REShow: Jason Sudeikis - Hour 2

Are y'all feeling good out there? This is The Rich Eisen Show. Hello, I am Steve. You're feeling good, just say it. Live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

I'm ready to fire everyone. Stephen A said Kawhi's the biggest fake superstar. No, right now, Tatum is the biggest fake superstar. Earlier on the show, ESPN, NBA insider Brian Winthorse. Coming up, co-creator, writer, and star of Ted Lasso, Jason Sudeikis, Rams general manager Les Kneade, Seahawks general manager John Schneider. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

Yeah, hey everybody, it's our number two of The Rich Eisen Show on the air. In case you're just joining us in the first hour, great chat with Brian Winthorse, the worldwide leader in sports, talking about the NBA playoffs. And also, as I get set for the NFL scheduled release show tonight at 8 Eastern Time on NFL Network, I'm in a mood.

I'm in a mood because it happens every year and I should expect it, you know, when we're asked to keep it quiet, when we get the schedule in advance on NFL Network so we could plan a terrific show for you at 8 Eastern Time. It just gets leaked. There's loose lips everywhere and it's sinking ships. It's sinking ships. What ship is sinking?

You know what it is? It's my hopes. My hopes of better angels, you know, the better angels. I don't know what that means.

I'm just like the hopes. Because Rich tries to do the right thing. I do. And it upsets them when other people don't do it.

I do and this was the first time I was asked to sign a document. That's ludicrous. And you know, I would say they're looking for Red October in the wrong place. Because there's been a lot of pings. It's been a lot of pings on the Twitter. Oh, forget it. Nobody cares. Good to see what you've got in front of you, TJ Jefferson.

In advance of our second hour guest, Jason Sudeikis coming here. You got your AFC Richmond lasso jersey, do you? Is that what you got? Is it an AFC Richmond?

This was the Dubai Air. Ah, okay. Very good. So good that I'm glad that you have your lasso jersey. I just saw the latest episode of Ted lasso. Susie and I literally as soon as it hits the Apple TV plus app, we're like, we're like, we're like, okay, kids, you're going to sleep early.

Good night. Although Zan, my 14 year old is watching. He loves it.

We love it. Jason Sudeikis, Ted lasso himself is coming in here. We got a great celebrity true or false for him. In advance of yet another big slick. I wonder if he'll be able to make it this year. You know, in Kansas City, in support of children. I'm trying my best to free myself that weekend.

First weekend of June. I know you guys said that you guys have gone multiple times, but we all actually went once. All together is one because we did our shows from there one year. Such an amazing, like what those guys do is if you guys don't know about it, look it up, donate if you can. It's just such an amazing thing. It's a quintet of Kansas City or the state of Kansas or Missouri individuals.

Jason Sudeikis and Paul Rudd and Eric Stonestreet and Rob Riggle and Dave Koechner all together. And they raise money for Children's Mercy Hospital, which is a children's hospital there. And you know that that's a a concept near and dear to my heart with St. Jude. And they raise multiple millions every year now.

Last year, top three million. Unbelievable. And anyway, Jason Sudeikis is making his way here. And what Windhorst talked about at the top of his conversation, part of our conversation, Anthony Davis is being checked out, one would believe, today. And even if he is not yet in the concussion protocol, he could be by tonight because symptoms sometimes take a while to materialize.

And also part of the testing he was explaining. Look, in the NFL concussion protocol, everyone pays attention to that. Everybody talks about it because they're assuming the NFL is not doing the right thing. Let's be straight up and honest about it. And I tell you, I know multiple people in the NFL offices in New York City who wring their hands over a player suffering a concussion and putting together the proper protocols to make sure that they are not only safe but kept off the field when they need to be.

And I understand a lot of people do not believe that to be the case, but trust me it is. And I'm assuming that there is a bunch of such similar people in the NBA. You remember Draymond hit his head on the court in game four? I thought he was out. Where did his head get smack off the court?

I mean, honestly, I thought, my gosh. And he came back in and... I was really surprised he didn't take him out to check him for that. I think they did take him out for a brief bit. I don't know.

I don't know. He came back in. He was shot. He had to shoot free throws, I think.

But you could literally, the mics caught like... I saw that. I saw that. And Anthony Davis, Chris Haynes was in a wheelchair with a towel over his head. Now that sounds like a concussion. As he was being taken out of the arena or back to the locker room. And then after the game, he said, after the game, well, I mean, after the game, it was said that he was feeling better or feeling okay and is not in the concussion protocol. And Winhorse made mention of the fact of the inside of the NBA. As you know, they have had issues with Anthony Davis's availability. A lot of fun.

Street clothes was the name. One of the best nicknames I've ever heard Charles Barkley deliver on somebody. But this is a different ball of wax when you're talking about the head. And as Winhorse said, everything's out of his hands. He could be walking around saying I'm playing Friday night.

