Episode 1020 - Lisa Kudrow

Episode 1020 • Released May 20, 2019 • Speakers detected

00:00:00Marc:all right let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fucking ears what's happening i'm mark maron this is my podcast wtf welcome to it if you're new to it if you're not you're right how's it going you want to know who's on the show today i'm

00:00:25Marc:I can do that.

00:00:26Marc:Lisa Kudrow is here.

00:00:27Marc:She's in a film.

00:00:28Marc:She's got a nice part as a mom in the new film Booksmart, which is a very exciting, fun movie about young people.

00:00:37Marc:And that's in theaters this Friday, May 24th.

00:00:41Marc:Some funny shit in that movie.

00:00:43Marc:And she's going to be here momentarily.

00:00:45Marc:She was here already, but you're going to hear her momentarily unless you're already past this part.

00:00:50Marc:But I also want to bring up the fact that I was at the comedy store last night and...

00:00:57Marc:Sammy Shore, that's Pauly's dad, Peter's dad, Mitzi's ex-husband, passed away.

00:01:02Marc:He was like 92.

00:01:03Marc:I did one of the last interviews with Sammy.

00:01:08Marc:He was actually the guy that first opened the comedy store, but after a couple years of it being just sort of a clubhouse for stand-ups, he and Mitzi were divorced and she took it.

00:01:18Marc:and made it the empire that it is and was.

00:01:23Marc:But we did do an episode with Sammy, and we republished it.

00:01:30Marc:It's from 2016.

00:01:31Marc:I went out to Vegas to interview Sammy.

00:01:35Marc:It's episode 771, 771, and it's available in the free episode feed box.

00:01:40Marc:of whatever podcast app you're using it's also available at wtfpod.com this is something we do we don't like having to do it but uh you know life is life and sammy shore has passed away and he was a he was an important comic and he was part of a generation of comics that many people have forgotten he was once shecky green's comedy partner

00:02:02Marc:And that might mean nothing to a lot of people who are listening to this right now.

00:02:06Marc:But he was one of the guys.

00:02:09Marc:He's one of the real old school comics.

00:02:13Marc:And he's no longer with us.

00:02:14Marc:So rest in peace, Sammy.

00:02:16Marc:And if you want to listen to that episode, it's there in the feed for you now.

00:02:20Marc:I was just in Seattle.

00:02:21Marc:What day is today?

00:02:22Marc:Today's Sunday.

00:02:23Marc:Yeah, I don't think I've talked to you since I went to Seattle.

00:02:27Marc:I left Wednesday, and then Thursday I did a bunch of press for the film Sword of Trust.

00:02:33Marc:I was up there with Lynn Shelton, the director of the movie, and then we had the big screening.

00:02:37Marc:We were the opening night gala or gala, or it depends where you're from, and whether where you're from they pronounce it incorrectly.

00:02:45Marc:They had a screening of the film in front of like 3,000 people,

00:02:49Marc:in this big, beautiful auditorium theater thing.

00:02:53Marc:And it was something, man.

00:02:58Marc:Because you're sitting there, we introduced the movie, and then you kind of wait it out.

00:03:04Marc:People are watching it.

00:03:05Marc:Most of the people there don't know what to expect.

00:03:07Marc:They don't know what the movie is.

00:03:09Marc:They don't know if it's going to be funny.

00:03:10Marc:They know it's called a comedy.

00:03:12Marc:And it was weird because when it premiered at South by Southwest,

00:03:15Marc:You know, that was a kind of lit up young hipster ish crowd.

00:03:19Marc:And they were just laughing right at the beginning.

00:03:21Marc:But this one took a little longer, maybe seven or eight minutes before they got the groove.

00:03:25Marc:But man, once they dropped into that groove, laughs all the way through, all the way fucking through.

00:03:31Marc:How often does that happen?

00:03:32Marc:This is a room full of people that didn't know what to expect.

00:03:35Marc:getting laughs i was laughing i cried i laughed again at a movie i was in i don't know if that's a type of narcissism or what but it was really something and the more i see it the more it makes sense to me and how because the first time you see something you're looking at it that you're involved in you look at it with a different type of critical eye or you maybe you're too critical but it works together it's so it's so good and

00:03:58Marc:And it was so sort of exciting.

00:04:00Marc:And then we did a Q&A after, which I sort of hijacked because I'm all worked up.

00:04:04Marc:I finished that book, Fantasyland.

00:04:06Marc:So I'm really on the tip of pushing back on the magical thinking epidemic that we're experiencing on all levels.

00:04:16Marc:But there was a great experience.

00:04:17Marc:It was a great experience.

00:04:19Marc:I think everybody had a good time.

00:04:21Marc:And I was in Seattle for three days or like one day, really.

00:04:25Marc:But I did, I was able to get down to my place.

00:04:28Marc:I was able to, yeah, I've been going to Seattle for a long time.

00:04:30Marc:And I love that city.

00:04:31Marc:I love the country up there.

00:04:32Marc:I love the climate.

00:04:33Marc:I love everything about the Pacific Northwest.

00:04:36Marc:And I love the seafood.

00:04:38Marc:And I love going to fish markets.

00:04:41Marc:And I love this place called Jack's Fish Stop.

00:04:44Marc:And I think I've talked about it before.

00:04:45Marc:And for some reason, even though I'm eating pretty fucking clean, pretty healthy, except for New York, leave me alone.

00:04:51Marc:I was only, I'm entitled to have a nice steak for dinner occasionally.

00:04:55Marc:But I've been eating pretty good.

00:04:57Marc:And then it's just because I get to Seattle and then the struggle begins.

00:05:01Marc:Are we going to have fried scallops?

00:05:02Marc:Are we going to Jack's Fish Stop?

00:05:04Marc:Can I fit that into my schedule?

00:05:06Marc:Should I even eat a basket of fried scallops and beautiful French fries?

00:05:10Marc:Should I even do that?

00:05:11Marc:It's probably not good.

00:05:12Marc:And then here's the other thing that happens.

00:05:15Marc:The other struggle is like, hey, man, just because you're on the road doesn't mean that you're on a different planet or it doesn't count.

00:05:21Marc:OK, just because you're on the road doesn't mean you can't continue eating in a healthy way.

00:05:27Marc:And then I'm like, yeah, but I'm going to die soon.

00:05:29Marc:And like, isn't isn't eating good food part of joy?

00:05:33Marc:Isn't that what joy is?

00:05:35Marc:Isn't joy putting fun things into your mouth?

00:05:38Marc:And then the other part of me like, yeah, but is it worth it?

00:05:41Marc:That's that's the other.

00:05:43Marc:Who the hell is that guy talking to you?

00:05:44Marc:Is it really worth it?

00:05:45Marc:Is it worth what?

00:05:46Marc:I'm taking statins.

00:05:48Marc:I mean, come on.

00:05:48Marc:Doesn't that give me a little bit of a pass?

00:05:50Marc:No, but like, what about the calories?

00:05:52Marc:What about the fried?

00:05:53Marc:What about the?

00:05:53Marc:I mean, is it worth it?

00:05:55Marc:All right, man.

00:05:56Marc:All right.

00:05:56Marc:But it's like I'm just saying that if I get if I get to the end of my rope, if I get to the last dying breath and I'm like, you know, a few fried scallops short of having a meaningful life, I'm going to blame you.

00:06:08Marc:I said to myself.

00:06:11Marc:And right up till I got there, I mean, my level of, you know, sort of committing to indecisiveness is profound.

