For New Memoir, Jeff Daniels Talks 'Dumb and Dumber 3,' 'Newsroom' Legacy

Jeff Daniels is letting his guard down. Known for his eclectic range of stage and screen work—which includes the Dumb and Dumber franchise, The Newsroom, The Looming Tower, The Purple Rose of Cairo and a Tony-nominated Broadway turn in To Kill A Mockingbird—the 68-year-old actor is diving into the world of memoir by blending performance, song, and personal narrative to highlight his passions and chronicle his life.

In a first-of-its-kind audio memoir, Daniels is letting listeners in on his favorite film, stage, and television roles, his 44-year marriage to his high school sweetheart, and his unexpected turn as a touring musician.

The 12-episode Audible Original is called Alive and Well Enough, a memoir Daniels wrote and recorded at his home with his son, Ben, producing.

In an exclusive interview with Newsweek, Daniels describes the memoir as "a one-man musical" and a "wonderful kind of adventure into how I got here." He says the project first began at the urging of friends and colleagues who suggested he contribute his voice to the ever-expanding podcast scene. He responded that he'd only consider the endeavor if he got to incorporate the songs and stories he had "road tested" over decades of shows he's performed across the country benefiting his Purple Rose Theatre Company, located in his hometown of Chelsea, Michigan.

After beginning the project, he expanded beyond his stage material once he felt he had the freedom "to be 100% in control" of the narrative. Doing so gave him the chance to reflect on "how I got where I got...and what I learned along the way."

Daniels has written songs about many reflective experiences over the years and recalls them throughout the memoir. These include the time he was in town for the Toronto Film Festival and a wayward pedestrian started hurling insults and threats at him and his wife, immediately prompting lyrics to a song he came to call "Have A Good Life Then Die." Another title, "Jesus Was A Stoner," was inspired by several bible passages he heard as a youth that caused him to suspect Jesus and his apostles were probably exposed to hemp throughout their ministry.

He says that writing music has "been a constant" in his life since he bought his first guitar in 1976. "I picked up the guitar and that became my best friend," Daniels tells Newsweek. Some four decades later, he has more than 450 songs in a notebook, ("half of which will never see the light of day,") which has become his treasured collection of observations and memories. "It's my musical diary," he says.

Daniels explains that he never expected people to respond to his music as positively as they have and that early on, he thought the medium would only become his livelihood once he retired from acting. "20 years ago... I really thought the acting career was going to end," he says. "I was getting ready to be a guy who told stories and sang songs and worked the clubs."

He was wrong, of course. By that point in his career, Daniels had already starred in a host of films such as The Hours, Terms of Endearment, Gettysburg, Speed, and the first Dumb and Dumber movie; but many of his most iconic roles still lay ahead. The Squid and the Whale, Steve Jobs, The Martian, Looper, and American Rust have all since been released to the praise of critics and audiences alike.

Throughout Alive and Well Enough, Daniels shares many behind-the-scenes moments he's witnessed or been a part of over the course of his career. He says the audio medium has allowed him to speak directly to listeners in a way he never has before. "When you're doing a gig, you're playing to 1,000 seats or 50 seats, [but] this is a gig I'm playing for one person wearing headphones," Daniels explains.

In his memoir, he addresses one of his most iconic roles—that of Harry Dunne, a part he played opposite Jim Carrey's Lloyd Christmas in two Dumb and Dumber movies.

He does so by having his Harry character interview himself as the actor who portrayed him—with Harry displaying his trademark ignorance and idiocy throughout. Speaking of the beloved character to Newsweek, Daniels reveals he'd never do a third Dumb and Dumber film without Carrey, since Carrey said last year he's "probably" retiring from acting.

Daniels says quitting the business may be easier said than done, however, and ironically, it was Carrey who once convinced him of that. Recalling a time he once confided in Carrey that he'd "had enough" of show business and was "thinking about quitting, thinking about getting out," Carrey responded, "You can't [quit]. We're like sharks, man, we got to keep swimming, we got to keep creating and imagining and we can't stop."

Still, if Carrey ever changes his own mind about quitting the profession, as Daniels once did, and is willing to reprise the iconic role, Daniels says he will, too. "If he's in, I'm in," he tells Newsweek. "Jim said once, when we were doing the sequel, 'We may come back when we're 90 or something and do Gum and Gummer,' and I said, 'All right, if you're in, I'm in.' That's the important thing."

Another role Daniels dives into in his audio memoir is the one for which he won his first Emmy, starring as news anchor Will McAvoy in Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom. "When Sorkin handed me that script...it was a turning point in my career," Daniels tells Newsweek. The show ran for 3 seasons on HBO starting in 2012 and kicked off with Daniels' character addressing students at Northwestern University about how the country was doing at the time. He says the whole crew knew the series would be made or broken by that opening speech.

"Everything was on the line," Daniels says, adding that Sorkin was "so nervous... he was almost sweating" on set that day. Much to Sorkin's relief, Daniels went on to flawlessly deliver his "America is not the greatest country in the world anymore" speech—one of the most iconic and discussed moments of television history.

Even before that pilot episode premiered, Daniels says Sorkin and everyone else already knew the moment would resonate with audiences. "We were all thrilled because, after our first take, we knew we had a show," he tells Newsweek. Daniels recalls telling the legendary screenwriter that he'd "been waiting 35 years for a speech like this." He says that working with Sorkin is like "riding Secretariat." "Once you get on top of that dialogue and that rhythm, you're just going down the mountain doing the slalom course and you're hitting every gate. It's a thrill."

Asked how he thinks The Newsroom has aged in the decade since it was released, and whether he thinks it still speaks to audiences who might be watching it a decade later, Daniels says, "I'd like to think it's aged well. I'd like to think that some of the things that Aaron was saying still relate. Will McAvoy was a Republican, and he was trying to do what some of the Republicans are doing now, which is trying to shake people loose from Donald Trump or the craziness or the extremists and all of that...He wanted more of a civilized place, and his arguments are so intelligent. You constantly get done doing a scene that Aaron's written going, 'That's how I would have said it if I were smarter.'"

Daniels predicts that Northwestern speech is "going to outlive me and Aaron," and that years from now, people will still be watching "because it still matters, it still says something that needs to be said, and hopefully the majority of the people listen."

Alive and Well Enough is available exclusively on Audible beginning September 7, 2023.