30 a.m. Every Day for This Very Sweet Reason (Exclusive): Ted Danson and Wife Mary Steenburgen Wake Up at 4

Ted DansonandMary Steenburgen have their morning routine down pat!

While speaking to PEOPLE for this week's issue, Danson sheds some light on what his date nights with Steenburgen consist of nowadays. The duo first met in 1983, tied the knot in October 1995 and will mark 30 years of marriage next fall.

"Date nights are kind of, at my age, date early bird specials," Danson, 76, says with a laugh.

Though the couple do have fun on their nights out, Danson says they find more enjoyment spending time together in the early morning hours.

"The most fun is the early mornings, 4:30 in the morning, coffee in bed, playing Wordle, Connections, and Spelling Bee, talking and laughing and sharing," he says, referencing the online games created by The New York Times. "To both of us, it's like heaven on Earth."

And despite busy schedules from their respective careers, the Cheers actor says distance never prevents them from maintaining their beloved morning routine.

"Even if she's working in a different time zone, we will wake up in time to be able to play our games and have coffee over the phone," he shares of Steenburgen, 71.

Part of the reason Danson cherishes those moments so much is because he didn't meet theElf actress until later in life. The two were in their 40s and both previously married when they met at an audition in the early '80s.

Just a year before their meeting, Danson says he had committed himself to being a better man — a decision he believes helped prepare him to be Steenburgen's future husband.

"I had, about a year before, decided I want to become a more emotionally mature, honest human being," he recalls of that period in his 40s. "I worked very hard at it or I don't think Mary Steenburgen would've even seen me."

Because of that, Danson is confident that they wouldn't have worked out if they met earlier in life.

"Guarantee you the answer is no. I'll just speak for myself," he says. "I was not really fully emotionally baked until shortly before I met Mary ... Thank God we di -

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dn't meet earlier."

Besides his happy marriage to Steenburgen, Danson has a lot to be grateful for these days.

The legendary actor has been staying busy by co-hosting a podcast, Where Everybody Knows Your Name, with his former Cheers costarWoody Harrelson, and embracing his role as father and grandfather. (He shares daughters Kate, 44, and Alexis, 39, with his ex-wife Casey Coates, and is stepdad to Steenburgen'schildrenLilly Walton, 43, and Charlie McDowell, 41, whom she shares with ex-husbandMalcolm McDowell.)

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And now, he's starring in Netflix'sA Man on the Inside. In the new series, which was based on Maite Alberdi's 2020 documentaryThe Mole Agent,Dansonplays Charles, a retired professor who loses his wife and discovers a new hobby as a private investigator’s assistant, infiltrating a senior living facility to help solve a case.

The show explores themes around aging and the idea that life doesn't stop as one gets older — so it's no surprise that Danson was immediately drawn to the project as someone who is far from slowing down.

"I'm so happy because I'm 76 and I get to be part of this conversation, which is becoming more and more of my conversation in life," he says. "Life doesn't end until it ends, so keep going."

"And for us people, my age and older, you still have something to contribute hugely," he adds. "So get out there and keep going, and the way you engage life right up until the end is an inspiration to those younger people behind that are coming up and your children. Because a lot of times people think there's a shelf life to creativity and contributing to life. There isn't. That's self-imposed."

For more on Ted Danson, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribehere.

A Man on the Inside is now streaming on Netflix.

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