And then he takes a test and the baseline says, no, you're not. The baseline of the testing from the early part of the season. So the NBA now has a concussion protocol conversation happening right now. And we'll find out because one, I mean, what a difference maker when he is playing the way that he has been playing over the last two weeks with LeBron and with, by the way, you know, Schroeder has been playing his head off. He's been playing much better than D'Angelo Russell.

Much better. Rui Hachi Moore has been terrific off the bench. Austin Reeves, man. Austin Reeves has been awesome. This team has really been playing at a very high level. And the coach is coaching his head off. They are really playing excellent basketball. So I do hope Davis is back for the obvious reasons about his own personal health. But for this team, they need him because they're going to go back to otherwise they're going back to a game seven and, and, and the game six that is on the line on tomorrow for tomorrow night.

And we'll discuss it obviously more on, on Friday's program. Hey, the Warriors have won a road game in 28 consecutive playoff series. That is a record.

I don't believe we're ever going to see broken. I'm wondering what's the next streak. What's the next highest streak, such streak right now?

I don't know what it is. Got to think of a team that's been in the playoffs a lot recently. You know, I would bet you it's the Miami Heat.

Although, I don't know, can you include the bubble? Like I guess they're technically a road team in one of those games. I don't know, but the Miami Heat would probably be an organization I would peg there. Right.

Maybe Milwaukee could be your Celtics too. Maybe, but that's probably at like five. It might be single digits. The Heat had 23 straight from 11 to 20.

Isn't it amazing how, that is amazing. I'm just talking about a current streak right now. If the, because if the Warriors don't extend it to 29, they're out. It's over. It's over.

And so here we go. All eyes on Anthony Davis staying in the road area. I mean the staying in the Bay Area.

Pardon me. Last night at an event in San Francisco, the coach of the 49ers, his name is Kyle Shanahan. He spoke about his quarterback situation. By the way, one of the games that we did here legally approved announced prior to the schedule release. We did find out when the Eagles and the 49ers are playing each other.

As you know, my power rankings yesterday of top of the 10 games I'm looking forward to seeing released in the schedule. And it's week 13. I love this timing of 49ers and Eagles because what they are hoping for out of this game, San Francisco at Philadelphia is week 13. They are hoping that this is potentially for a home field advantage marker that can be placed down in January earned in week 13. This is by the way week 13 is the week after Thanksgiving.

So they are, I love that. Let's get something nice and late in the season. Let's hope everybody is healthy. And of course the 49ers will be on their fourth quarterback by that point in time. Which is, I mean.

Did they draft someone this year? Let's talk about the elephant in the room. It's true. Let's talk about the elephant in the room because again Brock Purdy, they're expecting to be back by training camp. This is what by the way Coach Shanahan said last night at this event.

It's in the name of Dwight Clark, who as we all know passed away. The great tight end of the San Francisco 49ers. And he was talking on the stage. He gave about a half an hour of his time talking about the 49ers. They expect Purdy to be back by training camp.

Obviously Sam Darnold is there. And the question is, what about Trey Lance? Rumors galore that Lance, they were again, taking calls on him.

They weren't making them. Big difference between making and taking phone calls. So they were taking phone calls on Lance. And as we all know, Lance is still on the team. And I knew, look if they're going to trade Trey Lance, it's going to be much later in the summer when they know what's going on with Purdy and what Sam Darnold looks like. And I'll tell you what, I don't know if they're going to trade Trey Lance because right now the coach in talking about Lance coming back from injury, not just with the ankle, but he had a hand injury going into last season that he believes this kid is as healthy as he's been in a long time.

And listen to how he refers to him. He refers to him as the best one that they currently have right now on the roster. I think Trey's the best that we've had him right now. And yeah, we've got to get an OTAs in practice, but when you just watch his feet, his timing, how he's still on the ball, he's in such a better place now than he was last year at this time. And I know he's coming off a big injury, but it's because he was healthier this year, even though last year was a little injury with a hairline fracture on the pinky, but it healed the wrong way. And this year it's a bad break on the ankle, but it healed right.

Like most of them do. And now I just see him in such a better place. And now we'll present him some football and stuff. When we get to OTAs, we're allowed nine of them and we'll put players out there and we'll see how he's playing. We'll let him and Sam roll.

And then we'll evaluate all that and we'll take 40 days off and we'll see how we want to lay it out in training camp. Let him and Sam roll. I love it. I love it. I love it.

I love it. He's so damn unique about the San Francisco 49ers. When you draft a kid third overall by trading up two first round picks in future drafts to go get him. And he hardly plays for you. That normally means coach and general manager are history.

But instead, what do they do? They made two straight NFC championship games without him. And normally that team that makes two straight NFC championship game appearances will absolutely have the quarterback who took them there as their quarterback coming into the following season to see if they can make a third straight NFC championship game.

