Dax Shepard recalls the time he nearly beat up Eric Dane during an AA meeting

Daily Mail​

5 days ago

Dax Shepard told a funny story about Eric Dane while interviewing his fellow Alcoholics Anonymous buddy Brad Pitt on his seven-year-old Wondery podcast, Armchair Expert, on Monday.
' Eric Dane, who I now f***ing love, I have such a sweetness for him now,' the 50-year-old Idiocracy alum - who got sober again in 2020 - recalled.
'But when we first were around each other, it was not good.'
It all went down between the pair during an AA meeting at a 'very nice house' owned by a man called 'Tom' in Bel-Air back in 2014 when the 52-year-old Grey's Anatomy alum suddenly 'threatened a dude' who was keeping time for the speakers.
'In the middle of the meeting, he goes, "If you hit that timer again, I'm gonna f***ing throw you in that candle,"' Dax stated.
'And I go, "That's it, motherf***er, let's go. Stand up, let's go outside." He stands up to go outside, and I'm gonna beat the f*** out of him in Tom's driveway at an AA meeting where we're coming for healing and understanding.'
One year earlier, Eric relayed his version of the heated confrontation while appearing on Shepard's podcast, admitting he 'probably shouldn't have' brought the friend who would 'not stop droning on' during his share at that infamous meeting.
'Dax's friend, his sponsee actually who I didn't know, kept resetting this timer to like 15 seconds every time the guy would go over. The timer went off, like, seven times,' Dane recalled.
'I was not in the best space. Let's just say that. I may not even have been sober at the time. And this poor kid buzzes the buzzer one more time and I said, "If you buzz that buzzer one more time dude, I'm going to stick it up your a**."'
At that, the Hello Bello co-founder corrected Eric that he actually threatened to throw the guy into a 'very expensive multi-wick candle burning in the middle' of the room.
'So we're outside and Dax is like, "What the f*** was that about man?!" And just as I'm about to open my mouth, our sponsor comes out and gets in between the middle of us,' Dane said.
'And I got to be honest with you, Dax probably would have [kicked my butt]. I mean, I can fight but Dax is a unit. This guy looks for fights!'
The former rivals - who previously argued over a Ducati delivery - returned to the same meeting the next week with no issue, and the SAG Award winner started enjoying Dax's shares and came to really 'love' him.
'I've had some of my kind of favorite moments in sobriety calling you and then going over to your house and shooting the s*** and that's the crazy gift,' Shepard responded.
'Caring about someone and wanting someone to do well is a foreign feeling for me and I went from somehow seeing that you were an adversary that was going to attack me that I needed to fight to someone I deeply rooted for and wanted to win me too.'
One year earlier, Eric (M) relayed his version of the heated confrontation while appearing on the Hello Bello co-founder's podcast, admitting he 'probably shouldn't have' brought the friend who would 'not stop droning on' during his share at that infamous meeting
Last week, Eric revealed he's lost the function of his dominant right arm in the year since he was diagnosed with the incurable degenerative neurological disorder, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
'[My left arm] is going. I feel like maybe a couple, a few more months and I won't have my left hand either. Sobering. I'm worried about my legs,' Dane told Good Morning America 's Diane Sawyer.
'I'm very hopeful, yeah, I don't think this is the end of my story. I'm pretty resilient. I just don't feel, like in my heart, [that] this is the end of me.'
The San Francisco-born silver fox is currently taking medication to slow the symptoms and he's also participating in a research study.
'I will fly to Germany and eat the head off a rattlesnake if [doctors] told me that that would help,' Eric vowed. 'I'll assume the risk.'
On average, ALS patients live two to five years following their first symptoms, but FDA-approved medications and physical/speech therapies might slow down the progression of the disorder.
Audiences can next catch Dane as Special Agent Nathan Blythe in Derek Haas' new 13-episode crime drama Countdown, which premieres June 25 on Amazon Prime Video.
The Bad Boys: Ride or Die action star recently reprised his role as the closeted real estate agent Cal Jacobs in the third season of HBO hit show Euphoria, which is produced by and starring Zendaya as Ruby 'Rue' Bennett.
Sam Levinson's drug-fueled drama will welcome newcomers Sharon Stone, Rosalía, Marshawn Lynch, and Kadeem Hardison in season three.
On the personal front, Eric has two daughters - Billie, 15; and Georgia, 13 - from his marriage to wife Rebecca Gayheart, who dismissed her divorce petition in March following seven years of estrangement.
Meanwhile, the Carvana paid partner hasn't had an acting gig since voicing Chad in three episodes of animated series Stoner Cats in 2022, and he hasn't acted onscreen since portraying Mike in ABC's Nebraska farm-set sitcom Bless This Mess in 2020.
Dax's wife of 11 years, Kristen Bell, will next produce and reprise her role as agnostic podcaster Joanne in the second season of Erin Foster's critically-acclaimed rabbi rom-com, which premieres October 23 on Netflix.
The Michigan-born couple - who began their romance in 2007 - are proud parents of 12-year-old daughter Lincoln and 10-year-old daughter Delta.