Episode 1019 - Kyle Mooney
Guest:Lock the gates!
Marc:Alright, let's do this.
Marc:How are you, what the fuckers?
Marc:What the fuck buddies?
Marc:What the fuckineers?
Marc:What the fuckadelics?
Marc:What's happening?
Marc:I'm Mark Maron.
Marc:This is my podcast.
Marc:WTF, welcome to it.
Marc:How's it going?
Marc:How are you holding up?
Marc:Touch and go over on this end.
Marc:Oh, by the way, Kyle Mooney is on the show today from SNL.
Marc:Talked to him a while back.
Marc:Tried to engage Mr. Mooney in some conversation.
Marc:I think we did okay.
Marc:He's a funny guy.
Marc:And he does some interesting stuff on the show.
Marc:So I was happy to talk to him.
Marc:So that's going to happen in just a little while.
Marc:Or right now, if you fast forward.
Marc:Or in a little while, if you hang out.
Marc:What was I going to tell you?
Marc:So I've been doing the therapy thing.
Marc:I've been doing the EMDR therapy thing.
Marc:And as I talked to you about it before, if you're just checking in, if you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm trying out EMDR, which is a sort of an interesting therapy that involves seemingly a toy that
Marc:some buzzers you hold on to alternating buzzers or they can use eye movement i should know what it stands for shouldn't i it oh there it is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing emdr i guess they've had a lot of success with it treating people uh veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder
Marc:And they're just applying it to general trauma, i.e.
Marc:being alive, childhood, what have you.
Marc:Now, again, a lot of you know I'm not incapacitated.
Marc:I'm not stuck in some tailspin all the time.
Marc:But I just want to do some fine-tuning.
Marc:Is that okay?
Marc:I'd like to do some fine-tuning of the mental vessel.
Marc:The brain carriage.
Marc:But the process of EMDR is interesting because in an hour, you sort of, you know, you reprocess an event.
Marc:You pick a target event that you see as some kind of source of some of your sort of trauma-based thinking or bad thinking or something that holds you in a place of shame, self-loathing, anger, whatever it is.
Marc:Whatever is the bit of business that
Marc:That could use some tweaking.
Marc:You find a target for it and you sit in it.
Marc:You say it, you sit in the feelings, you do the buzzers, and then you stop and you check in with the therapist and then tell her or him where your brain is now.
Marc:And then you go with that.
Marc:And it's interesting to track stuff.
Marc:Because if you're a human, you'll find that you'll talk about an event and you'll sort of circle around it and you'll end up right there standing in front of your parents.
Marc:Saying something.
Marc:Leave me alone.
Marc:Go fuck yourselves.
Marc:You don't really love me.
Marc:Stop draining me.
Marc:You guys are overwhelming.
Marc:Some people say, I love you, mommy and daddy.
Marc:Thank you.
Marc:I don't do a lot of that.
Marc:I question their wiring abilities.
Marc:So, all right.
Marc:But that's going well.
Marc:And, you know, as we drift closer to actual authoritarianism, it's nice to have your own shit straight.
Marc:Better know who you are when the shit goes down so at least you can hold on to your brain.
Marc:If your brain is wired correctly and you're not susceptible to the mind fuck, the big mind fuck, it might help you out as we drift closer into a...
Marc:Fairly clear authoritarian system, which despite anyone's desire or despite anyone that believes it's not happening, it's happening.
Marc:There's a there's an authoritarian system taking hold with a strong theocratic arm, but then just a basic sort of, you know, kind of mind fuck.
Marc:Slippery slope, no truth anymore kind of thing going on.
Marc:Everybody's got their own perspective, their own opinion.
Marc:The free thinkers.
Marc:It's amazing how many of the free thinkers are just sort of untethered, confident idiots with some new words and other people's ideas.
Marc:But try to stay grounded.
Marc:Try to make sure your wiring is tight.
Marc:Will you?
Marc:Can you?
Marc:I hiked today.
Marc:I saw a bunny.
Marc:Tonight I will be at the grand opening event of the Seattle International Film Festival with the film I made with Lynn Shelton called Sword of Trust.
Marc:Should be exciting.
Marc:That's tonight.
Marc:Thank you for all the positive feedback on the work I did on Joe Swanberg's Easy.
Marc:I'm in episode six.
Marc:This is season three, the final season.
Marc:I did it with Melanie Linsky and Jane Addams.
Marc:That's up as well.
Marc:My tour dates coming up.
Marc:They are at WTF pod dot com slash tour.
Marc:I've got a lot of dates coming up, folks.
Marc:Go check them out.
Marc:The pressing date.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And it's going to happen.
Marc:I know I kind of.
Marc:I put out a little dog whistle.
Marc:Is that how you say it?
Marc:That I might not do my St.
Marc:Louis dates, but I'm doing it.
Marc:I'm doing them because people are buying tickets.
Marc:St.
Marc:Louis, June 13th and 14th and 15th.
Marc:I'll be at Helium Comedy Club.
Marc:You can go get tickets to that at WTFPod.com slash tour.
Marc:There are a lot of other dates coming up.
Marc:The nearest ones, Vermont and Burlington, Vermont and Madison, Wisconsin are sold out.
Marc:Those are club runs.
Marc:The St.
Marc:Louis date is also a club run, which means I'll be doing several shows as opposed to one show at a theater working the shit out.
Marc:So Bunny Day.
Marc:So I do my hike.
Marc:And my buddy Michael got it in my head the other day, and I've had it in my head before.
Marc:It's just interesting how you think when you're afraid, which for me is much of the time.
Marc:So I'm seeing bunnies, and I talked to my buddy Mike that used to go up on the hill, and he says, afraid of mountain lions.
Marc:I've had that fear.
Marc:I've never seen a mountain lion.
Marc:The only thing I've ever seen up there are lizards, butterflies, stink bugs, crows, occasionally a hawk, one time a deer, a buck.
Marc:No mountain lions.
Marc:I've seen different varieties of shit where you're like, what did that?
Marc:Where'd that shit come?
Marc:Sometimes just dog, I imagine, because people are shitty people and they don't pick up their dog shitty shit.
Marc:But sometimes it's sort of like, I don't know.
Marc:I don't know what animal that came from.
Marc:So I got mountain lions in the brain when I go up there.
Marc:And so right away, I feel like, well, I'm doing something courageous.
Marc:Just exercising.
Marc:I'm going up against the great beasts of the wild.
Marc:But I got it in my head that I'm going to be pounced and he start working the angles like if I put my arm up, am I going to stop a mountain lion?
Marc:You have to assume they're pretty well equipped to destroy you pretty quickly.
Marc:Then I fantasize about how I sense that it's going to jump on me.
Marc:It's going to pounce.
Marc:I duck and then I flip it with my hands, with my arms.
Marc:I flip it over as it's in midair pouncing and I just push it and throw it over the edge and it tumbles down.
Marc:And I'm a hero.
Marc:I'm a hero against the mountain lion.
Marc:Yeah, that's one scenario.
Marc:But the practical thing about it is I'm walking up this hill and I'm wondering if there are other people because I'm always assuming like that guy coming down didn't get eaten or that guy's up ahead of me.
Marc:He'll get eaten first.
Marc:And actually, for some reason, got into sort of a kind of a cluster of people going up the hill.
Marc:Like they were, they were hiking.
Marc:There was one guy who was ahead and then there were two other guys and I'm coming up behind him.
Marc:And then I passed the two guys and I'm behind the first guy.
Marc:And I, I actually thought in my brain, this is a good position to be in.
Marc:Maybe I'll just hang in this position.
Marc:I'll keep my distance.
Marc:I don't know these people, but if the lion's going to come up from behind, it's probably going to take out those guys or at least one of them.
Marc:I'll keep those guys on, on the back flank.
Marc:Is that, is that a flank?
Marc:They'll get taken out first.
Marc:And the guy up ahead, he'll probably get pounced upon and mauled and eaten before me, dragged off the trail by a mountain lion.
Marc:I'll have my phone.
Marc:I could call the authorities.
Marc:I could try to help them out.
Marc:But I think I'll stay in the middle here so I don't take the hit.
Marc:These are people I didn't know, and I was willing, more than willing, to throw them under the bus, you know, just to let them get mauled.
Marc:But I guess that's sometimes the way it goes.
Marc:I mean, I could have warned everybody.
Marc:I said, maybe we should all stick together and hike up the mountain together and have a nice conversation, get to know each other.
Marc:And if there's like four of us, I think the odds of getting, you know, attacked by one mountain lion are, you know, slight, small.
Marc:And actually, that's probably what we should have done.
Marc:See, that would have been the exciting and human thing to do and the right thing to do.
Marc:Hey, you know, I'm scared of something.
Marc:Maybe we could all talk about it and then just hang out together and get to know each other and come together.
