Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament sit down with Bill Simmons | The Bill Simmons Podcast

Definitely would love to see Rick Beato spend an hour with these guys.

In 2019 I flew to Seattle to chill with my cousin and his family. He's in this hip little neighborhood called West Seattle, which has a ton of cool shops, bars, restaurants, and an old school theater called The Admiral. One night, we walked to The Admiral to catch Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. As the previews were stating, a guy walked in, waving his hands to get the attention of two women behind us. I tapped my cousin on the shoulder and said "dude, that's Eddie Vedder." My cuz looks up, and said "holy shit, that's Eddie Vedder." I Googled his wife, and sure enough, she was one of the gals behind us. As the movie ended, we went to the lobby and saw them. We were heading to the exit, and I was next in line behind him. He was holding the door open for me, and as I was going to attempt to speak with him, I noticed two elderly women behind me. I couldn't in good conscience not hold the door for them, so I thanked him for holding the door and told him I got it. He noticed that I was holding the door for the women, looked me dead in my face, and said "good for you, man." Getting recognition for holding the door from him was equally as cool as actually talking with him. He walked off with the women, and that was that. As a now 42 year old growing up in Houston, it was almost like seeing Bugs Bunny in real life. Was a cool moment.

Its hard to imagine that Jeff Ament is over 60 years old.

Beautiful to see how close Eddie and Jeff are after all these years.

Much gratitude to Vedder and Ament for providing time and for their openness. Mr. Simmons, thank you as well. I'm 56, been to every PJ tour since 1995, and thoroughly enjoyed the open conversation. This is one of the first times that I've seen someone address the authenticity vide which was a necessity in the 1990's. Also, I do miss the pre-social media days. If a person wanted to insult, disparage, or criticize another, it was done face-to-face, or vocally. Consideration for fellow human beings is lost in today's world because of Social Media.

Some horrible/dumb questions... very nicely handled by Jeff and Eddie.

Eddie Vedder to me, seems unbelievably unbothered by everything around him, but deeply caring in what interests him, awesome man, I’m 45 and have never really heard or came across interviews with him, now will never pass another one by

You guys saved a lot of lives with Ten. Your honesty in your lyrics reached many kids, my son included. I love you guys and I am so thankful.

Don't think Eddie cares for a lot of Bill's questions

I wish a man would look at me the way Jeff looks at Ed. 😍

Eddie has a supernatural quality to him. I can't stop watching him, even when he isn't speaking. Amazing.

A few years back I went to a local shop to get a new fin for my surfboard. Place was empty, just me and my wife. I'm sitting there waiting for the shop guy to get my fin and the door opens up and some guy with his kid walk in and start looking at the boards rack in front of me. I don't pay them much attention, just keeping my nose in my phone, browsing. Then I see out of my peripheral that the guy was moving closer to me, so I glance up... and it's Eddie. After my brain de-fizzles enough I work up enough gumption to say, "Eddie?" He looks over and says "Yeah?" I got up and walked up to him... he put his hand out and I shook it. We chatted for about 2-3 minutes. Feeling like I had taken enough of his time, I ask if he'd mind taking a selfie, He says "sure." I snap a couple and thank him and sat back down on the bench to wait for my fin. He walked out of the room a few moments later. I got back on my phone to text my wife about what just happened, and midtext I hear a little voice, "Excuse me..." I look up and it was his daughter. She was maybe 10 or 11 at the time.. and she goes "Dad said to give you this." and hands me one of his picks. I've been a life-long fan of his and the band... and was already beside myself getting to chat with him as long as I did. Him sending over the pick was such a thoughtful and genuinely cool gesture. They say don't meet your heroes... but sometimes, it works out pretty great when you do.

Saw Pearl Jam July 1998 in Seattle. A park by the needle. As a 20 yr old kid, it was the amazing moment in my life at the time. I crowd surfed over the security gate and Eddie was right in front of me. Thank you for that guys!

I have no idea who the interviewer is, but he annoyed the hell out of me with his constant interruptions and attempts to lead Jeff and Ed's answers. Ed is a very thoughtful speaker, it would have been nice to give him enough space and time to fully develop his responses without getting interrupted constantly. I loved Jeff's input though, and it's beautiful to see how well they two get along after so many years.

Jeff Ament hasn't aged a day. Awesome to learn about their batting cage!

Eddie ain’t playing games lmaoooo love it

The idea of seeing Ed inspecting avocados in a grocery store is hilarious. I'd be like, nah, that can't be him.

I was at that Del Mar show Jeff is talking about at Bing Crosby Pavilion. They opened for Nirvana and Chili Peppers. I had no idea who they were. Ed climbs the lighting rig and is shaking it back and forth. He hangs upside down from the top. It was so high. He rides the audience and then comes back and finishes the song. They were so good RHCP and Nirvana should have opened for them. It was life altering watching that.

Any band which can stay together for decades deserves respect. Metallica, The Rolling Stones, U2, Aerosmith, even Coldplay.

eddie's intense personality always gets all the attention (good and bad) but jeff and stone really need some credit for persevering with music and being determined to make a band that would last from the very beginning. even though stone and jeff never got along very well they were committed to making a band stay together and willing to work through whatever problems came up.