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Paul Feig - Director of The Office & Bridesmaids Brings His Collections To Work
673 Plays2 years ago
Our guest today is someone you probably know from the movies and TV series Bridesmaids, The Office, Freaks & Geeks, The Heat, Spy, Heavyweights, Welcome To Flatch, The School For Good and Evil, A Simple Favor, the list goes on. But what you might not know about director and actor Paul Feig, is that he’s got an extensive suit and walking stick collection. In fact, he’s one of the few left in Hollywood that still dresses up for work everyday, no matter what the movie set looks like. On the heels of launching his new cocktail book, Cocktail Time and his gin, Artingstall’s, Paul has created a life around the things he loves, just check out his spread in The Rake magazine. We had a great chat and probably could have used another hour, but who knows, maybe we’ll do something a little different next time. Without further adieu, and great honor, this is Paul Feig, for Collectors Gene Radio.
Artingstalls Gin - https://www.artingstallsgin.com/
Cocktail Time - https://www.harpercollins.com/products/cocktail-time-paul-feig?variant=40174750072866
Pauls Movies and Shows - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0082450/
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Transcript
Working with Steve Carell
00:00:00
Speaker
But that's what was so fun about working on that show is you're just laughing the whole time. Yeah. Steve Carell can just reduce me to tears. I mean, as the character, anything he does, but especially as the character of Michael Scott is, you know, yeah, it was hard and I ruined a lot of takes.
Introducing Collector's Gene Radio
00:00:15
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? And welcome to Collector's Gene Radio. I'm your host, Cameron Steiner, and I'm joined by my co-host and brother, Ryan.
00:00:26
Speaker
This is all about diving into the nuances of collecting and ultimately finding out whether or not our guests have what we like to call the collector's gene. That's right. And as always, please subscribe and leave a review for us. It truly helps. We hope you enjoy the pod. Let's go.
Paul Feig's Collections and New Projects
00:00:48
Speaker
Our guest today is someone you probably know from the movies and TV series, Bridesmaids, The Office, Freaks and Geeks, The Heat, Spy, Heavyweights, Welcome to Flatch, The School for Good and Evil, A Simple Favor, the list goes on. But what you might not know about director and actor Paul Feig is that he's got an extensive suit and walking stick collection.
00:01:13
Speaker
In fact, he's one of the few left in Hollywood that still dresses up for work every day, no matter what the movie set looks like. On the heels of launching his new cocktail book titled Cocktail Time and his gin art installs, Paul has really created a life around the things that he loves. I mean, just check out his spread in the Rake magazine. We had a great chat and probably could have used at least another hour, but who knows, maybe we'll do something a little different next time. Without further ado and great honor, this is Paul Feig for Collectors Gene Radio.
'Cocktail Time' and Inspiration
00:01:43
Speaker
Paul Feig, welcome to Collector's Gene Radio. How are you doing? I'm very good. Thank you for having me on. Oh, absolute pleasure to have you on. When I started this podcast and got to learn a little bit more about you, I've known you as what you do in your professional life, but as I got to know you more through the things that I love, this was supernatural. But I think we have to start off definitely by mentioning
00:02:09
Speaker
the new book before we forget, Cocktail Time. I just got my copy the other day.
00:02:14
Speaker
Oh, okay. Excellent. That was kind of based off of the videos that you were doing during quarantine that pretty much kept us all drunk for a year or two. That was my goal. Yeah, yeah. It was really inspired by that. You know, it really kind of started. People were, you know, when I did that Instagram live show for a hundred days in a row, people just kind of contacted me like, oh, we didn't write down the recipes. Can you just put them out
Artingstall's Gin and Style Influences
00:02:37
Speaker
in something? So I just wrote them down and then just started going, well, I can't just put out a book of recipes.
00:02:41
Speaker
Then just started writing kind of funny personal stories about each drink and then it kind of ballooned into advice on how to throw a cocktail party and how to set up your bar and all that. So it was really fun. Honestly, if anything, it's almost probably more memoirish than anything else in personal than anything I've ever written just because it's sort of my philosophy of life with cocktails and adult grown-up fun, if you will.
00:03:07
Speaker
And I think the best part about it that really differentiates itself from a lot of the other books within that realm is that you tell a story for each cocktail. And I find that to be, it kind of makes it more of like a heartwarming book and less of a book that you just keep on your bar cart and more of something that you want to keep looking back at and maybe making your own memories too and whatnot. But in between all that, you also launched your own gin. Art installs, is that correct?
00:03:35
Speaker
Yeah, correct. Or Artingstahl's brilliant London Dry Gin is my...
00:03:39
Speaker
is my gin. Yeah, we've been working on it for, we've got six years now and it's out. It's just kind of slowly getting out into the world. It's in, you know, we're all over Florida and Texas right now and like Louisiana, I think we're in there and we're coming into California.
Significance of Suits and Dress Code
00:03:55
Speaker
But you know, if you go to ArtingStallsGin.com, you can mail order it from a lot of places, but you know, I won't be happy until we're in every store in the land. But we're also penetrating into the UK too. So we just got a new distributor there. So
00:04:08
Speaker
And that's a great gin market over there. They like their gin. That's great. Well, I wanted to make sure that we talked about that first before we forgot because there is a lot to talk about today. But for most people that know you, they know you for movies and TV shows like Bridesmaids and The Office and Spy and The Heat and my personal favorite, Heavyweights.
00:04:36
Speaker
A lot of people don't know about you is that you are probably best dressed guy in Hollywood and you're bringing old Hollywood back. I feel like that's your mantra.
00:04:45
Speaker
Uh, try and yeah, you know, I love those old pictures of, uh, you know, all the old directors. I mean, Hitchcock and John Ford and Howard Hawks and all them, you know, and you see those pictures from the sets on the thirties and forties and people were wearing suits and ties. The, the crew guys had like a tie on and their sleeves rolled up and trousers. And, uh, yeah, I just thought it was cool. Like I always kind of, when I watch a movie, you go like, Oh, I kind of wish everybody be
00:05:09
Speaker
I like to think everybody who made the movie kind of looked cool while they were doing it, not just guys in sweatpants and shorts and all that kind of thing. And what made you want to bring that back and be that person? Because it's really not common now. No, it's very not common. Hardly any of us do it, really. There's a few of us, I think, you know, like Darren Aronofsky and Chris Nolan and Sam Raimi.
00:05:34
Speaker
I just, it just, it feels unnatural to, you know, when you're the director, you're the boss, you know, and you're in charge of all these people and you're in charge of the, you know, capping, captaining the ship. And, um, you know, I always say, if I get on the ship and the captain was wearing sweat pants, I'd get off the ship. Um, you know, so it's really, it's a sign of respect for who you're working for. It, it, it makes me feel more in charge. It makes me look more in charge. And I just don't.
00:06:01
Speaker
feel comfortable and really casual clothes, especially when I'm working. It's fun. It's a uniform of sorts, but it's an ever-changing uniform because I've got a million different suits.
00:06:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's so funny. I remember with my middle brother, he works in your industry in Los Angeles. And I remember one of his first jobs forever ago, I was visiting him in LA and he had a bunch of interviews in Hollywood for some PA jobs. And he put a suit on for the interviews and they grilled him so hard for his outfit. I remember that he was so upset.