Marc:Come together.
Marc:It could be a mountain lion.
Marc:Could be global warming.
Marc:It could be, you know, the next election.
Marc:But, you know, come together against a thing that's going to come out of nowhere and fucking rip your neck apart.
Marc:I've been cooking.
Marc:I've been taking care of myself.
Marc:Been EMDRing.
Marc:I've been hiking.
Marc:I've been working out.
Marc:I've been eating well.
Marc:I'm going to share with you a recipe right now because I think I invented something and I think it's pretty good.
Marc:It's pretty specific, but it's pretty fucking good.
Marc:Now, I recommend homemade almond milk.
Marc:Do you know how to make almond milk?
Marc:You got to get a nut bag.
Marc:But make your own almond milk.
Marc:It's like you sprout some almonds, which means you just soak them overnight, one cup.
Marc:You put it in the Vitamix or powerful blender with five cups of water, a pinch of salt.
Marc:I use two teaspoons of vanilla extract without alcohol in it because it just tastes better.
Marc:I'm not worried about relapsing.
Marc:And maybe two dates for sweetness.
Marc:Then you blend that for a couple of minutes, run it through the nut sack.
Marc:I mean, the nut bag.
Marc:Either way.
Marc:And you sort of kind of strain it out.
Marc:And then you got fresh almond milk.
Marc:But here's this.
Marc:I guess I'll call it yam porridge.
Marc:Can I call it that?
Marc:But they're not really yams.
Marc:Maybe sweet potato porridge.
Marc:Or if you use purple sweet potatoes, then it's exciting.
Marc:That's that's a good menu item.
Marc:Purple sweet potato quinoa porridge with or without a fried egg on top.
Marc:Anything?
Marc:Does it do anything for you?
Marc:You want me to tell you how to make it?
Marc:All right, so you can either use the red quinoa or the regular quinoa, brown.
Marc:Either one will work.
Marc:It's prettier with the red quinoa.
Marc:So I make my quinoa without maybe just with a little salt.
Marc:I don't use broth.
Marc:I just use water.
Marc:So you cook the quinoa.
Marc:You can keep it as long as you want.
Marc:And then here's what I do.
Marc:Here's what I do.
Marc:I've got some roasted or steamed yams, maybe purple.
Marc:You get about two ounces, three ounces of yam, slice it, and then cube it, okay?
Marc:And then you get about a quarter cup of the quinoa, throw that in a little pot, and then get about a quarter cup of your almond milk,
Marc:Throw that in too.
Marc:And then throw your yams in.
Marc:And then get it simmering.
Marc:And then smash the yams up with a wooden spoon and just stir it until it gets a nice sort of like thick porridge consistency.
Marc:And that's done.
Marc:All right.
Marc:That's it.
Marc:You can throw a little stevia in if you like.
Marc:It's sweeter.
Marc:Maybe, you know, if you want.
Marc:So now you have your purple yam quinoa porridge.
Marc:And then see, I'm a guy, I like eggs with sweet things.
Marc:I'll eat a pancake with a fried egg on top.
Marc:I love it.
Marc:So the yolk just goes over it.
Marc:So then you can just fry up an egg.
Marc:Today I fried it in ghee.
Marc:I just did an over easy egg in ghee, put it on top of the purple yam quinoa porridge and sliced it up so the yolk ran into it.
Marc:And that was breakfast.
Marc:That's the purple yam quinoa porridge with homemade almond milk with or without over easy egg on top.
Marc:All right?
Marc:You're welcome.
Marc:I know that, like, to some people, that's just going to be like, ugh.
Marc:But to other people, mmm.
Marc:But that's life, isn't it?
Marc:Don't let the lion rip your throat out.
Marc:Be careful of mountain lions, both literal and metaphorical.
Marc:Bond with other people.
Marc:Discuss the possibility of having your thorax just destroyed in the gaping maw of a mountain lion, literal or metaphoric.
Marc:Talk to people about it.
Marc:How do we stop it?
Marc:How do we stop...
Marc:bunnies so look Kyle Mooney Kyle Mooney's been on SNL for a while he's a quirky guy he's an odd guy he's always a very funny guy the season finale of Saturday Night Live is this Saturday May 18th Paul Rudd is hosting and this is a conversation I had with Kyle Mooney a few months ago enjoy
Guest:Do you think the new people know that it is an iconic garage and place?
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:Some people don't.
Marc:I did a meet kind of like these neighbors across the street had people over for the holidays.
Marc:Like, let's all meet each other, new neighbors across the street.
Marc:They moved in a little after I did.
Marc:And some people knew who I was, and some people don't really give a shit.
Guest:Right.
Guest:That was, yeah.
Marc:They don't register it.
Marc:So I go, it's a podcast.
Marc:Oh, okay.
Marc:Okay.
Guest:My thought was, though, as I was approaching that, like, there are celebrities that are probably doing the same thing that I'm doing, which is parking right outside your house and walking in all the time.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:People notice more in my old neighborhood.
Marc:My neighbors did.
Marc:But it's weird with who they gravitate towards.
Marc:Like, you know, like for years, my across-the-street neighbor just couldn't believe Adam Carolla had, you know, walked into my house.
Marc:Sure, sure, sure, yeah.
Marc:But I don't know how many people are noticing here.
Marc:Yeah, it's definitely a different situation here.
Marc:And I've had people, you know,
Marc:Howie Mandel just left.
Marc:Oh, nice.
Marc:About an hour ago.
Marc:He said to say hi.
Guest:He seems like a very sweet man.
Guest:I don't know if I've ever met him in person, but he had some nice tweets towards me.
Marc:Yeah, you did him.
Guest:I guess.
Guest:I was told to do him, and I did as, you know, the bald cap did the acting, I would say.
Marc:Is that sometimes how it goes?
Marc:They kind of like, well, who can do this?
Marc:You do it.
Guest:Yeah, I mean, I certainly don't, I'm not a great impressionist, I would say, and I don't think anybody assumes that I will be great at it.
Guest:So, yeah, when it's something like that, where something will sell it, in that case, his baldness, I just, I guess, they put that on me, and then that's the impression.
Marc:Do you feel the pressure, though, to do impressions?
Marc:I mean, you have to do them.
Marc:Are there any that you volunteer to do where you're like, I can do that?
Guest:I'm trying to think.
Guest:I feel like I have volunteered and then they've been cut before because they're not that good.
Guest:I'm very okay with the fact that I'm not great at them.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:That's a very specific like talent.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But you're sort of in order to be a team player, you got to do it, right?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, so that means that you just have to be as decent enough that people don't call you awful.
Marc:Well, how do you get over the weird kind of self-consciousness of it?
Marc:I mean, I imagine if you don't like doing impressions, you don't think you're good at it, that going into them, you've got to be like, oh, God.
Yeah.
Marc:Sure.
Guest:Yes, absolutely.
Guest:It's like, I mean, in the dressing room, talking with Beck, who we share a dressing room, we'll just be like, this isn't good, right?
Guest:I know I'm not doing this.
Guest:Is this fine?
Guest:More of the question is like, will this do enough justice that people won't hate me?
Marc:Is it personal or is it in the sense that you're like, well, I know it's got to look right.
Marc:It's only one sketch or one beat.
Marc:I have one line.
Marc:It's this guy.
Marc:Will it sell it?
Marc:But also you have to deal with being, I imagine, a relatively sensitive person.
Marc:You don't want to be the guy that everybody says you suck the day after.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And now I feel like I've spent so much time talking about it now that people are going to look into it more and think about it more.
Marc:Right now?
Guest:Specifically.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Are we recording right now?
Marc:Sure.
Marc:But already you're like, this is.
Guest:Well, now they know that I feel weak at them.
Guest:So now they can really like.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Zero in on them.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Do you get, is that a problem?
Marc:Are you finding you're getting a lot of, everybody gets trolls, but I mean, I imagine it's a pretty young audience and I don't necessarily, I don't want to be condescending to young people, but there's a lot of little monsters out there.
Guest:Oh, sure.
Guest:I'm sure I do.
Guest:I've become really good about not paying attention to the internet or anything.
Guest:I try to avoid everything when I can.
Marc:You do?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And you have success at that?
Guest:I think so.
Guest:I feel like maybe at most once a month, I'll come across something that affects me.
Guest:But now over time, I feel like I've developed the talent of letting it only affect me for two hours or something like that.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:You give yourself a time limit?
Guest:Well, it's just naturally lessened.
Marc:I feel like it used to last maybe several days and now it's just a small... I'm going to let that anonymous douchebag only take up two hours of my life.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:What are the ones that really kind of land with you where you're like... I mean, I started... I made internet videos before I got on the show and...
Marc:Oh, so like you had to deal with comment boards.
