"RE-RELEASE: Matthew Rhys"

SmartLess

Matthew Rhys joins the hosts for a lively conversation blending humor, heartfelt stories, and culinary insights, reflecting on his career, W

Key takeaways

• Matthew Rhys shares a deeply moving story about meeting Mariska Hargitay, whose mother was Jane Mansfield, a legendary 1950s star.

Main topics

• Celebrity guest stories

Notable quotes

"Your mom made her Broadway debut in this theater that we're working in right now."

Conclusion

The episode closes with warmth and humor, balancing personal grief wit

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:03) Sorry that you guys caught me off guard. I was just talking to Jason's wig maker, and Speaker 4 (0:08) he Speaker 3 (0:09) had said that they don't make the hair that Jason uses for the wig anymore because it's a synthetic thing and it has to do with, because they use a certain petroleum component to it, blah, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, the point is, if you see Jason on the street, just please say, hey, man, your natural hair looks great. It's an all-new Smartless. Speaker 3 (0:48) Are you guys excited? I'm excited. Do you know what I'm talking about? Speaker 2 (0:52) Yes. Are you talking about we're on the TV? Yeah, with Speaker 3 (0:56) the doc. We're Speaker 2 (0:57) going Speaker 3 (0:57) to Speaker 4 (0:57) be on TV. I told my whole Speaker 3 (0:58) family. Smartless on Speaker 2 (0:59) the road. Smartless on the road. On Max. On Max. That new. Platform, yes? Yeah. Should we do... Should we watch it together? Let's watch it together. That would be super fun. Speaker 4 (1:11) Oh, Speaker 2 (1:11) God, Speaker 3 (1:11) that's Speaker 4 (1:11) not Speaker 3 (1:11) a bad idea. I'm really excited. I'm excited for people to... See Will Ferrell? It sounds weird to say... Well, yeah, I'm excited for people to see... Well, we have so many great guests. Yeah, so say some of the guests. We have Will Ferrell. Will starts Speaker 2 (1:22) it off, though, doesn't he? Speaker 3 (1:23) Will starts it off, and then we have Conan. Speaker 4 (1:26) Yeah. Kevin Hart. Speaker 3 (1:28) Letterman. Hang on, hang on. Then we have Letterman. Then we have... AOC with special appearance by, can we mention that Bradley makes a special Speaker 2 (1:36) appearance? Bradley Cooper comes in and changes the light for us. Speaker 3 (1:40) And then we go to Chicago. We have Andy Richter and Jeff Tweedy from Wilco. Mark Cuban. Mark Cuban. And then Maddie Speaker 2 (1:49) Damon. Matt Damon, the Matt Damon. Yeah, Speaker 3 (1:52) a turtle, Speaker 4 (1:52) quartal, Speaker 2 (1:53) wortel, perennial, third place Speaker 3 (1:54) finisher, Matt Damon. And Speaker 4 (1:56) then one of the biggest guests of the entire tour. It's Tracy from Wisconsin. Tracy from Wisconsin. Speaker 3 (2:02) Tracy Speaker 4 (2:02) from Wisconsin. Speaker 3 (2:04) Sean's sister. My sister, yeah. Oh, Sean's sister makes an incredible appearance. Yeah, it was really good. Speaker 2 (2:09) And doesn't your mother's right eye make an appearance Speaker 3 (2:12) as well? Your Speaker 2 (2:12) mother's eye makes Speaker 3 (2:13) an Speaker 2 (2:13) appearance too. Speaker 3 (2:14) It's all true. Speaker 2 (2:14) By the way, it's Speaker 4 (2:15) all true. And you can see it. Get it? Yeah. Don't get Speaker 2 (2:20) it. On Max. Smartless. On the road. Check it out. I'm glad you asked Speaker 4 (2:24) because I don't think Speaker 2 (2:25) they get it. And then, by the way, Speaker 3 (2:26) we come back to L.A. and then we end here with Kimmel. With Kimmel Speaker 2 (2:32) and Kevin Hart. Speaker 3 (2:32) I mean, we get to have, what a soft landing to come back and have our good buddy Jimmy Kimmel and then Jan makes an appearance. And then what's Speaker 4 (2:42) the final meal of the whole thing? Speaker 2 (2:45) Oh, yeah, then we're over at Shawnee's house for some spaghetti and meatballs. We're at Sloppy Joe's. Sloppy Joe's. I made Sloppy Joe's from Speaker 4 (2:52) scratch for you guys. Speaker 3 (2:53) Yeah. Speaker 4 (2:54) It's