All language subtitles for Jury.Duty.2023.Cast.Commentary.Edition.S01E08.720p.WEB.h264-EDITH

Welcome to Jury After Dark.

- Okay.

All right. One last time, episode 108,
around the horn here.

I'm Jake, the director of the project.

- Who else we have here at the table?
- Woo! Woo!

James Marsden playing James Marsden.

I'm Mekki Leeper.

I'm Noah, and a writer.

Ronald Gladden playing foreperson.

Maria Russell playing Inez De Leon.

Cassandra Blair playing Vanessa.

We've been sitting here
re-watching this show together,

which has been very fun and also a little
stressful as we got towards the end.

- A little cathartic.
- And emotional.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

But it's really fun
being back in a room, in a jury's room.

This is what us actors
call sense memory.

God.

- Oh, my.
- Us actors.

Yeah.

This is actually--
this is actually a podcast.

Bringing us back to the feelings.

We're gonna--we're gonna
rewatch the show every week.

- Yeah.

We'll do some current events.

What--Ronald, what?

I don't know if--
I don't wanna say it actually.

- What? Go.
- No.

It was the shirt I was wearing.
I forgot you guys got that.

- What does it say?
- Some--somebody's gonna read it.

- What does it say?
- I don't wanna say it.

Is it your company or--
is it your company or something?

- No.
- All right.

- Okay.
- It's...

Whatever.

- Not...
- We'll talk after.

- We'll talk after.
- It's not--it's not good.

- Is it naughty?
- It's naughty.

Okay. Well, definitely
don't rewind if you're at home.

- Don't rewind and pause.
- Don't do it. Don't do it.

- Ooh.
- Oh, my God.

- I love this shot. I love this shot.
- Oh, that's cool, going to all

- the control room shots there.
- Yes.

We had two or three
of those every day to look at.

There's Jake there in the middle.

- You're hearing his voice.
- Hey.

Look at us with masks on.

Could you come up here?

Yeah. Very much mid COVID.

I can't believe
we shot this in 2020.

It was March 2020.

- And we didn't go home. We stayed.
- We did.

This was our pod.

I apologize.

Yeah. I know Alan too here...

It felt like a relief.
Like we'll let Alan do it.

Yeah. Yeah.

- You know what I mean?
- Yeah.

He'll have to do it.
I know he felt honored to do it

- but very nervous leading up to this.
- Yeah. Ooh.

What, you guys
didn't think I'd swing on Alan,

'cause he's older than me?

Swing on Alan.

- Oh, your eyes there. My God.
- I know.

- I can't--I mean...
- This is not a real case.

Boom.

- That mouth. Oh, my God.
- What?

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah. What are you
thinking here, Ronald?

Just--again,
I didn't believe him.

I was like, "No, that can't be right.
Like you've got to be messing with me."

Oh. They're so nervous,
excited for you.

- Everyone's crying already.
- Yeah. Like I'm like--

- we started crying. Like...
- I was definitely crying.

Everything you saw
was carefully planned.

What I'm saying is it was all fake,

except for one important element... you.

We were so--we didn't know
what kind of reaction we'd get around--

and it was only after doing this
that we realized, we're like,

"Oh, is he gonna scream happy,
scream upset, scream sad?

And then we're like, "Oh, he's gotta
reprocess the last three weeks."

Everything.

- Like it's impossible...
- Everything.

- ...to process that.
- Yes.

I couldn't show
like true emotion

because, like you said,
I didn't even know what I was feeling.

Like it was just--I had to accept
everything at face value

and just go throughout the day, you know?

Yup.

I believe so.
I've gotten used to it, to be honest.

James,
I know as we were planning

on how to reveal this to Ronald,

I remember multiple times you were like,

"Just--look, how soon
can I get up there and hug him?"

Yeah.

"Like let's not make it
too long. I need to give him a hug."

I remember that feeling.
Absolutely.

- We all raced up there when we could.
- Yeah.

Yeah.

...optimally designed...

'Cause I'm thinking, "Okay.
He--Alan just said it's all fake.

He needs to know immediately
that it wasn't all fake."

- Right?
- That the connections...

Yeah. That the connections
and all the friendships, the bonds...

- Humanity, yeah.
- Yes. That that was all real.