Marc:And they're like, for some reason, I don't even know what, it's some sort of weird universal law that there's got to be about like eight douchebags who just are relentless.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:And then you have that weird moment where you realize, oh, this is the same guy's.
Marc:There's like four of these guys and there's 900 posts.
Marc:Yes.
Guest:The worst ones for me were always ones that just like cut very deeply into some seemingly honest place.
Guest:Sometimes they're very existential.
Guest:It would just be like, Kyle's not the same as he used to be or something like that.
Guest:I'm just like, oh no, are they right?
Guest:Is that true?
Marc:It's such a trick how they can like I don't know that they know we're all fundamentally insecure or what you know what it's what kind of havoc is going to wreak on our brains.
Marc:But there's something about the vague ones that leave a lot for us to sort of ponder.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Is that showing?
Marc:Right.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:And it's not.
Guest:I'm pretty sure it's not.
Marc:No, I think the breakthrough for me was realizing like there's an art to trolling there.
Marc:You know, they that that that's all they're trying to do is to get you to react to them publicly.
Guest:Right.
Marc:So like and then if you do, no matter what it is, they're like, I got it.
Marc:Like it's a game.
Marc:It's like a video game.
Guest:Yes, but sometimes there are persons who I don't think are, I'm trying to figure out how I can articulate this.
Guest:They're not trolling from a negative place.
Guest:Sometimes I feel like fans will like tag me in something that's like a negative critique.
Guest:You know, it's like, look at this.
Guest:These people thought you were shitty in this or something like that.
Guest:It's like, well, why are you showing, if you like me, why are you showing me this?
Marc:Yeah, and then once you engage, then they've connected.
Marc:Sure, sure, sure.
Marc:That's the grail, I think.
Marc:The one time Kyle responded.
Marc:well it's it's not gonna it's probably not gonna happen do you are you but you're on twitter right yeah i feel like i don't really engage with persons i don't know though no yeah yeah i'm trying to uh i haven't been posting anything other than promotional stuff but i still read it compulsively yeah oh yeah i check it out i yes like i'm like if anyone at to me i'm like what's going on
Guest:See, I read it more just in terms of what's trending.
Marc:Right, or your feed with people you're following.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Guest:You grew up here?
Guest:I'm from San Diego, but I went to USC, and I lived in LA for a decade prior to getting hired by the show.
Marc:So San Diego.
Guest:Yeah, I grew up probably like 15, 20 minutes inland from La Jolla, a place called Scripps Ranch.
Marc:Scripps Ranch.
Guest:It was cool.
Guest:I mean, like San Diego's kind of a, a lot of it is what you would maybe imagine.
Guest:It's surfer dudes and kind of a low-key lifestyle.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:How'd your parents find their way there?
Yeah.
Guest:that's a good question my father's from Massachusetts he came to California to go to school he went to school in Orange County and then down to San Diego State and he just stayed yeah and then my mother I don't know how what she's from the Bay Area I don't know exactly I don't I don't remember exactly what brought her to San Diego
Guest:My mom was the first female sports writer in San Diego, journalist.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So that was her thing for a while.
Guest:Does she like sports?
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:I think she liked journalism, and maybe that was the best gig to get at the time.
Marc:That's interesting.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Because I know another guy whose dad became a very renowned writer about sports but was not necessarily a sports guy.
Guest:Yeah, I don't consider her as such.
Marc:Well, what's her angle?
Marc:Does she have a tone?
Guest:She retired when I was probably like seven.
Guest:Oh, so you don't know.
Guest:Yeah, but she's always, I mean, she's a talented writer.
Guest:I guess her angle is her personality.
Marc:Yeah, but I mean, because sometimes sports writers have sort of like their, you know, people like reading them because they liven up the thing.
Guest:Well, I'm sure all of her readers felt that way.
Marc:You haven't gone back and pulled the micro fish.
Marc:I would love to.
Guest:That would be fun.
Guest:Yeah, I should.
Guest:Thank you for reminding me or putting that idea out there.
Marc:Did she write books or anything?
Guest:No, but she did write a few of my papers in middle school and high school.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I feel like my college essay to get- Oh, really?
Marc:It wasn't like she helped you?
Guest:She literally- She pretty much did it.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And it got you in?
Guest:Yeah, I'm not complaining.
Marc:It's kind of, I think that crosses the line as a mother.
Guest:Yes, I bet a lot of people would feel that way.
Guest:And it's not something that I'm proud of.
Guest:And I feel like after the age of 18, I took on more responsibility in terms of doing my own work.
Guest:Good for you.
Guest:Thank you.
Guest:And what's your dad do?
Guest:He works in city and community planning.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Engineer?
Guest:No, planner, city planner.
Guest:He ran a company for a while while I was growing up that did all sorts of things.
Guest:Everything that goes into planning a community, so like archaeology, biology, everything before they put in a place.
Guest:And he still does that.
Marc:Yeah, I've dealt with them because I have to do some work here.
Marc:They can be pretty tough.
Marc:I'm sure, yeah.
Marc:They have to draw the line where you're like, I want to build this thing on my house.
Marc:Right.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:I don't think so.
Marc:Can you give me some plans?
Marc:He's that guy?
Guest:Yeah, he's more, I think,
Guest:before this house even exists maybe, or like planning a plaza, like a center for shops or whatever it may be, or parks in an area that wants to revamp it in some way or another.
Marc:Isn't weird how little we know about our parents?
Guest:It is weird and it's so sad because I've lived with it my entire life and yet I can't fully explain what it is.
Marc:They have these whole lives that we find bits and pieces about as we get older.
Marc:And there's those moments where you're like, you did that?
Guest:Yes.
Marc:You have brothers and sisters?
Guest:I've got two older brothers.
Marc:Are they decent people?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, they are definitely, yeah.
Marc:What's their racket?
Guest:My oldest brother, he does stuff for, I think, the city of San Rafael.
Marc:Another big city job?
Guest:Just, Mark, come on.
Marc:It's okay.
Guest:I don't want to talk about my brother's jobs.
Guest:What about the other job?
Guest:What about the other job?
Guest:Ryan lives in Brooklyn, which is nice.
Guest:He's the middle brother.
Guest:I'm the youngest.
Marc:Is he in the arts?
Guest:he writes he likes to write yeah but he works for a non-profit for refugees oh that's good yeah it's cool that was one of the nice things about when I moved to New York to have a brother there yeah and get along that's good
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's been... Do you come to the show?
Guest:Probably like twice a year.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But we hang out once a week.
Guest:You know, obviously, I guess the schedule is maybe famously grueling.
Guest:And so Sundays are the only day that I really get to do anything.
Guest:And we usually meet up.
Marc:Do you live in Brooklyn?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:No, I live in the West Village.
Marc:You like New York?
Guest:I do.
Guest:I do.
Guest:I really like it a lot.
Guest:I think one of the takeaways I'll have after this experience... Being here in the garage?
Marc:The new garage.
Marc:Yeah, the new garage.
Marc:In SNL, you mean, yeah.
Guest:Yeah, it's obviously a specific...
Guest:way of living in New York because the job takes up so much of our time and so much of, you know, my mental state that, like, you know, I don't experience New York in the way that somebody just moved to New York would.
Marc:Right.
Guest:And there are major positives that come with that and, like, you know, lows.
Guest:Like, I don't know a ton of neighborhoods outside of my own.
Guest:Right.
Guest:I don't get to explore.
Guest:But also, like, I get to, like, you know...
Guest:see like Paul McCartney at an after party or something like that.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:So the compromise is worth it.
Marc:I think so, absolutely.
Marc:You don't get up to Morningside Heights much.
Guest:That's true, yes.
Guest:I couldn't tell you where Morningside Heights is.
Marc:I think that's a place.
Marc:But no, I know what you mean, but that's the same with anywhere.
Marc:I lived in New York for years, but eventually you've got your four blocks, you've got the stores you go to, and then you've got the things you do.
Marc:I never went above 14th Street, rarely.
Guest:A lot of things are going on.
Guest:I know the people, you know, relatively.
Marc:The neighbors, store.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:The laundry guy, the bartenders.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That's a great thing about New York.
Marc:It doesn't happen too often in other places, I don't think.
Marc:I guess people go to regular places, but for some reason, New York, you can really, after you've lived there a while, walk down the street and everyone's sort of familiar.
Marc:Absolutely.
Marc:It's awesome.
Marc:It's nice.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:So, all right, so San Diego, I don't know that that's known to be a hotbed of comedy minds.
Marc:I'm not sure what goes on down there.
Marc:I know it's pretty, and there's a beach, and there are seals in some places.
Marc:You can see seals.
Marc:Yeah, SeaWorld.
Marc:So how do you, like, what are you doing as a young man?
Marc:What are you doing in the high school?