all Speaker 3 (2:54) in the doc. It's all in the doc. Speaker 2 (2:56) Are we watching it at your house? Yeah, let's watch it. Speaker 3 (2:58) Let's watch it. We'll watch it on Max. It's so fun. I hope people like it. Who knows? We hope. Speaker 2 (3:05) It looks real good, too. Sam Jones did a great job directing it. It looks real handsome. It's black and white. Speaker 4 (3:09) I hope people like it. It's May 23rd, right? May 23rd on Max. Speaker 3 (3:14) Okay. Speaker 4 (3:16) I have a crazy story that happened. I told Will. I said I was going to save it to tell you today. You have some pre-show patter? Yeah. You Speaker 3 (3:24) know Sean? Go ahead, Sean. No, this is Speaker 4 (3:25) crazy. Sean, what have Speaker 3 (3:26) you Speaker 4 (3:26) prepared? I've prepared this. Sean, by Speaker 3 (3:29) the way, not to interrupt, but speaking of prepared, there's somebody preparing something in the kitchen behind you. Yeah, Scott is going to make Speaker 4 (3:34) me some tea right now. Speaker 2 (3:35) Okay. Tea? Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you fasting? He's Speaker 4 (3:37) on Speaker 2 (3:37) Broadway, man. He's on Broadway. Speaker 4 (3:38) I'm on the Broadway. Speaker 2 (3:39) Oh, to keep your pipes nice and lubricated? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Well, it is 1 o'clock there. What was for lunch today? Speaker 4 (3:48) I just had a, I had a, what's it called? Like a Kaiser roll with egg and cheese and a little bacon. Speaker 3 (3:59) Apple juice. I had, what do they call it? Like a footlong sub. Speaker 2 (4:04) Kaiser roll. Kaiser. Yeah. Where do you have to go to get that? Like a bread Speaker 4 (4:09) shop. Downstairs. Downstairs. No, Zabar's, Kaiser. Zabar's is a Jewish deli. We live right, you know, near it. And then there's a cafe, and they don't do bagels with egg. You'd think they would do bagels because they sell bagels in the store part, but not the cafe part, which is really crazy. You got to go full Kaiser. Yeah. All Speaker 3 (4:27) right. Speaker 4 (4:27) All right, so this is the story. This is crazy. This is going to blow your mind. I think it blew my mind. So the show takes place in 1958 backstage at the Tonight Show. Oscar Levant is the guest on the Tonight Show that night. The other guest, which we never see, we only reference a lot, is Jane Mansfield. Sure. Okay? who was, you know, this big star back in the 50s. Marilyn Monroe, Jane Mansfield, very similar. So Mariska Hargitay, you know Mariska Hargitay? I do. Speaker 2 (4:52) Yeah, Speaker 4 (4:53) she's the star of the SVU thing. Oh, Speaker 3 (4:56) thanks, Scotty. Speaker 4 (4:57) Hey, Scotty. Thanks, Scotty. So she's the star of this show for like 20-some years, right? So she's like, I'm outside of your theater. Come out. I'm like, oh, my God, I came out, gave her a hug. said hello, we took a photo, and somebody in the show whispers in my ear, her Speaker 3 (5:14) mom is Jane Mansfield. I Speaker 4 (5:16) go, wait a minute. What? Yeah, whoa. Mariska Hargitay's mom? I go, your mom is Jane Mansfield? I go, do you know that we referenced your mom in this show over and over again? Did your mom know Oscar Levin? She's like, I don't know. You know, unfortunately, she was very young when her mom died. So then we go back, and we say our byes. I go back in the theater, and... I forgot. I text her. I go, by the way, your mom made her Broadway debut in this theater that we're working in right now. Wow. No Speaker 2 (5:46) way. Isn't that crazy? Crazy, crazy. Yeah. So did you at least offer her tickets to the show? Speaker 4 (5:54) No, she's got to pay for those. Speaker 2 (5:55) Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you can give her access to the house. I can get her. Her Speaker 3 (5:58) dad Speaker 2 (5:59) was Speaker 3 (5:59) Mickey Hargitay, who was like a bodybuilder guy from Speaker 4 (6:03) Hungary. How do you know that? I know Speaker 3 (6:05) that. Because Speaker 4 (6:05) he just Speaker 3 (6:05) Googled it. No, I didn't. I Speaker 2 (6:07) knew that