27 Oct 2026 · 1h 14m · Amy Poehler, Noah Wyle, Shawn Hatosy · 20 quoted facts
Noah Wyle argues that the best work comes from treating colleagues with kindness, generosity and a sense of family. He traces that approach from ER's George Clooney and director Rob Reiner to the way he built the cast and set culture of The Pitt, a one-day-per-episode medical drama.
The conversation moves between humor and sincerity. Amy Poehler and Shawn Hatosy joke about basketball picks, emus and awkward meetings with idols. Then it turns to Wyle's craft, his mother's nursing career, and his belief that meaningful work and family define what is enough.
He says George Clooney set a tone of working hard, playing hard and erasing the divide between cast and crew. Wyle deliberately rebuilt that company feel on The Pitt.
After a planned ER reboot did not happen, the team was cut loose from the old characters and brand. That let them tell stories about current issues instead of checking in on old favorites.
He compares a big upcoming scene to a fire he tends daily, so that on the shooting day it is a release rather than a fear. He knew in episode one that his character would break down in episode ten.
On A Few Good Men, Reiner greeted him warmly and made him feel competent within seconds. Wyle now welcomes every guest star the same way, believing kindness gets better performances.
Wyle says a role that scares him, like an action hero in Falling Skies, usually points to something in his own life he needs to confront. He treats those fears as guides to where he should go.
The Pitt is a medical drama Noah Wyle stars in and helped create. It plays out one day per episode, giving an immersive feel, and it was freed from ER's characters and brand after an ER reboot fell through.
He says he began wanting to do only theater and film. He ended up building his whole career in television, which he calls very rewarding because it creates a family and a long relationship with audiences.
Wyle says Reiner welcomed him on his first day of A Few Good Men and made him feel confident in about eight seconds. Wyle has copied that welcome with every guest star since, believing kindness gets better work.
He says he treats it like a fire he keeps burning, thinking about it daily and adding small fuel. When the day arrives he can release it. He wanted a technique that needed only a coffee and a folding chair.
Wyle says his emus became aggressive after having babies and tried to kick him while he fed them. He defended himself with a trash can lid, escaped, and later found someone to take them away.
Stated by the speakers. Each quote matches the transcript, which shows what was said, not that it is true.
Noah Wyle says his grandfather attended a 1959 Caltech symposium on population explosion and concluded that water and land would be California's most precious resources.
“he went to a a symposium on population explosion in 1959 at Caltech. And he came away thinking that water and land are gonna be the two most precious resources in California.”
Noah Wyle says his grandfather bought a cattle ranch about an hour north of Fresno, near North Fork, which has stayed in the family.
“he found this piece of property about an hour north of Fresno, in the exact geographical center of California.”
Noah Wyle says he attended Northwestern University's summer Cherub theater program, after which he decided to skip college and pursue acting.
“I went away to do this theater program that's sponsored by Northwestern University in the summer program, called the Cherub program”
Noah Wyle says he bused tables at age 17 for Dimitri Dimitrov at the Bel Air Hotel.
“I worked for a man named Dimitri Dimitrov at the Bel Air Hotel.”
Noah Wyle says agent Eileen Feldman signed him based on a list of high school plays written on the back of an envelope.
“I signed with a wonderful agent, a woman named Eileen Feldman signed me basically with a list of plays on a back of an envelope that I had done in high school.”
Noah Wyle says the ER pilot script was originally written as a feature film script.
“she sent me the pilot's script for ER, which had been written as a feature script.”
Noah Wyle says he tested for ER against one other actor, Rafael Sbarge.
“I tested against one other actor, a gentleman named Rafael Sabat.”
Noah Wyle says he turned 22 while filming the ER pilot and was 21 when he auditioned.
“I turned 22 while we made the pilot, so I was 21 when I was auditioning for it.”
Noah Wyle left ER after its 11th season and returned for the final episodes, describing his exit as a divorce with visitation rights.
“even when I left after the end of the 11th season and left a few episodes in the balance, I called it a divorce with visitation rights.”
Noah Wyle says he doubted the storyline giving his ER character John Carter a drug addiction, but producer John Wells said the point was that addiction has every face.
“I remember thinking and telling John Wells, like, I don't know if I buy this, he goes. That's the point.”
Noah Wyle says a planned ER reboot did not happen, and that the near miss helped fast-track development of The Pitt.
“We were gonna start down an ER reboot road that didn't come to pass.”
Noah Wyle says Rob Reiner directed him in A Few Good Men and greeted him warmly on his first day.
“I got to the set early for my 1st day of work.”
Noah Wyle says The Pitt seats background patients early so they become featured characters hours later in the story.
“We intentionally have patients that are seated into the environment that don't pop until five or six hours later.”
Noah Wyle says he described The Pitt to its casting director as like an old Robert Altman movie, a rep-theater and summer-camp experience.
“It's like an old Altman movie, where you just you gotta throw in, like you're going to summer camp.”
Noah Wyle says his mother was an operating room nurse for ten years, then a chief orthopedic nurse at Kaiser in Hollywood.
“She was an operating room nurse for operating ten years, and room. then she was a chief orthopedic nurse at Kaiser in Hollywood.”
Noah Wyle says he initially doubted playing a history teacher turned alien fighter in Falling Skies before seeing the role as reflecting his own life.
“I remember the 1st time I read the pilot script for a show I did called Falling Skies.”
Noah Wyle says he travels with a case of DVDs and a player, including Columbo and MASH episodes.
“I carry with me the collected, uh, episodes of Columbo and Mash.”
Noah Wyle says he appeared in a pre-taped sketch with Julianna Margulies on Saturday Night Live and waved on stage while DMX was the musical guest.
“when Giuliana Margulies was the host, I did a pre taped sketch with her, so I got to go out on stage and wave”
Amy Poehler notes that The Pitt and ER, set in Pittsburgh and Chicago, were both shot on the same lot in Los Angeles.
“A lot of people don't know that the pit and ER were not shot in Pittsburgh and in Chicago, but right on the lot in Los Angeles.”
Shawn Hatosy says he met producer John Wells as a guest star on ER and later worked with him on Southland and The Pitt.
“I've been fortunate to work on three shows shot in LA.”
Hatosy explains how he met producer John Wells through ER and why The Pitt felt solid. He also describes the show's portrayal of competent men struggling with mental health.
“they just are are are idiots and they they just don't have the tools.”
Wyle describes his family's California cattle ranch, the emu incident, and skipping college after a theater program.
“I figured out early that I could get attention by being a storyteller”
Wyle recalls his audition at age 21, his on-set big brothers, and the arc of Carter over 15 years.
“I turned 22 while we made the pilot, so I was 21 when I was auditioning for it.”
Wyle explains the Carter and Benton relationship and the culture of ER he later recreated on The Pitt.
“Erase the division between cast and crew, between foreground and background”
The ER reboot near miss freed The Pitt, and Wyle credits Rob Reiner's welcoming example for his own set manner.
“we uncoupled ourselves from that IP, it suddenly liberated the storytelling.”
Wyle connects his advocacy to his upbringing and describes learning his mother's nursing career after The Pitt aired.
“I didn't learn about who my mother was professionally well, until 54 years old.”
Wyle answers Hatosy's questions about scripts that scare him, then picks his basketball team from ER and The Pitt.
“I'm a caveman, trying to protect a kindled fire so it won't go out.”
Wyle discusses MASH, Alan Alda, Sally Field and wanting to host SNL, ending with an Eddie Murphy autograph story.
“I'd do every Joe Piscopo bit, I could do them all”
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com slash pay in four. PayPal Inc. NMLS 910457. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Good Hang. Boy. We have one of my favorite actors on today from one of my favorite show parentheses shows, and that is Noah Wyle. Noah Wyle is joining us and we're gonna talk about so many fun things. We're gonna talk about, um, well, people falling asleep on set. We're gonna talk about
what it was like playing basketball with George Clooney. We're gonna talk about a little show called ER that I've watched in its entirety three times through. We're gonna talk about The Pitt, a little show that's winning every Emmy, including, uh, that one thousand awards. Oh, and speaking of awards, we're gonna talk about the fact that Noah Wylie announced here for the very first time is People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive. Yeah, baby, okay, we're gonna get into it.
But before we do, we always try to talk to somebody who knows our guest or has a question for me to ask our guest. And we are talking to Shawn Hatosy, Yes, Dr. Jack Abbott. Um, uh, uh, the the nightcrawler himself, the the man from the night shift from the pit. And you know, Sean, he's an incredible actor, director. He, you know, you know him from Animal Kingdom, you know him from Southland. He's just our, our, our favorite crazy doctor who's, you know, who's bringing us along for the ride.
So let's see if we can get Sean on the Zoom. Hey Sean, this episode of Good Hang is presented by PayPal. Brighten up the start to the festive season by getting ahead of the holiday rush. Shop your favorite online stores with PayPal this holiday, like Sephora for gift sets, Target for toys and electronics, and TikTok shop for fashion, apparel and gadgets. Check out with the flexibility to pay now or pay later and split your payments with Pay in four with no interest, no late fees.
