Penn Badgley Answers the Web's Most Searched Questions

Hello, you.

This is the Wired Autocomplete interview.

[tense music]

Joe Goldberg, hey you.

Has this person seen the show?

It's Hello.

Hello you.

[tense music]

What does Penn Badgley think of 'You'?

I like you.

I mean, I don't know you, but I think I like you.

Oh...

Oh, it's the show, of course.

I like it.

I'm indebted to the creators.

I love the experience for what it's been,

which is, hmm, very intense.

Very, very intense.

But I like You.

And I love you.

Did Penn Badgley know Dan was a Gossip Girl?

No, certainly not in the beginning.

Nobody knew.

The writers have even been...

They've been clear about this.

They had to decide who it was in the last season,

you know, for like a finale.

And I think he made the most sense.

I found out, I think, just right before

we started shooting the episode.

I really didn't know what was coming down the pipe,

but in the end, I'm happy to wear the crown.

The moniker.

Why is Penn Badley Twitter Cardi B?

Is that a sentence?

The world may never know.

First of all, Cardi was the first one to switch her icon.

And then I was like, I think I have to switch my icon now.

Cardi B has just made me her icon.

I think I need to make her mine.

I texted a few friends, I was like,

Hey, what picture of her should I use?

I'm like, what...

I had to do some catch up.

I did use a little quick Google search

and then I saw there was this whole thing behind the wig

and I was like, that's the one.

And it worked.

How old was Penn Badgley in 'Easy A'?

Mm, older than high school.

Criminally old to be playing a high schooler.

22 at least.

But I was lifting more weights then, you know,

broad shouldered Penn Badgley.

23 year old Penn Badgley.

Hmm.

Playing a teenager.

I do love lobster Todd.

Who doesn't?

Get outta here, go Google yourself, huh?

What?

Question, what?

Answer, Penn Badgley.

Okay.

What band is Penn Badgley in?

It's called MOTHXR, spelled with an X.

Tragically hipster X.

Because of legal reasons, by the way.

It's M-O-T-H-X-R.

We just, we wanted the E,

but there are several other Mothers

and one of them served us a cease and desist letter.

In person, actually.

We were outside of a show.

He just strolled up to me after we'd played

and I was talking to some people.

He said Are you Penn Badgley?

And I was like, Yeah.

'Cause a lot of people outside of the shows

would ask me that.

And then he goes, Oh, here.

He pulls out a letter, hands me the cease and desist.

And I was like, oh, we're gonna have to change our name.

What part of Baltimore is Penn Badgley from?

Okay, so I was born in Baltimore.

Johns Hopkins.

I was in the NICU for a while,

so I might have been in the hospital for a few weeks.

My parents at the time lived in Annapolis.

And then I was in Richmond, Virginia.

And then I just, I kept moving as a kid.

So, I really don't know Baltimore.

People give me a lot of credit for being from Baltimore.

I'm not like super from there.

A lot of my family is, they know it well.

I don't.

What I like about you Penn Badgley.

You might be thinking like what do I like about You,

starring Penn Badgley?

No, that's not what that's saying.

That is a show starring Amanda Bynes.

She had a sitcom called What I Like About You,

and I guest starred in an episode,

which was a cross promotion at the time

for the show that I was starring in

on the same network, called Do Over,

which you've never heard of and never seen.

What is Penn Badgley doing now?

This.

Now we're doing Joe Goldberg.

Not a real man.

Joe Goldberg, hey you.

Has this person seen the show?

It's hello.

Hello you.

Hey you.

That's nice.

Oh, he might say hey you.

I think he says hey you like, hey you, in a bathtub.

I think he says it.

Who does Joe Goldberg love?

Nobody.

Let's be careful now.

Nobody.

I mean, I always knew that Love was gonna die.

I did not think she was gonna kill him.

I knew that the show had too long left to go.

Joe Goldberg doesn't even love himself.

This is the thing, some people might say, like, you know,

men are trash, the self-centered narcissistic thing.

Like, narcissists don't love themselves.

They can't love themselves,

and therefore they can't love anybody.