Marc:What was your position socially?
Guest:Yeah, I think people thought I was a funny person.
Guest:I don't even like saying that out loud.
Guest:For some reason, I always feel weird saying that.
Guest:But yeah, I think throughout.
Marc:I think you've established yourself as a funny person.
Marc:Oh, I appreciate that.
Marc:I think it's valid and it's okay for you to say that I was a funny person.
Marc:Okay, well, I was a funny, people thought I was a funny person.
Marc:Good for you.
Marc:We're making real progress today.
Guest:Yeah, throughout, I feel like growing up.
Guest:And then, yeah, in high school, I started doing, I took drama classes, and they started an improv troupe my junior year.
Guest:Did you do plays?
Guest:A little bit, yeah.
Guest:I did The Tempest, Shakespeare.
Guest:In high school?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit.
Guest:These are heavy high school.
Guest:Those were the two ones I did.
Guest:Yeah?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You did No Exit in high school?
Guest:I did, yeah.
Guest:Directed by our English teacher, Brady Kelso.
Marc:Was he the guy that was the cool English teacher?
Marc:Yeah, people liked him a lot.
Marc:Yeah, he'd show movies.
Marc:Oh, yeah, like classics?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:No Exit, that's the one where people can't get out of the room?
Guest:Yeah, it's like a purgatory.
Marc:Two guys and a girl, I think, or no?
Marc:Is it three people?
Guest:Two women and a guy.
Marc:Two women and a guy?
Guest:That's the way we did it.
Marc:Yeah, I don't quite remember it, but it's some bigger allegory about life.
Guest:Absolutely, yeah.
Guest:And as a 17-year-old, I understood all of the many layers that made up.
Marc:Yeah, of course.
Marc:Very deep.
Marc:It's glad that that guy had you guys going through the motions.
Guest:It was fun.
Guest:It's kind of amazing to think how difficult of a thing that is just to memorize those lines and perform those.
Guest:It's quite an undertaking.
Guest:And you did it.
Guest:I did it.
Guest:And I and I think people I think it was good.
Guest:Relatively.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Don't you wish you could see like some footage of that, though?
Marc:Because I remember like we did plays.
Marc:I did a couple of plays in high school or maybe junior high even.
Marc:And you're putting on the fake mustache and you're wearing the suits and everything.
Marc:And, you know, you because you don't.
Marc:I don't know if it's we don't know what to judge ourselves against or we just feel like we're pulling it off.
Marc:But I got to assume that if you looked at your 17-year-old self doing no exit, there'd be like sort of like, oh my God.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:What was I thinking?
Guest:But that exists with things I did probably like five years ago.
Marc:Sure, of course.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:It's just wild to me.
Marc:You're wearing a fake mustache and you're like, we're really doing, we're honoring this connection.
Guest:Feeling so confident.
Guest:Absolutely.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But the Tempest, I don't even know what that's about.
Marc:Do you know Shakespeare?
Marc:Are you a Shakespeare guy?
Guest:I can't say that I am, but I can say that I know The Tempest pretty well.
Guest:I still remember some of the lines.
Marc:There's nice, like which ones?
Guest:I played Prospero, who's the main dude.
Guest:Some monologue where he's like, I pray thee, mock me, that a brother could be so perfidious.
Guest:He whom next I owned, I can get something to that effect.
Guest:Yeah, he got right in it.
Guest:Well, yeah, I'm feeling it still.
Marc:Do you have any desire to do that type of acting?
Marc:Sure.
Marc:Yeah?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And what else, so you're in the drama club, and did you like, did you write for the paper or anything?
Guest:No, the other big thing I did in high school was I was really into hip hop.
Guest:So I was in a hip hop group with my two friends, Dave and Robert.
Guest:But yeah, no, besides that.
Guest:Did you guys perform?
Guest:We did.
Guest:We did shows.
Guest:We put out a CD of probably like 15 tracks and sold it around the school.
Guest:Popular?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I think so.
Guest:The thing is, we were really into conscious and underground hip-hop, if that makes any sense.
Guest:Who are those people?
Marc:I'm an old man, so I don't know hip-hop.
Guest:That would be like Tribe Called Quest or, I don't know, Hieroglyphics or The Far Side.
Guest:These groups...
Guest:Who maybe were like kind of more jazzy and forward thinking as opposed to like what was mainstream radio rap or hip hop.
Guest:And that's kind of like the only thing we talked about in our songs was how we weren't mainstream.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So like, yes, well, people may have liked us.
Guest:It was probably also one of those things that if you were to like really experience it again, you'd find it incredibly amazing.
Marc:Just constantly.
Guest:We don't care about the money.
Guest:We don't need it.
Guest:Like, yeah, yeah.
Marc:It's sort of the hip hop version of that character you do.
Marc:Chris Fitzpatrick.
Guest:Oh, yes.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Did you?
Marc:You have to know those.
Marc:I mean, it's so funny.
Marc:Some of the characters you do is different than a lot of the other stuff on SNL because they seem like fairly genuine people.
Guest:Yeah, I think that character in particular, I think people say that about a lot too.
Guest:Oh, they do?
Guest:Yeah, because, yeah, it's someone maybe that we all had in our lives at some point.
Marc:Some version.
Guest:Or like on the periphery.
Marc:Or we might have been kind of that guy.
Marc:Yes, exactly.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:But like, yeah, it's a very specific type.
Marc:But there's something about, I think, coming up, making your own videos, where you start to realize that there's this tone of regular people doing videos that is slightly, it's not even so much it's not professional.
Marc:There's actually, because I noticed this with a lot of the stuff you do, the man on the street stuff too, that these people, you can't even put your finger on it, but they are so incapable of presenting.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:That there's just this weird nuance to them being just regular people who just do not have the hang of... They think they're doing a good job, but they're not.
Guest:I think...
Guest:I feel very fortunate in the sense that when I started making videos and kind of towards the end of my time in college, like YouTube was just becoming a thing and I got really into it and I was obsessed with that sort of thing.
Guest:Like kids just putting up videos, talking directly to camera.
Guest:I really was especially into like these like vlogs where a person would just talk directly to camera but would only have like
Guest:50 views on it or something like that.
Guest:But still act as if it's like, hey guys, I want to apologize for not making a video last week.
Guest:It's like, who are you talking?
Guest:Nobody is really paying attention.
Guest:I love that idea that like.
Marc:There's a bit of sadness to it because you know they know it too.
Marc:Yes, exactly.
Marc:So at the core of that person having that confidence, there's the knowledge that they're like, you know, this is going to work.
Marc:I'm going to get, they're going to come.
Marc:Yes, exactly.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So when did you start doing that?
Guest:That would have been probably about spring of 2007.
Guest:So yeah, so when I was at USC, I joined the improv troupe there and sketch group and we would do a show, an improv show every week and a sketch show.
Marc:What was the one called in high school?
Marc:What was the improv show group?
Guest:I think that was called IA, Improv Army.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And then in college, it was Comedis Interruptus.
Marc:Right, so by the time you're in high school, because I'm, what, 55, what are you, 35?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:34.
Marc:Yeah, but it was within the world of high school drama culture and everything else, like SNL and sketch groups and UCB was already known.
Marc:People were aspiring to that.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:I think like I probably wasn't aware of certainly SNL.
Guest:Absolutely.
Guest:That was kind of in high school.
Guest:It would have been like the Will Ferrell era.
Guest:Right.
Guest:UCB like they had a show on Comedy Central.
Guest:That's how I was aware of them.
Guest:And not until I got into college did I become aware of their theater.
Marc:But like, I don't remember there.
Marc:Well, maybe I just didn't know.
Marc:But like an improv group in a high school just seems like an interesting thing.
Guest:It was new to me when it started because it truly started my junior year.
Guest:I feel like, yeah, what I was aware of was like, whose line is it anyway?
Marc:Right.
Guest:On TV.
Marc:Right.
Marc:On Comedy Central.
Marc:So like when you're a little kid, you watch it.
Guest:yeah and what was it who was in charge of that how did you know what to do as an improv that was one of the drama teachers uh blair hambution who i came from the theater world and had done improv and so kind of brought it to our school yeah um yeah it was fun it kind of i guess opened up that avenue and there was how many people a lot of people in it
Marc:10 or 15.
Marc:Were you writing sketches or just all improv?
Guest:That was pretty much all improv, though we hosted a talent show and maybe wrote bits for that.
Marc:And what'd you learn from doing that?
Marc:I know you gotta be in the moment and everything, but were you doing characters early on?
Guest:Yeah, a little bit.
Guest:I mean, I think just general performing things, like kind of learning.
Guest:Getting laughs.
