Transcript

Macaulay Culkin | SmartLess

From SmartLess · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 2 min · 14,315 words · 308 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Macaulay Culkin | SmartLess", an episode of SmartLess published December 29, 2025 (1 h 2 min, about 14,315 words). It mentions 16 people, works and ideas, including Adam Taylor, Home Alone, McCauley Culkin, Positive Sean, Jesse Eisenberg.

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Adam Taylor, Jesse Eisenberg, Home Alone
  2. – 20:00: Brenda, Home Alone
  3. – 40:00: Brenda, Fallout, Kieran, Running Point
  4. – 50:00: Backstreet Boys, Home Alone, Liverpool, Alexis Mallister
  5. – 1:00:00: Adam Taylor, Fallout, Home Alone, Jesse Eisenberg
  6. – 1:01:54: Jesse Eisenberg

Notable quotes from "Macaulay Culkin | SmartLess"

  • The middle of We were talking about politics or drinking or something and her friend Taylor goes, oh, Taylor, that don't get me started on Taylor at a dinner at a dinner. Taylor at a dinner with politics.
    about Adam Taylor · at
  • Buck, Jacob's Ladder, and then absolutely went through the stratosphere with Home Alone, Home Alone, Richie Rich, and then Monol.
    about Home Alone · at
  • Yes, very much so. Yes. Me and Brenda are taking a bite of the forbidden fruit. we're playing brother and sister. Meow.
    about Brenda · at
  • How many of them are performers? I know that your brother Kieran's a actor of course.
    about Kieran · at
  • Oh yeah know she's she she's always swimming. She's always moving forward. She's on that show Running Point. She just finished season two last week.
    about Running Point · at
  • Yeah. No. Yeah. I yeah, I'm on the new show Fallout or you know that I'm doing season two of that and so worked on that earlier in the year and stuff.
    about Fallout · at
  • Yeah, we saw Backstreet Boys there. My lady was living her best life. She actually like dressed like she really dressed the part. She looked like a mom that was a big fan of Backstreet Boys. I.
    about Backstreet Boys · at
  • Professional footballer called Alexis Mallister he's a midfielder for Liverpool I love him he won the World Cup with Argentina he's incredible his family is of Irish descent…
    about Liverpool · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Adam Taylor — Person · 5 mentions · first at
  • McCauley Culkin — Person · 5 mentions
  • Positive Sean — Person · 5 mentions
  • Jesse Eisenberg — Person · 4 mentions · first at
    She must have She goes in the middle of the thing, she goes, Oh my god, you guys, did you hear Jesse Eisenberg's going to give away one of his kidneys to a stranger?
  • Brenda — Person · 3 mentions · first at
  • Kevin Mallister — Person · 2 mentions · first at
    And he found out when he was 18 that he was named after your character for No way. Is that true? His name is Kevin Mallister and his name's Kevin Mallister and his brother plays for Liverpool. He's a [ __ ].
  • Kieran — Person · 1 mention · first at
  • Alexis Mallister — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Professional soccer in Belgium I believe he plays for Union there's a professional footballer called Alexis Mallister he's a midfielder for Liverpool I love him he won the…
  • Rory — Person · 1 mention

Books & papers

  • Home Alone — Book · 5 mentions · first at
  • The Pursuit — Book · 1 mention · first at
    On two films in January and March and stuff like Yeah. She books. she likes it. She likes The Pursuit. I don't really like the pursuit. I like the work itself. She likes the…

Companies & orgs

Concepts & topics

Places & events

Full transcript with timestamps

Are you good at watching the holiday uh movies, the cartoons? The I do because it's nostalgic. It makes me feel like wear I put my my onesie on, you know, with the with the feet where the whole the pajamas.

Yeah. Do you have a little Do you have the little uh the the the the button uh sort of window that drops in the back for poops?

Don't beat around the bush. What are What are you trying to say? Do you have a back flap or do you

Yeah, but that's not my jeans. You're talking about talking about my pajamas. Um, now have you watched any any of the holiday videos or movies?

I I I not yet, but I'm going to. It's going to be so exciting. Do you want to come over and watch them?

Yeah. Okay. You came over last time. I guess we got to come over to your places too.

Yeah. Tit for tat. Tit for tat. Splittity splat. Welcome to a new episode. Smart.

Yeah. Smart. Smart bless. Smart less. Oh my god. I'm so sorry. Jesus Christ, Sean.

[ __ ] hell, Sean. This is [ __ ] [ __ ] It wasn't on the It wasn't on my calendar.

Don't tell Yeah, don't say it like it's our fault. Who's Who's in control of your calendar? Is it Nick the prick?

Yeah. Did you get a deal on By the way, Sean? He says, "Fuck it, Nick." He didn't even know who Nick was a minute.

Nick for years was swear to God. We literally said, "Did we call Nick?" And he goes, "Who? What's What's a Nick?

What's a Nick?" No, he said, "What's a Nick?" Yeah, it's a Nick. Clearly, like discount assistant.

We were about to call Cedars cuz we thought, "Have you checked the paddle waiting room?"

That is the worst feeling in the world. This guy's like I'm like, "What? What are you talking about?"

Okay. Well, let's take a couple of Oh, sorry. Will, do you want to finish chew on that?

Yeah. Okay. Um, [ __ ] Willette. This guy. Wait, how are you guys? No, no, no, not yet. You already did that. You already did that.

Let's take a guess of what we interrupted and what was going on. What were you doing? Spaghetti.

No. Sorry. Well, no. It's first thing in the morning, so that's seemed like the most likely.

He was turning the Pop-Tart over in the oven. I'm going to tell you right now the honest to God tr the honest to God truth.

Cast out sleeping. Okay. Because you got up too early. Churning butter. A surprise guest is guest. Our surprise guest is real lippy.

By the way, since you've been away, Sean, our surprise guest has been very active in the chat, which has been fun.

All right, good. I'm a big Olivia Mun fan and a fun lady. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Do you want to guess?

Uh, no. But let's get back to Shaunie. So, what happened? So, how was your sleep? What was your sleep? Yeah,

I got up at 3 and then I wrote and then I was and then I had this script that I had to write notes on. So, I spent like three or four hours rereading it and rereading it, rereading it and writing notes on it and stuff like that. And then I was like, "Oh god, I got to go back to sleep." And then I I Scotty's like, "Hey, you have a smart list." I'm like, "What?" And I jumped out of bed. You should smell my breath.

I'm good. Um, hey, so what's going to Now, what's the process when we're done here? Nick gets what? A phone call or you want an in person?

Yeah. No, I No, I'm definitely going to ask what happened. No, I um Yeah, that's it. That's it. My And my niece is here with her four friends. So, there's five there's five girls staying in the house. Oh my god, it's so they're you know, so we were up late.

Let's bring them in and have them smell your breath. Can we do that? So, wait. This is the daughter of who?

This is my brother Dennis's daughter, Elise. And I remember her name because it rhymes with niece.

Oh, that's a big deal that you remember the name of your niece. Yeah. Hey, Jason, this is not a road you want to go down,

right? Sorry. Um, hey, so how old is Elise? Um, she's just turned 24. She just turned 24.

Take the sharpness out of your voice. I know. He's so mad at me, but he won't. And she's having a fivep person sleepover at Uncle Sean's house.

Yeah. Yeah. It's It's fun. Stupid. Did they get Did they climb into a bottle of something last night?

Yes, they did. Yeah. These girls. These girls. They're really funny, though. But, you know, they're like in the middle of dinner last night, like they'll say the most random things. Are they crazy?

They're You guys, they're crazy. I'm going to tell you something. Right in the middle of We were talking about politics or drinking or something

and and her friend Taylor goes, "Um, oh, Taylor, that don't get me started on Taylor at a dinner at a dinner. Taylor at a dinner with politics."

