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This show is sponsored by BetterHelp.
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But look at how fast, we re almost halfway through the year.
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Crazy.
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SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
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Are you proud of what you ve done in 2024 so far?
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I know.
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I mean, you always want to do more, right?
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SPEAKER_04
Life goes so fast, David.
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It s important to take a moment to celebrate your wins, make adjustments for the rest of the year.
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SPEAKER_04
Therapy can help you take stock of your progress and set achievable goals for the next six months.
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SPEAKER_04
Yeah.
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SPEAKER_02
Listen, therapy is the way to go.
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SPEAKER_02
I did it for a while.
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And I think the thing that slowed me down was what they, is driving to Santa Monica in traffic once or twice a week.
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SPEAKER_02
This is online.
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SPEAKER_02
It s a great idea.
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SPEAKER_02
Very convenient.
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SPEAKER_02
It helps you.
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SPEAKER_02
You ve got coping skills, how to set boundaries.
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I mean, there s so many things you can do here to be a better version of yourself.
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SPEAKER_02
You can probably always sharpen it.
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SPEAKER_04
Yeah, I mean, I had a therapist in Portland and I would commute and that was a pain.
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SPEAKER_02
That s a long drive.
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SPEAKER_04
I know it was 1300 miles one way, but you know, it s good therapist.
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SPEAKER_04
But yeah, this one you can mix and match and your thoughts kind of control you and you want to master them.
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SPEAKER_04
And when you talk to someone else, they re able to kind of discern it out.
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SPEAKER_04
So if you re thinking of starting to give therapy a try, give better help a try.
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SPEAKER_02
Yeah, it s entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, suited to your schedule.
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You fill out a questionnaire, get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapist if you want to for any reason, no charge.
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SPEAKER_02
Take a moment, visit betterhelp.com slash FOTW today.
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SPEAKER_02
Get 10% off your first month.
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SPEAKER_04
That s betterhelp, H-E-L-P.com slash F-O-T-W.
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SPEAKER_04
Here s what I want to say just to our fans right now.
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I ll get over here a little bit.
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SPEAKER_02
Okay, we re going.
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SPEAKER_04
Hey, we re really... Talk to us.
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Hi, this is Dana.
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We re in a two-shot.
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I just want to lean in and kind of talk directly to the fans.
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SPEAKER_04
You want me to lean out?
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SPEAKER_04
No, you re part of the deal.
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SPEAKER_04
You re definitely my partner.
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SPEAKER_04
I just want to thank you all for listening to this thing, because I got a fuck ton of bills in my life, and I got what you call a big nut, and I m not talking effectively.
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So I thank you for listening, and I know you re usually driving and doing something else, but I have no anger about that.
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SPEAKER_04
I m just glad you re listening, and I hope it brings you a smile.
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SPEAKER_04
David, would you like to address your fans?
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SPEAKER_02
I ll lean out.
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SPEAKER_02
I hope it brings more than that.
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SPEAKER_02
I d hate to go.
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SPEAKER_02
I listened to that hour and a half shit and I got one smile out of it.
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SPEAKER_01
What, are you reading the comments?
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SPEAKER_01
You never can read the comments.
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SPEAKER_01
I do.
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SPEAKER_01
I wish I could be like John Morant and not care.
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I care about the comments.
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SPEAKER_01
I know.
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SPEAKER_01
Well, don t start waving anything around in my face.
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SPEAKER_01
I should wave a gun during these.
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SPEAKER_04
I will take a vow right now that if you wave a weapon, I will not take a video with my phone and post it.
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because you re my friend that s trying to help me in my life.
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SPEAKER_02
You want to steer me the right way.
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SPEAKER_02
But we would have Stephen Smith talking about us if I wave a gun.
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SPEAKER_03
David Spade, he was a good guy.
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SPEAKER_03
I used to like him.
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SPEAKER_03
The gun.
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SPEAKER_03
Carvey should have wrestled it away.
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SPEAKER_04
You cannot have this person do five rebounds in a half and expect to go to the championships.
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SPEAKER_04
I think the guy, I ve been watching him.
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SPEAKER_04
Stephen, if you re watching, gotta come on your show.
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SPEAKER_04
I kind of think that is a giant brain.
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SPEAKER_04
He does some long riffs and I don t know, we know someone here in our studio knows him, but if that stuff is extemporaneous after the half and what he s coming up with, I m a fan.
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SPEAKER_04
David?
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SPEAKER_04
Jason Sudeikis.
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SPEAKER_04
Jason Sudeikis.
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Is a guy who has trouble spelling his last name.
0
SPEAKER_04
I m calling you Davey Segway.
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He s an all-time great cast member.
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SPEAKER_04
And then of course we did do a deep dive into Ted Lasso, which is such a lightning in a bottle, incredible show.
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David?
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SPEAKER_04
We did a deep dive.
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I watched the pilot.
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I watched every episode and then gave you the cliff notes.
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So we met somewhere in the middle.
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SPEAKER_02
I was like, so far it seems like soccer s involved.
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SPEAKER_02
Let me know if I m close.
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This is me texting David.
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Yeah, it s in England.
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No, he s great.
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SPEAKER_02
I ve heard about Ted Lasso for the last three years and he s always good on the show.
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SPEAKER_02
He was super cool.
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SPEAKER_02
We did it in here, in my pad.
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SPEAKER_02
We had a blast.
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SPEAKER_02
He s just a fun dude.
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SPEAKER_02
He likes to talk, didn t dodge.
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SPEAKER_02
We just blabbed about everything and he was a crack up, man.
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SPEAKER_02
I had a good time that day.
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SPEAKER_02
I would say that he,
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that was the first time like doing this podcast, you get to like sit with someone directly for well over an hour and get to know him.
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SPEAKER_04
So I really got to know him.
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SPEAKER_04
And he s a wise, he s an old soul.
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SPEAKER_04
Sorry, I hate that cliche, but he says some really wise stuff and philosophical stuff, maybe coming from Kansas s own Jason, incredibly humble, regular guy.
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SPEAKER_04
And I was fascinated how Ted Lasso came about and the origins of it and where it went and how much of his personality and the genius of a lot of moments in that show that you just don t see coming.
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Yeah, so hard to put together a show that works, so hard to get it to be a universal hit like that.
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And
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They did, they put the secret sauce together.
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It s very, that s a huge accomplishment.
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We talked about everything you could think of, Dana.
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You know what you said once?
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You said something nice.
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SPEAKER_02
You said, you have an old face.
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SPEAKER_02
And I said, an old soul?
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SPEAKER_04
Old face, no, it was an old voice.
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SPEAKER_02
Oh.
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SPEAKER_04
No, I said you had a, he has a very cool voice.
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SPEAKER_04
I ve told you you had a cool voice, but you never take me seriously.
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SPEAKER_04
I get texts later.
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SPEAKER_04
Did you mean that about the cool voice?
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SPEAKER_02
Dana, tell me again.
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SPEAKER_02
Look at this.
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I used to do this with my pen.
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Can you see that?
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and the shitty camera, look at this.
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Then I go like this, pew, take that teacher.
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SPEAKER_04
Oswald.
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SPEAKER_04
David, I like when older guys go out with a young woman and they say, it s not because she s young, she s an old soul.
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So she s an old soul who happens to have a great ass.
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Great ass.
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SPEAKER_04
I don t care about the fact that she s 19 with an incredible ass.
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SPEAKER_04
I m attracted to her.
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SPEAKER_04
She s brought out of high school.
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SPEAKER_04
It has nothing to do with that.
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SPEAKER_04
I m 91, hello.
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SPEAKER_04
I m Horned Dog Billy.
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SPEAKER_04
Jason.
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SPEAKER_04
We re gonna get letters.
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SPEAKER_02
No, we re fine.
0
SPEAKER_04
We re getting letters.
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SPEAKER_04
Jason Sudeikis.
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SPEAKER_02
Yeah, we better start.
0
SPEAKER_04
We re gonna enjoy this.
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It s a very mellow conversation, very informative and real, just about how people like Jason get to be Jason.
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And this is a really interesting journey.
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I would listen if I were you.
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SPEAKER_04
Don t pause it.
0
SPEAKER_04
I m talking to the people in the car.
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SPEAKER_02
They re like, I just gotta go into work now.
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SPEAKER_02
You know, it s good that no one works anymore.
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SPEAKER_02
Skip work.
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SPEAKER_04
No, because no one works anymore.
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SPEAKER_02
You ever heard of this?
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SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
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SPEAKER_04
Fun employment.
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SPEAKER_04
Instead of unemployment, put an F on it, fun employment.
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SPEAKER_04
It s like you kind of quit your job and you just travel the world.
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SPEAKER_04
You ever thought of doing that?
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SPEAKER_02
I m soft quitting this podcast.
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SPEAKER_02
I d stop talking.
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SPEAKER_04
That s a good one, soft quitting.
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SPEAKER_02
Should we end on that?
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SPEAKER_02
I like a soft opening of a restaurant.
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SPEAKER_02
When I pull my wiener out, they go, this is a soft opening.
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SPEAKER_02
Wiener?
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SPEAKER_04
Where are you from?
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1968?
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SPEAKER_04
Wiener?
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SPEAKER_04
You call it a gash?
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SPEAKER_04
Wiener!
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SPEAKER_02
I don t like when girls use medical terms.
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SPEAKER_04
Jason Sudeikis!
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SPEAKER_04
Do you know David has adult candy bars all throughout the house and one in the elevator?
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SPEAKER_04
Sorry, inside baseball.
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SPEAKER_02
I got stuck in the elevator once.
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SPEAKER_04
Well, he has an elevator.
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SPEAKER_02
It s time you learned.
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SPEAKER_02
He only gets paid scale plus a million.
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SPEAKER_04
So you did Joe Biden in the early days.
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Him 2012.
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SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
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Where he s kind of a... Way in 08.
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SPEAKER_00
I mean, I did him in the... I mean, the first time I did him was like when some Christmas episode of maybe 2007 or something like that, and I forgot.
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SPEAKER_00
And then when Obama picked Biden as his running mate, Fred Armisen texted me saying, congrats.
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SPEAKER_00
I was like, well, for what?
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SPEAKER_00
He goes, Biden.
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SPEAKER_00
I go, I play Biden?
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SPEAKER_00
He goes, yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
I played SpongeBob SquarePants.
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SPEAKER_00
It was a Halloween sketch and I was like, oh right.
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SPEAKER_00
I was like, I guess that means I can do it.
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SPEAKER_02
You already had it locked in.
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SPEAKER_00
I mean, unintentionally, yeah.
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SPEAKER_00
And then I got to do it and be, you know.
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SPEAKER_00
who was the magician that went on after the Beatles on Ed Sullivan.
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SPEAKER_00
Basically, I lived that existence playing Joe Biden in the vice presidential debates against Tina Fey s Sarah Palin.
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SPEAKER_00
Exactly, there s the metaphor.
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SPEAKER_04
They look alike, they sound alike, it ll blow your mind.
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SPEAKER_00
Yeah, and just everybody was clamoring for it and she crushed it.
0
SPEAKER_00
And yeah, I had fun runs written by Jim Downey and Seth, but everybody was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
Okay, there we go, here we go.
0
SPEAKER_04
He was full sunglass Corvette guy.
0
SPEAKER_04
He was at Alpha at that point.
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SPEAKER_04
point compared to, you know, he s older now.
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SPEAKER_00
So it was a different take on it.
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SPEAKER_00
Paternal, very, very grand paternal.
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SPEAKER_04
That s all I got.
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SPEAKER_00
That s kind of close.
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SPEAKER_04
Good Lord.
0
SPEAKER_04
So we have Kansas  own.
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SPEAKER_02
Kansas  own.
1
SPEAKER_02
I play basketball.
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SPEAKER_02
The only thing I ask, I ll ask this first.
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SPEAKER_00
Could you touch the rim?
1
SPEAKER_00
I could.
1
SPEAKER_00
Could you dunk a baseball?
1
SPEAKER_00
I could dunk a baseball, yes.
1
SPEAKER_00
I ve probably dunked a basketball 10 times in my life.
1
SPEAKER_00
Shut up.
1
SPEAKER_00
Never during a game with a referee.
1
SPEAKER_00
I was just talking about this yesterday.
1
SPEAKER_00
Any witnesses?
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SPEAKER_00
There s basketball going on right now.
1
SPEAKER_00
You know, a lot of basketballs, so I m just... So you re 6 2 or 6 1?
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SPEAKER_00
6 1.
1
SPEAKER_00
What s your wingspan?
1
SPEAKER_00
Oh, probably 6 1.
1
SPEAKER_00
Nothing spectacular.
1
SPEAKER_02
So you had a pretty good vertical to get a basketball.
1
SPEAKER_00
It was also adrenaline.
1
SPEAKER_00
I also had a lot of friends that could jump, and so it s a little bit of peer pressure that way, too, where it s just, come on, just shut up and do it.
1
SPEAKER_00
But I do remember if I dunked 10 times, six of them, six of those times were one day after playing basketball, like in between junior, senior year, you know.
1
SPEAKER_00
No, no, sophomore, junior year, like during summer.
1
SPEAKER_02
That s unreal, dude.
1
SPEAKER_02
My dad put up a nine foot hoop and it fucked all the kids because we were awesome on the nine foot hoop.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then we go to high school, what the hell is it doing?
1
SPEAKER_00
Air ball after air ball.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, exactly.
1
SPEAKER_00
I can get the net.
1
SPEAKER_00
I can dunk on the net.
1
SPEAKER_00
Nine foot is awesome.
1
SPEAKER_00
It s less of a big deal now.
1
SPEAKER_00
I feel like shooting threes off the dribble is what it s all about now because of Steph Curry and whatnot.
1
SPEAKER_00
But back when I was playing, dunking was the biggest deal in the world.
1
SPEAKER_00
I mean, that s – I was the test market for those strength shoes that they –
1
SPEAKER_02
that would kind of create that.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I mean, I had a pair for the legit reason, I would jump rope in them all the time.
1
SPEAKER_00
A lot of time spent on that, but yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
You know, when they do it now, they go past half court, it s like one step, two steps, shoot it, and you go, Jesus, how do you guard?
1
SPEAKER_01
You don t even know what s happening.
1
SPEAKER_01
He changed everything.
1
SPEAKER_01
It s just one, two, boom, and you go, and then they make it 90% of the time.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, him, Caitlin Clark, on the women s college circuit too.
1
SPEAKER_00
I mean, it s all over the place, all over the world, yeah, just shooting.
1
SPEAKER_00
You play Sandler?
1
SPEAKER_00
Adam and I have played, I think we may have played once or twice, but not enough to have a scouting report.
1
SPEAKER_00
I hear he s good.
1
SPEAKER_00
He gets into it.
1
SPEAKER_00
He s competitive too.
1
SPEAKER_00
Oh yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, like get open you don t talk to me like that Jesus happy Gilmore, I m not Check the call sheet.
1
SPEAKER_01
I all right.
1
SPEAKER_00
You are not triggering financing out here, but we are all the same no I
1
SPEAKER_00
But no he plays he s played in the game with my buddy Sam Jones that I ve played in a few times and buddy Brad Morris But yeah, I haven t played like maybe once or twice I mean the probably the best the most fun I d have playing in the Was was hearing the stories of Gary Shandling s game then getting invited to go play in that with Sarah Silver Oh, yeah, yeah, and and before he passed and then and then a huge thing was when when Gary was like hey You can come without Sarah if you want
1
SPEAKER_00
Oh, that s a big deal.
1
SPEAKER_00
Like a lovely sort of, because I d read about that game forever.
1
SPEAKER_00
Oh yeah, in Shanley s house.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, absolutely.
1
SPEAKER_00
Sarah, you, I mean, who were the regulars?
1
SPEAKER_00
Oh my gosh, I mean, McKay was there.
1
SPEAKER_00
Jimmy Miller.
1
SPEAKER_00
Jimmy was there a couple of times.
1
SPEAKER_01
I used to go to the early, not early, early days, but there was a run there when I went and I was no good and I sort of got pushed in the background.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, just not the emails.
1
SPEAKER_01
And you need to do a mugsy bogues out there.
1
SPEAKER_01
I was I was like, you know, distraction, whatever they call it.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I just want you out there like on the side, just like, you know, we need a new guy.
1
SPEAKER_01
We need five to keep it even.
1
SPEAKER_01
You go out there and run around circles.
1
SPEAKER_02
Or a spud web.
1
SPEAKER_02
I would have been a spud web.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, no, I got out of that quickly.
1
SPEAKER_02
I was I was D basketball in high school and our center was literally 5-3 He controlled the paint.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, that was when they had D basketball five foot tall 91 pounds as a freshman.
1
SPEAKER_02
What about you?
1
SPEAKER_02
Were you always a bearded stud in high school?
1
SPEAKER_00
No, no, I was it was a beard of acne like any of us, right?
1
SPEAKER_00
I don t think I could grow a beard until about an hour before I got here.
1
SPEAKER_00
I
1
SPEAKER_02
How d you get rid of the acne?
1
SPEAKER_02
Because I had it bad too and I bought all the products.
1
SPEAKER_02
And then once I said, fuck it, I m not going to put anything on it.
1
SPEAKER_02
And then within two months it went away.
1
SPEAKER_02
Isn t that something?
1
SPEAKER_00
Did you do that?
1
SPEAKER_00
It was a little bit like it just kind of went away.
1
SPEAKER_00
Like a lot of things that have affected me or fallen on me as
1
SPEAKER_00
almost maybe psychosomatic things, whether it be patches in growing a beard or back pain.
1
SPEAKER_00
So much of it, I think, is where you re at mentally.
1
SPEAKER_00
And there s so much attention put on that.
1
SPEAKER_00
And my mom, bless her heart, was always really more worried about it than I was, because I m not looking at my face all day.
1
SPEAKER_00
We re looking at our eyes.
1
SPEAKER_00
And so she was really adamant.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yes, she had me going through all this stuff, going to
1
SPEAKER_00
a dermatologist, and I think it did exacerbate the problem.
1
SPEAKER_02
I put Stridex Medicaid pads, and every time, and I realized later, it took me about a year to go, it s just making it worse.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, it just hurts.
1
SPEAKER_01
Stridex fucking dries you out, and I didn t know it as a kid.
1
SPEAKER_02
And the oil comes gushing in, and then you know what s gonna happen.
1
SPEAKER_00
Exactly.
1
SPEAKER_00
playing, you know, pseudo dermatologist, you know, scars from trying to get rid of things, you know, preemptively versus just learning the patience of just letting it be.
1
SPEAKER_02
How the mind controls everything.
1
SPEAKER_00
Let s just not get laid this year and let s just ride it out.
1
SPEAKER_00
Let s take it easy.
1
SPEAKER_02
Were you in high school, were you like captain of the team or you were kind of a funny guy with your friends?
1
SPEAKER_00
What was your lane?
1
SPEAKER_00
Funny guy, like I was the point guard.
1
SPEAKER_00
So like kind of a de facto, you know, captain in the sense that you re coming down.
1
SPEAKER_00
Varsity starter?
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
1
SPEAKER_00
As a junior.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
1
SPEAKER_00
So you were good.
1
SPEAKER_00
I was decent.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
For my area and like my skill level.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
I was, I wasn t too shabby, but um,
1
SPEAKER_00
But yeah, I mean, I definitely, I mean, a lot of what we do on Ted Lasso is my experience of what it s like in locker rooms, you know, people joking around.
