah. What's that? What? What about like a You could rub the genie bottle. Uh, next next role, next part.

It's uh, it's a Or it could be a genre. It's the newborn. The newborn. You'd like to be You'd like to do some action work?

I take over. Yeah. In the first scene, Maddie and I uh, battle it out. And uh, and then I And with the silencer, I uh, I I take him out.

And you take his wallet, his identification. I take and I take his identification. And right before he does, he uh, Damon looks at me and goes, "You're the best." And then and then I take over.

Wow. But you haven't thought about it. Well, I want him to compliment me before. You know what I mean?

His last words. Do you But in all honesty, if somebody came to you with like a big ass action film right now, would you not think about the fact that the stunt work could be very challenging?

I feel like that stuff's exciting to me. I mean, that's Yeah, that all You're a young guy. Of course. I'm not scared of that, Jason.

No. What about you, Will? Do you think you'd you'd say you would you say yes to some stunt work? You'd blow out your [ __ ] hammy coming out of your [ __ ] dressing room.

I'm out of your DRESSING ROOM. [groaning] I'M OUT. I'M OUT. I'M OUT. SAYS YOU. JB would show up for his first thought and they'd be like, "You can't do this in slippers."

But, uh, I think that, uh, yeah, I I would actually think about more about the time that would take to be away to do something like that. And that for sure would freak me out more than anything to be honest. Yeah, I know.

That's looking like 6 months. Yeah. Yeah. I know. It is. It is such a big factor in deciding, isn't it? Like where am I going to be and for how long and what?

Yeah. Yeah. And and we all have, you know, we have kids and and you have lives and stuff and especially at our age. I mean, Jeremy, you're you're lucky that you're sort of young. You have all these kind of But for me, I'm like, "Oh god, I'm so tired."

Yeah. You have you have a young one. You have I do. I do. I have a I have a I have a 5-year-old. I have a 5-year-old and a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old. So, these are like

Oh, you are tired. Yeah. Yeah, I am tired. And these are uh although my 5-year-old slept through the night last night, which he hasn't been doing for a while, but he did last night, which was a big even though I look like crazy exhausted right now.

Does he sleep in bed with you? No. No. Cuz that that that's it is a slipper. You know, sometimes I'll go down and sort of get in and and and sort of calm him down and stuff like that if he wakes up in the night. But yeah, he's he's not a great sleeper. Um,

but anyway, we're getting, you know, Hey, listen. It's cool. I'm 55. Hey, um, Jar, when you can you can you now when you Sure, why not? I don't have I don't have the time.

Do people call you Jared? Do you have Are you called Jar by your friends? J. Yeah. J. Jar Bear is Yeah. Yeah.

How about How about Jaw Dog? Yeah. Jaw Dog is Yeah. A lot. Jaw Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Jaw was in like middle school, high school on the bear on the bear set. Jaw dog is

really around this. I'm being genuine. Yes. Jaw. Yes, of course. Jerry. Well, my my initials Yeah. Or J W. Yeah. Yeah. I got it. We Yeah, we can we can do the math.

So, listen. Um uh but when cuz I I I know what you mean. Sean, your hair is distracting. We'll see. It looks I got to get it cut. I'm getting it cut.

Yeah. What time's the gig later on? You just it you just cover all flock of seagulls and nothing else, right? No, I have a figure skating gig next a little bit. Um but Jar do you um have

when you because I talking about the anxiety thing and stuff like that. Do you can you when you're not working and you have family, can you shut it off and not think about

agents and lawyers and deals and scripts and all that stuff, can you completely separate or is it always kind of there? I I think yeah I mean that's you know uh when I'm around yeah my kids that you're forced to just you you have to be completely present. It's like

um so so I guess that's yeah the the second time I found kind of real peace or focus is Yeah. And having and having kids everything just kind of like narrows and you're like oh this is it. This is you know this is where my intention is. This is where I want to be. this is, you know, um and uh

and and so yeah, I'm I'm I'm able uh I'm able to do that when when I'm when I'm home. Yeah, for sure.

And when it's not kids, when it's not What else are you do? Like when it's just you, what do you do to completely decompress?

No work, no kids, something stupid, something settling. Is there what what would we be surprised to learn is your weirdass hobby or your shitty TV show that you watch.

I mean, I watch I Well, okay. So, I I'm obsessed with like reality uh real estate shows and I'm like always on my real app. I don't buy anything, but I like to fantasize about like buying stuff all the time.

That's why are so popular. We do too. the insane. I send listings to friends and they're like, "Buy it then." Like, "What do you like, what do you want from me?" And I'm like, "No, I don't know. I don't know." And you know,

wait, so like those like weird reals million dollar listing selling owning Manhattan just very excited. Ryan Sir. Yeah.

Yeah. Brian Sirant is like incredible. Came from nothing and built an empire. I'm very impressed by that man.

No, but I mean it's cool. I know. Yeah. But that's my like I you know I just like look at stuff if I'm visiting like a I don't know I'm like traveling for work or even like I like doing road trips and if I'm in a small town I think is really sweet instantly I'm kind of on like Zillow or the real app and I'm like what if I what if I got another place here? What if I just like you know

would come here all the time. What is that? I do the same thing wherever I go I'm immediately thinking about getting a place there. Is it because that's how I could feel like at home there?

