-Welcome back to the show, bud.
-How you doing? -I'm doing fantastic.
-I'm so happy to be here.
-There's a lot I have to talk to you about.
Congratulations. You've directed a film.
-I directed a film. -This is amazing.
-I know. It's a weird thing.
-It's a giant deal. -Yeah.
-Are you now in the club of directors?
Do you go to, like -- Do you work out with Martin Scorsese?
-Absolutely. Marty and I are really close.
-We got to get into this. I want to talk about this.
First of all, you just had a big birthday.
Happy 40th. -I did. I turned 40.
Yeah. -That's a big deal.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was great. [ Cheers and applause ]
Thank you. -Happy birthday.
-Thank you so much. -Do you have a big party?
Do you do a thing? -Are you a birthday person?
-I kind of -- No. I kind of -- -Neither am I.
-Yeah, I was, and then I'm not really --
-I do one birthday every 10 years.
So I do like 20, 30, 40, 50 and then whenever, you know,
life ends it for me.
-No. You'll be going a long way, yeah.
-What did you do 40th? -I went to Italy.
I brought some friends. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I was gonna say, "Ooh la la," but, no.
What do you say? Like, "Ooh...ciao."
-How about the fact that I've been to Italy a lot
and can't speak a single word?
I'm terrible. It's a horrible thing.
-That's fantastic. -Yeah, it took some friends.
We had a great couple weeks.
-Oh, I love that. -You know.
It's like you have some --
You know, life has been good.
-Yeah. -Take your friends out.
-Have a good time.
-Take them out. Do it. -Exactly.
But I don't understand the birthday thing.
Some people celebrate their birthdays for, like, a month.
[ Scattered laughter ] Those people laughing
are the people that celebrate their birthday for a month.
They know exactly what I'm talking about.
-No. The whole month is like -- -It's a whole thing.
And by week three... -"It's my birthday week!"
-...your friends are talking about you behind your back.
-It's like, "Get over it." -Exactly.
-No one cares about your birthday.
-A birthday comes and goes. -Yeah.
I want to ask you about this.
Uh, hopefully you can answer this.
If not, we can cut it out of the show.
But there are reports going around
that you were possibly going to be in the big "Barbie" film
and that your name was on the list
and that, uh, for some reason, it just didn't work out.
-Yeah.
-The list had been floating around. Your name is...
-Yeah, I know there was a --
There's a few of us on that list, and, yeah.
I mean, yeah, I -- There was a moment where I would have --
Yes. Um...
-So this is true. You were almost in "Barbie."
-Yeah, and then, you know, it was the pandemic,
and I was working on something else and I couldn't --
It was like three or four days that we couldn't make work.
And so then, you know...
But do you expect that list to be released to the world?
-No. -No. It's a weird --
It's like, "You were supposed to potentially have been
in the biggest movie on the planet.
How do you feel?"
[ Laughter ] -Yeah...
-They just got a whole SAG ensemble nomination,
so I feel like peripherally that extends to myself, as well.
-Congratulations. -Thank you so much.
-Congratulations on the nomination.
Uh, something cool happened to you this summer.
I saw you -- Actually, you didn't post this,
but you met Annie Lennox.
-I met Annie Lennox.
-I love Annie Lennox. -I love Annie Lennox.
Annie Lennox is someone that has been on mix tapes, CD --
Tapes happened before...
-No. Yeah, yeah. We'll explain it you.
-Mix tape.
Like, from when I was very, very young.
-Oh, I love it.
-And there are people, like, music I love.
It's like -- I put playlists together before I write.
It means, like, a ton to me.
And so she was one of the greats
that I never thought I would ever cross paths with.
And then fate brings you together.
-You met her. -And you cower in a corner
and avoid the person like the plague.
-Why? Because you're shy? -Yeah, well, of course.
I mean, who's going to presume
that Annie Lennox wants to say hi to you?
That's a weird thing. -But you're Dan Levy.
-I don't know. That's something I have to
work out in therapy, I guess.
-Yeah, well, here's what makes it even cooler.
You actually get up the guts to meet her.
-Well, no. So I went to see Joni Mitchell at the Gorge,
which was one of the great musical experiences.
And I was fortunate enough to go backstage.
And Brandi Carlile saw me,
essentially, like, pacing somewhere in the corner
and said, "Just go say hello to Annie Lennox."
-Yeah. -Brought me over.
And I guess she had watched my show.
-Yeah. -She reacted.