1
SPEAKER_00
We were a very fun group of guys.
1
SPEAKER_00
I have very thoughtful friends, guys that I m still, you know, very close with and friends with to this day.
1
SPEAKER_00
And we just, yeah, we joked around a lot.
1
SPEAKER_00
Much of the chagrin, I think, of our, you know, our, you know, very athletic-minded Alpha head coach, who was lovely and playful as well, but more playful when we were listening and winning.
1
SPEAKER_02
We had the same situation with a cross-country track distance running coach.
1
SPEAKER_02
Blood, gut, and hair, real ex-Marine, all that stuff.
1
SPEAKER_02
So were you kind of the funny guy on the team?
1
SPEAKER_02
Because I was with a lot of guys who had great sense of humor, and I think I kind of developed as a comedian in high school sports running.
1
SPEAKER_02
Oh, 100%.
1
SPEAKER_02
Because they would laugh at everything I said.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, and also, I always grew up around and gravitated towards funny people.
1
SPEAKER_00
I had funny friends, and they were funny in different ways.
1
SPEAKER_00
Like my friend Chris was more of like, oh, what if this happened?
1
SPEAKER_00
And then another guy is like more like wordplay.
1
SPEAKER_00
And another guy is like a guy you do character voices with.
1
SPEAKER_00
Another guy is the guy that we would do fake radio shows with.
1
SPEAKER_00
Or then when I got a video camera in sixth grade, the guy that you d make fake talk shows with, you know.
1
SPEAKER_00
doing both of your guys stuff, you know, being like an SNL, you know, fanatic at that point, especially before you start going out on weekends, you know, on Saturdays and having a friend that can drive.
1
SPEAKER_00
Like, you know, we did, I did that all the time with, with all these different groups.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then my sisters did singing and dancing at like a,
1
SPEAKER_00
place called Miller Marley.
1
SPEAKER_00
And so I was around all those type of like more overt theater folks, you know, the people that wanted to do musicals that did, you know, summer stock, you know, in Kansas City.
1
SPEAKER_01
In Kansas doesn t have a big comedy scene, right?
1
SPEAKER_01
It s just more it was a theater improv situation.
1
SPEAKER_00
It had it theater.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I mean they had stand-up clubs and I assume y all did like Stanford s and Sons and all that.
1
SPEAKER_00
I know I saw Dennis Miller do stand-up right before my senior year.
1
SPEAKER_00
Me and my dad went to go see him in KC at Stanford and Sons.
1
SPEAKER_00
But yeah, I mean my focus was mostly
1
SPEAKER_00
Mom taking us to go see touring companies, going to see my sisters do stuff during the summer.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then there was a place called Comedy Sports that was like sketch or mostly, you know, all improv, kind of like whose lines in any way, you know, like short form games.
1
SPEAKER_00
I just love that.
1
SPEAKER_00
And it is hard.
1
SPEAKER_00
And if that s what you d learn doing, you know, like just constantly jumping through hoops, people setting you up to fail, like the audience and it s all baked into it.
1
SPEAKER_00
You develop a little bit of a thick skin.
1
SPEAKER_01
You have to think so fast.
1
SPEAKER_01
Improv is so fucking hard and standup is hard, but it s, at least you can get a headstart, you know, and think about it.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, because now when you re in high school, there s a point where you go, I actually think I could maybe do this as a living.
1
SPEAKER_01
I didn t really think that when I was doing standup.
1
SPEAKER_01
I just did it one day and just said, I ll never do this for a living.
1
SPEAKER_01
I just want to try it.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
No, it wasn t until moving to Chicago.
1
SPEAKER_00
I think I want to do this for a living at that point that I moved after, after I stopped playing basketball in college and stuff, like I was just like, okay.
1
SPEAKER_00
quit doing that, started doing comedy sports, working at a grocery store, living in my parents  basement, and then I was like, I m gonna move to Chicago, I m gonna move to Chicago.
1
SPEAKER_00
You know, my folks are from there, my grandmother lived up there, I lived with her, my Uncle George, and Aunt Bernadette had done Second City, you know, George Wendt, I think, I assume that you re doing research.
1
SPEAKER_00
So you had to place the land, Brett Freak, for a while, George Wendt.
1
SPEAKER_00
George Wendt is your father.
1
SPEAKER_00
George Wendt is your son.
1
SPEAKER_00
He s my son, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
He s weird, it s a genetic thing.
1
SPEAKER_00
I ll talk you through it, it makes sense.
1
SPEAKER_00
I ve had to explain things visually But yeah, like that was when I made the decision like I want to try this all the rest of it was just about having fun was just wanting to do something that I saw and Have the opportunity to do it.
1
SPEAKER_00
I assume it s the same.
1
SPEAKER_02
Did you have a stage fright?
1
SPEAKER_02
Or you re pretty wet the bed.
1
SPEAKER_00
No, I stage fright
2
SPEAKER_00
No, I d get antsy I d get excited, you know, I try to explain what anxious is to like my kids I say it s excited plus nervous.
2
SPEAKER_00
So I was definitely anxious but but I think there was something about Having an athlete s mentality towards it all and it s something I still say today and something again We ve used on the Ted lasso, you know show it.
2
SPEAKER_00
There s no defense in the arts.
2
SPEAKER_00
There s nobody trying to actively
2
SPEAKER_00
for the most part, when you re doing it, stop you from doing it.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, just, yeah, your own apathy, your cynicism, your ego, you know, your baggage, but yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
I tell my sons, there s no getting, your feelings hurt in show business.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s like no crying in baseball.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s a monolith.
2
SPEAKER_02
It does, it s not against you.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s not stacked against you.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s just a thing.
2
SPEAKER_02
How are you going to respond to it?
2
SPEAKER_00
It was made to make you feel bad.
2
SPEAKER_02
Did you, I just want to insert this, because I ve always been, noticed your voice.
2
SPEAKER_02
Did you get some voiceover offers early in, in Chicago?
2
SPEAKER_00
With your voice?
2
SPEAKER_00
Never, never.
2
SPEAKER_02
Never in a million years.
2
SPEAKER_02
He just noticed him as sexy a minute ago.
2
SPEAKER_00
He s like, hey, look, I have a wife.
2
SPEAKER_00
I think that might just be morning voice.
2
SPEAKER_02
It is very sexy, but no, no, no.
2
SPEAKER_00
It might be deeper right now just because of, you know, Screamin  Howard.
2
SPEAKER_02
It seems like a good voice.
2
SPEAKER_02
Ford Motor.
2
SPEAKER_00
Screamin  Howard.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, like Arnett has the GMC.
2
SPEAKER_00
Oh, Arnett s got it.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I did a voiceover thing for Applebee s like a few years.
2
SPEAKER_00
Oh, that s right, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
Which was nice because, you know, they re headquartered back home and stuff.
2
SPEAKER_02
How did that sound?
2
SPEAKER_02
Did you put on a voice voice?
2
SPEAKER_00
No, it was just like, you know, see you tomorrow, Applebee s.
2
SPEAKER_00
Again, like, you know, she d walk… Trevor Burrussus Hey, Applebee s.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
Oh, the spaghetti you can eat.
2
SPEAKER_00
Brian O Reilly You re tired of blooming onions?
2
SPEAKER_00
Then come to Applebee s.
2
SPEAKER_02
Trevor Burrussus Stick of breadsticks.
2
SPEAKER_02
Fish sticks.
2
SPEAKER_02
Mm-hmm.
2
SPEAKER_00
Brian O Reilly But I do, I remember, you know, and it was a big teacher, big influence in my life.
2
SPEAKER_00
She comes up all the time, but this woman, Sally Shipley, who taught speech and debate, had one of her students, she also taught radio TV, and one of her students was like,
2
SPEAKER_00
We should do this thing.
2
SPEAKER_00
You know, you should get to do the voiceover is Jason Sudeikis.
2
SPEAKER_00
He has a nice voice.
2
SPEAKER_00
Okay, and I was like, I was like I do.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I don t you know, I didn t I didn t know anything about that.
2
SPEAKER_02
I don t have a voice.
2
SPEAKER_02
I have I don t have a face either.
2
SPEAKER_02
I say this.
2
SPEAKER_02
I m like an invisible person, but you can put stuff on me or give me a voice the silver screen.
2
SPEAKER_00
You re just that you what you are.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m just invisible.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m a totally neutral person.
2
SPEAKER_00
Whoever you want to be.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, yeah, you can put a nose on me, whatever.
2
SPEAKER_02
Give me an accent.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s a blessing and a curse, isn t it?
2
SPEAKER_02
I don t know.
2
SPEAKER_02
You know?
2
SPEAKER_02
I m so tempted to talk about Ted Lasso.
2
SPEAKER_01
Do not.
2
SPEAKER_01
They told us.
2
SPEAKER_01
Do not.
2
SPEAKER_01
Oh, for real?
2
SPEAKER_02
I figure, well, they said 45 minutes in.
2
SPEAKER_01
He doesn t want to promote Ted Lasso.
2
SPEAKER_01
It says right here.
2
SPEAKER_01
No Lasso.
2
SPEAKER_01
Working at Banana Republic.
2
SPEAKER_01
Great.
2
SPEAKER_01
Perfect.
2
SPEAKER_01
We want to spend an hour on Alfred.
2
SPEAKER_01
And he s an insane pinball person.
2
SPEAKER_01
Have you been to the pinball place in Vegas?
2
SPEAKER_01
The pinball museum off the strip there?
2
SPEAKER_00
The fucking monster right by the airport.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s unreal.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, it really is.
2
SPEAKER_01
They write pinball big enough.
2
SPEAKER_01
You know where it is.
2
SPEAKER_01
And I went in.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
Bing, bing, mung, mung, mung, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing.
2
SPEAKER_01
Free game.
2
SPEAKER_01
It goes like this.
2
SPEAKER_01
Free game.
2
SPEAKER_01
But I did it.
2
SPEAKER_01
I went through there.
2
SPEAKER_01
Got all the effects.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s a good place to meet kids.
2
SPEAKER_01
So, no, I went in there.
2
SPEAKER_01
I felt weird because I m like, it s mostly adults.
2
SPEAKER_01
I go, who s weirder?
2
SPEAKER_01
You know, I m in here.
2
SPEAKER_01
But I played Galaxia.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
Asteroids, boop, boop, boop, boop.
2
SPEAKER_01
Asteroids, you don t find them everywhere, Dana.
2
SPEAKER_01
You don t go to Shakey s anymore, do you?
2
SPEAKER_02
No, I did, guys, I m from the 50s.
2
SPEAKER_02
I mean, we had a pinball machine at the lake, Lake Ronan.
2
SPEAKER_00
Back then it was gambling, it was bad news.
2
SPEAKER_00
Don t put your quarters in there.
2
SPEAKER_02
Well, Guppy would, the guy who ran the- Where s Guppy been?
2
SPEAKER_02
Mercantile in Lake Ronan, Montana.
2
SPEAKER_02
He was the king of that pinball machine out on the deck and there were goats.
2
SPEAKER_02
We challenge him and anyway, I fell in love with it.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, like well after the fact throughout it s always been there cuz growing up You know was born in 75 So arcades were big as a kid and and dad taking us to go those things and I would play, you know Like, you know dig dug or any of the other games Tron whatnot and then he d always go over to these pinball machines and that was the first time I saw a dude like
2
SPEAKER_00
cradle the ball where it wasn t just luck.
2
SPEAKER_00
It wasn t just slapping it up there.
2
SPEAKER_00
I was kind of, oh, then kind of got away from it.
2
SPEAKER_00
Then one of the fellows that owns and created this theater called Boom Chicago in Amsterdam is a big pinball fanatic and knows a lot about the history and just how the games are made and the designers.
2
SPEAKER_00
And he had one and kind of taught me and Brendan Hunt, who plays Coach Beard on Ted Lasso, taught us kind of the more nuanced version of that.
2
SPEAKER_00
And then 10 years went by and then I bumped into one again.
2
SPEAKER_00
Whenever, especially when you re with someone and you go do films and you re spoken for, to go out on the town can be laborious, especially as people knew me from SNL.
2
SPEAKER_00
So me and my friend Chip, who I work with, we would go find a place.
2
SPEAKER_00
I found an app that was just like a pinball.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, where you found out where the pinball machines were.
2
SPEAKER_00
And it s so great, because it d give you a reason to go out, give you a focus on something.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s not just having a beer.
2
SPEAKER_00
We re not like, you know.
2
SPEAKER_00
and to focus on, and also as people maybe started to join us, you could kind of just include them.
2
SPEAKER_00
We d always rent a pinball machine to wherever we were shooting a movie, just to kind of learn and give ourselves something to do.
2
SPEAKER_01
Oh, that s like a Sandler movie.
2
SPEAKER_01
Actually, in Jerry s Deli.
2
SPEAKER_02
We ve hatched a little PG-13 on Netflix here, boys.
2
SPEAKER_01
Jerry s Deli in the Valley was a big place to hang out.
2
SPEAKER_01
I think it s still there, but.
2
SPEAKER_01
Maybe it s not.
2
SPEAKER_01
Jerry Soldier.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, but they had, so that was the old days of like Sandler, Drake, Saylor, Schneider.
2
SPEAKER_01
They had pinball in their fun house, a game called Fun House.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I love that game.
2
SPEAKER_01
And we would, just hours, just because there s nothing, there were stand-ups in the day.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
Bored out for us, go bomb at night, come back in.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s practical.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s physical.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s tactile.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s a quarter.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s not that bad.
2
SPEAKER_01
You get 10 bucks if you can ride it out.
2
SPEAKER_00
And if you have a good game, it lasts 15 minutes, and then you re sort of competing against folks.
2
SPEAKER_01
Oh, you hate when someone s got a long ball, and you re like, I ll come back.
2
SPEAKER_00
And then you do.
2
SPEAKER_01
You hear that knock.
2
SPEAKER_01
That s a good one, it s very close to what it is.
2
SPEAKER_02
So you lived above a Burger King, I heard.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yes, yes.
2
SPEAKER_02
So this is, when is this?
2
SPEAKER_02
This is my first.
2
SPEAKER_02
Was there a place above Burger King?
2
SPEAKER_02
It must have been in New York.
2
SPEAKER_00
It was absolutely in New York, on 46th Street, between 5th and 6th.
2
SPEAKER_00
It was the first place, it was the only place I looked at.
2
SPEAKER_00
I moved in, they had me at the Paramount, supposed to be two weeks.
2
SPEAKER_01
Is there a reason for SNL?
2
SPEAKER_00
Yes.
2
SPEAKER_01
That s what I do too.
2
SPEAKER_01
I go, really?
2
SPEAKER_01
Something s wrong with my room.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s two feet by three feet.
2
SPEAKER_01
I went down to the front desk and they go,
2
SPEAKER_01
So, you got a king suite?
2
SPEAKER_01
I go, no.
2
SPEAKER_01
This is my whole room?
2
SPEAKER_01
I had no fucking idea what was going on.
2
SPEAKER_00
I had to sleep in the fetal position.
2
SPEAKER_00
It was so small.
2
SPEAKER_01
But literally, you couldn t stretch out.
2
SPEAKER_00
No, you could absolutely touch the wall either side.
2
SPEAKER_00
But this was at the Paramount.
2
SPEAKER_00
This was the room at the hotel that they put me in.
2
SPEAKER_01
And they don t count on you bringing a suitcase.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s honestly there s a stand But I was there yeah, I was supposed to be there two weeks I am extending it like six somehow and went to an internet cafe looked up a place on Craigslist My sister Kristen had already lived there for a few years So I had her come to the you know Look at the place and it was and I could see the 30 Rock out the back
2
SPEAKER_00
Out the out the blinds said that was why I was here.
2
SPEAKER_00
I figured I was gonna get let go with him at least whatever the writers It s all minimum, but it s burned in all of us.
2
SPEAKER_01
I know we re just we all sound like fire me Why would they hire you as a writer?
2
SPEAKER_02
They did they see you perform, but then also like your writing and said let s just try and that s impression I get yeah
2
SPEAKER_00
I never asked, I mean, but that was the impression I got.
2
SPEAKER_00
I mean, it was a little bit like, like I would have said, like, you know, I was kidding about, you know, Sandler wanting you around the game.
2
SPEAKER_00
You always hear that Lorne, like, he just wants funny people around.
2
SPEAKER_00
So even though I auditioned for it, and I auditioned the year after Tracy had left, and it was the year Keenan got hired, a fellow named Finesse Mitchell.
2
SPEAKER_00
And yeah, I had a decent audition.
2
SPEAKER_00
I had one piece in there where I play a senator who offends black people, and then when he goes to apologize to them, he then offends Jewish people, and then he offends... 2003.
2
SPEAKER_00
Exactly, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
It was based on Rick Santorum.
2
SPEAKER_00
He was like he compared to homosexuality to bestiality and then in his apology like just doubled down on it It was like what is going on?
2
SPEAKER_00
And so I did that but it was nonpartisan and so they liked, you know, the writing of that because it was it was, you know taken I like behind it.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, Steve Higgins was was more vocal about about why I got maybe you could give it to the champion for you Yeah him and Tina and Tina who I knew her and her husband from my second city days and so yeah, so then it was just a matter of going out there and
2
SPEAKER_00
I go into that building, walk upstairs, I was like, Chris, how is this?
2
SPEAKER_00
She goes, it s nice.
2
SPEAKER_00
Like, it s clean.
2
SPEAKER_00
Like, I go, and I don t have a good sense of smell, any sense of smell.
2
SPEAKER_00
So, like, I was like, does it smell like burgers?
2
SPEAKER_00
She goes, you can kind of smell the fries, but it s gone by this floor.
2
SPEAKER_00
It was like, I think like three or four floors walk up.
2
SPEAKER_00
And the reason why I was on top of the Burger King is because a fellow named Lou, our landlord owned, was a, you know,
2
SPEAKER_00
Franchise guy and he built these these things right on top of it, and so I still thought we re doing SNL, but yeah, so If I pick you up just come down.
2
SPEAKER_01
What was your like Lorne Michaels is this enigmatic of course
2
SPEAKER_01
We ve been doing Lauren, if you haven t noticed, his mind s a little soft.
2
SPEAKER_02
Please, everybody does it.
2
SPEAKER_02
But your relation with him, how did it evolve?
2
SPEAKER_02
Was it, were you a standoffish at first?
2
SPEAKER_00
No, he was always really like, nice to me.
2
SPEAKER_00
I think he wanted me to get out of my own way while on his watch.
3
SPEAKER_00
you know a little bit like you like I would say that you know the part of him that that what that hires people because he sees something in them or someone that he sees something and says that you know you should go after the this person s got something like I
3
SPEAKER_00
I think he s seen all of us or our archetypes like a dozen times over at this point So he kind of is like, okay, I m gonna give you I m gonna give you Billy Murray advice, you know I mean, I don t know.
3
SPEAKER_00
I ve never asked like a little bit like cuz he was auditioning, you know who to you know You know like
3
SPEAKER_00
But he was always supportive like he was in a it was always something I felt I could go up and and and speak to I remember that after that first audition, you know, I talking to Horatio and and Maya Rudolph ratio I knew from Second City Maya who I just met but it was lovely I went down to go go downstairs go.
3
SPEAKER_00
They re not gonna laugh No one s gonna do anything like don t worry about it and I went down did it and after I got done with my my studio Audition the first one Lauren came over and shook my hand and I did not know what to make of it would not know Like where it doesn t
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I still don t know what he came over and shook your hand he stood up walked over now I don t know I walked forward and I was told that no one s gonna laugh people did laugh a little bit only five people and then he s not gonna say anything and then he got up and did the opposite of that I was like I Didn t go upstairs and try to make sense of it.