She must have She goes in the middle of the thing, she goes, "Oh my god, you guys, did you hear Jesse Eisenberg's going to give away one of his kidneys to a stranger?" I mean, that's unbelievable. And then, by the way, that's the best part. That's the whole story.

And Elise comes over the top with And then she goes, "Oh my god, you guys, he's so nice." By the way, I didn't know Jesse Eisenberg was giving away a kidney to a stranger.

Hang on a second. Let's get back to Taylor's comment. I mean, and and that's that's it. I mean, there's

that cute thing that um what was that? Hey, so wait, so Jesse I don't I don't believe for one second that Jesse Eisenberg is giving away a kidney to a stranger. It's not just some sort of um

I didn't It was in the news. Really? Yeah, it was in the news. And they have they and and they go, "I didn't know you guys. Oh my god, Ed Sharon didn't use a phone." And then Ellis goes, "Oh, he's so mysterious."

And then I'm like, and I'm like, they all really talk like that. And like, what? This is really happening.

Where are they from? Chicago. Glenn Ellen. Glenn Ellen. So, they all flew in. Well, they all No, now they one lives in New York. Uh, and they but they all live in the Chicagoland area and they all decided to fly in for her birthday. It was nice. It's fun. It's nice of you to host them. Yeah, I both

But Jason, this is what people do for family and this is what people do. It's selfless.

Her uncle is is rich and famous and lives in Hollywood and so they're going to go out there and stay in his mansion. That makes sense. What part of that do you not get?

For how long are these strangers going to be in your house? It's his niece. Um, they are going to be here for two two or three more days.

How long have they been there already? They're total of five days. [ __ ] That is a long day.

Do you know the other girls names? Yes. Taylor, Anley, Lily. Um, oh, what's Oh, shoot.

And the new one. No, wait. This is fun. Julie, our Alandra. Alandra. Catherine and Julie, our surprise guest, just threw in the chat.

I wish I was close. What did she What did the guest say? Catherine, I was close. I was close.

Oh my god. All right, let's get Who is this person? This is the This is the most fun guest. Sean, I'm really excited that we're catching you in this. This is the rust we've ever seen you.

I'm nervous cuz I No, I know you are nervous because you you you just feel you're out of sorts. You you haven't you're just waking up.

You're raw. And I haven't seen you this raw since fill in the blank. So, no, that was the name of the that was the name of the bar. They had to close it down for health reasons, but fill in the blank,

by the way. Gross title. Um, yeah. Are you guys going to be the fill in the blank later?

Our our our drinks at fill in the blank. Our guest has been active in the film business for many years. dare I say most of his life and not just adult life, most of his lifel life. So Jason, this is going to be somebody that you can identify with Russell,

but this is somebody who's been doing it for so long and who reached such incredible heights uh of fame as a young person and has continued to work throughout. It's been incredible. started in films like Rocket Gibralar, Born in the Fourth of July, then uh movies started to have more success in bigger roles in in movies like Uncle Buck, Jacob's Ladder, and then absolutely went through the stratosphere with Home Alone, Home Alone, Richie Rich, and then Monol.

Welcome to the show. You were on my list as well. Oh my god, this is so cool. Appropriately dressed in uh smartless PJs.

Oh, yes. Yes, of course. Yes, McCauley. I'm so sorry I was late. I so many apologies. I'm never late.

It's too late for that. He just No, I mean just Taylor when Taylor gets going and then just forget it. You know what I mean?

Just don't just let her off the leash. I swear. Can't even I don't know if you heard about Ed Sheeran, but it's so mysterious.

McCauley Con, where are we finding you today? I'm in I'm in Los Angeles. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, what part? Uh I live in Tuca Lake. Ta Lake. I've done a lot of time there. Yeah. I like how you like make it sound like a prison, you know. Yeah. I time there.

Yeah. I love it there. Uh they've got they got one of the greatest golf clubs in all of America there at Lakeside.

Yeah. Um do you golf, McCaulay? No. No, but uh uh I'm investing in a golf cart, you know, we'll put it that way.

So you can tool around the neighborhood? Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. For real. Yeah. You know, cuz you got a Jones, you know, everyone has a golf cart. So, you know, I got a Jones, you know.

By the way, you know what's interesting, Sean? And I was going to say, McCauley, what's interesting is that you're you're an Angelino now. Perhaps you live in Los Angeles, but you're a New Yorker and yet you played a character who so closely identified with Chicago. Yes.

Uh so you you've kind of really covered the whole country. You're you're a you belong to America. Can I just say that?

No. Well, that's that's well put. Yes. But I love how a New Yorker is like a Chicago like you know, they love me there. I swear to God, I do gang busters over there.

Do you? In Chicago. In Chicago. Yeah. In Yeah. Sean, hang on, Sean. Sean, hang on. You just said Chicago.

Yeah, Sean's also done some time there. Yeah, every time you mention Yeah. Go ahead.

Do you want to just get it over with and then we can move on to other things? So, when I was a kid and I was in high school, John Hughes was making all of his movies in in as you know in and around Chicago, right? Of course, remember. So, so it was wild to grow I've said this before. It was wild to grow up in the town where he was making the movies and then when I'm in high school those movies came out about high school. So it was all I was all encompass John Hughes all the time all around Chicago.

Who Sean who did you identify with? Is it Ducky? By the way, I got called Ducky all the time. All the time I did. I dressed like him and everything. Yeah.

Uh did you ever see them shooting around around the neighborhood, Sean? No, but uh No, but Lucas, you know, was filmed in my high school and if you remember that movie Lucas, anybody?

Uh, yes. And Yeah. Yeah. And Charlie, it was Cory H. Writers. That was a great That was a great little movie actually. Lucas, I like that.

I was I was an extra. I was like 14 years old. Anyway, who cares? Did you sit in background holding?

Mhm. On your own on a on a fold out. Were Were you late to that? And that little boy.

Did you sleep through that? That nobody wanted. That's right. Um That's right. McCaulay Cullen, by the way, are you excited, Jason, what I thought you were going to say is, are you excited for the release because we're going to talk about later of Zootopia 2?

Yes, very much so. Yes. Me and Brenda are taking a bite of the forbidden fruit. Uh we're playing brother and sister. Meow.

Oh, boy. Wait, who is uh me and my lady? Yeah. Uh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's uh going to I'm going to be at the premiere.

Now, which what what what what animal is your character? Uh we're we we are playing cats. That meow is literal. Yeah. Oh my god. Little kid.

Jason, what are you? Jason, you're a fox right? Thanks, man. You had that one in the chamber.

Well, McCaulay's you're in Zootopia and Jason, you didn't know which character he he was.

Uh, to be honest, had no idea Macaulay was in it. Yeah. Yeah. No. Are Are you kidding me? This is animation. Like,

they don't let anybody know anything. Willie, tell tell them I'm wrong, right? I I honestly don't even know what the film is about. I didn't know what the first film was about. I didn't know till I saw it.

I have had those moments where this is so embarrassing, but like Jason, where somebody goes, "Hey." You run into somebody, they go, "Hey, we're doing the thing." And you go, "No way." By the way, this is not This is when it's done. This is not going into it.

It's typical of animation. It's It's done. It's you just kind of Yeah. You like record your scenes uh you know, all a cart over the period of a couple of years and Yeah.

Had you done a bunch of animated stuff, McCaulay before? Yeah. Yeah. Back in the early 90s, like everyone else, they uh I had a Saturday morning cartoon, you know. Remember like they gave one to uh I remember they gave one to Roseanne Bar, John Candy had Camp Candy, they had uh was it Bobby's World, Howie Mandel, like you know, like Louis Anderson had his own Saturday morning cartoons. Giving away like like candy, you know. Yeah.

Saturday morning cartoons, you guys, was everything for me. Me too. Me too, man. I love that. It was so We're a little bit older than you are, McCauley, but you probably also remember that feeling of the Saturday morning cartoon.

Oh, heck yeah. No, look forward to it. I'm I'm raising my kids with like a like Saturday morning cartoons. Like it's like Yeah. Just we It's just on YouTube now. But like I It's a thing.