Shop now with PayPal Pay in four. Subject to approval. Learn more at paypal. com slash pay in four. PayPal Inc. NMLS 910457.
Get up, what are you saying? All I ever wanted was a really good hair Sean
Amy, how are you?
Sean, it is good to see you,
It is good to see you.
you know, we just officially met in person just recently,
The pre Emmy party. And we were near the bar area and you did this thing, which I often do, which is I put my head down and walk away. And I was like, she doesn't want to talk to us. And then your friend looked up and and there was a moment of recognition. And my wife was like, He knows you, we're going to go talk to him right You're a wonderful now.
wife, Kelly. I got to talk to you both and you're right. I mean, I, I get a little overwhelmed at parties.
I understand, but we didn't give you that chance. We took you hostage for like 20 min and we threw up all over you. And thank you for indulging.
Oh, I am right back at you. I'm very, very excited to talk to you today. I mean, Sean, I love your work and have for a very long time. And it's been awesome to watch what you do so naturally and so well. Coincide with this like huge hit show. Like, you know what it is to work in this business and to be on shows that are really, really good and that don't have this kind of momentum behind them.
What's it like to be on a hit? You're on a hit, baby.
you do so many shows and at the beginning you're like, this is gonna go forever. And then it, like, gets canceled after five episodes. So when you're starting a show, you just sort of kinda go, I don't, you know, it feels like we're doing good work. I'm not sure, I gotta say, with the pit, you know, um, with all of the elements in place. I I've worked with John Wells, who was the e executive producer on on other shows, and they didn't do as well.
But it there's something about this that felt really solid. And obviously with Noah, and, um, you know, his contributions to this type of show. And then the fact that it's it's taking something that we're familiar with, but changing the concept by putting it in one day, it, it just it. It gave a a very like, immersive quality to it that just felt really, you know, exciting.
uh, let's talk about John Wells for a second, like, what a giant of a producer. I've I've never had the chance to meet him. He has done so much TV, incredible work. How did you guys first meet?
I was a guest star on ER. My manager brought it to me, said that you're gonna go audition for this. And I was like, I, I don't know if I wanna do. Like, I was doing a lot of movies at the time and she was like, No, you need to do this one because John is directing it, and when he directs, you know, it's a it's a big episode. So I, I read it, and it was, of course, you know, multiple personalities, very like, transformative characters,
Very cool.
and so it really was wonderful. And at the end of it, I looked at him and I was like, I really wanna keep working with you. If, if, if I'm so lucky. And and you know, then Southland came a couple years later, where it ended, and it just has worked out. You know, it's one thing to be able to write a show, but it's a it's a whole other thing to be able to produce a show and know how to put the people in place to make a quality show.
He's very loyal, he's, you know, I've been fortunate to work on three shows shot in LA.
I think people sometimes think that making television feels like like it's just like people dressed up in fancy, you know, clothes, going to Emmy parties and talking to each other. But it's a weird factory where you're just in there with, you know, the same people every day and you're grinding.
And a show like The Pit is very much that because we're in one location, which feels like an office, right? The the lighting is the same. And um, yeah, I mean, but like, as you know, there's also an an an immense pressure. I watch your show, Uh, Parks and Rec, and it's funny every time. Like you guys are are presenting something that clearly works because it kept going and going. But at a certain point, you feel that that pressure to to deliver, which also creates a a special kind of environment when working together.
If that makes sense,
I'll tell you what works the nightcrawlers. ooh, Sean
what, what, what?
Okay, first of all, the the little pep talk, the Friday night lights pep talk that Dr. Abbott gives to the to the n to the night shift. Fantastic,
it takes a certain kind of person to work a night or to choose to work nights. You know what it feels like to
totally. I think that that's such an interesting and there and like it's. It's investigated more in season two, and I hope it continues to be. Which is what personality trait constitutes a night person and someone who wants to take a night shift. Like, you know, whatever the job is, I would just love to pitch that we take nightcrawlers and we just develop nightcrawlers as a separate show. Um, I'm gonna talk to Noah.
all right, but I I didn't tell you to do that.
Okay, so we're talking him today, and I mean, I'm gonna talk to him about all this stuff. Cause I I think I I'm really fascinated by how, like our people, our age, we're about the same age. I'm a little older, but like how we like to work now. Like, I love listening to people's systems of how they work, what works for them. You know, no matter what their job is, doesn't just have to be acting. But I think one of the nice things about being in your 50s is you start realizing, oh, this kind of version of work works for me.
Or I do better when I'm around these types of people, like all that stuff. I think there's a little bit of wisdom that comes with that. But I feel like he's feels like a very serious guy and kind of private. Are either one of those things true?
I, I, I mean, I. He is a serious guy, but he has a really good sense of humor about stuff. You know, he's like a big brother, you know, a much older big brother, yeah, much older, much, much older.
much older. That's really nice to hear, cause that it the vibe on that show is like, there's just a lot of fraternal love between your characters. And look, we as viewers, we're just looking for, like, positive masculinity. We're just looking for examples of it, honestly, anywhere we can find it. And the way you guys play these very, you know, complicated and, um, uh, accomplished men who are taking care of each other, uh, sometimes in limited ways, but they're still trying.
It's really, really moving to watch.
yeah. The thing that excites me the most about the relationship and just sort of their their competence, competency when it comes to the medical. Like you, you just those are the guys you want if something is going wrong. Like, there's nothing that can come through on a gurney that they can't fix. Um, they have all the answers, like, right on the tip of their tongues, but, uh, when it comes to their mental health, you know, they just are are are idiots and they they just don't have the tools.
And because of their position as leaders, as men who are supposed to be counted on, it's hard to raise your hand and say, Hey, I'm struggling, I, I need help, you know? And I think that the fact that we're tackling that and, um, in the way that we are is, uh, is incredibly positive.
um, okay, so do you have? I ask all my, uh, my Zoom guests, if they can give me a question to ask my guest. Um, big or small, anything you might, uh, think Noah wants to talk about, or anything you wanna know about him.
I was thinking about this and sort of what we were talking about. Like, he's such a masterful performer when it comes to acting, um, his ability to to bring out the medical jargon. I've I've seen it as an actor and also as a director. Hi, his, um, his access to vulnerability, his ability to, uh, play emotion, heavy emotion. And like the stamina that is required to do it over and over again, he never changes. Um, and the other thing I really think Noah is good at is listening.
He's got these eyes that when he's, he has to convey some sort of story point just from listening, he does it brilliantly. Um, and so all that aside, it it, as somebody watching it, it just seems very easy to him. And I was curious, is there something he reads as an actor that he's scared of? Is there an insecurity? Is there I? Is there a s a a a something that he would read in a script?
That he's like, Oh man, I'm afraid. I wonder if I, if I could do that. Cause we all, as actors, have deep insecurities, Oh my god, you know what I mean? And it's so I'm just curious, Um, what does he read and go? Fuck? I don't know if I can do that.
that's a great question. Because he's had to do, he's, he's. He's gotten a lot of scripts over the years where he's had to do things. And they, you know, especially certainly on ER. It was like big physical comedy and big emotional moments, and like romantic moments, and like big breakdowns that, you know, are coming. And just like, what is the thing that you read on the page? Or, you know, you are in the room pitching that you're like, Oh, no, I'm gonna eventually have to do this.
yeah. And then my 2nd question is he's putting together a basketball team, okay, he can use anybody from the pit or ER. ugh, He's the point guard, great. okay, he needs to. He needs to bring on four more players from the pit or ER. What is that team?
oh, fantastic question.
And I gotta say, don't tell him this, but if he doesn't pick me, we're gonna have to talk about that.
Yeah, he'll sense that in the question. You might be hoping to be picked, but I will, I'll try not to deliver it that way.
I think he's definitely gonna pick George Clooney, right? Cause he plays basketball still, doesn't he? I don't know,
I don't, I think so. I mean,
does he have time with all
no kidding. the He probably has some guy play basketball for him at this point. He's not having, he's not playing his own basketball. He has a gentleman, an Italian gentleman, who plays for him. for sure, No way, but you're right. I mean, basketball was a big thing in ER. It was just like they were always shooting hoops. And you and you're a good basketball player, you like basketball.
I played a lot of basketball and and like as a as a kid, high school, but I play tennis now, I play pickleball, so there's where they played basketball on the pit. I mean, on Er, that right next to the friends stage, there's a basketball court, but they've put pickleball there. So sometimes at lunch we'll go. Not Noah. He has never made it out there, but I'll drag some people out there and we'll play pickleball.
A lot of people don't know that the pit and ER were not shot in Pittsburgh and in Chicago, but right on the lot in Los Angeles. Thank you so much for doing this. I I know Noah will be thrilled that we talked, and thank you so much for the time. And it was so great to meet you in person. I love your work. I can't wait thank for the next season and all the good stuff ahead, so I really thanks again.
appreciate it. Thank you.
Bye, Sean. Bye. whoopie This episode is brought to you by Allstate. Checking Allstate 1st could save you hundreds on car insurance. Not checking which group chat you're typing in before hitting send. Next thing, you know, you sent a scalding hot take about the restaurant to the group with the person who picked it. Yikes, Yeah, checking 1st is a good idea, so check Allstate 1st for an auto quote. It could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate.
