On the pod, the guys are joined by special guest, director and friend, Randall Einhorn, who directed so many of our favorite episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Charlie Day: All right. We have the whole–

Meg Ganz: You guys get all your pee pees out this time?

Charlie: We got our pee pees out.

Glenn Howerton: Yes. But there’s gonna be more pee pee.

Meg: Okay. All right. Just let me know.

Rob McElhenney: That’s why I went now.

Meg: Thank you.

Glenn: I’ve been overhydrating in the mornings. 

Charlie: Is that what it is?

Randall Einhorn: You guys big peers?

Charlie: Yeah, yeah.

Rob: No. But I think as we age it’s uh–

Randall: I know.

Charlie: It’s the coffee that gets me because as soon as you have the coffee–

Randall: That’s the only time I feel my age. Is like at 3 in the morning. When you get up for the stumble to the, to the toilet.

Glenn: To the toilet.

Randall: Then I feel my age.

Rob: I’ve heard about that. I’ve heard about that age.

Randall: Oh. Old.

Rob: That hasn’t happened for me yet.

Charlie: You’re getting through the night?

Rob: I’m getting through the night. Yeah.

Randall: Really?

Charlie: I am too. But not always. But mostly. 

Rob: Well, if I wake up in the middle of the night it’s the terror. And the anxiety. And all that stuff. But it’s not really uh–

Glenn: It’s not the pee pee.

Charlie: The terror creeps in.

Rob: The terror creeping in. It’s not the pee pee.

Meg: You can’t pee that out.

Rob: I can’t pee that out.

Rob: I’ve tried.

Randall: If you only could. That’d be great. 

Charlie: Megan, what you don’t know. But you can pee it out. 

Meg: Oh, okay.

Charlie: Yeah. 

Glenn: Yeah. You have to really concentrate.

Charlie: It’s a penis thing. Yeah. It’s a different tool, but it works.

Glenn: You have to really focus though. It’s not easy. 

Charlie: You really gotta squeeze it. 

Glenn: Yeah.

*INTRO MUSIC*

Charlie: Well, guys here we are. 

Glenn: Randall Einhorn.

Charlie: With the great Randall Einhorn. 

Glenn: We’ve been watching episodes from season 5 and every single one of them have been directed by you.

Charlie: Yeah. And they’re all fantastic.

Glenn: They really are, man. 

Charlie: And we thought we better, we better get Randall on the pod so the fans can hear directly from him, how brilliant we are.

Glenn: Yes. Mostly we wanted you here to talk about–

Charlie: To speak of our greatness. And tell across the lands. Um, how should–

Randall: I think the secret is just standing out of your way.

Charlie: Not at all. That is untrue.

Glenn: You know, that is what we thought the secret was too um, for sometime. And then you kinda came in. And then you really kinda pushed us a little. Something we’ve been talking about. You know, you pushed us to be a little bit more ambitious. And you know, you would push back in a way that you know, didn’t get our hairs up. And got us like listening to you, you know. You got us to do some kinda bigger stuff. Which I think was really helpful and good. We could use more of that.

Randall: Thank you.

Charlie: We were discussing how when you came in we, I think it was a combination of you and Shakman. But the two of you guys took what we were doing. And pushed it into uh, just pushed the limits of what we could do. And episodes could be bigger. And we could get out of the sorta bar and apartments. And we could have a “World Series Defense” episode. Or we could–you know shoot a hockey puck on a rink, and uh, and have some you know, create a stadium that we couldn’t afford or be allowed to be in.

Glenn: Yeah.

Charlie: And so anyways uh, how’d you do that?

Rob: Over the years we’ve found that um, bringing in adults, adults to the room. Have garnered great results. Meg’s one of them. Um, Randall’s one of them. Matt Shakman was one of them. In some ways Marder and Rosell, even though they’re basically children. 

Charlie: No.

Glenn: No.

Rob: But–

Charlie: Not gonna give them too much.

Rob: –they were able to sympathize what we try to do into something a little bit more cohesive on a consistent basis. They were more professional in some ways.

Glenn: Yes, in some ways. They had more experience in other rooms. Where, as we had none.

Rob: Yes.

Charlie: To go on and on and on, before we allow you to speak. You know, I think–

Rob: We’re talking about him. 

Randall: It’s nice. I’m just sitting here and nodding. It’s great.

Charlie: I think it is like, look. The business, this particular business is one of collaborations. And you know, often times someone will come to you, I was just watching a, like a, ‘cause I’m obsessed with watching a thing about like, the making of There Will be Blood. And you know, Daniel Day-Lewis like sending a voice memos to Paul Thomas Anderson. He’d be like, “Oh. You wanna do that with the voice?” And then warming up to it. Same thing with Phil Hoffman in Boogie Nights. Where he was like, “I wanna talk like this.” You know. And he was like, “I’m not sure. But I like to collaborate with people. There’s a reason I’m working with this person.” And I think you were the first person that we worked with, who really was coming at us from a, sometimes from an angle that we weren’t seeing, and we trusted you. “So let’s try a few, sort of Randall ways.” And you sort of taught us a new way to shoot. And cover the show.

Glenn: I remember him saying things like, “You’re, you can be doing more with this.” And not, you know, and not spend more money and more time. Like you had a, you we’re like, you had an ambition that allowed you to, within the constraints of the budget of the show. And the number of days that we had to shoot. Where you were able to get big things in the same amount of time.

Randall: I think we also, it was when–I’m not sure if you were using 3 cameras at that time. Before I came in.

Glenn: I think we were. We were definitely using 3 cameras at sometimes. 

Randall: Yeah.

Glenn: Where as now, I feel like we have them, we have 3 cameras all the time.

Rob: I believe when you came in, you said “You should be using 3 cameras all the time.”

Randall: All the time. Yeah. ‘Cause then why lose anything? You know, everybodies doing great stuff. And if you have, you know, coverage, coverage and a master.

Glenn: Yeah.

Randall: Or a, you know, way to hand off to another location. Why not do that? So–

Rob: Can we start from the beginning? 

Charlie: Let’s back it up.

Rob: I wanna talk about your path in. Because I remember the very first time I met you, um, you had just come back from, you were a whitewater riverboat guide.

Randall: Yeah.

Rob: Is that correct? Can we talk about that?

Randall: I was, I was, I was–

Glenn: Rafting though.

Randall: Yeah. 

Glenn: Not riverboat, right? 

Randall: Raft guide, yeah.

Rob: Raft guide.

Charlie: Most people who don’t, this is a pretty normal into the industry. So explain–explain how they should go learn how to whitewater–

Glenn: Raft their way right into Hollywood.

Randall: Yeah, no. It’s a, it’s a well worn path from whitewater kayaking to directing. I mean, Paul Thomas Anderson, like we just talked about.

Charlie: I believe he was on the waters of the LA river here.

Randall: Yes. Stanley Kubrick was also a–

Charlie: Yes, in New York.

Randall: A very well known whitewater enthusiast. I was doing, I was a whitewater raft guide, and um I started, I started uh filming expeditions.

Glenn:  I remember that.

Randall: And I started filming the raft trips.

Glenn: Yes.

Rob: Now was this, this was in Australia?

Randall: Australia, yes.

Rob: Australia. 

Randall: But also like Papua New Guinea and other places.

Rob: Sure.

Randall: And then I went and did um, so I was filming those from a kayak. I’d kayak down the rapids, hop out, film the rafters come through. And sell them a really–

Meg: Did you have an interest in–sorry, in shooting you know, uh–

Randall: No.

Meg: Being a director before? So you learned how to use cameras because you wanted to record your expeditions?

Randall: Yeah. I learned how to use–that’s exactly right. 

Meg: Wow.

