If Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin needs to be humbled, his former leading man Josh Charles is more than happy to help. In a recent interview with Esquire, the actor demured when asked if receiving a Sorkin script was akin to “Christmas morning,” telling reporter Dave Holmes: “Eh.”

Charles, who starred as sportscaster Dan Rydell on Sorkin’s Sports Night, which ran on ABC from 1998 to 2000, clarified that “certain scripts…were absolutely mind-blowing,” adding, “The man has a gift. No one would dispute that he has an incredible gift for writing. But I don't know if it’s like…I wouldn’t look at every one and open it up like it was Christmas. Everybody’s human and some are better than others.”

Although Sorkin now directs many of his own scripts, including The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Being the Ricardos, Charles said he prefers when other filmmakers take the reins. “I think that’s where Aaron’s stuff even sings more, when there’s a [David] Fincher or a Warren Beatty or a Rob Reiner,” he explained.

Later in the interview, Charles expressed worry that Holmes had been disappointed by his Sorkin comments. “I’m trying to be as respectful as I can, and I appreciate his talent,” Charles said. “I really do. But I also feel like there’s enough people that think he’s the second coming of Jesus Christ, you know? His self probably included. But you asked me a question and I wanted to give you an honest answer.”

The actor then pointed to a pair of Sports Night episodes that he does deem exceptional—season one’s “The Apology” and “The Quality of Mercy at 29K,” continuing, “There were so many times where it was like this writing is incredible. And then there were other times where I would say this writing’s very aware of itself and it’s very much in the room with you always. I guess it just became a taste thing. People respond to it, but performing it on a weekly basis, I found it not my cup of tea.”

This is not Charles’s first time criticizing his one-time boss. Last October, he tweeted an excerpt from Vanity Fair’s conversation with Sorkin in which the filmmaker discussed allegations of workplace abuse made against Sorkin’s former collaborator, producer Scott Rudin. “The whole interview was cringeworthy, but this particular little nugget was especially rich for me,” Charles wrote alongside a quote where Sorkin said, “I take a lot of pride in creating a place where people are really happy to come to work, where they feel a sense of ownership, a sense of authorship, a sense of family.” 

Charles then shared a 2014 Inside Amy Schumer sketch he starred in called “The Foodroom,” which skewers Sorkin’s moralistic monologues and ends with the tagline, “Bestowed upon you by Aaron Sorkin.”

“I don’t hate the man,” Charles tweeted, “and actually feel kinda bad for him as being both the most insecure and egotistical must be really hard.”

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