Potential savings vary. Subject to terms, conditions and availability. Allstate, North American Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. whoopie May I open this on Oh, please the air? do, please do. Yeah, Oh, wait, this is from your wife and daughter.
yeah. They found these and they know that you have all this little stuff and they thought that my gosh, you would think this was cute.
come on. 1st of all, a time.
They called it eye joy just to look at these and get a little bit of pleasure.
this is really nice. This is an anthropomorphic pretzel, the like the one I asked for, and same with a croissant with legs. And then this is, oh, it's broccoli. I. I had it upside. I thought it was an octopus, which It's versatile, broccoli. Um, listeners, um, uh, Noah just came with presents and, um, beautifully crafted presents. And I'm also gonna read the card on air.
it won't be hard. My daughter's got the most incredible penmanship.
How old is your daughter?
She's eleven, this one is eleven. Come on, I actually don't know what it says.
is there anything nicer than eleven year old girls? Dear Amy, my mom and I are big fans of your podcast and heard you collect fake food. Although this isn't realistic, we thought you might love it. Love Frances and Sarah. All I ever wanted was a good, good hang. And then she drew a picture. Come on,
She used her cursive. Oh, she broke out the cursive for you too. She's really showing off. what a sweetie Wow,
pie. Oh, girls are the best. That is so sweet. Frances, thank you, Frances, thank you, Sarah.
she's gonna be so tickled Oh my that you liked it.
god, thanks for bringing that. We'll put it on the shelf before we're done for continuity sake, though we gotta leave it off. Noah Wyle is here, Noah Wyle is here, and also Noah. I just want you to know, no pressure. But you were like one of the 1st people that I. When people were like, who do you want on your podcast? you were somebody that I've been. I've been trying to get you for a long time.
I haven't been playing hard to get, I've just been working a lot.
I know I've been watching your work.
I'm really happy to be here and you've been very kind about my work through the years. Well, get So I'm really
ready, buckle up. Um, I I heard from your people that you refused to come until you were voted sexiest man. You said, I will only be on this pod if I'm people's sexiest man alive. And I guess my 1st question is, Jonathan Bailey was last year.
I need something legitimate to talk about.
How is your administration gonna be different? What are you gonna do different than the Bailey administration?
I'm really disappointed. What he's done on the international front and with immigration. So,
Yeah, you're gonna start with the heavy uh, my administration stuff.
is gonna really crack down on the borders of beauty. Congratulations. Yeah, thank you. I think that one goes to my mother and my father, but yep, thank you. But I can almost remember chronologically the ones that came out during my formative years.
Well, don't you remember? I mean, People magazine was very big in my Huge, huge house. And it was, and you'd get it and you'd sit down, you'd be like, here we go,
cover. Cover not a problem.
cover to cover.
Was it like that cumbersome time, or, you know, and this week, people
people, you just breeze through this pie chart's it. good, come on, Yeah, um, but uh, but I, I have genuinely wanted you to be here for a very long time. Thank you for being here
my pleasure entirely.
and thank you for being here. On what is like 120 degree California It is warm day,
out there. I was just in Burbank, where it was 108 in Burbank today. It felt like in in
you know, fall. terms, yeah, But you, like, had a LA. experience growing up, and then kind of like a ranch horses, California experience growing I had a very up. atypical upbringing for a Yeah,
city kid. Cause my grandfather, back in the late 50s, he was, um, um, a really brilliant guy. And he went to a a symposium on population explosion in 1959 at Caltech. And he came away thinking that water and land are gonna be the two most precious resources in California. So he went looking for both, and he found this piece of property about an hour north of Fresno, in the exact geographical center of California. North to southeast to west, in this little town outside of North Fork.
And he bought this cattle ranch that's been in our family forever now. And we all grew up kind of playing Huck Finn there, you know, getting dirty and riding horses and hurting ourselves and each other. And, uh, so I had a kind of country upbringing and a city upbringing, I had both.
oh, that's so cool. What a like, great place to be a kid and run around, and that's awesome.
yeah, you don't realize how special it is until you compare your childhood to other people. And and you know, I was very fortunate.
Do you have an animal that like a do you have, like a farm animal that you love?
I've had pigs at my place, I think pigs are really great and full of character I've heard they're great and personality. pet. I mean, you Yeah, know, not, I I've had don't have emus, they are just. I've different,
seen emus on TikTok and I'm, I don't want it, they're a little I don't want it.
scary, and they don't. They're not very social.
What happened?
Well, I was trying to feed them and they got really aggressive after they had babies. And, uh, I had a three walled enclosure for them. And I had a trash can with their food in it. And they both came in. And they fight by kicking up their big taloned feet at, like velociraptors. And all I had to defend myself was the lid of the trash can. Oh my, So I was holding it like a shield
you were like, Captain America,
and not quite more like coward America. And I was, you know, crouched down, thinking about all the headlines. I would not want to read about how I was killed by an emu. So I kind of bum rushed them and got past them and thought, Uh, that's it, that's it, they're out of here.
yeah, you were like, I'm getting you out EMUS of here.
Uh. Their poop is extremely rich in nitrogen, so it makes great fertilizer for pot, and their feathers are what fly fishermen like to make flies out of. So Well, I found a pot smoking fly fisherman who came down and took him all away.
he was like, Yeah, pot, did you have? When you were on the ranch as a kid? Little Noah, were you a funny kid? were you? did you? were you performing as a young I was a very person?
moody kid, I was a very temperamental kid, and occasionally, one of those temperaments would be funny. Uh, and I figured out early that I could get attention by being a storyteller and a bit of a comedian, so I kinda latched onto that. But I was, you know, uh, always trying to find my tribe, always trying to find my rhythm, you know, always feeling a slightly step out of my class and my my group. Um, but um,
But I, I'm, I'm. I'm, uh, surprised to hear you say that because I know you made some like big choices very young about what you wanted to do with your life. You decided, I'm not gonna go to college, I'm gonna be an actor,
that's true.
and that's a big swing for somebody Well, that was after who
I found my tribe. I went away to do this theater program that's sponsored by Northwestern University in the summer program, called the Cherub program, kind of an all star program for theater kids from all over the country. And I went and was like, Oh, here you are, my people, let's, uh, let's play. And I came back, just committed that, uh, college mileage, you know, I want to start, I'm gonna get an apartment with my best friend and we're gonna hustle.
Did you wait tables during that time?
I did. I worked for a man named Dimitri Dimitrov at the Bel Air Hotel. Dimitri's now gone Wait a minute, on to become a rather famous wait a minute. I connector in this town. But when I was 17, he hired me to bus tables for him.
is this the Dimitri that Yeah, this pleasure, I
this pleasure, you know, sunset okay? People s tower and people should know he Sunset. And
is very famous. Mulholland, Yeah, Dimitri is like a an incredible character.
he's in my A and E biography, talking about how he molded me from a scruffy young street urchin into a rather accomplished busboy.
he's kind of like, you don't make them like that anymore. Dimitri, like he was a mater, well, and I met him, he was a mater d, and he was like the epitome of what you would imagine fancy service would be.
he drilled into us this wonderful phrase the nobility in humility that you're not subservient because you're serving. And if you wanna be an actor, think of this as putting on a show for these people. Give them the most incredible dining experience and play that part and pay attention to detail. And his work ethic was so intense that one night my job at the end of the shift was to make him an espresso with four sugars. While he counted all the money and tipped us out.
And one night he was just sweating profusely. He'd been really aggressive all night, telling us to change ashtrays and get more bread. And it was because he was working with a burst appendix. And he, once he paid us out, he went to the emergency room and had it operated on and showed up the next night for the shift. So do you know how painful that is to work with a burst I do, because appendix?
I've watched a lot of your medical shows. I do,
um, well, he, he, he's a he's an absolute soldier when it comes to work. whoa, that's wild. And Yeah,
did you like, do you feel like you were a good waiter? Cause I I think there is something about waiting tables and being in the service industry in in general. That when, especially when you're a young person, where you get very good, or you get practice anyway, at figuring out how to deal with a lot of different people fast.
oh, absolutely, I think that's really true. In fact, I've recommended it to my kids. I say, you know, work and you'll. You'll understand why you won't wanna do it for the rest of your life really quickly. But you'll get this camaraderie, this bond with your fellow workers that you'll never forget. And it will battle test you for all sorts of different kinds of people.
Yeah. The I. The idea that you have to very quickly make an impression is really,
Well, you're so good at impressions.
oh, thanks, why? thanks? No, I'm learning. Okay, I'm too excited. Let's take a drink of water. I did not know that you were auditioning at 20 twen 18, 19, 2021, like really young and auditioning. Did you ever do commercials during that time? Did You know, you ever?
I was really cocky and I was really. I thought I only wanted to do theater and film, that was my whole thing when I started out. And, uh, I signed with a wonderful agent, a woman named Eileen Feldman signed me basically with a list of plays on a back of an envelope that I had done in high school. And on the recommendation of a casting director named Gretchen Rennell, who I had met at a party who was very kind to me.