Is it--what's it--
so it's hard to process

but he's going through step by step.

When this happened
and all of a sudden he knows

what you've been doing the last
three weeks outside of the courtroom,

like what--is it starting
to click on you at all or no?

- No. There's no way.
- No. Again, it was--

it was too much. Yeah, it's...

It's too much
to unravel too fast, yeah.

Sensory overload
is the perfect way for me to describe it.

You guys threw so much at me
throughout those three weeks.

- Yeah.
- And then for you to say

that all of it was fake,
I could not accept that.

- No. Yeah.
- How could you?

How could you even go back in your mind
and wrap what was the...

Right.

Well, you said it, Jake, earlier too

when we're talking about
some of Sasha's stuff, it's like--

that's sometimes a half of a day
and that person is gonna be like, "Wait.

- What? That was fake?"
- Right.

And still have to take time to process it.

- Right.
- And it's one guy.

- Right.
- This is an entire, you know...

- Yeah. Yeah.
- ...like army of players

- that are--right.
- Army. Yeah. Yeah.

And three weeks of your life.
That means it's gotta be...

And, by the way,
we weren't trying to create--like,

you know, we've all talked about like
a Joe Schmo Show or something like that.

We weren't trying to create like a crazy,
heightened reality show.

It was also like, hey, you know,
those really boring jury duty

with 12 other people and these
legal stuff that seemed really real?

That was fake.

I think that actually makes it
even harder to process.

- Yeah.
- Right. Yeah.

This case is now adjourned.

And it's like
we're laughing but we're also like...

We're crying.
I mean, it's the most extreme...

- Laughing, crying, and...
- ...unfamiliar emotion.

I'm totally unfamiliar.

And like looking at him, like he's still--

like what is he thinking?

What'd you--what'd you think
about the money in the moment?

Were you like what the hell is going on?

Yeah,
he's probably like is that fake?

- Funny you ask that. I had...
- Is it a fake check?

I had multiple people
tell me that the day of the reveal that,

"Hey, just so you know,
like that money is real.

That check is going to cash."

And I kept telling people too,
it's like I'm still hung up

on the fact that this isn't even
a real case, you know?

I can't even get to the money part of it.

Right. Right. That's the least
of what I'm thinking, yeah.

We even got the old
salty dog Kirk Fox to shed a tear.

The salty Fox.

And, by the way,
it's not in the show, but I remember,

Ronald, when he hugged you, he said,
"Hey, I'm Sewage Joe," right?

Like 'cause he was worried he--
you were gonna recognize him, right?

- Oh, wow.
- Yup. That was the first thing

he said when he hugged me.

He's like, "Hey, just so you know,
I'm in Parks and Rec.

It's Sewage Joe."
And I was like, "Of course, you are."

So hard for Kirk
to keep that to himself for three weeks.

- I know. I know.
- Really tested him.

I'm like of course, he did.
Of course, he told you that.

This is just a fraction of the emotion

that we were experiencing that day.

Are you a real cop?

I think that that's--it's--
a lot of it is in the BTS episode here,

but like the onion layers
getting peeled back one by one...

- Yeah.
- ...were so funny.

Like you were really like,
okay, so the case--

okay, the case is fake.

Okay. Like you're not a cop.

- Okay. Like extras. What about extras?
- Right.

- It was one layer at a time.
- Right.

Our editors did such a good job

going through this footage
and putting this together.

But like--I mean, I love watching
this episode because--yeah.

- Yeah. This is my favorite part.
- Yeah.

I could do three more of these episodes
just with this video.

A hundred percent.
A hundred percent.

That has been asked, by the way.

- It has been asked many times.
- Oh, Ronald. Wait.

The secret room. Ronald, talk to us.

Yeah. This one blew my mind.

Like when I stepped into this room--

I mean, if you wanna talk
about being shocked, this just...

- Yes.
- It doubled it because

I was like look at all these monitors,
all these people.

Like what?

- You're all actors?
- They aren't actors.

- So did you actually get hurt?
- No.

This was the goal.

This was like the most
just delicious reaction from you

that you are seeing your world unravel.

And you still like smiled
and laughed and like

you're taking it in and you did it
in such a graceful way.

It was amazing.

Are there any other big questions

that like you've been thinking of more

that now it's out and--
you know what I mean?

That it's out in the world?