Randall: The company I was doing it for, I was leading these expeditions. They said, “Why don’t you start filming it?” I’m like, “You mean like with a camera or something?” Yeah, okay. 

Rob: Could we even go back even further? Because now I, I think it’s interesting–people love to hear people’s journeys. From the beginning. And so, how old were you when you started doing that? Like what happened before that? What, your interests lied in adventure sports?

Randall: Yeah. In, really in whitewater. And, and all outdoor extreme sports. You know? Skiing, hiking, you know, sea kayaking, mountain biking.

Charlie: Where did you grow up?

Rob: In like Ohio or something?

Randall: I did. I grew up in Ohio.

Charlie: Yeah, Ohio. Right.

Randall: Yeah. Where, lots of great whitewater there as well. But I sorta, I just took off traveling when I was 18 years old. Stayed away for really 23 years. And kind of figured out who I was gonna be. I got kicked out of highschool. Which is also–

Glenn: What’d you get kicked out of highschool for? Tell us that story.

Randall: That’s a good story. No. Nothing I’m proud of. It was an accumulation of things. 

Charlie: So you were a rascal.

Randall: I was a rascal.

Charlie: And a poor student. And–

Glenn: He wanted to be outside. They were stickin’ him in a classroom and he needed to be outside.

Charlie: But no–no visions of being a Hollywood director?

Randall: I still don’t know if I really want to–no. I do. No I never had any designs on this. I never even wanted to be a photographer. Or videographer. It just happened. And so I started filming it. And I’m like, I started really enjoying it. And then Mark Burnett came through. I end up getting like some sponsorship for kayaking. ‘Cause I would go do stupid things. And people would take photos of me doing stupid things.

Charlie: “This guys crazy enough to go over that waterfall with a camera. So lets–”

Glenn: “Let’s sell Mountain Dew.”

Randall: So, yeah. I was doing that and I got a call from a buddy who’s location manager said, “Look. I need to find um, some river areas. So we could do, for this thing called Eco-Challenge.” Which is a 500 mile wilderness adventure race. And that was Mark Burnett’s thing before he did survivor. So I took ‘em on all these different rivers. And showed them some river sections. ‘Cause he needed them for the race. And I said,you know, “You should hire me to film it.” And he did. And that’s how I started filming.

Meg: Wow.

Rob: And what year was that?

Randall: 1997.

Glenn: 1997.

Charlie: 97. 

Randall: So when Eco-Challenge, and I did 7 of those. I did ‘em all over the world. Great, great gig. You know, you’re just off on your own. Carrying a heavy camera. Trying to keep up with these hardcore adventure racers. So I did that for 7 years. And then–

Charlie: By the way, was it film? Like, in 97 were you shooting on film?

Randall: No. Shooting on really, really heavy Betacams. 

Charlie: Oh. The Betacams.

Randall: Really heavy. 

Charlie: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Randall: I convinced Burnett he should hire me on, on Survivor. And I DPed the first Survivor. And then–

Rob: That’s a big deal.

Meg: Yeah, huge.

Rob: You were the, I don’t know that I knew. You were the DP on the first season of Survivor?

Randall: Yeah.

Charlie: And for our fans who don’t know, that’s the director of photography. So that means you’re basically in charge of the cameras and the lighting. There will be director with you. But you have a lot to say. And a lot of input on the look. And the style.

Glenn: And the technical aspects.

Charlie: Technical aspects. 

Randall: Well actually, there was no director out there. We were just shooting what happened.

Charlie: So the DP was essentially was the director.

Randall: Yeah. We were just like–you had producers. Who were logging the conversations so they could build stories.

Glenn: Uh-huh.

Randall: But in terms of what we were filming, nobody was telling me what to film. We just shot what happened. In a kinda vera10 style.

Charlie: Like documentary style. 

Randall: Yeah. Very much. 

Charlie: So you would like, run and gun. And just capture, capture as much reality as you can. And the–

Meg: Do you feel like the, the experience of following a bunch of maniacs on an island helped you in some way? When–

Randall: It was felt very familiar.

Meg: Yeah. 

Randall: You know. Less asses and elbows. I could get them to face me. 

Meg: Yeah.

Randall: That was my key to directing. Like, “Face me. Face the camera so I could shoot you.”

Meg: According to my research it was your time on Survivor that was the reason that you were pulled into The Office. Because they wanted that feel. That real reality documentary feel. 

Randall: I was always in um, Jackson Hole. So people always hired me to go do stupid things with the cameras. Um, and I was filming um, Shaun White and Jeremy Jones. Um, and I was um, have–you know, I was skiing with them. And filming them. And Ben Silverman who was in the video village says, “That’s the guy who should be the DP of The Office.” I’m like, I don’t know why he thought that. ‘Cause I can ski with camera?

Charlie: We know Ben. And he’s just a very enthusiastic and–

Randall: Very enthusiastic.

Rob: Impulsive.

Charlie: Impulsive. But that, sometimes it takes that. For someone to have that kinda vision to say–

Glenn: To see it.

Charlie: Yeah. To be like, “Why not this guy?” 

Randall: Yeah. And I, you know, why you would think you would take that guy and put him in a fluorescent lit office, I don’t know. But Ben saw something I suppose.

Glenn: “That’s the kinda radical guy we need filming people in an office.”

Rob: Maybe it’s that he saw you skiing while, while camera operating. And thought, “I could get this guy to do anything.”

Glenn: “He’s a–this is an insane person.”

Rob: “Insane.”

Glenn: “Maniac.”

Charlie: Well, now, when he, when you get that call. And they say, “Hey we’d like you to direct.” How many episodes did they offer you?

Randall: So I got, I was the DP on The Office.

Charlie: Oh. First DP. Okay.

Randall: I was first the DP on The Office. And I DPed like over 100 episodes. And I met with Greg Daniels. And Greg and I got along really great. And really enjoyed each other’s humor. And blah blah. And so, in filming that show Greg said, “You’re telling jokes with the camera?” I’m like, “Yeah. I’m trying to.” He says, “You should direct some.” I’m like, “Okay.” So everything really has just happened to me. Through no designs of my own.

Charlie: But wait a sec. There is a big learning curve there. Because I imagine when you’re doing Survivor, you’re–the lighting is practical, right?

Randall: Very. Yeah.

Charlie: You go into a building and it’s lit like–when you’re dping The Office, you have a gaffer and you know. And a best boy. And you’re hanging Kino Flos or whatever they were using at the time. And you’re in charge of how that looks. So, what was the learning curve there in terms of–

Randall: That was big.

Charlie: Yeah. Was it?

Randall: That was a big learning curve. I’m like, “Who are you?” I remember the first time I was, I started filming something, my key–my grip was, he grabbed me by the belt. I’m like, “What are you doing man?” He’s like, “Oh. I’m just making you safe.” I’m like, “Don’t. I can’t see where I’m going when I’m going backwards if you’re there.” And it just freaks, it just freaked me out. This like, “Why are you holding me? I got–”

Charlie: Unions. Like you can’t touch certain things that other people can touch. You can’t pick up a C stand. You probably didn’t know what a C stand was.

Randall: I did–I have many–what’s that called? Many offenses of doing that.

Charlie: Okay. Sure.

Randall: I just had–

Rob: But what you’re alluding to there is, it’s very common practice that if a camera operator is moving backwards, there’ll be a grip behind them.

Glenn: Yeah.

Charlie: To make sure they don’t–

Rob: Who’s making sure they don’t fall down or step over something. But what you’re saying is, that’s the first time anybody had looked out for your safety.

Charlie: Yeah, yeah.

Rob: You were just–before that you were just walking backwards with a camera in the jungle.

Randall: In the jungle.

Meg: So, did you do any sort of book learning to try to figure out these things? Or did you just–it was all on set experience?

Randall: It was all on set experience. I kinda think that my greatest asset is not knowing any better. 