3
SPEAKER_00
I probably haven t really spoken much about it because it didn t
3
SPEAKER_00
I was like, now I don t know if I didn t, I then walk out, go back to my dressing room, which was, you know, Daryl Hammond s dressing room, I believe at the time.
3
SPEAKER_00
And, and, uh, he may have just walked out behind me and gone to the John, you know what I mean?
3
SPEAKER_00
Like, so I don t know.
3
SPEAKER_01
Can you give me a piggyback ride?
3
SPEAKER_01
But is there a scene where he will cast it sort of almost like a sitcom in a way, you know, you ll be Bill Murray and Bill Hader will be sort of the young Dick Phil.
3
SPEAKER_00
Will he be like a Phil type or no?
3
SPEAKER_00
No, I don t know if I was, I feel like he wanted me to be, the thing that really helped, like sort of pushed me over the edge, because I wrote for those first two seasons was, like I wrote when you came back to host once, and I was on the cast when you came back to host once.
3
SPEAKER_00
But in those first two years,
3
SPEAKER_00
There was there was a sketch that we did when Tom Brady hosted and I basically did like this like the same dancing that I do in that what up at that s Dancing because Beck was performing that week and he had a guy that was doing the dancing like like kind of like you know off to the side and so I just made the choice to do this and then it made a bunch of people laugh and
3
SPEAKER_00
And I remember Tina telling me that during dress rehearsal, when that sketch was going on, he kind of looked at the screen and goes, Dan Aykroyd, Dan Aykroyd.
3
SPEAKER_00
And then we had the show Saturday, the sketch made it on, as did the other sketch that me and my buddy Joe Kelly wrote for our man Tom Brady.
3
SPEAKER_00
And then two weeks went by, and during that break, they hired me into the cast.
3
SPEAKER_00
So it was kind of like,
3
SPEAKER_01
Well, it s such a specific dance and it always makes you laugh.
3
SPEAKER_01
Even if you, I watch it again and I m laughing every time because it s so specific and you re playing it so earnest and so clueless.
3
SPEAKER_01
So, and what s up with that?
3
SPEAKER_01
You can t take your eyes off you.
3
SPEAKER_01
And Kenan talked about how much you made that sketch.
3
SPEAKER_00
You know, I mean, it s very sweet of him.
3
SPEAKER_00
I would, I would argue.
3
SPEAKER_01
You didn t have a line.
3
SPEAKER_01
You re just, what did he call it?
3
SPEAKER_01
It s like a bicycle thing.
3
SPEAKER_01
And then he would do the side hip thing.
3
SPEAKER_02
And you look so stupid and your wig.
3
SPEAKER_02
And, uh, also I think in the Ted Lasso clip where they say, it looks like you re in the middle of the, all the guys and the first show.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_02
So it s a hilarious dance.
3
SPEAKER_02
It s very specific.
3
SPEAKER_02
What s up with that?
3
SPEAKER_02
It s just funny anyway.
3
SPEAKER_00
It s just funny and it was such a joy.
3
SPEAKER_00
I mean, when people ask me my favorite sketches from there, that one is always top three and not necessarily because of the effort I put into it or the way people respond to it, which is always lovely, but just it was the one that we did, my generation, where when they d start to build the set, people would start to get hyped.
3
SPEAKER_00
And then it found that spot after update.
3
SPEAKER_00
So they d tear away the update thing.
3
SPEAKER_00
Then they d start putting up that and the people in the crowd.
3
SPEAKER_00
Everyone was in it.
3
SPEAKER_00
Everyone was in some weird costume.
3
SPEAKER_00
And you d always have like Robert De Niro there or somebody like, you know, like some weird cameo, you know, Bill dressed as Lindsey Buckingham.
3
SPEAKER_00
We knew exactly where it was going to go.
3
SPEAKER_00
We re just slotting in all these things.
3
SPEAKER_00
And it was great to get a cameo.
3
SPEAKER_02
It s great when people even cast want to be in it or a host comes in and says, I want to be in that.
3
SPEAKER_01
And so for people who don t know, what s up with that?
3
SPEAKER_01
Keenan was a talk show host and then he never got to asking anyone any questions.
3
SPEAKER_01
It was these long musical interludes.
3
SPEAKER_01
And then you dancing.
3
SPEAKER_01
And also athletically, did you get out?
3
SPEAKER_01
I mean, you did it for a long period of time.
3
SPEAKER_00
It was more of a magic trick.
3
SPEAKER_00
I would do it for a little bit of time and then we d
3
SPEAKER_00
I jump in to frame, like that was the thing that, I mean the thing I always look at is, I have been doing that dancing since I was like on basketball teams, like from the early 90s.
3
SPEAKER_00
That s just watching UMTV raps with Fab Five Freddy and Kid N Play and House Party and all those movies.
3
SPEAKER_00
And it was the same thing that made my 15-year-old friends laugh.
3
SPEAKER_00
The things that I delighted in were me learning the edge of frame and how to make it look like I m dropping in off of something, or taking a long exit roundabout thing, doing a Sherman Helmsley walk-off.
3
SPEAKER_00
Just trying to tickle like keen and trying to make him laugh milk up as much screen time as possible just to make like Kenny a mong in the booth laughs You were doing it different on air you were trying to switch up little things.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, we had a good spry group of people my generation that at some point you
3
SPEAKER_00
Realize that if we if we make the boss laugh by making each other laugh.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, well in a sketch It s funny with the sound off like there s no real joke once the melee starts in the party and the dancing and all this stuff You can just the audience can really just laugh.
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh, it s great because they re not listening for any you know yeah, yeah, which is another one I wanted to bring up you do with Keenan was the scared straight and
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, and he gave you kudos to as his partner in crime, you know going hey.
3
SPEAKER_01
Hey, come on.
3
SPEAKER_01
I mean that that thing is Really?
3
SPEAKER_00
I mean a classic so fun because we d always get a you know, the host would have something fun to do But then you know Bill and Andy were in there and Bobby Moynihan is who I picture for the third for the third and just and Keenan
3
SPEAKER_00
When you get Bill and Andy cookin  and laughin  and then Bobby too, Bobby s so funny.
3
SPEAKER_00
And then yeah, Keenan would come in there just hollerin , whoever I m trying to think, I mean.
3
SPEAKER_01
I like hollerin .
3
SPEAKER_01
And were you writing on the show with four other people at that time?
3
SPEAKER_01
Did you come up with this with Keenan or alone?
3
SPEAKER_00
No, that was probably him, I m guessing, Brian Tucker, maybe somebody else, Rob Klein potentially, but no, a lot of times I was just, you know, like,
3
SPEAKER_00
those two instances were just, I was merely a muse.
3
SPEAKER_01
And who did you connect with as a writer?
3
SPEAKER_01
Did you have someone you wrote with more regularly or would come to you with stuff?
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, well, I mean those first two years, I really was felt imposter syndrome of like as a writer only because I had only recently discovered like what I did, what I like writing for myself.
3
SPEAKER_00
But again, that virtue of having funny friends, it was like,
3
SPEAKER_00
one of those things.
3
SPEAKER_00
And there are two, you know, sort of commandments, if you will, or like a piece of advice that Tina gave.
3
SPEAKER_00
One was like, you know, don t write anything that you feel like you can do yourself, you know, because it ll drive you crazy, especially if you did audition for the show.
3
SPEAKER_00
And I did it once and she was 100% right.
3
SPEAKER_00
I wrote a Dr. Phil thing for Jeff Richards.
3
SPEAKER_00
like later in my first season because I just wasn t getting anything on so I was like well write something that I know and Jeff and I worked on it really well and it and it didn t it didn t it didn t go super great at the at the read-through and I remember it s being Unnaturally upset like it where it s just like that s what you mean.
3
SPEAKER_00
You know how to play it Yeah, but it but when you when you give it when you hand it over it s like oh
3
SPEAKER_00
I was okay doing that, but it s like people weren t hot on Jeff at that point in that room and he was doing it well.
3
SPEAKER_00
It just like didn t get over that hump, that Wednesday hump.
3
SPEAKER_00
It s a tough room.
3
SPEAKER_02
I think when they hire you as a writer, I think Dana, it s like a little scammed.
3
SPEAKER_02
First of all, it s a little cheaper.
3
SPEAKER_02
It makes you work harder.
3
SPEAKER_02
I didn t want to be a writer.
3
SPEAKER_02
I didn t know how to be a writer.
3
SPEAKER_02
I was from Arizona.
3
SPEAKER_02
I just barely had 25 minutes of standup.
3
SPEAKER_02
And Rob Schneider and I, we got the call together and he goes, hey, it s great news.
3
SPEAKER_02
We re hired as a writer performers.
3
SPEAKER_02
And I go, no, no, that s great.
3
SPEAKER_02
That s what Chevy Chase or someone was.
3
SPEAKER_02
I go, I don t know how to fucking write.
3
SPEAKER_02
And I don t know how to write for other people.
3
SPEAKER_02
I barely know how to write for myself.
3
SPEAKER_02
So you get in there and they would say, you know, write for Dana, write for Mike Myers, write for whoever.
3
SPEAKER_02
And I m like,
3
SPEAKER_02
It s so hard.
3
SPEAKER_02
And also I barely have ideas myself.
3
SPEAKER_02
And then you give them away and it kills you inside.
3
SPEAKER_00
I know.
3
SPEAKER_00
And it s, and for me, what, what, what eventually happened was I did start, I started pairing up with like Fred, Fred and I hit it off.
3
SPEAKER_00
And, and, you know, Fred s just a lovely fun guy.
3
SPEAKER_00
And, and what I couldn t, what I couldn t do was make up something for these guys, like on a blank page at that point.
3
SPEAKER_00
But what I could do is listen to what they did, do bad impressions of it, let my brain click into that and help with rewrites.
3
SPEAKER_00
Like the rewrite table was,
3
SPEAKER_00
I loved, I still love it.
3
SPEAKER_00
I d sit at any show s rewrite table.
3
SPEAKER_00
Like, you know, that s my all night career.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s fun to help someone else s guess, because your ego s out of the way and you re just like, oh, to get one line in.
4
SPEAKER_02
It s the best.
4
SPEAKER_02
And you feel like you re in the game.
4
SPEAKER_02
You re like, if I can compete, just be even with these guys.
4
SPEAKER_02
They re in the mix.
4
SPEAKER_01
Oh, absolutely.
4
SPEAKER_01
That I m not taking up space here.
4
SPEAKER_01
That I do belong here.
4
SPEAKER_01
I m worth being here.
4
SPEAKER_01
They haven t wasted the other time and money.
4
SPEAKER_01
They re not rolling their eyes.
4
SPEAKER_01
Exactly.
4
SPEAKER_02
I told Dana this when he was there.
4
SPEAKER_02
I think when I, there was a sketch where he was playing a receptionist.
4
SPEAKER_02
I wanted to do it.
4
SPEAKER_02
I hadn t been on much.
4
SPEAKER_02
And I was sort of teetering on every summer.
4
SPEAKER_02
They d go, I don t know if we re going to keep them, you know, and I m like, God damn, you know, how can I work any harder?
4
SPEAKER_02
Maybe I m just not good enough.
4
SPEAKER_02
And then I, that one I got on and then David Bowie was a musical guest.
4
SPEAKER_02
So I said, ask him if he wants to be at the end and I won t know who he is.
4
SPEAKER_02
And then he said yes.
4
SPEAKER_02
And then he wanted to call me and then he asked if he could be my part and switch.
4
SPEAKER_02
And I said, no, and it was so hard, but I go, I have nothing.
4
SPEAKER_02
And it made me think what you said about, you just want to get on.
4
SPEAKER_02
So even like one of your good sketches, you might just give to someone that you brought in just to get on to stay and then worry about it later.
4
SPEAKER_02
Like, okay, I gave one away, but I don t even know if that one was any good.
4
SPEAKER_02
You just go.
4
SPEAKER_02
I wanna do it, and he s like, oh yeah, okay.
4
SPEAKER_02
And I was like, oh my God, and I have to, I get to talk to David Bowie, and then I get to go sideways with him right away.
4
SPEAKER_02
He s like, yeah, okay, go fuck yourself.
4
SPEAKER_02
Good luck with your shit.
4
SPEAKER_02
I had that, I had a nice time.
4
SPEAKER_03
Just an angle on that with Robin Williams, who I adored and was a really good friend, but.
4
SPEAKER_03
He really wanted to do church chat, and this was in the early days.
4
SPEAKER_03
This was my golden ticket, and I was very careful.
4
SPEAKER_03
And I thought if Robin got so excited, it would be like, oh, look, no tits, you know, that kind of stuff.
4
SPEAKER_00
I was just afraid of it.
4
SPEAKER_03
And he even called me Saturday morning.
4
SPEAKER_03
at like 10 a.m.
4
SPEAKER_03
To be in it?
4
SPEAKER_02
To be in it, to be a guest.
4
SPEAKER_03
I d really like to play, you know.
4
SPEAKER_03
It was heartbreaking, but you know, we got past that.
4
SPEAKER_03
It wasn t, but it was, in those days, your thing was very precious.
4
SPEAKER_03
You know, I wanted to keep it.
4
SPEAKER_03
Quasi real in a sense.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_01
So, but you know, it s not like quote unquote sellout like by giving it to the over to the show.
4
SPEAKER_01
I mean, again, I m using this, you know, metaphorically, it s not selling.
4
SPEAKER_03
Well, that was a lucky thing.
4
SPEAKER_03
Cause the cast, I had Phil and Jan and people in it.
4
SPEAKER_03
And it was a lucky thing.
4
SPEAKER_03
I didn t know home base and then have the cast come and go and the host.
4
SPEAKER_01
So Lauren loved it because I didn t have to score.
4
SPEAKER_02
Did you come in with characters?
4
SPEAKER_01
Not really, no.
4
SPEAKER_01
I did like, no, not really.
4
SPEAKER_02
Did you write them down?
4
SPEAKER_02
I mean, was that a thing?
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I did like three characters and like seven impressions that first audition.
4
SPEAKER_01
And it was mostly that Senator sketch that I had mentioned.
4
SPEAKER_01
And from what I heard, like when you get to that point, like how the heck did I get here?
4
SPEAKER_01
You know, like in three years, once you sort of know you re there.
4
SPEAKER_01
How did that make it?
4
SPEAKER_01
Whatever you did, you mean?
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
4
SPEAKER_01
And it was as much my
4
SPEAKER_01
like, the banter in between, like, dealing with, like, whether the piece played well or didn t, you know.
4
SPEAKER_01
But I was, yeah, dubbed, you know, being funny, so they just wanted me at the table.
4
SPEAKER_01
Because it did feel weird getting, you know, being an actor.
4
SPEAKER_01
I mean, I called my manager over at Brillstein, Jeff, and I was just like, maybe I fucked up.
4
SPEAKER_01
I think I should just stay at acting.
4
SPEAKER_01
No, you re in showbiz now.
4
SPEAKER_01
And he would say, you know, you, Sandler, Chevy Chase, Tina, you know, obviously at that point, like, I ll start as writers.
4
SPEAKER_01
It s like, you know, and I ll do sketches, you know, questions.
4
SPEAKER_01
It was great, you know, and yet it really took that relationship with Lorne and to
4
SPEAKER_01
The one thing that I learned there that I feel like I would encourage folks to do is go talk to a person that can, if you can, if you have the opportunity to find audience with the person that can actually change the situation, do that versus talking to everyone to the left and right of you.
4
SPEAKER_01
And Lauren was always open to that with me.
4
SPEAKER_01
And I think that.
4
SPEAKER_03
When did when did two a-holes come in cuz that that was one?
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah fairly early on that was Chris and I s first season you Chris Yeah, so that that really you popped when I saw that yeah I mean that was this a magic Christmas episode that Jack Black hosted Neil Young was the musical guest we had our new sort of generation was You know pretty exciting there like I had come in at the end last three episodes of the season prior Bill and Andy got hired over the summer and then Kristen got hired about
4
SPEAKER_01
like five, six weeks into the season.
4
SPEAKER_03
And then Fred, a little later.
4
SPEAKER_01
Well, Fred had already been there.
4
SPEAKER_01
Fred and Forte had already been there.
4
SPEAKER_03
So that was, that was a, you know, a very fertile time on SNL.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_01
The cast was.
4
SPEAKER_01
But that specific episode was that they did Lazy Sunday, the digital Long Island guys.
4
SPEAKER_01
We did two A-holes.
4
SPEAKER_01
Will Forte did the Spelling Bee sketch that he had submitted probably six times in the couple years, which was a Groundlings trunk
4
SPEAKER_01
piece that he had that just everybody loved it just never got over the hump.
4
SPEAKER_01
But Jack Black, who was the host of my very first episode as a writer that I got a piece on, he was just like this lucky charm for me specifically.
4
SPEAKER_01
But I feel for a lot of folks, because he was one of those hosts that would just support the piece.
4
SPEAKER_01
In A-holes, he s straight up just a straight man.
4
SPEAKER_01
And that was Chris and I.
4
SPEAKER_01
We were writing together every single week and we were just tired and we re just chewing gum and just started talking like, hey babe, hey babe.
4
SPEAKER_01
And just how do we make this guy s life a nightmare?
4
SPEAKER_03
How would you describe that to people who are listening and may not have seen it?
4
SPEAKER_03
It s like two cocky young people, self-involved.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, two self-involved people making a business transaction as difficult as possible for the person trying to help.
4
SPEAKER_03
And you had a rhythm of, oh babe.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, it was like chewing gum, yeah.
4
SPEAKER_01
Hey babe, what are you doing?
4
SPEAKER_01
What do you want to do?
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, we want to go to Hogwarts.
4
SPEAKER_01
You know, and then Kristen was just like this kind of like, almost like a Paris Hilton type, but you know, just vocal fry and just, I want to go in there.
4
SPEAKER_01
I m tired.
4
SPEAKER_02
Sometimes at three in the morning you go, is this even funny?
4
SPEAKER_02
But you re just like, are we delirious?
4
SPEAKER_02
This is fucking funny.
4
SPEAKER_02
But also it s you two, which is already,
4
SPEAKER_02
you re halfway there because people want you.
4
SPEAKER_01
I mean, maybe you weren t even that.
4
SPEAKER_03
Still emerging, I think.
4
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_01
I mean, she was off to the races because Chris had so many good characters.
4
SPEAKER_01
I mean, the Groundlings folks like blew, always consistently blew doors off of us Second City folks.
4
SPEAKER_01
Did they really?
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_01
I think like in regards to characters, you know what I mean?
4
SPEAKER_01
Like, I mean, I mean, that s what I love about the,
4
SPEAKER_01
I d say that, you know, Farrell and McKay are like bird and magic, like just like platonic soulmates that were like the Hatfields and McCoys who then came together with these two sensibilities of these two amazing sketch, you know, American, like, comedy theaters, and then boom, like, you know, we re off to the races once they decide to like, just, you know, harmonize with each other.
4
SPEAKER_02
We had more stand-ups back when we were there.
4
SPEAKER_01
You did, yeah.
4
SPEAKER_02
A lot of us were stand-ups.
4
SPEAKER_03
Didn t have real theater up in San Francisco.
4
SPEAKER_03
There s no groundlings.
4
SPEAKER_03
I would have been in it in a second.