Exactly. It's just on YouTube. And what was great about it back then was that we only you only got it on Saturday. So you could have it just wasn't available 24/7. So it felt really

It was appointment television. Yeah. For your Yeah. Yeah. Wait. All right. So, McCauley, we're going to roll it all the way back like we like to do. We we're going to get right to the beginning because you you did start like I said when you were as everybody a lot of people know uh that you started very young acting uh and J not unlike our friend Jason Baitman. What was the what was the age what was the age at which you were you decided or you got you and your family decided like I'm going to do this? Was this predetermined or were you

Yeah. Did you seek it? What was the what was the thing that started that said, "Hey, I'm going to we should do this."

Uh it was actually it was uh my father, he had uh he was going to take my older brother and sister and he was going to take like head shot of them in the park and it was uh and then uh my mom was kind of just like, "Oh, uh just take Mac with you." Like, you know, I think she just wanted a break. And uh yeah, I just started booking right away. I started out earning everyone else pretty fast. Uh

wow. Through commercials and stuff. You mean uh you know it was more I did uh like blackbox theater in Manhattan and I got written up for that and then um honestly I just I jumped pretty much straight to film. Uh I did a couple of commercials here and there but that but like literally out of the gate it was blackbox theater and then then cinema.

So am I right that Rocket Jialter was your first film? Is it Yeah. Yeah. That was actually um Bert Lancaster is one of his last movies and they hired a bunch of New York stage actors and I was a you know stage actor and it was like um uh who's like Bill Pullman, Patricia Clarkson, uh uh Spy was was in it and stuff like that. Uh

oh. Yeah. Just saying. Uh oh. What was your What was your What was that like your first experience on a film set? How old were you? Did you remember? Uh

I was six. Wow. Uh yeah. No, honestly it was I just knew whatever there's memorize your lines, don't look in the camera, you know, uh find your light, hit your marks, things like that. I was it was it was pretty

Sean's still trying to nail that down. No, but that's what blows my mind when young kids like yourself and how did they know to do that? Like there's so many kids that can't do that.

Well, like did your parents give you that? Yeah. Uh I mean, yeah, pretty much. You know, like a you know, you're when you're a kid, you're a fast learner, you know. And wasn't the draw was the draw the same for you as it was for me? It was just like basically I get to skip school. That that's all I was looking at,

you know. Uh as it went on, uh for me as it went on, it was actually the opposite. Uh cuz I was always away and I didn't like and you have to remember a lot of my work uh when I was, you know, pretty much when I was younger, I never worked with people my own age. I was always working with adults and stuff like that. So like, yeah. So if anything, I kind of had a yearning to like go to school to like, you know, have contemporaries and things like that.

And did you ever uh Yeah. Uh once I quit, I quit when I was uh 14. Uh quit for like nearly a decade and uh yeah. No, just uh just went to went to school, went to high school, you know, fell in love, got, you know got

What was that like? Got drunk for the first time, things like that. What was that like? I mean, cuz you had, as I pointed out, we all know, you had incredible success. Uh first of all, Uncle Buck is just an absolute gem of a film. It holds up. I I watch it like once a year. I It kills me. you have great

and I know you you were part of that John Candy documentary too about right yeah that was lovely yeah know um it really was a good uh tribute to him really did him justice uh and it was they were actually had they were trying to track me down for a while uh and I just kind of kept on just going yeah I'll get around to it and just never did and then um finally uh yeah finally they tracked me down and on the um on the carpet when they did the premiere uh I talked to Colin Hanks he was the one who directed it and I said who was harder to track down me or Bill Murray he goes you. He didn't even blink.

Wow. So, what was John Candy like? Uh uh because I've always just that guy to me is just such a giant.

Yeah. No, he was a Yeah, he was sweet. He was very giving. You know, they always say don't work with kids or animals, you know, but you know, he he was actually really good with me. Um Yeah, he was very sweet. I did

I did uh three films with him because he was in uh he was also in Home Alone and he also I had a brief part in uh Only the Lonely. Um uh

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Now, now McCauley, when you when you took your your 10-year hiatus, um was there an expectation that your line that your spot would be held for you in line or or were you at that point were you like, h I I don't really care if I come back to this industry. Um

I was done skis like I was full. Yeah. I was I was done. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, I hope you all made your money cuz there's no more coming for me. Yeah. I made my name. I made my mark. I made my fortune. Like so I don't you know like the only reason why I uh even like do it now is because I like to do it. You know it's the you know it's a what is it? Play a pay pay pleasure prestige. That's the only reason to do a gig. Technically I'm retired right now. Like I retire and then if I find something I like I unretire do that and I immediately retire afterward. Like I mean every gig is my last he just Sean just acts like he's retired. He's not retired but he just

sleeps in. He does whatever he wants. When you when you were not when you were not acting and you were going through high school and then and then hitting the college years, was there was there a thought to study a different industry? Was there an interest pull anywhere?

Um, not necessarily. You know, I was I was kind of just drifting around uh and trying to figure out kind of what I wanted out of life and so forth. And I mean, listen, this was a calling that uh uh found me. I didn't find it. And so, I wanted to explore that in a different kind of way uh on my terms.

Right. We'll talk about that cuz I I went through a very similar thing where it was just like, well, I'm young enough to really start over and it's something that I can sort of drive a little bit more. I can have much more say in my longevity and my relevance um and my access in any other career, any other occupation, any other industry.

Did you want to do something else, JB? I I I did. I I I I desperately wanted to do something that I could count on that I wasn't so nervous about maintaining employment in. And and so um I you know I I I got I got another job before I ever fully went into you know studying something else. But um was that was that was that a part of your thinking at all Macaulay? Was there te tell us about about that about just thinking about going forward and and providing? I mean, I was I was in a position where I could just um put my thumb up my butt and play video games all day long, you know. I could do anything I wanted really. Yeah. And so, uh

there there was enough employment before you quit at 14 to to to cover you for the rest of your life.

Indeed. Oh, great. Wow. Oh, that was not my case. But but there was family bank, you know.

No, it wasn't enough. No, you did okay. I mean, you know, we were I was spending too much. I was having fun, you know,

on what? On just like basically catching up. Yeah. And we will be right back. And now back to the show. So McCall, but you you know it's funny you you use the expression you said you you know there's no more money to be made off me or something like that which I which I I wonder like when you did quit and you were 14 was there a sense of like that that you had was there a sense of resentment towards people who had made money off you in in a way?

No. No. I mean I I got the lion share of it, you know. No, but it was also it was kind of a rat race. Uh like it was I remember when I stopped having fun. I wanted to kind of I wanted to take a break and I said I was getting really taxed and uh uh and like yeah I just kind of want to do like a semester of school, you know, that kind of thing. And um and I I was not heard and that was something that uh really affected me. It affected my work and stuff like that. And then it was just like oh I'm on the hamster wheel and I can't get off. Um, and so once I had some autonomy and some agency in my life, uh, yeah, I graduate with both hands, you know.

Yeah. But that's a big that's a big burden for for a kid of 14. First of all, it's kind of a a a big realization for a kid of 14 to be able to actually listen to yourself and go, "Hey, this doesn't feel great." And the people that I'm trusting to I'm trying to I'm trying to tell people this is how I feel. And they're not necessarily uh recognizing that. There's got to be I can imagine I can only sort of try to imagine how I would feel if I felt like there must be a frustration in there a little bit. Um I'm not by the way I'm not trying to push you into a position.

I'm just curious. No, no, no. I mean I was definitely frustrated like Yeah. And it was Yeah. Again, it was kind of just like Yeah. Once I had the the chance to get off it was like cool and I I said I'll I'll just figure it all out later, you know. Yeah. I'll just you know that's kind of what I did, you know.

And I imagine that the Were you like like other child actors, myself included? Um, was it the inevitability of your parents being your manager? Was that the case in your life as well?