00:06:38
Speaker
It was like, it reminded us of the scene in Step Brothers when they were at the tuxedos to the job interview. Well, but that's kind of what I, you know, my big issue with LA is that they would give somebody a hard time for doing that, you know, because, you know, it's what I call out here, the tyranny of the casual.
00:06:57
Speaker
which is you know it's like oh if you if you try to dress nice clearly you don't understand that out here it's very casual and it's cool to not dress up and it's like fuck that I don't like that you know I like people dressing up like what's the problem with you know the cat wants to show up in a suit man then then like let him do it you know it's it's up to him if he's if he's you know if he's willing to get dirty or whatever if he's got to run around so be it but
00:07:23
Speaker
No, they really, you know, that happened to me. I mean, for me, it was I would, you know, when I was doing freaks and geeks and all that, you know, I was kind of reconnecting with sort of a past that I never had. Like, you know, when I was in high school, actually, I actually dressed really nice. But for some reason, since I was working, you know, this thing with the freaks and the geeks and all that, I, you know, was wearing jeans and a t shirt and you know, just like a
00:07:44
Speaker
Oxford shirt over the top or whatever, very casual and would go to these meetings after Freaks and Geeks was gone, you know, for another shows and things I was pitching and I'd be, you know, my jeans and that whole outfit, but all the executives would be in suits and ties.
Childhood Influences and Fashion
00:07:59
Speaker
And I was like, I don't like this power dynamic where I'm the clearly the sort of the artist who's begging for them to make a project and they're sitting there all cool. So I was like, well, you know what? I'm going to start wearing my suit and tie again. That's what I used to do when I was younger.
00:08:12
Speaker
And so I went and got a bunch of suits and showed up at these meetings. And for some reason, the minute I showed up at those meetings, all these executives decided they were going to wear jeans and T-shirts and tennis shoes. So the first time I walk in, I'm in a suit. They're not. And of course, I become the weirdo, you know, because like, oh, clearly you don't know. And it's like, well, you changed the rules just like a week ago. So don't make me feel like a dummy. But then I was like, you know what? I don't like the way I look. I think I look like an adult. You guys look like, you know, you're
00:08:41
Speaker
you know you're trying to look younger than you are so you know who's the dummy so i just said screw it i'm just gonna stick with the suits. What was the point in your life where you realize that you love suits so much and that when you grow up you want to wear suits and and and be an adult essentially.
00:09:02
Speaker
Well, I mean, when I was really young, uh, you know, I, when I was a kid, I wanted to be an adult. I didn't like, you know, I mean, I liked other kids, but I didn't necessarily like, you know, being a kid, uh, you know, and I'd watch TV, you know, anything like with kids in it, like kids programming, I just had no interest in. I wanted to watch adults, you know, I liked watching Monty Python and there's these, you know, really funny adults being weird, but they're wearing suits and ties and, you know, formal British, you know, uh, bowler hats and all that kind of thing.
00:09:32
Speaker
Also, I was a big Groucho Marx fan and had read a biography about Groucho when I was a kid, and it said that Groucho never trusted a man who didn't dress well. So, onto that, I'm like, oh, God, well, I must trust well so that Groucho Marx is like me. Yeah, exactly, exactly. And then I'd watch a lot of old movies with my mom from the 30s and 40s and Cary Grant.
00:09:53
Speaker
You know, Fred Astaire and all that. And it just all kind of made me go like, oh, God, look at that. These people look so good. Like this. That looks cool. You know, Cary Grant, like in his Girl Friday, where he keeps buttoning this like double breasted suit, looks like the coolest guy in the world. I want to look like that. I don't, you know, look like a teenager or whatever. And so, yeah, so kind of the coolest guy in the world.
00:10:14
Speaker
He really was. I mean, God, I mean, him and then like Marcello Mastriani when you watch like eight and a half or Dolce & Vida or any of that stuff, these are just cool guys and they just kind of owned it. They're also really handsome, which is something I don't have going for me, but the suit makes you look a little bit better. I'll tell you that much. It always helps. It always helps. It always helps. The frame is as important as the painting.
00:10:41
Speaker
Do you remember what your first suit was that you ever got in that moment of getting ready to put it on for the first time and whether you were six years old or 35 feeling like an adult like you had remembered that you wanted? Yeah, I think I was like eight or nine. It's probably when I read that book about Groucho.
00:11:03
Speaker
And so I said to my mom, I want to get a suit. And she was like, oh, great. I was an only child. So I was definitely had that relationship with my mom where she would kind of a little Lord Fauntleroy a little bit. So she packed me into the car. We went off to the Good Mall. We went all the way across the other side of Detroit to this place called the Somerset Mall, which was where all the fancy stores were, like Lord and Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue and all that. And so we went in, I think it was at Saks, and saw this in the boys department.
00:11:32
Speaker
Pierre Cardin, a three-piece suit, which was kind of this big kind of like plaid thing that was very 70s, very like Johnny Carson in the day, if anybody remembers who he is. And of course, any of the older folks, exactly. Yeah, I remember getting that and putting it on and just feeling like a
00:11:50
Speaker
million bucks. Like, wow, this, you know, I look cool. You know, I probably looked like a ventriloquist dummy, but I thought I was really cool. But my father was infuriated because, you know, he's so mad at my mom about it. He's like, you know, he's going to grow out of it in three months and how much did that cost and blah, blah, blah. And he's right. I did grow out of it pretty quickly. But man, I was like, I ruled in that suit for the three months that I could wear it.
Suits on Vacation and Pandemic Dressing
00:12:13
Speaker
But isn't that kind of like the best part about suits is that that same feeling that you had with the first suit of feeling like a million bucks, you get that feeling still each time you get a new suit, I'm sure, because I get that feeling.
00:12:25
Speaker
Oh, totally. I mean, I get it every time I put on a suit in the morning. I just feel better. The days that I'm casual or either working at home writing and so I'm like, those keep jeans and flannel shirt on or something. I just don't feel, I feel different. I mean, I'm comfortable, but I would never venture out of the house like that. I remember
00:12:48
Speaker
Never one time like that is when I went back to wearing suits right around that time I was telling you about when I was out pitching after freaks and geeks and it was wearing suits all the time that for some reason I just was I don't know with my wife in like jeans and you know very casual and we're walking around like the Beverly Center.
00:13:06
Speaker
And I remember getting in a really foul mood and she was like, what's up? And I was like, I feel like I feel unsuccessful. Like to me, like I equate being casual with the years when I was a struggling actor and a struggling stand up and a struggling writer.
00:13:25
Speaker
you know, and addressing kind of down and going like, no, now that, you know, things are going better, you know, the time it was right after Freaks and Geeks, you know, things were pretty, you know, weren't bad. You know, I'd had some success. And it just felt like such a backslide to not be in my suit. So, I mean, that's why, you know, even when we go on vacation, I'm always have, you know,
00:13:46
Speaker
a jacket and usually a tie on just, you know, in a more kind of a vacation wear, but still, you know, it's I wrote an article for Esquire years ago, called responsible tourism. And it was basically saying when you go, when you travel to somewhere beautiful, like in Italy or whatever,
00:14:06
Speaker
You are part of the scenery now. You are an extra in other people's movies of their vacation. So if I'm dressed nicely in some Bruno Coincinelli or whatever it is, and they're taking pictures and I'm in the background, that looks good.