00:06:20Marc:If I have one skill, you know, emotionally, it's like I can commit to indecisiveness for four years.

00:06:29Marc:But I got to Jack's fish stop, I saw the dead fish.

00:06:32Marc:How great is it?

00:06:32Marc:Why do I love looking at dead fish?

00:06:35Marc:It's like the saddest aquarium.

00:06:39Marc:I like watching fishies swim in a tank, seeing the sharkies in the big tank, seeing them swim around in circles, seeing them through the glass, look at that fishy.

00:06:47Marc:But what does the top of that fish look like?

00:06:49Marc:What does the underside of that fish look like?

00:06:51Marc:What does that fish look like inside its mouth?

00:06:53Marc:What does that fish look like when it's just sitting still?

00:06:57Marc:Those are unanswerable questions, unless you're at a fish market.

00:07:00Marc:I mean, that's really, if you want to learn, that's where you learn, at the SAD Aquarium, which is the fish market.

00:07:07Marc:You can get right up close.

00:07:09Marc:You can stick your finger in their mouth.

00:07:10Marc:You can look at their eyes.

00:07:12Marc:You can turn them over.

00:07:13Marc:You can hold them in your hand.

00:07:15Marc:You can throw them.

00:07:16Marc:They're throwing them down there.

00:07:17Marc:They're throwing the dead fish.

00:07:20Marc:So I get to the counter and I see that at Jack's fish stop.

00:07:24Marc:They're now serving the grilled salmon, you know, and that's healthier.

00:07:28Marc:Nice piece of grilled salmon.

00:07:30Marc:That would have been healthy, fresh.

00:07:32Marc:It's right there.

00:07:32Marc:You see that.

00:07:33Marc:You see the guy before they cut it.

00:07:35Marc:You saw the whole guy and then they're going to take a piece of that guy and just.

00:07:39Marc:But right up to when it was coming out of my mouth, the guys, I can help you.

00:07:43Marc:And I'm like, yes, I want these scallops, scallops.

00:07:48Marc:And I said it.

00:07:49Marc:I said it like I just won something inside me.

00:07:52Marc:I had the commitment like there were two people involved in that decision and they both had a different thing to say.

00:07:59Marc:But the louder, more committed one won.

00:08:03Marc:Just scallops as if then I turned and smiled at the invisible other me that was there beside me.

00:08:12Marc:And I got to be honest with you, man.

00:08:14Marc:I got it.

00:08:14Marc:Look, I don't know what you like or who you are or what makes your life worth living or whether you think it is.

00:08:20Marc:But for me, these scallops were nice big ones.

00:08:24Marc:They were fried just right.

00:08:26Marc:They had nice tang to them.

00:08:27Marc:Like sometimes scallopies that taste really scallopy, fucking great.

00:08:32Marc:They were fucking fried perfectly on a bed of French fries with some cocktail sauce and

00:08:37Marc:I was so happy with them.

00:08:39Marc:I was so happy that I ate them for about an hour after I was happy.

00:08:44Marc:And I stayed pretty happy.

00:08:46Marc:And even right now, even right now, reflecting back on the scallops, I don't know what was better, really, if I'm in the feelings that I'm having right now.

00:08:56Marc:Was the screening of a film I starred in, which got lots of laughs, equal or better than the five or six fried scallops I had that afternoon?

00:09:06Marc:I'm just going to put them in different columns and say they were both amazing.

00:09:10Marc:Look, people, how about some email reading?

00:09:13Marc:I've got some some listener engagement I want to share with you.

00:09:17Marc:Let's see.

00:09:17Marc:This one will just let's why don't we all spend a little time blowing some smoke up Mark's ass?

00:09:23Marc:How would that be?

00:09:24Marc:Studs Terkel subject line dot dot dot filled the early morning silences of my Southside Chicago home growing up, giving us all a shared experience.

00:09:34Marc:Another tie that bound my Irish Catholic family and kept us together through the aridity and loneliness of middle class life.

00:09:42Marc:He was the only man I never knew whose death I genuinely mourned.

00:09:46Marc:As I start a Southside Chicago family of my own, now at 34, I find your show filling a similar space.

00:09:54Marc:I find that comforting and important.

00:09:56Marc:I hope you continue your work.

00:09:58Marc:It's more important than you know.

00:09:59Marc:It's more than coincidence that you began when you did.

00:10:02Marc:I like to think you're picking up where studs left off.

00:10:06Marc:That is so fucking nice and humbling, and thank you for that compliment.

00:10:11Marc:I had the pleasure of meeting Studs towards the end of his life.

00:10:14Marc:It was just great.

00:10:18Marc:It was a great moment.

00:10:19Marc:I guess it was like that second version of Air America.

00:10:22Marc:I can't remember.

00:10:23Marc:Maybe it was towards the end of that first run on Air America that he came in.

00:10:28Marc:Yeah.

00:10:31Marc:He had a hearing aid in both ears.

00:10:35Marc:And he took them both off.

00:10:37Marc:And he said something about like a princess removing her earrings or something.

00:10:42Marc:And then he put the headphones on.

00:10:44Marc:And the board op, Kalo, was like, good?

00:10:48Marc:And he kept going.

00:10:49Marc:He kept putting his thumb up, like, higher, higher.

00:10:52Marc:And he...

00:10:52Marc:It was so loud that it was bleeding into the studio.

00:10:56Marc:And you could hear Kalo asking if that was good coming out of his headphones.

00:11:01Marc:And he was like, yes, that's good.

00:11:03Marc:Because he had taken off his hearing aids.

00:11:05Marc:It was very endearing and beautiful.

00:11:08Marc:Beautiful moment.

00:11:09Marc:Here's another email.

00:11:12Marc:Subject line, Rudolph wasn't written by Gene Autry, Dennis.

00:11:16Marc:Hi, Mark.

00:11:16Marc:Dennis Quaid doesn't know his own family's history.

00:11:18Marc:Gene Autry didn't write Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

00:11:21Marc:It was written by a Jewish-American songwriter named Johnny Marks, nor did he write Frosty.

00:11:26Marc:He recorded them.

00:11:27Marc:It only stuck with me because I remember listening to a segment on the CBC about how so many wartime Christmas songs were written by Jews and that the Rudolph song was particularly poignant in dealing with the feeling of other that Jewish people felt.

00:11:41Marc:his nose gene autry has a good old boy christian nose dennis cool it take care charlotte yep the jews have been entertaining the gentiles for a long time and to the point where we are fundamentally necessary in that entertainment primarily so they don't kill us

00:12:01Marc:Mark, you have an outstanding podcast and I enjoy your work as a comedian.

00:12:05Marc:You have spoken about Ireland.

00:12:07Marc:Today's remarks with Angelica Houston made me think of a quote from John Patrick Moynihan after the JFK assassination.

00:12:14Marc:Quote, there is no point in being Irish unless you realize that eventually the world will break your heart.

00:12:21Marc:Unquote.

00:12:22Marc:Steve.

00:12:24Marc:Man, that's good.

00:12:28Marc:I like that one.

00:12:32Marc:Oh, Lisa Kudrow is here.

00:12:36Marc:I was so excited to talk to her because I love her so much.

00:12:40Marc:She's one of those people that I'm like, I don't even know if I could handle talking to her because she's so exactly who she is.

00:12:47Marc:She's so Lisa Kudrow.

00:12:49Marc:But I always thought she was uniquely funny and charming and smart and all the things, all the things that people are when you like them.

00:12:57Marc:Right?

00:12:58Marc:And then it happened.

