How an Off-Script Moment Changed Jay Duplass’s Life

Modern Love

The New York Times

Storytelling, Nytimes, Nyt, Redemption, New York Times, Society & Culture, Loss, Essay, Love

4.3 • 9K Ratings

🗓️ 24 September 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jay Duplass knows the power of improvisation. Many years ago, an unscripted, cliffside interaction changed his life, helping to set in motion the events that would lead to his new movie, “The Baltimorons.” The film features a newly sober comedian and a workaholic dentist who meet on Christmas Eve during an emergency dental procedure. What follows is a surprising love story that unfolds over 24 hours in Baltimore. The movie itself is an exercise in being open to unexpected connections. In this episode, Duplass talks about what it means to “yes, and” your way through life and how that can lead to some of our most rewarding experiences. He also reads a Modern Love essay called “The Dentist Who Treated My Divorce,” by Hillery Stone, and reflects on how the power of dropping our assumed roles can make way for deep interpersonal connection. Here’s how to submit a Modern Love essay to The New York Times. Here’s how to submit a Tiny Love Story.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Love now and...
0:03.2	From the New York.
0:03.9	Love was stronger than anything.
0:07.2	For the love.
0:07.7	And I love you more than anything.
0:11.3	There's to love.
0:12.3	Love.
0:14.4	From the New York Times, I'm Anna Martin.
0:16.8	This is Modern Love.
0:19.5	Today, I'm talking to director and actor Jay Dupluss.
0:23.7	Jay has a new movie out now called The Baltimoreans.
0:26.9	And it's all about how a chance encounter sends its two main characters improvving and yes-anding their way through the course of a night.
0:34.4	Jay talked to me about the power of going off script and how that can lead to some of the
0:38.6	most unexpected and rewarding experiences. Plus, Jay reads the modern love essay, The Dentist
0:45.2	Who Treated My Divorce, and he tells me why the dentist office isn't just a place for a root canal.
0:50.9	No, if you let it, the dentist's office can also be a place for deep interpersonal connection
0:57.6	and a root canal.
1:03.2	Jay Duplas, welcome to Modern Love. Thank you for having me.
1:07.0	I want to start off by talking about improv comedy, which is like a bit of a divisive subject, I feel.
1:13.2	Absolutely. Absolutely.
1:13.8	Where do you land on improv comedy?
1:16.3	Yay, nay. Have you done it?
	...

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