No. I mean...

You've had a long time to process.

For the--for the--yeah,
for the months following the reveal,

I mean, I've been
touching base with Alexis.

I've been reaching out to Cody.
Talking to Nick.

Like if I ever have questions,

I've definitely been asking them,
for sure.

- Okay.
- Not a waiting room. Not technically.

What's something that
like hit you like a--you know,

like a full like month,
month and a half later that you're like,

- "Wait a second. What about that?"
- Margaritaville.

When I was like wait--I was like,
"Wait a minute.

Those guys that complained about Todd,"
I was like, "Were those actors?"

- Wow.
- Right. What you--yeah,

'cause you think it's just a courtroom.

Like, no, we actually
left campus a few times.

- Right.
- Right. Yeah.

And also you were like,

"Those were all background actors
at Margaritaville?

They weren't real?"

Yeah. It just--yeah,
literally, months down the road.

What did you learn that wasn't
real that you were relieved was fake?

The shit.

First of all,
I thought that probably hurt.

So gross.

- Oh, my God.
- Oh, you're right.

You know it did. It did.

Your booty hole was raw.

By the way, that was
the first time I saw the shit too.

That's the first time I saw it.

I was like, "What the--that's a--"

I'm like, "Tyrannosaurus Rex crap."

Remember we had a plot point
to blame it on Margaritaville.

And they were--
to bring up Margaritaville.

Everything I was eating at Margaritaville
remaking itself in Ronald's toilet.

It's those victuals, baby.

Which, by the way,
there is another like--

was it his real--
I'm like I made a point...

You made a point. It was like
when we do our little group interview,

I'm like let's have the prop master
bring the crap out please.

Just so there's no confusion.

Props again
to Chris Darnell and his team.

- Just unbelievable.
- Yeah.

- Yeah. Yeah.
- Unbelievable.

Really could not have done this
without him.

Nate. Shoutout to Nate.

- Yes.
- Yay.

And getting the stories,
getting the scripts as well,

knowing where--'cause--
that intuition as a camera operator

to know where the beats
are going and to catch it.

It's a special skill.

- Yup.
- Yup.

- Oh, man.
- Wow.

Camera up here.

Oh, God. And all the COVID tests
and where--I mean--

Every corner of the room
has a camera in it.

Yeah. That was some crazy planning.

Thirty-five cameras in total, I think.

- Wow.
- Wow.

Yeah. I think
after the first couple days,

we had to go to our producers
and be like,

"Hey, really, sorry, guys.
I don't know what you need to cut

but we need more cameras.

Like we just needed to get
as much as we could."

We couldn't anticipate
how he was going to react.

There is a hardware element to this.

Ronald, what about like--

what about watch--when you watch
this episode for the first time,

'cause obviously you had--you know,

over now,
we've talked about how we did it.

But what about seeing
everyone talk about it...

- Yeah.
- ...in this episode?

It was weird.

It's just like--because, like you said,
it's a different viewpoint

for me than absolutely
everybody else, you know?

- Yeah.
- Like when we're talking

about how you guys thought
something was funny

- and I'm feeling bad for the guy.
- Yeah.

You know,
so just being able to see it

from different perspectives is just--
it's eye-opening, you know?

Yeah. Yeah.

I play Vanessa.

I got it.

- Oh, yeah. This is the one.
- Oh, right. This is the...

- The bag.
- Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

You're gonna have it, Cassandra.

- Do we have a who?
- She said Cassandra.

- That's also like...
- That's even weird to see that.

I know. It is.

You know what's strange is,
because there's so much going on

and we're watching 20 camera feeds,

I didn't see that happen
in real time until you say that.

So I remember being told like
we said this in front of him.

And I was like it's probably not that big
of a deal, and luckily we got through.

I didn't know until like watching
the footage later like, oh, my gosh.

That really was--he called it out.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

That's something
that people don't always realize

is like how much Ronald
was paying attention.

It was--it's way more
than you would assume.

And we had to--we had to cover
a lot of stuff because like--

you know, it's like--
I think a lot of times

the person on a show like this
that's a subject to something

like this is really checked out
but Ronald is like a normal man.

- Yeah.
- You know, like if you say

something stupid in front of him,
he's gonna be like that's weird.