00:14:25
Speaker
But if I'm at all dressed up in my nice thing and I got a bunch of people wearing shorts and TVs and t-shirts and baseball caps in the back of my photo, then I've got crappy extras in my photo. And it kind of takes the glamor of a glamorous place away.
00:14:42
Speaker
I remember when I was in high school, a French teacher, and he would go like, oh, when you travel, you always have to dress very comfortably because of the cobblestone streets, and you always wear walking shoes and all this stuff. And I was like, oh, God. Back then, I was like, oh, that doesn't sound good. Yeah, exactly. I was like, no, that doesn't sound fun at all. Really? I just got to dress like- Guess I'll never travel again.
00:15:05
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Where can I go where people dress up, where there's no cobblestone streets or something? Right. Yeah, there's a lot of studies out there that show dressing up, and I mean, they don't specify really to what level, but there are studies that show people who dress up to go to work every day are significantly more productive.
00:15:25
Speaker
Yeah, I totally buy that. It focuses you. If you roll out of bed and basically go to work in the same type of outfit, same feeling kind of outfit that you were lounging around in, there's no separation between I'm off and I'm on. For me, the morning ritual of
00:15:46
Speaker
figuring out which suit I'm gonna wear, picking out what tie I'm gonna put on. By the time I'm dressed and going out the door, I'm like, okay, cool, I got my suit of armor on now, I'm ready. I'm in work mode. Yeah, that's why it was so important to me during the pandemic when I was doing our cocktail show.
00:16:03
Speaker
I'd always put on a suit and tie and put on some outfit to do it in, but part of the messaging for the audience was like, don't spend the day in the clothes you slept in. Then there's really no separation between day and night. I get that total ennui of just like depression of, okay, what time of day is it? What am I doing?
Functional Collecting: Suits and Sticks
00:16:25
Speaker
Where are we? What's happening? Yeah, so I think it's important.
00:16:29
Speaker
Yeah, I think it also, when you and your wife were doing those shows, I think it was also helping people realize that the things that they collect, whether it's suits or walking sticks, for example, whatever it may be, I think it showed people that you can still use those things and enjoy them even if you're stuck at home.
00:16:48
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I'm a big fan of collecting things that you can use. You know, I've got stuff that I do collect that, you know, kind of sits around or I did, you know, anything from like PES dispensers to snow globes to. Those are the best. Yeah, exactly. That's, you know, it's kind of an entry level collecting, but it's fun. But it just becomes clutter at some point. You know, if it makes you happy and it's up, then that's great. And, you know, that's really fun. And, you know, I
00:17:15
Speaker
I mean, anything from figurines, you know, like the action figures, any of that stuff, you know, all the stuff we nerds love to collect. That's fun because it's kind of there and it makes you happy when you see it. But I think there's nothing better than like kind of getting stuff that you can use, you know, when I started collecting walking sticks.
00:17:33
Speaker
antique walking sticks. You know, my first thought the first time I got my first one back when I was in my 20s was like, I want to use this, you know, but back then it was kind of like, yeah, I'm gonna look like a weirdo, you know, guy in his 20s walking around with a walking stick is a little, you know, a little affected. Not that I should have, not that I should have cared, but I did. But you know, but over the years collected, you know, I've got almost 100 now. But always make I don't collect any that I can't use, like if they're too short for me to use, I don't I don't get them.
00:18:03
Speaker
If they're like kind of bent or not in great shape or the handles loose, I won't get them just because I want everything to be usable. Sure. Yeah. And I mean, otherwise at some point the joy is superseded by the idea of just owning something.
00:18:19
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, totally. Then you're just kind of hoarding, you know, in a way, which also just, you know, it's just something it was like when you hear about, you know, some famous painting that gets bought by somebody and, you know, they just put it in there.
00:18:34
Speaker
their apartment and you know, or house or whatever it is that that's fine if they see it, but you're kind of like, Oh gosh, but you're really hiding that from the world. You know, that like these things kind of exist to be enjoyed by people, you know, so there's something kind of sad to me about that kind of thing. Just getting locked away just because you can collect it. Right.
00:18:54
Speaker
But when it comes to suits, they're an easy thing to collect and hold on to. But do you ever find, you know, a lot of people have this like one in, one out philosophy, and I'm sure you don't have that with suits, but is there ever a time where you're like, okay, I just bought 10 suits, I have to get rid of something.
00:19:11
Speaker
Um, I mean, it's more my wife is always like, okay, you got to clean something out. But like, what happens is, you know, when I do that, some of your shoes. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Well, that's good for the goose. Good for the gander. Yeah. When I've done that, just to try to clean out some space, then I've always kind of regretted losing that thing that I gave away. Because, you know, my grandmother used to
00:19:33
Speaker
define fashion or style. As she said, they come up with a style or fashion. And when it goes out of fashion, they put it in a barrel. And you know, so they just keep doing that every time something goes out of fashion, they stack it in this barrel. And then by the time the barrels full, they turn the barrel over.
00:19:50
Speaker
and take it off and then they just start pulling from the bottom again. And it's so true, I'm 60 years old now, I've seen styles just, they just are cyclical. They'll just come in and out of style, but they'll always come back. And so there's nothing worse than when you're like,
00:20:06
Speaker
Oh man, I used to have the greatest thing like that that you see them selling now, you know, whether it's anything from like a fringe jacket to a pair of shoes or like, you know, wider bottom jeans or whatever it is. And so I guess for me, it's just like, I'd rather just hang on to it all as long as I got a room and I tend to have enough room to do it. But actually like the suit I'm wearing right now,
00:20:32
Speaker
is from when Ralph Lauren used to do this black label collection, which was more of a slim
Impact of Personal Style on Film
00:20:38
Speaker
line suit. Yeah, kind of like in a 60s, 50s style with a thinner lapel. And I love that stuff. Oh, it's really great stuff. And so I collected a had a lot of that that I wore all the time. And then it kind of went out of fashion that the jackets were kind of too long a little bit and
00:20:54
Speaker
you know the lapels came back yeah exactly you know Tom Ford brought the big 70s ones back and all that you know but I fortunately I didn't give those suits away even though you know it was being been goaded to get rid of them and like like a year or two ago I have this tailor named Mario out of Beverly Hills and I found out from him he like he'll he'll like modernized suits and so I took all these suits in
00:21:21
Speaker
and had them just cut, you know, cut them a little shorter, just do a little, just enough stuff to make them slightly more, not contemporary, because I don't like stuff that's in fashion or out of fashion. I just wanted to be like, just, you know, just look good. Totally. And so I'm wearing one like right now. And it's like, I'm so happy I didn't give these away. Because now every time I put one of these on, I feel so good. They don't make them anymore. They use really good fabrics. They're super comfortable. And they look really good.
00:21:46
Speaker
So it makes it very hard to go like, oh, we'll get rid of this because I'd say I'll regret it. I would assume it's pretty hard when you're on set and making a new movie or a TV show to
00:22:01
Speaker
let the costume designers kind of steer the horse. And I'm sure you have a say in it, but at some point, things just have to mesh to the character and less to like a personal style of yours. You ever have that feeling? Yeah. Well, it's, I mean, I get really involved with that. And I have, you know, great costumers or costumers I work with, especially my last four movies now has been with Renee Kalfas, you know,
00:22:24
Speaker
did simple favor and got so much notice for that. But that was Blake Lively looking at me in my three-piece suit and going, I want to dress like him. So I actually seem to inspire a good amount of costumes, even Charlize Theron's costume in the School for Good and Evil, my new movie that's out now on Netflix. She was looking at me in my suit and goes, I like that kind of tailoring. And so we came up
00:22:51
Speaker
Renee and the gang came up with this really cool, fitted, tailored kind of suits and long coats for her. So I feel like I do get to put my imprint in there. But I love just creating the right look for the story and for the characters. But if we can ever, Renee and I are always constantly like, how can we start a new style? How can we start a new fashion? Whether you do or not, you go like, oh, cool. Let's just kind of come up with something that people haven't seen before.