And heaven forbid the Super Bowl, especially if the guy who took them to their previous Super Bowl was the quarterback who took them to one of the NFC championship games and played so damn well that they were positioned to make it with a kid they chose in the last pick in the draft that they were forced to turn to. And he's now starting for the Vegas Raiders and the kid that they turned to might not be the starter because he's coming back from injury. And so the kid that they start might be the kid that they went and moved up to draft third overall. And if it doesn't work out, they'll go to the kid they draft last overall last year.

It's unbelievable. There is no charted territory for us to base any opinion on it other than the fact that the coach knows what the hell he's doing. And so does the GM because this team is so incredibly talented that well, they drafted a kicker in the third round and tons of people batted an eyelash and the way I was pushing back is, well, I know the kicker. He went to Michigan.

He's the best kicker Michigan's ever had. His name is Jake Moody and you've had, you're set up everywhere else. You set up absolutely everywhere else. So unbelievable situation. There's no precedence for it. So you know what they're going to do? They'll take the kid Lance.

They'll roll him up with Sam Darnold, another former third overall pick that they now have on his, wait a minute, third team. And see how it works in OTAs, take 40 days off and see you in the morning. Unbelievable. Let's take a break. We're going to take a break. Oh, we're not taking a break just yet. Okay. Jason Sudeikis is here. Very good.

That's what I'm saying, man. Fantastic. You want to know who the Jets were playing before? I can tell you. Was it announced by an NFL partner? Define partner. What's partner? Whoever is broadcasting the game or the NFL network, those are the people who are allowed to say this. You understand what I'm saying?

People that have Panthers home opener. Otherwise I will not entertain this information sitting at the rich eyes and show desk furnished by Grainger here on the rich eyes and show radio network going to wear number seven with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger is the right product for you.

Call click Grainger.com or just stop by. Let me keep walking. Let's take a break. Jason Sudeikis is here for crying out loud. Fantastic.

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I mean, I had he literally handed to the press. Yes. Oh, that's great. And he mentioned your show.

Oh, that's lovely. Yeah. No, I mean, it's crazy that we forget sometimes that folks actually watch the show. That was, you know, I think I felt it when I worked at SNL too. You just feel like, okay, we're just, we're putting on this little pageants for 300 people and for each other each week. And then Sundays people would be like, Hey, great show. Let's say, Oh my gosh.

So the fact that, you know, people at all ends of the spectrum, you know, you know, have watched the show and, and, and, and reference it, you know, I, I can't catch them all. But I'm surprised that one. He did that. Yeah. As a matter of fact, so we, we act, we have behind up there, we have a believe sign. If you see it right up there, we had Sean Payton sign that later this year and coach Beard signed it.

Brendan Hunt when he was here on studio. That's great. That's great. Yeah. If you got 15 bucks, I'll sign it. Sure.

Would you guys take up a collection for Jason later on? And I don't have change. So if you happen to have a 20, that's kind of why I'd make it 15.

Cause no one carries 15. Yeah. 10 and a five or 10, five. Thank you.

Figure out no business. It was funny. It was about four, maybe five years ago. And one of the many times you were kind enough to be on this show, we had you, you were on the phone and you were just talking about this character, Ted Lasso. And you know, it's an NBC sports concept that for, for promo and you make a TV show out of it. Yeah.

I'll give a shot. Any idea at all, this is what it would possibly be in the realm of becoming Ted Lasso. Not at all. Not in wildest dreams, but I I've, I've very ignorantly or intelligently never worried about the destination, you know, of, of anything that I've been involved in creatively or probably even scholastically or romantically. Cause I think if you, you know how things are going to end even if it's something like your wildest dreams, like this, the reaction to this show, I don't know if you'd go about it the same way.

So it's a, yeah, I mean the show is, is everything that I would hope it would be. And, and, and the caliber of people we have working behind the camera and in front of the camera and in every, every realm has been absolutely something that I would have been able to manifest or at least imagine the reaction to it. No way Jose, for it to be born out of, again, just a, when was the first time you put on the Lasso gear? Like when was, when did that happen? That would have been August, 2013. Yeah. No, like we did the Brendan and Joe and I did those commercials. Yeah, 2013.

Yeah. And by my math, Otis was also like my son was conceived that same week. So that was, that was a heck of a week.

I was in a real creative space and, and, and, and look, to my credit, I was smart enough to be around, make both these things with incredible people, you know, like, you know what I mean? Just good, just good, just good folks. So, you know, you know, shout out to, you know, Brendan, Joe and Olivia. So I wouldn't have Ted Lasso or Otis Sudeikis without it. Big week for you and the Sudeikis family.

From both heads. Can I say that? I think that's fine. Yeah, I think that's passable. I think that's good. And very creative I might say. Well, it's just anatomy. A plus.

I don't know, again, I'd argue, I'd argue as far as maybe up there with, you know, your fart scent, but all right. Oh my gosh. It's a beautiful show, man.

Thank you. It is just beautiful. The number of times where my wife and I, when the credits roll and we look at each other and go, that was incredible.