Uh, yeah. Yeah. And I I I I had a pretty acrimonious relationship with my father, uh, famously so.

Yeah. And like, as soon as I was able to kind of push him out, like, yeah, just my quality of life on a on a day-to-day level definitely went up.

Right. Gotcha. Yeah. I had a very complicated relationship with that as well. Um certainly as you get older in retrospect it becomes even more complicated as you become a parent and and you start to think about the decisions that they make about about being um an employee in your life and how that adjusts the dynamic of of how you look at your parents as you know what should be sort of your your northstar the person that you follow. Um when instead they they now create a dynamic where you're the boss at an age when you're kind of needing parental guidance.

Yeah. That's and that's where their bread is buttered, you know. Yeah, that kind of thing.

It's really complicated, but you know, I think uh you look to be on the other side of that very healthily. I hope I am.

But JB, you pointed out before this this idea, McCauley, I don't know if you had this, but I this has always stuck with me, JB, that and I and I think about it from time to time. Truly, I do that that you I remember you saying you had to keep your grades up in order to keep working, right? That there by by law. So there was a pressure to keep your grades up so that you could work so that you could pay the bills because you were the bed winner, right?

Yeah. Every 6 months it was a grading period or you had to you maintain a C average or you lose your work permit and so whatever job you're on you would be fired immediately and so all the crew members go out of work. All the the network gets upset the the par you know like

and you're a kid. Yeah. So the mid midterms and finals when you're doing a test that affects your grade by like 60 or 70% it's just like earthshattering pressure.

Did you have that dude experience at McCoy? Uh not really. I was pretty fairly good uh good student and I I had a pretty uh a pretty great uh onset tutor. Uh and she yeah she was very uh sympathetic uh to me and just

when it came to like she could tell when I was tired or burned out or something like that.

If you're having trouble answering any questions, you just whisper it. Yeah. No, it wasn't like that. It wasn't like that, you know. But, you know, she definitely she definitely uh like would lay off me like she she'd

just give me if you don't know this one. No, she'd like read me like The Outsiders or something like that. Just like, "Hey, just lay down. I'm going to read it to you." kind of thing. Yeah. Things like that. Like, you know. Yeah. So, uh yeah, it was pretty great.

You just rest your head against my shoulder. Where is this dude? Say, "Golden pony boy, get over here." Wow, that is hysterical.

Well, I mean, by the way, so then what we're not what we're also not addressing is the fact so you decide at 14 you're like, "Look, I need a break. I I kind of want to shift gears here. I don't know if I want to do this anymore." Huge shift. Uh and compounded by the fact that you're about as famous a person there is on the planet at this point.

Yeah. So, there's still this day. Till this day, of course. But I'm saying that at at 14

Yeah. It was it was uh difficult uh tricky waters to uh maneuver through and stuff like that because you don't necessarily have the actual or emotional vocabulary to really kind of you know maneuver through those waters. And I always kind of thought of myself as a peerless person like I couldn't turn left and right like you know like and go oh you're like me like you know it was it was a very unique experience.

Yeah. Um and so yeah you know so uh yeah it was you know I kind of had to like you know just figure it out on my own for for for a big chunk of it.

Yeah. I was going to say like how how have you adjusted if at all how you are in public going to the anywhere like do you feel like you have to kind of compromise yourself and god here we go?

Uh I I I definitely have to gird myself you know uh uh uh for you know outings and so forth you know I you know I just set certain ground rules for myself uh like you know just uh yeah like don't approach me when I'm at the dinner table. I don't like that you know uh don't approach me when I'm with my kids. Definitely don't follow me to the bathroom, you know, like things like that, you know. Yeah. Uh, and I I just realized that I'm in charge of the social contract. I'm I'm in charge of the interaction.

Sean, what are you scratching off on what list? What are you doing? What are you talking about?

Oh, look at Sean drops a lot of notes that say, "Please follow me to the bathroom."

So, so then, so then there you are. So then there you are and now you take a decade off or whatever it was a huge chunk of time. What's the moment where you go I want to go back or

uh you know you kind of get to like the end of high school and you kind of just like oh what am I going to do with my life you know again I could kind of do whatever I wanted and you know there was that kind of thought where uh like I said this was something that found me I didn't find it and let me see let me let me try this on for size a little bit. So, uh, when I was about 20 or so, uh, 2021, I, uh, went to London, did a did a play there for a year, brought it back to the States. That was fun. It was a, uh, successful. And then, you know, jumped in, did Party Monster, then I did Sage.

What play was it? Uh, it was called Madame Melville. Yeah. Was it at the Barban?

The Vaudeville Theater on the Strand. Sorry, Jason. I had a question. Nothing. Um, was there was there ever a thought was there a thought to go to college at all to to to study different career?

Not necessarily. No. Like I mean uh unless I had like a focus on something, I didn't really see the point of it like just get or get a degree in general like if I wanted to be like, you know, wanted to study like English literature or something like that. Yeah, that would make sense. You know what I mean? But I didn't have I didn't have that necessarily that kind of bone in my body. Uh so yeah, I kind of just although I did kind I I semi- regret it uh because I remember visiting friends in college and go that looks like fun, you know. Yeah,

but again it would have been it would have been purely social really, you know, it's like paying all that money to be social with people.

Was social life enough um outside of college to to pacify that? Yeah. No, definitely you know. Yeah. Um I I've had good groups of friends and so forth and you know Yeah. Oh, I thought you were I thought was I thought Jason, you were saying, "Did you party?"

Well, basically, well, I mean, I'm looking I'm looking at my daughter um at college right now and just like it just this looks like so much damn fun.

I mean, I definitely had fun without college, but my god, that the whole sort of and then because it's like this great counterbalance. So, like once you kind of sober up and you get past your hangover and everything, you do want to kind of balance it with something. I didn't have that opportunity with college. You can go listen to some incredible professor give a lecture on something and you can kind of bathe yourself with with something that's uh it's highbrow, you know. I don't know. It would have been a good good good thing for me.

You sound so wistful, you know. I know. I know. All I had was Charlie Rose and New York Times to sort of bathe myself.

McCauley, did you ever guest star in a sitcom or anything? Uh yeah. It's funny. There's there was one long time ago. Jeez, I can't remember the name of it. Ah, Will and Grace.

Yeah, I did an episode of Will and Grace. Yeah, great. You're fantastic. Oh, thanks. Yeah. Yeah. No, I remember you were talking about how uh you talked about Nancy Clumsky. That was like Yeah. Yeah. You were like, "I know Nancy. I know Nancy and Anna, you know." Yeah.

Wait. Oh, that's right. Because of And you were like, "And you did an impersonation of her." I was like, "That was spot on. I haven't seen her in like 15 years." But I like Yeah. You pinged me of Anna's mom, Nancy. Wait, because you were in um uh My Girl with My Girl together. Yeah. And Anna and I grew up in Chicago. I don't know what it's all Everybody's connected as well.

Yeah. Yeah. It's a small town. Really? You were great. You were great on the show.

It was It was fun. Yeah. I mostly worked with uh Megan and stuff, but that was that was fun, you know. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, to be fair, also I didn't know what I was walking into. I'd never seen an episode in my whole life.

That's fine. Me neither. Yeah. Exactly. Haven't either. So, so uh uh so McCllin, so you take the break, you come back, you do theater, you come back to New York, and then you do Party Monster, and I remember that was kind of like your big return. It was like a big Sundance hit, right? It was like

Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was, you know, it's kind of what I wanted, you know. I was like, "Oh, I saw the like, oh, Sundance looks like looks cool. I want to do something sundancy and stuff, you know." And it was based on a true story. The book was really good. It was just like yeah like a you know uh it was kind of a left or center kind of material and kind of I didn't want to just jump into studio fair.

And and did you feel did you feel satisfied once you did that? Not satisfied in in terms of like I'm good forever. But did you feel like okay I'm I'm I'm doing the right thing here. I'm back. I'm kind of doing I'm kind of driving my own train here a little bit now.