Um, and she said, Okay, if that's what you wanna do. And then eventually, when that didn't pan out, uh, she sent me the pilot's script for ER, which had been written as a feature script. And at that point, I was ready to do whatever.
did you feel like you nailed it when you like? did you feel good about your audition?
It's gonna date it. So specifically
I love it. that I say this Let's talk about faxes and pagers.
well. I had just gone through a rather tumultuous breakup, my 1st big love had broken my heart and I was trying to rebuild my life. And I was sort So of looking good for the audition, for clues. And though. I had gone back into therapy and I was reading the Celestine Prophecy. Do you remember that book? And so I was? I was so fur into this like idea of control dramas and recognizing what someone's trying to do to you and being neutral and all that shit.
And so I remember sitting in the hallway, thinking about not letting the other actors that were auditioning around me's energy affect me and ugh, what I wanted to do. And,
perfect, perfect.
uh, I went in and it. The 1st one went very well and they called me back for the producers, and then, um, I tested against one other actor, a gentleman named Rafael Sabat. He was very talented and, you know, changed my life.
yeah, I mean it that I. I just don't think I really understood how young you were when you were on that show.
I turned 22 while we made the pilot, so I was 21 when I was auditioning for it. Yep, which is what my daughter's age, which is crazy.
I know, and that age is such an interesting age because it is that middle feeling where you're just you're like, I'm not a kid anymore, I'm a I'm an adult. But you've ch, you're just just stepping into that. It's so, so tender that age. I had great Yeah,
big brothers on that one, though. I had George, Tony and Eric, who were all ten years older than me, who had already been down those roads before. And um, I had a huge crush on Sherry, so it felt very comfortable to be part of that ensemble.
I didn't know that. I can't, I can't wait. I'm sorry, but no, Everybody you're,
had a crush on Sherry.
you're gonna have to bear with me because I'm gonna ask you a lot of ER
Okay, I'm ready.
questions. Where do I start? I think you you share a similar love for television than I do, and I think there's something about television that is so personal. And we revisit these people and these shows and these characters, like, if we're lucky enough to get to do that over and over again. When I 1st watched ER, uh, like everyone else, I was, I had, you know, in the 90s, I was J had just graduated from college.
Then cut to I'm watching ER at seven zero every night on TNT in reruns. When I'm like, ripping bongs and going to way, too, you know, with not a care in the world. But I'm 20, you know, whatever it is, 26. Oh, maybe maybe that's a little old to be doing that. But and then I watched it again when in my 30s, I rewatched it again during the pandemic. I have rewatched that series a lot, it is my com one of my comfort shows.
My 1st question is, Have you rewatched it?
Not in its entirety, not start to finish. I've caught episodes over the years and kind of, you know, caught up on it. Um,
Do you watch it when you see it?
when I 1st started dating my wife, Sarah, uh, she wanted to watch it from the beginning. And I had the DVDs, so I gave them to her. And every once in a while, I'd walk past and go, Oh, what are you up to? Oh yeah, oh, that's a good one. Or I have no rememory of this whatsoever. Who is that kid? Uh, so, uh, I'll go back to say that when I said I wanted to do only theater and film.
It's so ironic that I've made my entire career in television and it's been the most rewarding career you could want. Because it is a family that you build up over a long period of time. There is a culture that's within the show that you're making, that's just as fun to be part of that. Nobody else really gets to know about, cause it's so insular to the just the environment of of the work. Um, and then this re relationship that you build up with audiences who are attending you in their moments of their life that are important, and you kind of are an anchoring point for that.
It's really, uh. It's been astonishing to have people grow up with me and have me grow up with them and have these shared experiences and times. It's been wonderful.
Well, I've said this. But the arc of John Truman Carter on that show is, I think, one of the best arcs ever on television. It There are many is,
shows that run 15 years, so you can get a lot of lifespan in that timeframe. And they did, I mean, but they also had, uh, it was such a lovely bookend to have his 1st day of work be the pilot of the hospital. So it's the audience's exposure to the environment is coming through this character. And even when I left after the end of the 11th season and left a few episodes in the balance, I called it a divorce with visitation rights.
Uh, John Wells was always adamant about me coming back and being part of the end. So that we could close the the chapter on that career. And that the 3rd year medical student becomes the chief attending was a lovely road to travel.
So satisfying to watch that in re like, what felt like real time, even though. And, you know, spoiler alert if you haven't watched ER, fast forward now, but if you haven't. W literally, what's wrong with you? But um, the way talk about bookends. Dr. Green getting woken up, Come on, let's go, Dr. Green. And ending with with with John Carter saying, Dr. Green, are you coming to Dr. Green's
boy, you made me cry.
daughter? I mean, good Lord, that made, I mean, the circle of life, I know it's good no,
stuff, it's good stuff. I know I get very s. Yeah, it's, it's beautiful.
it's beautiful. And also what was so incredible about that show, and and honestly, what is incredible about shows that deal with people who have who do that kind of work, is there is this feeling of celebrating life like one must, one must, because it's all we have. And so I know I, I just anyway, that was so beautifully done. Um, and okay, but I haven't even There's a great seen it.
Pittsburgh poet who wrote a poem called A Brief for the Defense. That has a line in there that I think about a lot. Do I love this poem, you know the poem? You must have the stubbornness to accept the gla, your gladness and the ruthless furnace of this the ruthless world.
furnace of this world. I love this poem. I just sent it to a friend who's going through a hard time. Jack Gilbert Um, okay, 48 million people watched ER. It's such a hit, it's insane. I, I just wanna talk about what I believe was the most, for me anyway, the most important relationship on the show, which was you and Eric. LaSalle. Um, Dr. Carter and uh, and uh, Dr. Benton,
Dr. Peter Benton.
Peter, Peter Benton, who was the surgeon, who who was, uh, everything about that portrayal was ahead of its time. Uh, w. Eric's choices, your choices together, the writing of that character, the way that character changed, the way that Eric, I think, and all of you kind of fought for ways in which to make sure that that character stayed true to himself. Um, f, how would you describe that relationship, and what did you two talk about? To make sure to, like, maintain its integrity?
It's such a beautiful It was very instinctual way. Yeah,
and it wasn't very verbalized, you know, Eric and I just fell into a really great rhythm early on with each other. Where, because of the power imbalance being the exact opposite of what you would imagine it to be. Where the young white doctor is killing himself for the approval and approbation of the older black surgeon and holds his estimation as the highest level of validation. Um, a, and Eric got to play the sort of, you know, I always laugh.
When I went to Japan on a tour, on a press tour once, they showed me, er in Japanese, and of course, they gave Eric the very deep like. And then they gave me the
yeah, sure, status.
and the journey was to have my voice deepened and to have his voice softened in my mind. Yeah. I mean, even Was, you know,
watching it when I was a young person, I remember thinking, Wow, Dr. Benton is so he's like, so mean, he's so uptight, he's like, you know, he's so tough on Carter.
I used to go to the Post Office and all the ladies would go. He's so mean to you, he's so mean to you.
Just the physicality. When you watch the way you two walked, I mean, the way he was like striding constantly down the hallway, the way you were always behind him, over his shoulder, peering. Until eventually, you know, throughout the seasons, you just become literally on the same plane as him. The way you are constantly watching him is so is, uh, just what a relationship that was.
He gave me a lot to play off of. And I, I've said many times how much respect I have for what he was doing. In a way without, I think, recognizing what he was doing consciously, but what he was representing at a time that where that wasn't being represented. And, you know, to us, occasionally, it seemed like Eric's being kinda stubborn, you know, he doesn't wanna be a team player and take this picture this way. And we didn't really understand what he was trying to represent, which was a different stripe of blackness, maleness, professionalism.
And, uh, I have to give him a tremendous amount of credit and and have through the years for that. Um, but I didn't get it in the beginning and, uh, I really got it now.
It was so beautifully done. Because his tension about being being successful, being right, being at at the right time, like e advancing is comes from a much different place than Carter's. And the the clash of that was so interesting to watch.
Eric and I come from very different backgrounds, but we have a lot in common. And it was really interesting to sort of mine both of those arenas. How different we are and how much, you know, we end up liking each other despite our differences, maybe because of our differences.
did you guys giggle a lot together, though, when you gigglers?
Yeah, he has a very infectious laugh, and getting Eric to break is one of the great joys in life.
It feels like like you kind of were a couple of goofballs at We were all goofballs, times.
we were all the class clowns in our class, trying to get attention. So the idea that we would all be serious doctors, you know, is a finite concept before we all wanna start making fun of what we're doing. Especially when you've got George Clooney in the scene, you twins. know, um, it, it was people that, and he really set the tone. Let's work really hard, let's play really hard, let's take this work seriously, but not take ourselves seriously.
yeah, I could tell Let's show up, be that. on time, be professional. Erase the division between cast and crew, between foreground and background, let's just see if we can make this feel like a company. And I've taken that exact ethos and recreated it with the pit. That is exa that is how that was baked into the intentionality of the pit. Is how can I recreate the environment of family, hard, good, relevant work, and, you know, a respectful, inclusive environment at the same time?