I'm not home. Yeah. Maybe it's a way to try to like get some control over I feel like a lot of it comes back to control for me.

Exactly. I want to be a local immediately. What What's the weirdest place that you ever like seriously considered like maybe I will get a place here? Was there ever one of those?

Bisby, Arizona. I was really considering. Yeah, I did a road trip. I I've driven cross country like four or five times and um and uh I did one from LA to New York in December. This was like I don't know 10 years ago. Um and the first stop was Bisby, Arizona, which is like a very small town. It looks kind of like Laurel Canyon. Like the buildings are very pastel colors and there's it's kind of hilly, but it's in the middle of nowhere. It's like desert, desert, desert. Very small town, but very sweet. And um we spent the night there in a bed and breakfast.

Got up the next day, was like walking around talking to locals and everybody I spoke to like nobody was from Bisby. Everybody was just passing through and then they opened a sandwich shop or they opened a clothing store and it started to feel a little like Twilight episode where I was like, "Oh, maybe this is one of those towns you stop in and you just you can't get out of." And I did get out, but then for about six months I was considering getting like a a little house in Bisby, Arizona.

Now, what about these drives across country? Did you Did you Did you ever have a big run in with a cop? Do you like to speed?

I I didn't I I'm I'm really responsible on the road. You are. Um So, you do the speed limit across the country?

I go 10 above the speed limit. Okay. You set the cruise control. They won't nab you.

I just keep going at 10. Yeah. just uh but I did get a flat in St. George when I was driving cross country uh a couple years ago in the middle of the night. There was no one around. I didn't have cell service and that was spooky.

That's the worst. And then I uh and then I finally got a cop stopped and I got a spare and I was going to spend the night in Vegas. I was on my way back to LA, but there was like a fight night and everything was booked. Everything. I'm talking like holiday ins were booked, all the nice hotels were booked. Eventually,

I got a hotel room. It was like the only hotel room left in Las Vegas, but it was like $2,000 for the night.

Oh my god. It had a bowling alley. It was like so absurd. So, I spent $2,000 to like lie down at 2:00 a.m. and then pretty much get up at 6 a.m. to go get a real tire put on the car.

Right. Cuz you had a little pizza cutter back. I just needed to sleep. Yeah. You just slept in your car. [snorts] I should have. I should have.

That's what I'm here for. Sean, add another thing for the the list for your time machine.

Um, I know what you mean about that real like anytime Scotty and I go anywhere, we immediately go I always ask them like, "Could you live here? Could you live here? Could you live there?" And it's always

meaning like like Duncan franchises and stuff like that. Right. No, but like it's always the same thing where I think I would go I think the idea of living smaller in a quaint town like Bisby or whatever is great, but then the reality is I don't know this New York or LA or Miami or Chicago. The city really keeps you kind of going and alive and it's like

I'd feel too isolated I think. Yeah, a little bit. I need some big. You're for two things are a Sean that is Sean does do that because I know for a fact you Sean will go even further. He won't even just look at online. He'll go and look at property with a local realtor. That's the truth. He does it he does it all the time.

All the time. Oh, that's commitment. And but you buy and and you'll pull the trigger.

No. God no. I just wasted He's wasted so many realtors time it's not even funny. He's like got a real a real whale.

Yeah. But the other thing I've not Sorry, go ahead Sean. No, I was just that idea, Jeremy. The idea like do you come from a small town and you prefer cities now or you like No, I could actually like

I know but like Brooklyn isn't like a like you know Brooklyn's city like So do you

do you prefer the opposite of that as you get older cuz you didn't grow up that way?

Um maybe. I mean, yeah. I I I definitely like the idea of maybe one day having a place that's more slowm moving and I have a, you know, a smaller place in LA or if I'm back in New York, I have an apartment in the city and go upstate or Long Island or something like that. Yeah.

You ever see yourself getting like a bunch of land and being like one of those guys with a bunch of like ranch ranch tools and

again like the fantasy of it? Ranch tools. I think bunch of props. Wait, was it Jason stuff that the prop department hands you?

Yeah. You know, one of those cap guns. You're holding it upside down, Mr. Baitman.

I'd be so useless. I think for a week it could be fun. Yeah. To like have the fantasy of it, but very quickly I'd realize there's no

I could see you upstate. I could see you upstate or on Long Island. Yeah, I have some friends that are that are up there and and it's and you know, I I think it's sweet and and then uh and then Yeah, Long Island, I think, is is really nice. And I had I rented a place last summer there that I really loved and and um and uh and yeah and my all my people my folks are still in Brooklyn. My sister's in like

Yeah, that's great. So I like going back there and being close to Well, personally I like you stay here in Los Angeles so we continue [clears throat] to see each other. Yeah,

it is nice. What was the last movie? What was the last movie night? [sighs] It's been a while. I mean I'm still watching them. Um but uh the door is still unlocked. A jar even waiting for you people to come back. Okay. Less creepy would be great. Just a little less creepy would be nice.