Just, it really is beautiful with a huge heart. How do you remain consistent on that front for you and the crew together like that? I think we try to come from that space every time, you know, anytime and every time. It's, you know, from the get go, that's always been what it was.

Not the commercial necessarily, but certainly by the second commercial, I think that's where it always came from, was like this space of gee whiz, you know. I don't think we're inventing anything and I'm not saying anybody's accusing us or endowing us with that, but we are just sort of going back to this place again of what would be the best, would be the choice here. I understand and have always appreciated and always responded to the wish fulfillment of getting back at people, you know, of retribution, of the good guys losing at the, or the bad guys losing, excuse me, at the good guys, you know, sword or lightsaber, you know, wit. But it's also just kind of interesting to see, like, if you don't have that opportunity to do that, if you don't have a cape, if you don't have, you know, good, you know, writers right there offset in real life that may be following your heart and trying to see the best of a situation, even if it's not the outcome that you want, there might be strength in that too, you know, heroics in that.

But, you know, so we're just sort of messing around with that. We talked to Brendan Hunt the other day who plays Coach Beard about casting Brett Goldstein as Roy Kent. How did you, you know, land on Hannah Waddingham as the coach, as the owner of the team?

Where did you cast her or fight? I mean, that's one of those beautiful things that the universe was just kind of looking out for this show and continues to on a minute-by-minute basis. We had, you know, a couple of people in mind, like, you know, Big Fish, you know, and to have someone like Apple, because they don't, they're done just in the TV show business. They have a whole side gig that does considerably well. Yeah, I've got a phone right here. Yeah, exactly.

A phone in this computer. They own parking lots here in LA. They do very well. And so, you know, they'd be willing to, if we could get a Big Fish, you know, on the line, to probably, you know, pay them enough and make things interesting enough for them. Unfortunately, no one cared about us or knew what we were doing. And a lot of folks were also already busy, so we couldn't get one of those, quote unquote, Big Fish. And then we opened it up to auditions. And we only went to like two or three people for those offers initially. And then we had, you know, anywhere between, you know, 10 to 20 women, you know, audition.

And there was some that were just absolutely fantastic. And Brent and I went to go do chemistry reads with them in London and came back, you know, pretty confident in some people. And then our writer's room was filled with our producers as well, you know, didn't respond in the same realm. Because sometimes when you're in the room with someone, it's a different energy than when you're watching them, you know, on television and the way things come across. And just kind of with Brent and I's background of improvisation, you kind of like are just in a very supportive mood when you're in the room and on stage with someone, in a scene with someone. So then it was like a nice little dish of humble pie.

Not that we were arrogant about who we thought, you know, are our top three choices, but then nobody really responded. So then our friend, a dear friend that you mentioned earlier, Brendan, was chatting about something totally different to this fellow that we know, a buddy of ours named Todd Stashwick, who also did Second City back in the day. But I forget how he and Brendan knew each other.

They were talking about something else. How are things going? Oh, doing the show, trying to find the part for this for this character. What's she like? Brendan gives like a two line description and he just goes Hannah Waddingham. Excuse me, Hannah Waddingham. Like, what is that? He goes, that's who you want to play this part. And it was kind of like, OK. So then we look it up, you know, and her name is as tricky to spell as my last name.

So, you know, we're diligent about that. And I looked her up and I was like, wow, you know, she definitely looks the part. She doesn't when she was the shame gal.

By the way, when when this show hit and it's just like, wait a minute, she was the the shame nun from Game of Thrones. I know. Yeah. You know, and that, you know, and that get up, you know, like, you know, not a drip of makeup or at least anything that was there was done to probably knock down, you know.

Right. You know, her natural charms. And we and so then we she auditioned then. I mean, I can't remember how quick it was after that, but she is now in L.A., you know, jet lagged as hell doing it.

We do we do a chemistry read like where we read just like we had done with the the women in London. And it was just evident to me. I mean, the sort of the second I saw her and I've said this before in the press, like it was like sort of seeing something that was only in my head in real life. You know, like in your meeting and shaking hands, just be like, oh, yeah, yeah, OK. And then our conversations before the audition, during the audition, like during giving like little feedback and then post audition only, you know, cemented that notion.

Then it went up the chains at Apple, one of the chains at Warner Brothers, a fellow named Peter Roth, who was in charge of, you know, Warner Brothers television at that time was it was a was like I love her, you know, like like like a guy that had done so many shows just immediately snapped her. And I know that really, really helped. But for me, it was it was it was right from there. It was just off we went.

OK, great. Rebecca, done. She's fantastic. She really is. I mean, and she's always been fantastic.

And, you know, it's one of those those neat things where sometimes the right thing shows up at the right time and you're ready for it and they're ready for you. And off we went. So far, so good. Jason Sudeik is here on The Rich Eisen Show again, Ted Lasso. Season three is up and running right now every single week. You can watch it right here on Roku through Apple TV Plus here on The Rich Eisen Show. We have a segment called Celebrity True or False. If you wouldn't mind playing this, this is about your film and TV, biography and things of that nature that's out there on the Internet. We need to know if it's true.