Yeah, definitely. It was it was nice to try those those boots on for size and uh and yeah and kind of like again having some you know autonomy and like I said an agency where I was kind of like oh this this is what I want to do.

Um and yeah no it was it was a ton of fun you know. Yeah it was um very different cuz I was doing all these like really expensive studio kind of gigs and next thing you know we're we're kind of gorilla filming in Time Square waiting waiting for the uh the police patrol to go by so that we could film and then you know got to wait again. And like you know Seth Green's dressed like a pork chop. I'm wearing just nothing but like, you know, just like a feather boa as as an entire outfit.

Yeah, it's great great movie. And and it was that was a great movie. What are you laughing at, Jason?

I'm going to call it Oh, I was wearing a feather ball. It's complete outfit, but Sean's like, "Yeah, yeah." No,

I love that movie. Great movie. I do. I love that movie. It was Sean Sean just woke up. Sean's very raw. He just woke up.

Wait, so Bren So, wait, so Brenda, right? Is it Is her name Brenda? Yeah. Yeah. Brenda. Yeah. Yeah. Is she, Forgive me, that's your wife?

Yeah, we're we're actually we're an unwed uh uh interracial couple. So, yeah, we check we check all the boxes when it comes to uh

Well, but wait. But then you haven't slept together. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, Jason,

only twice. Really? You know? Wait a second. There goes heaven. Oh, look at those boys. Two boys. Am I guessing right?

I'm the maker of men. Oh, wait. Let me see it again. Let me see it again. It went. No, you have to tap it again. Dark.

Yeah. Face ID. Look at those things. That's great. See, I can't wear a double breasted jacket.

No, they're too boxy on me. Ever try Rocking a Mohawk, too? No, they're too boxy on me. Um, all right. So, where when when when did when did you meet your your your your baby mama?

Yeah. Yeah. Uh, we did a film together uh in Thailand. I went all the way to Thailand to meet a Thai girl from Sacramento. Uh, and yeah. Um, yeah. And that we kind of met there. We didn't have any scenes together, but we had a lot of free time. Let's put it that way. And uh

yeah, and I I think I think especially she she was looking at, oh, this is going to be a fling. And I think we both were like flinging, you know. Yeah. And she's I never had a fling before and uh yeah, we got back to the States and uh we kept it going and you know Yeah. How long has that been? Uh about eight and a half years now. Yeah.

Oh wow. Very cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We we'll get married someday, you know. I mean it's funny cuz uh she I she wanted me to propose. She wanted to get married and so finally I put a ring on it and now she's in no hurry to get married. I'm like wait a second like

engaged perpetually engaged. Yeah. It's been she's about four four years almost on the die. We got engaged on Christmas of 2021. Yeah.

All right. Now, how do you like being a dad? I mean it's it's uh considering the the incredibly colorful childhood you had. Um, are you enjoying uh having that role now?

Yeah. Yeah. No, I I absolutely love it, you know. Yeah. It's um it's it's a little it's it was strange. Um cuz it's I didn't really have a lot of uh uh I'm kind of reinventing the wheel, let's put it that way. I didn't really have any good role models, you know? My my father was a goddamn piece of work. Uh

right. And it was completely untraditional nontraditional. It was scary. It was it was absolutely scary. Uh uh and yeah like you said like my my you know like what like what a proper family was really it was more ref you know it was like a

watching something like uh uh uh you know growing pains or family family ties or something like that that you know cuz I definitely did not have a conventional um uh family.

So how many how many of your siblings? Sorry. Oh I'm third of seven kids. My my mother did not have a family. She had a litter a litter of Kulkans.

Wow. Sorry. Wow. Um, have So, are you do do you guys run a very than traditional house? Like, is there Sunday dinners and Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, we definitely wear matching pajamas. We definitely, you know, uh, and Yeah. No, it's a they have a more structured life than I did. Mine was kind of more freewheeling kind of, you know, like a

It makes you want to be a better dad, right? Indeed. Indeed. You know, yeah, that's that's the whole thing. I don't want the sins of my father being passed on to my kids. So, yeah. I'm, you know, so yeah. And and are you so are you close to your uh your family your your family of origin like your your siblings and

um a little bit. I mean yeah I mean I keep in touch but they're they're all East Coast. They none of them have ever lived outside of New York City. Uh I I've I've lived all over the place and stuff. So I I'm 3,000 miles away so it's I don't see him as often touch base things like that you know. Merry Christmas.

How many how many of them are are are performers? I know that your your your brother Kieran's a actor of course.

Yeah. No, I'm I'm very proud of him. Between me and him, we have exactly one Oscar.

Yeah. Ah, that's good. That's really good. And uh and and my brother Rory, he he works a lot, too. He actually works for the Me and Kieran combined. He just is just doing a bunch of indies and stuff. He's always he's always moving.

Is it nice is it nice to be able to reach out to a sibling and and discuss the the oddities of of this business? I know I enjoy that sometimes with my sister.

Uh no, we don't really we honestly we don't really talk shop, you know. Yeah. We were kind of a I mean occasionally you kind of touch base on it kind of thing, but it's like you know like

um you know just just because like you know just because you're both male men doesn't mean you want to talk about the male you know that.

What about your is your wife still acting? Oh yeah know she's she she she uh she's uh always swimming. She's always moving forward. She's on that show Running Point. She just finished season two last week.

Oh wow. Uh and she's uh she's got she's working on two films in January and March and stuff like Yeah. She she she books. Uh she likes it. She likes The Pursuit. I don't really like the pursuit. I like the work itself. She likes the whole package. She loves auditioning. I freaking hate it. Like things like that, you know. Yeah.

Oh, me too. Oh, it's so a bit of a masochist then, huh? Yes. Yes, indeed. You know, but listen, God bless her cuz she uh she knew what she wanted out of life. Uh, and she knew what to pursue and she pursues it to her fullest. Uh, which is very admir, you know, admirable. But, uh, yeah, I I, you know, for me, I'm kind of just I I I'm kind of more of a like she's a shark. She has to keep swimming or she drowns. I'm more of a kind of a I'm kind of more of a feeder fish. I kind of let things s to through me kind of thing, you know.

Yeah. All right. Well, well, but you maui, you sound so I I I don't mean to press you on this. I'm just I'm purely curious because I I I I we come from some similar backgrounds, but I'm I'm so uh in awe of your your contentment. Like it seems like you know, I'll take it if it comes, if it doesn't, it doesn't. And I'm not particularly obsessed or drawn to any one particular thing. There's no there's In other words, are are you do you have anything like I've got to get this done before I die?

Uh not necessarily. I mean, at least when it comes to like my work and things like that. Uh I it's like, you know, gosh, I mean, you know, I practically just sometimes I used to do like general meetings like for a living kind of thing. You know, they want they want a silver bullet idea, you know what I mean? They want Oh, like they want me to gu I want to play a doctor but a kooky one. You know, I want to play a quarterback, you know? I don't really have that. I let things kind of come to me. It's the um the old uh you know um was the the case before the Supreme Court. They were like a they tried to define what pornography was. And pornography the definition of it according to the Supreme Court is I know it when I see it.

Uh so it's literally what what what he said, you know. Yeah. So uh so I I I'll know it when I see it. I treat I treat I treat it like pornography pretty much is what I'm trying to say.

Sure. But but acting is a thing that that you're interested in pursuing at this moment. Uh yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. No. Yeah. I uh yeah, I'm on the new show uh Fallout or you know that I'm doing season two of that and so worked on that earlier in the year and stuff. But like yeah, like here's the thing is that you can't get caught in the rat race. You know, you could win an Oscar, right? And you're backstage and you're doing the press conference and you're holding your trophy. You're the top of your game and you know what they ask you? What are you doing next? As if it's not good enough. You know, I don't buy into that.