00:23:21
Speaker
So, it's like catnip to me. I love all that stuff. That's great. And she also used one of your walking sticks in that as well. Is that correct? Yeah, that's correct. I use my walking sticks when I'm directing just because it's a weird affectation. I like to have it. It's easy to point stuff out to people.
00:23:39
Speaker
Yeah, I had this really great skull one for like a hundred years old. It was like from a medical student or something. And Blake's like, I want to use that. I was like, Oh, Blake, you know, you got to, you know, you have to know how to walk with one. You can't, you know, if you don't walk with it, right. You look like an old person, blah, blah, blah. She goes, well, just show me how to do it. So I, well, yeah, you know, you put it down. I don't want you to use it. I know exactly. I was like, okay, I'll show you. And you know, you put it down every other step. You don't put it down each time you step down and you have to kind of
00:24:05
Speaker
kick it out and be very, you know, very loose with it. And she immediately got it and looked great with it. And so I was like, okay, go ahead. Now, yes, that's in the movie. But if you'll, most of my movies now have a walking stick in it somewhere like Bobby Cannavale's character has one spy, which is a terrible walking stick. It's a big thick cane, which I still bugs the shit out of me that we didn't put on a better one.
00:24:26
Speaker
And then in Ghostbusters, Bill Murray's character has a walking stick. And then in School for Good and Evil, so does Shelley's Thrones character.
Bespoke Suit Journey
00:24:35
Speaker
So I'm sprinkling walking sticks all over my films.
00:24:40
Speaker
That's great. You once talked about how Judd Apatow kind of turned you on to this like requesting maybe something that you would like to own instead of a financial gift, if you will, for an engagement that you do that's not your own.
00:24:56
Speaker
Have you ever gotten a suit or a walking stick for any of those? Well, I got a suit once. It was more I was working on a project with working title right after Bridesmaids that I didn't end up doing, but I was kind of deep in with them doing rewrites and all this stuff.
00:25:12
Speaker
I was in London, you know, living there, preparing this. And it was Eric Fellner who runs Working Titles, you know, he said, you've been working so hard, I really want to, you know, do something nice for you. He said, I've made an appointment for you to get a bespoke suit on Savile Row. I was like, what? You know, I've been waiting my whole life. Yeah, all I've ever heard, you know, is like, oh, one of the greatest things you can get is a bespoke suit from Savile Row. So he set it up and I went to Anderson and Shepherd, which I'd never heard of at the time, but they're one of those things.
00:25:41
Speaker
Yeah, totally. You know, they make all, you know, make Prince Charles or now King Charles, as I should say, suits and, you know, but started making all for the military and, you know, beautiful, good tailoring. Yeah. So I went and had that first one made. And I mean, talk about your first taste of heroin. You know, now I've got a lot of bespoke suits because I've just made the decision, you know, I'm just going to do it because they last forever. That's the great thing about a bespoke suit is is never in styles, never out of style. It always looks good. And they will let it in.
00:26:11
Speaker
let it out, fix it, anything for the life of the suit. So, it's actually, even though it sounds, you know, expensive and, you know, they're not cheap by any means, but they are kind of like, you know, they last forever. They literally last forever. As long as you're the kind of person that just doesn't need to just turn over your fashion all the time, which that's definitely not who I am.
00:26:36
Speaker
Well, and I guess the good thing about how many suits you probably have and wearing them every day is that they're not getting that beat up as if someone had five. Yeah, exactly. No, no, totally. Yeah, they're not workhorses. You know, because the thing about a suit is you're really not supposed to clean them more than like twice a year, which sounds disgusting. But if you think about it, you don't really, you know, unless you're really sweating your ass off or whatever.
00:27:02
Speaker
You know, it's just hard on the suit. It's hard on the stitching and all that. But you can get what you do. You get it what's called a sponging press, which is basically they go in kind of by hand and kind of clean it. But, you know, like dry cleaning solutions, very hard on suits. And when I first started wearing suits, I would like wear them twice and send them to the cleaners and notice like, oh, they're starting to fall apart. And the colors are fading and all this. And people are like, no, no, you don't. Yeah. Oh, my God. Totally. So.
00:27:28
Speaker
But you know the great thing about bespoke suit is you're picking out the fabric you know i mean it's it's daunting even now when i do it i've done it a million times you know there's a million kind of fabric books they have and it's like what should i get you know yeah like you just flip through them you're kind of looking for a color or a pattern or something but.
00:27:48
Speaker
you know, then it's about like, how, what's the weight of it? Is it going to be durable? Is it going to wrinkle? Is it not going to wrinkle? Is it too hot, too cold? All that stuff. And is it going to be comfortable? And I've, I've gotten burned a few times. Like you kind of get so into all this stuff and you're feeling it, but you don't really feel it because you don't get to put it on your body. You know what I mean? And it's not until you actually, they make it and you put like the pants on and you're just like, Oh, these are kind of scratchy or these aren't, you know, some are just so comfortable. And then other ones you're like, Oh crap. Well, you know, um,
00:28:19
Speaker
Sandpaper. Yeah, a little bit. Yeah. Kind of a two-fold question. One, do you have a suit that you would say is the most sentimental? And two, is there a suit that you're dying to have made that you just haven't taken the leap yet on?
00:28:35
Speaker
I mean, the sentimental one for me is probably that first, that first one that I got from Eric Fellner, just because of my first bespoke suit. And it is also a great suit because there was a guy at Anderson and Shepherd named Mr. Hitchcock, who was the original
00:28:50
Speaker
been there forever a guy that makes the jackets because there's, you know, there's like people who just make the trousers of the pants and then there's jacket people. And like the jacket person is sort of, that's like the real artist because, you know, the jacket is so finicky to get right. And, you know, so this one was made by him. And so I really, I do love it. You know, it's, you know, I've had it so long now, it's been 12, 12 years. And, you know,
00:29:16
Speaker
you start getting shiny pants. That's the thing, you know, like the seat of the pants start to get shiny just because, you know, you're sitting moving around so much over the course of the years. That's why you usually that's what you always heard about like getting, you know, a jacket and two pairs of pants. It's because of that. So you don't wear down the pants as fast. Sure. But I never think to do that. Now I wish I had. And then as far as ones, I mean, there's just so many
Collaboration with The Rake Magazine
00:29:40
Speaker
bespoke houses that I want to
00:29:43
Speaker
to go to. There's this tailor named Terry Haste that all my friends in England from the Rake magazine, he makes them their suits and they're beautiful suits and there's really, they have a real cool style to them, a little more, a little wider lapel, a slightly more flair to them, which is really cool. So I'd like to get one from him, but you know, one of my dreams was to have a Siffanelli suit made
00:30:09
Speaker
Lorenzo Sifanelli, they're out of, it's an old house, but Lorenzo. Amazing stuff. Yeah, amazing stuff.
