Noah Wyle credits a trash can lid for surviving an emu attack
Noah Wyle recounts surviving a wild animal encounter that veers from terrifying to hilarious — and the unexpected attacker is not the creature you’re probably picturing.
When Noah Wyle told the story on the Good Hang podcast, he painted a very un-Captain America picture: cornered by protective emu parents on his California ranch, he grabbed the nearest “shield” — a trash can lid. Co-host Amy Poehler joked it sounded like a superhero moment. Wyle said not exactly.
“Not quite, more like coward America,” Wyle responded.
Wyle said the emus, which he described as “not very friendly,” turned aggressive after having babies. He compared their kicks to velociraptors, explaining the birds strike with powerful feet — enough to make even a seasoned animal lover back up fast.
“And I was crouched down thinking about all the headlines I would not want to read about how I was killed by an emu. So, I kind of bumrushed them and got past them and thought, ‘Uh, that's it,’” he said.
The actor and his wife, Sara Wyle, keep goats, chickens and other rescues on their California ranch — emus included. He’s comfortable around most of the animals, he said, but wrangling a panicked, post‑hatch emu pair was a new one even for him.
At home, the “dish maven”
Off the ranch, Wyle joked that he holds a very different title at home — even after being named PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive recently. In a chat with PEOPLE, he said there’s one chore he proudly owns.
“I am the dish maven. The sink is my domain,” Wyle said.
He added that doing the dishes feels oddly therapeutic — a way to zone out for a few minutes and still feel like he’s making a real contribution around the house.