before. Wait, why do you know vague Hungarian bodybuilders? Look, Speaker 3 (6:15) do you want to see my magazine collection or not? No, I don't want to see your search Speaker 2 (6:19) history either. I do. I actually do. I read somebody in my search history Speaker 3 (6:22) the other day. There's such a bonkers all over the map. I go, here, do you want to know what I've been searching up the last 24 hours? And it was just the weirdest, stupidest stuff. Speaker 4 (6:32) I Speaker 3 (6:33) want to say just because I want to be, and I don't want to bring it down, but I got to be honest Speaker 4 (6:37) about where I'm at, if that's okay. Speaker 3 (6:39) Yes, yes. Today, Speaker 4 (6:40) and then we can switch gears. Is Speaker 3 (6:41) that okay? Yes, of course it Speaker 4 (6:42) is. It's very real. Speaker 3 (6:45) Do you want me to say? Do you want me to describe it? My oldest friend in the world, Jeremy, passed away. Oh. And I loved him so much. Speaker 2 (6:57) Oh, well, I'm so sorry. Yeah, you just found out yesterday, huh? Speaker 3 (7:01) Yeah. And... Oh, God. I'm so sorry. And I just got to be honest about it because it's what's going on in my head. Speaker 3 (7:11) I just wanted to say that I love the guy so much. And it's so... Jason and I were talking today, this morning, and... It's funny. We always get surprised when people say, it's such a surprise, such a shock. And we know that the deal is that everybody's going to die Speaker 4 (7:30) at some point. We're Speaker 3 (7:31) here Speaker 4 (7:31) for five minutes. Yeah. He passed suddenly, Will? Speaker 3 (7:34) You know, the last few weeks kind of came out of nowhere, certainly. And then he finally passed. And I'm happy he did. He was, you know, obviously he was in a lot of pain. Speaker 4 (7:44) And I'm just thinking about his family and... Speaker 3 (7:48) All of them, and I've known them forever. And, you know, his daughter and his wife and his parents, who my parents knew, and our great-grandparents knew each other. Our families are intertwined for generations. So Jeremy was Speaker 4 (8:02) up in Toronto? He was Speaker 3 (8:03) in Speaker 4 (8:04) Toronto, yeah. Speaker 3 (8:04) And he was one of the great guys. I always say he's a first ballot Hall of Famer. Just a great guy. You can always rely on him. And I miss him. Speaker 3 (8:17) You know, you never, and I was just thinking this morning, and I was taking the kids to school, and I was just thinking like, oh, man, hug the people you love. Yeah. Tell them as much as you can. And if you're thinking about somebody, call them. Let them know. Right. Just let them know you're thinking about them. You love them how important they are to you. I love that. And I just wanted to say that because it's on my mind, and I love you guys so much. We love you. We love you too. Yeah. Yeah, Speaker 2 (8:46) it's, um, it is, you're right. It is this sort of like, we're always shocked that people die, but everyone here is going to, everyone listening will. And it's like, it's a terrible thought. And we somehow have managed this little device inside our head and our heart to kind of put it in a little box and keep it away and deal with it at near the end of our life. Um, we just kind of pretend it's not ever going to happen, but. It does, and we just hope we use our time correctly. Yeah, Speaker 4 (9:12) for sure. I just did this article, this interview, and Jay, you were so kind. I just read it. You said such nice things about me, and I appreciate it. You know what you pay for. Speaker 2 (9:24) I appreciate your generosity. Speaker 4 (9:26) And I said, I said, you know, if I can pull this thing off, great. If not, I'm still alive. Yeah. That's my quote. About Speaker 2 (9:39) the play? So you're feeling bullish about the play. Yeah. Speaker 4 (9:42) It could suck, but at least I'm not dead. No, but the point is, to your point, Will, is like we're still here. We're here. We're here. Yeah. Right. We're Speaker 3 (9:51) here. Speaker 4 (9:51) We're here. Nothing matters other than our health