Did you like his pranks, though? No, the answer's no. No, well, you know, Who likes the pranks? they're funny Are you a prank?
stories to tell.
Are you a prank guy?
I've never. I'm not a big pranker. I knew No,
it, I knew it. Who's a prank pranker? We don't have the time.
I like, this is gonna s like I. When my son was small, I, he was super into trains. And when he would fall asleep, I'd run downstairs and create these elaborate train layouts for him. And then tell him like, the layout fairy must have come, Well, that's cute, and so he believed
that's a good prank.
in the layout fairy. Like I, I like magic making, and I like blowing people's minds that way.
yeah yeah. I just wanna ask you about a couple moments on ER acting Oh, okay, back wise. Okay, to that. I'm gonna sorry, I talk to your silence know, I mean, I now. only watched it 5,000 times.
Fair, I'm all ears.
Um, okay. In addition to, uh, p. Dr. Peter Benton being someone that I, it took me a minute, just like the character of Carter, to realize, like, Oh, I'm talking about someone who's had a different experience than me. And and I'm learning about their experience through this character. Laura Innes, Carrie Weaver What a beautiful performance she gives. oh my goodness. I Hm,
was at her audition. I sat in on maybe two or three auditions in
oh my god.
15 years. And I just happened to be in the office when they were casting that role and I had a friend who was reading for it. So that's maybe why I was there, as sort of a an anchoring energy for my friend. But Laura walked in and walked out or limped out with the part. It was just it was, it was rev rev, like a revelation, what she did with that part.
that is, and that is a part that again, when you mature, I think, uh, at least for me as a woman watching the show. When I was in my 50s, I was like, Uh, oh, I I mean, suddenly that character, who, honestly, frankly, sometimes has to be the one that's like, stop having fun, guys, we gotta get back to work. You realize the pressure that that character is under to keep that hospital going, which you you really take a hard look at in the pit.
This idea of like, there's a whole other world, there's like the world, there's like the street level world of stuff, there's the bird's eye view of stuff. Then there's like this, this m management piece that is just keeping the lights on. It's she's so, so good in that. And when, and and in the scene, when y when Dr. Carter is, um, uh, a spoiler alert, um, when he has to go to rehab, when, uh, they call him out.
S what? As I watched that scene, I don't even have a question. Such good acting. Noah, you're well, so good in that scene.
I think I I got good on that show, I got, I mean, the luxury of getting that writing week after week and those directors week after week. And you're working with guest stars that are Academy Award winners and icons and legends, and you're getting to share the stage with them every week. I got better. So that when after year five, when George left, and after year eight, when Tony and Eric left, and I inherited some of the bigger, more meatier storylines, I was ready for them.
Then, in a way that I wouldn't have been ready for them in those early seasons. So I, I credit longevity to, uh, preparing me for for the juicier stuff, but those were great. And to
so good.
give Carter the drug addiction, I remember thinking and telling John Wells, like, I don't know if I buy this, he goes. That's the point. Is that you're the most unexpected face for drug addiction, but the face of drug addiction is every face. And that's the point we wanna make.
And lastly, I know you've worked with incredible people, but do you remember working with Adam Scott Yeah, well, not S1, episode really. Uh, it 20?
was reminded me by Instagram, where
So he told a very funny story about that. Do you remember it? So Adam was on a gurney and it was you and Ming Na doing your scene. And he, I think he's just supposed to lie there as the patient. And he realizes he forgot to put the the breathy thing in the tube, that he, he, he forgot. A prop, basically. And you guys have all all this jargon. And he's like, Oh, shit, and he's like, he kind of raises his hand, like, does it matter that I didn't have my thing on?
And we're, everyone's like, Yes, dumbass, it matters.
I'm gonna forgive Adam and Yeah, me put that all too. in our prop department.
Yeah, it wasn't Adam's trap, was it?
No, that would've been Rick But the Latteman's job.
the, like, I know, you answers, Rick Yeah, I I know you Rick's the prop have
master on the pit. Rick. He is Yeah, well, there's a lot of, same ER yeah, there's a few connective tissue people that really make it very lovely.
a. A good prop master is no better feeling you. Uh, you, it is Well, you know, so important.
I mean, I, it's from SNL and all I mean, it's the best.
Well, I didn't wanna make comparisons, but I'm going to. I'm gonna compare SNL to ER, I'm gonna compare Parks and Rec to the Pit. I'm sorry, Do it but SNL was like a comedy emergency room. And um, I know we are not doing the kind of work that that, uh, emergency, uh, way room doctors are higher stakes with doing. We what you were doing, we we higher though, way higher stakes, way higher stakes. stakes. Not at all.
Please know that I am not making that comparison. But what I notice is, you know, you just c. There's no time to panic, there's no one running around being like, What are we gonna do? how are we gonna fix this? We go on air in a minute. There's just, in fact, the more stressful things get, the quieter people get. And when you start to work with those kinds of people, you're you never wanna work with anybody else again.
They're just the people you can depend on when the shit goes down.
I'll give my father a lovely compliment. My dad is a brilliant man, but, um, in life, you know, uh, sort of comes off occasionally like an absent minded professor. But he's also a small plane pilot, and I've been with him in the plane when something isn't working. And that's when you wanna be in Steven Wiley's plane. Because he's got an engineer's mind who just says, problem, work the problem. And motion, fear, all those other things don't seem to kinda come into play.
And it's a really I don't have that ability. I lead with emotion and empathy, so the 1st thing is like, Well, what does that feel like? As opposed to like, you know, what would be the right thing to do?
and you don't have that, Noah.
No, no, I can act it, though. Yeah, you sure Yeah, can. my wife will tell you she slammed her finger in a car door and Dr. Robbie was nowhere to be seen.
And he just immediately started And he walks crying and we were like, to my Oh my god, phone book and what are we gonna do?
she, you know, elevates and drives the dogs to Santa Barbara for like, 3 h, comes back, goes to urgent care. Meanwhile, I'm still boiling water and finding hot towels, you know,
And you're like, I gotta, I need a moment, I gotta find my feelings, okay, but I wanna talk about the pit. Because, uh, here's my other, uh, uh, uh, you know, clumsy comparison. But 1st of all, congratulations on thank you, a wonderful show
thank you.
and a beautiful, well deserved and and satisfying rise. As you made it. Like, it feels like you got to make the show before the show became, do you know what I mean? Like, you got to make what you wanted, and then people noticed. That's not always the right, that's not always the timing that happens.
it was, uh, it was a whole confluence of events, which I'm sure you're well aware of. That. We were gonna start down an ER reboot road that didn't come to pass. But we sort of set a table of expectation for a medical show from us. That we were then allowed to really fast track the development process through because of that vacuum that we had created from the near miss. And so this just happened so quickly that it seemed like there was a larger force behind it.
And we just needed to stay on the surfboard and let it push us. Uh,
what creatively came out of that? Like early stutter step that you're so happy it did.
well, I'm sorry to say for all the ER fans. But once we uncoupled ourselves from that IP, it suddenly liberated the storytelling. It wasn't about who do we see again and what have they been up to, it's what are the issues of the day and how is the what's the most cogent way to to put them across? So it in a lot of ways, it kind of liberated the narrative, um, for us, and allowed us to reframe and kind of modernize it and not have to pay any homage to, um, to travel road.
yeah. Because the, uh, why I I think about parks and rec when I think about the pit is. The show is about a place, and the place is this beating heart that everybody is gathered around. And the place is like, has its own system. And the people kind of almost like, come alive when they're in the place, and sometimes you kind of feel like they're like at rest, like computers when they're not in the place. And and the and.
Other thing I'll say is that I feel like people really wanna watch people who are good at their jobs. 100 I Thank you do. me too. It's like competency porn, like people are like, Wow, look at those people, they care and they're good at their jobs. Like, sign me up, it's what we're desperate to see.
How recently we re watched, Um, All the President's Men, and just watching Redford and and and um, and Dustin Hoffman, uh, embody Woodward and Bernstein. And seeing that Washington Post office. At the verisimilitude, the detail, the specificity of everything in it, and what everybody's doing is so good that you don't question anything, you're just along for the ride. That's that's, that's a movie making at its best.
Oh, I meant to ask you, Noah, you had the chance to work with Rob Reiner. I did, How is that?
Oh my goodness, it was a dream, it was an absolute dream. He was everything you would imagine and want him to be. Uh, I've told this story before, but I'm happy to share it as many times as I'm asked about it. I got to the set early for my 1st day of work. I
and this is on a few saw a few good men.
few good men. I saw Rob Reiner talking to Aaron Sorkin and I didn't wanna bother them, so I started to move away. And this big booming voice said, Noah, and I turn and Rob came at me like a big lumbering bear, and he picked me up. And he goes, Hey man, I'm so excited that you're here. We're gonna have so much fun today. And he turned to Eric and he goes, This guy's fantastic. Well, you saw the audition, he's great, it's gonna be great today, I'm so happy you're here.