But this is the part that I find
the most interesting about

like the human brain, because you have
to make sense of what you see, right?

So like even something that was
so incongruent, "It's like Cassandra.

We don't even have a Cassandra."

Somebody--you kind of wrote it off.

We were all talking about it
after the show and you were like,

"Honestly, I didn't--after that happened,
I wasn't even thinking about it."

Because you make it make sense.

Like this whole world was built around you

and your brain was like, "Well, okay."

- It's real, right?
- Yeah.

It's real to you
so why would you question it?

Because if you then question it, again,
like you said, then everything's not real.

- Nobody would do that.
- Yeah. There's no way--

there's no way I could go
down that rabbit hole

because, yeah, like, as soon as, like--
for example, Shid's nails.

Like I know a little bit about what cops
are and aren't able to wear and dress...

- Right.
- ...and like facial hair.

And so when I saw her nails,
I was like that doesn't seem right.

But then again, if I'm questioning that,
I'm questioning

- absolutely everything.
- Everything. Everything.

And it makes so much more sense

that she has those nails
than everything is fake.

Exactly.

I think that's--
the audience needs to hear that.

So you guys all met
for the first time in here?

It was--it was nerve-racking
even after the reveal

to put you guys all in the room again
together to have that conversation.

It was charged, I mean,
is the word that comes to mind.

- It was just--it was emotionally charged.
- Yeah.

Rashida "Shid".

Oh, I love this.

- Five-foot-three.
- I love this.

My doctors would be saying
I'm five foot two but...

I close my eyes for long stretches of it.

- I love his feathered...
- Casting...

God. Yes,
is this David from 1978?

His feathers. His feathers.

Going back.

Casting was stressful

'cause we knew we had to nail it,
but it was some of the most fun.

I'm just so proud of you guys.

It was so fun trying to put this--
the right group together.

- Yeah.
- You guys are so good.

Just aced it. Aced it.

- David.
- His extra set of teeth.

The shark teeth.

I forgot about those.

Yeah. That didn't make it.

- It didn't?
- Yeah.

That didn't quite work
in the scene but we did it.

There you go.

Eating teeth. That's right.
They were called eating teeth.

I love that people get to see the--

what the scripts look like
a little bit there too...

- Yeah. Yeah.
- ...'cause it wasn't dialogue.

It was just--you know,
it was screen direction,

but there--maybe a little bit
of like talent mixed in there but...

And we would talk in the morning,

like, "Oh, we're doing this beat.

Oh, is there something funny to try
to say in there if we get the chance?"

Yeah.

I should say--I should say

Edy's audition was so perfect
and also insane.

We had like a loose idea
of a character that has nothing

to do with the way that Edy--
that Jeannie ended up being.

And as soon as we saw
Edy's audition tape, it was like,

okay, that character is now off the board

and the character that's going
on the board

is Edy doing basically whatever she wants.

I remember Cody calling me.

She had seen the audition first.

And Cody, our showrunner, was so excited.

She's like,
"Have you seen the audition yet?

Have you seen Edy yet?"

I'm like, "Oh, no. I haven't watched it."
"You gotta watch it. That's what--

that's what the character has got to be."

- Just knew right away.
- Oh, that's amazing.

Yeah, and you're watching it.
Like, yup, that's what--

- that's what it's got to be.
- That's amazing.

That's such good encouragement
for actors too,

'cause when you question
what you naturally bring to a part,

it's like Edy did her thing.

- Yup.
- And it was written for her.

What's your name?

By the way, I know, you know,
we tried to put a lot of it in the episode

and show the love that was happening here

but there was a lot
more of it on this day.

- Absolutely.
- I know--

I know every single actor and crew member

wanted to make sure
they got their chance to tell you,

"Hey, man. We love you.

Don't think everything--
like we did some crazy stuff,

but the stuff between you and me,
most of that was real."

- Was real.
- So important.

That was everyone's
number one priority.

Yeah.

And, by the way,
that wasn't anything that was--

that was manufactured.

That was very--

I was saying in interviews too
that there--

so much of this was a journey
for us as well.

Yeah. Yeah.

I mean,
I remember at the beginning,

I was like, "Am I getting punked?"

I don't know--but the mixture of--

like just this process of doing
something so unconventional

where you're blending reality
with what's--with a scripted--

you know, seven
or eight episodes of scripts.