4
SPEAKER_00
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4
SPEAKER_03
I wonder what it s like to be in the groundlings today, you know, because it s obviously such a feeder system and now the Hall of Fame with Lovitz and Phil and going on, you know, must be very nerve wracking.
4
SPEAKER_03
Because if you get in that and you re in the main company, people, you have a chance, you know.
4
SPEAKER_01
I would assume so.
4
SPEAKER_01
But I think it s like, especially being out here, because that was one thing about second sitting in Chicago is that you weren t, it was just about trying to do that well, like navigate like that.
4
SPEAKER_01
you want to be a good improviser, you want to be a good writer, you want to be a good actor, but like, but, you know, you wanted people to, you know, do a good job for the piece, but it wasn t, you weren t thinking beyond like the building you were in in a lot of places, you know, because I think it s because it s in Chicago, even though it has that same, you know, alumni, you know, plus what, 20 more years and
4
SPEAKER_02
You re kind of famous just doing it in Second City, right?
4
SPEAKER_01
I mean, that s a pretty big deal already.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, and you re getting paid for it, which I don t know.
4
SPEAKER_01
I don t think Groundlings gets paid.
4
SPEAKER_01
I don t know if things have changed over the past few years, but yeah.
4
SPEAKER_03
Can we talk about a few more of your really cool sketches you were in?
4
SPEAKER_03
I mean, the commitment.
4
SPEAKER_03
I mean, I watch the, I don t know if David saw it, but the potato chip with Will Forte and the way you play, that you both played it with such full-on sincerity and drama.
4
SPEAKER_03
And then when you started to break,
4
SPEAKER_03
I just thought, no wonder he s so good at Ted Lasso.
4
SPEAKER_03
You see the seeds of it.
4
SPEAKER_03
It s comedy, but I really felt bad for the way you played it.
4
SPEAKER_03
First, you were super defiant.
4
SPEAKER_03
You didn t eat the potato chip.
4
SPEAKER_03
It s a complete theater of the absurd with such commitment.
4
SPEAKER_03
I mean, Will Forte is a freak that way.
4
SPEAKER_03
And then the way you decided to give it up and then the way you saw it, I mean, you must ve
5
SPEAKER_03
Because that s such a weird sketch that people who like it must really mention it to you, right?
5
100%.
5
SPEAKER_00
That s one of those sketches I d be curious to know from both of you.
5
SPEAKER_00
What s the one that people can come up to you and you know, like, oh, we would have been friends as kids.
5
SPEAKER_00
If you like that, then we re like friends for life.
5
SPEAKER_00
People say, what up with that?
5
SPEAKER_00
That s great.
5
SPEAKER_00
People dress up like that character for Halloween.
5
SPEAKER_00
But I would say Potato Chip and Main Justice are two that if people come up to me and go,
5
SPEAKER_00
I love potato chip.
5
SPEAKER_00
I just instantly have a soul connection with that person.
5
SPEAKER_00
Do you have one like that?
5
SPEAKER_00
Skinheads from Maine.
5
SPEAKER_03
Which I did.
5
SPEAKER_00
I love we both have a Maine sketch.
5
SPEAKER_03
I did it on the variety show with Colbert.
5
SPEAKER_03
It was just a flight of fancy of a Petritch Farm kind of voice being a skinhead.
5
SPEAKER_03
You know, the weather s the only thing that the Jews don t control.
5
SPEAKER_03
You know, it was that level of him.
5
SPEAKER_03
That s funny.
5
SPEAKER_03
I remember that.
5
SPEAKER_03
And Clem, he goes, I hate stick for beating Spaniards.
5
SPEAKER_03
And so it was skinheads from Maine.
5
SPEAKER_03
So when people at an airport come up, hey man, our friends and I always mention that.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_01
Because we re skinheads.
5
SPEAKER_00
Exactly, yeah.
5
SPEAKER_01
Thanks for making us fall.
5
SPEAKER_00
Thanks for repping us.
5
SPEAKER_01
What about you, David?
5
SPEAKER_01
It would be buh-bye.
5
SPEAKER_01
Buh-bye, no.
5
SPEAKER_01
We did buh-bye twice.
5
SPEAKER_01
That s it?
5
SPEAKER_01
The second one bombed miserably.
5
SPEAKER_01
It s a very catchy catch.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s a catchy one, yeah.
5
SPEAKER_00
I can t believe it was only twice.
5
SPEAKER_01
That s when we did, and then we went away for, I went to Los Angeles the next day, and this flight attendant said it.
5
SPEAKER_01
And then from then on, I probably, honestly, I heard it,
5
SPEAKER_01
maybe every day of my life for about 10 years.
5
SPEAKER_03
Because when you go off a plane, if they say anything like that, your head goes to your sketch.
5
SPEAKER_03
Absolutely.
5
SPEAKER_01
Go, yeah.
5
SPEAKER_01
And then that s the easiest thing to say.
5
SPEAKER_01
And then they were told not to say that anymore.
5
SPEAKER_01
And then they show the sketch, because my friend s wife worked for American, they show them and say, this is what they think of us.
5
SPEAKER_01
So we have to change our, I m like, geez, we ve ruined everything.
5
SPEAKER_01
We say, good morrow.
5
SPEAKER_01
Now we say, good morrow.
5
SPEAKER_01
We say, get fucked, get fucked, get fucked.
5
SPEAKER_01
I mean, they still hate you, whatever they re saying.
5
SPEAKER_00
Sorry about the leg room.
5
SPEAKER_00
Sorry about the leg room.
5
SPEAKER_00
Sorry about the leg room.
5
SPEAKER_01
Sorry, we re charging for bags.
5
SPEAKER_01
Now it is, it bought me some street cred with, sometimes they come by and like you re on the Southwest and they give you like a thimble of water.
5
SPEAKER_01
And then they come by and they go, hey, and they wink and they give me like a two gallon jug.
5
SPEAKER_01
And I go, oh my God.
5
SPEAKER_01
And then the person next to me, can I get another water?
5
SPEAKER_01
I m like, I m waterlogged.
5
SPEAKER_01
I ve had too much.
5
SPEAKER_01
I m holding it like a baby.
5
SPEAKER_01
And then I get fucked.
5
SPEAKER_01
I have too much water.
5
SPEAKER_03
That s mean.
5
SPEAKER_01
Get fucked, dude.
5
SPEAKER_03
I know, they re getting mad at me.
5
SPEAKER_03
No, what about this main justice guy?
5
SPEAKER_03
That s another really.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I mean, it s the same character, you know, really.
5
SPEAKER_00
I noticed.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, which is you.
5
SPEAKER_03
But it s such a fun, how do you describe that sort of character?
5
SPEAKER_03
I mean, he s like got a little goatee, he s like Colonel Sanders or something.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, like what s funny, and this is one of those things that I love, like one of the lessons, like showbiz lessons that it can almost extend into life lessons at SNL, is the potato chip sketch
5
SPEAKER_00
was done when I was going through a divorce.
5
SPEAKER_00
I was like, you know, like not sleeping well, like being pulled every which way.
5
SPEAKER_00
John Solomon and Will Forte, who were writing buddies, went to UCLA together, et cetera, and, you know, created all this stuff since, Last Man on Earth and MacGruber and whatnot.
5
SPEAKER_00
They write potato chip.
5
SPEAKER_00
And the reason they write that thing is because I had done a sketch
5
SPEAKER_00
a few weeks earlier, the first time we did, went up with that actually, when Gerard Butler hosted, and I had just seen Cool Hand Luke, and I was kind of like, oh, it d be funny to do a Cool Hand Luke sketch, but Cool Hand Luke tries to get out of eating the eggs by just being like, you know, are these free-range eggs?
5
SPEAKER_00
It s like he says, I bet I can eat 50 eggs.
5
SPEAKER_00
And then I wrote myself as like the George Kennedy part, so I m doing all that, oh, boss, here we come now.
5
SPEAKER_00
doing all that.
5
SPEAKER_00
And it did well, but it didn t get picked.
5
SPEAKER_00
So, so you, you, and that s the beauty of like Wednesdays is like, that s when you write one for them, one for you and you do something.
5
SPEAKER_00
And then your friends, you know, like hear the things or your coworkers hear that, Oh, Jason can do this voice.
5
SPEAKER_00
And so then they write potato chip and write me in that, in that voice.
5
SPEAKER_00
And so that, and so it comes from that.
5
SPEAKER_00
And so there s a lot from this really crazy to the place, which is literally just me doing a bad George Kennedy from loud, bombastic, cocky, high energy is fun to do in that studio.
5
SPEAKER_00
And just picturing an outfit, you know, whatever, you know, again, one of those great things that I think, and Kristen is such a perfect example, that the ground these folks had, like they could see these characters that could just be transferred on the television, you know, with like wigs and just like the slight, like just a couple, you know, props and wardrobe and boom, they re, you know, off they went.
5
SPEAKER_00
So then with Maine Justice, there was an idea that I had had first year for Horatio Sands and it was more like Texas Justice.
5
SPEAKER_00
And then it s just like, then we just like added some layer of absurdity to it.
5
SPEAKER_00
We just make it Maine.
5
SPEAKER_00
And I mean, I ve told this story before, but like Lauren and Seth hated it because there was no logic whatsoever.
5
SPEAKER_00
And it s like, yeah, no, it s not Maine.
5
SPEAKER_00
It makes them like, why are they talking like this?
5
SPEAKER_00
What is going on?
5
SPEAKER_00
Like, why are you talking about, you know, crawdads up in Maine, you know, and not lobster, all this stuff.
5
SPEAKER_00
And myself and Mike O Brien, who was my office mate and a good friend, we wrote together a lot.
5
SPEAKER_00
And I m trying to think who else was on there.
5
SPEAKER_00
Oh, I think Rob Klein as well, who was a Harvard kid, you know, like, so like, you know, super clever and silly.
5
SPEAKER_00
We were just like, you, what are you talking about?
5
SPEAKER_00
What was the logic behind Toontz as the driving cat?
5
SPEAKER_00
You made us this way you like your fault.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, so like I blame you dad So that s why like two-thirds of that sketch.
5
SPEAKER_00
We just go through the list like we re we re like Bobby Moyana s characters Like what the hell is going on site, and then I just go through just exposition like oh, maybe this happened Katrina, maybe there s a time.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, you know like a like whatever.
5
SPEAKER_03
It s just this weird Where does this guy
5
SPEAKER_00
And then we just push on through.
5
SPEAKER_00
But yeah, that s one of those ones that you just, you know, I think it was probably from the one, yeah, the Kool & Luke, but then also being a fan of Harry Connick Jr.
5
SPEAKER_00
Like in when New Orleans folks would, you know, get real comfy and just start talking.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_03
Did you, when you were just Kool & Luke, what were the things that,
5
SPEAKER_03
blew your mind as a kid, like with movies or TV and stuff that inspired you.
5
SPEAKER_03
Was it Kool & Luke, one of them?
5
SPEAKER_00
I mean, the first one that comes to mind is Beverly Hills Cop.
5
SPEAKER_00
Seeing Beverly Hills Cop in the theater.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_00
All of it.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_00
You guys have to pay for the rights for that?
5
SPEAKER_00
Well, no, then we just laid out on it.
5
SPEAKER_00
We could do six notes.
5
SPEAKER_02
We could do six notes and then we re like, fucked.
5
SPEAKER_02
We could do it for the repeat.
5
SPEAKER_02
Marcy, get Tina, Jason.
5
SPEAKER_00
Anyway, um, but that was it that was a big one.
5
SPEAKER_00
Um, I mean SNL was huge was like, you know, that was That was that was certainly you in high school.
5
SPEAKER_01
When was SNL?
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, 1994 was like I know I know yeah, but I would say okay Yeah up till up until sophomore year until my friend Matt Bale got his driver s license.
5
SPEAKER_00
You got a car then Yeah, and then you re out every Saturday night.
5
SPEAKER_03
What were you doing?
5
SPEAKER_03
I had Saturday night
5
SPEAKER_03
We re on 1130.
5
SPEAKER_03
I probably didn t do too much.
5
SPEAKER_00
I don t know.
5
SPEAKER_00
What s in K-City?
5
1030.
5
SPEAKER_00
1030 in K-City.
5
SPEAKER_00
Oh, we were on 1030.
5
SPEAKER_00
In Arizona, it s like on 930.
5
SPEAKER_03
Do you want me to do any of my sketches you may have missed?
5
SPEAKER_03
Everything s on peacock.
5
SPEAKER_03
Do they have to name the network?
5
SPEAKER_03
It s it s a swear Peacock you can t really put on an art piece on the peacock.
5
SPEAKER_01
We re the Miller s horrible bosses.
5
SPEAKER_01
Stop me if you re in any of these horrible Yeah, we were told
5
SPEAKER_03
About the age group of you know when you re a certain age, I know I love I love looking the ones you like dick fuel crime scene.
5
SPEAKER_03
I thought that guy was fucking awesome.
5
SPEAKER_00
I thought that was so bad
5
SPEAKER_00
Character the fuel.
5
SPEAKER_03
It s just me doing like like a bad Stallone, but also like a diesel I m doing Vin Diesel, but so you ve got a really good bald cap on like a super short crew cut.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, you coming in what it was Yeah, just he s supposed to take a hit from Jeremy Renner.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah Yeah, just a stunt guy, and he just winches every time yeah fights back.
5
SPEAKER_00
Oh
5
SPEAKER_00
It s so silly.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s so like but yeah, we I did that for the MTV Movie Awards when I host So crime scene crime scene is yeah, it s one of my favorite that we did that with Charlie day.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, so now that was Another great one, but that s written by Joe Kelly.
5
SPEAKER_00
Who s one of the co-creators one of my dear friends You do co-created Ted lasso
5
SPEAKER_00
That was a scene that he wrote for a sketch show after he didn t get asked back.
5
SPEAKER_00
He had a killer year at SNL, didn t come back, went on to go do great work in How I Met Your Mother, a handful of other sitcoms.
5
SPEAKER_00
He co-created Detroiters, et cetera.
5
SPEAKER_00
That was a scene that I saw him do in the sketch show.
5
SPEAKER_00
It was all about cops and magicians.
5
SPEAKER_00
So he does this thing and I m like, this is a humdinger.
5
SPEAKER_00
I just love the writing of it.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s so clever.
5
SPEAKER_00
And so like, it reminded me of like in that space of like the audition sketch from like Mr. Show or, you know, the dead parrot sketch, you know, Monty Python, you know, like one of those, like where it s just like the writing is just super clever.
5
SPEAKER_00
And then those are two of the all time great sketches.
5
SPEAKER_00
Right.
5
SPEAKER_03
And just very quickly, it was like, he s kind of doing a sort of a quasi Columbo investigating
5
SPEAKER_03
murder, and then he doesn t relate to anything you mentioned.
5
SPEAKER_03
No, not baseball.
5
SPEAKER_00
He doesn t know what baseball is.
5
SPEAKER_00
He doesn t know what World War II is.
5
SPEAKER_03
He doesn t know- Excuse me, I never watch television.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, and so yeah, he s just like this cop who s just kind of a TV snob.
5
SPEAKER_03
Very Monty Python.
5
SPEAKER_00
I mean 100% and and and so then when when Charlie the host that I asked Joe if we could you know if we could do it He s like absolutely Charlie, and I were doing it I was gonna play the part Charlie was playing he and then Charlie was like what if we switched?
5
SPEAKER_00
I was like yeah, let s do that cuz Charlie, and I had done horrible bosses one and two I d been on it s always sunny.
5
SPEAKER_00
I think he s as smart and lovely and funny as they come
6
SPEAKER_02
And so I was just like, and trust his instinct and his gut, like crazy.
6
SPEAKER_02
And I was just like, yeah, let s do that.
6
SPEAKER_02
And that sketch, I love the pieces.
6
SPEAKER_02
And it s just one of those things that is similar to like doing the George C. Scott, or I m sorry, George Kennedy voice is like, just cause you do it like there and it dies, like doesn t mean it s dead.
6
SPEAKER_02
Like, just because it dies doesn t mean it s dead.
6
SPEAKER_02
Like, it can come back around and find some other place or inspire some other thing that then finds the right host and the right timing.
6
SPEAKER_02
Right home.
6
SPEAKER_01
Same thing with Cowbell.
6
SPEAKER_01
Until Walken came in.
6
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, because then they do it a few times, right?
6
SPEAKER_00
They did it, and it just never landed.
6
SPEAKER_00
Someone said they did it as the host.
6
SPEAKER_00
Who is we talking to?
6
SPEAKER_00
They said they did it, and they said it didn t work.
6
SPEAKER_00
It didn t work.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then they... Got a fever!
6
SPEAKER_01
I mean you can t know it s one of the greatest rhythms absolutely thing and then will Who can lower his IQ which we said in like five seconds so the cowbell he does thing with his eyes where he s really stupid So the two together yeah, it s a magic sketch, but this one.
6
SPEAKER_01
I watched God.
6
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, that was fun Yeah, that s that s Joe Kelly and Charlie day, and he just me just trying to get in where I fit in you know
6
SPEAKER_01
Dan, I want to ask about Horrible Bosses because... Well, we should because people on our staff were mentioning... Everyone.
6
SPEAKER_01
I saw it.
6
SPEAKER_01
I love Horrible Bosses.
6
SPEAKER_01
Well, I saw Horrible Bosses 2 and also The Millers.
6
SPEAKER_01
That one was another smash.
6
SPEAKER_01
And you have Aniston in both of them?
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, she s in all three.
6
SPEAKER_00
What is she like?
6
SPEAKER_01
I ve seen all these movies.
6
SPEAKER_00
Wait, she s in them?
6
SPEAKER_02
I don t remember one thing.
6
SPEAKER_00
You go to her parties and you don t even know what it feels like.
6
SPEAKER_02
Because he cares about her as a person.
6
SPEAKER_00
The work is secondary.
6
SPEAKER_00
You re gonna get disinvited.
6
SPEAKER_00
I like thinking, did she need coaxing to be super dirty?
6
SPEAKER_00
And I think that was the Horrible Bosses one.
6
SPEAKER_00
Or is she like just ready to just break it out and be funny?
6
SPEAKER_00
She s very funny in both.
6
SPEAKER_02
I didn t get the impression she needed to be coaxed into it at all.
6
SPEAKER_00
So she reads Horrible Bosses where she s filthy.
6
SPEAKER_00
You know that one, Dana?
6
SPEAKER_02
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
6
SPEAKER_02
I mean, it was kind of, you know, the second one, I really liked the second one.
6
SPEAKER_02
It was like our homage.
6
SPEAKER_02
I mean, I think the world, like I said, of Charlie and of Jason Bateman and of their partners, it s such a fun group to roll with and do even press together.
6
SPEAKER_02
And we, golly, if I could have one thing, one do-over, I would have put out that Horrible Bosses 2 movie, maybe more in the summer, because they did it.
6
SPEAKER_02
Warner Brothers and New Line released it, from what I understand, as like counter-programming for Thanksgiving.
6
SPEAKER_02
And it was like, you know, because that s usually where they put out Oscar movies and like family movies.
6
SPEAKER_02
And it s like, and they just, I think they miscalculated, you know, people wanting to go see a movie with their grandparents where Rachel from Friends is wearing a cock ring, like around her neck.
6
SPEAKER_02
She s riding a Sibian for most of the movie.
6
SPEAKER_01
Somebody somewhere had that idea in a room.
6
SPEAKER_01
Everyone s like, yes!