Charlie: Sure. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

Randall: Because you can actually you don’t, there are no rules. Thirds, I don’t know. It looks cool when I put them in–you know. Doing the interviews on Survivor. I thought it’d look interesting for it to be in ninths. Rather than, and make the environment a character.

Rob: I don’t know what that means.

Glenn: Yeah. So explain that.

Rob: What is thirds and ninths?

Randall: Well you know. This rule of thirds and framing. That it’s, it’s really nice to put, split the frame into thirds. That’s a very conventional way of thinking about framing. But on Survivor, I thought that the environment was as much a character as the person sitting there. Um, being interviewed. So I played with heavy foreground elements of you know, ants crawling across the log in the foreground of a person talking. So I think stuff like that was, not knowing any better, was very liberating.

Charlie: Were you nervous about like, matching eyelines or anything like that? Or you knew you were gonna cross cover so those things would sort of tie in automatically. 

Randall: You know what? From filming observational documentaries and reality, the eyeline is never in question. You never think about it.

Charlie: Yeah.

Randall: You know, you’re on Survivor and there’s five people in a conversation. And you have 2 cameras there plus the boom operators. And all of sudden somebody over here starts talking. And the line gets crazy. So, one of the operators knows that they need to duck out of the frame, go and get on the other right side of the frame. So you’re constantly adjusting the, the, the frame line. So that it doesn’t like people are talking away from each other.

Glenn: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Randall: ‘Cause if you know, you want both people looking like they’re talking to each other. And if you’re on the wrong side of the line–

Glenn: It does look goofy.

Randall: Yeah. So that was a, that was a really good skills. That I didn’t need to learn that in a book. ‘Cause I had to learn it every single day. With all these camera operators. And, and the boom operators. Thinking about that–Survivor was boomed. There’s no lavs on people, right?

Meg: That’s crazy.

Randall: And there’s 8 people in a tribe who are all having a conversation. You never know who’s gonna talk. And the whole show is boomed.

Glenn: Why weren’t they laved?

Randall: They’re not wearing anything.

Rob: Where does it go on their naked skin?

Charlie: Like Naked and Afraid.

Glenn: Aren’t they wearing t-shirts and shit?

Meg: Not often.

Glenn: No? They’re–

Randall: They’re free to take it off and do whatever.

Glenn: Okay. 

Randall: So there, yeah.

Glenn: I didn’t watch a lot of Survivor. So I–

Randall: Yeah. Me neither. Apparently a lot of people did. 

Rob: And continue to. I believe it’s still on. 

Glenn: Is it still on?

Randall: Yeah.

Charlie: It’s still surviving.

Rob: I have never seen one episode of Survivor? Have you?

Glenn: I have never seen a season.

Rob: I have nothing against it. I just didn’t, it never came across my radar. It’s been on for 30 years.

Randall: Yeah. Burnett pitched it to me and this buddy of mine is his location manager. He pitched the show to us. I’m like, “That is the dumbest idea ever. Nobodies gonna watch that.” Anyway he was right. I was wrong.

Charlie: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Meg: Did you think that same about The Office when you heard it? Boring, wire people–

Randall: No. I love the British Office.

Charlie: Well, for us though, I think that was the show that made us think we could make our own show. Because of the way it was shot and lit. 

Meg: The British Office.

Charlie: Yeah. The British Office. Because it, the lighting was so practical. And because the cameras were so handheld. We thought, “Well, we can all–sure. We can go into a room with tiny cameras and practical lighting. That we can do. So we can make something that looks like that.” So, I think it was a natural evolution for us to–

Glenn: Also trying to capture the improvisational quality of like, Curb Your Enthusiasm. And it just felt like the coverage was far less–the coverage and the lighting were way less important than capturing performances in the moment. Capturing you know, real conversations. Moments that can only happen once because if you try to turn around on it you’re never gonna remember. And it’s never gonna be the same. You know, and so that was a big inspiration for us. Like the British Office and Curb.

Randall: Yeah. That’s a big reasons or me to want to shoot 3 cameras.

Glenn: Yeah.

Charlie: Right.

Randall: Is that you’re never losing any of that. 

Glenn: Yeah.

Randall: And it, it also I think it, I think when you’re shooting with 3 cameras it affects the actors, tell me–

Glenn: Absolutely.

Randall: In a way that, they, you know you’re on.

Charlie: It is the absolute best to not have to do your side and then turn around and do the other side.

Glenn: Well, it’s like you said, the, you know–If you’re on at the same time that I’m on, we’re both on camera, then I’m gonna get a better performance, you know, he’s gonna get a performance from me ‘cause I’m on camera.

Randall: Yeah.

Glenn: I’m not just gonna be off camera like reading my lines. Or, you know, half assing.

Charlie: However there are limitations to that aesthetic, right? And I’m sure you’ve now moved on to shooting all sorts of different ways. Where I’m sure you’ve worked on shows where you’ve had to like, set the camera and then turn it around and do a whole very different-

Randall: Fargo.

Charlie: Yeah. Exactly.

Randall: It’s really one camera. With all these wide angles.

Charlie: Well the Coen’s always shoot from within. Right?

Randall: Yeah.

Charlie: So–not always. But like, most their scenes you’ll see that camera is in between the actors. Instead of, you know that sort of run and gun documentary sort of over the shoulder style.

Randall: Yeah. They’re inside, yeah.

Charlie: In Fargo–Yeah. It’s all very inside. But–

Meg: Do you have a favorite of those? Like ways–would you rather be out in the jungle again? Do you like the mockumentary stuff?

Randall: Oh, I do like the mockumentary style. I do like being outdoors. I would love to shoot something outdoors again. I remember, so me and my–the other operator who became the DP on The Office, Matt Sohn and I, we met on Eco-Challenge, and Survivor. So, I remember there was one episode where we were going to film out in the woods. And it was like–you know, we’re both looking through our adventure. Figuring out what pants–and they were all old and packed away in the back of cupboard. Dusting it off and–yeah.

Charlie: “You wanna split this granola bar from 1997?”

Randall: “It’s vintage.”

Charlie: “Still good man.” 

Randall: “They were good.”

*Ad Break*

Charlie: You’ve got a lot of–The Office under your belt. And you get a call to try this other show, what–did you see a few episodes before you come in?

Randall: Yeah.

Charlie: And then–

Glenn: Yeah. ‘Cause you–sorry. You had only, in terms of scripted television I think, if I’m not mistaken, you had only done The Office.

Randall: Yeah. 

Glenn: Before you came and did Sunny with us.

Randall: Yeah. I had directed–I think at that point I probably would’ve had directed–I’d done like 16 of them.

Glenn: Like full on directed.

Randall: Had to have been like 6 of them.

Glenn: Yeah.

Randall: And I remember like I, I, I knew I wanted to move away from DPing. And start directing more. And Greg Daniels let me go do other shows and still come back and be the DP.

Glenn: That’s cool.

Randall: So I didn’t have to–

Glenn: Well–

Randall: Who the hell does that?

Glenn: I remember in our first meeting one of the things that struck me about you was there was this–there was a confidence. And an ambition that was there. That I found–

Randall: I was fakin’ that. 

Glenn: Yeah. It might’ve been. 

Rob: We’re all fakin’ it.

Glenn: Well, everybody’s faking it at that time. 

Randall: That’s what you learn.

Charlie: We’re you really–I don’t–you don’t strike me as someone who was faking. You strike me as a genuinely confident person when it comes to your work. 

Randall: I am confident. 

Charlie: Yeah.

Randall: Yeah. Whether it’s full hearty or not, I am.

Glenn: But I think that’s what it is, right? 

Randall: Quietly confident. For no apparent reason.

Glenn: Maybe that’s the adventure background. Right?

