I can't dance when there's no music,

silly.

One music coming right up.

-♪ Dance music! Dancing around! Dance music! Music to dance to! Dance music! Feeling the rhythm! Getting excited! Down in my slacks! Oh.

Wow.

Hey, what do you say we ditch the chair and you come parking on my lap?

-"I do now."

Mm-hmm.

I don't think I've ever been so excited for, like, for people I don't know, you know? I mean...

I did not know that I was able to experience that level of anger.

But sinking to those lows makes the highs...

Because it came out of nowhere.

It was so unexpected when Ketchup Entertainment bought this thing and directed it.

Thanks to all these... people who were supporting this movie and making noise about it.

I mean, thank you so much to everyone who fought for this movie to come out.

Was that kind of what appealed to you when you got the script that you were like, this is kind of like a what if? What if we, like, what does he do in his spare time? What if he just had enough? I mean, surely scripts like that just don't come across your desk every day, right?

Yeah.

And then after saying that enough, it was like, "I gotta do the Patty Forte sketch show." [audience laughing] So we took her and Carol, and w- the, the show is all just, like, kind of documentary style, following them trying to write a comedy sketch.

And then the end of each show is that sketch that they've written starring them and, like, one of my fun, exciting comedy buddies.

Uh-huh

And it was testing really, really well.

And then at a certain point, we got a call from Warner Brothers that they had a new idea for the release of the movie, which was to not release it in theaters or not release it on streaming, but to release it into a garbage can.

But for you, what did you admire about Kevin?

Well, it's just a good message for everybody, you know, that with a little prodding, you can do great things.

You know, you can, it's such a, this whole movie is such a wonderful David and Goliath story.

In addition to just this wonderful story that Sammy Birch wrote, it's peppered with just these amazing performances by all these iconic cartoons that when I got to finally see the movie, it's like you're with a bunch of old friends that you haven't seen in a while.

And it was just like this very nostalgic feeling.

I'm so honored to be

Actually, Will, why don't

you...

No kidding.

He just, he's so prepared, and then he's also a really gifted improviser.

So he can, he can slip in some incredibly funny dialogue seamlessly into this written word and get right back into the next thing he's supposed to say, and I don't have that talent.

Like, I can maybe every once in a while think of something funny to say, but then I'll chunk it when I'm trying to get right back into the-

Yes.

And he said, "I wanna do something with this." And I said, "Oh, I've always had this idea where a coach motivates his team with some stupid song." So we write this whole sketch, and at the last second, as we're gonna turn it in for the table read, he said, "Why don't you do a dance or something while the song's playing?" We weren't even gonna ...

That wasn't even gonna be part of the sketch.

So what role did the public play in getting this thing released? The biggest

role.

Yeah, they would not shut up about it.

And I didn't think it was gonna make a difference, but they just, it was, I read Horton Hears a Who to my daughter the other day, and it was just like that.

They're just making noise and you don't think it's getting through, and then just enough voices made noise for long enough that it finally did get through and they sold it.

How did you shoot this? How did you do this?

Look, it was so fun.

Because I was a huge fan of Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

And I can imagine that it like consumed you.

Well, I mean, originally when we pitched it, we were very close to doing it with Netflix.

And for some reason, the studio couldn't make a deal with them.

And we really wanted...

And then when they said, we're going to make this deal with Fox, I don't think we were as excited just because of the...

No disrespect to Fox, but it was, you know, we wanted the... opportunity to swear if we wanted to.

Certainly there are some things that you cannot do obviously on broadcast TV that you could on a streamer.

Keep it going.

How long are we talking about here? What was the first day you were involved to now? How long has this journey been from beginning to now release?

It's been about four and a half years.

Um, and you, your, your encapsulation was so much better than mine.

You know, I'm West coast, so I'm, I'm, my brain is still waking up.

So thank you.

Um, but it's, you know, we, yeah, we go and shoot this movie.

We were in Albuquerque.

