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Matthew McConaughey and Jason Bateman laugh over past ‘meltdown’

In an appearance on the ‘Smartless’ podcast, Bateman recalled having a meltdown in front of McConaughey.


Senior Writer
SEPTEMBER 20, 2023 10:13 AM EDT

Matthew McConaughey was a guest at Jason Bateman’s podcast, “Smartless,” where the two discussed their career and McConaughey’s new book, titled “Just Because.” The two discussed their lengthy careers and Hollywood experiences, including a “meltdown” that Bateman had when the two tried to record a podcast together.

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McConaughey celebrating the release of his first children’s book, “Just Because”

The incident occurred around two years ago when Bateman and McConaughey were together trying to record a podcast. Bateman got very stressed due to technical difficulties and got upset when he heard McConaughey laughing. “It’s not one of my prouder moments,” he said on “Smartless.”

Bateman and his co-host, Will Arnett, played back some of the audio of the incident, prompting many laughs. “I don’t see it here in the sound thing, so let’s just cancel,” said Bateman at the time. “Let’s reschedule this thing. I’m in a total f---ing tailspin.” This resulted in McConaughey having a laughing fit, which upset Bateman even more. “Who the f--- is that? Great, that’s helpful,” said Bateman at the time.

McConaughey’s career as a published author

McConaughey was recently surprised by his wife Camila Alves, who decided to give him a surprise to celebrate the three year anniversary of the release of his first book, “Greenlights.” The book had spent 100 weeks at The New York Times nonfiction best-seller list, which prompted Alves to orchestrate a New York-themed celebration, taking him to the Empire State and revealing that the building would be lit green in his honor.

“What are you doing here?” asked McConaughey. He was then showed some cue cards by Alves that revealed her plan. “‘Three years ago you introduced Greenlights to the world. Well, you are close to hitting 100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. We are lighting the NY sky greenlights baby!” he read aloud, starting to laugh.