- Mm-hmm.
- You know, you're gonna have

so many--you get five hours
of court every day.

There's going to be human moments.

James still a little hot
about not getting his long-time part

comes and trashes it,

because obviously the party
is for him and he doesn't want it.

- I feel like I don't really want it.
- Oh, my God!

What just happened?

He's upset. He's upset.

Seeing someone
lose their shit like that, yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, he's fixing it.

But that was so important to me

and all of us that we were all
in unison about it.

It's like this is--
he needs to know immediately

that this was all very real for us.

Did you feel cared for?

Did you feel that like at the--
at that day or were you still

just overwhelmed with everything?

Oh, no. I definitely felt it.

And that's one of the things
that makes this so okay with me

as well too is just like

I would've been crushed
if I found out everything was fake

because I thought I connected
with you guys, you know?

And I--and I felt that.

And so if you guys would've told me
that that was all fake too,

- that would've absolutely crushed me.
- No. Crushing.

- Oh, no.
- Of course.

And do you remember at the dinner?
We all went out to dinner.

If people don't know this,
we went to dinner after.

We had like a wrap dinner
with Ronald, right?

And everybody was just
their normal selves.

- Right.
- And he's like,

"I'm a little disappointed
because I liked who you were."

- Like I liked the people

- that I met.
- Right. Right.

You know what I mean?
And that was so precious.

Well, and another thing
that's always stuck with me, Ronald,

that you said is like I--'cause everyone
was always checking in on you too, right,

make sure that you knew that we're--
this is like real friendship, something.

But you said I love--this is--I want--

I wanna make sure that
this whole thing is funny.

- I remember you saying that.
- Yeah. He did.

You remember telling me that?
You're like, "I want this to be funny."

Like there was a part of you
that did not want this

to be some sort of over-earnest...

- Yeah. A drama.
- Drama thing, right?

- It's like, "I'm cool with this."
- He cared for the show.

I care for the show.
I just want it to be funny.

Yeah. Like he cared for the--
for the execution of the show.

- Yeah. Right.
- Yeah. What did you--

what did you think we're--
it was gonna be at first?

- Yeah.
- You've seen it now obviously.

But when we were like,
"This actually a show

we wanna put together
and here's what we were doing."

So, truthfully,
I thought it was gonna be

almost like a drama, kind of more serious.

And that's why I made that comment too,
because, you know,

I never had any aspirations
of being famous.

But if I was gonna be in something
that somebody saw,

I would want it to be a comedy.

So I didn't think you guys
were gonna make it a comedy

but I was hoping that maybe
if I gave a little input

we might include some funny stuff
in here, you know?

'Cause you're like,
"You guys won't believe this

but I caught a lot of silly things."

- Yeah.
- Yeah, that's kind of weird.

You won't believe it.

So he sits on the third chair for Blair.

What if we were all British actors?

That would've been pretty--

that would've been horrifying
to find out at the end.

How you doing, mate?

Oh, we love you.

Had a bit of fun, didn't we?

Fun to take the piss.

Real hero, mate. Real hero.

Are you an actor? Is this all fake?

You're an idiot. You ruined it.

It's a valid fear though,
I feel like, you know?

Oh yeah.

It's a paranoid mindset
for an actor to be in the whole time.

- Yeah.
- This definitely made working

- on the thing so much easier.
- I know.

- It was so hard for me to...
- You mean I just have lines?

- Yeah. Yeah.
- Thank you.

What do you mean
do it again? Nice.

- Nice.
- Oh, best day of my life.

- I would assume.
- Okay.

You know what?
You take some risks sometimes, you know?

There we go.

Not of all of them pay off.

And the opposite happened.

Aww.

He was really supportive
of the chair pants

and my future as an inventor.

So sweet.

I'm still reeling at the fact
this wasn't even a court case, you know?

So I'm still there.

We forgot
we had to remind the audience

like what everyone went through
'cause we're like...

- Oh, yeah.
- ..."Oh, we know it.

- We should like tell them."
- Oh yeah. Yeah.

Like that's why--a part of why
this is a big deal for everyone.

I was a civil litigator in my...

Man, everyone was so excited
to get the chance to sit down.

- Yes.
- Yeah. Yeah.

It was interesting coming
into the writer's room because

you guys were like--you are literally...