I thought that Joni Mitchell was behind me because what --
-Who was Annie Lennox reacting to?
-Certainly not me. -Look what Annie Lennox posted.
She goes -- So, Annie Lennox posted this.
"So this is me in heaven.
The moment I met Dan Levy.
He really doesn't know how much I love him."
-It's wild. -Are you kidding me?
-Apparently the show, like,
comforted her during the pandemic.
But I spent the entirety of our meeting screaming at her.
Like, you can see it there. I was screaming at the woman.
-You're holding your throat. You're going...
-Anyway, meet your idols, everybody.
She is absolutely incredible.
-She is the coolest person on Earth. Congratulations.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I don't know. Life does weird things sometimes.
-You're a music guy. You've interviewed tons of artists.
You used to work at MTV in Canada.
-Yeah, I used to work at MTV.
-Are there any artists at MTV in Canada, like,
that were, like, breaking where you're like,
"Oh, yeah, I had a great interview with them before they were big"?
-Yeah, so, I used to --
In my early 20s, I spent some time in London,
and when I was in London, I fell in love
with a little-known musician called Adele.
[ Audience oohs ] And I -- Yeah, I know.
It's -- I guess she'll make it sometime.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fingers crossed.
-And I came back to Canada, got my job.
Adele was touring in Toronto at a tiny venue,
like, a really tiny, intimate venue.
And I said to my producers,
"You absolutely have to get this girl on the show.
We have to talk to her, and she has to perform."
And my bosses at the time were like,
"It's not Sum 41, so, no."
-Wow!
-And I was like -- There was a rage in my eye.
Like, there was -- They knew that I was, like --
It was early days. I could have quit.
Finally, I pushed it through.
She comes on the show. We interview her for "19."
She performs in our studio,
which is like the size of this studio.
-Yeah. It's intimate.
-Everyone -- You could hear a pin drop.
And you knew in those early days --
Like, she has a power that can stop a room.
-Yeah. She's one of the greatest ever.
-It was unbelievable. -Did she remember the story?
-Well, no, I've never -- I didn't --
I saw her in Vegas.
-But Brandi Carlile wasn't with you?
-Brandi Carlile wasn't with me.
Although, she did come over and, like,
sort of grabbed my hand and gave me a wink.
So. I don't know. Maybe she did remember.
-Yes! Alright! I'll take this!
She's super cool.
-Did you see that Vegas show?
-I haven't yet. No.
-I was astral projecting.
It was the most extraordinary thing.
-I hear that it might be the greatest concert ever.
-The scope of it. The spectacle of it.
Anyway, go see it if you haven't seen it.
-Well, she has to know you now. You're a director.
You're a film director. -Sure.
-Yeah. "Good Grief." -So much has changed.
-"Good Grief." This is on Netflix.
You wrote this and directed this.
-Yeah. -What inspired you for it?
-Well, I lost my grandmother just at the end of the pandemic,
and I feel like the pandemic was a tough time for so many of us,
and so many people lost loved ones during that time.
And I was trying to, like, make sense of grief,
like, what personal grief meant to me
in the wake of, like, a collective grief.
And, you know, you're asking yourself,
are you doing it right?
Am I feeling the things I should feel?
Am I honoring the person
in the way that I feel like I should?
All of these questions that I've now come to realize
are questions that a lot of us ask
when we're going through the process of grief.
And I thought, well, this could be a really
interesting conversation to have in a movie.
-Yeah. -And so I started to write,
and I wanted to explore the idea of friendship
taking front and center in a movie.
I hadn't seen that in a long time,
so I wanted to make a movie about friendship
in the wake of grief. -Good for you.
-And here we are. -Here we are talking about it.
-It's very lucky. Yeah.
-Uh, I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's Dan Levy in "Good Grief." Take a look.
-It's like an ache right here.
-What is? -Loss.
It's like a little ulcer right here that never goes away.
And you somehow figure out ways
to take your mind off it enough to not feel it as much.
But, yeah, sometimes you lose sight
of what's going on around you because you just --
you just want to be able to breathe
the way you did before.
-Yeah. Come on, buddy. Come on.
Come on, pal.
-It's a laugh riot. -That's good, though.
-It's a gross-out comedy. -You're doing this.
It's not a gross-out comedy. Congratulations.
This is a big deal. You're awesome.
Dan Levy, everybody.
"Good Grief" is streaming now on Netflix.
We're doing something fun with Dan after the break.
Stick around, everybody. Come on back.