Meg: You meet a bear in the woods, you gotta act like you’re the bear, even if you’re–

Glenn: Even if you’re not. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or you know, when you’re skiing down a mountain and you’re going at a speed that, where you’re just maintaining control but you’re also right on the edge of catastrophic failure. And um, you know, you just sort of learn a little bit. That you can do it. But sometimes you gotta, sometimes you can’t–you don’t need to always overthink it first. You need to like jump into it. Thrust yourself into. Figure it out. Have fun. You know? And then just rust that’ll it be there when you need it. 

Randall: So, my only really formal training is raft guiding. And, and river rescue. Like I, I, I–and I think that, you know, guiding a raft down a river and, “Forward paddle?” You don’t really wanna call “forward paddle” like question. 

Glenn: Yeah, yeah. Right. 

Randall: You wanna–you know. You wanna go with confidence. And you need to be confident and direct to call that type of thing out. So I think I had that, that type of training. Of trying to get people to do things that they weren’t necessarily comfortable with.

Glenn: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Randall: That is a skill I supposed I still–yeah.

Glenn: Yeah, yeah. I mean you certainly possessed it at the time. I mean like I said, I think you, you pushed us in ways that other directors hadn’t quite pushed us. And you did it with a certain confidence and enthusiasm that was you know, seductive to us. Think

Charlie: Did we have a meeting before or did, or did we just hire you?

Glenn: No, we had a meeting.

Charlie: We did?

Glenn: We had a meeting. I remember–yeah. It was, it was the first season that we had done–uh, shot on the fox lot. Um, and I believe–and the three of us shared um, that corner office on the third floor…third floor?

Randall: Mm-hm.

Charlie: Yeah. Back–lookin’ over the alley way.

Glenn: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we met in that office I think. Is that–do you guys–do you remember?

Rob: Yes, I do.

Glenn: I believe we met in that office.

Rob: I remember the con–I remember the conversation and it was a lot of exactly what you led. Which is, “I think what you guys are doing is really interesting. But you can go further.” And we were so used to meeting with directors especially early on who would say, “You can’t really do that, that blocking won’t work, you won’t hit the light.” Uh, that–

Glenn: Yeah.

Rob: And we would just say, “Why? The show looks like shit, so who cares. And we’re just trying to capture what the actors are doing.” And you came in and said, “Yeah, forget about all those rules.”

Glenn: You didn’t care about any of that.

Rob: You didn’t care about anything.

Glenn: You didn’t care about any of the stuff that we didn’t care about. And I think we really liked that.

Charlie: Now I’m remembering this meeting, yeah.

Glenn: We were like–yeah, we were like–

Charlie: That’s right. That’s right. 

Glenn: You know, people get caught up on this and you were, you were on that same page as us. You were like, “nothing matters.”

Charlie: It was a refreshing take because no one had spoken to us like that about the show.

Glenn: Yeah.

Rob: It’s interviewing 1 on 1. You come into the room where the bosses are and you’re like, “Everything you guys are doing is great. And you’re right about everything. And what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna come in and I’m gonna make you better versions of what you already are, which is great. To be clear.” We’re like, “Wow. This guys–”

Glenn: “This guy’s really smart.”

Rob: “He’s so smart.”

Glenn: “This guys a really good director.” 

Rob: “There’s something about this guy that I like, and I don’t know what it is.”

Charlie: I remember Shakman’s interview and he was totally different. Right? Like, you know. He was like, “I like to work this way. And I would probably do things my way.” You know. And we’re like, “We’ll that’s interesting too.”

Glenn: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Charlie: You know?

Glenn: But also, also with the, with the same degree of confidence in himself. That allowed us to give over to that. 

Charlie: That’s the big thing, like, do you have a vision? Do you have a vision that is your own and does it gel with ours? You know. ‘Cause you could come in and be like, “The whole thing is gonna be brighter.” You know? “Done–”

Randall: I mean to me, like, as a director form follows function. That’s why The Office looks like The Office. You know. And Fargo looked like Fargo. And Wilfred looked like Wilfred. It’s, it wants to serve the material. And the material was you all. It was all these characters. And it didn’t matter how it was lit. It just had to be funny. And everybody you know, I think there’s so much preciousness to filmmaking that filmmaking often gets in the way of filmmaking. 

Glenn: Mm-hm. Yeah, yeah.

Charlie: I think that’s true.

Rob: Certainly on a show like this. And also, you came in and we liked you. And people disregard that sometimes when they think about how to prepare. Or an interview to come into a new position. Well, I just have to be technically good. But the truth is that you spend a lot of time with the people that you’re working with. And you just seemed so fun and affable and game. And the kind of person we would want to spend time with. And that goes a long way. We knew we would have fun with you and we did.

Randall: It’s true though, it’s like, you go in to shoot a show. I’m gonna spend more time with the actors than I am awake with my wife.

Glenn: Right.

Randall: You know.

Glenn: During that short intense period–

Randall: Yeah.

Charlie: What was your impression of us? We’re you like, “These guys were younger than I thought?” Or were you like–

Glenn: Were you thinking like, “God they’re handsome–” Yeah. “They’re more handsome in person.”

Charlie: “These three very handsome men.” But was it like, did you sort of feel like, these guys know what they want and I’m gonna sort of, stay out of their way. Or was it like, oh these guys are lost they need some guidance from me.

Randall: No. These guys definitely know what they want, I should be here to make it even better than what they want. I mean, I think that’s what a director's job is, to make it better than you know, the way that it’s written. Or the way, make it as best as it can, you know, be performed. I think the directors job is just serving the material. So coming in and I’m in charge it’s like, yeah I’m not really. It’s part of a bigger thing. You’ve got something going on. But what I remember from meeting you guys, it’s like there’s three of you. So like, just or four or five. And you’re all, you’re all on all the time. And it’s really, really fun. Um, but it’s also, it’s kind of challenging when you’re the new person. You’re coming in to talk to the three people who have been there through all of it. You just need to make sure that what you think is right. And that you have a way of backing it up. Because you know, it’s just, the numbers of it. I need to convince three people that. I remember there’s one shot I was doing on Wrestling For the Troops. That was coming out of a mirror–

Glenn: Yes, I remember that. I remember that. We had so many conversations about that.

Randall: And I remember we did, I did, I just–

Charlie: Yeah. We’re in our bird costumes. 

Randall: In the bird costumes. Those very, very cool bird costumes. With a stenciled abs as well. Nice touch. Just coming out of a mirror and you all weren’t certain you wanted to do it. And so I shot it. And I showed it to you guys and “Yeah. Let’s go do that.”

Charlie: Yeah. It’s cool. Yeah, yeah.

Glenn: You would pitch stuff but you were never precious about it. You know. Like, you would pitch things that you felt like would work. And would maybe make the scene funnier or whatever. And sometimes we would say no. We were like, “No. That’s–I think this is funnier.” And it never sapped you of your confidence. It never stopped you from continuing to pitch stuff. 

Randall: I cried the whole way home. 

Glenn: Sure, sure, sure. From the rejection.

Charlie: Now, was Danny rough on you in the beginning?

Randall: Nope.

Charlie: Now Danny can sometimes test a new director. 

Glenn: I think he can smell the people that he can do that with. He does it in a fun, fun way.

Charlie: It’s like an old school hollywood thing. He’s like, “I wanna see, you know if you’ll like, if you’re worth my trouble here.”

Glenn: And if you need to take some shit. Like, can you take my shit?

Charlie: Can you take my shit. Yeah. Not in a mean way, but like–

Randall: He’s playing.

Charlie: He’s playing. Yeah. Maybe he’s–maybe it’s a Frank Reynolds thing, but like if you say, “Danny I think maybe you’d be in this chair.” He’s like, “Oh really?