00:13:01Marc:I was a little intimidated, to be honest with you.

00:13:03Marc:Um, cause I thought she could be intense, but I had a nice time with her.

00:13:07Marc:She's in this new film, which I saw book smart, uh, which is funny.

00:13:12Marc:And it's a, it's a, an exciting teen comedy.

00:13:15Marc:That's good for adults.

00:13:17Marc:I thought it's in theaters this Friday, May 24th.

00:13:20Marc:And obviously you know her from friends and from other things she's done, but now you're going to know her from talking to me.

00:13:27Marc:This is me and Lisa Kudrow.

00:13:33Marc:I can't believe I've never met you before.

00:13:39Guest:I know, me too.

00:13:40Marc:Did you think that?

00:13:42Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:13:43Guest:Well, I always wonder, maybe we've met.

00:13:47Marc:I don't think we ever have.

00:13:48Marc:I know people you know, but I never met you.

00:13:50Guest:Yeah, that's weird.

00:13:51Marc:You're from here.

00:13:53Guest:Yeah.

00:13:53Marc:Your whole life in Los Angeles?

00:13:55Guest:Yeah, Tarzana, the valley.

00:13:57Marc:Yeah?

00:13:58Guest:Yeah.

00:13:58Marc:So you've never left, really?

00:14:01Guest:I went to college in New York, so four years.

00:14:05Marc:But your family wasn't in show business?

00:14:08Guest:No.

00:14:08Marc:What were they doing?

00:14:09Guest:Well, my father is retired.

00:14:12Guest:He's a doctor.

00:14:14Marc:What kind of doctor?

00:14:14Guest:He is, well, he was a headache specialist.

00:14:18Marc:What does that mean?

00:14:19Guest:That means, I mean, he was an internist.

00:14:23Guest:And then in 1971, he decided he was just going to treat and research headaches exclusively.

00:14:30Guest:And he, you know, he was pretty notable.

00:14:35Marc:Really?

00:14:35Marc:I mean, I guess it's like one of those things where everyone gets headaches.

00:14:39Marc:Seems like a good business.

00:14:41Guest:Well, he's not usually, he's not business driven.

00:14:46Marc:Yeah.

00:14:47Marc:I grew up with a doctor too.

00:14:48Marc:My dad's a doctor.

00:14:49Marc:Oh, what kind?

00:14:49Marc:Orthopedic.

00:14:50Guest:Oh, wow.

00:14:51Marc:Yeah, saws and hammers.

00:14:53Marc:Shh.

00:14:53Guest:Woof, that's rough.

00:14:54Marc:You can say shit.

00:14:56Guest:That's so rough.

00:14:57Marc:Yeah, surgeon, knees, backs, hips.

00:14:58Marc:That's so brutal.

00:15:00Guest:Yeah, my dad, by the way, he was a- Is that your nicotine gum?

00:15:04Guest:Yeah.

00:15:05Marc:Oh, that's so great.

00:15:06Marc:What do you have?

00:15:07Marc:I got the nicotine lozenge.

00:15:08Guest:Yeah, no, I prefer the gum.

00:15:10Marc:Have you tried these?

00:15:11Guest:Yeah.

00:15:11Marc:You don't like them?

00:15:12Guest:I don't.

00:15:14Marc:But don't you find yourself chewing the fucking gum all day?

00:15:16Marc:Yeah.

00:15:17Marc:But I mean, the same piece.

00:15:19Guest:Oh, no.

00:15:20Guest:Oh.

00:15:21Guest:I mean, that would be great if I did.

00:15:23Guest:That would be great.

00:15:24Marc:I like these because I can completely control the discharge.

00:15:29Guest:What, did you take it out?

00:15:31Marc:No, I don't take it out, but sometimes you suck on them harder, and then you get more.

00:15:34Marc:I guess I've gotten used to them.

00:15:37Guest:But the same as the gum.

00:15:40Marc:But then I'd end up chewing a lot of gum, and I think it's hard on my jaws and my teeth.

00:15:43Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:15:44Marc:Don't you love nicotine, though?

00:15:46Guest:Oh, my God.

00:15:46Guest:I do.

00:15:47Guest:It's really toxic, though.

00:15:49Marc:What do you learn about it?

00:15:50Marc:We'll get back to doctors.

00:15:52Guest:Yeah, but it comes from my dad also studying it.

00:15:57Yeah.

00:15:57Guest:I think it's like a wonder drug, though.

00:16:00Marc:No, but what's toxic about it?

00:16:03Guest:Oh, if I chew too much.

00:16:05Marc:Right.

00:16:06Guest:Or also, you know, now I had dental issues.

00:16:09Marc:Well, that's the reason I can't do the gum.

00:16:11Marc:I think it wears your jaw and your teeth down.

00:16:13Marc:Yeah.

00:16:13Marc:Doesn't it?

00:16:14Guest:Well, I had work done, so I had like temporary, you know, things in, crowns.

00:16:20Marc:Right.

00:16:20Guest:And so it would just yank them out.

00:16:21Guest:I couldn't chew them.

00:16:25Guest:But so my husband had these jewels, so I started doing that.

00:16:29Marc:Jewels, what are those?

00:16:29Guest:You know, the like vape.

00:16:31Marc:Oh, vape.

00:16:32Marc:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:16:33Marc:But then you're back on the tan thing.

00:16:35Guest:Oh, my God.

00:16:35Guest:And it's so much worse.

00:16:37Guest:Yeah.

00:16:38Guest:I think it's probably as bad as cigarettes.

00:16:41Guest:I think.

00:16:41Guest:I don't know.

00:16:41Marc:We don't know what's in that shit.

00:16:43Guest:Well, I know they're burning something sticky that you're breathing into your lungs.

00:16:47Marc:Right.

00:16:47Marc:So, you know, that can't be good.

00:16:50Marc:But I'm looking for information you might have.

00:16:52Guest:Yeah, but so I'd get sick.

00:16:53Guest:I just feel sick.

00:16:54Marc:Nauseous.

00:16:54Guest:If I chew too much.

00:16:56Marc:Of course.

00:16:56Guest:Just ill.

00:16:57Guest:Yeah.

00:16:57Marc:Yeah.

00:16:58Guest:Kind of nauseous.

00:16:59Marc:All day long.

00:17:00Guest:Exhausted.

00:17:00Marc:Yeah.

00:17:01Guest:Like, oh my God, I'm not well.

00:17:02Guest:I'm not going to live long.

00:17:04Guest:Right.

00:17:04Guest:You know, like that for sure.

00:17:07Marc:You don't track it to the gum.

00:17:08Marc:It's just like you're on a nicotine overdose.

00:17:12Marc:Sometimes I'll go to sleep with the things in my mouth.

00:17:16Marc:You too?

00:17:17Guest:No.

00:17:18Guest:Oh, no.

00:17:19Guest:I'd be too afraid of choking to death.

00:17:21Guest:I've swallowed one of them once.

00:17:23Guest:And I thought, oh, my God, that's the most dangerous thing that's ever happened to me.

00:17:28Marc:You swallowed a nicotine gum?

00:17:29Guest:I swallowed it.

00:17:32Guest:It's like I felt like, you know, I can.

00:17:34Marc:It's so funny you say.

00:17:35Guest:My Fair Lady.

00:17:36Marc:Yeah.

00:17:36Guest:She swallowed a marble.

00:17:37Guest:I swallowed one.

00:17:38Guest:And that's all I could think was I swallowed one.