Guest:Yeah, getting laughs and learning to, you know, what works for audiences, you know?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:I would say, like, you learn how to listen, but I can remember, I have one specific memory of this girl, of, like, me doing a joke on a game, and then, like, right after the show, one of the other troupe members coming up to me, she's like, I just made that joke right prior to you saying that.
Guest:You've got to listen.
Guest:like oh yeah sorry but i got more laughs than her and i don't mean that in a mean way yeah so when you graduated you what do you what do you want to study in at usc film yeah and i was that was something that i became aware of via other the older dudes in the improv troupe they were like oh we want to go to film school and so then i thought that seems like a cool thing to be into so the hip-hop career you realized wasn't gonna
Guest:I kind of always say, my freshman year at USC, I auditioned for the improv troupe on campus, but that same week, my father's house burned down, which had all of my records and my production equipment in it.
Marc:Your parents separated?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh man.
Guest:So it was a weird, so it's like, I kind of symbolically, I feel like my hip hop career ended when all of my gear burnt up and then like I got onto the improv and sketch group.
Marc:Everything, no one got hurt?
Guest:Nobody got hurt.
Guest:My father and his wife were on their honeymoon in Hawaii, which is kind of sad.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And they came home and they weren't to the ground.
Marc:Yep.
Marc:What happened?
Marc:How did it happen?
Guest:It was, I think, the Cedar Fires of San Diego in 2003.
Guest:It was like a big fire.
Marc:Several places burned down?
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Oh, that's a fucking drag.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But he's back on his feet or?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Marc:So that was it.
Marc:That was a sign from the universe.
Guest:That's the way I look at it now, maybe.
Marc:Hip-hop was not for you.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I got definitely further into the improv sketch comedy thing.
Marc:When you decided to go to USC, it was just sort of like, yeah, film sounds good.
Marc:You weren't like a film nerd or completely.
Guest:I think I tried to.
Guest:I think I wanted to be.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I wrote an essay on Space Odyssey to get into the school.
Guest:Did your mother write it?
Guest:That one I'm pretty sure I wrote, but I also think that I copied some major portions from some blog post I found on the internet.
Marc:But it worked.
Marc:I like how you're so matter of fact about this plagiarizing your mother.
Marc:Well, now I can't get it.
Guest:Well, I mean, when I was there, when I was studying film, my friend Dave McCary, who has directed a lot of the shorts that I've made and was at SNL, he's no longer there.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And we made a movie together called Briggs Ubert.
Guest:I'll watch it.
Guest:Oh, cool.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He was not going to USC, but was in essence living with me while I was there.
Marc:You knew him from San Diego?
Guest:Yeah, we grew up together.
Marc:Yeah, exactly.
Marc:So you've been working together a long time.
Marc:Was he in the hip hop band?
Marc:He was, yes.
Marc:It's not called a band, is it?
Guest:You can call it whatever you like.
Guest:Hip hop group?
Guest:We were called Instruments of Intelligence, if you want to refer to us by our real name.
Guest:He was in Instruments of Intelligence?
Guest:He was.
Guest:He was Pee Wee Wizard.
Guest:He wouldn't like me saying that.
Marc:Is that part of his wife he's trying to get behind him?
Guest:absolutely yes yeah he's not people wizards not very proud of i guess specifically just the sound of his voice the pitch of his voice uh-huh um but yeah but he was he was going to a film school he was going to brooks institute of photography which is in ventura yeah um and then coming down to hang out with us and he kind of in essence i feel like ghost directed a lot of the
Guest:movies I was turning in to class at USC.
Guest:So I guess I kind of did take advantage of a lot of- Was he older than you?
Marc:No.
Marc:Oh, he just went to a different school, but then he was living with you over there?
Guest:Yeah, I feel like I found out over the course of being at school while doing comedy and stuff and going to classes that I liked.
Guest:I preferred both being on camera and writing rather than straight directing or handling a camera.
Marc:You did stand-up?
Guest:Not really, a little bit.
Guest:Yeah?
Marc:Wasn't for you?
Guest:I liked it every time I did it.
Guest:I just don't think I had the drive that my friends who were really into it did and I never wanted to go to a spot.
Marc:Wait around.
Guest:Multiple times in a week or anything like that.
Marc:Right, you didn't have the compulsion.
Marc:No.
Marc:The obsession to do it.
Marc:So you come up here from San Diego, you're at USC and you're just studying film and you're making movies with your pal.
Guest:Yeah, and also doing sketch comedy with this group on campus.
Marc:What was it called again?
Guest:Comedis Interruptus.
Guest:And that, incidentally, Beck Bennett, who's on SNL, I met him doing that.
Guest:We were freshmen the same year.
Marc:Yeah, he's a funny guy.
Marc:Yeah, he's great.
Marc:He's a Chicago guy, so he must have grew up with that shit.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Yeah, he did second city classes in high school.
Marc:And you guys are friends now.
Guest:We were very close, and then we had another friend, Nick Rutherford, who was also on the improv troupe, and then basically myself, Nick, Beck, and Dave formed a sketch group after college called Good Neighbor, and that kind of fed into what I do now.
Marc:But you went the whole four years at USC?
Marc:Mm-hmm.
Marc:And what was the degree in?
Marc:Film studies, critical studies film.
Marc:So not filmmaking.
Marc:Correct.
Marc:Film history.
Marc:Theory.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I did that.
Guest:I did that as a minor.
Guest:I liked it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Not as much pressure, you know, and I got to like focus on other things.
Marc:You got to read all those old articles like Andrew Sarris and, you know, the like, did you study the semiotics and that kind of stuff?
Marc:Probably.
Marc:It really sticks.
Marc:You get to watch a lot of movies, though, right?
Marc:Yes.
Marc:What did you think was going to happen with that?
Marc:Did you just pull together a major knowing that sketch comedy was really the thing?
Marc:I mean, that's what I... I went in there assuming I would...
Guest:maybe become like a film director or something like that.
Guest:And then, yeah, I think over the course of my time at the school, I found that I was becoming a decent performer and could maybe pursue that acting or something like that.
Marc:But it wasn't, you didn't have any big ideas.
Guest:I think we always wanted to have our own TV show or something like that.
Guest:And as we progressed doing the sketch comedy thing, and then when we started making our own videos for YouTube, that was the hope.
Marc:What was the one that popped?
Marc:Was there a point where you were like, this is catching on?
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, probably within a year, people started watching.
Guest:And it was easier back then, I think, because there wasn't as much stuff on the internet.
Guest:This is when you're in college?
Guest:I graduated, let's say, summer of 2007.
Guest:I think we started spring of 2007.
Guest:So it kind of fed into the end of school.
Marc:It was you and Beck and Rutherford and the other guys?
Marc:And Dave, yeah.
Marc:And were you doing, was it one of those things where you were getting hundreds of thousands of views?
Guest:It started off slow.
Guest:We made one video probably like six months into doing it.
Guest:That was like the only topical thing we ever made, which was a video about Jamie Lynn Spears at the time was pregnant and she was 16 or something like that.
Guest:So we did like a video with like a.
Guest:Two year old having a baby or something like that.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And that like Perez Hilton blogged about that.
Guest:And that was a time in which that was a very important thing.
Guest:So that video got like 5 million hits.
Guest:And then I think our other videos started to get picked up after that because of that.
Marc:And were you doing characters?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Are they characters that stayed with you your entire career now?
Yeah.
Guest:I mean, early on, I'm trying to think.
Marc:Do you have a name for that guy that interviewed people at sporting events?
Guest:I think we usually refer to it as like, yeah, the interview character or people will say like awkward Kyle or something like that.
Guest:But yeah, that stuff all kind of came from that era.
Guest:The weed guy?
Guest:The weed guy, definitely.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:That was, yeah.
Guest:Did you base that on somebody?
Guest:That was just like around that time, the people I lived with smoked and I didn't.
Guest:And so it was just me, a lot of me trying to talk about, like I knew stuff about weed and I didn't.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I like weed culture too.
Guest:It's funny to me.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But you don't drink or smoke?
Guest:I drink.
Guest:I don't really smoke.
Guest:I did a little bit in high school, but no, I don't.
Marc:I imagine it makes you, what does it make you?
Marc:Paranoid?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Does it?
Marc:Yeah?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You're already halfway there?
Guest:I can't tell.
Guest:Maybe.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:It was fun for two years probably when I was like 15.
Marc:But you want to make a life out of it.
Guest:I don't need to, but I support everybody who wants to.
Marc:You're pro weed, but you don't need it.
Guest:I'm really pro weed.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I can't stop talking about it.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So, all right, so now how does it work now?
Marc:So you got these videos, so before you even start performing as a sketch group, or were you performing, you already had somewhat of a following.
Guest:Yeah, a little bit.
Guest:We were doing, definitely like trying to do the UCB, like performing at UCB at the same time, and we had performed so much, done so many sketches in college that we like brought some of those live sketches to like UCB or other theaters around town.