Yeah, I can help. We even have terrific production value. Hit it, please.

Can't wait to see this. Well, look at that celebrity. True or false.

You can't handle the truth. There you go. Yeah.

Somewhat timely with Jack Nicholson back at Lakers games, right? Yes. Yes, indeed. True or false.

Jason Sudeikis, you once auditioned for a role in the Blue Man Group. It's true. True.

Very true. When and where? What do you got? I was living in Las Vegas and I was doing Second City at the Flamingo there. And there were a couple of different shows at that time that were not like, you know, topless showgirls were Magic or Cirque du Soleil. Well, Cirque du Soleil, it was us, a show called De La Guarda and then Blue Man Group. And I had always loved the drums.

I first moved to Chicago as one of the first auditions I went to. I'm just not a good enough drummer. Like I can kind of, you know, fake it on a drum kit.

But those you have to have like actual like, you know, like rudiments, like drum line type chops. And I became friends with a few of the Blue Men. We all did, you know, they were, we'd set up Second City there.

They'd taken classes. So then I just started going to the show and I just fell in love with it. I loved the philosophy behind it. I loved the way they were running the business of their show. And it was like, it probably felt like subconsciously the only way I'd ever had the chance to live out like, you know, a rock and roll dream, even if it was going to be bald, blue, anonymous and silent.

Like if that's what it takes to do it. And I auditioned like, I remember August of 2001 right before September 11th and I was in New York and it was supposed to be, it was a process that was either going to take three days, five days or two weeks, three days. You know, there's a, there's a cutoff for like saying thank you for coming.

But we, you know, we no longer, you know, your time with us has ended. I got past the three days and then day five is when I got booted. I got to see myself bald and blue. That's about to ask, how long does it take to put the, the paint on? Golly, I can't probably remember at this point. It was a while ago, but, but certainly longer than it takes to get dressed up as Joe Biden on SNL. But that's also because those, those, those people at SNL are like, you know, you know, wizzos and like a NASCAR pit crew that they try, they'd make you, you know, turn you into someone like, you know, the president and a commercial break. But, but yeah, it was, it was, it was a lot. And, and I did find similar to, you know, Tobias Funk on Arrested Development, I did find a lot of blue in weird places for like, you know, at least a week after that. My friends in the show would find blue, like they would come out in their eyes, you know, their eye boogers would be blue.

I want to check in on all of them probably in about seven more years here to make sure that that cobalt blue, you know, was, was, was safe because we'll have a better idea about that. When you met the real Biden recently, did he bring up your imitation? Yes, he, I just, he hates it.

No, no, no, no. I mean, he's lovely about it. We had met once before when I played him as the vice president, not at the White House by any means, but, and he was always, he was always nice about it. My dad met him during a stump speech in 2008. I think he was in, where was he?

Maybe in somewhere in Kansas City, like maybe like Lee's Summit or something like that. And, and my dad afterwards stayed around to, you know, to shake hands and say hello. He's like, yeah, you know, my, my son is Jason today cause he, he plays you on Saturday Night Live. And he goes, well, you know, how about that? Let's get a picture.

You know, sure. My dad had a flip flown at that point, you know, cause I didn't want to like, you know, you know, just buy everything he wanted right off the bat. So I got a big, fancy TV job. I had to like dole it out.

Well, I mean, Apple, I'm sure he now has a, an upgrade of some sort. No, no. You keep them, keep them hungry. Keep mumble. Even in retirement.

No, no, no, no, no. He does have an iPhone. He has an iPhone, Bluetooth, right to some, some, you know, hearing aids. It's yeah. When we can't hear the TV, we know dad is hearing it better than any of us. Jason Sudeikis, celebrity, true or false?

Next one for you. Your initial audition at SNL was interrupted by Chris Rock, who barged into the studio, did a 10 minute stand up set in front of the NBC executives and essentially stole your thunder. Not quite, not a hundred percent. We, we were the first time did I audition for SNL was at a place called stand up New York on the upper West side of stand up club. And you know, knowing what I know now about, I'd say 50% of the audience was folks that worked at SNL, but behind the scenes, the rest were just regular folks coming to see you know, a standup show, you know, an evening of standup. And then the back wall, there was a, you know, Tina Fey and Lauren Michaels and Steve Higgins and Mike Shoemaker, you know, you know, Tina, I knew Lauren, I knew what he looked like, you know, Steve and Mike who are producers of the show. You know, didn't know. But then, but then it was 12 of us.

I'm slotted like seven, right before going up, I'm outside chatting. That's where Rob Riggle and I met Rob Riggle from, you know, as you know, at the big slick also, you know, grew up, we grew up five minutes away from each other, had never met. I'd never heard of his name, even though we are never, he went to show mission South. I grew up in South district. So like, that's really one of the most important things for me that came out of that opportunity to audition for the show.

