\n<\/p>\n
Amoeba Records, on Hollywood Boulevard, isn\u2019t the best place for someone of Seth Rogen\u2019s visibility to shop hassle-free. Located just blocks from the Chinese Theater, right by Dr. Phil\u2019s and Dr. Oz\u2019s stars on the Walk of Fame, there may be few places worse.<\/p>\n
But when Rogen wasn\u2019t being interrupted by his admiring bro-fans, who were legion \u2014 one wore toe shoes and a Lil Dicky<\/a> shirt; another cried \u2014 Amoeba was, however, a perfect place to dig through hundreds of vinyl soundtracks. It was the Tuesday before the Oscars, and we were there with Rogen\u2019s longtime creative partner, Evan Goldberg, to browse records and talk about their latest creation: \u201cThe Studio<\/a>,\u201d an ambitious, celebrity-stuffed industry satire for Apple TV+ that premiered on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Rogen had been tasked by his wife to stock more jazz \u2014 appropriate given the new show\u2019s jazzy score and improvisational feel, shot mostly in long single takes. But as Goldberg and Rogen, who have been friends since they were teenagers, noted, their taste in music had really been formed by their love for movies<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n So we found ourselves first among the soundtracks, where highlights included a reissue of \u201cThe Three Amigos\u201d \u2014 \u201cOne of my favorite movies of all time,\u201d Rogen said \u2014 and two copies of the soundtrack for \u201cSoul Man,\u201d the 1986 comedy about a young white guy who pretends to be Black in order to get a Harvard scholarship. (Different times, as they say.)<\/p>\n \u201cDude, I was just telling some people at work about this yesterday!\u201d Goldberg said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has<\/em> a good soundtrack,\u201d Rogen ventured.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Then, as if speaking with one mind, simultaneously:<\/p>\n \u201cIs it racist to buy it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIs it racist to own this?\u201d<\/p>\n It was, in retrospect, a layered moment: In their hands, Goldberg and Rogen, who for decades have tested the boundaries of mainstream comedy, held a veritable object lesson on what not<\/em> to do.<\/p>\n By comparison, these two men and their early brand of sweet-but-raunchy stoner comedy had managed to evolve and survive the vicissitudes of time, taste and social attitude, even as not every joke \u2014 nor every career among their cohort<\/a> \u2014 survived with them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In many ways, \u201cThe Studio,\u201d in which Rogen plays the beleaguered head of a fictional major studio, speaks to their evolution. They are no longer the young Canadian outsiders; they\u2019re powerful producers in their 40s with the ability to make and break dreams themselves. You just might not guess that from the shorts and sneakers or their other big joint venture: a high-end cannabis accessories company<\/a>. (Rogen remains one of Hollywood\u2019s most famous weed connoisseurs.)<\/p>\n Staring down at the \u201cSoul Man\u201d soundtrack, Goldberg took a more determined tone.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should get it,\u201d he said. \u201cHow much is it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s only $4,\u201d Rogen said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get <\/em>the \u2018Soul Man\u2019 soundtrack.\u201d<\/p>\n Goldberg nodded. \u201cJust so people ask, \u2018What is that?\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cOh, I\u2019ll tell you what that [expletive] is \u2026<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Thus was the allegory of the \u201cSoul Man\u201d soundtrack completed: Buying it felt a little dumb, a little risky, but also hilarious. They snatched it up with glee.<\/p>\n GOLDBERG HAS IT GOOD.<\/strong> He gets to avoid a lot of the public-facing obligations that come with being Rogen. He openly cherishes the freedom. Rogen recently did a podcast interview in which the host said, \u201c\u2018I would be jealous if I was Evan.\u2019\u201d When Rogen relayed this at the record store, Goldberg said: \u201cThen you need therapy, my friend.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The many (many) celebrities in \u201cThe Studio,\u201d most playing versions of themselves, have so far helped insulate him from much of the buzz surrounding this latest endeavor, too, even as he and Rogen created the series and directed all 10 episodes. (Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory and Frida Perez are also creators.) The premiere alone includes Steve Buscemi, Bryan Cranston, Paul Dano, Martin Scorsese and Charlize Theron. The main cast includes Ike Barinholtz, Kathryn Hahn, Catherine O\u2019Hara and Chase Sui Wonders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThere\u2019s so many famous actors in it that nobody wants to talk to me, and it\u2019s the best,\u201d Goldberg said. \u201cI\u2019m, like, the ninth person people want to talk to\u201d \u2014 a luxury given that his and Rogen\u2019s fingerprints have been among the most visible on American film comedy for almost 20 years.<\/p>\n Relatively speaking, it wasn\u2019t that long ago that Rogen and Goldberg were high schoolers in Vancouver, British Columbia, already hard at work on the script based on their lives that would become \u201cSuperbad.\u201d<\/p>\n