Marc:The old one, Franklin?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But yeah, I think the videos kind of turned out that, oh, we should really focus on this because this is what people are noticing.
Guest:How are you making a living at that point?
Guest:I had a job for a little while working at USC, and then eventually I started getting commercial acting work.
Guest:I did a McDonald's tea commercial.
Guest:I did some phone company commercial that was like LinkedIn with Iron Man 2.
Guest:That year was really good.
Guest:I feel like I made like 30 grand or something like that.
Marc:Really?
Marc:You did a few of them?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:It was great.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I love like, did you ever do that commercial acting?
Marc:Never did any commercials.
Marc:One I did.
Marc:One sprint commercial.
Marc:It was a fluke.
Marc:I was doing comedy in Austin, Texas.
Marc:And I wasn't even in the main room because I didn't sell it out.
Marc:So I was in a dumb little room.
Marc:And for some reason, a director who was a big movie director was directing a sprint commercial in Austin, came to my show and booked me to do the thing the next day.
Guest:Did it work out for you?
Guest:Was it good?
Marc:It was fine.
Marc:I didn't have to do much and I was working with children and I made a child cry and not on purpose.
Marc:I was playing some sort of coach at some sort of school and they needed reaction shots from the kids so they wanted me to just improvise.
Guest:And so you said something very mean to this child?
Marc:No, I just said, do you like Harry Potter?
Marc:And the kid's like, yeah.
Marc:And I go, he dies in the next movie.
Marc:Oh, no.
Marc:But I don't have kids, so I didn't really know that there was a line.
Guest:Is that a usable take, the kid crying?
Guest:No, it didn't.
Guest:Would that work?
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Because there's a world where that's great that you got.
Marc:No, no, not only was it not great, but the crew ostracized me at lunch.
Marc:Like, you know, what kind of monster are you?
Marc:But I, you know, I didn't really put myself out there for a lot of commercials.
Marc:So you had a commercial agent?
Guest:Yeah, and as the videos caught on, that was helpful because then eventually, like, people in the room started knowing who I was.
Marc:The commercial booking.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And then also for like TV gigs.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Oh, okay.
Guest:I did a Parks and Rec episode.
Guest:And then I also did some, I did that interview character for- Over Kimmel?
Guest:First for Norm MacDonald.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Who had a show on Comedy Central.
Marc:Where'd he see you?
Guest:His son was a fan.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Oh, that's funny.
Guest:And then, yeah, Kimmel produced Norm's show, and so then I started doing it for Kimmel as well, yeah.
Marc:When you create that character, like, you know, when you, like, because they all seem to sort of organically come from who you are somehow.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Where did you pull that guy from?
Guest:I think you're right.
Guest:I think it is just a version of me.
Guest:But that was a scenario where we went down to the Lakers had won a championship and they had a parade downtown.
Marc:That was the first one?
Guest:Yes.
Guest:And so it was kind of like Dave being like, we should go and film something, not knowing what to shoot and then using, having this character in the back of my mind and then just use it, doing it basically.
Marc:Right.
Guest:The character was just somebody who does, who just doesn't know stuff, I guess.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Like can't articulate.
Marc:And socially awkward.
Marc:Yes.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:There's no idea how to engage with people.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:Yeah.
Yeah.
Marc:How do you, because for me, like, you know, right away, and it's weird because this is something you share with Howie Mandel, the love of making people uncomfortable.
Marc:But just sitting in that, I mean, don't you just want to run away or you just like it?
Right.
Guest:I feel like people ask me that a lot.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I guess I like it.
Guest:Well, you don't think about it.
Guest:I guess what's on my mind mostly, like if I'm like holding the microphone and trying to create a moment is like, let's keep this going.
Guest:I want to make something usable.
Guest:That's ultimately the goal is like, I want to make a video out of this.
Marc:You want it to be funny.
Marc:Yes.
Guest:I hope we get stuff because like,
Guest:That is the fear always that we'll go to some event and I'll spend like two hours talking to people, putting myself in awkward situations, and then we'll look at the video and be like, oh, this is bad.
Guest:There's nothing here to use.
Marc:Yeah, right.
Guest:So that's probably the main thing in my head is just like, how can I keep this thing going?
Marc:But it's also weird because there are times where you...
Marc:you kind of like in the moment with that character in particular, you kind of like morph into the people you're talking to for a second.
Marc:You just sort of like your personality is so fragile and needy in some weird way that all you can do is sort of glom onto their tone.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:I think it's that, but I think that's human.
Guest:I think it's like, Oh no, definitely.
Guest:You want to be cool.
Guest:This guy wants to be cool.
Guest:And like these people that he's talking to are cool.
Guest:And so he's trying to, yeah, become them or like speak in their language.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That's where you get a lot of the buttons of those bits.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Just sort of like, yeah.
Marc:But that was before people knew you.
Marc:Do you find it's harder for you to do shit like that now?
Guest:I think so, yeah.
Guest:We tried to shoot one last year at Yankee Stadium.
Guest:And yeah, definitely people are no... The frustrating thing to me is that...
Guest:Hypothetically, if you are a fan and are aware of that character or something like that, you would know if you're seeing me interview somebody to not like yell out, Kyle, what's up, man?
Guest:Like in the middle of a take.
Guest:But that happens.
Marc:It's the same.
Marc:I think that's sort of the same impulse as trolling.
Marc:They'll always do that.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Or they'll just try to fuck it up on purpose.
Marc:It's the same people that honk their horns when you're shooting something on the street.
Marc:It's sort of like, why?
Marc:Why?
Marc:What?
Guest:So frustrating.
Marc:But I don't know what we're expecting out of people.
Marc:I don't really know what that impulse is.
Guest:Here's my issue, and I don't want to put myself on a pedestal or something like that, but I felt like as a child or as a fan, as a teenager, any of the things I was into...
Guest:I wouldn't have the guts to like even approach somebody like that.
Guest:It's like for me, I just put everything on.
Guest:It meant so much to me.
Marc:Yeah, right.
Marc:The respect.
Marc:There's a fundamental awe and respect of people who are professionals and doing a thing.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, I think that a lot of that's deteriorated over time.
Marc:I think a lot of people are like, you're nothing.
Marc:You're not better than me.
Guest:Nah.
Guest:And that's it.
Guest:We also get, I'll get a lot of like, make more videos.
Guest:And I kind of felt like, well, we made all of these videos for you for free to watch.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:When's the next one coming out?
Marc:Right.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:It's weird.
Marc:There's a, there's a, a weird sort of a hostile entitlement to the people that don't do things.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And yet I feel like I've, I've done a lot.
Guest:I feel so good.
Guest:I feel great about stuff I've made for you.
Guest:Like I, and it's out there.
Guest:It stays out there.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But what are they doing?
Marc:They're just living their lives and they see one of your things and they're like, oh shit.
Marc:And then they just want that feeling as much as possible.
Marc:I guess that's a sympathetic position.
Marc:All right, so you're doing these things and you do it for Norm, you're doing TV bits here and there.
Marc:How does the SNL thing unfold?
Guest:Well, I auditioned, I think, in the summer of 2012, and I also brought over Dave to interview him.
Guest:What do you mean?
Guest:I sent in to interview him as a video director on the show.
Marc:Oh, so your entry was the video angle.
Guest:Well, I made, yeah, a videotape of characters and impressions that I sent to them.
Marc:Who was on that?
Marc:I thought you didn't do too many.
Marc:Oh, your own characters, but how many impressions were on that?
Guest:Two.
Guest:I mean, it was like Dog the Bounty Hunter or something like that.
Guest:I don't even remember.
Marc:Just put a wig on?
Guest:Yes, that was that was the whole thing was just I mean, I don't even know if I know how dog talks.
Guest:Just like on the bounty hunter.
Guest:It was probably something like that.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So you did a couple of those reluctantly.
Marc:You knew knowing that I had to do them.
Marc:Who told you how to do it?
Guest:I think, well, I'm sure my rep said that, but also I feel like I put personal pressure on myself because you've got to show that you have something here.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So you did a couple impressions and some video guys.
Guest:Some characters, yeah.
Guest:And we submitted that tape and then- Through your agent.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:It wasn't just an unsolicited submission.
Guest:It was not.
Guest:No.
Guest:And I think people over at the show were aware of us and aware of the videos.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Like Lonely Island was there at the time and- With Sandberg?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Sandberg and Jorma and Akiva and I had met, I think I'd met them at that point.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Jorma incidentally directed the episode of Parks and Rec I did.
Marc:Okay.
Guest:So I think there were people at SNL who knew what we did.
Guest:I was invited to audition in New York.
Guest:In the studio?
Guest:In the studio.