6
SPEAKER_01
Let s do that.
6
SPEAKER_01
Give you plenty of those sappy dog movies.
6
SPEAKER_01
We ll go around the neck.
6
SPEAKER_00
I d love to be on the side You know, they re just like doing a scene.
6
SPEAKER_00
They re like one more Jennifer.
6
SPEAKER_00
Maybe say yeah, it ll eat your pussy.
6
SPEAKER_00
Okay rolling and she s like, wait, what am I doing?
6
SPEAKER_00
Just to get the yell out bark out alternative everybody.
6
SPEAKER_00
Oh
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that s how all those movies work though.
6
SPEAKER_00
They just run in jokes.
6
SPEAKER_00
That s the fun ones when you do comedies.
6
SPEAKER_00
I love it.
6
SPEAKER_00
It s funny people.
6
SPEAKER_02
I wanted us to keep doing it like almost like the Marx Brothers.
6
SPEAKER_02
Like just, you know, the next movie we re going to do is like a prison break movie.
6
SPEAKER_02
Like just keep doing genres, but as the three, these three goofy, like middle-aged dudes.
6
SPEAKER_02
If it works, yeah, when it works like that.
6
SPEAKER_01
What s your attitude?
6
SPEAKER_01
I mean, I hear people say this a lot.
6
SPEAKER_01
Like they don t make comedies like that anymore or like Tropic Thunder or, you know,
6
SPEAKER_01
Just, it feels like we re in a different place with comedy films, which is like all balls out, funny, R-rated comedies.
6
SPEAKER_01
I guess they re out there.
6
SPEAKER_01
I don t know.
6
SPEAKER_01
I m going to shut in.
6
SPEAKER_01
I didn t watch all of Ted Lasso.
6
SPEAKER_00
I think sometimes they, from the top you get down, like, I don t know if I do that.
6
SPEAKER_00
You can do it, but you know, it starts to,
6
SPEAKER_00
you start to lose jokes, even in specials, it never works.
6
SPEAKER_00
Netflix specials, stand up, they start cutting stuff.
6
SPEAKER_00
They start saying, and you re like, oh, cause it used to be just say whatever and live or die, but if you re gonna get in trouble, it s you.
6
SPEAKER_00
And now they blame Netflix or Amazon and that s,
6
SPEAKER_00
That makes them nervous.
6
SPEAKER_00
So it s just hard to get out, do whatever you want.
6
SPEAKER_00
Podcasts, we re not really dirty.
6
SPEAKER_00
Dana s filthy, but we re not really dirty.
6
SPEAKER_00
Loves working blue.
6
SPEAKER_00
So you can t, so, but this is one of the last places, if you want, you can sort of say whatever you want.
6
SPEAKER_00
There s not really a boss.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_00
And we have editing capabilities.
6
SPEAKER_01
So if you said kill all, whatever.
6
SPEAKER_00
No, we re going to take 90% of this out.
6
SPEAKER_00
We ll have to be more specific.
6
SPEAKER_00
We re going to start in one minute.
6
SPEAKER_00
We re going to start.
6
SPEAKER_00
Dude, I did one.
6
SPEAKER_00
This is such a good, this is our best warmup.
6
SPEAKER_00
I told Dana, I did one the other day and I was doing my fucking gross bits ahoy.
6
SPEAKER_00
I was like, ba, ba, ba, bits, ba, bits.
6
SPEAKER_00
I walked in, coming in hot, about five minutes and they go, that s great.
6
SPEAKER_00
All right, let s roll tape.
6
SPEAKER_00
And I go, you re fucking joking.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then they re like,
6
SPEAKER_00
We re here with David.
6
SPEAKER_00
So I go, you guys, it was rolling.
6
SPEAKER_00
Everyone s fun.
6
SPEAKER_01
Always rolling productions.
6
SPEAKER_01
You want to shoot the rehearsal high.
6
SPEAKER_01
Hit the red button and let her rip.
6
SPEAKER_00
We covered George Wendt.
6
SPEAKER_02
We did a little bit, yeah, yeah, yeah.
6
SPEAKER_02
We did a little bit of Wendt.
6
SPEAKER_02
Oh, you did Hall Pass.
6
SPEAKER_02
I did do Hall Pass.
6
SPEAKER_02
Dana!
6
SPEAKER_01
With Owen Wilson.
6
SPEAKER_01
Hey, how s it going?
6
SPEAKER_01
I think we should go there.
6
SPEAKER_01
I knew a guy who had a real Hall Pass with his wife.
6
SPEAKER_01
Like literally.
6
SPEAKER_01
I don t know if he ever paid it off, but it was like they both married as virgins together and she said, you got one.
6
SPEAKER_01
So when this movie came out, I go, damn, they made a movie about that.
6
SPEAKER_00
Good idea.
6
SPEAKER_00
I ve been a hall pass for a couple of people.
6
SPEAKER_00
Have you?
6
SPEAKER_00
Starting to get it then?
6
SPEAKER_00
You re starting to get it, that s my catchphrase.
6
SPEAKER_01
I was in Vegas at the meet and greet, and they were like- I say that to Lovitz all the time.
6
SPEAKER_01
Starting to get it?
6
SPEAKER_00
No, yours is- Go ahead.
6
SPEAKER_01
Come again some.
6
SPEAKER_01
Come again some.
6
SPEAKER_01
Oh yeah, should I do one, a couple of those for him?
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, go ahead.
6
SPEAKER_01
I tried to come up with the worst hacky redneck comedian, so it s called Red Rednecky, the Redneck Comedian.
6
SPEAKER_01
I married my sister only cause mama turned me down, come and get some.
6
SPEAKER_01
Gotta be catchphrase.
6
SPEAKER_01
I asked my mama what s for dinner.
6
SPEAKER_01
She said roadkill.
6
SPEAKER_01
I said, what kind?
6
SPEAKER_01
She says, I gotta take a drive, come and get some.
6
SPEAKER_00
I like how it trickles right.
6
SPEAKER_00
It s in the jokes and you re like, oh, is that after the joke?
6
SPEAKER_00
Come and get some.
6
SPEAKER_02
I got mine as a raccoon.
6
SPEAKER_02
It s your cigar pull.
6
SPEAKER_02
It burns.
6
SPEAKER_01
It s hard to come up with a catchphrase.
6
SPEAKER_01
Come and get some.
6
SPEAKER_01
I had to look it up.
6
SPEAKER_01
I couldn t have been the first one to say, come and get some.
6
SPEAKER_02
I remember, who s the guy that would do Shucky Ducky, quack, quack?
6
SPEAKER_02
It was on Def Comedy.
6
SPEAKER_00
It might have been called Shucky Ducky.
6
SPEAKER_00
Oh, it might have been his name.
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, Shaggy Duggy.
6
SPEAKER_01
I think Louisiana.
6
SPEAKER_01
Well, there s millionaire influencers that just have a catchphrase.
6
SPEAKER_01
I like hot sauce.
6
SPEAKER_01
They have a catch filter.
6
SPEAKER_01
That s a meme in a little coffee cup.
6
SPEAKER_01
I don t know.
6
SPEAKER_01
I m not a grumpy old man.
6
SPEAKER_01
I swear to God, I m not.
6
SPEAKER_00
I like with his movies, I just say what movies he s in.
6
SPEAKER_00
You were in Hall Pass.
6
SPEAKER_00
Correct.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yep.
6
SPEAKER_00
Okay, what else do you like most of it?
6
SPEAKER_02
I did like all these masterminds masterminds a Cartoon one that was no that was that was with Kristen wig and and and Galifianakis and Owen Wilson again.
6
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I was just I played a little Hitman and it showed up there for a couple weeks Hired gun, you know, you come in you screw together here Yeah, yeah, I
6
SPEAKER_02
been asked prior, but at the time it was off.
6
SPEAKER_02
And it was, I went back and played, you know, Biden a couple of times.
6
SPEAKER_02
But at that point I d never, I hadn t had the chance to host and yeah, there s perfect timing.
6
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, it was nice.
6
SPEAKER_02
I mean, it s a surreal experience.
6
SPEAKER_02
The one thing that was different was it was post COVID.
6
SPEAKER_02
So like, you know, the table read was, which I loved, you know, like Wednesday was like,
6
SPEAKER_02
like a little theater show for everybody, you know.
6
SPEAKER_02
Oh yeah, 55 sketches.
6
SPEAKER_02
I just loved it.
6
SPEAKER_02
And just the marathon.
6
SPEAKER_02
It s insane.
6
SPEAKER_00
It s insane.
6
SPEAKER_00
Just the BO in that room alone.
6
SPEAKER_00
Everyone s so nervous.
6
SPEAKER_02
100%, yeah.
6
SPEAKER_02
And also everyone there has seen the best of the best of the best.
6
SPEAKER_02
Like at least a third of that room has been there from the get go.
6
SPEAKER_02
So they re just kind of like, okay, yeah, we saw this.
6
SPEAKER_02
We ve seen this a hundred times over.
6
SPEAKER_02
But regardless of all that, the opportunity,
6
SPEAKER_02
For the first time ever like yeah, cuz we during my time There s a between 45 and 55 sketches like when working on the ten years.
6
SPEAKER_02
I was there.
6
SPEAKER_02
I d probably on a good week be in
6
SPEAKER_02
12 to 17 of those sketches.
6
SPEAKER_02
So the most time you re watching and reading.
6
SPEAKER_01
And read through.
6
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, read through and read through.
6
SPEAKER_02
So then to show up and go back and to be in 95% of the sketches.
6
SPEAKER_01
Cold read over 50 sketches over four hours.
6
SPEAKER_01
Sickening.
6
SPEAKER_02
I loved it.
6
SPEAKER_02
I ve tried to read them, you know, you make little notes, you try to do it and then just give it your all.
6
SPEAKER_02
There s no way you could do it all.
6
SPEAKER_01
Are you a good reader?
6
SPEAKER_01
Some people are exceptional and then some people are good.
6
SPEAKER_01
Are you okay with it?
6
SPEAKER_02
I am okay with it.
6
SPEAKER_02
And it did make,
7
SPEAKER_02
And it s something I d say to anybody that is currently working in SNL or ever did, or will, if you get really good at doing SNL, you then need to find, you need to then leave during the off weeks or the summers, go play with other people that don t do SNL, and you ll feel like Daniel LaRusso, like the karate kid, where it s like, oh, I didn t know I learned how to do this.
7
SPEAKER_00
You re faster.
7
SPEAKER_00
Because you re in this all-star team, you lose perspective.
7
SPEAKER_02
As long as you don t get that bunker mentality into your relationships.
7
SPEAKER_00
It seems like you have a lot of wisdom around SNL.
7
SPEAKER_00
Like what would you say to a cast member who just got hired and you had 30 seconds with them?
7
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
7
SPEAKER_02
Like I would say,
7
SPEAKER_02
Enjoy the process of creation and destruction on a you know weekly basis just enjoy it like like make shit eat shit Etc repeat like and and and don t judge yourself for when it sticks or what it doesn t because it like I ve never said just because It dies doesn t mean it s dead.
7
SPEAKER_02
I ve never said that before but that that that makes total sense to me
7
SPEAKER_00
Oh yeah, and there s timing, where is the set in the studio, who are you following, what sketch are you following, and what s the vibe of that audience.
7
SPEAKER_00
Sometimes I can just tell when I m doing stand-up that there s a dead spot, and I see an open mic coming up, I go, no chance.
7
SPEAKER_00
Five minutes ago, probably would have rode away, right now it s just dead, so there s a lot of whimsy.
7
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, yeah, I admit it.
7
SPEAKER_02
You know, Jerry Minor, who is a friend and was a guy that I looked up to, you know, when he was at Second City, when he was on one of the stages there, he came back to guest write, and I asked him the same question, what would you, you know, if you had to do it all over again, his time there, I think he was there for like maybe two, three seasons.
7
SPEAKER_02
He was, I had more fun.
7
SPEAKER_02
The sooner you can make SNL your recess versus your school, the better.
7
SPEAKER_02
It s easier said than done.
7
SPEAKER_02
It s so hard.
7
SPEAKER_02
And yet, if you re able to do that.
7
SPEAKER_00
Well, I feel like it builds, unless you re a savant, like certain people, just immediate, but you re trying to fight nerves, try not to try, try not to be too funny, get the card, here s the guest, look around, land the laugh, be there, and then the audience, eventually you land enough, the audience kind of sees,
7
SPEAKER_00
You can feel the vibe they re liking to see you, and then you get more confident, and they like you more.
7
SPEAKER_00
And then I can see this happen with Cecily Strong.
7
SPEAKER_00
We were watching her evolution on the show.
7
SPEAKER_00
Absolutely.
7
SPEAKER_00
And you can t rush it, but it s nerve-wracking.
7
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
7
SPEAKER_02
Loren tried to expedite in a kind way.
7
SPEAKER_02
He asked me to do the warm-up before the show, like probably after my...
7
SPEAKER_02
first or second year in the cast.
7
SPEAKER_02
And I, again, never done standup.
7
SPEAKER_02
What would you do?
7
SPEAKER_02
I would just, I would just do like, like old school jokes.
7
SPEAKER_02
You know, raise your hand if you ve never been to a TV taping before.
7
SPEAKER_02
All right.
7
SPEAKER_02
But another show of hands, who s at a TV taping for the very first time.
7
SPEAKER_02
A lot of the same people, you know, you know, stuff like that.
7
SPEAKER_02
My son mentioned you yesterday because he was at that show.
7
SPEAKER_00
And he goes, oh, we re going to interview him.
7
SPEAKER_00
He goes, oh man, he s a really good standup.
7
SPEAKER_00
Cause that s all he saw you coming out.
7
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
7
SPEAKER_02
That, that, I mean, that was Lauren just wanting the audience to have a better sense of who I was before you get out there.
7
SPEAKER_02
And he would, and he would be, you know, Norm used to do it, but like Norman Belli would say, so I m going to be in this sketch.
7
SPEAKER_02
I m going to come out when I come out, really, really let them have it.
7
SPEAKER_02
Let me, let them hear it.
7
SPEAKER_02
You know?
7
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, you know, it d be great if you could like stand up and apply, right?
7
SPEAKER_01
That d be better than anything.
7
SPEAKER_01
Lauren s like, Norm, let them not like you ahead of time and then go do your update where they re gonna hate you.
7
SPEAKER_00
Don t you love when Lauren, you always hear this one name, Chevy did it, Danny did it that way, Billy liked it.
7
SPEAKER_02
There s only one Lauren.
7
SPEAKER_02
towards the end there, like on Tuesdays was the host dinners.
7
SPEAKER_02
Did you guys have those?
7
SPEAKER_02
Like, were you, yeah.
7
SPEAKER_02
I love them.
7
SPEAKER_02
Cause it was like, it was a little bit like the part of me that wouldn t do homework.
7
SPEAKER_02
And then we try to talk about current affairs or current events before, you know, we started talking about, you know, Beowulf, you know, like I didn t read Beowulf, but I can, I can talk about the TWA.
7
SPEAKER_00
Four hour boozy dinner and then go back and write the show.
7
SPEAKER_01
I did it to avoid writing when they go, we re trying to gather people.
7
SPEAKER_01
You want to go to Spain?
7
SPEAKER_01
I m like, yeah.
7
SPEAKER_02
I love to just to see Lauren like get loose and I learned through repetition.
7
SPEAKER_02
So hearing stories that he may have told before, like it didn t bother me at all.
7
SPEAKER_02
I just kind of like play as Ed McMahon or just like, or just, I was always like, I loved when you came back to host you, I feel, I felt.
7
SPEAKER_02
I always had fun making Lauren like my straight man.
7
SPEAKER_02
Like during pitch meeting on Mondays, I would, I have, for years, since even Chicago, I still carry them, like these little tiny notebooks.
7
SPEAKER_02
And I d just sit there with this little notebook and it would be like, all right, Jason.
7
SPEAKER_02
And I d go, hey Lauren, you still need, you ran out of karaoke last night without paying, you owe me a hundred bucks.
7
SPEAKER_02
He s like, I ll get you.
7
SPEAKER_02
Okay.
7
SPEAKER_02
You said that like, you know, like whatever.
7
SPEAKER_02
And so then, you know, whomever, you know, Ludacris or Ben Affleck doesn t know what my relationship is with this guy who s an icon.
7
SPEAKER_02
And it s just me like, you know, just giving him, giving him guff.
7
SPEAKER_02
But he always like, we would always laugh about it.
7
SPEAKER_02
It was always like respectful.
7
SPEAKER_02
It was never me like, you know, being a dick to him, but it was just, just kind of like,
7
SPEAKER_02
acting like he was just one of the bros, one of the guys.
7
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, yeah.
7
SPEAKER_01
Hosting is scary.
7
SPEAKER_01
One time I went back and I was like, I got sick during dress and I had to lay down and Marcy, I don t know if you were there when Marcy died, as if she was, of course, dramatic anyway, and then freaking out, pounding on my door.
7
SPEAKER_01
I was in that little dressing room off of 8-H, the host and the music are right there.
7
SPEAKER_01
So I was in there laying on the ground and I threw up and then,
7
SPEAKER_01
It was mid, toward the end of Dress and I missed two sketches and I just went in and then they go, so those got cut.
7
SPEAKER_01
The writers were like, fucking awesome.
7
SPEAKER_01
It s already got a stink on it if we try to bring it back next week for Michael Keaton.
7
SPEAKER_01
A little bit of bar flex.
7
SPEAKER_01
And then I got up, I mean, hero is a strong word, but I got up and I did the show.
7
SPEAKER_01
I went out there and did a real C plus episode.
7
SPEAKER_01
I hosted twice.
7
SPEAKER_01
I don t know if anyone was better, if you can say that.
7
SPEAKER_01
I remember Adam was in my monologue once and then he, Waterboy opened and he had to fly back to LA and I was, and Lauren goes, just do standup.
7
SPEAKER_01
I m like,
7
SPEAKER_01
It s not that fucking, I never even go on anymore.
7
SPEAKER_01
So I had to go do cold standup of like, dogs are funny.
7
SPEAKER_02
Do you know he made me do, or he made me, he asked me to do the warmup for the fucking 40th anniversary.
7
SPEAKER_02
Oh sick.
7
SPEAKER_02
He asked me to, because I had done it for eight years, that one that I was telling you, and again,
7
SPEAKER_02
Just straight up, just being goofy.
7
SPEAKER_02
I mean, Don Pardo would introduce me, and here s Jason Sudeikis.
7
SPEAKER_02
And I go, give it up for Don Pardo, the man, the myth, the legend, the only person in this building that was quoted in the Bible, just doing old jokes.
7
SPEAKER_02
God said, let there be light, he flipped the switch.
7
SPEAKER_02
You know, like the corniest, hackiest, whatever, but just having fun, right?
7
SPEAKER_00
But the audience is all cast.
7
SPEAKER_02
That s what I said to him like he has Eric Kennard who was a buddy on the show It was you know writer guy that we work wrote together all the time I was like, what are you doing like like it s Sarah Silliman s in the house.
7
SPEAKER_02
You know Chappelle spade I was like I was like all kill like why me you just have you just do it and
7
SPEAKER_02
You know and so I so I do it and it is I eat so much shit.
7
SPEAKER_02
I like it s not good.
7
SPEAKER_02
No one s listening It s like 10 minutes before it s live and you re looking out there and what I ve said is like it looked like the gatefold of like Sgt.