Glenn: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Charlie: Push ya. But he didn’t give you any of the business.

Randall: I mean, maybe a little bit. But I think he gets to do that. He’s Danny Devito. It’s like he’s doing it all good fun. You know.

Charlie: But I think it can be an intimidating thing coming to the show, you know. Being like, “Oh, it’s Danny Devito. I need to tell him to stand here instead of over there.”

Glenn: Well, we felt that way you know, when we first hired Danny. And you know, we’d be like, “I gotta go give Danny Devito a note.” That’s crazy. That’s insane. Like, I can’t. You know.

Randall: Yeah. That is–

Glenn: How do you do that?

Randall: That is crazy 

Glenn: Yeah. How do you give Danny Devito an acting note?

Randall: Yeah Danny, because he’s such a legend, it is kind of intimidating doing that. But often times that the best note is the note you don’t give and you go again and they give themselves the note. So by the time I’m coming with a note I really believe it. Like the best notes I ever gave Edie Falco were the ones I never gave her. I remember just learning, “Just shut up Randall.” 

Glenn: Just let her feel it. 

Randall: “Just shut up.” Yeah. 

Charlie: Juggling of personalities right? It’s crazy.

Randall: IT is. I think every actor needs something different. And that’s recognizing what everybody needs, is part of the, you know, you should figure that out really, really quickly. Before you start working with people.

Glenn: Well, I think the good thing is like, the three of us, you know, we like to get in and get out. So like, my feeling you know what I mean? If I don’t have to be there all day. If you’re like, “Turn the light on with your left hand.” I’ll be like, “I’m gonna figure out how to turn it on with my left hand.” ‘Cause I don’t have a whole fucking conversion about it. Otherwise this is a ten minute conversation about whether I should turn it on with this hand or that hand.

Rob: But it’s not because you don’t care. Or like, when we’re there we give a hundred percent. We’ve just have done this long enough to know that, giving a hundred percent for five hours versus eight hours, is not gonna yield a tremendous amount of difference. So lets do it for five hours instead of eight.

Glenn: Well you learn to pick your battles, right? You’re like this, this is not something. Like I can figure this out. Like I don’t need to make it into a whole thing. Or a 10 minute conversation about something you know, simple. But then every once in a while you do. You’re like–

Rob: I worked with Donald Sutherland one time and he was incredible. He’s one of my favorite actors of like the 70s and 80s. And he was one of those guys that comes from the old school. And he just had to deliver a very simple line. And the director came in and gave him a–it was Shakman actually. That came in and gave him a note. Donald wanted to talk about for, I mean 45 minutes. And It was just a simple thing. And Matt realized okay, he stepped in and now he’s gonna go. And we shutdown everything and Donald talked about it for 45 minutes. Then he came back and he said, “Okay I feel good.” And he did the line. It was exactly the same. Exactly the same. And we, we looked at it in post. The same line delivered the same way. But Donald felt differently about it. And Shakman and I talked about it. And we realized like, what’s important here is not–yes we could go back and prove an actor wrong. And say, “Look. Don’t you see it’s the same guy.” But the fact that he felt better made him better throughout the rest of the day. And sometimes catering to the emotional needs on an individual basis of somebody who’s supposed to come in and emote and be vulnerable. And just by nature be an artist and somewhat difficult is part of the gig. 

Randall: I mean, what you all do is putting yourself out there. In a very, every open way. You’re fully exposed. So no matter what it takes you need to make that actor feel comfortable. That they’re not standing there with anything on their face. Or doing something that’s not true to their character. Or just feels unnatural. Everybody needs something different. 

Glenn: It’s good. You’re a problem solver I think. Also like I think you approach things from the standpoint of like, I think it’s easy to get stuck in like, this is what I want. This is what I want to do. And if you can’t get somebody to do it you could get frustrated about it. But I never sensed you getting frustrated with us. Even when we did get into conversations about things where we were battling it out. About how a certain thing should be shot. And we disagreed with you. 

Rob: You are quite unflappable. And we are very frustrating. Very frustrating.

Meg: When you, you know, pitch these things to them. Like coming out of a mirror. Is that something that you think about in prep or do you show up on the day and you see a mirror and you say, “Hey, I think we can do something.”

Randall: No. We placed that mirror there. ‘Cause I knew I wanted to do that shot. I have every single shot worked out.

Meg: Wow.

Randall: Well in advance. I do these overhead schematics that shows where people’s nose is gonna be pointed. It’s just a circle with a round thing on it.

Charlie: I remember you did these. I remember looking at these. Yeah.

Randall: Yeah. And you might have a red circle with a red nose. And you might green. So all the characters I know where they’re looking. Who they’re talking to and where the cameras are. I’m not very smart so I have to have a plan. And by doing that, by the time I get there, I’m gonna have the meat and potatoes. It’s just everything else that’s figured out on the day, gravy.

Meg: But sometimes people that get really locked into those things and then they come in and the actors go, “I don’t wanna stand there. I don’t wanna do.” They freak out. ‘Cause they have their whole plan for the day. So, but it must be your reality background to–that lets you be pretty adaptable even with your plans.

Randall: Yeah. I mean I call–I should say I have a theory about people standing places.

Rob: Oh yeah. That’s right.

Randall: Saying things–

Meg: That’s great.

Randall: And it’s only a theory until you put it on its feet. And that could’ve been–then you discover whether it’s a stupid idea or not. 

Glenn: Guys, I gotta pee. 

Rob: Oh okay.

Meg: See, I told–this is–what they need to feel safe is the ability to go pee whenever they want to.

Randall: An empty bladder. Yeah.

Meg: And that’s–

Randall: I think it’s really important.

Charlie: This is really a study in male aging. 

*Ad Break*

Charlie: Speaking to your unflappable nature, you know, to–this business and succeeding in this business is so much just putting yourself out there. And it’s mostly rejection. You know. Every now and then you get a breakthrough. Every now and then you get a show that is a hit and you hang on for dear life. And you do 16 seasons of it. Or you know, every now and then you breakthrough. But mostly it’s a lot of lumps. You don’t strike me as someone who gets affected by the lumps. And if you had had the lumps I’m curious what they even are. Like, have you had the ups and downs with this business? Or are you just going down the river?

Randall: I am going down the river. And you know, I think it’s–I have had–definitely had had lumps. And you just can;t let that lump make you unhappy.

Charlie: What is a lump for you though? Like getting–have you been like fired off of working on a show.

Randall: Yeah. That’s a lump.

Charlie: Sure. Yeah that’s a lump.

Randall: Really makes you start doubting yourself. And questioning yourself. And was it something I did? How could I have done it differently? And of course, the answer is no. I was perfect. They were all wrong.

Charlie: Well that’s actually right. Like, the answer is, they wanted you something. You were offering something else. And that’s what–the you move onto the next. 

Randall: But it’s like, you know–at the end of the day it’s just television. You know, nobody’s gonna die. I think that is also something that comes from expedition work. Is that, oh a light fell down. Oh, it’s raining. Ugh, it’s too windy we can;t shoot. It’s like, nobodies gonna die and everybody's gonna eat. And we’re gonna sleep in a bed. Which is dry.

Meg: Have you ever been in a situation while shooting where you were like, somebody might die right now? Like when you were skiing or doing these adventure treks? Has it ever gotten hairy?

Randall: Yeah.

Meg: Yeah?

Randall: Yeah. For sure.

Meg: That must’ve been scary to be like, “Am I gonna film my own death right now?

Randall: Yeah, no. It’s usually–I don’t think it’s gonna me–I have this thing where I never think t’s gonna be. It’s never gonna be. Until, yeah. I’m laying there in a crumpled mess. 

Meg: Oh wow.

Charlie: Now what about advice for young, young aspiring directors? Like someone who wants to be the next Randall Einhorn.

