Austin Butler can bail out of airplanes on "Masters of the Air" — but he also knows how to bail on a bad date.
On "The Drew Barrymore Show", Barrymore revealed to Butler and his costar Callum Turner that she was nervous about going on her "first date in a long time." Lucky for her, Butler gave her advice on how to leave if the vibes are off — and even volunteered to be her "get out of here free" phone call.
Watch a clip of the conversation here:
"First of all, the gentleman offered to pick me up, which I was so bowled over by I was like, 'Sure! That's a gentlemanly thing to do.'" Barrymore said. "And then we were going to go all the way downtown to this long dinner. Everyone says when you go on a date with someone, don't do the dinner, do a drink, but I don't know better!"
Though Barrymore was nervous and wondered if dinner was too much for a first date, Butler reassured her that going for dinner was the smart move because it allows for deeper conversation than a chat over drinks.
"Then you know if it doesn't work," Butler said. "You get to actually talk. And yeah, you're gonna have a great time."
But Barrymore was still anxious.
"What if you get weird vibes right out of the gate though," she asked. "Then what?"
Butler and Turner filled her in on a convenient dating hack guaranteed to help anyone stuck on a bad dinner date make a clean exit. All you have to do, Butler explained, is excuse yourself to the bathroom and text a friend telling them to call you. Once you've returned to the dinner table moments later, your phone rings with news that requires your immediate attention. There's no need to be specific — a shocked face and a quick "I have to go," will suffice.
Barrymore was stunned by these newfangled social mores. "Can you do that?" she asked, surprised.
Butler then offered to be her escape call. "I'll be your friend," he said.
Barrymore immediately took him up on the offer as her suitor is a "complete stranger." Not technically a blind date, she clarified, but he might as well be: her only interaction with the man has been through a dating app.
Butler said he "can't wait to get updates" from Barrymore about how it goes.
"Please be my 'get out of here free' call," she insisted.
"Yeah, just send me a text and I'll call," Butler said.
We've all had at least one date that we desperately wanted to get out of. And Barrymore, who is so sweet and polite she never even considered feigning an emergency to ditch a bad date, now has Butler waiting in the wings to come to her rescue. Here's hoping Drew makes a genuine connection and won't have to send that text.
Catch new episodes of "Masters of the Air" Fridays on Apple TV+.