Listen, it's a little overcast, we're not gonna get to your stuff for a little bit. Go check out your room, go get some breakfast, this is gonna be great. And he walked away. And if he'd said, go kill that guy, I would've said, You got it, Rob, like, I was so excited, that I was so welcomed, that he made me feel comfortable and confident, competent, all in about 8 s. And I took that lesson on every set I've ever been on, and I got to tell him 20 years later when I auditioned for something I didn't get.
Uh, listen, I just wanna thank you for this gift of set deportment that you gave to me. Because I've welcomed every guest star onto every set I've ever been on in the same way. And gotten their best work and gotten them to be relaxed and to feel comfortable in the same way that you made me feel, so that's my takeaway story from that. Is, you know, you can get such better work out of treating people with kindness and generosity than being austere or or sort of aloof.
And making somebody wonder whether they belong and having their insecurities and imposter syndrome be the ruling emotion. You know,
oh, what a great story, what a beautiful story with him. Um, you know, I do wanna just you're not asking me for feedback about the pit, but I'm gonna give you a little bit of feedback. Are you ready?
I'm ready.
If you're gonna show so much guts and blood, you're gonna go there, which you go there and it's incredible. Your makeup team is incredible. The stuff you do is bananas. I don't watch most of it, I cover my eyes, but I mean, I can't take care of eating spaghetti. No, you need I, the pit blinders, yeah, you're gonna sell glasses but if you're gonna
then just like that.
show that much, you gotta, yeah, well, every time you do that, you gotta get a little smooch. Someone's gonna do a little smooch,
Oh, you think it's one for one?
one for one, just some sassy smooch, just one meal not one for a day, just one. Maybe I another
would discuss maybe a one to four ratio, but certainly not one to one. just a little No, no,
smooch. Okay, uh, you're gonna show the guts, you gotta show some butts,
oh, we do show butts.
you do show butts, but, you know, in a romantic Oh no, we don't way,
show those kind of butts. No, we don't do that.
And then also, Robby riding without the motorcycle, without the helmet, incredible, such a great detail. W So great, so smart, such tension in the in the in the, uh, 2nd season because he's riding without it. And of course, he's, of course, he's not a good patient, you know, uh, all those things, and it tells us so much. It's so good. I want him to come back from that motorcycle trip, and I want it to have been good.
I think you're gonna be okay, Thank God, I think you're gonna be okay. literally, I can't The fact that he
take it anymore.
comes back at all is a wonderful sign.
Exactly right. But I need him to have gone a little, gone somewhere and had a
Yeah, it's good.
had some smooches somewhere. Oh, I, you know, Oh, maybe not smooches. Come on,
I don't wanna give anything away.
Have you ever fallen asleep or seen anybody fall asleep while they were in a gurney on the show,
Oh, it happens all the time. Yeah, we'd actually tell, cause, you know, we'd tell our background, like, go party all night, take a 2nd job, come in. Just this is your job, just, you know, and you hear them snoring or farting or whatever. Every once in a while, it's, it's wonderful.
It's pretty hard to lay down for many, many hours and not fall asleep. Yeah, no, it's Yeah, a great gig yeah, that's great.
and it's great, you know, it's. It's not just our background. We intentionally have patients that are seated into the environment that don't pop until five or six hours later. There's a guy that I've been, I'm just working with this week who's been there since week one in a gurney for seven weeks. After week five, we let him turn over after week six. I think he sat up and now we're, he's awake and he's carrying the narrative for the next four episodes.
that is so cool. And that is a part of the show that's like, just very fun, puzzle boxy. Is you're just wondering who's gonna be the main character? I in the in the in the next hour?
and this is a show that audiences seem to like to pull from the back row. Like, I really like Mateo, or I really like Ahmad, the security guy. You know, people are really focused on the on the peripheral characters, which makes this feel like, okay, this. The narrative is working if you're getting invested in. In people that only sometimes have two or three lines per per episode,
And you know, we talked very early on about this idea of, like, knowing when you met your people. Like at that, at that program in Northwestern, you love actors
I do very much.
and you, you've spoken about it, and I find it really, um, very, very moving. The way you feel, count yourself lucky to be among actors as a community, and I think the way you treat actors on the pit, you can tell you're love for them. You give people a lot of opportunity to score.
I just want I th. During the strike, when I was walking around with a picket sign in my hand, I was walking a lot with Matt Weiner. And I was walking a lot with, um, I don't know. I had a lot of people that I was conversing with. And we were talking about work and what work should mean, and used to feel like, and what we'd want it to mean again. And I feel like that became the intentionality of what I wanted this to look and feel like.
And I even wrote a letter that I sent to our casting director saying, You know, this is the look and feel of the show. It's like an old Altman movie, where you just you gotta throw in, like you're going to summer camp. We're doing kind of rep and TV and camp at the same time. Leave your ego behind, bring your creativity. You're never gonna work like this again. This is a really immersive experience, so if you're thirsty for something like that and you wanna buy into something and play hooky from your life 12 h a day, come join our pirate ship.
And it was just like calling all pros, calling all pros, people just came and they show up to play. It is not hard for me to be focused at work because everybody's coming in there to give the best of themselves. And I find that so inspiring. That's what I love about actors is their courage. And they can be petulant, and they can be petty, and they can be gossipy, and they can be like cats that never wanna get on their mark or come to rehearsal.
Once you get them there, they'll kill themselves for you. They really will.
hm. You know, you speak really well about a lot of things that matter to you, and you also show up. Um, there's there, there. I could list a million things in which I've e. Even in the past year, I've seen you speak passionately about. Where is this f um feeling of like justice and advocacy? Where did, where did it come from? is it, is it, is, was it in your family of origin?
I definitely think. I think I grew up in a family that that preached a version of social justice and was always conscious of inequality and our responsibility. Because we had opportunity, or, uh, um, you know, advantages, was to try to level the playing field and democratize it wherever possible. So, you know, we all grew up with this sense of civic mindedness, this sense of you have to participate in society. That, you know, there is a limit of enough for yourself and you can define what is enough.
And that makes the, you know, define the difference between want and need. What do you really need versus what do you want? And I, I had this wonderful, huge career in my 20s, when I got all the big toys, the big house, you know, I got to see what my grandfather said was true. You can only be in one room at a time, and sometimes the bigger the space, the lonelier the space. So I've been on my own journey of defining what is enough and what makes me happy.
And I've gotten to a place where it really is defined by meaningful work and meaningful family life. Anything other than that is give back. So I'm allowed to be philanthropic and feel magnanimous because my cup is full, which is a lovely thing to be able to say. And then being in a position with this show to, you know, have an opportunity to go to Washington, have doors open and have people listen to things that are important to me.
Be, um, an advocate for Los Angeles based production. A couple other things have become very important to
I love. me. I loved, uh, watching you and your mom go together.
Oh, that was amazing.
That's amazing.
I mean, to me, that's not a a a act of charity. If you get this
I mean, but a dream. Yeah, incredible opportunity totally
to be with your mother and have your two careers dovetail together. I got to watch my mother, you know, uh, I don't wanna say my mother's age, but of advancing age. Walking with her fellow nurses and feeling relevant at her advanced age, which isn't always easy for women of advancing age. Sometimes you feel rather invisible, and for my mother to feel like like a bit of an icon, like an elder stateswoman. Who had put in the time and put in the years and was earning the respect of her colleagues was huge.
It was wonderful to see.
When you saw her being a nurse, she was an ICU nurse,
She was an operating room nurse for operating ten years, and room. then she was a chief orthopedic nurse at Kaiser in Hollywood.
When you, when you saw her at work, like, you know, I, I let, I, you know, I have two sons. I love hearing, uh, uh, t uh, from men my age, uh, like what they took away from seeing their mother work.
Well, I, I've talked about this. I had my mother and I had a big moment after season one of The Pitt aired, and she watched episode twelve, where my character has this breakdown. And she came over to my house and she just said that it's triggered something for her. And she started having all these memories of all these cases that she didn't save, the patient. She starts listing a gang member who had been shot, that she was trying to help with.
Two units of blood and a little kid that she put into a morgue drawer. And and I was like, Uh, I don't know these stories, I've never heard these stories, And I said, Where were all these? uh? and she goes, Oh, I don't know. I said, How old was that? how old was I when you put the kid in the drawer? She goes, Well, I think it actually your brother was that age, and that's why that one got to me.
But then, in retrospect, what I remember is she made us dinner, she drove us to practice, she helped us with our homework. She didn't bring her work home unless she was bringing us gauze to be mummies on Halloween or surgical tubing so we could use them for our Star Wars figures, layouts or whatever. Like, I didn't learn about who my mother was professionally well, until 54 years old.
honestly, a lot of kids don't learn who their like. A lot of times, we don't see our mothers as people for a very long time. Yeah, no, I, We just, I've given we just,
her her flowers now, though.
yeah, it's awesome to see. Well, we're going feminine to masculine now that's good, because I have to say on the pit, there's just a lot of incredible investigations into, like, men's friendships and relationships. And you don't see the often see the kind of complexity of that. And the relationship you have with Dr. Jack Abbott with Shawn Hatosy is really something. It's so good.
and the same with Langdon, you know, Oh, I mean, Patrick to me, the
Ball is so good.
and to an extent, Whitaker as well. Like, uh, the mentor mentee, uh, you know, it's. It's really lovely to explore these things.
yeah, well, we have this thing on the podcast, where Lovely we
is not a really masculine adjective. lovely, It's,
you know what? uh, it's really Okay, but but was, you know what, the guys are really cool.