00:30:17
Speaker
So you, you and Waco have become really good buddies and he tossed you on the cover of one of the issues of the rake, which I'm sure was a pretty big honor for you. And I'm sure as well him as you guys have become really close. Yeah, he's, I mean, way is the best. And I mean, it was, it was a huge honor for me. I don't know how honored he felt having me on there. I, I still joke with him. It was probably the lowest selling issue they ever made, but but it was really cool to be on there.
Collecting Walking Sticks
00:30:43
Speaker
Um,
00:30:44
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, Way has just become such a good friend and such a great supporter. And we really just kind of really love each other. And, you know, for my 60th birthday that I just had a couple months ago in Capri, Italy, Way and in some of our group from the Rake, you know, Rake readers, you know, like,
00:31:06
Speaker
I'm Ed Raman, Sherry, who goes as time mechanic on Instagram, who's the foremost watch collectors of all time. And Andrew Loren was there, and our friend Mo Cappellata, they all came out and they brought me a watch, a Cartier, that new Cartier tank, the very small one with the black face with no numbers or anything on it. It's amazing.
00:31:31
Speaker
It's fantastic. And it's this beautiful little dress watch. One thing I don't have, I collect so many sports watches, I don't have any real good dress watches. And so, yeah, they gave it to me. It was engraved on the back with the name of our group, La Serenissima, and the date of our birthday and all that. So, yeah, so it's, I mean, but Wei is really just, he's the most wonderful guy.
00:31:53
Speaker
Yeah, it seems like he's friends with everybody and he did his best to document that birthday party of yours. So it was nice to follow along for a bit. Yeah, no, he's an aspirational guy. I mean, I look at all the photos of him traveling the world and they're like, God, I wish I was Wei. I think I have fun, but I go like, wow, Wei really has a good time.
00:32:17
Speaker
Let's talk walking sticks for a bit. Yeah. And they're not walking canes until you need them to be. I learned that from you. You know, it's kind of a natural progression for someone who loves suits and essentially collects them in your case to go, you know, then collect ties with them in the pocket silks and the lapel pins and watches and cufflinks, et cetera. But I think the walking sticks kind of takes it to a whole new level. And I'm curious where your love for them came from.
00:32:46
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I don't quite know, to be quite honest, I discovered one once, you know, the first time we were in, not the first time, but like the first time I was with my wife to London.
00:32:59
Speaker
I went to this place called James Smith and Sons, which is the oldest umbrella store in London, but they also have all these old walking sticks and new walking sticks and canes and everything really. We were in there looking around and I saw this gorgeous
00:33:17
Speaker
Well, actually, the first one I saw was actually, the first time we went there was this new, it was a cane, really, but it looked like a walking stick, but it had this fake kind of scrimshaw carved head on it that had a picture of William Shakespeare in the old Globe Theater, and it was really kind of a comfortable handle that was more kind of teardrop shaped.
00:33:36
Speaker
And so I bought that. I didn't know what to do with that. I just thought, this is cool. I just thought it was really fun. And I was kind of like walking with an umbrella. And so bought that. But then the next time we were in, that's when I saw my first antique walking stick. It was this gorgeous stick that's like an old bamboo walking stick with this just kind of curved, just a curved handle that had this kind of gold cap on the top of it.
00:34:04
Speaker
And I, they let me try it. It was so lightweight and so well balanced. I was just like, I love this. Like I want to walk with this. You know, but I was in my twenties, like we talked about earlier. It was like, okay, I'm going to look like a weirdo walking around in my twenties. Um, but I just decided that day, like I'm just going to start collecting these. And when I get older, I'll just start walking with them and it'll just be an affectation. I think I've always just loved.
00:34:27
Speaker
Weird old affectations that that men had of like walking sticks and top hats and wearing a cane or wearing a cape you know or white gloves or you know all that stuff it just kind of cuz I would always I always wanted to figure out my whole life is a you know it's a kid and onward.
00:34:48
Speaker
I just want to figure out how do you stand out? How do you do something that makes you different, that kind of shows the world who you are, that's kind of fun. You know, when you look at women's wears, you know, my mom collected all these fashion magazines and you go like, women just got so many different things they can wear and colors and styles and, you know, any like the world's kind of the limit.
00:35:09
Speaker
And, you know, for men, especially back then, it was a suit and tie. That's all you get, you know, and you could kind of step up your suit and tie game with the different patterns and colors and all that. But a suit was a suit. So it was kind of, well, how do you then dress up the suit? Well, okay, your tie, you can play with your tie. And then, so it all kind of grew from there of going like, well, how, what can I do to a suit?
00:35:28
Speaker
I was like, oh, I'll do a pocket silks and kind of change those. And then I discovered these, these Charvet lapel kind of silks. There is like a little flower florette that's made out of silk and it's beautifully kind of put together. And then it's got this like gold button on the back and you put it through your lapel hole. And so it's kind of like a flower, you know, it's like a silk flower basically.
00:35:49
Speaker
So that, you know, so it just kind of kept adding on, but going like, there's got to be something more. And that's what it's like, oh, a walking stick. That's what you can add into it too. And I think it just kind of, I just, I love walking with a walking stick. It's just really fun. It makes sense. You understand why men in the past walked with them because it just, it's just kind of, you know, you're not leaning on it again as you brought up. And I'll explain to your audience, like the difference between a walking stick and a cane is a walking stick is something you don't need and a cane is something you do need.
00:36:20
Speaker
If you're getting too short, it may look like you need it. Yeah, then you're going to look like a guy trundling down the street with a crooked back. Yeah, but it's fun. There's some kind of jaunty about it, but you got to know how to walk with it and you got to know how to own it when you walk with it. I remember years ago in Beverly Hills, for some bizarre reason, some guy was walking, he was not that much older than me, so he was probably in his 30s at the time.
00:36:47
Speaker
He was dressed really nice, but he had a walking, this really thin walking stick, but he was walking with it in the weirdest way. Like I could tell he was nervous walking with it. So he was kind of like swinging it back and forth really fast and kind of tapping the ground with it and all this. It was so unnatural. I was like, oh man, the guy's doing it, but he's not comfortable with it. So just going like, okay, if you're going to do it, you got to really like make it a part of you. Like you own it. He just looks in pain.
00:37:10
Speaker
Yeah, he did. He looked so nervous. It was the weirdest thing. I was like, if you're going to do it, man, just do it right. Yeah, just don't think about it too much. Yeah, exactly. Just own it the way that Jimi Hendrix would own his guitar when he would play it. He would just take control. For sure. And so you mentioned you probably have over 100, would you say now, these walking sticks?
00:37:33
Speaker
Yeah, I'm probably right around a hundred, maybe a little less, but I got them broken up all over the place. I got most are here in LA, but I got some in New York and I got a bunch in London. So yeah, they're all over the world. Are you sourcing them for your collection on a consistent basis? Are you looking at places like eBay and other auction houses or are you just waiting for the right occasion where you pop into a store and find one like the old, when you first found them?
00:37:57
Speaker
Yeah, now I kind of just lay in wait. I used to go on eBay all the time, but I had a lot of bad experiences because you would get them and like the top would be loose.
00:38:07
Speaker
You know, and I had a place that could fix them, but it's like, if they're not structurally sound, you know, I don't know, I just don't like things that aren't solid, you know, or do you have to fix? And then sometimes you'd get them in like just the, there'd just be just enough of curvature on the stick that had gotten warped a bit by whatever, you know, circumstances that it was sitting
Behind-the-Scenes Stories
00:38:28
Speaker
in. So yeah, now it's really, I just kind of wait.