I mean, getting the show, yes, is wonderful, but getting to meet Rob and what a kind guy he is. And just like, he was like, wait, where did you grow? Like, are you talking about Kansas City? Yeah. Are you from Kansas City? Yeah.

So are you? Where? Overland Park.

Where? We got down to like cross streets, like 98th and Lowell. He's like, I'm 95th and Lowell. I forget exactly where he grew up, but, and, and yeah, so, so we have that. So then here you go, you got these two Kansas boys, you know, getting the, do this thing, taking this very different routes.

You know, I went through college basketball, he was in the Marines, you know, very different group. Exactly. Yeah.

We both did Blue Bay group. No, but so then I'm about to go up and sure enough about one while the person up before me comes is up on stage. I in walks Chris and, and Jeffrey Ross. And I just think, oh, maybe they're coming to see like, you know, they hear it and they know there's auditions and just like the communal, like sort of fraternal element family of, of SNL. Like, oh, they're just coming to see what's what. And and then lo and behold, I, he's talking to the guy that is hosting. Absolutely. Yeah.

Sure, man. And, and I'm standing there off stage, like outside the room, but like, you know, hearing the fellow going for like doing well and whatnot. And Chris is like standing next to me and I slowly sniff out like, oh, he's about to go up and perform. Now you hear about, you know, Chappelle dropping in or Jim Carrey dropping in that if Chris Rock wants to go up there and do two hours, I'm not going to say no, I'm not going to be mad about it.

No one in the crowd is going to be mad about it. You know, they'd be like, oh my God, Chris Rock showed up out of nowhere. And he, you know, is ladies and gentlemen, the next performer, you don't need, needs no introduction, but here it is.

Put your hands together for Chris Rock. And he looks at me and goes, is this your big shot? I was like, kinda. He goes, sorry, man.

But like in a lovely way, like, you know, like as, as a former point guard of athlete, I like, I like, you know, I like a shooting guard's confidence like, like that, you know, or a wide receiver. And he goes up, luckily, you know, I mean, luckily he only did 10 minutes. You know, he didn't do, you know, the whole thing. They were working on jokes for the MTV movie. You know, he was getting rid of host of a movie awards special or on MTV when they, you know, the whatever award show thing. And he, and then what was lovely is he comes off stage. He looks at me and I was, I was, I was like, you know, joking around, you know, I don't know.

I've never met him. Thanks for setting, thanks for, you know, thanks for setting them up for me, you know? And he goes, Hey man, they love original thought. I was like, cool. You know, and he's talking about the show.

He's talking about Lauren. Ladies and gentlemen, here's your, you know, your next act. Jason Sudeikis. I go up there, you know, that's I can imagine that, you know, Sudekis, however they want to call it.

Hey, my name is Jason Sudeikis. I don't mention Chris or doing jokes, you know, about that. Cause it kind of was just in the room and just, just play off that energy.

And that was it. So he didn't barge, he didn't barge in to the studio or anything. He was very gracious about it. Him, him sharing with me that notion of they love original thought is you know, nothing that he, he said that before I read that like in like the live from New York book, but the fact that I got it in that moment, not that I could adjust anything at that point, but it has been a, a certainly thing that I encouraged myself and people at SNL to, to follow that advice or at least that notion because it is true. So then let's get to how you, cause you did get a writing gig and then true or false, this is how you became a cast member. You co-wrote a sketch behind the music, the Chicago Bears, Superbowl shuffle for the host named Tom Brady.

There you are with him up on the screen. He played Jim McMahon. You were a backup bear and I was Kevin Butler. You were Kevin Butler. Kevin Butler. Okay. Kevin Butler.

Pardon me. That's why I'm wearing the hat. If you go to the original, the source material, you'll see that Kevin Butler is wearing the white fedora and the shades.

The source material. Very good. And so your performance as Kevin Butler, which makes this even better is what earned you a role as a cast member. It's certainly, it certainly, it felt like the straw that broke the camel's back. Not to refer to Lauren as a camel or to make him appear feeble in any ways, but it was, it was incredibly instrumental in that decision. It had sort of been bandied around about, you know, I had auditioned at that point for the show twice a week and update once. All of these auditions had gone well at this point. To get to write on that show is a tremendous opportunity. And it's one that the people that write the show and that pay for the show should pay the writers to do and make a living wage at. That said, getting off my soap box. It is that time, that time of season. That, yeah, I, I, I'd made a bold move of, which I'm not, I'm not, I don't, it's not in me to try to upstage a situation.

But it's just this weird conflation of, of events. Beck was the musical guest. Beck had a guy next to him when he was doing his stuff, just kind of like dancing, like hype dancing, like just like in like a flight suit.

And it really made us laugh. And Beck's like just a very funny, like, you know, clever boy who's also a very clever, funny, you know, like creative man. And so he just has this guy dancing to him and we were watching it during like, you know, rehearsals being like, like Beck's killing it.