By the way,

Okay.

And then I realized I really like writing, and that was making me feel good, so then I started writing little comedy sketches and little cartoons, and that made me really happy.

So then I started writing with this woman that I went to college with, Anne, and, and that became the only thing I wanted to do.

So when the guy that I was working for at the, uh, at Smith Barney Shearson, Shearson w- reached out to me and said, "Hey, I w- I wanna put you through the Series 7 and make you, like, my junior partner, essentially," um-

Mm-hmm.

And then at some point, I had a six-week break before I had to go back to Four Seasons to make the second season, and my wife and I just looked at each other and said, "Let's make the Patty Forte sketch show." So, so we scrambled and put this show together in two weeks, and then for about three weeks, we made six episodes ourselves, and it's basically just documentary style.

Each episode follows them around writing one comedy sketch, and then the end of the episode is them performing that sketch with, like, one of my famous comedy buddies.

Ooh, so many.

I mean, it's all over the place.

Like, like, it, the entire thing is this feat of, of hard work.

Uh, just the, the director, Dave Green, just planned with, with everybody for months, y- years.

It's incredible.

I've, I've only seen it twice now, and there's so much stuff that I, that I missed in the first one, 'cause y- Dave just has, stuff is constantly alive in, in each scene.

There's just stuff that wa- w- a lot of it wasn't even in the script, so he just, like, did all these flourishes which, which we, we didn't have to be aware of 'cause it's kind of happening in the background.

When you found out it was actually gonna be released, what was your reaction?

Well, look, we, we came from this place...

To go back a little bit, we had finished making the movie.

It takes a long time to animate the characters i- in the post-production process.

So all along the way, we had felt so excited about the making of the movie.

We felt like we were making the best version of this wonderful script and, and I'm keeping in touch with Dave Green, the director, through the post-production process, and he's so thrilled about how that's going.

And then they start testing it.

What was it like building that comedic chemistry with a scene partner who physically isn't there and doesn't have any dialogue?

look, your profile in

the world as a performer is not going to change forever.

If you stay for one more year, you know, what would be the ideal thing to stay would be to get a movie that you could make, you know, like an SNL movie.

That's not going to happen after what just happened with MacGruber.

So you're going to have to get out, try to do something.

Are you saying this in your head? No, this is my agents and manager.

Okay.

next

We're so excited for the fans to finally see it.

When we found out that Warner Brothers was shelving the movie, it was testing really well, so we were so hopeful, and it was like the rug was pulled out.

I was just heartbroken that, that my kids weren't g- gonna get to see this.

But thankfully, like, fans, like, pushed and made noise.

And lastly, Colman Domingo.

Who's the most fashionable? I mean, he's, like, the epitome of cool.

You did? Uh-huh.

And they were like No way.

[laughs] No.

What are you, what are you doing? And we're ...

So we kinda just let it go, and then- Yeah ...

when he just, uh, sadly passed away recently- Yeah ... um, I called them all up and I reminded them, like, "Oh, remember we wanted to do The Amazing Race?" Yeah.

And they're like, "Oh, man, you shoulda done that." [laughs] I'm like, "You were the people who told us not to." Damn it.

Yes.

[laughs]

And I'll say, like, a lot of times you go into, when you're excited about a script, you'll go in, and then things will be a little off.

You'll go like, "Okay, this is, okay, we d- that's pretty good when we shot it." And then, and then you might get a l- little disappointed and-

Yeah.

And really, it's like, uh, there are a bunch of little Wile E. Coyote people who just raised their voices and kept making a stink, and, and, and they just didn't give up-

Yeah, write-off.

Like, like it was a way to, I guess they...

So it was, uh, you know, that period of time between...

They still let us go see it the next Tuesday, and in that six or seven days, I thought, "Oh, if, if they're doing that, it must be not as good as these guys said." Um, and finally go in and see it, and it's fucking great.

It's so...

It was...