and our people we love. Speaker 3 (9:55) And Speaker 4 (9:55) the people we Speaker 3 (9:56) love. And I just, yeah, I wanted to say that. Just say, Jer, we love you. Speaker 3 (10:02) And that's it. You know, I'm thinking about you, buddy. And I also know that he was always so quick with a laugh and he loved to freaking laugh. This guy made me laugh. And so, I don't know. He'd be like, great, we'll get you your guest. You're going Speaker 2 (10:19) to have a nice opportunity to give him a nice goodbye this weekend with all of those people you're talking about. That's right. That'll be a wonderful thing for him to watch. That's right. Speaker 3 (10:30) You Speaker 2 (10:30) know, I mean, that's one of the good things about after we go, right? We get to, like, it's a narcissist delight. You get to just pull up a chair and watch everybody say nice things about you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Speaker 3 (10:42) I Speaker 4 (10:43) love that. Speaker 3 (10:44) At least that's my fantasy. I know. Well, it's one of your fantasies. Speaker 2 (10:48) Right. Just a big Jason session for a whole day. Speaker 3 (10:52) What are you eating? Right Speaker 2 (10:53) now? Speaker 3 (10:54) No, in that situation where it doesn't matter anymore. Just Speaker 2 (10:58) super salty, puff-inducing things. Because, you know, you can be as puffy as you want upstairs. Sure you can. Yeah. Speaker 4 (11:06) Turns out you can be as puffy as you want downstairs, too. Speaker 2 (11:11) Well, actually, you lose water weight almost instantaneously down there because you're always sweating. Yeah, it's hot as shit. Oh, Speaker 3 (11:19) where you're going. Yeah, you're going to get a Speaker 2 (11:20) lot of sweating going on. That's a good point. It's a constant schvitz. Speaker 3 (11:27) To switch gears. Sure, yeah. You know, if we can, as much as we can, to somebody who's not puffy. Really? No. This gentleman keeps it very tight. In the best way. I really... What a lucky son of a bitch. Yeah, I know. He really is. He's got... This is a guy... You want to talk about First Ballot Hall of Famer, this is the guy who's got it all. I mean, he's... When you got talent and good looks, forget about it. When you got an easy way about you, for a frickin' good. This guy's done everything. Speaker 4 (11:57) He's been on the big screen. He's been on the little screen. He's been on the boards, you know, on stage, if you will. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Speaker 3 (12:04) This guy's from the other side of the pond. Uh-oh. He's British. Yeah, well, he's actually Welsh. His first language is Welsh, according to the internet. Huh. He's a guy who's done so much, and he's one of those guys who, like, you just, every time you see him, you're like, oh, I love. This guy, everything he does, this is the way I feel. You know, he was, for years he was on, you knew him from Brothers and Sisters, and then he was on The Americans Forever. And the thing I love about him maybe the most is that he is... partnered with one of my all-time favorite people, the delightful Kerry Russell. Guys, it's the incredibly talented Matthew Rhys. Speaker 2 (12:45) Oh, Matthew. Oh, my gosh. Speaker 3 (12:47) Yes, Speaker 1 (12:47) sir. Speaker 3 (12:47) Look at him. Is he gorgeous Speaker 1 (12:50) or what? Look at the stache. There's Speaker 3 (12:52) no Speaker 1 (12:52) water in that face at all. No, Speaker 2 (12:54) not Speaker 1 (12:54) for years. We Speaker 3 (12:55) have a Speaker 1 (12:55) fifth Speaker 2 (12:55) guest today. Speaker 3 (12:56) He just, he proved that the mustache was real. He pulled on it just to prove Speaker 1 (13:00) it. Speaker 3 (13:00) No, no, Speaker 2 (13:00) I'm Speaker 1 (13:00) just checking. I'm checking the Speaker 2 (13:01) glue. Listener, he's got a 30-pound mustache on and it's looking Speaker 1 (13:05) strong. Are you playing a motorcycle cop? No, I'm doing the Tom Selleck biopic. Speaker 3 (13:11) You could. You could. Welcome to Smartless Math. Matthew, you stud. Thank you. Good