Yeah, the guys are cool.
Um, so we we spoke to Sean Uh-oh, Hattabsee, Hattabsee.
Okay, I was hoping you'd go with the other one, but okay, Okay, 1st of all, I was hoping you'd go. Cassidy.
I know, Oh my god, I love
I know him.
Sean Cassidy.
You wanna hear an embarrassing story? Okay,
I love Sean Cassidy.
I. There was a night where it was brokered, where we were gonna hang out and play pool.
And for anybody under 55, Sean Cassidy was like, Uh, how he was kind of like, hairy
He was like the Timothy styles. Chalamet of his time, except more TV than film and he cut albums too.
yeah, he was. I knew him as a musician.
Sure, of course. 1st, Um, did do run run, Yeah, yeah, of course, so we're gonna hang out, we're gonna play pool this night. And I tried too hard. Sometimes I come on too strong, sometimes I'm a little overly zealous in the questions I ask and the things that I'm
I can see. interested in. And Yes,
I turned him off completely. Never Sean, got a call back. Yeah, never got a call back.
because you came on too strong.
I believe that was what happened. In fact, that was, I don't wanna Sean embarrass Sean, but Colin, Sean I did get a review Colin. from the mutual friend. Who's like, you thought you came on a little strong.
I mean, I'm sweating, thinking about I'm sweating it, because
retelling the story. I know, because I Oh
think about so many times when I audition for stuff. And it is take the feeling you have of being on a bad date and multiply it by ten. When you're like, Oh, fuck, this date sucks, I am, and you can hear your own voice and you're like, hm, hm, this Well, I is going
didn't care. I thought it went bad. great. Went home and Of course, like, bragged to my wife. I'm like, We're like this now, baby. Like, I may go out on tour with him, you never know. And this then you started going. Maybe he didn't wanna talk about Hardy Boys for an hour, maybe he was, maybe why he was embarrassed.
Sean, why would you not wanna talk about the Hardy Boys? That's his problem. All right, He mi- he missed out, he's kicking I got a million himself.
of those stories, if that's what you want. You do. I do Oh yeah,
feel like, Noah, you, I'm learning that you, you go in. hm, hm.
hm, yeah. And sometimes I come out, but most of the time I don't.
Yeah, I can tell, I can tell. If you're gonna be the sexiest man alive, you can't You're gonna do that,
go with that.
you gotta get out.
I think Sean Connery and Denzel and the sexy you gotta leave men of yesteryear would look down upon my fuck.
For all the work that they did, though,
Oh my god, I'm not think about holding up. I how hard it was gotta, I gotta.
for them.
I'd, to be, I should've trained harder for this, really. I didn't realize that there was so much.
Your sexy forefathers did not battle so that you there's no are. Get no, guidebook, no,
there's no rule. okay, so Yeah,
Sean, uh, oh, oh, and I was saying to Sean, we were talking about you talking well behind your back. And he's very, very in awe of your talent and what you can do, and and and a and all that you do. And I was just saying, like, what I love so much about his character on the pit. And what you guys have done is you've created this mystery, this nighttime mystery for the night shift. That is so fun because we're just projecting a lot on them.
What kind of people they are, what did they like, you know, they kind of show up as the show is ending and you're like, what? Eh? Those little tastes are so well done.
thank you.
He had two questions for you. Okay, one is serious and one is fun. Is there anything that you read in a script that scares you that you have to do? Like, you know, when you see something come up and you think to yourself, Okay, this is gonna be hard or scary. Um, that it. It doesn't have to be necessarily in the pit, but like something that you know is coming. W What do you do when? what?
what is that? and what do you do when you know it's coming?
hm, well, um, I could kinda answer it two different ways, one, generally speaking, when I read a script, if I think, oh, I, I couldn't do that, like, what, or, uh,
what? what could you not do?
well, for example, I remember the 1st time I read the pilot script for a show I did called Falling Skies. Where it was like, Oh, this guy is a history teacher, I'm into that. Oh, wait, no, he's gonna kill aliens with a machine gun. Oh, wait, a 2nd, nobody's gonna wanna see me doing that. And so you start to think like, Nah, that's not me, I'm not an action hero. They're gonna wanna get, you know, that guy.
And then you say, Well, what? What are you afraid of? what? what is it that you're resistant to? And you think, Do you think this history professor wants to be an action hero? And you start to make logical leaps within to sort of figure out how you would get there if you had to be. And then suddenly, that thing that is sort of scary is more of a of a mirror, saying, Look, you're post divorce, you don't know quite what the future holds for you as a single father.
You're rebuilding your life, he's rebuilding his life. Maybe you're afraid of leadership, maybe you're afraid of fatherhood, maybe you're afraid of loss. Those are the three defining characteristics to this character, and maybe that's exactly where you need to go. So I've tend to look at those things as barometers for where I need to go rather than where I wanna go. And then when I'm in the job, if there's a challenging thing that's coming up, you know, I protect it like I'm like, I'm a caveman, trying to protect a kindled fire so it won't go out.
I've just, I know it's coming, and I just keep blowing on it and adding little straw to it. Every day, thinking about it every day, you know, I can make it bigger. And then, okay, just just tamp it down until the day. So that on the day, it is a day of of release, it's a day of liberation, it's a graduation from having to tend that fire. And so it's not intimidating. I actually get excited when I go to work and I think this is gonna be so fun to see what comes out now that I can actually m make this an inferno, I you know,
love that visual of that fire, of of keeping that going especially and letting.
on this pit, you know, when you've gotta in episode one, know that you're gonna have a breakdown in episode ten. That's a long time to keep the fire lit. And that every day, you know, I'd be at breakfast with my kids and think, Is it there? Yeah, it's there. And I'd be, you know, shopping in the grocery store. Could you do it right now? Yeah, I could do it right now. And to me, that is the technique I've always wanted to have.
I wanted to be able to have a technique that required a fresh coffee and a and a folding chair, and I could do it anywhere. fuck yeah, Noah, You know,
that's so cool. well, You're really good at acting.
well, uh, thank you, thank you.
Well, that's gonna help you in this basketball team, because Shawn Hatosy. 2nd question 2nd question is
here we go.
You're the point guard of a basketball team Never and you have to played point guard in bring,
my life.
you've never played point guard. No, I'm too tall, Yeah, congrats, by the way, because literally in the world of actors, you're a giant.
It's true, it's true.
Actors are pretty tiny. How tall are you? Uh, 6'1, Hey, maybe, and um, hey, change 61 and change, 61 and change, so s you're 61 and change. So okay, you're right, maybe. Sh- uh, anyway, you're the point guard of the basketball team. on You have to
Sean's team, I'm not playing point guard.
okay, you're just on a basketball team and you have to bring four more players from ER and the pit. Who would you bring?
Obviously, I'm gonna take Clooney. You don't grow up in Kentucky without growing up with a basketball in one hand, so he is a great ball player. And I played a lot of ball with him and he beat me a lot of games. Um, so I'm taking Clooney. I gotta pick how many more? three more,
three more.
uh, but Sean asking to play, is this like a? It was like a, This it was like a
is, this is a great question.
was he like, you know, tell him, Uh, I still got my heel, my wheels, you know?
I mean, I'm, I don't know. What do you think?
I don't think he's asking for a spot. I don't think I, I, I. He's a tennis player, he's a, he's a he did mention tennis player. that he plays tennis, I bet he did. but Uh,
I mean, but I mean, I'm sure if you asked him to play, he'd be psyched.
Luke Tanney's really big, he's on our night shift, Yeah, Luke plays, cruises. is great, I might bring in Luke for some size down low. great. Um, I,
Who's your big guy?
that's, that's the tricky part. Uh, I mean, you if I could
do that.
go all the way back to ER, I'd take a Ben Ruby. He plays Jerry the desk clerk.
That's what I was gonna Jerry's a hell of say.
a rebounder. He He. Actually, never, ever played with us ever. He would like He's like, 6'6, nag Champa incense and sit off to the side and watch us play. Um, but but he's he's, he's six, six, six, seven six. Yeah, he's
or something.
like six, eight, he's a good ballplayer. Um, and then who else am I gonna take? I gotta you've take one more,
got one more.
I'm gonna take young, scrappy Garen Howells. Probably never played the game before, but damn it, I'm gonna teach him, I'm gonna teach him.
You're gonna have one person You remember that guy that you're teaching.
in whose yours who makes the winning basket Oh my god, by throwing it underhand?
just re-watch Hoosiers with my kid
Yeah, the kid that makes the underhand free throw, that's gonna be Garen in and our town.