Think about all the people that have won Oscars, even been nominated and there's just nothing that comes afterwards. that that's why I'm asking it's like you couldn't you couldn't be more famous and so it's clearly not fame or money that you're is it are you interested in literally just playing different people like the whole literal thing that that an actor does. Is that interesting to you? Like are you fascinated by different kinds of people?

Yeah. Yeah. No, I I like I like the adventure of crawling into different shoes and things like that. And um you know, it's something that's kind of like just it comes pretty naturally to me and so forth. I mean, I I I've had a director, he was like, "How come?" He goes, "Are you doing that on purpose?" I'm like, "What?" He goes, "You walk different when when I call action." And I like, "No, I just do it like you know what I mean? I don't practice it in the mirror and stuff like that." I kind of like just kind of wrapping myself up in some of these things and kind of just not not thinking. Make it reflexive.

Yeah. I I looked on your Instagram. I saw that you were in Vegas. Do you like Las Vegas? Love the Vegas. I know. I had to convince Brenda. She was like, "Oh, I don't like gambling and stuff." I go, "No, no, the food's great and you know, the shows are cool and stuff." And now now I got her at the tables, though. Now, now she Now she's a blackjack player.

It's the best. Is that your game? Yeah. Yeah. Play blackjack. You know, sometimes I'll throw a little on roulette and so forth, you know. Yeah. But, uh, I don't I don't play craps. God doesn't play dice, you know. Yeah. So, neither do I.

Sean Sean, if you I've been to Vegas with Sean before. If if you didn't if you didn't pull him away from the tip, like if Shawn happened to be there for a week, he'd lose it all. It's unbelievable his desire to gamble. It's un no blackjack. It's unreal. I saw him went splitting splitting aces blah blah. And at one point he had I don't even want to say it was obscene. He just come Yeah. double down, double down, double split, double blah blah. I'm like, dude, what are you doing?

Yeah. Yeah. Well, when you had a few, you just kind of make bad decisions. But yeah, I I don't drink when I gamble. That's the trick. I don't think you can win unless you're drunk. That that that was my problem. Yeah.

But but but I it's I do the roulette a lot and I almost always win because I just almost bet on every number.

Yeah. You know what I mean? So they look for folks like you. You know what? We'll be right back.

And back to the show. What about the sphere? Have you been in the sphere yet? Yeah, we saw Backstreet Boys there. My my lady was living her best life. She actually like dressed like she really dressed the part. She looked like a mom that was a big fan of Backstreet Boys. I mean, she was wearing all white with a bandana. She she bedazzled her own shirt for it and stuff. Honestly, it was it was freaking amazing. Like, you know, yeah, I was, you know, I was never a Backstreet Boys guy like that, but man, it was it was actually really great. We got to meet the boys and they were they were super sweet, you know. I think she wants to go back before the end of the year. I think they're doing a Christmas like residency, too.

Guns to your head, Mac. You got to pick one. One of the boys is your favorite. Oh my god.

Who? Uh oh. Who's Well, what's the scenario where there's a gun to his head? Choose one now.

YES. KEVIN. KEVIN. AH. YES. But he's a fox. Kevin is a fox. Yeah. Yes, he is. He was the [ __ ] Kevin. Speaking of Kevin, uh I'm going to drag it back to Kevin.

Yeah. Do you know do you know the story uh that there is a of a footballer this is a this is a long tiein a footballer who plays professional soccer in Belgium I believe he plays for Union there's a professional footballer called Alexis Mallister he's a midfielder for Liverpool I love him he won the World Cup with Argentina he's incredible his family is of Irish descent but they grew up it's like his great-grandparents moved to Argentina his brother Kevin plays is professional as well in Belgium and he found out when he was 18 that he was named after your character for

No way. Is that true? His name is Kevin Mallister and his name's Kevin Mallister and his brother plays for Liverpool. He's a [ __ ]

jersey and I should sign it and give sent it back to him. You know, I got to be

absolutely useful. I got to look this up. Yeah. Yeah. And I remember watching cuz they played Champions League last year randomly Liverpool and the brothers played each other and then the commentator goes, "Did you know that he found out when he was 18?" Was there was there a time when because I've asked this before and it's happened to me probably all of us when you're so identified with somebody like I was with Will and Grace and you with Kevin McCallister where you fought the attention it brought you for so many years and then something clicked you're like you know what I need to embrace this thing and like it it kind of made me who I am. Was there a moment like that? Do you remember?

Yeah. I mean it was it was yeah it was definitely burdensome for sure. Um uh and uh yeah, you know what it's the the trick is just relax, set up your own ground rules, things like that, you know, realizing that I'm in charge of the social interaction, you know, like usually when people meet a celebrity, they go, I'm going to be cool and then they meet and they just they turn into just something else, you know, and so it's like it's kind of, you know, it's like, oh, I I'm I'm in charge. I can guide this interaction. And also I know I know all kinds of shortcuts and stuff like that. Like you know just if you want to end it, you just go nice to meet you or uh you know Yeah. or have a great day or something like that, you know.

And a lot of times they walk away before they even realize the interaction's over with and they're like, "Oh man, I didn't get that photo." Like yeah, you sure didn't. Bye.

But when you were when you were a How old were you did the first Home Alone thing?

I was nine when I did that. Nine. So you're nine. You do that movie and you're still, I guess, living at home in New York, right? On on

it's the 35 year anniversary of it, actually. We're doing the the Academy Museum later this month. Yeah.

Oh, wow. That's cool. That's insane. Awesome. Yeah. So, you're 9 years old. You're you're super famous and you're still living at home with your parents and your siblings and everything. I I imagine in New York and but but you're the most famous person on the planet walking down the same street. It must have been that must have been an adjustment.

Yeah, it was it was a lot. I was in like in an old Irish neighborhood and stuff like that, you know, and you know, I'm the uh you know, I'm I'm I'm an actor. I'm a ballet dancer. I'm the all these things. So they're like, "Hey, what the what the [ __ ] is this?" You know, like that kind of thing. There was a little bit of that, you know. Yeah. But there was also Yeah. But um uh yeah, no, it was strange. There there was some whiplash. Uh I was I was shooting My Girl uh in Orlando uh when the first Home Alone came out and you know, like yeah, I was kind of an actor, yada yada yada, but it wasn't a big deal. And then um that movie came out and then um I just remember the old neighborhood kids like just in that little community I was living in were now peeking through my window. I was like, "Wait, I know you.

You're you're Jimmy Jim Jim over there, you know." Yeah. And it's like, no, you be all of a sudden it's like, oh, I'm different. I'm not one of them anymore. It was like that, you know. So, uh, yeah, there was kind of an adjustment period there where, you know, and I had to kind of maneuver those waters as best I could really, you know, I really wasn't given a lot of tools. Uh, uh, so it was kind of just, yeah, I kind of just had to embrace it. But for me, it everything made sense. You know, you are on a hero's journey. You know what I mean? Oh, you do a little blackbox theater, you do smaller movies, you do bigger movies, and then you're a huge fat superstar. Uh, that makes sense.

That's the hero's journey. And it's not until you have perspective or go oh this is quite abnormal actually like you know there's a lot of people are hacking away at it and they don't they don't get there you know. Yeah.

Talk a little bit more about that sort of the dichotomy of you are embraced and a part of such a huge global community. You're one of all of the the whole world wants to talk to you. But then you have like that moment with your immediate group, your your your friends, you know, on down the block and there's kind of this thing that eats at you that you're really not one of them. Like they talk they talk to you and about you a little bit differently, like when you go back to your regular school or whatever. I remember feeling so lonely and disconnected with that such that, you know, when I had the time and the money to do it, I I like I I overcompensated for trying to get back into that community and just partied like crazy and tried to like, you know, be one of the guys. Did you go through any of that yourself?