Randall: You know, I think like directing television is, is–going around and being an episodic director. Understand that it’s not your show. Is the biggest thing and the most liberating thing. That when you get there, if you don’t wanna do the way that I saw it. That’s cool. I’m just a guest. And–so I think really having the confidence to know what you want but also be happy in you know, not necessarily getting what you want but getting what the show needs.

Meg: I’ve heard it described as you’re like the baby sitter. You’re not the parent. So if the parents have decided that this child is being raised vegetarian it’s not your job to come in and serve the kid burgers. You know?

Randall: Yeah. Usually on tv shows there’s always somebody there behind you. Which is why I tend to not do much episodic guest directing anymore. Because I’m happy to collaborate. I really enjoy it. But it’s also really nice for me to know when I got it. I just got it and I’m done.

Glenn: Yeah. Well, and you directed the pilot of The Mick. And many episodes as well, of the The Mick. So you were there to establish the look and feel of that show.

Rob: So talk about that for a second. ‘Cause that’s a different situation. ‘Cause if you’re going and shooting the pilot of an episode, you have a lot more agency over how the show is produced, how it’s shot, how it looks. Can you talk about that process a little bit? Versus just episodic?

Randall: Yeah. Episodic, I mean you're serving the pre established material. And directing a pilot you’re actually establishing what that pilot–what the tone will be. The look of it. You know, how it finds it’s humor or it’s you know, pathos, whatever. And so–I love directing pilots. ‘Cause it’s such a ground up, building situation that you are creating a foundation for the show to go for hopefully many, many seasons. You know. 

Meg: Also Abbott Elementary, right? You directed the pilot of that.

Randall: I did.

Glenn: Oh, did you direct the pilot of that?

Rob: You did.

Randall: Yeah.

Glenn: Oh I didn’t know you directed the pilot.

Meg: Now–so that means you’ve done three different shows shot–that are supposed to take place in Pennsylvania. Right?

Randall: Yeah, I know.

Meg: The Office, Abbot Elementary, and this one. 

Randall: Yeah. We went back to, for the finale of Abbott, we went to Philly. And that was great. I went out there scouting it on my phone. And I just hopped on a bike. And just rode every where.

Charlie: That’s fun.

Randall: It was really cool. Riding over to west Philly. And all of a sudden the streets get really, really shitty.

Charlie: Did you do–

Rob: Yeah, I would advise against the riding of the bike. Did you hope on a raft and get down to Schuylkill? 

Randall: No. 

Rob: ‘Cause that would be, that would be a good, that’d be a good whitewater rafting.

Glenn: We were trying to remember, when we shot the World Series Defense. And we shot the stuff with The Philly Frenetic. With him getting in the fight with The Philly Frenetic. You know. And us, and me bruised and battered. And then we do the redyed bit. It was right before we go to the Oliday Inn. And in the background there is an actual game being played. And we were trying to figure out if the stadium was full because we put in some CGI to make it look like it was full. Or if there was an actual–

Charlie: Well, here was the big mystery too. Because the first scenes the stadium's clearly empty. And it’s as if we’ve gotten there early. And the later scenes, it’s now full. And we’re talking as scripted that the games has begun. But knowing our shooting schedule we’d be like, we wouldn’t have been there for hours and hours and hours and hours. Like 15 hours at that location. So what did we do?

Randall: I think we, I think we shot that over a couple of days.

Charlie: Oh.

Randall: I think we, we wanted to be empty. So we–and then it we wanted it to be full. So we came back and we actually came back and, made it full.

Glenn: Are you sure we did that. Or did we time it in such a way?

Randall: I think, either it was split up over a couple a couple days, or–

Glenn: But either way, this was not CGI. This was–

Randall: That was not CGI.

Glenn: Okay, that’s what I thought.

Charlie: Nice.

Randall: We just timed it that way. It was either we timed it that way by splitting it up over a couple of days or just scheduling it that way.

Rob: Does this look like a show that would use CGI? This–

Charlie: But we did.

Glenn: We did with, with you. We did a big CGI thing with the, The Gang Reignites the Rivalry. With the writing in fire on the wall. That was like one of the CGI things we had ever done.

Randall: And also the um–

Charlie: The flyers, yeah.

Randall: The hockey.

Charlie: The hockey, yeah.

Glenn: Oh boy. Yeah that was probably even, that was much bigger. Much bigger. That was crazy.

Randall: That stupid trench coat.

Glenn: Yeah. Should we watch some Randall Einhorn clips?

Meg: Yeah. I’ve got tons of Randall clips. 

Charlie: Let’s do it.

Meg: Maybe the question is, do you have a specific scene you are, you remember really loving how it turned out from the show? Or anywhere you’d like to start?

Randall: I mean, you know. Gang Wrestles for the Troops I thought was a really good episode.

Charlie: Yeah.

Radnall: And I remember that was like, I remember we finished the fight scene where Danny crashes the chair ove Sweet Dee. And I think the most setups I’ve ever done on a show.

Charlie: In one day you did like 50 something.

Randall: I think it was, it was like 90. It was 90 setups. 

Charlie: Yeah. And you know what. I think it was like 90 setups in one day. I remember, I remember this. And it was like, a lot of pages too. Like the amount of pages–I think you also had the record for pages in a day. We had one day where we shot like twelve pages. 

Glenn: Yeah. Twelve, thirteen pages.

Randall: My greatest asset is not knowing any better. My greatest motivator is really wanting to go home. It’s my laziness. It’s my big motivator.

Charlie: I remember the boat episode, the P Diddy boat dance being–

Randall: Oh my god the Kaitlin dancing with the–

Charlie: And didn’t it, did we actually light that boat on fire?

Randall: No. That was a CGI.

Rob: Also CGI.

Charlie: That was CGI.

Rob: We did a lot of CGI. 

Glenn: But remember when we also, that boat we took an old, old, old crummy boat, which is exactly what we wanted. And then they made it look older. And it just–

Rob: It made it look more like a set.

Glenn: Yeah. It made it look more like a set.

Charlie: We were upset. We were like, “The boat looked old.”

Glenn: The boat already looked old. Why did you have to make it look old.

*Music*

Rob: Long Beach, right?

Charlie: Were down it Long Beach, right. And I actually swam in there. That filthy, filthy water.

Dee: This is Boat Music.

Frank: Yeah. This is the kind of–

Glenn: We had to hide Kaitlin’s pregnancy for the first half of the season. 

Charlie: We had to take a boat out to the boat.

Glenn: Yep.

Charlie: And where were you? Like, did you guys also have a boat that you were filming from?

Randall: I think we were filming from a barge that was a, like a flat pontoon boat.

Charlie: Yeah.

Randall: Yeah.

Charlie: And you can taste that sort of endangered tang?

Glenn: “Endangered tang.” 

Randall: Endangered species are delicious.

Glenn: That’s why they’re endangered. 

Randall: You know the orange roughy for instance. 

Dennis: Grab Frank and Dee and get the hell out of there. Because we’re gonna be bringing back a couple of tasty treats if you know what I’m saying?

Charlie: Hey man, yeah. Absolutely. I’ll get right on that. That’s how you patronize someone right there. 

Frank: What, what, what, what?

Charlie: Dennis being a dick. Don’t worry about it man. Hey, this scuba equipments broken. It’s useless. 

Frank: The hell with it. 

Charlie: Let’s get back to shrimping. Toss this shit. It’s crap anyway. 

Meg: That’s great.

Rob: That was not CG. That was real.

Glenn: Yeah, yeah. That was real.

Charlie: The boat is on fire.

Frank: What do you mean?

Charlie: The boat is on fire. Fire!

Charlie: Now where’d we shoot that? We shot that fire shot on the lot, right?

Glenn: I think so yeah.