'Cause they took you away
to talk to you for a minute

with the producers and we were all like,
"When is he coming?

Is he coming on the stand?
Is he coming?" We just wanna...

- We just wanna hug you, yeah.
- Oh, we just wanna hug him.

We just wanna talk to him. Please. Please.

Yeah, but we also
didn't wanna overwhelm you.

Like I remember we like took you--

the reason that I think we had a meeting
with the producers was to like

just give you a minute
to sit down by yourself

- if you wanted it...
- Yeah. Settle. Yeah.

...chill out.
Like 'cause, you know, it's crazy.

Yeah.

I'm just laughing at the animation.

I've never seen David crack.

- Look at this.

That's the only time got David. Yeah.

Jurors,
please don't make any comments, okay?

I was like, "I can't believe
you didn't show us that before."

- Fair point.
- ...who was a wonderful actor.

Had to do a lot of technical stuff that,

you know, five jerk-offs wrote for him.

- Keeping it real.
- Also fair.

Also fair.

Yeah, that was Garrett. Man, he was--
he really did great.

Oh, yeah.
He also did a good job, yeah.

We gave him all
the technical jargon.

- Yeah.
- Now, what did he do--

was he really in real-life?

- No.
- No?

No, he was not.

- And I think that...
- Stop.

...he got a little nervous,
like, "Wait a minute.

You want me doing this?"

Is it weird seeing
Judge with a baseball cap on?

- I know.
- Oh, it so weird, man.

...for over 40 years.

What I kind of did was
I channeled all the judges

that I've appeared in front of
throughout my career

who have just been moody as hell...

Yeah.

...for no rhyme or reason.

You know who John Ratzenberger is?

Oh, yeah.
This didn't make the cut. This was great.

Yeah. You're right.
We loved this one.

Yeah. This all happened
in real-time in front of Ronald.

Yeah. I didn't--
I didn't know who that was--

I still actually don't know who that is.

John Ratzenberger?

- Sorry, John.
- That was a--

that was a few days of James going around,

"Aargh, Ratzenberger."

Also, then he says like--
like to be fair,

he just sits for a living,
right, at the bar.

- Cheers.
- Yeah. Yeah.

Why they would have done
what they've done.

He pissed his pants.
That's what I noticed.

- Yeah.
- And also that he--

I could smell pot.

Evan in the background...

- Yeah, right?
- ... playing Nintendo Switch.

Jake.

I feel like I'm so--
when I first saw this episode,

I was like, "Do I seem like a jerk
in this behind-the-scenes stuff,"

because I'm just so stressed all the time.

I feel like I've never smiled. I'm like,
"Look, here's what we gotta do. Do this.

I don't know why they're in this hallway.

Okay. Moving on. Let's go.
I'm watching four monitors.

Move, move, move."

You were so
the opposite of that.

- I know. Really.
- You were so calm, cool,

and collected about the whole thing.

Also, I'm looking at this room as like--
I mean, in the--in the courtroom.

It's like just--we were
in a windowless box for so long.

- Yeah. Yeah.
- Yeah. Yeah.

That just took its toll on--

well, I remember when we get
to go outside for anything,

- it was like, "Ah, sunlight."
- Yeah. Yeah.

These four right here, like the--
that--the four of you guys

just totally made this collaboration
a collaboration.

- Mm-hmm.
- Mm-hmm.

Like you guys made it what it was.
It was awesome.

- Absolutely.
- So it's gonna work, yeah.

Cody, Nick, Andrew.

We--and we were focusing on that
from the beginning.

We really we're hoping for that.

The unsung heroes there,
to be honest.

I mean, just the undertaking of that is--

the magnitude of what it took
to orchestrate this and craft this is--

I don't think anybody will ever be able
to comprehend the work that went into it.

No.
And you guys were always so kind.

I was gonna say it starts at the top...

- So kind.
- It starts at the top.

You don't have a team
if you don't have good leaders.

- Yeah.
- You guys made this happen.

Well, it was also the idea,
the whole thing is like, again,

we don't wanna--we're not trying
to be a jerk to someone for three weeks.

We're not trying to torture
them. That's why we need everyone

- on the same page about that.
- Yeah.

You know what I mean?

We're going to be here until 11:00.