00:17:40Marc:I find that when I accidentally swallow them, it doesn't make me... I don't think it works the same way.

00:17:49Marc:But I'm happy about the nauseousness because I do that to myself all day long.

00:17:54Marc:I'll keep eating them until I'm like, I can't even go up the stairs.

00:17:59Guest:Right.

00:17:59Guest:It's not just nausea, though.

00:18:01Guest:It saps the life out of you.

00:18:03Guest:It's toxic.

00:18:05Guest:Of course it is.

00:18:06Guest:And guess what the best delivery system for nicotine is?

00:18:09Guest:uh two tobacco yeah i don't think it's true i think it's smoking it yeah it's the best dose but yeah that's why i think i get a bigger a better dose than the gum with the lozenge that's all but i think it's a good thing and my father was researching it and he was sending he sends me stuff it's like oh really they've done studies and with parkinson's you know you see oh that nicotine oh really good for that and alzheimer's you know oh really potentially yeah it's

00:18:35Marc:Well, I think as long as you're not inhaling the smoke, I think that's the burning smoke is bad.

00:18:41Guest:For your lungs?

00:18:41Marc:Yes.

00:18:42Guest:No, I mean, you're going to have some kind of chronic pulmonary issue if you smoke.

00:18:49Marc:If you smoke.

00:18:50Marc:Yeah.

00:18:50Marc:I'll tell you what I get obsessed about.

00:18:52Marc:What's it doing to my kidneys or my pancreas?

00:18:54Guest:The nicotine?

00:18:55Marc:Yeah, just this.

00:18:56Marc:Anything?

00:18:57Marc:Do you know?

00:18:57Marc:I don't know.

00:18:58Marc:Got any info?

00:18:58Marc:I don't think so.

00:18:59Marc:Are you hypochondriac?

00:19:01Guest:Well, I say no.

00:19:04Marc:Okay.

00:19:05Guest:But I think I'm aware and alert.

00:19:11Guest:And it's a fine line.

00:19:12Marc:I just found growing up.

00:19:13Guest:Pathology and caution.

00:19:15Marc:Yeah, true.

00:19:16Marc:But I found growing up with a doctor, you know, but it sounds like your internist, researcher, headache guy, probably had reasonable hours.

00:19:24Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:19:25Marc:Yeah.

00:19:26Marc:So he was around.

00:19:27Guest:Yeah.

00:19:28Marc:Oh, that's nice.

00:19:28Guest:Well, he was around.

00:19:29Marc:Yeah.

00:19:30Guest:Not a lot.

00:19:31Marc:Oh.

00:19:31Marc:So my question is, when you were a kid, when you grew up with a doctor, if you need to see a doctor, you just call your dad calls his buddy.

00:19:39Marc:Right.

00:19:40Marc:Yeah.

00:19:40Marc:Right.

00:19:41Marc:So like I found that there were periods in my life where I always thought I had a lot of illnesses.

00:19:46Yeah.

00:19:46Marc:So I needed some attention from my dad.

00:19:49Marc:Can you check this out?

00:19:50Marc:Can you check this out?

00:19:52Marc:Can you send me over to Bob?

00:19:53Marc:You didn't have that?

00:19:55Guest:But you think that was in order to get attention?

00:19:58Marc:I think in retrospect, I think it was a way to get very focused attention.

00:20:02Guest:Or this will interest him.

00:20:04Guest:I can be interesting.

00:20:05Marc:Yeah, look, I'm dying.

00:20:06Marc:Yeah, tell me I'm not.

00:20:07Marc:Tell me why.

00:20:08Guest:I didn't feel like I needed to be interesting to my dad.

00:20:12Guest:No, but he was good though.

00:20:14Guest:I mean, he did find us interesting.

00:20:16Marc:Well, that's nice.

00:20:17Marc:Anyway.

00:20:18Marc:He liked you.

00:20:19Guest:Yeah.

00:20:20Marc:Oh, that's good.

00:20:20Guest:Oh, he liked us.

00:20:22Marc:You guys are Jewish?

00:20:23Marc:Yeah.

00:20:24Marc:Yeah, I come from Jews.

00:20:25Marc:Yeah, full.

00:20:26Marc:Full Jew.

00:20:27Guest:Full.

00:20:27Marc:I just did Finding Your Roots.

00:20:29Guest:You did?

00:20:30Marc:I did it with Professor Gates.

00:20:32Marc:Has it aired?

00:20:32Marc:I watch every one.

00:20:33Marc:No, I just did.

00:20:34Marc:I just did it like the day before yesterday.

00:20:36Guest:What did you find out?

00:20:37Marc:crazy well i mean not totally crazy but any of it's crazy when they go back any information at all they they they send people to poland yeah to do the home do you know i produce i know you are okay yeah but how is that different well because we would send you to poland oh i should have done your show can i do your show well depending on what he found out and we usually find like um a story

00:21:04Marc:One story.

00:21:05Guest:Yeah, within your ancestral line.

00:21:07Marc:You've done like a ton of them, right?

00:21:09Guest:Yeah, we've been on since 2009, 10.

00:21:12Marc:And do you deal with the celebrity pool?

00:21:15Marc:Is that who you usually do?

00:21:17Marc:Not just regular people?

00:21:18Marc:Not a lottery?

00:21:19Yeah.

00:21:19Guest:Yeah, it's not.

00:21:20Guest:I mean, that was our hope when we first started, you know, because to us, it's all interesting.

00:21:25Guest:But I think what the networks discovered is that to an audience.

00:21:31Marc:Who's this guy?

00:21:32Guest:To an audience.

00:21:33Marc:Yeah.

00:21:34Guest:They'd rather see Steve Buscemi.

00:21:37Marc:What'd you find out about him?

00:21:38Guest:That was a while ago.

00:21:40Guest:He had an ancestor around Civil War time.

00:21:44Guest:He was a dentist and who kind of disappeared.

00:21:47Guest:And he tried to kill himself.

00:21:49Guest:He had a suicide note that he put in a bottle and threw in the river before he jumped in.

00:21:57Guest:And it was found and published in a newspaper as if preserved for Steve Buscemi to find, you know, generations later.

00:22:06Guest:Yeah, it was good.

00:22:07Guest:Yeah.

00:22:08Marc:What I found out is the Jews were always running.

00:22:13Marc:Usually if they leave anywhere, it was because of anti-Semitism.

00:22:18Guest:It was very tricky.

00:22:19Marc:To live as a Jew?

00:22:20Guest:Well, yeah, because, you know, they didn't want to convert to Russian orthodoxy.

00:22:26Marc:Right.

00:22:27Guest:And so then they're the Christ killers.

00:22:29Guest:Right.

00:22:30Guest:But then also, if you go back further, you had serfs in the Russian Empire.

00:22:36Guest:But Jews, because they weren't full citizens, they weren't serfs.

00:22:40Guest:So they had it a little better.

00:22:42Guest:So there was a lot of tension and animosity.

00:22:45Guest:Right.

00:22:45Marc:Yeah.

00:22:46Marc:You know, I was just because of the climate we're living in now and the mainstreaming of anti-Semitism that to realize that most of the migration of all at any point in history, if it has to do with Jews, was was trying to get away from Jew haters of all, you know, the spectrum from, you know, you can't do things legally to killing them.

00:23:08Marc:And that that that affected me.

00:23:10Guest:No, official policy of anti-Semitism.

00:23:13Guest:Because I think Jews can adapt to, yeah, all right.

00:23:17Guest:Used to not being liked.

00:23:19Guest:I get that.