7
SPEAKER_02
Peppers the cover which is everyone every person was famous
7
SPEAKER_02
Every person was famous and then the famous on top famous was talking to famous at some point I was like, you know said to Keith Richards who was talking to Jack Nicholson, you know Keith Jack I think if you guys sit down people will start to follow along And it s just nothing nothing then next and I m like, it s so I m not bummed I m just laughing about I look out in the crowd Galifianakis is crying with laughter about how much shit I mean Yeah, and then comes up to me says says, uh, you know, do you want me to like off mic?
7
SPEAKER_02
Do you want me to introduce you settle them down?
7
SPEAKER_02
I was like, yes, please
7
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, man, like that ll help and he starts to go up to the mic.
7
SPEAKER_02
I go.
7
SPEAKER_02
Hold on.
7
SPEAKER_02
Let me introduce you I go ladies.
7
SPEAKER_02
I m really quick.
7
SPEAKER_02
Let s give it up for the man None of us would be here without him the one and only please put your hands together for mr Dick Ebersole and I do and I make that joke and as I do that Bill Murray walks right in front of me looks up at me and gives me a little thumbs up
7
SPEAKER_02
And I was like, that s why you say yes to this gig.
7
SPEAKER_02
Everybody quiets down a little bit.
7
SPEAKER_02
And then I got about 30 seconds to just say, Hey, everybody have fun tonight.
7
SPEAKER_02
You know, like before they got loud again, before the real show started.
7
SPEAKER_00
That was just mayhem.
7
SPEAKER_00
I didn t have a dressing room.
7
SPEAKER_00
I think I was just hanging out in the hallway or something.
7
SPEAKER_02
My mouth gets dry just thinking about it right now.
7
SPEAKER_01
Stargazing every turn and do is like somebody, somebody.
7
SPEAKER_02
I got to meet Eddie Murphy that night.
7
SPEAKER_02
I got like, it was like a to do.
7
SPEAKER_02
Chappelle asked me, where can I smoke a cigarette?
7
SPEAKER_00
I wasn t sure.
7
SPEAKER_00
Go to the stairwell?
7
SPEAKER_00
I don t think you can.
7
SPEAKER_00
What about a vape?
7
SPEAKER_00
He goes, I don t like them.
7
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, well, all right.
7
SPEAKER_00
I know.
7
SPEAKER_00
But it was wild.
7
SPEAKER_00
Bradley Cooper, can I get a picture with you?
7
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
7
SPEAKER_00
Sure.
7
SPEAKER_00
It s something else.
7
SPEAKER_00
For one night.
7
SPEAKER_00
I know.
7
SPEAKER_00
All right, let s talk about Ted Lasso.
7
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, Ted Lasso.
7
SPEAKER_01
Ted started as a video.
7
SPEAKER_01
As a commercial, yeah, very well.
7
SPEAKER_01
There was a guy with a beard and that, and then who made that call?
7
SPEAKER_01
I mean, there you go.
7
SPEAKER_01
Is it the same guy?
7
SPEAKER_01
It is the same guy?
7
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
7
SPEAKER_01
As I was watching this morning going, Brendan, I don t know if they brought him over.
7
SPEAKER_02
No, no, your guys, Chemistry and Patter.
7
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, we re pals from way back when.
7
SPEAKER_00
I ll just set the table, David.
7
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
7
SPEAKER_00
So I hear about Ted Lasso.
7
SPEAKER_00
Everyone s talking about Ted Lasso.
7
SPEAKER_00
I m watching stuff.
8
SPEAKER_00
Okay, so eventually my wife and I get to Ted Lasso.
8
SPEAKER_00
Like everyone else are like, holy shit.
8
SPEAKER_01
It s sort of mandatory at this point.
8
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, and then it became like, this is lightning in a bottle and you ve heard everything.
8
SPEAKER_00
And you actually, you can talk to it, but you ve heard from famous people, right?
8
SPEAKER_00
That just had to tell you what they thought.
8
SPEAKER_00
I mean, we want to mention just famous.
8
SPEAKER_02
I mean the ones that stick out were like, you know, finding out that Brad Pitt like the show finding out that, you know, Frank Oz writing a lovely letter, you know, at the Emmys last year sitting next to you know, Brian Cox and his wife and and and you know, we were at a table with some of the succession folks and then him be able to love the show like just eat.
8
SPEAKER_00
If you get it, you love it.
8
SPEAKER_00
It works on so many different levels.
8
SPEAKER_00
It s very, the pop culture patter, how fast you all do it around the room.
8
SPEAKER_00
Talking about Julie Andrews movies.
8
SPEAKER_02
It s all thrown away.
8
SPEAKER_02
Julie Andrews sent Brett Goldstein a very nice headshot.
8
SPEAKER_02
Proclaiming her own appreciation for him.
8
SPEAKER_02
So another example.
8
SPEAKER_00
And then you ve got the Roy Kent guy who s, oh, these cocksuckers we re gonna kill.
8
SPEAKER_00
So it s like, it s almost like Andy Griffith at times.
8
SPEAKER_00
It s so earnest and sincere.
8
SPEAKER_00
And then the likability factor of Ted Lasso.
8
SPEAKER_00
You know, the country bumpkin that doesn t know what he s doing.
8
SPEAKER_00
He s smarter than everyone.
8
SPEAKER_00
He has no ego.
8
SPEAKER_00
When the guy tried to take you down, that actor would be... Mohammed.
8
SPEAKER_00
Mohammed.
8
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
8
SPEAKER_00
And then you did your press conference and turned it.
8
SPEAKER_00
So what...
8
SPEAKER_00
So you do the NBC thing, and I watched it again, and you re a fish out of water.
8
SPEAKER_00
So then you guys get in a room, they get the order, and so when did you know, like, holy shit, we got a real hook for this now?
8
SPEAKER_00
Because you cast all these other characters.
8
SPEAKER_00
How does that come together?
8
SPEAKER_02
It starts and stops, because we did the first commercial in 2013, the second one in 2014 we got to do because the one in 2013 was well-received.
8
SPEAKER_01
It s sort of well-received just by your friends, they hear it, the network hears it.
8
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, but we also hear about it from the football, because it was made to bridge the gap between American football fans and soccer fans.
8
SPEAKER_02
And Brendan, who plays Coach Beard, and Joe Kelly, who s one of the creators of the commercial, and we re all friends, and we re kind of like Goldilocks, I know nothing
8
SPEAKER_02
Joe knows a little bit about both, and Brendan knows a lot about both, but mostly, and more importantly, soccer.
8
SPEAKER_02
And so we tried to do that with the first commercial, and it hits like this weird Venn diagram of football fans like it, soccer fans like it, comedy folks like it, and the advertising, you know, like the business people like it.
8
SPEAKER_02
And so we get to do a second one.
8
SPEAKER_02
They don t want to give us the same budget, meaning they don t want to fly us out to the UK.
8
SPEAKER_02
That s okay.
8
SPEAKER_02
All right.
8
SPEAKER_02
We ll make the commercial about how Ted got hired and fired in three days and loved, fell in love with soccer, fell in love with the UK.
8
SPEAKER_02
And so that s where like all the enthusiasm and like, like, like, like not the egolessness that, you know, to a lot of degrees, you know, came out.
8
SPEAKER_02
So then in 2015, Joe and Brennan and I meet in Brooklyn.
8
SPEAKER_02
My partner at the time was like,
8
SPEAKER_02
You guys all really enjoy doing that.
8
SPEAKER_02
You should do something. 
8
SPEAKER_02
I was like, yeah, but what?
8
SPEAKER_02
So we sit out for a week and we re like, is it another commercial?
8
SPEAKER_02
Is it a movie?
8
SPEAKER_02
Is it this?
8
SPEAKER_02
And we sort of modeled it after the British office, you know, six episodes, one season, six episodes, second season, then like an hour and a half special for the third season.
8
SPEAKER_02
And we just, we just, just all these story ideas and characters just dumped out of us in
8
SPEAKER_02
If that was a week, we worked on three projects that week.
8
SPEAKER_02
I d say four out of those seven days, we re just dedicated and we just filled up these pages.
8
SPEAKER_02
Then it goes away for a couple of years.
8
SPEAKER_02
Olivia and I have kids.
8
SPEAKER_02
Joe- A couple of years.
8
SPEAKER_02
A couple of years, yeah.
8
SPEAKER_02
We didn t do anything with it because kids, Joe and three other buddies created a show called Detroiters with Tim Robinson and Sam Richardson and our buddies at Canon.
8
SPEAKER_02
And that was on Comedy Central, so that was taking all Joe s focus.
8
SPEAKER_02
I was doing like little things with like Forte and movies here and there.
8
SPEAKER_02
And then Bill Lawrence approaches me about doing a project.
8
SPEAKER_02
We talk about that.
8
SPEAKER_02
That doesn t quite, you know, we don t end up doing that.
8
SPEAKER_02
But he s like, if you have any ideas, and I have like this stack of like 50 pages, like
8
SPEAKER_02
you know, first draft, rough draft of a pilot, but then all these different breakdowns of episodes and ideas and whatnot.
8
SPEAKER_02
And you want to take a look at this?
8
SPEAKER_02
I sent it to him.
8
SPEAKER_02
You gave it to Bill?
8
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I gave it to Bill.
8
SPEAKER_02
And so that s, so to answer your question, it s when someone that knows that much about television looks at it and goes, Oh, there s something here.
8
SPEAKER_02
Oh yeah.
8
SPEAKER_01
You guys could do this.
8
SPEAKER_02
You re probably 90% there with this.
8
SPEAKER_02
To a certain degree, yeah.
8
SPEAKER_02
I mean, a lot of it, but not that Bill s influence wasn t immense and super duper helpful, and really was the gas that got this sort of pre, like this old jalopy.
8
SPEAKER_01
Showrunners are big, big in this town.
8
SPEAKER_01
Huge.
8
SPEAKER_01
They almost are more important than the idea or the stars.
8
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, yeah.
8
SPEAKER_01
In a weird way.
8
SPEAKER_02
And he provided all that.
8
SPEAKER_02
So he really got us moving.
8
SPEAKER_02
And I look back through the text recently, kind of remind myself of like our own origin story.
8
SPEAKER_02
And it really took, you know, a good calendar year for just new business.
8
SPEAKER_02
He had other things going on.
8
SPEAKER_02
We had other things going on, you know, and, and, you know, navigating the deals with, and, I mean, it was, you re talking about NBC on the rights, Warner Brothers is where Bill s deal was, a show for Apple.
8
SPEAKER_02
And that was once Apple came on, because we pitched it to everyone, but Apple was the only one to say, we ll take it, we ll take a shot at it.
8
SPEAKER_02
And then, you know, then all the deal-making after that.
8
SPEAKER_02
Once it takes a while.
8
SPEAKER_02
So other places, you went in with a pitch and they said, no, thank you.
8
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, Netflix passed, you know, Amazon passed.
8
SPEAKER_00
I mean, it makes, like, I get it, like, because it.
8
SPEAKER_00
Well, until you see it.
8
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, no one believes until you see it.
8
SPEAKER_00
proof of concept.
8
SPEAKER_02
All you need is one.
8
SPEAKER_02
But the commercials are pretty broad and I understood that.
8
SPEAKER_00
Right, all that can t sustain.
8
SPEAKER_02
And yet we tried, we did do our darndest to pitch the tone of what it was and yet nobody was buying and I don t begrudge anybody really.
8
SPEAKER_00
No, no, Tim Cook.
8
SPEAKER_00
Timmy Cook.
8
SPEAKER_00
How did you write the British characters though like this the woman who plays Rebecca?
8
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, it s so good I mean all the British people are so good How did you put yourself in how they would react to the Americans?
8
SPEAKER_02
Because they re so well written to a little bit was good fortune of Brennan Joe and I all getting to work in Europe You know even though it s we did theater You know for varying degrees like Brennan for like off and on for five years Joe off and on for like two three years me off and on for a year and
8
SPEAKER_02
Like, we re just writing archetypes, you know, and just of like the American, you know, whatever spirit, you know, and the assumptions being made.
8
SPEAKER_02
And we d made jokes about all those stereotypes and assumptions while at Boom Chicago, you know, taking the piss out of ourselves.
8
SPEAKER_02
So we kind of had that to a certain degree.
8
SPEAKER_02
And I mean, Brits are like, you know, in a fun way, you know, one other thing that I feel like I learned when doing stuff at Boom Chicago was how, that we re more similar than we like to think, regardless of flag or, you know, age or race, gender, all those things, those complicated, amazing things that make the human jambalaya, like at the end of the day, you know, we like salt, we like sweet, we like, you know, we re like, you know, kissing.
8
SPEAKER_02
But I mean, even across,
8
SPEAKER_02
So if there s an archetype of someone that is too positive, I think any of us will assume like, oh, they re not, they re a nightmare, or something bad s gonna happen.
8
SPEAKER_02
And he just sort of played against those things.
8
SPEAKER_02
75 years or however many years of sitcoms have us thinking that these things are supposed to go this way, these things are supposed to go that way, and we just try to twist them, or just turn them just a little tiny bit.
8
SPEAKER_02
Again, nothing that we thought was- So you don t see everything coming.
8
SPEAKER_01
You know, some people are smart, they think they see everything coming.
8
SPEAKER_01
Sure.
8
SPEAKER_01
And then you go, oh, it s a little not what you think.
8
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
8
SPEAKER_01
Exactly.
8
SPEAKER_02
And I remember feeling that way when watching the documentary about Mr. Rogers, being like, oh boy, here comes the dark turn at minute 50, and then it doesn t.
8
SPEAKER_02
And then you re like, okay, they re going to wait until an hour and 10 minutes in, then it doesn t.
8
SPEAKER_02
And you re just like, oh, he was just a decent man who was trying to make a difference in children s lives and also adults.
8
SPEAKER_01
Oh, wow.
8
SPEAKER_01
So there s people like that.
8
SPEAKER_02
How subversive.
8
SPEAKER_01
That s cool.
8
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, right.
8
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
8
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
8
SPEAKER_00
What do I do about that?
8
SPEAKER_00
I mean, obviously like Ted Lasso, the first season, there s a lot of failure.
8
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
8
SPEAKER_00
And the way, and then just the fun of watching how he navigates it.
8
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
8
SPEAKER_02
And how he encourages other people to do it.
8
SPEAKER_02
Like for me, it also, it always reminded me of like Highway to Heaven or, you know, Touched by an Angel.
8
SPEAKER_02
Like this idea of- Michael Landon.
8
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
8
SPEAKER_02
Like that this person would come in and, you know, sort of act this way and people would go, what the hell s going on here?
8
SPEAKER_00
Right.
8
SPEAKER_00
It was like, yeah, right.
8
SPEAKER_02
That s a good, yeah.
8
SPEAKER_02
Subconsciously, I didn t realize at the time but a big thing was about his egolessness like if you don t ego no ego If you don t know any if you just play it without any of that He s not he s not trying to get over on people He s not trying to trick anybody and it s still a hundred percent consistent regardless of people thinking that it it s you know different than that now that it was like it s that s
8
SPEAKER_00
I talked to someone the other day who went on some psychedelic trips with ayahuasca and or mushrooms or whatever.
8
SPEAKER_00
And it was really all about getting rid of the ego.
8
SPEAKER_00
Because once the ego goes away, then something has changed this person.
8
SPEAKER_00
So it s interesting you mentioned.
8
SPEAKER_02
Ted has no ego.
8
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, that book, How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan was a big influence on me.
8
SPEAKER_02
And the times that I had done, you know, Mushrooms, you know, in my Amsterdam days.
8
SPEAKER_00
Oh, the Amsterdam episode, I saw that a couple of weeks ago.
8
SPEAKER_00
That is high order.
8
SPEAKER_00
Oh yeah, no, that s something you have to see, that episode you gotta watch more than once.
8
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, thank you.
8
SPEAKER_00
But the whole show has so many levels to it.
8
SPEAKER_00
It can be slapstick, it can be funny and silly, and then it can be very real.
8
SPEAKER_00
It s like when you re playing darts, you, Ted.
8
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, sure.
8
SPEAKER_00
And you go, something about, I m just curious.
8
SPEAKER_00
I m just curious.
8
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, be curious, not judgmental, yeah.
8
SPEAKER_00
Did people mention that to you?
8
SPEAKER_02
A handful, yeah.
8
SPEAKER_02
People have asked me to write that on their arms.
8
SPEAKER_00
There s a lot of wisdom.
9
SPEAKER_02
Get a tattoo and it s not his and I don t even know if it s Walt Whitman s.
9
SPEAKER_02
I mean we say it s Walt Whitman s because it s sort of Sounds like it sounds like yeah, your character is casually always quoting.
9
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
9
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
9
SPEAKER_01
Yeah Robert Frost, but it s always thrown away.
9
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, you know trying to be yeah like because it s he s not too yeah, he s not too
9
SPEAKER_01
And so do you shepherd it like a sketch in where I know you have your three other partners?
9
SPEAKER_01
By the way, there is so many producer credits on the show.
9
SPEAKER_01
It s amazing.
9
SPEAKER_01
I don t even know.
9
SPEAKER_01
I just watch the show and wait.
9
SPEAKER_01
Am I a producer?
9
SPEAKER_01
I don t know.
9
SPEAKER_02
You re on it, David.
9
SPEAKER_02
You might be after this.
9
SPEAKER_01
You re a co-executive.
9
SPEAKER_01
But do you treat it like, so you re probably, someone else is technically directing, but you re gonna be, you re just gonna be an overriding creative force in it, just like shepherding a sketch.
9
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I mean the way I can, it s a little bit like, it s a big old cookout, everybody brings a dish and I just sort of help put things on the plate.
9
SPEAKER_01
But the sensibility has to stay wherever you want it to be.
9
SPEAKER_02
I m sure if something sounds false, you can stay and say, I don t, it doesn t feel.
9
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
9
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
9
SPEAKER_02
That s, that s been afforded to me from the get go.
9
SPEAKER_00
It s done now.
9
SPEAKER_00
Right.
9
SPEAKER_00
So you miss, you re going to miss it.
9
SPEAKER_00
I m sure.
9
SPEAKER_02
I will.
9
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
9
SPEAKER_02
I mean, we re still, you know, like I still watch cuts for like, you know, music stuff or something like that.
9
SPEAKER_02
Um, but for the most part, yeah.
9
SPEAKER_02
But all the editing s done, all the writing s done.
9
SPEAKER_02
And now, yeah, we have the final four episodes being rolled out, and then we ll, you know, handle the press here and there, which is a joy to do, because we all get along, actually.
9
SPEAKER_01
In the editing bay, is that what they call it?
9
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
9
SPEAKER_01
So it s sort of, there s so many choices in there.
9
SPEAKER_01
And so I would assume, coming from all those years of sketch comedy and other things,
9
SPEAKER_01
that, and you may have people that are on the same sensibility, but sometimes you ll know, or I assume you re gonna know, oh, we have to go to that reaction shot a little sooner to get the laugh.
9
SPEAKER_01
So there s all that mathematics in there.
9
SPEAKER_01
And so this show is landing it so consistently.
9
SPEAKER_01
I would assume it s either a few people that are right on the same frequency, or one person that says, guys, I think we should do it this way.
9
SPEAKER_01
But there s a reason why it s so brilliant.
9
SPEAKER_02
I mean, I think it s a,
9
SPEAKER_02
just the best idea winning.
9
SPEAKER_02
And yeah, there s a certain level of harmony in it.