We've got a good amount of things to...

It must be--
it must have been weird to see

the behind-the-scenes footage
though, Ronald, right?

Like see us like, "Oh, wait,
they went there beforehand."

Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

And just like--
they just did that little note.

You know, I was locked up all day
with just me and Edy.

- Right.
- And then little did I know,

you guys are out here
gallivanting around the warehouse.

Gallivanting.

...when we re-approach
and ultimately if he doesn't go.

Yeah. The whole time
we were in the factory...

Is there anything
that like your friends and family

have been like surprised by?

Like beyond just like excited
and watching for--

are there anything that's like--

that's--that they saw something
that's about you that surprised them?

That's a good question.

Yeah.
Pretty much the whole show.

I definitely used to be
a different person before this.

Part of the reason I am the way I am
is because I wasn't necessarily

the nicest person, so I'm working
on reconciling my past, you know?

So I'm trying to make it a point to spread
positivity as opposed to negativity, so...

- Amen. Amen.

I mean,
I didn't used to always be like this,

so the fact that you guys are calling me
a hero in the show

surprises a lot of people
that I grew up with

who haven't known me
since I've moved to California.

But that even makes it more heroic.

It is. It is.

Well, honestly,
and that's not something we knew

- when picking you for this.
- That's right.

- That's--yeah.
- Yeah,

I wasn't highlighting it. So yeah.

- To be honest with you.
- But you know what?

If we can't evolve,
then what kind of humans are we?

If we don't have the possibility
to evolve and grow

and be better the way you did,
ain't no point.

I didn't--I didn't--
I don't know about you all,

but I did not anticipate
coming away from this experience

- as inspired as I was by him.
- Absolutely.

- A hundred percent.
- Absolutely.

And I'm not just sitting here
trying to wax your car.

I mean, like it was--it was--
there was so many things that just--

that came our way
that we didn't anticipate or expect.

We hoped that the comedy worked.
We hope we could get you to the end.

But to come away from it as inspired
as I were by your humanity,

by your pure-heartedness
was a huge surprise

and one of the things I'm most grateful
for about this whole experience.

If he doesn't drink,
you won't drink.

This is hilarious. Oh, my.

This was another thing
that I did not see in real time

'cause I was concentrating
on another monitor.

Like I didn't realize
how much you guys were trying

- to get him to order that drink.
- Oh, my God.

- I thought this...
- This is the best.

I thought this was hilarious too
because I was trying to be polite

- and let everybody else order first.
- I know.

I'm like, "Ronald,"--I'm like, "Ronald,
bro, order a drink."

Just for you.

- It's 5:00 somewhere.
- It's 5:00...

Me and Maria are like,
"Okay, we get one good one."

- Okay. Okay. Okay.
- What's that drink?

We get one good drink.

I talked to Ron the other day
and he told me right here

this was the closest he ever came
breaking because he was just

trying so hard to get me
to order the drink

that he sped up his talk
to his normal pace

and he's like, "I almost broke."

The goal is he orders a drink.

- I'm gonna do it.

So the turd will be sculpted
with either this or this.

- Okay.
- It will be--

we'll have weights inside of it
so that it stays--it's not buoyant.

- It stays...
- Weights inside of a turd?

- Weight inside of a turd.
- Okay. Okay.

- And then it will have a coil.
- Okay.

And then I think
I'm gonna a length of it

- sort of like lapping the bowl.
- Love that.

Yeah. That is--
that is Cody helping construct...

- The poop.
- ...the form of a--

of the poop.

- The craftsmanship that went into it.
- Yes.

Boy, the prop master
was tasked with some unusual...

- Yeah. I know.
- Yeah. And you know...

And he was so good.

- Here he comes in.
- Oh, he's so good.

And then fill the bowl...

God.

- What a sight.
- Oh. Ew.

- So that hurt.
- And, again,

- prop masters on typical TV shows...
- I was like, "I don't smell it.

I don't smell it."

...it just has to look right on camera.

- Yeah. That's right.
- This, everything had to seem

- like real life.
- That's just the point.

It's a--
it's a different thing.

It's a different--yeah.
Oh, my God.

That's...

James is like, "I must show you."

That's why I was relieved
'cause I was like, "James,

that had to have hurt."

Or...

Small price to pay
for Margaritaville.