00:23:20Marc:Did you marry a Jew?

00:23:21Guest:No.

00:23:22Guest:But his last name is Jewish.

00:23:24Marc:It is.

00:23:25Marc:Really?

00:23:25Guest:Stern.

00:23:26Marc:Go either way, that one.

00:23:28Guest:Stern.

00:23:28Guest:It's basically Jewish.

00:23:29Marc:It is Jewish.

00:23:30Guest:Yeah, but they're not Jews.

00:23:32Marc:Is it German?

00:23:33Guest:Yeah.

00:23:34Marc:Yeah, like Alsace.

00:23:35Marc:Yeah, there's a lot of those German names.

00:23:37Marc:They're like, Jew?

00:23:37Marc:No, Nazi.

00:23:38Guest:No.

00:23:39Guest:Yeah.

00:23:41Guest:Too many Nazis named Stern, I don't think.

00:23:43Guest:No, no.

00:23:45Marc:So everyone thinks he's Jewish.

00:23:47Guest:Yeah.

00:23:48Marc:Is he from Germany?

00:23:50Guest:No, no.

00:23:51Guest:He's French.

00:23:52Marc:French?

00:23:52Guest:Yeah.

00:23:53Marc:Do you speak French?

00:23:54Guest:Does he?

00:23:54Marc:Yeah.

00:23:54Marc:Do you?

00:23:55Guest:Oh, not great.

00:23:57Marc:Are you teaching your kids French?

00:23:58Marc:Your kid?

00:23:59Marc:How many kids you got?

00:23:59Guest:Yeah, we have one.

00:24:00Marc:Yeah?

00:24:00Guest:Yeah, and we weren't allowed to speak French to him because he was a little speech delayed.

00:24:06Marc:Oh, he is?

00:24:07Guest:Did I say speech French to him?

00:24:08Marc:I don't know.

00:24:09Marc:No, speak French.

00:24:09Marc:Yeah, but now, where's he at now?

00:24:12Guest:Oh, he'd like to learn French, but you know.

00:24:14Marc:Too late.

00:24:14Guest:There's other things to do.

00:24:16Guest:And my husband feels like, you don't need to know French.

00:24:19Guest:You probably don't, right?

00:24:19Marc:No one needs to know French.

00:24:20Guest:It doesn't serve any purpose.

00:24:22Marc:So, all right.

00:24:23Marc:So going back to the doctor, the headache doctor.

00:24:25Guest:Yeah.

00:24:26Marc:So this is the world you grew up in.

00:24:28Marc:Headaches.

00:24:28Marc:Yeah.

00:24:30Marc:That was the family racket.

00:24:33Marc:You're in headaches.

00:24:34Guest:And after college, I worked for my dad.

00:24:36Guest:So I knew a lot about headaches.

00:24:38Yeah.

00:24:38Marc:Okay, but do you get them?

00:24:42Guest:I don't get headaches, really.

00:24:44Guest:I get, you know, when I was a kid, I'd get a Disneyland headache.

00:24:48Marc:What does that mean?

00:24:49Guest:That means that it's so much stimulus and excitement that after you come down, you get a headache.

00:24:54Marc:Yeah, I think I get headaches from the nicotine sometimes.

00:24:57Guest:Oh, really?

00:24:57Marc:Yeah, after a certain point.

00:24:58Marc:Yikes.

00:25:00Marc:Tell me about some other headaches you learned about.

00:25:02Guest:Well, my dad got every kind of headache.

00:25:04Marc:Oh, so this was his personal mission.

00:25:07Guest:Yeah, he got a kind of headache called cluster headache.

00:25:09Marc:I was just going to bring those up.

00:25:11Guest:Oh, you know about cluster headaches?

00:25:12Marc:I was just going to ask about them.

00:25:13Marc:Because that's the first thing that came to my mind.

00:25:15Marc:I don't know a lot about them.

00:25:16Guest:Oh.

00:25:17Guest:Well, it's one of the worst pains there is.

00:25:20Marc:Really?

00:25:21Guest:And people who get it, including my father, say it's like a red-hot poker being forced through your eye.

00:25:29Guest:And when people have them- Oh, in the back of the eye?

00:25:31Guest:When people have it, their head is actually like they're leaning forward from the pressure from behind or leaning back from the pressure in the front.

00:25:41Guest:And that whole side of the face.

00:25:43Guest:Oh, my God.

00:25:43Guest:The eye's tearing.

00:25:44Guest:The nose is running.

00:25:45Guest:The mouth is drooping.

00:25:46Guest:It affects the whole.

00:25:48Guest:And it lasts about an hour.

00:25:50Guest:Really?

00:25:51Marc:Hour and a half.

00:25:52Marc:Yeah.

00:25:54Guest:And here's the great thing.

00:25:56Guest:What he learned is that you can just, if you inhale oxygen, it aborts the cluster headache.

00:26:06Marc:It was a breathing thing.

00:26:08Guest:Well, oxygen.

00:26:09Marc:Yeah.

00:26:09Guest:That he, his research, he did a lot of research.

00:26:12Marc:Oh, the tank you mean?

00:26:13Guest:Yeah.

00:26:13Marc:Oh.

00:26:14Guest:And it's a lot.

00:26:14Guest:It's like 10 liters per minute.

00:26:16Guest:So you can't do it more than 10 minutes.

00:26:17Guest:It dries out your lungs.

00:26:19Marc:So he discovered this?

00:26:21Guest:Yeah, I think someone else sort of identified it, and then he brought it up as a treatment, and people started using it.

00:26:29Guest:And so people with cluster headache would carry an oxygen tank in the car.

00:26:32Marc:And this is like the Kudrow method?

00:26:34Guest:Well, I don't know that it's called that at all.

00:26:36Guest:And there are some medications, too.

00:26:38Guest:But his research, he was wondering what causes it, and he decided...

00:26:42Guest:that his theory was that there's some injury to the hypothalamus.

00:26:47Guest:So it's not registering oxygen levels.

00:26:52Guest:Right.

00:26:52Marc:So he's a real scientist, your dad.

00:26:54Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:26:55Guest:Oh, no, he is.

00:26:56Marc:Yeah.

00:26:57Marc:And so as a teenager, you were like, I'm going to get into headaches.

00:27:02Guest:Yes.

00:27:02Guest:Not headaches, but I was going to go to medical school for sure.

00:27:06Marc:Where'd you go to college?

00:27:07Guest:I went to Vassar College.

00:27:08Marc:That's fancy.

00:27:10Guest:It's fancy, yeah.

00:27:11Marc:So is that an Ivy League school?

00:27:12Guest:No, it's one of the seven sisters to the Ivy League.

00:27:16Marc:It was a girl's school?

00:27:17Marc:Yeah.

00:27:18Marc:Was it a girl's school when you went?

00:27:19Guest:No, no, because it switched over.

00:27:21Guest:It became co-ed in 1969.

00:27:23Marc:So you went pre-med?

00:27:26Guest:I went in to be pre-med, and then I decided I didn't want to be a doctor around junior year.

00:27:31Marc:How'd you do with the biology classes?

00:27:34Guest:Fine.

00:27:34Marc:Yeah.

00:27:35Guest:But the organic chemistry was tricky.

00:27:37Marc:I don't know.

00:27:38Guest:Yeah, math, when you start getting into the calculus, then it's too abstract for me.

00:27:44Marc:I don't even know what X is.

00:27:46Guest:X is what you solve for.

00:27:47Marc:I know, but I couldn't do an algebra problem now.