Randall: I think we shot that on the lot.

Charlie: And then we have a lighting effect in the window there.

Randall: Yeah. I think we had to shoot that actually outside. And take some of that set outside.

Glenn: Really?

Randall: Yeah. I think so, ‘cause you can’t light something on fire in set.

Charlie: That’s right.

Mac: I cannot wait to get you girls out onto the sea. So much more romantic in the middle of nowhere Where we can be completely alone. You can make rash decisions based on fear. Right Dennis?

Dennis: Yeah…

Rob: Mac not understanding the implication quite.

Glenn: Yeah. Understanding it, but not understanding–

Rob: Don’t know to communicate it.

Glenn: Yeah. Yeha.

Dee: Out of my way. No more Diddy boat.

Danny: That catfish nipping at my heals! Endangered my ass. 

Dennis: What the hell happened.

Charlie: That was a hell of a swim.

Mac: Charlie, where’s the boat? What happened to the boat?

Charlie: It’s right there.

Glenn: How would we not see that?

Rob: Now that is CG. 

Glenn: Now–

Charlie: Wow. It looks pretty good.

Glenn: It’s not–yeah.

Charlie: How did we sink it?

Meg: The thing lighting on fire is really funny.

Charlie: How did we do the sinking?

Randall: How did we make it sink? 

Charlie: Yeah.

Randall: CG. Some computer–you know.

Glenn: Fanatic. 

Rob: Maybe we sunk something and then–

Charlie: Well–

Rob: It was a long time ago.

Meg: Did your–did having Randall on the season five inspire you to be like, “Oh maybe could do a whole thing on a boat.” Like, just in terms of you–they–they talk about how you brought scale to the show and like kind of–

Charlie: Well, I think we would write things assuming that we were gonna find the way to shoot them. Where you couldn’t actually see–So we would’ve written the hockey thing assuming, “Well, we won’t actually see this stadium.” Or we would’ve written that being like, “Well, you might not actually see the boat sink. You might–” You know.

Glenn: Yeah. 

Charlie: So you were the one I think saying, “Now there’s–the world has changed. There’s technology.”

Glenn: There’s way to do this.

Charlie: Yeah. And that you don’t have to spend a billion dollars to do it.

Randall: Yeah, I mean I don’t, I don’t remember how we sunk the boat. 

Rob: I don’t either.

Randall: But I think it was just, took a plate of it and just you know, shot it so that it was you know, thing that you could manipulate on it’s own.

Charlie: Explain a plate to the general audience. 

Randall: So you know, in–sometimes you’re shooting a, something on a greenscreen. Where you could isolate the, the character or the element that you wanna isolate. And lift it off the background and put it on to another background. Another plate. So, that’s what I’m sure we did. We just shot that as a plate, shot 15 seconds of it, and then it was isolate and manipulated. And it was it’s own layer.

Charlie: Now, here weren’t to like go to a game and film at a game. Which was our first request. But we were allowed a game, you know, we weren't allowed like get on the ice, and do the whole scene. It would’ve taken a lot of time. But so that shot, these are stunt guys in Philly. Um–

Rob: That’s us.

Charlie: That’s us. Coming on the green screen.

Glenn: Yeah.

Rob: That’s obviously–

Glenn: Yeah.

Charlie: You can kinda tell.

Rob: You can kinda tell there.

Randall: You can certainly see green–

Rob: Now that’s real. 

Randall: And that was real.

Rob: That’s all comped.

Charlie: I remember not feeling like, I remember feeling upset that the stunt guys were doing, the stunt guy for me was like doing bad skating. I was like, “Hey man.” Charlie Kelly skates good.

Randall: Yeah. This all was so much greenscreen.

Charlie: That shot looks great. 

Meg: Yeah.

Glenn: A little snap zoom.

Charlie: But you kinda, you kinda also can’t tell. I mean it’s pretty darn good. Oh you the choice to explode that was a lot of fun. 

Philly announcer speaking

Glenn: “Cemented himself as a Philly sports legend.” 

Rob: I remember this shot, it pans over to a tight shot. Right…right here. Mac, Mac, Mac.

Charlie: So that’s the–so you must’ve sent them a shot list.

Rob: Yeah.

Charlie: Mac, Mac, Mac. Wake up. Mac, Mac, Mac. Wake up.

Charlie: That’s a rink somewhere in Burbank.

Randall: Yeah. Must’ve gone there and shot that Mac, Mac, Mac.

Rob: You, you went to Philly.

Randall: Yeah.

Charlie: You went to Philly with the–yeah.

Glenn: To shoot stuff? 

Rob: I think so.

Glenn: I remember–okay. So that wasn’t just a second unit director.

Rob: I don’t know.

Randall: I thought–I remember–

Rob: Yes.

Randall: –that stuff. ‘Cause I remember the board moving in the background.

Charlie: Yeah. So you must’ve gone with the unit. 

Glenn: Did we shoot in Philly in season 6? There’s some seasons we shot there and some we haven’t. 

Charlie: I think it wasn’t hockey season by the time we were filming. So like, you must’ve gone earlier like while we were–I don’t know. Strange. 

Randall: I just did a–I’m sure you’d get on the –you’ll be able to go there now, right?

Charlie: Now we could. Yeah, now I bet we could work it out. But they’re not like, “Hey it’s a game. There’s a team. We’re not gonna like… The fans are there for a game, not for you guys to film a scene for 8 hours on the ice.”

Randall: I went and shot basketball for It’s always Sunny–uh, for Abbott Elementary. You know, I had four minutes and you know, it’s, you’re part of a much, much bigger thing. And it’s clear how little you matter to them. It’s like, “Okay. You’re off. You got your four minutes.” “I need one more–” “No.” 

Charlie: Yeah. It ain’t about you. 

Rob: “We’re running a 2 billion dollar franchise here.”

Randall: Nobody cares about your little show.

Rob: It’s like, Oh. Whenever you’re shooting on the Universal lot.”You’re shooting on one of the lots. And, and all of sudden you just hear like a “Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.” And you hear like some, “And now, over here they’re shooting–”And then you look up and it’s a tram car that’s coming through.

Meg: Doing a tour.

Rob: “We’re shooting here. We’re shooting here.” And they’re like, “Yeah. No. We don’t care.” 

Glenn: “We make more money off the park than we do.”

Rob: The park makes way more money. “Get out of the way actors. We will run you the fuck over.” 

Glenn: They don’t give a shit.

Rob: They do not care.

Charlie: The people in the cart would love to see that actually. 

Rob: First of all, they’re like, “What show is this. We’ve never heard of this.”

Meg: Another thing you shot was the Kitten Mittens commercial. Do you have any memories of uh shooting that. 

Randall: Oh yeah. Dicktowel.com.

Meg: Dicktowel was in this episode.

Charlie: Dicktowel. Kitten Mittens. 

Randall: Yeah. I remember, you know. I remember to get the cat to walk funky, we you know, trained with a cat puts some, like corn or something in the mittens. So that the cat–

Glenn: So that it was uncomfortable. 

Randall: It was like walking like really, really funny. 

Charlie: Really? I thought it was just doing that ‘cause the mittens were on it. It was like, I gotta get these off. 

Randall: It was something in there. I don’t remember what it was. Rice or–

Glenn: I dig the idea of it being corn, let's go with that. I don’t know why.

Rob: Cut that. Cut that. Cut that. Get a call from Peta. Send ‘em Ryan Reynolds way.

Charlie: “You make a cat walk on corn?”

Randall: Yeah.

Glenn: “Yeah. How dare you?”

Randall: He got to eat the corn afterwards. So–

Glenn: Sure.

Charlie: And then we got to eat the cat. It’s all, it’s all cycle of you know, it’s totally humane. 