This is something
I didn't realize until after as well,

the journaling, right?

So on day two

when everybody was staying up,
giving their crazy reasonings

why they couldn't be there, you know,
Ross has 36 kids, Kurt saved a baby,

like I--at that point, I was like,
"Dude, I have to start writing this down.

Like there's too much crazy stuff
that's happening. I'm gonna forget it.

- I can't allow myself...
- Oh, my God

- ...to forget it.
- That is so funny.

- But what was the...
- You came to have an experience.

- That's so great.
- Oh, yeah.

You were just like
"I just wanna have this just to have this"

kind of thing or I gotta tell people
about it whenever I get my phone back?

- What was the impetus for that writing?
- No.

It was for me.

Like so--like so many things
were happening,

and, like I said, it was sensory overload.

You guys were throwing so much stuff
at me that I didn't--personally,

I did not wanna forget it, you know?

I wouldn't--I didn't keep
a detailed journal

but I would just do highlights of the day,
so that way when I could read back on it,

I could just remember everything.

I would've believed it.

Man, it sucks that this was like staged.

You're a superstar now.

How does it feel?

It's crazy.

- But--yeah.
- Yeah.

Mekki, I was gonna tell
the whole world about this whole thing.

- I was--everyone.

Everyone is so happy

- to be laughing with you...
- I know.

...as themselves at this point.

- Oh, that was huge.
- You could see it.

- It was huge.
- Oh, man. You could see it.

It's like, oh, we're--
everyone still hanging out.

It's still that, you know?

- I love this.
- Oh, man.

We played videogames so much.

I was actually jealous
that we couldn't be

in that hotel with you guys.

I have a ton
of footage of that too,

because early days in the hotel,

I was saying that I was making
a vlog to send...

Oh, yeah. I forgot.

...to send to Heidi in Cancun.
So I was filming a bunch of stuff.

Ninety percent of what you saw
is really a part of us.

Yeah, here's the deal.
We all fell in love with you.

- Yeah.
- True.

Look at--look at Cassandra
with her fake tears.

She is--she was the most worried

about coming off as inauthentic
because she was.

It was strange to feel like--
it was like--it's like, "Oh, man.

This is 100% real.

And it feels like we're doing the endings
to one of those movies of like,

"Yeah, it started as a bet
but I'm really in love with you."

I mean, you're like--but, wait,
that's the reality.

- You know what I mean?
- That's the reality. Yeah. Yeah.

Do you have a favorite moment,
Ronald, through the experience?

Oh, that's a great question.

I wouldn't say there's a singular moment.

I know it's gonna sound--maybe not cliche,

but like my favorite moment
of the whole thing was honestly

just connecting with all you guys.

- Just getting to meet everybody...
- Yeah.

...because that's
what's carried on past this, you know?

- Yeah.
- And that's what stayed alive.

- Yes.
- Hmm.

Gosh, I remember
talking to you in the exit interview,

you know, Ronald, and being like--

I remember. I was like
right here when I'm talk--

I'm leading you through
this interview and being like,

"Oh, I gotta tone it down
'cause I feel like I know him really well.

I've been watching you on a camera monitor

- for three weeks."
- Right. Right.

And I was like,
"Wait, you--I just met you.

Like to you--I'm a total stranger
to you," you know?

We immediately
took Ronald out to San Diego.

- Oh, yeah.
- And...

I was like,
"When did you guys go to New Orleans?"

We just got back.

Aw.

I think I can finally say goodnight
to this guy right here.

- Did you keep that prop?
- I did.

- Good man.
- Yeah.

I'll give you the turd
if you--if you beg for it.

I still could potentially
be called for jury duty.

Wait. Damn it.

Oh, knock on wood.
It's never coming.

You're a special kind of dude, Ronald.

People are loving it
and people are loving you.

- Yeah, they are.
- You are the--

- you're the reason why this show works.
- Yup.

- Yeah.
- Really. Seriously.

- Oh, absolutely.
- Oh, a hundred percent.

Yeah,
but keep in mind, you guys,

the show would've never been able to have
been made without you guys though, so...

- Well, that is true.
- That is true.

- That is true.
- That is very true.

- That's very true.
- Thanks, Ronald.

That's very true.
Keep in mind.

Thank you so much.

Don't let it go to your head.