to see you. Thank you very much. Speaker 1 (13:17) You know, that's the real terrifying moment, the reveal. I know. Because at the beginning, I was like, is he talking about Ian McKellen? Who are they expecting? What is this? This is going to go... It's Speaker 2 (13:28) Taron Egerton, everyone. Speaker 4 (13:31) The Speaker 1 (13:31) real Speaker 4 (13:32) Welshman who can sing. Sure. Wow, it's so cool to meet you. I know. Very, very cool. Speaker 3 (13:37) You too, Speaker 4 (13:37) and thank Speaker 1 (13:38) you very much for... having me on, Jen. This is a real pleasure. Matthew, Speaker 3 (13:43) I wish, we don't know each other well enough. We've crossed paths a few times because obviously Carrie and I are old friends and so we've met through Carrie and she's such a delightful person as you are well aware and then she's like, I just, I love the idea. I'm like, you're as good as the people you hang out with and the fact that you and Carrie are together, I'm like, Matthew's a good guy. He's a great guy. I can just... No, I Speaker 1 (14:07) just, no. I took that idea, and then I latched myself onto Kerri, so that those around us would think the same thing. By Speaker 2 (14:15) the way, that's smart. That's smart living. How long did you guys do that show together? Was it five, six? It was six. It Speaker 1 (14:22) was six years. Speaker 2 (14:23) It Speaker 1 (14:24) was meant to be five, and I think the poor showrunners had kind of arced it for five, and then FX went, you know what, let's do one more. And they went, what? We Speaker 2 (14:32) don't Speaker 1 (14:33) ask. Speaker 2 (14:33) That's Speaker 1 (14:33) nice. Speaker 2 (14:33) We had the opposite on OZAR. That's a good sign on a show. Speaker 3 (14:36) We're talking, of course, about the Americans. Yeah. Speaker 1 (14:39) And Margot Speaker 4 (14:40) Martindale is a friend. And dear, dear Margot Speaker 1 (14:42) Martindale. Yeah. They were both reunited on Cocaine Bear recently. Speaker 3 (14:47) Yes. So Margot, and you were in Cocaine Bear as well. I Speaker 1 (14:51) muscled my way in. Just looking after the kids in Ireland and reading the script and that first opening scene, I said, I was like, who's playing that guy? The guy who bangs his head and falls out of the plane. She's like, who? I don't know. And then I said, ask Lizeth Banks. I said, ask Banks who's playing that part. So she texts Banks. Oh, we haven't cast it yet. And I said, tell her I'll do it. No, just ask her if I can do it. And she very kindly said, yes, you can come in and fall out of an airplane. By the Speaker 3 (15:18) way, what an absolute treat. So you're directing a movie and then you got a guy who's got like one scene basically. And then you're like, Matthew Rhys calls and he's like, hey, can I just do this one scene? You're like, uh. Are you kidding? Speaker 1 (15:30) Yeah, she smelled the desperation on me. I was like, can I please get out of the house? I can't do another zoo or aquarium. Please. Speaker 2 (15:38) Sean, is it true the rumor, sorry, that's how you and Scott met, right? Didn't you put in the search for cocaine bear? No? Did I not hear that correctly? No, Speaker 3 (15:50) technically it was Cocaine Cub, Speaker 4 (15:52) wasn't it? It was Cocaine Cub, yeah. It was the prequel that they haven't done yet. Oh, Scotty. Speaker 3 (15:57) Oh, Scotty, if he only knew. So you do Cocaine, and of course I want to get, I don't want to just. gloss over the delightful Margot Martindale, whom we all adore. Oh, Speaker 4 (16:08) yeah, Speaker 3 (16:08) she's the Speaker 4 (16:08) greatest. Speaker 3 (16:09) No Speaker 1 (16:09) one can swear like Margot Martindale. Speaker 3 (16:11) I Speaker 1 (16:12) mean, she should have a kind of course at NYU, like swearing for film and television, because no one can swear like her. Speaker 3 (16:22) And no one can get their ire up quicker and then get to swearing over, like, something that seems trivial. We did that show together, The Millers, and she'd be like, can you believe they just did this rerun? I