00:27:51Marc:I could not.

00:27:52Marc:That's how I knew I was going to be an entertainer because you can't charm your way through math.

00:27:55Guest:No, you can't.

00:27:57Guest:You can't.

00:27:57Guest:You can't bullshit your way out of math or science.

00:28:01Guest:Nope.

00:28:02Guest:And that's why I was at a complete loss with the other like humanities.

00:28:08Marc:Yeah.

00:28:09Guest:And writing a paper.

00:28:10Marc:You couldn't do that either?

00:28:11Guest:That was my nightmare.

00:28:13Marc:Really?

00:28:13Guest:Because bullshit wasn't, I couldn't.

00:28:16Marc:You're not a good bullshitter?

00:28:18Guest:I don't think so.

00:28:21Marc:I was overwhelmed all the time.

00:28:24Marc:So I could write eight pages of opening paragraphs.

00:28:26Marc:I could do that.

00:28:27Marc:The ideas just kept coming.

00:28:29Guest:I was in awe of those people and wondering, so what's the value in anything?

00:28:35Guest:You're not learning anything if you're just, I don't understand.

00:28:39Marc:What's the value of the humanities?

00:28:42Guest:I don't understand the value in it.

00:28:44Marc:There's no equation.

00:28:45Marc:How do you prove anything?

00:28:47Guest:There's nothing concrete.

00:28:48Guest:So I'm very linear.

00:28:53Marc:But so you come back from college and that's when you take the gig in your dad's office?

00:28:57Guest:Yes, because I was interested in a field in evolutionary biology.

00:29:02Marc:So not a doctor.

00:29:03Marc:You want to track the origins of living things.

00:29:09Guest:Yeah.

00:29:10Guest:And my father was doing research in sort of like a, now it would be within the neuroscience area.

00:29:18Guest:And so I got to participate, work with him on a study.

00:29:23Guest:Yeah.

00:29:23Guest:And the idea was, great, so I'll get published, and then that'll help me get into a good graduate program.

00:29:30Marc:For evolutionary biology.

00:29:32Guest:Yeah.

00:29:33Guest:Huh.

00:29:35Guest:But that summer, after I graduated, our good friend, my brother's best friend, is John Levitz.

00:29:44Guest:Yeah.

00:29:44Guest:And he got on Saturday Night Live.

00:29:46Marc:Was he always like that?

00:29:48Guest:Yes.

00:29:49Marc:Always.

00:29:50Marc:Yeah.

00:29:50Guest:Hmm.

00:29:51Guest:Yeah.

00:29:54Marc:Hmm.

00:29:54Marc:An odd Jewish kid.

00:29:56Guest:Yeah, he's so nice.

00:29:58Guest:And really just funny.

00:30:00Guest:Yeah.

00:30:00Guest:He's just.

00:30:01Marc:He is funny.

00:30:02Guest:He's just funny.

00:30:03Marc:Yeah.

00:30:03Marc:You know.

00:30:04Marc:Hi, Mark.

00:30:05Guest:Yeah.

00:30:06Guest:Oh.

00:30:07Guest:See what you're.

00:30:07Guest:He'd call the house, you know, and I'm younger.

00:30:10Guest:I'm like six years younger than he and my brother.

00:30:12Guest:And hello.

00:30:13Guest:Oh, hello, Lisa.

00:30:16Guest:Like, oh, hold on.

00:30:17Yeah.

00:30:17Guest:David, I just didn't feel like 10 minutes of bits.

00:30:25Guest:And so I'm like eight.

00:30:27Guest:And I don't feel like it.

00:30:29Marc:You've had enough.

00:30:29Guest:I don't feel like it.

00:30:34Marc:So he ends up on SNL.

00:30:35Guest:Right.

00:30:36Guest:And when I was in grade school and junior high school, I did do plays and write sketches and do stuff like that.

00:30:43Marc:You wrote sketches even?

00:30:44Guest:Wrote sketches in junior high school.

00:30:47Marc:Okay, so you were a funny person.

00:30:50Guest:Yeah, I thought so.

00:30:51Marc:But that's what you were doing.

00:30:52Marc:You were like, how can we be funny on purpose?

00:30:54Guest:Yeah.

00:30:55Marc:Singing?

00:30:55Marc:No singing?

00:30:56Marc:No musicals?

00:30:57Marc:No.

00:30:57Marc:Just serious plays?

00:30:58Marc:No, not serious plays.

00:31:01Guest:Comedy stuff is what I like.

00:31:03Guest:And so I thought, oh, wow, this is...

00:31:07Guest:I didn't realize this was an option for people.

00:31:09Guest:I thought it was just like some magical, mysterious luck that happens to David Hasselhoff.

00:31:17Marc:There's no career trajectory.

00:31:18Marc:It's just someone's chosen by the forces of show business.

00:31:22Marc:Yeah.

00:31:24Marc:Yeah, no, I know.

00:31:24Marc:It's hard to know.

00:31:25Marc:How do you how does people decide to do that?

00:31:27Guest:Right.

00:31:28Guest:And so and I thought, oh, maybe God, I mean, I have no responsibilities.

00:31:34Guest:I'm 22.

00:31:35Guest:I don't have a mortgage to pay.

00:31:37Guest:I don't have kids.

00:31:39Guest:This is the time you do something that selfish.

00:31:42Guest:Right.

00:31:42Guest:And I don't want to regret it later.

00:31:44Guest:Right.

00:31:44Marc:So you gave up on decoding the living things.

00:31:48Guest:Well, I thought, and if it doesn't work out, I can go to graduate school.

00:31:53Guest:I mean, that's always an option.

00:31:55Marc:Time to be, sure.

00:31:56Guest:Yeah, just learning things.

00:31:57Marc:Yeah, you did well, right?

00:31:58Marc:Undergrad, well enough?

00:32:00Guest:Well enough.

00:32:02Guest:Not great, because it was hard.

00:32:04Guest:I wasn't a great student.

00:32:05Marc:So you're out there in the valley, in Tarzana?

00:32:08Guest:That's where I was, yeah.

00:32:11Marc:When you were younger, were you coming into Hollywood to party and stuff?

00:32:17Marc:Westwood.

00:32:19Guest:We went to Westwood to go to frat parties and go to a moustache cafe and have chocolate souffles and chicken crepes.

00:32:27Guest:Does that marry a bell?

00:32:29Marc:No.

00:32:30Marc:Oh.

00:32:30Marc:No, no.

00:32:31Marc:I mean, I just wonder what, because I grew up in New Mexico.

00:32:34Marc:What do I know?

00:32:34Marc:We just did in a car.

00:32:35Marc:We had driver's license at 15.

00:32:36Marc:And go where?

00:32:37Marc:Drive around.

00:32:38Guest:Well, we did that too, by the way.

00:32:41Marc:Drive around, get some grown person to buy you beer.

00:32:44Guest:Well, no, I didn't do that.

00:32:45Marc:Never?

00:32:46Guest:No.

00:32:47Huh.

00:32:48Guest:No, I wasn't interested.

00:32:49Marc:Oh.

00:32:50Marc:Well, good for you.

00:32:51Guest:I was serious.

00:32:54Guest:I mean, I was like 30 for a long time.

00:32:58Marc:When you were 15?

00:32:59Guest:Yeah.

00:33:00Guest:Yeah, definitely.

00:33:02Marc:Well, yeah, I mean, I could feel, I could see that.

00:33:04Guest:I was like, oh boy.