But this dude is a, is a, is a piece of work. I love it. And so then it came time for us to rehearse the sketch and the whole, like any, like, you know, most sketches, you know, that has, you know, a bunch of like four, three different, three or four different beats. The first one being the original Superbowl Shovel and then Jim McMahon and the Bears want to do a second version.

So they changed the lyrics and then he wants to go solo. So then it's just, you know, Tom Brady and I on stage. And so I'm like, well, I'm going to, I'll dance like to make like the writer friends laugh.

I'll dance and I'll do like this old school hip hop dancing. Like I used to do on my AAU basketball team or like, or, you know, just to like make my team, my teammates laugh and it's working. And when you, when you look at the, like the clip of itself, you have like 25 to 30 extras, you know, and look, this sketch was written by me and three other Chicago, you know, people that came through Chicago, John Lutz, Rich Telerico and Joe Kelly, Joe Kelly, one of the co-creators of Ted Lasso. And we, and so now you have these 30 dudes because they were all on stage just off stage watching this sketch. Like, and they're all, we're all around the same age, you know, black dudes, white dudes, you know, like just a beautiful Benetton ad of, of inclusion and humanity, all, all male, but, but you know, they were the bears, the 85, 86 bears. And, and so I started doing this dancing and they're all cracking up just like back in like when I was 15. Like, I mean, it felt so familiar to me that I just, then we're just playing into it and just give it over to it and being a ham. Like, you know what I mean?

And I swear to God, man, I watched our, our boss, Lorne Michaels come walk in, look at what's going on, then walk right out. Now that can mean anything. That can mean, that can mean we need Jason out of here or that can mean what it ended up mean a couple of weeks later, which was, you know, we'd love to put you in the cast, you know, just write anything you feel like you can score on. Yes.

And that was it. Because I know when he was watching the, you know, it happened on a Friday night and I know that the conversation was like, that should be a cast members part. Like it's become a little bit of a spotlight part. And then Tina, from what I had heard was Tina was like, okay, well then what cast member you gonna put in there? You know, who's going to get those laughs? And everybody was like, I don't know, you know, do we know anybody that does that kind of dancing and dances like that? And like, is that goofy and silly?

I don't know. He's like, he's already getting these laughs. You could hear it in the, in the dress or in the rehearsal. And Lauren's like, yeah, just let them do it. And so then at dress rehearsal on Saturday, the next thing I'm dancing around like that. And he evidently looked at the screen and just goes Dan Aykroyd, you know, referring to like the way Dan Aykroyd could move his, you know, as, as you know, the blues brothers. And like, I think that that just kind of like made it made a switch in his head that, and I'm thankful for Joe, Rich, Tom Brady, you know, Lutz, Tina, you know, like, I mean, it's just a weird thing that happens.

You never know. So you're like one, you're, you're just like 23 years of NFL players. Tom Brady helped lead to a big break for you. Exactly.

And, but you're the only individual on planet earth with a subset of Tom Brady and Kevin Butler leading to that without, without Kevin Butler, without, without whoever wrote the Superbowl shuffle. That's who it really is. And then, so just one last thing on that. Yeah. Lorne Michaels really sounds like Dr. Evil.

Like he really does. Like that is, that is an appropriate, you know, I mean, that's the idea. That's who Mike Myers with my understanding of how time works. Yes.

Dr. Evil sounds like Lorne Michaels. But yes, I love it.

There are some similarities there from what I understand. I love it. Can we just take a quick break and then finish the hour with you, Jason? Let's just take a quick break. Jason Sudeikis is here on the Rich Eisen show. We'll take it to the top of the hour, less need of the Rams and then John Schneider of the Seahawks.

We're back with Jason Sudeikis in studio in a second. The boys of summer are playing on the Believe Podcast. The product of baseball is much more manageable. Get your baseball fix from podcasts like Wake and Rake, Farm to Show and Ring the Bell. He's not really hitting balls through the screws. Plus local podcasts like Believe in Astros and Believe in the Bronx. You're going to have to get some more innings out of the rotation.

Just search BLEAV Podcast wherever you listen. Jason Sudeikis still here. So you were back at Thanksgiving.

Yeah, we're back in Kansas. I was there with the kids and they had, you know, a couple of my friends, Billy and Terry, who brought our kids. They had to go down onto the field. You know, Travis and Patrick who participated in Big Slick and ThunderGong, these two charity events we do back home. They came over to say hi and yeah, Travis was just game from the jump. It was so nice that all the young fellas in the locker room, which could be a very, you know, frightening thing for an 8, 9, 10 year old boy.

You can change your perspective on a lot of things. And Kelsey just made, you know, just was a human being. They all were. So was Mahomes.

All of them, no doubt about it. Coach Reed, his wife, the Hunts, they were all, everybody was top notch. It made Otis and Daisy look like absolute superstars to their young Kansas cousins, as we call them. It's like, when are they coming back in town? Love it. Yeah.

