Paul Scheer’s memoir, “Happy Memories of Trauma,” is not only a collection of harrowing and humorous confessions, but also a reminder that to persevere, we must work to maintain our passions. Scheer’s first love is expressed in prose and in two podcasts: “How Did This Get Made?” with his wife, June Diane Raphael, and friend Jason Mantzoukas, and “Unspooled” with film critic Amy Nicholson, both of which explore Scheer’s appreciation of Hollywood.
On Sunday Funday, LA residents share their perfect Sunday in the city. Find ideas and inspiration for where to go, what to eat, and how to enjoy life on the weekend.
“Growing up, my escape was movies and TV shows,” Scheer says. “I wanted to act with those characters. I don’t know if it was so much that I wanted to be an actor, but rather that I wanted to live in those worlds. I wanted to live in the apartment from Different Strokes. I wanted to ride the train from Silver Spoons.”
The former New Yorker, whose credits include “The League,” “Black Monday” and “Star Trek: Lower Decks,” hailed his recent appearance on “Night Court” as “the moment when it all came back together,” noting that the original series was something he watched religiously as a child.
Movies now take up a big part of Scheer’s free time — the Los Angeles resident said he spends most of his Sundays with his kids, ages 10 and 7 — but they also give him a chance to share other aspects of his fandom with his family, including sports.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.
7am: Pancakes in cold water
Nothing makes coffee more pleasant than a cold water immersion. I have an inflatable cold water immersion device. First, I turn the chiller on and bring the water down to 50 degrees. I let it sit in there for about 6 minutes.
Sunday is also the day to enjoy takeaway from your favorite restaurants. If it were up to me, I would order pancakes from Du-par’s. They are the best. I live far away, but I can order them and they are cooked in the oven and they come out delicious.
7:30 a.m.: Review the kids’ sports schedules
My weekends are taken up by my kids. I work nonstop from 7am to 9pm, which other people can’t do. I play in an AAU tournament in Seal Beach, then drive to Beverly Hills for a soccer game. I coach the team. It’s great, but it’s not a relaxing time. It’s not like I get a bagel at Courage Bagels and then I think about things.
8:30am: Go on a “street hike” with the family
We’re not going to fancy places. We’re not going to Runyon Canyon. We’re going to hike in our neighborhoods. Urban hiking, street hiking. We’re going to take our dog, Bingo, out on street hikes.
9:30am: Play pickleball in the driveway and bike to the tennis courts.
What I usually do on a Sunday is my family is into pickleball, which is one of my favorite things to do. We either play it at home or go down to Vermont Canyon, which is right by the Greek Theater, and play tennis. I navigate the parks and recreation website to reserve a court, then I bike over to the tennis courts at Vermont Canyon and play for an hour or so.
11am: Head to the driving range
We are an active family. Neither June nor I play golf, but we do have drivers and clubs and go to the driving range with the kids to hit some balls. The days are longer for parents than you’d think and we need a wide variety of activities like Swiss Army. Luckily, we live near Griffith Park so we have lots of options. The kids want to be active, so we get active. That means going to Dave and Buster’s on Sunday afternoons because June is into football and the kids can play games.
12:30 p.m.: Hopefully there will be a Clippers game.
On a perfect Sunday, that would mean a Clippers game at 12:30 p.m. [was] The final year of the 12:30 p.m. match. [Editor’s note: The Clippers are moving into their own venue, and therefore will likely no longer need to schedule the early afternoon games that were a necessity when sharing an arena.] If you know anything about the Clippers, you know that while the 12:30pm game is probably one of the team’s worst games, it’s also the only time you can watch a Clippers game with the whole family.
So I trade my season tickets for Sunday tickets, my family goes to Crypto.com (a name that’s hard to say) and we stock up on snacks and supplies, I eat at LudoBird and the kids get Blaze Pizza, and then we either watch a great two hours of a game or go home disappointed and with some swag we don’t need.
3pm: Take the kids to the movies
I always try to take my family to the movies. The New Beverly often has really fun family programming on the weekends, and the Vista has some great programming on the weekends. I try to convince them: “Let’s go see Fred MacMurray in The Absent Minded Professor.” Sometimes it works really well. I showed Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time in the afternoon at the New Beverly, and it was great. I showed Jason and the Argonauts, and it didn’t work as well for me.
If I want to see a new movie, I go to the Alamo Drafthouse, where they eat like pigs for the entire 90 minutes, so the kids are hooked on the movie. As long as there’s a shake in front of them, they’re having a good time, but I try to get them interested. I love the Vidiots programming. They have great afternoon movies for families. Fun movies that you wouldn’t necessarily think of. Not necessarily “School of Rock.” A little more left-wing. I like to show my kids older movies to open their minds.
3pm Alternative: Trampoline
On rainy days or when the kids are in a bad mood, there is one place we can go. It’s a place the whole family can go and it will turn any frown on your face. It’s a trampoline park called Sky Zone. It’s basically a world of trampolines. Trampoline basketball. Trampolines on the wall. Jumping over foam pits. Sword fighting like in the movie American Gladiator. Sky Zone is a fun place we go to on Sundays. Accidents can happen at any time. My pediatrician says “don’t go there.” I went once and tore a hip muscle. But I keep going back.
5:30 p.m.: A fresh take on a chain classic
The next big plan for the day is dinner. I take dinner seriously. I have to choose something everyone will like. We can’t go to a fancy restaurant. The whole family has to participate. I love this. [pop-up] It’s a chain of restaurants. Famous chefs make your favorite fast food super delicious. They recreate Taco Bell tacos with Wagyu beef. They even made the classic McDonald’s french fries.
One of the best nights I’ve ever had was doing a Pizza Hut pizza re-creation. We redid the whole place to look like an old Pizza Hut, with a salad bar and sneeze guards. This chain is popular with families because not only do they have great food, they also have food the kids want to eat. It makes you feel like a kid again. I love the atmosphere. It’s like when my parents take me to Bennigan’s.
8pm: Chill out with some pie
Often times I crave ice cream. Some people stop by on their way home. My kids tell me to. But I’m lactose intolerant so I go to Magpies. I love the pies here. They make amazing slices. We all get our own slice of frozen yogurt pie. The strawberry pie is unbelievable. We often sit in the car and we all get our own slice of pie.