[high-pitched rewind whine] [projector humming] i grew up as a big-headed baby in seattle, moved to nicaragua when i was three, made friends with parrots and sloths. moved back to washington state when i was five, learned to play the bassoon. moved to illinois and joined the drama club, and eventually, i landed in los angeles as dunder mifflin s assistant to the regional manager. - please welcome rainn wilson. - rainn wilson. - yet for all my success, my wife and son, whom i love, a nice house, people tattooing my face on their feet. [beeping, whirring] [sighs] you d think i d be happier. [upbeat music] but like so many others, i struggle. to find fulfillment. amy. to find true joy. i need to be honest with you all. it s just i ve been going through a really hard time recently on a number of different levels, and i ve been feeling a little bit low, a little bit less than, a little depressed and humbled and lost these days. and so i ve churned through countless thera
It is kind of like a cult. facts have never been that popular here, but fiction. so we come up with alternative realities. otherwise, you lose your mind. - i don t know if i ve mentioned this, but it s really hard to live here. in the 1400s, iceland was twice hit by the plague, each time killing half of the country s entire population. in 1783, the volcano laki erupted for eight straight months, destroying most of the country s crops and killing nearly a quarter of the people here. for centuries, this constant turmoil meant that reinvention was the only means of survival in iceland. farmers had to learn how to fish. fishermen had to learn how to farm. and this legacy continues today, in a slightly different form. well, this is fascinating, because you are kind of the poster child for that adaptiveness. - yes. - you started as a stand-up comic, and then kind of almost as a joke