Danny McBride’s Delusions of Grandeur

**Danny McBride** (0:00)
It's very similar to...

**SPEAKER_2** (0:02)
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**Danny McBride** (1:01)
Eastbound & Down, which was we wrote that whole thing. Then I think it was like, honestly, it was an afterthought right before we're getting ready to shoot the pilot, where Jody and I looked at each other and Jody's like, wait, do you know how to throw a baseball? I'm like, I've never really tried. Should we see if I can? Our line producer, Saul, was like, I think there might be a baseball person in town. We can call him and give you lessons.

**Sam Fragoso** (1:22)
Did this coach believe in you?

**Danny McBride** (1:24)
No, he saw me throw and was like, good thing this is a comedy.

**Sam Fragoso** (1:30)
This is Talk Easy. I'm Sam Fragoso.
Welcome to the show.
Today, actor, writer, producer, and now author, Danny McBride. For the past 20 years, McBride has been a fixture in American comedy. From The Foot Fist Way and Eastbound & Down, to Vice Principals and The Righteous Gemstones, he's built an entire extended cinematic universe of overconfident, deeply flawed men who somehow, and probably never stop believing that they're destined for greatness. And yet, whether it's Kenny Powers, Neil Gamby, or Pastor Jesse, you end up kind of rooting for these characters. Maybe that's because McBride, who grew up in the South, never thinks about mocking these characters, but instead tries to understand them. That fascination and the flawed continues in his debut short story collection Thrilling Tales of Modern Men, which is composed of wash up actors, failed magicians, runaway teenagers, and degenerate dreamers of all stripe, trying and usually failing to hold their lives together, even when it all seems to be falling apart at the seams. And so today, we start with the new book, what these stories reveal about the kinds of men he's been describing and portraying over the last couple decades, and why he thinks audiences have come around to embracing these characters, Hollywood once considered irredeemable. From there, we discuss growing up in Virginia, learning storytelling from his parents, his winding path from film school in North Carolina to Los Angeles, and how he's told personal stories through outlandish shows like Eastbound & Down and The Righteous Gemstones. We also talk about moving back to Charleston, creating community and what is basically a cottage industry out there with his collaborators, and why, to quote the late David Lynch, you got to go away to come back. This is Danny McBride. Danny McBride, welcome to the show.

**Danny McBride** (3:32)
Thank you very much, Sam. It's very nice to meet you.

**Sam Fragoso** (3:35)
How are we doing, man?

**Danny McBride** (3:36)
I just got to Los Angeles yesterday, last night, and it's been beautiful. It's wonderful. 72 degrees. This is why people live here.

**Sam Fragoso** (3:44)
I heard you call yourself a reverse pioneer. You went back?

**Danny McBride** (3:49)
Went back to the East, yes.

**Sam Fragoso** (3:51)
How has it been being back home?

**Danny McBride** (3:53)
It's been great.
I grew up in Virginia. I moved around a lot when I was a kid, so I probably spent the most time when I was a kid in Virginia, but I'd lived in California for a little bit as well when I was a kid. But yeah, I lived out here in LA for almost 20 years. My wife's from here and we moved to Charleston about 10 years ago.

**Sam Fragoso** (4:13)
I want to talk about the period of you living in LA, but I want to start first with this new book.

**Danny McBride** (4:18)
Okay.

**Sam Fragoso** (4:18)
It's your first short story collection. It's called The Thrilling Tales of Modern Men, which you've said, quote, takes place in the spaces men build for themselves when the world moves on without asking their permission.

**Danny McBride** (4:31)
Sounded like a thing that a writer would say, right? How to describe their work.