00:33:06Guest:No, because my dad had told me the most dangerous kind of human beings on this planet are 17-year-old boys.

00:33:14Guest:Mm-hmm.

00:33:14Guest:That's why they make good soldiers.

00:33:15Guest:They don't know they can die.

00:33:18Guest:And, you know, they have poor judgment and don't get in a car with a 17-year-old boy.

00:33:24Marc:And you didn't.

00:33:25Guest:I didn't.

00:33:26Guest:I tried not to.

00:33:27Guest:So we'd go to football games and there'd be a party and, oh, let's go.

00:33:31Guest:This guy's going to drive us.

00:33:32Guest:I'm like, he had a beer.

00:33:34Guest:I'm not getting into a car with him.

00:33:36Guest:And then what?

00:33:37Guest:Who's going to feel sorry for me when I'm lying in a hospital bed?

00:33:40Guest:That's how I thought.

00:33:42Guest:And I loved myself for it.

00:33:47Guest:I did.

00:33:48Guest:I did.

00:33:49Marc:You're so righteous.

00:33:51Marc:Uh-huh.

00:33:51Guest:And it paid off.

00:33:52Guest:I was.

00:33:53Guest:I was like, smoking?

00:33:54Guest:Are you an idiot?

00:33:55Guest:And then I, college, I started smoking, pack a day.

00:33:57Marc:All right, so you're drawing a line, no 17-year-old boys in cars with beers.

00:34:03Marc:Oh, but so you get done with college and Lovitz gets on SNL and like the Satan character, drags you into show business?

00:34:09Guest:Well, no, I called him up and said, so I think I should do this.

00:34:13Guest:And he said, absolutely do this.

00:34:15Guest:But he said, go to the Groundlings.

00:34:17Guest:That's where I learned the most.

00:34:18Marc:The Groundlings.

00:34:19Guest:The Groundlings, because he had studied theater in college, and he took acting classes, and he said the most I ever learned was the Groundlings, improvisation and sketch writing.

00:34:29Marc:And you just went over there?

00:34:30Marc:I've talked to a lot of Groundlings.

00:34:32Marc:It seemed like a fun thing.

00:34:34Guest:Yeah, it was fun.

00:34:35Guest:But they wouldn't take me because I called up and they said, okay, when's the last time you performed?

00:34:40Guest:And I said, junior high school.

00:34:41Guest:And they said, great, we're going to send you to Cynthia Segetti.

00:34:45Marc:Who's that?

00:34:46Guest:Improv teacher.

00:34:47Guest:She was phenomenal.

00:34:48Marc:She's passed away.

00:34:49Marc:A former groundling?

00:34:49Guest:A former groundling.

00:34:51Marc:So that was, she was like, she'll get you into shape and then you come.

00:34:54Guest:And then she'll prepare you and then come and audition for the classes.

00:34:57Marc:Yeah.

00:34:58Marc:So you did that.

00:34:59Marc:And what are you doing now?

00:35:01Guest:I'm spitting out my gum because it was making noise.

00:35:03Marc:I thought you'd chew it and then tuck it.

00:35:06Marc:What happened to the process?

00:35:07Guest:I don't want to tuck it.

00:35:08Marc:No tucking?

00:35:09Marc:You go straight, you just chew through?

00:35:10Guest:I chew through.

00:35:11Marc:Is it a four or two?

00:35:13Guest:Two.

00:35:14Marc:Oh.

00:35:15Guest:No, no, I'm reasonable.

00:35:16Marc:Yeah.

00:35:17Marc:I break fours in half.

00:35:19Marc:Sometimes in the morning, I'll do a whole four.

00:35:22Guest:Just to kickstart.

00:35:23Guest:Just get it going.

00:35:24Guest:Just kickstart.

00:35:24Marc:And then you start, then the nauseousness starts.

00:35:27Marc:Oh, it does?

00:35:28Marc:Avoiding nauseousness all day.

00:35:30Marc:But then you get used to the nauseousness and you realize this is how harder drugs kill people.

00:35:36Guest:Yeah.

00:35:36Guest:Well, for me, because it's sweet, it's in lieu of dessert.

00:35:41Guest:And then I just like, oh, I'm still not done with the sweet.

00:35:44Guest:And I pop another one.

00:35:45Marc:So you have eating problems too, huh?

00:35:47Guest:Wow.

00:35:49Guest:Do I?

00:35:50Marc:I don't know.

00:35:51Marc:Do you?

00:35:52Marc:I must.

00:35:54Marc:I'm nuts.

00:35:55Marc:I'm not saying it in a judgmental way.

00:35:57Marc:I have a problem.

00:35:59Guest:Yeah.

00:35:59Marc:Yeah, I do.

00:36:01Guest:With eating?

00:36:01Marc:Sure.

00:36:02Guest:What do you mean?

00:36:04Yeah.

00:36:04Marc:I'm like I was I was brought up by a functioning anorexic, a proud anorexic woman.

00:36:09Marc:Oh.

00:36:10Marc:And, you know, I was very aware of calories and chubbiness for my whole life.

00:36:16Guest:Oh, fun.

00:36:17Marc:Yes.

00:36:18Marc:Wow.

00:36:18Marc:And it's really deep and it sticks.

00:36:20Marc:It's stuck.

00:36:21Guest:It sticks.

00:36:21Guest:So what do you do?

00:36:23Guest:I'm curious because now there's a whole body image thing where all body types are represented everywhere.

00:36:31Marc:I just know that if I'm fatter than I'm comfortable with, I feel I don't deserve to be alive.

00:36:38Marc:So count me out of the proud fat people.

00:36:42Marc:It's not going to happen for me in this lifetime.

00:36:44Guest:That's funny.

00:36:45Guest:I feel the same way.

00:36:48Guest:Feel the same way?

00:36:49Guest:Oh, there's a roll on my stud.

00:36:51Guest:Like my stud, there's a little bit of a roll.

00:36:53Guest:And I do the whole battle.

00:36:55Guest:Like, so what?

00:36:56Guest:Yeah, me too.

00:36:57Guest:So what, are you going to kill yourself?

00:36:58Guest:Yeah.

00:36:59Guest:Really?

00:36:59Guest:It's that bad that you don't deserve to live?

00:37:02Guest:And it's like, well, I don't deserve to be seen by anybody.

00:37:04Marc:Exactly.

00:37:05Guest:I mean, I don't deserve...

00:37:06Marc:And then when you go outside with your roll, you're like, oh.

00:37:09Guest:Cover it up.

00:37:10Marc:You just feel like.

00:37:11Marc:And then like, do you ever feel like if you have a little roll somewhere else, you're like, my neck is like, I have three chins now.

00:37:17Guest:But I do.

00:37:18Marc:What?

00:37:20Guest:I have.

00:37:21Guest:And it's not fat.

00:37:22Guest:It's like loose muscle.

00:37:25Guest:So, yeah.

00:37:26Guest:No, but and then I just go, all right.

00:37:29Guest:Yeah.

00:37:29Guest:So what?

00:37:30Marc:I have a whole battle.

00:37:31Marc:Right.

00:37:32Marc:All the time.

00:37:33Marc:Why can't I just accept myself?

00:37:35Guest:Yes.

00:37:36Guest:And I end up with, oh, so what?

00:37:39Guest:So, all right.

00:37:40Guest:You're older.

00:37:42Guest:That's a good thing.

00:37:43Guest:Why is that a bad thing?

00:37:44Marc:No, I know.

00:37:44Marc:I do that too.

00:37:45Marc:I do it.