Marc:With Lauren sitting there and two other people?
Guest:I feel like there was more than, it was Lauren and then I feel like a handful of writers, producers.
Marc:That's a stressful moment, isn't it?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:I mean, the buildup to that where you're just like hanging in the dressing room.
Marc:Did you have the meeting with him one-on-one yet?
Marc:No.
Marc:You did the thing in the studio, yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And how did it go?
Guest:I think pretty well.
Marc:Did you get laughs?
Guest:I feel like I got two laughs maybe.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:I left New York feeling like I did what I had to do.
Guest:I mean, for me, that was the accomplishment.
Guest:It was like not being embarrassed and feeling like I did the best version of what I could have done given that situation.
Guest:I didn't get the job.
Guest:You didn't?
Guest:Did not.
Marc:But did you meet with Lorne?
Marc:No.
Guest:Oh.
Marc:How'd they tell you?
Marc:Oh, through your agent.
Guest:I think my agents just said who they hired.
Guest:Yeah, basically.
Guest:That's how he told you?
Marc:Let me give you the list of people that are on the show.
Guest:I mean, there was no harshness to it or anything like that.
Guest:Right, no.
Guest:And our sketch group was working on a thing with Comedy Central at the time.
Marc:You and Beck and Rutherford.
Guest:Nick and Dave, yeah.
Guest:So I had that to go to.
Guest:And then also I ended up doing this pilot Stephen Merchant show called Hello Ladies.
Marc:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Guest:I was on HBO.
Yeah.
Guest:So I had that stuff going, and I really felt okay about the whole experience.
Marc:You were working.
Marc:It wasn't some weird, like, this is it.
Guest:I was working, and I felt like I did what I had to do.
Guest:I'm glad I had that experience.
Guest:I got to go out there and be on that stage.
Guest:I'm okay, which was, to me, wonderful.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But then about a year later, a few months later, they wanted to revisit the idea of auditioning me, I suppose.
Marc:Was it primarily for videos or for cast?
Marc:You don't know.
Guest:I think there might have been some thought that we would kind of become a new Lonely Island or something like that.
Marc:Your crew?
Guest:Yes.
Marc:So everyone was involved?
Marc:So when they revisited, they were talking to Beck and Rutherford and Dave?
Guest:Beck and Nick auditioned it ended up being just myself Beck and Dave who made it and then Nick came on the next year as a writer so you and Beck got cast at the same time yeah and it was it did you meet with Lauren the second time I did yeah just you and Lauren yes how was that for you
Marc:It was nice, short.
Guest:I mean, like.
Marc:Go up to the office?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Sat there?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:He, I mean, like, he remembered me, which to me felt good.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Even though I guess, like, in theory, like, oh, that makes sense.
Guest:I mean, you're going to remember a person who auditioned, like, a year ago, probably.
Marc:Yeah, if you were under consideration.
Marc:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:I don't know.
Guest:I feel like we talked about Prague.
Guest:Because I was incidentally, like, shooting a Taco Bell commercial in Prague while they were doing showcases in LA.
Marc:So you missed your showcase because you were in Prague?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Doing a taco commercial?
Guest:Taco Bell, yeah.
Guest:Did you enjoy Prague?
Guest:Sure, the goulash and the Pilsner Kell.
Guest:That was your experience?
Guest:And besides shooting the commercial, yeah.
Guest:You didn't get around?
Guest:No, I did.
Guest:I did.
Guest:It was very pretty.
Guest:Have you been there?
Guest:No.
Guest:Oh, I really liked it a lot.
Guest:Why was it shooting there?
Marc:Just cheaper?
Guest:I really think the people...
Guest:the advertising people or the Taco Bell people just wanted a cool vacation.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:It's so weird when you hear those things.
Marc:You just shot in Prague for a Taco Bell commercial?
Guest:There was nothing about it that was specifically Prague that couldn't have been shot anywhere.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I don't know why.
Marc:It's a mystery.
Marc:It was cool.
Guest:They flew me business class.
Guest:I liked it.
Marc:That's the perks.
Guest:Yeah, for sure.
Marc:All right, so you get there, so you guys are hired, and then what happens?
Marc:Because you've been there for what?
Marc:Five years now?
Guest:This is my sixth season, so five and a half years.
Marc:And at the beginning, I don't personally feel like they use you enough.
Guest:That's very sweet of you.
Marc:How does it work now?
Marc:It's been a while since I talked to somebody on the show currently.
Marc:But you start out, you're not the main cast.
Guest:Yeah, I guess a featured player.
Marc:You're one of the 90 people they show at the beginning of the show?
Guest:My year in particular, there were a lot.
Marc:It was a transitional year.
Marc:It got a little crazy.
Marc:It almost seemed like a, I hadn't watched in a while, and it almost seemed like a sketch.
Marc:Yes.
Guest:Yeah, there were like 10 of us or something like that.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:I don't know that there are hard and fast rules about how much they put you on or how many sketches you're allowed to submit or anything like that.
Guest:I think generally over time, you just kind of learn how things work and how to try to best get your stuff on.
Guest:I don't know if that's totally answering your question.
Marc:Who was the head writer when you got there?
Guest:Seth?
Guest:Yeah, Seth and Rob Klein.
Guest:That was Seth's last year, so he left two-thirds into the season to do his show.
Marc:How did you hit the ground running over there?
Marc:Doing videos or were you pitching sketches?
Marc:Mostly videos.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:And you'd produce some over there?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And they had their crews, and it must have been sort of a nice thing.
Marc:And your guy was directing you?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Was it Dave?
Guest:Dave.
Guest:Yeah, it was great.
Guest:But it was my understanding of when The Lonely Island was there, for instance, they just basically were making their own videos and then presenting them on a dress.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then if the audience responded to them, they would go on the show.
Guest:We were kind of going the more classic route of...
Guest:scripting them and submitting them and like hoping that they'd get chosen to be made we made a couple on our own volition of just like during a hiatus shooting something yeah it's a tough thing to do to just to be proactive enough to like when the show's off to just try to make your own stuff because you're so exhausted right and also like there's i guess there's a risk factor too but you you had the option you could just take the crew out and do it on your own they were just it didn't you didn't have to submit a script
Guest:I mean, you could in theory.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I think technically like now it's mostly set up so that you need to use a crew just because of like union stuff.
Guest:Of course.
Guest:But yeah, but if we were to like just fully like guerrilla shoot something, we could do that and then we could present it.
Marc:So what was the experience?
Marc:Like the first year you got a few videos on and you've showed up in a couple places?
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Marc:But you get bumped from feature to, you know.
Guest:After two years, you get, yeah, you become.
Guest:And after every year.
Guest:But there's no, like, it's not a ceremonial thing or anything like that.
Marc:No, I get it.
Marc:You don't get a gift or a new room or here's your shoes.
Guest:I guess you just, yeah, take on your own personal responsibility of being like, I'm here, baby.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And do you, like, for you was every year, like, am I going to come back?
Guest:Um, it gets... I...
Guest:I feel pretty good, but I also am kind of a superstitious person, so I try not to take anything too much for granted.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Superstitious, like you think it's all going to be bad?
Guest:Yeah, I guess I just like to not even try to overthink that sort of thing.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:I feel like I have a job to do, and I enjoy the job, and that job is to put out the best work that I can, and that's all I can do.
Marc:And you get along with everybody?
Guest:I do.
Guest:I love everybody, yeah.
Marc:It's a great cast right now.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That's, I think, one of the most remarkable things about being there is just working with those people.
Marc:It must be amazing just to build up to that when it starts the night of... Oh, yeah.
Guest:It just needs to be crazy.
Marc:It's trippy.
Marc:It's still trippy.
Marc:Because you're just converging on this point, and then all of a sudden there's no going back, and it's happening now.
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, and I'm always fascinated by just the difference between how the dress show relates to the live show.
Guest:How is that?
Guest:What is the difference?
Guest:It could be that some sketches perform well at dress, bomb at live, or vice versa.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It could be that there are lines cut in between dress and air, or line changes, and that...
Guest:put you know or like now you're entering from the right rather than the left yeah um there's just all these little things that happen in such a short amount of time and uh you know there's a lot of trust put into us that hopefully we can figure that out right and you usually do i think so yeah and so is it literally impossible to memorize your lines
Guest:I don't know about that, but it certainly gets difficult when their line changes.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Because I notice, I always wonder about that because most people are reading.
Marc:And I don't know if that's just because it's easier or they just don't have time.
Guest:I think it's because like that's kind of the idea is that like the way the cameras are situated and the cards like in theory I'm looking at the cards and then when it cuts to the person I'm talking to if they're looking at their cards it should hypothetically look like we're looking at each other.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Do you try to memorize?
Guest:Yeah, I try to know as much as I can when I can.