That's the name of my autobiography. The door's a jar. The door's a jar. Gross. That's disgusting.

God, it's so gross. Jeremy, you just You are the man, man. I appreciate you. Do it's just incredible.

No, listen. Continued success. Congrats on all of it. It's It's so welld deserved. you've worked hard for it and you've been just consistently great all the way along. So,

we're big we're big big fans. I I I speak for Sean. Jason has his own take on it which is a little more lascivious,

but I'm not there yet. Okay. Okay. I'm working on him. I'm trying to play hard to get. Um love it. Get over here again.

This is a pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. Nice to meet you, buddy. You guys see you soon.

See you. See you. Will. Did you get that full plate of food done? I know. First of all, he said, "You're the best." And he was looking at me. Do you see that?

No. He was in my box. In my box. You got He was looking at me. You had a full plate of food delivered to you at the beginning of the interview. Did you get it all done? What is it? Is it was like mozzar chicken salad?

Chicken salad. Yeah. Fresh chicken breast. It would seemed like somebody was on their hands and knees down there at the the door opening. What was that?

She didn't want to interrupt. She didn't want to interrupt. It was Carolyn. No, it was Caroline.

That was Carolyn on her hands and knees. She wasn't on her hands and knees. She bent down to put it on the at the door cuz she didn't want to interrupt. She was being very respectful.

She should have come in, said hi. I love her. I know. I love her. Don't you mess that up, Will.

Oh my god. Jesus. If it starts to get wobbly, you just hand it over and let us fix it and then we'll give it back.

Yeah. That's how relationships work, right? Yeah, sure. That's exactly how it works.

Hand it over. Um Oh my god, I'm out of milk. Sean. Sean, is this the same snicker doodle? Yeah, it just killed it till the last bite. Good boy. There's one more left.

Um well, how great is he? I've never met him. Oh, he's just the greatest. He's such a nice guy. I've only met him a couple times. He's so nice. A good normal person.

Really great. Um he would have been great up there on that stage. Are we going to reschedule that? Are we going to do we going to do the bowl maybe like in the spring or something like that? Maybe.

Let's make a commitment that we're going to do something spring summer. Yeah. Why don't we do the bowl or let's for sure do it when it's not raining.

We can't do it in the summer because they do the the the the philarmonic there in the summer. um

every night. Uh most of it's programmed. Why can't you do it over the summer or what? What about the beginning?

LA Phil's in there through the summer. September or like October, you know, before the rain starts, you know?

Don't argue with me. I I I'm happy to do it at any point. I think it's all about the guests. When When could we get guests in there?

Yeah, you're right. Yeah. You know, we got to we got to get some big shot guests because we're we're not cutting it. Okay. People aren't coming out to see us blather on sitting on a couch. They wanted

Wait, how did you and Jeremy meet again? Uh, Grinder. Oh, wow. Wow. JB, I didn't I don't JB, you didn't know this. Sean didn't want to say it because he's embarrassed because the same guy created uh The Bear. Sean is about to do They're doing a spin-off. He's doing The Cub. It's a different show. It's a different It's on you. It's on YouTube or it's on Porn Porn Tube or whatever. Whatever. But whatever. It doesn't matter. Hey, listen. Doing fun. Sounds fun.

By the way, when I saw the title of the bear, I was like, I'm in. Click. Oh, it's about a restaurant. Click off.

People talking about food. Um, wait. Is Grinder Is Grinder the hetero one or the the gay one?

Nice try. Which one? Listen. Oh, yeah. Hey, I'm confused. What are you doing here? I'm so confused.

Hand hand to God on my kids life. I don't Which is which is which? Which is what? What are you asking? Is it Tinder? One of them's the gay one. One's the gay one. So nervous acting so nervous. I want to make sure they get that on account.

Um, wait. You know, I when Jeremy was playing uh Bruce Springsteen. Oh boy. Here we go. Jesus.

There's a song that I wonder I haven't seen it yet. I haven't seen the show yet. And and I wonder if he sang the song in the movie called Johnny Bye-Bye. Do you know that song that

at least commit to it? Yeah. No, I was just go right by smart. Smart glass. Smart list is 100% organic and artisally handcrafted by Bennett Barbco, Michael Grant, Terry, and Rob Armjarf.

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Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "Jeremy Allen White | SmartLess"?

In order: 0:00 Crimeless, Jeremy, Alan White, Bennett Barbau; 10:00 Jeremy, The Bear, The Bear; 20:00 Shameless, Shameless, Jeremy; 30:00 The Bear, The Bear, Shameless, Shameless; 40:00 Jeremy, The Bear, The Bear; 50:00 Bisby, Arizona, Jeremy, The Bear, The Bear; 1:00:00 Jeremy, The Bear, The Bear.

What is mentioned in this SmartLess episode?

15 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Jeremy, The Bear, The Bear, Shameless, Shameless, Crimeless. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Jeremy Allen White | SmartLess"?

The episode runs 1 h 7 min; the transcript is about 14,453 words in 377 timestamped sections.

More from SmartLess

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.