9
SPEAKER_02
And it is something that I learned in that same Karate Kid way that I was talking about with, with SNL, where, you know, by the time, by the time you were there and by the time you were there 20, you know, 15 years later, all those same people were still there building those sets, making those props, building those wigs, you know, and they re all great at it.
9
SPEAKER_02
They ve done their, they ve done 10,000 hours times, you know, just our three generations, much less the two prior and then the four cents or whatever.
9
SPEAKER_02
And like,
9
SPEAKER_02
I was like, OK, I m going to my sketch got picked.
9
SPEAKER_02
I m going to go into that room with the heads of each department and just let them know what the sketch is about from my perspective without pontificating, without, you know, being condescending and just let these geniuses do whatever they want to do with it.
9
SPEAKER_02
And then you just we have done that.
9
SPEAKER_02
with this show, and if you leave a little space for the people behind the camera and in the office and in marketing, whatever, to lean into this show, the same space, and Grace, we want to afford the audience as well, I think a lot of people feel more ownership over it.
9
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, they re good in their job and you let them do their job, and if you hire good people,
9
SPEAKER_00
I like to not worry about some things.
9
SPEAKER_00
I like to kick at someone and say, you know what, you re doing way more than I do.
9
SPEAKER_00
And you come in there and try to boss me around.
9
SPEAKER_01
It s nothing like someone handing you some great material.
9
SPEAKER_00
And you get the credit, basically.
9
SPEAKER_01
And I get that.
9
SPEAKER_01
Robert Smigel was out for me and Bonnie Terry Turner.
9
SPEAKER_01
You know, in terms of, it s such a difficult word, art or whatever.
9
SPEAKER_01
It seems like there was some, and you can talk to this or not, an autobiographical tinges in the third season.
9
SPEAKER_01
based on you potentially, your private life, it was, you can speak to that or not, but I couldn t help but notice, and I thought it was so wonderfully done, because I ve been on the road at times with my sons and stuff like that.
9
SPEAKER_02
Those are very poignant scenes.
9
SPEAKER_02
Thank you.
9
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, what s interesting is that my relationship to my life, like I m,
9
SPEAKER_02
It wasn t there from the very get-go.
9
SPEAKER_02
Even when the initial idea of doing a show, I was like, well, why would he go there?
9
SPEAKER_02
Because a guy like my age would have, most likely, have a child, at least one child, and probably be in a relationship.
9
SPEAKER_02
If he s not, there must be a reason why.
9
SPEAKER_02
And so that s why the pilot ends the way a pilot—I mean, literally the second it was—thinking about it in the long form of a television show, I was like, I knew that that was the ending of the pilot.
9
SPEAKER_02
It was going to be, OK.
9
SPEAKER_02
So, none of that was autobiographical and then his life sort of marched on.
9
SPEAKER_02
The only thing that in my life that helped inform the playing of things and maybe even the notion of a story point when breaking the episodes.
9
SPEAKER_02
was being a father.
9
SPEAKER_02
And so what that s like to be away from your child, because, you know, Otis and Daisy were, you know, the season two and season three were in London.
9
SPEAKER_02
So I wasn t away from them, you know, with, you know, the way we split our time with our children, it s a week on, week off.
9
SPEAKER_02
So, but I was always, you know, they don t do overtime in the UK.
9
SPEAKER_02
So I was home, I was able to be home for- Oh, for real?
9
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, yeah.
9
SPEAKER_02
So it was like, they literally afford you the opportunity to make a living.
9
SPEAKER_02
I know, right?
9
SPEAKER_02
And so, so I didn t have to,
9
SPEAKER_02
But luckily, I ve never had a parent take their own life.
9
SPEAKER_02
So you just kind of like have to do the acting thing of like empathize with someone that has gone through that or has been forced to go through that based on the decisions.
9
SPEAKER_02
And so, yeah, it s...
9
SPEAKER_02
I understand people conflating the two.
9
SPEAKER_01
Oh no, it s a good answer that it s not maybe people are reading it a bit much.
9
SPEAKER_01
Well, it s a place to go anyway.
9
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, it s what would naturally happen in these things because so much of it for me is like what happens when
9
SPEAKER_02
You know, if you haven t broken up with someone you haven t broken up with, then there s a whole bunch of music out there for you once you do.
9
SPEAKER_02
There s a whole bunch of movies and TV too.
9
SPEAKER_02
Whether you re on either side of that thing, and boy, you think you like songs now, they re going to get you through things and make you want to jump off of a roof and think you can fly or the opposite.
9
SPEAKER_01
It s a compliment to your acting too, you know.
9
SPEAKER_01
But when you had that little soccer field, the Lego set, you re missing your, you know, or just the little references to FaceTime, or my son s here right now, or there s where his flight is, all that detail is so.
9
SPEAKER_02
I mean, that s just also having friends that, you know, go through all these things and just, yeah, just keeping those things in your head, heart, and soul and letting them bang around there.
9
SPEAKER_02
Then at some point when they come out, they come out.
9
SPEAKER_02
You know, I think about, I ve watched the,
9
SPEAKER_02
It s not usually conscious like you I watch the audio commentary for Godfather I think it was either one or two just recently and it was talking about how he made Godfather one and then everybody Loved it and he s like you got a father too.
9
SPEAKER_02
He s like, I don t have a godfather, too He s like, I don t he goes, but I forget the line the studio had a hat for us Like you found out the the formula for coca-cola and you won t make any more bottles
9
SPEAKER_02
And he had this – separately, he had this idea about a father and son story where you show the father and son contemporaneously when they re at the same age.
9
SPEAKER_02
And then that like came down.
9
SPEAKER_02
He remembered that and that became Godfather 2.
9
SPEAKER_02
And so it was like these things going on in the world and life, you know, are one thing, but it doesn t necessarily mean it s their time to show up.
9
SPEAKER_02
You know, Christopher Walken hasn t, hasn t showed up to say the lines yet, you know?
9
SPEAKER_02
And so you re kind of like, all right, well, here, here it is all at this time.
9
SPEAKER_02
And so, like I said, I don t regret anybody.
9
SPEAKER_01
So is it, because one of our lornisms that we remember is, he said to me once, never leave a hit.
9
SPEAKER_01
No.
9
SPEAKER_01
So with Ted Lasso, is it in your mind, is it done now?
9
SPEAKER_02
This story is done.
9
SPEAKER_02
It sounds like such a political answer, but it s the truth.
9
SPEAKER_02
It s like we only conceived what, you know, these three.
9
SPEAKER_02
Then this thing became this big old thing.
9
SPEAKER_01
I mean, how much content is the three seasons?
9
SPEAKER_01
If you think of it as a movie.
9
SPEAKER_02
Oh, gosh.
9
SPEAKER_02
I mean, it s 10 episodes, 12 episodes, 12 episodes.
9
SPEAKER_02
But this season is probably twice as long as the first season.
9
SPEAKER_02
The episodes are just, you know, just longer.
9
SPEAKER_02
There s more.
9
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
9
SPEAKER_00
It could go back to being an NBC promo.
9
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, exactly.
9
SPEAKER_00
You know what I think you could do?
9
SPEAKER_00
The bell curve.
9
SPEAKER_02
The natural.
9
SPEAKER_02
The Doppler effect.
9
SPEAKER_01
I know what, you know what, this is some flight of fancy.
9
SPEAKER_01
Sorry, I m interrupting.
9
SPEAKER_01
I m cross-talking.
9
SPEAKER_01
Tarantino wrote a book after Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which I loved so much.
9
SPEAKER_01
It feels like Ted Lasso, if there ain t gonna be more television, that that character, people would want to hear.
9
SPEAKER_01
Have you thought of that?
9
SPEAKER_02
100%, yeah, we ve thought about- Writing a novel about him.
9
SPEAKER_02
Whether it s that, whether it s doing podcasts about the episodes to sort of offer those audio commentaries, which I was so lucky to grow up in a day and age of DVDs just to sort of talk through things and the themes and the people that have expressed interest in the show and also explain the show in a much more cerebral way than I ever would have been able to explain it to anybody.
9
SPEAKER_02
And even when they re off or wrong, it s still interesting.
9
SPEAKER_02
But yeah, I mean, there s opportunities, I think, for spinoffs.
9
SPEAKER_02
The way people have gravitated and cared for these characters and seen themselves or their friends or their family in these characters, in these situations, is, you know, we were hoping people would do that.
9
SPEAKER_02
We didn t expect it to be like this.
9
SPEAKER_01
When did you kind of go, holy shit?
9
SPEAKER_01
halfway through the first season, or when you won all the 18 Emmy nominations?
9
SPEAKER_01
At some point, you went.
9
SPEAKER_02
Even winning the Emmy, or even the nomination for the Emmys, didn t…
10
SPEAKER_02
I think, I don t know, man.
10
SPEAKER_02
It, you know, it came out during quarantine.
10
SPEAKER_02
So we didn t know, you know, cause I m not too active online and less so then, I just, a guy would drive by the house when I m taking out the garbage and honk.
10
SPEAKER_02
Hey, I love the show.
10
SPEAKER_02
Oh, right.
10
SPEAKER_02
And it s a little bit the same way I felt SNL days.
10
SPEAKER_02
You know, you walk around on Sunday and people be like, great show last night.
10
SPEAKER_02
You re like, oh, right.
10
SPEAKER_02
People watch the show.
10
SPEAKER_01
You know what I mean?
10
SPEAKER_01
It s terrifying.
10
SPEAKER_01
You can get a feel for what works and what doesn t sometimes just out in the real world.
10
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, oh, 100%, yeah, and it s usually very different.
10
SPEAKER_01
And then you re getting like slaughtered with it.
10
SPEAKER_01
You go, oh shit, something s, then an Emmy nomination.
10
SPEAKER_01
Then Apple probably tells you it s doing well.
10
SPEAKER_01
They might not tell you exactly how, but it s doing well.
10
SPEAKER_02
That was a big difference.
10
SPEAKER_02
That probably is from a business side of things, understanding that they have access to metrics and information that they don t share.
10
SPEAKER_02
It premiered on a Friday.
10
SPEAKER_02
We had already started our writer s room for season two, like, you know, just kind of just in case, just in case.
10
SPEAKER_02
Then Monday calls the heads of Apple call and say, hey, so we d love to pick you up for a second season.
10
SPEAKER_02
Then two weeks after that, we d love to add, can you do two more episodes for a second?
10
SPEAKER_02
Then two weeks after that, we d love to get you for a third season.
10
SPEAKER_02
And you re like, something has changed.
10
SPEAKER_02
They know something that I don t know in the inner sanctum.
10
SPEAKER_02
But that anecdotal thing of walking around became more clear.
10
SPEAKER_02
Because season two, we were in lockdown up there in London.
10
SPEAKER_02
So we started going to things later.
10
SPEAKER_02
Yes, we were winning these awards, but then you feel like, oh, is that just inside the bottle or the bowl in the showbiz box?
10
SPEAKER_02
And which is lovely and flattering and also a little something you keep I don t know about you guys, but I keep a little bit like Kill do season four little crush exactly yeah You don t you don t want to spook the muses and so by the time we re going back there to do this this past third season all of 2022 and getting to take you know the kids to like football matches and stuff and have people calling us coaches and being excited to see us and like that that
10
SPEAKER_02
I would say a little, you know.
10
SPEAKER_00
And hearing Brad Pitt loved it.
10
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, exactly.
10
SPEAKER_02
That s always nice.
10
SPEAKER_02
Miss Piggy and Yoda, come on.
10
SPEAKER_01
No matter what you do, Dana, like, you ve done it, we ve done it, you hear from the streets, like, I could tell you the top movies that they like, the top two, because it s just in order.
10
SPEAKER_01
You just hear this one the most, this one the most.
10
SPEAKER_01
And they probably only really like probably 40 of my movies.
10
SPEAKER_01
Like, really, really like.
10
SPEAKER_00
I like them all.
10
SPEAKER_00
I want to ask you a question.
10
SPEAKER_00
So this is, so you re, you come off.
10
SPEAKER_01
Why did I add that?
10
SPEAKER_01
I don t know.
10
SPEAKER_00
We have editing capability.
10
SPEAKER_00
Get rid of anything I say.
10
SPEAKER_00
This is what s curious to me is because I came off like a rocket.
10
SPEAKER_00
I ve never had anything because of this 30 years later, I m having a little bit of a moment in Hollywood.
10
SPEAKER_00
Nothing that anyone would know about, but I m getting more things coming at me.
10
SPEAKER_00
So you come off SNL, you re doing all these movies, pandemic is whatever, you do this, and now here you are, you re the belle of the ball, Hollywood loves you, so now you re wiser, more mature, what s coming at you?
10
SPEAKER_00
Like movies, would you do a potato chip commercial if the price was right?
10
SPEAKER_02
100% with Forte and Solomon.
10
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, you gotta dance with the ones that brung you.
10
SPEAKER_02
I couldn t do it alone.
10
SPEAKER_00
You know right now that you have this heat and that the audience loves you, the world, you know, you re in this moment.
10
SPEAKER_00
And so I just wondered how, because now it s happening a second time.
10
SPEAKER_00
Here it is again.
10
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, it doesn t feel like it from the inside.
10
SPEAKER_00
Maybe that s my own, it s just sort of like... Are things coming at you, though?
10
SPEAKER_02
To a degree, but there s a little bit of like, what are you gonna do?
10
SPEAKER_00
Or you could get things off the ground.
10
SPEAKER_00
What do we do with it?
10
SPEAKER_01
But with the TV show, it d be probably scary to go do one right away.
10
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, unless it was a complete about-face.
10
SPEAKER_02
I mean, there s a few ideas out there.
10
SPEAKER_02
I always really, really wanted to do this play on Broadway.
10
SPEAKER_02
But just with family, it s tough to, I m still trying to navigate those real life things.
10
SPEAKER_02
And also just where my head, heart, and soul are at.
10
SPEAKER_02
And there s also a great desire to get a little bored.
10
SPEAKER_02
Because I- Take your time.
10
SPEAKER_00
I would say, if anybody was advising, I would say, just don t be in a hurry.
10
SPEAKER_00
This thing is still, it s still landing.
10
SPEAKER_00
People are discovering it today.
10
SPEAKER_00
I tell anyone who hasn t seen it, start.
10
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
10
SPEAKER_02
It s, it s, it s, and I, and I, you know, I, I, I believe in that wholeheartedly.
10
SPEAKER_02
I, I, I, I, what I truly love is seeing the way, um, all these great people behind the scenes, uh, in front of the camera, the way that their lives have changed from it in a way that I was afforded an early glimpse of that with being hired by SNL, you know, that, that s, that, that changes the way folks that maybe weren t supportive of,
10
SPEAKER_02
a child taking a path in the arts, mine were luckily, but it changes the game there where it s like, you know, my, my son, you know, just works.
10
SPEAKER_01
Just anything on a, on a, especially if one of their first things is a hit, like it s also scary because some people like, and we used to talk about when you go on friends and you re young actor and you re on friends and you don t,
10
SPEAKER_01
as much as you tell yourself, you don t know how hard it is after that.
10
SPEAKER_01
Like it can t be like this all the time.
10
SPEAKER_01
You know, everyone treats you like a certain way on anything that does well, you look back, it s always going to be ups and downs.
10
SPEAKER_01
So.
10
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
10
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It s kind of like what you bring to it.
10
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Like, I, like, I know we worked just as hard on, you know, on any of those movies that you named as I did on this, I was charged with more responsibility and, and, and being like, you know, like from the writing side, producing side, being the final like tube for, you know, decision-making and, and, you know, tone cop and whatnot.
10
SPEAKER_02
That s,
10
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That s all lovely but at the end of the day what I m putting out there what I want to put out into the world is and and how I go about trying to do that been doing that is you know from any of these sketches you know from the sketches that weren t on SNL that I did with you know all my buddies back in Kansas City or you re very tight friends as long as that s coming from
10
SPEAKER_00
that area, then it s probably going to be good.
10
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Unless it s, I don t know, if Quentin Tarantino or whoever your favorite director, Scott Casey, but in lieu of anything else that s coming from you, you re probably in good shape.
10
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It feels authentic.
10
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And all I ve done is added to the people that I want to make laugh and be proud of what I m doing and then how I m going about doing it.
10
SPEAKER_02
So it is those guys that I played basketball with, you know, those guys from my, you know, quote unquote cross country team.
10
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But then I acquired everything from my, you know,
10
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Days of Improv in Kansas City, Chicago, boom.
10
SPEAKER_02
And so it s just like this, that same gatefold, that same, you know, that I saw on the 40th.
10
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Like I have that many people, you know, behind me and they re not looking over me being like correcting my work or making me second guess.
10
SPEAKER_02
They re just encouraging me.
10
SPEAKER_02
And you just want to kind of be able to look back there metaphorically and be like, yeah, have them, you know, doing that nod of just like, yeah, do it.
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Keep doing that.
10
SPEAKER_02
Keep doing that.
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You just want to be proud of you.
10
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And you also want to feel getting to come through sketch and improv in a whole community like Chicago could have happened.
10
SPEAKER_02
10 dozen of the people that I got to work with, you know, just different time.
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I know some great stand-ups that ever got a total break.
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Yeah, and you wanna do right by them too because it s, I don t know, it s karma.
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There s so much whimsy to this game and so there by the grace of God go I. I mean, you have to stay humble and go.
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I love Paul Newman for that.
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He was my favorite celebrity.
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One day would go, oh, you ve raised 500 million from your spaghetti sauce.
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He goes, I wish I d kept the money.
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He didn t want to be put on a pedestal.
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And the other thing,
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How d you do it?
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How d you, I could give you a thousand answers, just plain dumb luck.
10
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So just those two things.
10
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You asked about movies that were huge influence.
10
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It s not a comedy by any means, but a big one that shows up in Ted Lasso all the time was Color of Money.
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Like in 1986, so like between my age of nine and 11, I watched these movies that I d go to theaters with my dad, things that are R-rated.
10
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Movies are everything.
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Everything.
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The mental, excuse me, the male mentoring in that movie,
10
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like of, you know, Tom Cruise after, you know, ladies and gentlemen, you know, top gun, Tom Cruise, you know, well after risky business and all the right moves and all that, but like now he s like a bona fide, like, and he s incredible.
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He s, he s like, that s when you don t hear enough about color money was because we re saying he has so many good ones.
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I love that movie.
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Ed Norton and I saw him recently and we were talking about that movie and I thought I was going to get laid into when he started talking about Scorsese because that guy has done the thing and forgotten more about movies than I ll ever know.
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And he brings up Color of Money and I go, I was so ready to geek out.
10
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That s my favorite Scorsese movie.
10
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And a lot of it has to do with the way I saw it, but then also those performances.
10
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I recommend people to see that movie and then if you love it, then go back and watch The Hustler as like a prequel.
10
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Is that Jackie Gleason and Paul Newman?
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Yeah, where he plays Fast Eddie Felsen, the same character.
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Same guy that wrote the novel, Walter Tevis, who wrote both books.
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I like Poole Hall movies.
10
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I do too.
10
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We were going to call this podcast Rack Em s Day.
10
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You have to do a punch line to go Rack Em, Rack Em.
10
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There s a transition with the sound of the balls.
10
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Rack Em.
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Because there s a mystique to people that can play the piano really well as adults that you ve never seen them play piano.
10
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They re really good at Jeopardy and pool.
10
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If someone s good at pool, especially if they didn t grow up with money, they didn t grow up with a table in there.
10
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How do you get good at pool?
