John C. Reilly

Wild Card with Rachel Martin

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 990 Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2026

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From "Step Brothers" to “Chicago,” John C. Reilly imbues every one of his roles with humor, empathy, and heart. In his latest project, a vaudeville stage show called "Mister Romantic," he searches for connection in a disconnected time. He talked to Rachel about his independent childhood on the south side of Chicago, and being open to endless possibilities.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everybody, it's Rachel, here to Mark a very special moment in the history of our show.
0:08.5	Today marks our 100th episode.
0:12.1	Woohoo!
0:13.1	We couldn't have done it without you.
0:14.9	So the goal all along was to give you an intimate view of a human, right, that helps expand
0:20.0	your understanding not just of them,
0:22.3	but maybe of yourself. And based on the messages that you've sent us, that is happening and it
0:27.0	makes me so happy. Many of you are connecting with the questions in a really deep way and using
0:32.3	them to unlock new things about your own friends and family. It has been such a journey from our
0:37.1	very first interview with
0:38.2	Jenny Slate to Michelle Obama and Harrison Ford, Oprah, and one of my new favorite episodes,
0:44.6	the one we did with comedian Chris Fleming. You've been there supporting us all along,
0:49.2	subscribing to the podcast and our YouTube channel and sharing episodes with your friends.
0:54.0	The Wildcar team and I cannot thank you enough.
1:01.0	Just a heads up, this episode does have some strong language. Is there anything in your life that has felt predestined?
1:09.0	I'm the kind of person who really likes to believe in endless possibilities, you know.
1:14.4	My wife is much more practical.
1:15.9	She'd be like, it's going to rain tomorrow, so we should not plan on kayaking.
1:20.6	And I'm like, what do you mean?
1:21.8	How do you know it's going to rain tomorrow?
1:23.3	Because the weather forecast says 90% rain tomorrow.
1:27.1	I'm like, yeah, but 10%.
	...

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