Guest:But you've got to be ready for the idea.
Guest:It can happen that there's a new change that you've never seen.
Marc:You're kind of locked into the cards.
Guest:To a degree, you have to be.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:When did you do Brigsby?
Guest:We shot that, I guess, two summers ago.
Marc:Because I thought it was a sweet movie.
Marc:Made me cry.
Guest:Oh, I'm glad.
Guest:That's so nice to hear.
Guest:Yeah?
Guest:Yeah, that was one of my favorite experiences.
Guest:We're doing that.
Marc:How did the... Because I didn't... Like, I really knew nothing about it, you know?
Marc:And I knew I was going to talk to you.
Marc:And I was... It was interesting because I was watching Yorgos Lathimos' movies.
Marc:Have you seen his movies?
Marc:A few of them, yeah.
Marc:I mean, yeah.
Marc:Dogtooth was something that... Right.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Because, like, I had to watch Dogtooth and I saw... And Brendan said, you should really...
Marc:While you're doing this, since you got to talk to Kyle the same weekend, you should watch his movie because I think there is some thematic similarities.
Marc:Absolutely.
Marc:And I'm like, really?
Marc:How is that?
Marc:Because when I watch Dogtooth, I'm like, what the fuck is happening?
Marc:But there is actually, at the core of it, a very similar idea.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:In that, you know, the family that has basically imprisoned their children.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Creating their own rules.
Marc:Yeah.
Yeah.
Marc:So that was an inspiration?
Marc:Absolutely, yeah.
Marc:You liked that movie, Dogtooth?
Marc:I did, yeah.
Marc:I didn't find myself crying at the end of Dogtooth.
Marc:And I talked to Yorgos about it, and he knew about the movie.
Marc:But you had a story.
Marc:I mean, there was a story, yeah.
Marc:But the idea of the effect that that would have on someone's head growing up like that, I think was more the focus of yours.
Guest:Yes, we kind of, we obviously break out of that world.
Guest:So it's, yeah, more like, yeah, how somebody.
Marc:How was that movie conceived?
Marc:What compelled you?
Guest:I mean, at some point, just this notion of a TV show made for one person was kind of fascinating to me.
Marc:How do you do that?
Marc:What's a device that will enable you to do that?
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:And I wrote it with my friend Kevin...
Guest:That was really nice because he's another dude I grew up with.
Guest:I went to middle school with.
Guest:He was working as a screenwriter here in L.A.
Guest:Before I got hired by the show, I pitched it to him.
Guest:And so while I was at the show, we were kind of scripting it and it worked out nicely.
Marc:Yeah, I thought it was really surprising in a weird way because I had no expectations and I had no idea what it was about.
Marc:And when he told me it was similar, I'm like, wow, how weird could this be?
Marc:But it's interesting how Brigsby starts because you're like, are we in the future?
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Guest:I'm glad that it plays that way for you.
Marc:Oh, definitely.
Marc:I was sort of like, this is like whatever the old technology, something happened and this is what's left over and this is the planet now.
Marc:And so for me, because I knew nothing about it, I think all of the turns worked.
Guest:And that is hopefully the way people who see it, see it.
Guest:That was the tough thing about marketing the movie or talking about the movie.
Guest:It was like not giving things away.
Marc:Yeah, I mean, yeah, what could you say about it?
Marc:Because you'd spoil it almost immediately.
Guest:Yeah, it would be pretty much just like, oh, it's about a guy who's obsessed with this children's TV show.
Guest:And then something happens or something like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:And then he like, yeah, he embarks on a journey that he, the show, I think we always pitch it as like, James is obsessed with this children's show, Brigsley Bear.
Guest:One day it ends and his whole world turns upside down or something like that.
Marc:There you go.
Marc:There's your tagline.
Marc:And I thought that your performance, like, you seem to bring a certain amount of humanity and vulnerability to all these things that you do.
Marc:Even, you know, all of them, actually.
Marc:I think that's the gift that you have.
Guest:Thanks.
Guest:Yeah, we try.
Guest:I mean, like, Dave McCary, who directed Brigsby and makes a lot of those videos, is very helpful in that.
Guest:I think we...
Guest:We definitely like attempt to make things as grounded as we can when that's what it calls for.
Marc:So to sort of keep you in that space as opposed to like going for the laugh.
Marc:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:I mean, like, and we did, and I'm sure if you looked at all of the takes that we did in that movie, you could make a sillier, broader version because we would do levels sometimes like in terms of like, yeah, what is the funny take here?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, and even the moments where you had to sort of go with it, where you're like, this would not be this easy a transition, and he's not, you know what I mean?
Marc:Like he's adapting too quickly.
Marc:You're able to sort of like, yeah, but this is the story.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:At a certain point, you're like, nah, he'd be much more fucked up.
Marc:It is ultimately fake.
Marc:Yes, that's true.
Marc:And you got to work with Mark Hamill.
Marc:He was great.
Guest:Everybody, the cast, it's a great cast.
Guest:Everybody was cool.
Guest:Did you find it has a bit of a following now, though?
Guest:I think so.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:I think I, a lot of people say nice things about it.
Guest:I think the hope is that it'll still gain even more of like a cultish thing, but who knows?
Marc:It's all out there.
Marc:It's out there forever.
Marc:So was that experience, uh, for you, you know, exciting enough to, are you working on another movie?
Marc:Yeah, I've got a couple of things I'm trying to work on.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:I definitely want to do more of that.
Marc:Absolutely.
Marc:What is your big plan?
Marc:You're going to just stay at SNL till they tell you to leave.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:I feel nervous even talking about that in case my bosses are listening.
Guest:All right.
Marc:Yeah, I mean, ultimately... Do you want to develop TV or film?
Guest:I think both.
Marc:Yeah?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And you're kind of... I mean, like...
Guest:I love, I definitely love writing and acting and, and Briggs LeBair was like a fun version of that for me.
Guest:And like, I like like people, it's like when I think of careers, I like, it's like Albert Brooks or something like that or Steve Martin.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Have you met those guys?
No.
Guest:Steve Martin's been at the show a couple times.
Guest:Yeah, so I've briefly met him.
Guest:I don't know that I've ever met Albert Brooks.
Marc:Yeah, I've only met him once.
Marc:Did you do the show?
Marc:He's elusive.
Marc:No, he hasn't.
Marc:I don't know why he hasn't.
Marc:But I saw him at, you know, he knows who I am.
Marc:I've pestered him on Twitter and through appropriate channels to come on the show.
Marc:But I don't think he likes to talk about himself that much.
Marc:I don't think it's like anything personal.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:I just don't think he does this long form business.
Guest:Right.
Marc:But he did come up to me at the memorial event for Gary Shanling's passing, which was quite an event.
Marc:And all of a sudden I'm just walking and I felt these arms on my shoulders and I just hear someone go, let's do it now.
Marc:Let's do the podcast now.
Marc:That's very sweet.
Marc:It was him.
Marc:Okay, let's do it.
Marc:I'm ready.
Marc:I'll use my phone.
Marc:Yeah, I've let the... Have you seen Defending Your Life?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I love that movie.
Marc:All his movies have some great... Some of them are better than others, but all of them have great things in them.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Defending Your Life is great.
Marc:The early ones...
Marc:What was the one, Modern Life?
Marc:Was it the one with the veterinarian?
Guest:Romance?
Marc:No, no, not Modern Life.
Marc:Oh, Real Life.
Marc:Real Life.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:I love that one.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And prophetic.
Marc:It's cool.
Marc:And I liked his short, too.
Marc:I think he must have been the first one to sort of establish the video short on SNL.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Yeah, I believe he was.
Marc:I think so, yeah.
Guest:I guess it's like him and then-
Guest:I don't know what, I'm not an expert on early SNL by any means, but besides him, I guess there are also those like, they're not shorts, but those Muppet sketches where they were kind of their own thing.
Marc:That was real old.
Marc:That was like first season shit.
Marc:Yeah, it's wild to watch those first season ones because it's really, the pace of it is like a variety show and it's odd.
Marc:Totally.
Marc:You know, and the musical, most of the stuff was taped.
Marc:You know, it was a lot of commercial parodies, like two live bits.
Marc:I have the first season.
Marc:Have you watched it?
Marc:I have before, yes.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So how long are you in town for?
Marc:Another day.
Marc:Well, it was good talking to you, man.
Marc:Yeah, no, thank you, Mark.
Marc:Yeah, and good luck with the rest of the season.
Marc:Appreciate it.
Marc:Kyle Mooney again the finale of SNL this Saturday May 18th I'm going to play some guitar it might sound a little familiar but I'm not adding the turnaround chord but you know the implications this is a song that defines everything but it's not really the song but you'll hear it in there
Thank you.
Guest:Thank you.
Marc:Boomer lives.