00:38:32
Speaker
for places to find it. You know, where I got a ton was when I was doing the movie Spy, I was living in Budapest and there was this street called Falk Street, which is named after Peter Falk's family. Like, you know, the Foulks were famous, I guess, Hungarians. Yeah. You know, there's even like a statue of him as Colombo on the street. It's the Budapest version of Rocky.
00:38:57
Speaker
Yeah, very much so, very much so. It's actually pretty cool. But it's a two block long line of all these old stores. And they had tons of walking sticks. I mean, there was some that were just walking stick stores, other that had a lot of other stuff. But they would get them in from all over Europe and just
00:39:18
Speaker
like Russia and all over the place. And they were gorgeous. But I could test them out, make sure they were solid. So I collect, I mean, I probably bought about 30 or 40 when I was there over the course of the half a year that I was living there.
00:39:33
Speaker
Now in London, there's places over in Kensington and all this where they still specialize in them. But it's amazing. I can go into a walking stick store where there's a million beautiful old walking sticks and not find anything that really interests me just because I'm looking for something unique. Just kind of a normal walking stick isn't that exciting anymore because I've got those. But it's like what has a cool head on it, but also has to be usable. Again, once again, it has to be something that feels comfortable in your hand.
00:40:00
Speaker
So they're getting much harder to find. I was in Budapest doing some additional photography on the School for Good and Evil earlier this year and went up and down Falk Street and didn't find one walking stick that I thought was any good. So they might have been tapped out. They have been made for decades and decades, so there's just not that many. And a new walking stick is not really that fun.
00:40:28
Speaker
Sure. I'm guessing that you're strictly collecting vintage. Is there a certain era? Was there like a Rolls Royce of brands to collect from that you're looking for in the stores? Yeah, it's more the materials and what the handle is. But I find most of the good ones are at least 100 years old.
00:40:51
Speaker
But if they've gone 100 years and they're solid, I mean, that one that was in simple favor with the skull on top, that's an amazing stick. Because first of all, it's got a snakewood shaft on it, which is just hard as a rock. And it's really beautiful. And then it's got this kind of heavy skull top, because they were weapons back in the day.
00:41:12
Speaker
I mean, that's, that's what you, you know, you would, you know, protect yourself if someone's going to mug you, whack them with your, whack them with your, uh, your walking stick. And so I, that one I really love. And that actually came from when I was in, no, I think, I think it was when I was in Budapest or it might've been in Boston, one of the two, um, very different places. Yeah, exactly. Oh, no, it was in Boston. It was in Boston because we found, my wife found this store that she liked to buy from that had jewelry and
00:41:40
Speaker
clothes and stuff and it turned out the woman's father was a foremost collector of old walking sticks and so he showed up in my hotel room one day like an arms dealer from those movies where they bring those cases and they open them up and then they lay these things out but instead of guns it was all the walking sticks.
00:42:00
Speaker
And that's where he had that one with the skull and I was like, oh my God, I got that one and got a bunch of other ones from him. He used to have a store, I think in like New Orleans that sold them and then he closed it and just kind of sells them. Goes town to town selling them if you want to see them. So that was pretty cool. Amazing. All right. I got a few movie questions for you here before we, and TV show questions rather, before we get into the collector's gene rundown.
Film Inspirations and Style
00:42:28
Speaker
I had a lot of friends and family that were pretty excited that I was chatting with you today, so they were firing off questions to me. Let's try and see if we can get some answers out of these for me. First one is, how hard was it to get through the dinner party scene of the office?
00:42:45
Speaker
Oh, that episode. Oh my God. That was, we laughed so hard. I mean, that's, you know, a lot of those outtakes are out on, out on, on the internet now, especially when he's giving the tour. Oh, I mean, us with that little tiny TV was, we could not stop laughing. I mean, it took us forever to get through that.
00:43:03
Speaker
that scene and then the crappy table with the, is that Pine? You know, all that. It was just, but that's what was so fun about working on that show is you're just laughing the whole time. And yeah, I always have to put myself way off, way off the set because I'll just burst out laughing all the time. It just, Steve Carell can just reduce me to tears. I mean, as the character, anything he does, but especially as the character of Michael Scott is, you know, yeah, it was, it was hard and I ruined a lot of takes.
00:43:30
Speaker
Understandable. All right. What's your favorite scene from Heavyweights?
00:43:37
Speaker
Now, I was only an actor in Heavyweights. I was not involved in the creative process. But gosh, I mean, the big food orgy is clearly was a lot of fun where we're all with all the fireworks going off and anointing myself with chocolate sauce. That was really fun because I remember I was just trying to make Judd and Steve Brill laugh by just going as outrageous as I could. So that was a good time.
00:44:06
Speaker
Who would you love to work with in Hollywood or in your industry that you haven't had the chance to yet? Oh, it's so hard to answer that question because there's so many people I'm dying to work with. I mean, you know, the list is as long as my arm. You know, I love to work with Meryl Streep, obviously. I love her with Jennifer Lawrence. I love her. But I mean, it's just hard to say because there are so many people that I haven't gotten to work with. You know, Julia Roberts, we've run into each other to parties and you go like, hey, we've got to do something
00:44:35
Speaker
So it's nice. I'm in a nice position where I kind of know these people enough where they know my work enough. But the problem is every project just sort of dictates to you who should be in it. And you just got to listen to that. But no, the list is just too long to even mention.
00:44:54
Speaker
in Bridesmaids, the scene when Helen's step kids walk up to her and she asks them for a ride home and they just tell her to fuck off. Was that scripted or did you guys just basically tell her to tell them off? No, that was actually in the script. That was, but the girl who plays the daughter was actually, she was a girl that lived in our neighborhood here in LA. My wife was friends with her mom and that girl came over a couple of times. I was just like,
00:45:23
Speaker
you're so funny. She just was so funny to me, because she was just this really kind of like confident kid who just, you know, had this attitude, but was really sweet. And I was just like, would you want to be in a movie? Sure. So so yeah, so I get so happy every time I see her in there and she gets a big laugh.
00:45:42
Speaker
That's great. For Spy, you actually really crafted an awesome Spy story aside from the absurd scenarios and the hilarious dialogue. But James Bond was obviously always the best dressed and Spy movies always have that vibe. And is that kind of where you drew a little bit inspiration and I guess what drew you to that genre?
00:46:07
Speaker
Well, I've always been kind of a James Bond fanatic and, you know, for years, you know, would say like, God, if I could do anything, I'd want to direct a James Bond movie, you know, and then slowly, you know, as my career was going well, but to go like, okay, no one's ever going to let me direct a James Bond movie. It's just not going to happen. Also because they just don't tend to hire American directors for those. They usually want to print.
00:46:29
Speaker
But then i was like i work with all these funny women why don't i just write my own and that was the genesis of it really was just like you know i just had seen casino i think casino real ten years prior are not ten years bright five years prior but but skyfall was out of the time and that was doing really well that was the most i gotta do one of these.
00:46:48
Speaker
And I was just like, oh, I can write it for the women. One of the funny women that I know and didn't write it specifically for Melissa. I just kind of wrote it for somebody who could be funny being awkward and then having to come out of their shell. Yeah, but I knew I wanted to go into those worlds. That's why I wanted to do a James Bond movie. I wanted to go into these glamorous worlds and have martinis.