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I definitely did uh plenty of partying and so forth, you know? I mean,

but in pursuit of that to to try to get back and just be one of the guys. Uh yeah. No, it's that was I I had a yearning. Like I said, I wanted to go to school, you know. I It was mostly for social reasons. I wanted to hang out with people my own age. That was a big thing for me. Um

and so I definitely wanted that. Uh but you know, but it's, you know, it's interesting. It's like, you know, um know how everyone you're told when you're younger, everyone's a delicate snowflake, you know, everyone's different and stuff like that. I truly felt different, you know. I mean, like, yeah. And and rather than looking as a burden, it was kind of like, no, I'm a unicorn, you know? Yeah. I'm some kind of mythical creature. I'm I am different.

Um and I kind I I kind of enjoyed that. uh as well. But at the same time again you you are kind of alone on an island. You know you are you know um again a peerless person. You know someone who's an accountant can turn left and right and there's other accountants in the office kind of thing. Like I I don't get to have that.

But but also like not only that and then and then also there is the you know the sort of the commerce of it. Did you appreciate your 910 you're making the deal for the next one? I remember like that stuff's like published in the paper about how big it's going to be and all that kind of stuff. Did you how do you h how do you sort of absorb that kind of information when you're 9 10 11 years old?

I I knew I was making some bank. I knew that. But I didn't you know, you know, you're 9 10 years. I'm not I'm not reading I'm not reading Entertainment Weekly, you know. You know, I'm watching the new X-Men uh cartoon, you know, that's what I'm doing, you know. Yeah. Uh uh yeah. Trying to find some uh uh you know uh uh normality, you know, in my life and stuff like that. So, I didn't really keep track of it. I was kind of also uh I didn't like you know I wasn't told how much I was being paid either. You know I called it the tiny slip of paper kind of meeting. I turned 18 and I go to my uh business manager's office and you know boom he has my all my financials and he just slides it across the table and it's like okay this is what you got. Um and I I I had a sense of how much it was and it was about you know it was about right. Uh and so uh yeah and also I'm just very fortunate because a lot of people you

know a lot of kids they you know they work not just in this business but all around the world you know there's you know people working in uh you know diamond mines in Africa you know there's there's you know this in the slums of Mumbai they got nothing to show for it. So I'm I'm I wake up very blessed every day knowing that like yeah I came out the other end of the spin cycle.

So so so like Jason referred to before about um you just seem so chill and together and like you figured it out for yourself which is great kind of

you're in pajamas for Christ sake. I know, right? Exactly. Yeah. I'm on the clock, you know. Yeah.

Yeah. So, what So, what's your what do you worry about? What's the thing that you worry about?

Um, no, you know, I mean, standard stuff. You want to make sure, you know, I raise my boys, right?

Um, you know, make sure the ladies like, you know, happy that, you know, that, you know, our cups are full, you know, that it's that kind of thing. Okay.

Yeah. And yeah, no, it's it's it's standard kind of stuff cuz again, if I never work again, I'm totally fine when it comes to uh like acting or anything like that. Like, you know, like I said, every job is my last job. I'm in a constant state of retirement until I'm not, you know, then I retire again. Um, so yeah, I don't I don't look my trick is I don't look for satisfaction uh over there. I I I turn inward when it comes to stuff, you know, both me and my family, you know. Yeah.

What do you do to give to alleviate uh the stress? Do you do you have do you have a do you have a hobby that's that brings you great pleasure that that people would be surprised about?

Yeah. Uh you uh you know who uh uh uh will you like this? I'm a big Lego guy. Really?

Yes. I I built a lot of Legos. I probably in the last I probably built about 30 sets in the last like 40 days looking. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, Lego has has I will say it does have real sort of uh um soothing, calming.

Yeah. There's a restorative quality to it uh to to the soul. You you sort things out. You build it piece by piece. You know, you get that release of endorphins when you're done and know that sense of accomplishment and so forth. It's therapeut. It's It can be really therapeutic in a way.

Are you at the level now that And I I am not. In fact, I I haven't thought about this until just this moment. Or do you do you go without the books?

Oh, no. No. I still I still do the books, but I do the some of the 10,000 piece sets and stuff like that, too. I clocked myself. I do uh just under 500 pieces an hour. Uh I can do, you know. Yeah. Like depending on what kind of

a Lego thing. Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm pretty It's second nature at this point. It's

Yeah. Like you you Yeah. Do you have like you're like a a a brainiac in like that way, right? Like

No, no. I just, you know, I I I I can anticipate if you do it long enough, you can anticipate what they're going to do next. So when I sort things and so forth,

I want you to try one without the books. One of these freestyle see what it looks like, you know? Because of that, do you have like OCD because you like to make things like complete like that?

No, not necessarily. Like, you know, it keeps my it keeps my mind, my hands busy, you know? Uh uh and uh yeah, and also it's it's decorative and so forth. I love like I'll build like like an Avengers set and then my three and four-year-old just tear it absolutely apart. But it's like that's but also that's what it's honestly I kind of like that you know it's those um what is those like like Chinese like voses or whatever they build them then they smash them and then put them back together and that's kind of you know that's the beauty of it.

Do you get annoyed when your boys try to help? No, not at all. No, if anything like they're on like the Duplo stuffs with all the oversized things but I'm I'm really looking forward to building like you know some some proper sets with them and they have helped me. I'm like, "Oh, give me that red one, please." And like, you know, so they're they're going to super be into it. They they they they love it. I I always get them little Lego men and things like that, those mystery boxes and all that stuff. They're

super I'm going to I'm going to I I have I have deep uh deep connections with the folks over in Denmark with the Lego uh company. I'm going to get you in touch with them. I think that you need to do like a signature build, like design a build for the world, the McCaulay Caul set.

Yeah. Open up that gateway for me. Yeah, for sure. You know, we were just on on Fridays and Saturdays on uh non-school nights, uh we do slumber parties in mom and papa's bed. And uh like clockwork, it's they like the Lego movie, but also they're super into uh Lego Batman. They're super into it. My my my oldest dressed as Batman uh this this Halloween because he's a big fan of Lego Batman, you know.

Oh, that's great. Yeah. And then uh Yeah. So he was Batman, she was Robin. And I asked him, "Oh, what do you want me to be?" He goes, "I want you to be a toilet."

Wow. So Oh, that's right. I saw that. I saw you went as a toilet. I was a toilet. Yes.

That's hilarious. Uh yeah, but you know, if when your son asks you to be a toilet, you got to be the best dang toilet you can be, you know. Yeah. So that's Yeah.

Uh there we go. See, just just for context. Very nice. That's hilarious. Yeah. How did you do that? Did you make that?

Yeah. Yeah. I just pieced it together with Amazon stuff and everything like that. You know, it's the white Crocs really tied the room together. Like Labowski's rug. I think I think that if you go as a toilet, you hope that everybody around you doesn't give a [ __ ]

Well, not I I would jump out from behind trees going poo. Uh I I walk by like if someone like there was somebody dressed as a banana, I go, "Oh, see you later." You know, like, "Oh, you want corn? Oh, yeah. I love corn." You know,

and I I had a little bag at my in my bowl and stuff like that. And um they like, "Oh, I'd be trick-or-treating and they like, "Do you want some candy?" Go, "Oh, no. I just eat poo. And then I would have a a Snickers bar ready. Like, oh, I love poo. Like, yeah. Just the kids loved it. I I had this one kid was following me around the entire time all around the neighborhood, you know. Yeah. He loved the fact he's like, "Look, it's a walking talking toilet."

Meanwhile, Sean is hiding in his house with the lights off and a sign on the front door saying, "Keep moving."

That's true. It's so true. No, we know. We know. You got a house full of candy even when it's not Halloween

and you don't want to give any of it away. Like like Smog or something. Totally.