Q. And you always need somebody that's like, gonna be like, give us the spirit. Okay, so Sean was not picked, that's okay, Sean. He didn't want to be picked anyway.
It's just odd that he would use a basketball metaphor and wanna get picked.
I love that, I love that. You got hung up on the fact that you weren't gonna be the point guard, which is so great.
I'm just think, cause I'm immediately thinking, like, Wiley, No, no, no, you can't dribble up there, you know, Yeah, but get down I mean, low, get down low.
it i, it is, it is, uh, like I, I. I al always loved the fact when I was watching you guys on ER that I could tell you all were shooters. Like, that's, but it just was a very satisfying thing We had to watch.
a hoop right outside the sound stage, which my trailer was the backstop for, and we played all the time, we played every lunch. It was the bane of all the makeup artists existence, cause they had to constantly clean off the sweat. And like, you know, me, cool us off after lunch. But, you know, George was religious about it, and I could either listen to them play outside my trailer or join them.
yeah, that's awesome. Is there a show that you've watched over and over again? Like, what is your Oh yeah, I, ER?
I have this very bizarre habit in that. I travel with, like a jewel case of DVDs, and I pack a DVD player. Cause most places don't have Amazing. them anymore, and I carry with me the collected, uh, episodes of Columbo and Mash. And, uh, there's a few that I man, just I ca, I go to you've spoken all, you know,
about Alan Alda. Can we speak? Uh, let's talk, Alan, I love, uh,
you know?
uh. Mash was really important to me, too, and very important to my parents. I had young parents and they would like Mash was a really big thing in my home when I was growing up. And and what, how important was it for you? What do you Well, love about?
I, that relationship with television shows and actors on television shows is so ancient for me because I was the classic latchkey kid. You know, I was raised by a square babysitter. And, uh, you know, I watched so much television that my parents were concerned. What parents are concerned about video games or TikTok? My parents were concerned because I was, you know, playing hooky from school. So I could watch Big Valley and Bonanza and Emergency in the morning, and then The Love, American Shirley my and Happy Days and Love Boat, or Fantasy Island, or The White Shadow, or Hill Street Blues, or Mash.
I mean, I just loved them all. And I don't know what it was about the two actors in particular, Henry Winkler and Alan Alda. Like, to me, I was like, Oh, I could do that, I could do that too. Like one, they both made acting seem accessible, and I loved both of their characters, and I knew they from other stuff, so I saw their their v versatility as well. But getting to meet and work with Alan was it's not always exciting to meet and work with your heroes, but he did not disappoint.
And we've now been on a television show together, we did a play together, we did a movie together, and I've done his podcast, so we've been ugh, able to be in each other's company quite a bit.
that's awesome. And you worked with Sally,
Oh, she was the best
who Sally Field, who is like our generation, she's just incredible.
and got to reconnect with her. Doing an actors on actors interview, which I saw was so cool. that, so cool, I mean,
so good.
she is one of those people, you know, it's like Disneyland. I remember Disneyland at three, five, seven, eleven, fifteen. I remember Sally each stage of my life and development, whether it was a comedy, a drama, she was there.
no, I. I talk about this a lot. But Norm, a Ray was one of those films where, I mean, I
It's perfect.
don't know if I watched it and thought I could do it, but I watched it thinking. I like, whatever she is doing is the thing I wanna keep watching forever. She was That's how I felt just,
about Ron Liebman in that movie. He was never better. lovable. I mean, he was so good in that movie. Everybody is
And then what are you watching to laugh?
my wife and I call it palate cleansers. That if we watch something really intense, it's like we need a key and peel, we need a
key and peel.
yeah, yeah, key and peel.
Let's watch a key and peel on the way out. What's your fave key and peel?
Oh, my goodness, that's like, really You know what? I'm hard to pick. But like, there's one that they've been showing on Instagram a lot, where it's a bunch of, uh, gang members sitting around a table. And one of them is talking about how they've just lost a friend. And it was a friend he grew up with. And and they used to play care bears together. And they try to figure out which one, which kind of care bear they were.
And Keegan is daring everybody else at the table to not laugh while my man shares his feelings.
Manly tears. Manly tears, Okay, let's watch those guys, they're incredible. What geniuses they are. Genius. I know,
Okay, you know what? None of you look at them tears. And think that is funny, because it takes a big man to cry in front of his crew. Go ahead, Carvel,
Go ahead, Carvel. oh my god, Noah, Um, I'm dying, I'm a I'm a sweaty
oh my god. C mess, Are. Do you cry when you laugh?
Yeah, I cry all the time, but this is a good, these are good tears.
Oh my god, key and peel, come on and perform this live for Noah.
I got to meet them at Comic Con once years and years ago. That was super cool. I was with my son, too, who thought that was instant street cred with do you ever Noah.
think about, like, hosting SNL? Did you host SNL?
I when Giuliana Margulies was the host, I did a pre taped sketch with her, so I got to go out on stage and wave, which was super cool. And DMX was the musical guest and I'm waving to everybody. I feel this like, Oh, and I turn and DMX, like, come on, man, like, I'm holding out my hand. And I was like, I'm so sorry,
DMX? I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, DMX. Um, Mr. Mr. Mr. or Ms. Rex, Dex, I'm so sorry. Um, Well,
I would love to, I would love would you would to, I would love to,
be?
and I recently met Lauren, you know? And, uh,
You should do it.
kind of put the bee in his bonnet, as they say.
you would, they you. I I would love think you would it, I would love it.
love it. I would live at the studio all week, I would just eat Don't it up. Okay,
overthink it, don't live at the studio too much. You don't want a Sean Cassidy on your hands.
that's a really good point. Or a Kevin Bacon. Oh, I've got so many. Yeah, yeah, yeah, great warning.
Just go home at night and enjoy, take it and take a load off, don't work too hard.
I got pizzas. No, don't be that guy.
Oh my god, so many times I've been that guy, um, so many times, but you know what, you? I? I always wanna go down swinging. I think you're that way too. Like, no one's gonna accuse you of not caring.
no, I will, I will try and try and try, and I think it would be amazing. It's, I mean, since I was a kid, I I could from. I mean, I watched the UH 1st cast in reruns, but my 1st cast was, you know, the Eddie Murphy yeah, exactly, we A and
were the same age.
S, Yeah. And it was just like, you know, I'd do every Joe Piscopo bit, I could do them all, Tim Kazerinski, I could do all his stuff. I met Eddie once when I was a kid you do, and I asked him for his autograph. And he and I said, I really like you on SNL. And he goes, What are you doing up that late? And I said, Uh, and I said, Can I have your autograph? He goes, fuck off, man,
and now how old are you? like nine, No, you know? So I, what I always a story. sign an autograph whenever Oh
a nine year old needs an my god, autograph from me, I sign that so fast. You wanna hear a great story? So I've told this story in my house, and last year, for my birthday, my daughter didn't know what to get me, so my I let my ten year old daughter printed up a picture of Eddie Murphy and then wrote on it, Dear Noah, you're a great kid, Eddie Murphy. oh my And she spelled god. Eddie E d d y, and I have it framed in my office.
It's the greatest gift. And my ten year old thought, you know what? And then she came up with the story. She's like, Dad, you're never gonna believe who mom and I saw yesterday, Eddie Murphy. And we got what you've always wanted his autograph, and then they gave me the gift. Oh, Francis, Isn't that awesome? Yeah,
Oh, you're the she's a doll.
she's the best, she's the Oh my god, what best.
a great. Uh, I love that story, and I also love Eddie's story too. I don't think I think we've turn, we've treat kids too nicely sometimes. Uh, you know, You used to be able to tell a kid to scram, at least
you know, get away, scram kid, you bother scram, me, like, you you're get out know, W,
of here. don't make me see And now, God kids. It, yeah, forbid, all right, let's end it on that note. Noah Wyle Everybody, thank scram you, thank you, kids. Noah, thank you for doing this, thank you so much, Noah. It was such a delight to talk to you and thank you for tolerating all of my fan questions. And, um, for the work that you do. And we we mentioned a movie when we were, uh, discussing some of the legends, and that movie is Norma Ray.
If you have not seen Norma Ray, I I understand why, cause it's so hard to find on streaming. So, uh, if there's any people listening right now, uh, that like, I don't know, like Jerry Netflix or Dave Amazon, or whoever is owning those places. That can, like, flip a switch and get Norma Ray on streaming, please. Um, that film is so incredible. It's, uh, Sally Field plays like a southern mill worker who encourages her, um, factory to unionize, and it's so, so good.
And also, you know, ties into a lot of what Noah was talking about. So, um, check out Norma Ray O on DVD, I guess, um, and um, remember those. And thank you, Sally Field, for that performance, and thank you everybody for listening and see you soon. Bye, you've been listening to Good Hang. The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss-Berman and me, Amy Poehler. The show is produced by The Ringer and Paper Kite.
For The Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, Kat Spillane, Kaya McMullen, Alea Zanaris, Bridget Gearlings, Paige Garbarini, Belle Roman and Drew Van Steenbergen. For Paper Kite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell and Jenna Weiss-Berman. Original music by Amy Miles.