00:47:13
Speaker
They have villains dressed really cool and cool cars and all that. So I was able to put my spin on it of going like, okay, what if a real person goes into this world? You know, how's that going to go? And that was really, you know, but I'm very proud of that. That's probably, probably one of my favorite, if not my favorite movie that I've done, I would say. Yeah, me too, for sure.
00:47:35
Speaker
you get to do the blob one more time. Which suit are you wearing? Oh gosh, something really cheap. If I got to go in the water, I'll tell you that one. Yeah, I would have them give me like a real beater suit. Well, that's, I did the thing when we were promoting Ghostbusters when we were in England and they had the four women from the movie on the, oh, I'm blanking on his name. Oh my God. The guy who has people on the couch and oh my God, I can't believe I'm,
00:48:04
Speaker
Graham Norton. Jesus. Let's take that again. So when we were in London promoting Ghostbusters and Graham Norton had the cast, the four women on the show, but I'm a big Graham Norton fan. So I was like, can I do anything on the show? And I basically said, what if I'm in the red chair? Can I do the red chair? And they're like, well, maybe I said like, okay, here's
00:48:29
Speaker
here's what happens if they get a question wrong whenever you can spray me with slime and they like that idea so the only thing is you gotta get me a suit because i'm not ruining my suits so they got some some cheap suit from a department store and put it on me but but all the
00:48:45
Speaker
All the ladies really freaked out, especially Leslie Jones. It was so funny because the minute they sprayed her, she was like, that's his suit. He's going to kill you. Oh my God. So she had no idea. It was very sweet. You were one step ahead. Yes, same end of that. Yeah, I refuse to ruin a good suit.
Humor and Challenges in Filmmaking
00:49:01
Speaker
Last one. I know what comes to mind for me when I hear this song, but I'm curious to hear what you have to say. You're driving in the car and Love Machine comes on. What do you think of first?
00:49:13
Speaker
that I can't believe I actually danced to that in a movie. And then I almost threw my neck out doing that. It was funny because that when we did that, like, originally, I was supposed to have a big kind of bigger dance number. And it was towards the end of the day, we were running out of time. And so Steve Brill set up this
00:49:31
Speaker
shot where it was kind of like a waist up shot. And so I was like, oh man, I really got to make this dance work from the waist up versus, you know, because I had kind of a funny dance I was going to do from the waist down with my legs. And so that's why I just went into this whole like whiplash kind of thing. And I remember just like ending each day going like, oh my God, am I even going to pass out?
00:49:53
Speaker
Too funny. All right, Paul, let's finish up here with the collector's gene rundown. You can answer these questions however you would like, short or long form, and they could be based off of any of the collections you have. You got it. All right. What's the one that got away?
00:50:09
Speaker
The one that got away was one that I had. It was this great walking stick that I found in Paris that was this real deco. It was a very thin, beautiful shaft and this metal
00:50:25
Speaker
I don't know how to describe it. It was a handle that was like latticework, almost kind of art nouveau in style, very elegant. And I loved it. It was my favorite stick and I carried it everywhere. And I was flying somewhere and put it up in the overhead bin and the end got off the plane and forgot it and never saw it again.
00:50:46
Speaker
And to this day, I'm just like, oh, where's that stick? Because whoever has it clearly doesn't care about walking sticks. I'm sorry. I refuse to believe that some guy cleaning the plane is now walking around with a walking stick. I hope to God he is. But yeah, I want that one back so badly. The On Deck Circle, what's next for you in your collecting?
00:51:11
Speaker
Well, I've been, I always have collected this, but I'm kind of stepping it up now with old cocktail equipment. Um, you know, I've always loved old cocktail glasses and, and if collected them, uh, you know, one of my favorite things I like to collect are high ball glass sets, which they were in the fifties and sixties, they would make these, you know, high ball glasses, but you know, it kind of almost like a, like a.
00:51:35
Speaker
tumbler, you know, kind of a drinking water glass. It's kind of like, like a Tom Collins glass, but just more normal glass, but you know, they're straight up and down cylindrical, but they would put them on sets of six in a rack, in a metal rack with a handle that you would like fill them up. And then you walk around your party, if you're having a cocktail party and hand out these high balls. Um, and I just love those. Uh, and so I collect those, uh, a lot of them, the one of my favorite ones are made by a company called Culver, which was out of the sixties and it was, um,
00:52:05
Speaker
they're the ones with kind of very kind of sixty seventies looking different colored glass with with like the gold you know leaf on it or just gold kind of embellishments and those are just fantastic so i love those but but now i'm trying to collect more kind of vintage martini glasses i'm actually have one right here that my good friend um darren the chef we always call him and he's got a
00:52:30
Speaker
thing on Instagram called Calico Cat, I think it is. And he just sent me these amazing, these two amazing martini glasses that the stem is, is a guy, the head of a guy with a top hat on. And it's the most unbelievably made thing. It's from some old restaurant, he told me. And they're just spectacular. He sent me two of them. And so I want to get more stuff like this because, you know, I'm a cocktail, a cocktail guy in a martini fanatic.
00:52:57
Speaker
The unobtainable, maybe it's too expensive in a museum or a private collection.
00:53:03
Speaker
Yeah, for me, because I collect paintings too. I love original art. Anything that only one exists, I love. But the painting I always wish I could get, and clearly you can't because it's at MoMA, is the Chuck Close painting of Philip Glass. I just think that's such a cool painting. Philip Glass looks so cool in it, but it's just, I don't know, just how big it is and just
00:53:28
Speaker
everything about it. I just, I really, every time I go to New York, I go and look at it and think like, I wonder if I could ever get that. And the answer is no. The answer is no. Yeah. I was going to say, I don't know anybody over there who could help you out, but damn it. The page one rewrite. So if you could collect anything besides any of your current collections, money, no object, what would you go for?
00:53:54
Speaker
I would collect old top hats. They are really something. I have one that I bought from this place in London. This guy, it's called Heatherington Top Hats. He lives in a basement apartment in Chelsea.
00:54:16
Speaker
right off of Kings Road. It's just a tiny apartment with a million top hats in there. But the thing about top hats is like walking sticks, the good ones are old. You know, you can go to lock and company and get like new top hats and stuff, but they're just not the same. These old top hats are just, you know, they were made out whatever it's that.
00:54:34
Speaker
beaver fur. I know there's a million different types and you know they're so well made and some are too real tall, some are shorter, some are gray, some are black and I just think they're just absolutely gorgeous. I mean you know that's an affectation I wish I could bring back because putting on a top hat that fits you because he goes in and does it and you know he has people that work for him who then mold it to your head. He's got this old
00:54:59
Speaker
machine that i've been desperately trying to find forever i always look online to see if one comes up cuz it's from hundred years ago and it was it was a like a. Top hat fitting thing it looks like a top hat this a but it's a big piece of machinery yeah it's got all these sticks these black kinda sticks that are in the shape of this top hat.
00:55:20
Speaker
And they're kinda spring loaded so what you do is then you put a piece of paper in the top, on the top of the top hat where there's all these little sticks and stuff that kinda come out. And when you put it on your head it molds onto your head and when it does that it pushes all the sticks so that up on top where the piece of paper is it forms this almost potato shaped thing that then they trace that.