Which made it even more frustrating, 'cause you're like, "What is happening here?" Like, you're...

Wow

Right.

Like, you're thinking you can talk him into not going to Ford Theater.

"Go over here.

Do, do this," whatever.

Just, like, I know, you know.

And you just, y- you're like, "Oh, there's no way..." Y- you know, I know how it ends.

And I j- and I had that moment while I'm watching the movie, like, "Oh, this is so great.

Yeah

Yeah, write-off.

Like, like it was a way to, I guess they...

So it was, you know, that period of time between...

They still let us go see it the next Tuesday, and in that six or seven days, I thought, "Oh, if, if they're doing that, it must be not as good as these guys said." Um, and finally go in and see it, and it's fucking great.

It's so...

It was...

Which made it even more frustrating, 'cause you're like, "What is happening here?" Like, you're...

I fall in love with every dog

[laughs]

And he would go through the rehearsals with you, and you'd see where Wile E. was going.

And y- you know, the face didn't really make any movements, but it really brought to life these scenes.

And then by the time you actually got down to shooting them, the first couple takes sometimes would have Dave in there with the puppet, but then they'd pull it for this tennis ball on a, on a stick so you'd know where the, where Wile E.'s eyes were.

And it, it, it really helped bring it to life, but you're still talking about a, a, a character that doesn't speak anyway.

So this was all just...

Really, it comes together so well because the script is so well-written, uh, by Sammy Burch, Oscar-nominated Sammy Burch.

Yeah

Mm-hmm.

He tries and he fails, but he tries, tries, tries, tries, tries again.

And I think that's just so inspirational.

So I think if anything, I hope that people, like, believe like, "Hey, I can get up, I can get up today-

Uh, Coyote vs. Acme hits theaters Friday, August 28th.

All right, well coming up next our Shop Today team has done it again.

Their latest curated box filled with fashion and beauty essentials more than 70% off.

Then later on today, food.

Yes.

Release me! And we have been trying to figure out who this person is.

They won't come forward.

We want to celebrate this person because it is really because of these fans who made so much noise and wouldn't give up that this, like, on-screen story of an underdog fighting a big corporation became the off-screen story, too, and all these voices making noise until they actually beat the corporation.

Does that add to the pressure?

It certainly does.

You want to be a good steward for these legendary characters.

But the guy who directed it, Dave Green, is, like, the biggest Looney Tunes fan, and he took such good care.

When I said it was like a crossword puzzle, I didn't mean you just randomly make up letters to put in

...

I, look, I gotta come clean because I think you deserve total honesty.

I was not honest with you I was going with what you say because I, uh, the movie was made a long time ago.

We're digging through the pyramids

... we made the script, and I didn't...

I just felt like you were very excited about the story you had told, but I wanna just let you know that we had, we made the story.

like? Well, see,

here's the thing.

I was a really great swimmer as a kid.

It also helped that my birthday was the cutoff point for the age groups was June 15th.

My birthday is June 17th.

Something like that.

So so there would be a year where I would be like a year older than a lot of the kids and just freaking smoking everybody.

were you doing at the time that you were, where you were getting your card money?

[laughs]

Um, everyone is ...

We're, we're the youngest people there by 30 years, for sure.

Um, anyway, second half g- is, just grows and grows until he's, like, singing, and came down and was taking a picture with us as he's singing.

And the very end of it is he gives this, um, just inspirational speech that ...

Tony Orlando, just an amazing, wonderful, delightful person.

Gives this inspirational speech.

Have you ever gone, like, overseas to see your favorite band?

[laughs]

I have, I feel like I have gotten clearance.

Um, yeah, somebody, somebody...

Uh, I forget what it was, but there was some kind of, um, [tsk] uh, s- uh, ritual that was supposed to clear me of this.

I don't even, I don't remember what it was, but it was some-

[laughs]

Leave me now.

You take away the biggest part of Christopher Lee's performances, Rasputin in Rasputin: The Mad Monk.