This is the Last Laugh.

I'm Matt Wilstein from The Daily Beast, and if you don't live in Los Angeles, like me,

then you might not realize we are deep in for-your-consideration season ahead of next month's Emmy Awards.

We have actually had a bunch of this year's nominees

as guests on this podcast, including Martin Short from Only Murders in the Building,

Ray Seahorn from Better Call Saul, both Bill Hader and Henry Winkler from Barry, Natasha Rothwell

from the White Lotus, and more. But since Emmy voters have just a few more days to cast

their ballots, I thought now would be the perfect time to revisit an interview I did with

the star of one of my favorite shows of the past year, Adam Scott. Adam is actually nominated

for lead actor in a drama series for his remarkable performance in the

Apple TV Plus show Severance. But as we discuss in this conversation, he was able to channel

his history as an actor in workplace comedies like Party Down and Parks and Rec to bring some

surprising warmth and humor to an otherwise dark and disturbing show.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about from the first episode.

In this clip, Adam's character Mark S is welcoming a new employee to the severed floor of the

mysterious Lumen Industries.

Her name is Helly R, and she is played by the equally incredible Brit Lauer, who, by the way, should have been nominated for an Emmy as well.

I think I know where a disconnect is coming from.

What?

Well, there was a preamble, which I was supposed to read before the survey to lead into the questions.

But I unfortunately skipped that that went straight into the survey.

Am I livestock?

...