So let's talk Big Slick a little bit here. This is year 10, 11 for you guys, I think? No, it might be like 12 or 13. Oh my gosh. I've unfortunately missed the last two.

Because you've been shooting 10,000. Overlapped. Right. And it is a, it's a wild weekend. It is a lot of fun for those who attend. But the ultimate win is obviously for Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City for the kids. And I will never forget the first time that I went where, you know, Riggle, the first night, everybody's there. Lots of revelry. This just in.

And then he'll just stand there and point to his watch and go, you guys all need to get some sleep because you're going to the hospital in the morning. That's right. And that's the beautiful part about this is that everybody goes to the hospital and meets these kids in the family and families and the doctors and nurses and the staff. No, it's literally a place where miracles happen.

Yes. And they're at the forefront of technology. I mean, in all aspects, it covers, you know, five state area.

It's, it's a truly remarkable place. And, and, and yeah, it became a big, a big thing for us because the first couple of years it was kind of like, hey, you can go to the hospital if you can. And, but people were getting after it and that's when we had like a whole poker, a poker tournament. That's why it's called big slick, you know, but then, then we, you know, more money, more problems as we got bigger, the gaming commission was like, Hey, you can't do this anymore.

It's all right, fine. We'll make it bowling, you know, and I appreciate, you know, the rules and all of that. That doesn't mean there's stills in poker happening in the hotel rooms later, later in the evening. But gosh, dang, man, we made sure everybody went to that hospital. It's like, you got to go to that hospital and see what's what no doubt. It changes the, it changes the level of fun you have. Like if you can, if you laughing, crying, sleeping, if you, if you can do those as consistently as anything, those are, those are true medicines that are in all of us that we share with one another.

If you, if you have the opportunity and, and going to a hospital visit, you get to do, you know, at least those first two, you know, laughing and crying sometimes in the same, in the same moment. And, and the families, the things that they go through, you see the siblings of these kids that were born into a situation, you know, unfortunate situation, but they don't know that. They don't, they don't know it.

They only know that's their only reality. And you see those kids dealing with that and the people around them who do know. And yeah, even before being a parent, it was one of the most moving, you know, weekends of my life. And it's a bummer to miss. I'm glad we could extend, you know, some auction items to help that thing. Yeah. But again, slickkc.org, if I'm not mistaken, did you give away a cameo on, we give away two. Yeah. Yeah. And people stepped up. Yeah.

They had, they have no, no, because it happened later in the year. So, so yeah, they, they, those cameos show up in, is it 10, 10 next week, coming up 10, 10 and 12. Yeah.

Somebody who donated to big slick in Casey will appear on a Ted lasso in episode 10 and 12. Yeah. Fantastic. Yeah. I can't wait. All right. Well, so keep an eye out for all of that.

I wonder if folks, I don't know if folks will be able to sniff them out. I mean, it's, it's I've been looking this whole season cause I was there last year. Oh, when is this happening? So I've been just trying to, okay. They don't look like a real actor. Okay.

Who's this? I was just trying to do that. Otherwise you think it would mean in the two minutes I have left the, the, the million dollar question.

Is this the end of Ted lasso or what? I mean, I really, I mean, I've always said, I've always known what I said where it's like, this was the story we wanted to tell, you know? And, and, and I mean, that would be evident when you, like when episode 12 is out and available. So it feels a little silly to keep going back to it, but again, not anticipating or ever expecting or imagining people's reaction or response to it. Also with the process of making it being such a joyful one and one that we really, you know, bust our buns at doing and yet it still is very fulfilling and it's, and it's not, you know, at least it doesn't feel toxic. You know, and to me that it's like, okay, maybe, maybe there, maybe there's more there, but it has to come from the stories and the characters. And we have to like satisfy these, these ends here before really having that conversation. It's, it feels a little bit like, you know, talking about next season when you're in the playoffs, it's kind of like, it's, you know, you gotta finish.

So is there going to be just a, a lasso summit or something? It'll probably be the same way this whole thing started with me and Joe and, and Brendan, you know, sitting in a, sitting in a pool like, you know, making each other laugh and being like, you know, what do we think? And, and, and just sort of staying open to, to, you know, the, the universe of things. The business side of things is a whole other conversation, but like it has to come from the root of like the, the, the, where, where, where we'd want the story to go, where we'd want to go further, how we'd want it to evolve the character evolution, you know, and we don't need it all fleshed out, but just like a notion of, of, of, of what, why a better why than just cause you love Lala Kent on Vanderpump rules. Now get to know her on give them Lala with her assistant Jess. What you did not see is when Raquel arrives and she wants to talk to me, I made her sit in a corner, explain, sat in a corner booth all by herself in the dark, waiting for to talk to you, waiting for me to finish dancing to 50 Cent. It's my birthday. Give them Lala wherever you listen.