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The way they do the chalk and the way it goes perfectly on their hand.
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The math of it.
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It s so complicated for you know, the the dramatic movies affected me I wasn t everything watching John the winners and stuff those things.
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I don t I wouldn t say could I do that?
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It was just like just blew my mind Yeah as art and the Beatles of course Pink Floyd Tom Hanks and Michael Keaton movies like where they re just where they re funny 15% of the movie, but it s like they re carrying this dramatic narrative like mr. Mom like mr. Mom is incredible and
11
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Mr. Momma s finally gets his due.
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Keaton has just the magic as an actor.
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I love that as a movie.
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I have a gung-ho poster that my aunt Nancy gave me in my basement.
11
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But again, Michael Keaton was so, I mean him and Tom Hanks, they were these modern versions.
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Tom Hanks and Big.
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Yeah.
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Tom Hanks, what d you guys think of Punchline?
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I mean, that was your world.
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We knew someone who trained him, Barry Sobel.
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I thought Tom did a great idea.
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I mean, he did a great job.
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SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
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It s such an interesting, like having, I guess one that we could talk about all together is like, you know, Studio 60.
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Like when someone makes,
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a film or television show about your world.
11
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We re very blessed to have a bunch of the football, soccer community having taken us under their wing and embraced us in a way that, again, we weren t jockeying for, but the fact that we got it authentically and organically really floats our boat.
11
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Yeah, we re very, very pleased about that.
11
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It s hard to make a movie about stand-up.
11
SPEAKER_01
And I think distance running, there s never been, Chariots of Fire, not really.
11
SPEAKER_01
Difficult to capture that I think usually there is the meltdown and then the mic feeds back Yeah, and the comedian has a meltdown yeah, which score Tom Hanks is a brilliant actor played it perfectly Yeah, but I ve never seen that and well they also have locker rooms where the comedian turns, and then there s a squeak and oh
11
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Wasn t there a locker room?
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It s hard to do it like if someone they talk about doing a dramatic show about a sketch show Yeah, you know when they did I love the pilot and then it s 60.
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Yeah, it s just tough tough to capture that
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That was all I watched, yeah.
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It is, it s very, it is.
11
SPEAKER_01
What are the movies you revisit now?
11
SPEAKER_00
Pulp Fiction s a big one.
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I think Die Hard is perfect.
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Early Quentin.
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Why d you say the second one?
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Die Hard, I think Die Hard.
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I think movies you can watch again.
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Like when my wife and I, it s...
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You know, we watch a lot of Redford, you know, all the presidents.
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Yeah, of course.
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Three days of Condor, which casting Sundance can I show to my, my sons six months ago.
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This is awesome.
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It s really fun.
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You have all that ahead of you.
11
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How old are your kids?
11
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Otis is nine, Daisy s seven.
11
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, so is he asked for Save a Private Ryan yet?
11
SPEAKER_00
Not yet, not yet, no, no.
11
SPEAKER_00
But I do show them.
11
SPEAKER_00
I mean, I remember my dad taking me to see Beverly Hills Cop in the theater.
11
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I saw that movie in the theaters with my dad, not supposed to, F words all over the place, you know, nudity.
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You never forget that.
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And never forget it.
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And it made me, like, I wanted to be Eddie Murphy so bad.
11
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So bad, so bad.
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More so than Chevy Chase and Fletch.
11
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I loved Chevy Chase, but Axl Foley really knocked my socks off in a way that still does when I re-watch it.
11
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And they re coming out with a new one, right?
11
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I guess, but we ll see what happens.
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At least we got the first one.
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I loved Animals.
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Animals is my R-rated one.
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They showed the girls T-I-T-S.
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I know, it s heavy duty.
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And it was pretty great.
11
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What does that mean?
11
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In the middle of the movie I go, I have a boner.
11
SPEAKER_01
It was so illicit, so nasty.
11
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And Monty Python.
11
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Monty Python was huge.
11
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I was pretty young when we snuck in there.
11
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Clockwork Orange.
11
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That scared me.
11
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Saw The Longest Day when I was seven in the theater, the black and white World War II film.
11
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You know, the ships come up.
11
SPEAKER_01
Sorry, there s a little broken German there.
11
SPEAKER_00
Did you see The Fableman s, the Spielberg one?
11
SPEAKER_01
I haven t watched it yet.
11
SPEAKER_00
I watched it on the plane ride.
11
SPEAKER_00
What do you think?
11
SPEAKER_00
I loved it.
11
SPEAKER_00
Really?
11
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
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It is Spielberg.
11
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It s Spielberg telling, you know, autobiographical like his story, but just his love of movies and having children that are falling, you know, in love with storytelling and getting to see their mom and dad do it.
11
SPEAKER_00
So much I feel of, and I understand the laments of over nepotism, but so much of it is seeing someone do it and see them enjoying it or seeing the way people enjoy them.
11
SPEAKER_00
Nothing that I ve purchased or have been given on a plane will move Otis towards wanting to do what I do for a living more than him probably seeing people give me as many high fives as they do when we go to a soccer game.
11
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or anything, yeah.
11
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When they re happy to see you, when people are happy to see you, they re being polite, and again, because of the themes of the show, they re like, yeah, I mean, it s something that we, I mean, how often have we had the opportunity for people that work in comedy to have people tell them, take them aside and be like, I discovered this, I watched this when I was going through this, and it helped me.
11
SPEAKER_01
That s the thing, it s like, if you were famous, probably wouldn t want to pick on Porky s, but it s something like that, like a hard R weirdo movie that everyone loved, but with Lasso,
11
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With Teddy, you know, the people are going to be emotional about it because it touches everything.
11
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, Hannah gets that a lot.
11
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The woman who plays Rebecca, just the amount of women that come up to her and just say, you are playing me.
11
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Yeah, she is a force of nature, obviously.
11
SPEAKER_00
So the thing I was going to say earlier about the writers, you know, we let, we let all the Brits anglicize things every now and then do we, do we push back where it s just like car park versus parking lot or saying tie instead of draw.
11
SPEAKER_00
And some of those things drive people crazy and I understand that, but that s just, you know, this is the phrase that I would always use just so folks in Kansas can get it.
11
SPEAKER_00
So you re trying to like to get too much in the weeds of like the politics.
11
SPEAKER_00
You don t want to lose.
11
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Because I think if you re dominating emotion is confusion, then you re that much further away from either being happy or sad.
11
SPEAKER_01
You talk like Ted Lasso sometimes.
11
SPEAKER_01
Say that again.
11
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If your dominant emotions are- I like your- Confusion.
11
SPEAKER_00
Dominating emotion is confusion.
11
SPEAKER_00
If your dominant emotion is confusion, you re that much further away from making an audience.
11
SPEAKER_00
If the audience is confused, then they don t know whether to laugh or cry at a given moment.
11
SPEAKER_00
So you kind of try to give them breadcrumbs.
11
SPEAKER_01
That s me during Tenet.
11
SPEAKER_01
And that s nice.
11
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Exactly.
11
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My dominant emotion was anger.
11
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Juno Temple.
11
SPEAKER_00
Yes, ma am.
11
SPEAKER_00
He s great.
11
SPEAKER_01
I just gotta go through the list.
11
SPEAKER_01
Well, no, I just, I like all these two actresses especially are great.
11
SPEAKER_01
Obviously Britt Goldstein, just the way he stands all the time.
11
SPEAKER_00
Oh yeah.
11
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Like a gunslinger.
11
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
11
SPEAKER_00
This is funny voice i m sure it s not someone s gonna do a minus and i know i m surprised i haven t yet surprised such a funny character but that s all him you know it s fun to hear him talk about cuz it s him doing bill sykes in his mind from oliver he s just trying to be bill sykes you know just like.
11
SPEAKER_00
And so, yeah, when I m doing like rewrites or we re breaking stories, just like the same thing at the rewrite table at SNL, just doing bad impressions of all these like very specific, you know, authentic people.
11
SPEAKER_00
I m just talking like this with Rebecca and doing like that with Kaylee, and I m doing bad, I can t do any of these accents.
11
SPEAKER_00
You re just hearing the rhythm and the cadence of it and trying to draw from what they re, you know, what you- And when did you decide, I m sorry, one more question.
11
SPEAKER_01
One last one.
11
SPEAKER_01
When did you decide that you would use,
11
SPEAKER_01
R-rated language.
11
SPEAKER_01
Was that pretty early on?
11
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, that was really easy.
11
SPEAKER_01
You don t lean on it, but all of a sudden it s like he s fucking coke Yeah, mostly from him.
11
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, but that s an interesting it was a hundred percent didn t want to use it myself I didn t want him to be yeah, you know You know, I sort of got and I mean I was making these choices, you know for for the reasons I made him, you know The movies that I was doing and the characters I was playing a lot of them were cats, you know guys on the make, you know like trying to trying to get
11
SPEAKER_00
Girls and what I take fuel.
11
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, exactly exactly like he just won t respect a paycheck and a good lunch but like But then So I knew that lay on for me I didn t want to be bawdy and I didn t want to I didn t want him to swear if he did it was only a you know, I think he s done it once every season and
11
SPEAKER_00
But everybody else, it s like, yeah, that s just the world as it is.
11
SPEAKER_01
And so we just wanted to- It just works.
11
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, Apple never fought it.
11
SPEAKER_00
They didn t want us to use the C word.
11
SPEAKER_00
So there was a monologue- And it s thrown around in England more.
11
SPEAKER_00
Like, and that was the whole premise is like, you know, we were even ready to beep it, you know, but it was may the, the, the, the, you know, the woman who owns the bar uses it very casually.
11
SPEAKER_00
And, uh, and in reference to, uh, to, to Ted when he, yeah.
11
SPEAKER_00
And, and, and just Ted and Beards reaction to, Whoa, Hey, you know, she s like, what, what s the big deal?
11
SPEAKER_00
You know?
11
SPEAKER_00
And just her going, no, you can use it in a bunch of different ways.
11
SPEAKER_00
And she goes through a bunch of different ways.
11
SPEAKER_00
You know, it reminds me a lot of like when we ended up not being able to use it.
11
SPEAKER_00
Cause Apple was like, nah, we can t, you know, we can t use the C word.
11
SPEAKER_00
I was like, all right.
11
SPEAKER_00
Was you remember?
11
SPEAKER_00
Schneider s stand-up bit from days gone by of the word dude.
11
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, is that that great that idea?
11
SPEAKER_00
Oh, yeah, yeah, that was a year on that special too.
11
SPEAKER_01
I think Yeah, I think a lot a lot of closet with a knife.
11
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, dude.
11
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, yeah
11
SPEAKER_00
Oh, no more!
11
SPEAKER_00
I mean, come on.
11
SPEAKER_00
I didn t know it was B-Y-O-T.
11
SPEAKER_00
I didn t say it on the ticket.
11
SPEAKER_00
Hi, Rob!
11
SPEAKER_01
No, that s my joke.
11
SPEAKER_01
Calm down.
11
SPEAKER_01
He s doing me at the U2 concert.
11
SPEAKER_01
Oh, what is it?
11
SPEAKER_01
Bono s yelling...
12
SPEAKER_01
No war.
12
SPEAKER_01
No war.
12
SPEAKER_01
I m saying no more.
12
SPEAKER_01
You re saying no more.
12
SPEAKER_01
What are you saying?
12
SPEAKER_01
War?
12
SPEAKER_01
Sorry.
12
SPEAKER_01
I don t know.
12
SPEAKER_01
I don t know who the fuck is singing.
12
SPEAKER_01
I m supposed to read his lips.
12
SPEAKER_02
Am I boogin  ya?
12
SPEAKER_02
Am I boogin  ya?
12
SPEAKER_02
Didn t mean to boogin  ya.
12
SPEAKER_02
That s a bad bottom.
12
SPEAKER_02
When what s your brain candy?
12
SPEAKER_02
When do you want to calm down?
12
SPEAKER_02
What do you do take a walk?
12
SPEAKER_02
Do you watch it?
12
SPEAKER_00
I do watch the best of David Spade I do I mean I ll play the last few years has been pinball was one for you know a while But those are tougher to move around right so so playing video games like playing you know fortnight with like friends and just you know turning my brain off and just focusing on that and then a thing that I got into over the last like I mean I d always been into it but over the last
12
SPEAKER_00
you know, six years basically, was like magic, like just shuffling cards.
12
SPEAKER_00
I just find it very meditative and a lot of times when in situations where I do as much, you know, listening and thinking as I do talking, I ll usually have a deck of cards on me because it ll keep me from
12
SPEAKER_00
you know, pulling out my beard, you know.
12
SPEAKER_00
You just practice shuffling?
12
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, yeah.
12
SPEAKER_00
Or just kind of like, you know, doing like little sleight of hand moves.
12
SPEAKER_00
And I don t really perform magic for anyone.
12
SPEAKER_00
I just, I ll do it for like friends after a couple of beers or like my kids if there s just like a deck laying around.
12
SPEAKER_00
But I ve never been one to be like, hey, you want to see a trick?
12
SPEAKER_02
You know, I haven t done that yet.
12
SPEAKER_00
I don t know, actually.
12
SPEAKER_00
I haven t been relaxed in 30 years.
12
SPEAKER_00
See, I envy that.
12
SPEAKER_00
I wish I could, I know before I, before I die, I know I will dedicate more time to like trying to play the piano.
12
SPEAKER_00
I ve done it throughout my life and then something always, but it s just that desire to want to run before I can even crawl.
12
SPEAKER_00
It s so hard.
12
SPEAKER_02
Piano s tough.
12
SPEAKER_02
You know, I have an electric piano too.
12
SPEAKER_02
I m just banging on it all the time, but I don t, you know,
12
SPEAKER_02
But the guitar, if you get nylon strings, get a small guitar, just learn... Because it doesn t rip up your fingers.
12
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, before you get the calluses.
12
SPEAKER_02
So you get a clear note, rather than it s all mushy.
12
SPEAKER_02
Learn five chords, G, C, D, E minor, and then you can play a hundred songs.
12
SPEAKER_02
No, but it s really simple.
12
SPEAKER_01
It s mostly the right hand.
12
SPEAKER_01
Is Smoke on the Water still the go-to one, or is that too old?
12
SPEAKER_02
That aged you so hard, Spade.
12
SPEAKER_01
I don t even know what it is.
12
SPEAKER_02
No, that s a deep purple, isn t it?
12
SPEAKER_01
I m young.
12
SPEAKER_01
Don t act like you don t know what s smoke on the line.
12
SPEAKER_01
Don t make me the old guy.
12
SPEAKER_02
You probably know what it s about too.
12
SPEAKER_02
I would do, come, don t, you know, Nirvana.
12
SPEAKER_02
Come, get some.
12
SPEAKER_02
Come, get some.
12
SPEAKER_00
Come as you are.
12
SPEAKER_00
I mean, I ve always loved Nirvana.
12
SPEAKER_00
I was right in the sweet spot.
12
SPEAKER_00
Well, me too.
12
SPEAKER_02
And I was older, but still thought they were,
12
SPEAKER_00
But I listened to them a ton before doing this season for one reason or another.
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And Otis was learning, you know, playing guitar.
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Him and Daisy take these lessons through this thing out here called Kid Row.
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It s lovely.
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It s like School of Rock, but they just call it a different name.
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When you re young, you learn so much better.
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And I bought a... I m left-handed.
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even though I don t play guitar, but I air guitar left-handed.
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So I bought, yeah, exactly, or Kurt Cobain.
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So I bought a guitar and Otis and I took a lesson together.
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He was already better than me and I was slowing him down.
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And I m just like, even playing, Smells Like Teen Spirit, so hard, so difficult.
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And then even if you play the simple version of it, like it hurt my fingers.
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I couldn t, like, drums are a much more natural fit for me.
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I have better limb separation.
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You could also get a maple neck strat and have them- That s a bird.
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David, this is inside baseball.
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It s a Stratocaster.
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The nylon strings was a mind blower here because I was like, oh yeah.
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But you can also with very lightweight strings on an electric guitar, you could play bar chords with that really simple.
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But it s still hard.
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Yes.
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It s like- Teddy, it s impossible.
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Even people that don t, that just do it noodling around, make it look so easy.
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It s, look, well, next time we hang out, I ll show you.
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I ll show you just a D chord and then a bar, just bar three notes.
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I ll bring a pinball machine.
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And then you ll be like.
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I ll take a nap.
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We have a little farm up north and I want a room with pinball machines in it.
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It s worth at least having one.
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As a kid, they were huge.
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I ve not played it in a while, but, and a pool table.
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Jason Sudeikis was our guest today and he, in summation,
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It s the left brain.
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He s one of Kansas  favorites.
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He s got a very small room at the Paramount Hotel.
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A small room.
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We don t normally sum up.
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His next thing is going to be something with low pressure.
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He might remake The Godfather or something.
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Our guest has been Jason Sudeikis.
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You were great.
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I saw that your car was murdered out, by the way.
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Not bad, you know.
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Yeah, not a bad guy.
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I wanted to look, yeah, like a Batmobile.
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SNL all-star, movie star, and now a global live streaming star.
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I don t know.
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That s a new one.
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I said star three times.
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Sounds like a nice resume.
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I just wish you all the best and take your time and have fun.
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And I m one of those people that was really affected by this show and just love it.
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Just really affects me.
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I was affected by COVID.
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It also makes me laugh.
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We re going to work on you.
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David s a work in progress.
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No, I m not.
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Look, I took notes.
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No one works harder than David.
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Justin Theroux has been our guest.
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Billy Sudeikis is here today.
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I think Bill Sudeikis was a baseball player.
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Sudeikis, is that Greek or what?
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Lithuanian.
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Lith-a-who?
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Lith-a-what?
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Lith-a-who?
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Lith-a-what?
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Lith-a-who?
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SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-what?
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SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-who?
12
SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-what?
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SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-who?
12
SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-what?
12
SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-who?
12
SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-who?
12
SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-what?
12
SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-who?
12
SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-who?
12
SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-who?
12
SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-who?
12
SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-who?
12
SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-who?
12
SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-who?
12
SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-who?
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SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-who?
12
SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-who?
12
SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-who?
12
SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-who?
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SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-who?
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SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-who?
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SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-who?
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SPEAKER_00
Lith-a-
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Yeah, you didn t finish that.
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SPEAKER_00
I dated a girl on Hall Pat.
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SPEAKER_00
No, that s not your Hall Pat.
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The girls that come up to you at the end.
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You dated.
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He likes the other story better.
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Oh, in Vegas.
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the girls that they go, you re my, you re my hall pass.
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You get the meet and greet.
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And I go, first of all, they re all nervous.
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They hands drenched like a ShamWow.
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And then I go, and they go, I m your hall pass.
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You re my hall pass.
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I go, oh, and they go, that s where I get.
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I go, no, I know what it is.
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I m a hard pass on my side.
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You re a hard pass.
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You re my hard pass.
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Yeah, you re my hard pass.
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I saw you in the back, I go, there s my hard pass.
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Because I m a gentleman.
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It s not you, it s me.
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This has been a podcast presentation of Cadence 13.
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Please listen, then rate, review, and follow all episodes.
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Available now for free wherever you get your podcast.
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No joke, folks.
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Fly on the Wall has been a presentation of Cadence 13, executive produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade, Chris Corcoran of Cadence 13, and Charlie Finan of Brillstein Entertainment.
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The show s lead producer is Greg Holtzman with production and engineering support from Serena Regan and Chris Basil of Cadence 13.