Glenn: Uh, so are you still directing Abbott Elementary. 

Randall: I will be, yes.

Glenn: Okay.

Randall: So I stayed on, I stayed on and I did the pilot. And I directed the first–

Glenn: Are you EPing as well? 

Randall: Yeah. So I EP that.

Glenn: So you’re heavily involved in that one.

Randall: Heavily involved in that one. It’s–

Charlie: It’s a big hit.

Glenn: Now, what if we said we wanted to have you back to direct more episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia at some point?

Rob: Can we afford you?

Randall: I’d love to. I’d love to.

Charlie: Gotta get you back. 

Rob: I don’t think we can at this point, but we can try. 

Randall: I’d love to.

Charlie: Will you take scale?

Glenn: Will you take scale? And will you still allow us to you know, completely steam roll you. When you come in.

Randall: That’s my forte. Just lay down. Just give up with what you want. Cry on the way home. Process it later.

Rob: We haven’t talked about your house at all. Wait we have to talk about your house for a second. Because you are one of the first true California hippies that I have, that I have–first compounds I’ve ever been to. 

Glenn: Yeah. 

Rob: He–I don’t know if you still live there. He lives, he lived up in the hills of–

Charlie: Topanga Canyon.

Rob: –of Topanga Canyon. And any stalkers out there, just know that if you try to find him, Topanga Canyon is massive. And you’ll never–

Charlie: You’ll never find him.

Rob: You will die out in the woods. 

Randall: You will.

Rob: It’s this old Ashram where buddhists monks used to live back in the 60s and 70s. So some weird shit was going on there. ‘Cause the transition from buddhism to Mansonism, possibly. 

Randall: Mansonism.

Rob: Yeah.

Randall: Yeah. Little bit of overlap.

Rob: Little bit of overlap. Lot of meditation. But lot of drugs.

Randall: Lot of drugs. Yeah.

Charlie: Peace and love. Peace and love. Or murder. 

Rob: Yes. Some murder. 

Randall: I heard somebody say, “I was in a orgy at your house.” 

Rob: Yeah.

Randall: That’s cool. 

Rob: Very cool.

Randall: Good for you.

Rob: But you also had lots of animals.

Randall: Yeah.

Rob: And the very first time I had ever been on a horse. So he had–I don’t know if you still keep horses. But you had horses up there, and you’re like, “Let’s just go ride on a horse.” I was like, “Okay. I’ve never been on a horse before.” And you’re like, “It’s fine. It’s easy. It’s easy.” So I go, okay. And I’m just following you. 

Randall: Oh yeah, I remember this.

Rob: So we’re just going on this trail and I’m like, “What the fu–okay this is fun. This is fun. I’m having fun.” And then a deer comes out and the horse gets spooked and bucks and chucks me into next week. Off the horse into like these, grass slash wheat fields. 

Charlie: I didn’t know this about you.

Rob: Oh yeah. 

Meg: Oh man.

Rob: And the horse ran away. And Randall was far away. And I was just like on the ground.

Charlie: You got tossed off a horse?

Rob: I got tossed off a horse.

Glenn: That’s scary dude. That’s no joke.

Charlie: It could kill ya.

Rob: I was laughing hysterically the entire time. 

Randall: I remember. I remember, ‘cause like, I’m calling out, “Rob you good?” “Yep, yep.” “What are you doing man?” “Just on this bush.” I remember you didn’t tell me that–

Rob: I was looking for the horse. I was like, “Let me find this horse and– So I can like catch up with him.” And the horse was not having it. The horse was like, get the fuck away.

Charlie: “Horse! Oh horse!”

Glenn: “Horse!”

Rob: “Scared horse!” 

Glenn: Yeah. 

Charlie: “Scared horse. Could I get back on you?”

Rob: “Scared 2,000 pound beast, I’m trying to come to hop back on.”

Randall: I do remember that. Yeah. 

Glenn: Are you still in that place?

Randall: Yeah. Well–

Charlie: Still riding horses?

Randall: Still riding horses. 

Charlie: Nice.

Randall: Yes. Still in that place. The place is very, very different. It was an Ashram I bought off an 80 year old monk. Who was living there with 11 disciples. And he was renounciest. And the first thing he certainly renounced was maintenance. And, ‘cause there was just shit everywhere. The whole place smelt like patchouli incense. But, that place is no longer. We started remodeling it. And then it was like, “Yeah. This is–” We ended up lowering the whole thing. Like 6 inches and just building a new house.

Glenn: Oh you did. Okay. I remember you were first ever working on–

Rob: That’s good. There may be some spirits in there that you may want to get cleansed.

Meg: Cleanse.

Glenn: Maybe some fun ones.

Rob: Yeah. Some fun ones. 

Randall: There was a guy who came, a kid came you know, a week ago. I’m down muckin’ the horses, and this kid came up. He said, “Hey. Do you live here?” I said, “Yeah. I do.” He says, “I was born in that bedroom. You better come in man. Come check it out.” And this kid who grew up in that house you know, walked him through the property. 

Glenn: Oh, that’s cool.

Randall: He had all these memories of, yeah. It was really cool.

Glenn: Yeah. That is cool. It’s awesome. 

Rob: “I watched my parents fuck there. I watched my parents fuck other peopler there.”

Glenn: “I watched Charles Manson murder someone over there.” 

Rob: California is a strange place.

Glenn: Super stange.

Charlie: “I saw a buck naked PEter Bogdanovich still wearing his ascot right here.”

Glenn: “And I’ll never forget that.”

Meg: This came up on the podcast when your name was mentioned. Were you aware that your last name means unicorn in german?

Randall: Yes. 

Meg: You are?

Randall: Yes. 

Glenn: I brought this up.

Randall: Unicorn sounds better than Einhorn. I don’t even like saying it. You know. It’s kinda–doesn’t have a–

Glenn: Einhorn.

Randall: But like, german doesn’t really have an elegance to it. So like, Einhorn. Einhorn, yeah. 

Glenn: I don’t know. It’s pretty cool.

Rob: It’s a good memorable name.

Glenn: It’s not as magical as unicorn though.

Randall: No it’s not. It’s my family crest.

Charlie: Is a unicorn?

Randall: No. It’s not. But my company–

Charlie: Topanga Canyons.

Randall: My company name is Sad Unicorn. Sad Unicorn.

Meg: That’s nice.

Randall: ‘Cause there’s nothing funnier than a sad unicorn I think. 

Charlie: Yeah, yeah.

Glenn: Is there such a thing as a sad unicorn?

Charlie: Well, they’re all sad. ‘Cause they only have one horn. 

Glenn: And they always wanted more? 

Charlie: Most, most other beasts have two. 

Rob: Well this has been anything other than sad. We’ve loved having you on.

Charlie: It’s been wonderful.

Glenn: Yeah, man. So good to just see you.

Rob: And I don’t know if we can afford you. We definitely can’t afford you anymore. But we would love to have you back.

Randall: I would love to come play. 

Rob: Great. 

Randall: It was absolutely always a giggle.

Glenn: I would love to have you back.

Randall: You know. I always had a giggle. It was always fun. 

Glenn: Yeah.

Randall: Remember Sweet Dee stuck to the floor in the movie. 

Charlie: We just talked about–

Rob: We were just talking about that. And how miserable that was.

Randall: She was fine though. She was like–

Glenn: She was game, man.

Rob: Literally glued to the floor with that.

Randall: Yeah. 

Rob: Yeah.

Glenn: Well, thanks Randall.

Rob: Thank you.

Randall: Thank you.

Charlie: Thank you Randall.

Glenn: It’s good to see ya.

Charlie: Great to see ya, bud.

Glenn: What a treat. 

Rob: Great to see ya. And that’s it.

Meg: That’s it. 

Charlie: Ta-da

[End Credits]