00:55:43
Speaker
And then they take it cut it out and then they put it into this other form that then they push around that the piece of paper and they put it into the top and then they steam the top hat so that it molds to that exact shape so when you put it on your head it fits like it was made to be on your head like you were born with the top hat on.
00:56:03
Speaker
It's just incredible. Then he also does a cool thing where he molds the brim on the sides up almost like a cowboy hat where he puts them up higher and it just makes it way cooler. If I could get just a ton of those because the one I have is tall and sometimes I wish I had one that was slightly shorter, but I would love to just have a whole ton of those. Who's the goat for you? Who do you look up to in the collecting world?
00:56:30
Speaker
That's a hard one. I'm trying to think because I know people who collect, I almost don't want to say their names because they have like a lot of really expensive stuff. So I'm always afraid I'm going to send some robbers to their house or something. But you know, I've got some friends who, who collect, who have massive watch collections and I just go, that's really cool. You know, I, I've got a, I've got way more watches than I, than I should have. Um, I do love collecting watches too.
00:56:54
Speaker
But, you know, again, that's the one area where I kind of go like, maybe I should get rid of some of these, you know, because there's, you know, there's nothing more, you know, we were talking earlier about like making sure you use the stuff you collect. There's some kind of sad about watches just sitting around not being used, you know, and I've got so many that I kind of, I don't have enough space for all those winders. So a lot of them will sit, you know, sit not unwound, you know, and then some are, you know,
00:57:22
Speaker
pretty expensive and you're just like, oh God, like, you know, these should almost be out in the world, you know, where other people could enjoy them. You know, then I also, I, you know, when I was younger, I collected guitars. So I still have about 10 or 12 guitars, electric guitars that, you know, my wife's always like, why don't you give these away so that somebody who needs a guitar can learn to play it. And I'm just kind of like, oh, that's actually a pretty reasonable thing to request. So, so may I may, I may
00:57:52
Speaker
eventually weed out my watch and my guitar collection. All right. We'll do an auction on Instagram. Get everybody drunk and then we'll start getting some biz rolling in. Now you're talking. I love it. Do you enjoy the chase or the sale more? So the hunt or the ownership?
00:58:11
Speaker
I like the ownership. I actually don't find the chase to be that fun. You know, because I don't like if you got to either bargain with somebody or if you're just like, is this too much? I'll be spending this. It's all, you know, and then trying to find it. It's always so hard. I mean, sometimes it's fun to go. I love going antiquing and all that. That's, it's really sure fun, but, but I just much rather just have it.
00:58:33
Speaker
Again, because I'm going to use it. When you find it, it's so exciting, but then once it's in your possession, you're like, okay, this rules. Yeah, and you get to enjoy it. Yeah, exactly. Most importantly, do you feel that you were born with the collector's gene?
00:58:52
Speaker
Yeah, I do, much to my wife's chagrin. Once I lock in on something, I think I've got a little OCD. I just become obsessed with it.
00:59:07
Speaker
It's fun in the beginning for somebody like my wife going, oh, it's so cool. We know what to get them. But then it's like, there's always a point of like, okay, you've got enough of whatever it is you're, you're now into stop getting these things. Um, but it's just, I don't quite know where that comes from. You know, it's, I mean, it was an only child, so I don't know if that has anything to do with it or if it's just, you know, we just appreciate nice stuff. And I've always been kind of,
00:59:33
Speaker
hate the idea of things getting thrown away you know anything that still has a purpose you know i feel like people on up you know like anything that is just sort of cast aside whether it's a person or a or an item that just has a lot of use of life left in it that makes me really sad you know when i see,
00:59:51
Speaker
your beautiful old buildings getting torn down or you find out that something got thrown away that you see a picture of that was so gorgeous and somebody didn't know what it was and threw it away. I think as collectors sometimes we almost kind of see ourselves as keepers of history and beauty and the accomplishments of past generations, all that workmanship that went into stuff.
01:00:14
Speaker
You know, that's what I love about bespoke suits. Like, those are craftsmen that make those suits. And, you know, there's a whole thing in the bespoke world of like, there's getting less and less people who know how to do it. And, you know, to see any sort of art form like that go away, you know, whether it's through suits or when you're, you know, in an old city and you see beautiful carvings on, you know, on the walls or beautiful stonework and you just go like, God, they just don't do that anymore.
01:00:42
Speaker
Isn't that amazing? Yeah, it really is. The people's ability to do that kind of work would get easier over time with the technology and the programs that we have now, but nobody is doing that stuff. It blows my mind.
01:00:57
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think it was a lot of craftsmen coming from other parts of the world, you know, who were coming in and bringing these skills in. And, you know, those skills just ultimately weren't appreciated or just didn't, you know, people didn't care about them anymore, you know, because especially when styles come in and out and architecture is the same way, if you go super modern, then nobody wants to see old, you know, carvings on buildings and at the top of columns and all that. You know, it's like when you go to Italy,
01:01:26
Speaker
and you see these beautiful old villas and then drive around and you see all these other houses that look really modern and they got these really ugly windows and you're like, why would anybody want that? But you go like, Oh, for them, they're tired of looking at all the old stuff. They're like, give us something new that works. You know, so, so I get it. It's hard, you know, you don't want to kind of judge on that because people got, you know, have to live with this stuff, but you just kind of, it's just sad when it just goes away and you know, it's gone forever.
01:01:53
Speaker
Yeah, most definitely. Paul, anything you want to plug here before we wrap up? Well, I mean, my book Cocktail Time is out now, and it's a perfect Christmas gift. It's called The Ultimate Guide to Grown-Up Fun, and it's really funny. I mean, it's 125 cocktail recipes, but it's much more than that. It's really great advice on how to stock your bar and how to throw a cocktail party, but also just lots of fun kind of memoir-y sort of
01:02:18
Speaker
funny stories in there. So, I'm very proud of that. It just came out. And then, if you want to watch The School for Good and Evil, that's my movie that's on Netflix for the whole family. It's a big, big fantasy film. And then I have two shows on the air. Well, one show on the air right now, Welcome to Flatch, which is on Fox, which is in its second season. Very, very funny show, kind of the style of The Office.
01:02:40
Speaker
And then the second season of our show, Minx, which is on HBO Max, is a production now. That'll be coming out in a few months. First season is on HBO Max. Now, if you want to watch it, it's about the fictional retelling of the origins of Playgirl magazine. And it's outrageous and hilarious. And there's lots of male nudity.
01:03:01
Speaker
But you'll laugh. It's very, very fun. So yeah, I think that's all I can plug right now. Oh, I mean, well, in Artyn Stahls' gin, please, my gin, my gin is out there. Go to ArtynStahlsGin.com to find out where you can get it. We'll be sure to link all that stuff up so it's easy for everybody to click at once, but... Excellent.
01:03:20
Speaker
Paul Feig, thank you so much for coming on. This has been truly an honor for me, and I know a lot of our listeners will be thrilled to hear your voice on Collector's Dream Radio. I can't wait to come to LA and see the Walking Stick Collection and learn how to use them. I probably won't do it with as much ease as Blake Lively did, but I'll definitely try. You can do it. I have full faith in you, my friend. Thanks so much, Paul. Take care. You too. It's really great talking to you. Cheers.
01:03:51
Speaker
All right, that does it for this episode. Thanks for listening, everybody. This has been Collectors Gene Radio, signing off.