That's my understanding of like the emotional

and mental reality of love and self-love.

Why is Joe Goldberg likable?

Well, because I play him.

Probably not very well.

Meaning if he was a real serial killer,

maybe he wouldn't be that likable.

It's my fault.

I'll go ahead and take it.

I'll take it, I'll take the fall, I'll take the fall.

It's my fault.

And the writers.

Joe from 'You' memes.

Yeah, that's one of the best parts of the show,

let's be honest.

That's like our B roll, are the memes,

which you are responsible for.

So thank you.

Joe Goldberg.

Where does Joe Goldberg get his money?

Yeah, where does he get his money?

Same place that like Arnold Schwarzenegger

got all his bullets in those movies he was in.

The movies.

He got 'em from Hollywood.

So technically he got it from Love's family in season three.

In season two, I mean, let's be real,

making one of those cages,

of which he's made like several now,

that would cost like $35,000 at least.

I mean, he's not paying anybody for the manual labor,

he's doing it himself, which also is remarkable.

It's a good question.

Keep Googling.

How did Joe Goldberg get to Paris?

With his money.

What personality type is Joe from 'You'?

I feel like I just heard this recently.

I feel like I just heard...

INFJ.

Introverted something...

It's like an...

It's an introverted something feeler.

He's not that.

He's a fiction of your imagination and he's a murderer.

What is Joe Goldberg's kill count?

Somebody just told me that entering into season four,

it's 10.

That may be accurate.

If you would've asked me, I would've said something like 13.

Does Joe from 'You' get caught?

Watch the show.

He kind of does.

He gets caught repeatedly and he gets away.

He's a wily little Goldberg.

The question is, will he get caught?

Well, that's a secret I'll never tell.

Is he gonna say it, is he gonna say it, is he gonna say it?

I'm not gonna say it.

Bye!

Penn Badgley favorite books.

So it used to be Kurt Vonnegut was my favorite author.

I really loved Galapagos,

which is not like the one that Kurt Vonnegut fans name.

I have read two books of fiction in the last 10 or 11 years.

Swing Time by Zadie Smith and Parable of the Sower.

Favorite book?

I'll stick with Galapagos, Kurt Vonnegut.

Was Penn Badgley's son in 'You'?

My real son?

No!

No.

Next question.

Does Penn Badgley like playing Joe?

Playing Joe has been very enriching.

I do like it.

I do like it.

I like it the way you like going to the gym

when you know you might throw up.

You ever done CrossFit?

I haven't, but you know, I know of that.

It can be intense.

It's a little bit like that.

Is Penn Badgley nice?

It's not really for me to answer, is it?

I'll leave that up to you.

Bye.

Who does Penn Badgley look like?

Myself.

Thank you very much.

I've heard John Mayer.

I've heard countless other white guys

on television around my age who've been on CW shows

and other things like that.

Dylan O'Brien.

Right?

Shout out to Dylan O'Brien.

I'm not sure that we do look alike, but I hear that.

Did Penn Badgley drop out of middle school?

Yep.

I technically tested out of high school early,

stopped going to middle school, skipped high school,

started taking college courses so I could work adult hours

while I was working in television and film,

which all children should do.

I didn't drop out of my outta middle school,

I dropped out of childhood.

Is Penn Badgley vegan?

No.

I might seem it.

Sometimes it's a compliment.

Sometimes it's offensive.

But no, I was vegan...

I have done it before, but I'm not vegan.

Penn Badgley first TikTok.

Was a hit.

What rock are you living under?

Next.

Penn Badgley dancing.

Yeah, I mean, they're my first love, singing and dancing.

It's a search term.

You know, sometimes I wonder,

sometimes I wonder how we got here.

Who is Penn Badgley married to?

Domino Kirke.

Domino Kirke Badgley.

Domino Suzy Kirk Badgley.

We've been married for pushing on six years.

Happy anniversary baby.

We have two kids.

We have two dogs.

We have an apartment in New York City.

I mean, you know, living the life.

That was a lot of questions.

It was more questions than I thought it would be,

so, I'm good.

I'm good if you're good.

I want you to be good, but I'm good.