Wait, what's a per Wait, what's what's a perfect day with you and your family? Just I know you just said that slumber thing, which is cool, but

Yeah, we do slumber party. I really love that, you know. Um uh I like taking them to uh I'm teaching my boys how to be romantic. Uh so I take them to Trader Joe's and pick out flowers so they can give it to grandma and mama and stuff like that. Like I love doing that kind of stuff, you know? I like teaching them things like, you know, Yeah, it's it's good. But man, they're at that age. They're running me ragged like just, you know, just like 40 minutes straight of cardio just like, you know, playing playing. He's like, "You be the bad guy.

I'll be the police and you be the fireman." He's like, "Okay, okay." And it's like, "Oh, man." I'm just like I'm literally setting fires, you know, so so the fireman can put it out, you know? Yeah. Like, "Oh, run me ragged." But they're that they're that really sweet spot um with their um

like they are little people now. They have opinions and the way they converse just being a fly on the wall. It's it's it's so cute, you know? Yeah. And um I think grandma taught the boys or my youngest who's three um taught uh taught him uh our real names. Oh.

So it's like what what's your papa's name? Maki coin. And it's like what's your mother? Bundas. It's like

I know that's always kind of fascinating when you learn your parents names. I thought it was mom and dad. Yeah.

Well, my oldest uh uh see my kids, they look at like Sweet Life is Zach and Cody. That was the the show that my lady was on when she was a kid. Um, they watch that and they'll go, "Oh, that's Mama on TV." I show them Hobon. My oldest especially, he thinks he's Kevin Mallister.

Like, he doesn't he doesn't put it he doesn't put it together that it's me. Like, you know, so he sits there and I'm like, "Oh, do you remember going down the the the stairs on the SL?" He's like, "Yep, yep, yep, yep." Do you remember, you know, setting up trash for the bad guys? He's like, "Yeah, sure." Do. I'm like, "You liar. You lying liar who lies. That was me. Do you like your shoes? That's what paid for your shoes." You know,

he sees no resemblance between you and the kid in that movie. Yeah, I love that. Easy.

Yeah. No, he has no No, he has no idea. And one day, I'm waiting for the big reveal where all of a sudden he's just going to turn to me and go,

"Hey, wait a second." I'm not going to tell him. I'm sure some kid's going to spoil the reveal at school during recess or something like that, but he's going to turn and go, "Wait, you've been

the whole time?" Like, yeah, whole time. But, you know, uh of all the kids on this planet Earth, they're the closest ones who can actually say, "Oh, yeah. I'm I'm like that kid from that movie, you know." Yeah. And it's also watching that movie has taken on an entirely different experience now. Like, you know, before it was kind of just, oh, it was a movie that I did. Now it's something I show my kids and it's it's a, you know, it's it's a different animal now. I appreciate it differently.

Well, it's such a classic holiday movie. Do you do you do they like watching it during the holidays?

They absolutely love it. Yeah. No. And they still don't know it's you. They still don't know it's me.

It's crazy. Well, I mean, you know, I mean, it has been 35 years. Yeah. No, I know. But I'm just like, that's so wild.

Yeah. I know. It's like I said, it's going to dawn on them. It's gonna dawn on them and it's gonna be like Yeah.

Like a lot of other parents, I showed my my kids, they've all seen it a zillion times and loved it.

They have good taste. Yes. Yeah. They've been It's been a It's been a staple. Actually, you know, it's funny. I I made a video on uh I took a photograph of my son from a few weeks ago and I put it on an AI app and I and I gave the prompt to have somebody hand him a golf club and then he does a golf does a swing. So, it did it. These apps are incredible. So he does the go his this AI generated uh video and I show it to him and he's like yeah I remember that and I go you never did that I did look at yeah and I'm like he's five and he's like no I did that I'm like no you didn't that's you know

but I just saw it I I clearly it's me clearly it's me anyway uh well mccaulay call you first of all Zootopia 2 you and Jason Jason's so in love with your character incredible work thanks you too man you know yeah can't get to meet you on the carpet.

And uh and then the next season of Fallout as well, you can be seen there as well. And Maui, thank you for joining us, man. You're just an absolute legend.

Such a joy. Such a joy to having you, pal. Yeah. The great McCaulay Culkin, thank you so much, dude.

Thanks for being here. Thanks a lot, guys. Bye, buddy. See you later. Cheers. Bye, Toodles.

Fantastic. I love learning about the um all that stuff. But like you want to ask him about the Home Alone, but you're like, "Can I? Shouldn't I?" But then you're like, "I want to know."

Um, so it's pretty that's so wild as kids don't know it's him. How nuts is that?

That's going to be They're going to be like, "Wait a minute." Well, like I want to He should He needs to film that moment when they're like, "Wait a minute. That's you." Um, but really cool. And like I like how you said, Jay, about how he's um kind of just down to earth, figured it out, kind of parented himself through the whole thing and came out great. He feels very comfortable with himself and where he's at.

Yeah, exactly. And he's got that uh he's got that that that magic uh sort of indifference, right, about about about work and success and all that stuff. That'll probably

magic or is it or is it sexy? It might be sexy. Could be a little magic. Probably just keep him working the rest of his life cuz he's just got that, you know healthy.

You know, the thing about the sexy indifference is it's kind of naughty. It is kind of dirty. Hey, did you know Jesse Eisenberg gave away his Kenny to a stranger?

Listen, where's Taylor? Let's get Taylor and the gals in here. Can we get them in here?

By the way, they would love to. I mean, we'd love to see. Are they still sleeping?

Let me see. Oh, yeah. We're just going the intercom. How long does it take to get from one end of your house to the other? A while, right? You have golf cart series of golf carts.

Oh boy. Sean's doing so well. I know. He's doing so well. He's really doing it.

Hey, so sorry about being late again. Yeah. Well, listen, Sean, I'm glad I'm glad you mentioned that. Do you have a second here? Cuz Will and I'd love to talk to you about it. Things have been a little sloppy lately. I think coming out of your uh you know, and I'm glad that I'm glad that the audience is not listening to this because And do you want to start?

Yeah. I just said we we let me read the thing I wrote. Sean, we love you and we feel like we are losing you. It's okay.

Uh oh, wait. They're all coming in. They're all coming in. Oh my god. Here we go. One by one, let's come one by one. Walk here.

Name them off as they go. Sean, they are look What are you doing, Sean? I know. This is This is what you at the beginning.

Yeah, we Yeah, we talked about um Jesse Eisenberg. OH MY GOD. HE'S LIKE really nice. Yeah.

Who's And wait, what? Give me his kidney. No stranger. I know. I know. We know. We know.

And what about who doesn't use a phone? Edar. Ed Sharon doesn't use a phone. And what do we think of that?

He's so out of touch. He's so mysterious. Well, maybe he just needs a smartless mobile plan.

Yeah, they're nice. Maybe he needs a smartless mobile plan, he said. Obviously.

Sean, sign them up to Smartless Mobile immediately. Would you? Can you hear? This is Elise.

Elise. Hi, Elise. Say hello. Hello. Hi. Hi, Elise. Oh my god. No, I can't. You know what? Ask them. Ask them to to say

Yeah. Okay. Ready? In unison. Okay. Ready? Okay. We got to go now. So, everybody, we're going to say 1 2 3. Bye

bye. Smartless. Smart glass. Smart list is 100% organic and artisally handcrafted by Michael Grant, Terry, Rob Armjarf, and Bennett Barbco. Smart less.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "Macaulay Culkin | SmartLess"?

In order: 0:00 Adam Taylor, Jesse Eisenberg, Home Alone; 10:00 Brenda, Home Alone; 30:00 Brenda, Fallout, Kieran, Running Point; 40:00 Backstreet Boys, Home Alone, Liverpool, Alexis Mallister; 50:00 Adam Taylor, Fallout, Home Alone, Jesse Eisenberg; 1:00:00 Jesse Eisenberg.

What is mentioned in this SmartLess episode?

16 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Adam Taylor, Home Alone, McCauley Culkin, Positive Sean, Jesse Eisenberg, Brenda. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Macaulay Culkin | SmartLess"?

The episode runs 1 h 2 min; the transcript is about 14,315 words in 308 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.