00:37:46Marc:Yeah.

00:37:47Marc:And I'm okay, but I'm not comfortable.

00:37:52Marc:But for me to be really comfortable, would you have to be emaciated?

00:37:56Marc:Have you ever gotten really skinny and people are like, are you okay?

00:37:58Marc:And you're like, I'm great.

00:37:59Yeah.

00:37:59Guest:No, I, well, unfortunately for a woman, if you're underweight, you look good.

00:38:08Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:38:10Guest:And that's all I ever got.

00:38:12Guest:And when I was too thin, I was sick all the time.

00:38:16Marc:Like with colds?

00:38:17Guest:A cold, sinus infection.

00:38:18Marc:Oh, really?

00:38:19Guest:Some kind of flu.

00:38:20Guest:Yeah, I was always sick.

00:38:21Marc:And you managed it though?

00:38:23Marc:You were like, you know, like you kept, you were skinny on purpose?

00:38:26Guest:Yeah.

00:38:27Guest:Yeah.

00:38:28Guest:Yeah, for sure.

00:38:29Guest:Because you see yourself on TV.

00:38:31Guest:Yeah.

00:38:32Guest:And it's that, oh my God, I'm just a mountain of a girl.

00:38:35Guest:And I'm already bigger than Courtney and Jennifer.

00:38:40Guest:Right.

00:38:40Guest:Right?

00:38:41Guest:Taller.

00:38:42Guest:Taller, bigger.

00:38:43Marc:Yeah.

00:38:43Guest:Like my bones feel bigger.

00:38:45Guest:I just felt like this mountain of a woman.

00:38:47Marc:Yeah.

00:38:48Guest:Next to them.

00:38:48Marc:So tell me about this improv teacher.

00:38:51Yeah.

00:38:51Guest:Oh, she was phenomenal.

00:38:53Guest:What'd you learn?

00:38:55Marc:Was that the only thing you learned?

00:38:58Guest:No, the first thing I learned was commitment.

00:39:01Guest:Because that first class, she kept saying, commit, commit.

00:39:04Guest:I was like, I don't even know what's happening.

00:39:06Guest:I just know everybody up there, I'm embarrassed for them.

00:39:10Guest:Yeah.

00:39:10Guest:You know, they're like lifting a disc and turning it into a three-act play.

00:39:14Guest:I'm like, oh, no, I can't.

00:39:17Guest:I don't think this is for me.

00:39:19Marc:Seems like a waste of time.

00:39:20Guest:Seems silly.

00:39:21Guest:Don't think this is for me.

00:39:24Guest:And so then next week, I was debating whether to give the whole thing up or, oh, just go, go, just go.

00:39:32Guest:Paid for the classes.

00:39:32Guest:And so I was late.

00:39:34Marc:Nice try.

00:39:34Marc:I tried it.

00:39:36Guest:And I went and I was late and people were already up.

00:39:39Guest:She was, do you want to go up?

00:39:39Guest:I was like, no, no, I don't want to be rude and interfere with what's happening.

00:39:45Guest:And again, they were like throwing a space ball or something.

00:39:50Guest:And I was like, oh, good God.

00:39:51Guest:And then there was one guy who was actually just throwing a ball.

00:39:57Guest:And he wasn't making a meal out of it.

00:39:59Guest:It just looked like...

00:40:01Guest:oh, it just looks like he's throwing a ball.

00:40:03Guest:It's not a performance.

00:40:05Guest:Oh my God, that's commitment.

00:40:08Guest:That's what she's talking about.

00:40:10Guest:And that's not embarrassing.

00:40:11Guest:Oh, commitment is what keeps it from being embarrassing.

00:40:16Marc:Right.

00:40:17Guest:Because you're just committed to it and you're just doing it.

00:40:19Marc:Right.

00:40:20Guest:You're not self-conscious.

00:40:21Guest:Oh, the penny dropped.

00:40:22Marc:Yeah.

00:40:23Guest:And I thought, oh, and that guy's, I like him.

00:40:25Guest:And I went and talked to him.

00:40:26Marc:Who was that?

00:40:27Guest:We had Conan O'Brien.

00:40:29Yeah.

00:40:29Guest:And that was Conan O'Brien.

00:40:31Guest:And it was.

00:40:32Marc:It was Conan O'Brien.

00:40:33Guest:It really was Conan.

00:40:34Marc:And he was just kind of just throwing the ball?

00:40:36Guest:He was just good.

00:40:37Marc:Yeah.

00:40:37Guest:He wasn't making a whole thing out of it.

00:40:40Guest:Yeah.

00:40:42Guest:And so I just like kept my eye on him.

00:40:44Guest:Like he was sort of my touchstone.

00:40:46Marc:He's evolved to make a whole thing out of most things now.

00:40:50Marc:I don't know what happened between then and sitting next to him on his show, but he'll make a whole thing pretty quickly and very big.

00:40:59Guest:Yeah.

00:40:59Marc:Yeah.

00:41:00Marc:I guess it's just a different skill set.

00:41:01Guest:But then he's making fun of the fact that he's making a thing out of it.

00:41:05Marc:Yeah.

00:41:06Guest:Whereas others in the group, that was the goal.

00:41:11Guest:Right.

00:41:11Marc:And that's when you met him, he was in the class too, so he wasn't in the groundlings?

00:41:14Guest:Yeah, they wouldn't take him either.

00:41:16Guest:He'd been too busy on the Harvard Lampoon.

00:41:19Marc:No performing chops.

00:41:21Guest:No performing chops, yeah.

00:41:22Marc:But he was funny then.

00:41:24Guest:He was really funny.

00:41:25Marc:He's a very smart fellow.

00:41:27Marc:Yeah, super smart.

00:41:28Marc:Not easy on himself, that guy.

00:41:30Guest:No, I mean, all of his humor was the self-deprecating stuff, which was what was so appealing because, oh, he's not being mean.

00:41:38Guest:He's not taking anybody down but himself.

00:41:40Marc:Right.

00:41:40Guest:So that's nice.

00:41:41Marc:And you guys dated, right?

00:41:44Guest:Very briefly.

00:41:45Marc:Oh, really not?

00:41:46Guest:Yeah.

00:41:47Guest:Yeah, really briefly.

00:41:48Guest:We were meant to be friends.

00:41:50Marc:Yeah, and you're still friends?

00:41:51Guest:Yeah.

00:41:52Marc:He's always been nice to me, and I like him.

00:41:54Marc:I did his podcast.

00:41:55Marc:I've done his show a million times.

00:41:57Marc:Yeah.

00:41:57Marc:At some point, I realized...

00:41:58Marc:I realized it's not easy for this guy getting through the day.

00:42:05Guest:But he works on it.

00:42:06Marc:Well, that's what he's... He overworks.

00:42:09Guest:Oh, I don't mean professionally.

00:42:11Marc:Oh, you mean on himself?

00:42:11Guest:He works on, I need to be there as a husband, as a father.

00:42:17Guest:I mean, he, from as long as I've... Not as long as I've known him.

00:42:21Guest:Right.

00:42:22Guest:But when he realized, ooh...

00:42:24Guest:I'm gonna need relationships.

00:42:28Guest:People.

00:42:29Guest:Yeah.

00:42:30Guest:He made it a priority to work on.

00:42:34Marc:And he's okay.

00:42:34Guest:Which I think is admirable.

00:42:35Marc:He's doing all right.

00:42:36Marc:Oh yeah.

00:42:37Marc:He's a very tall fellow.

00:42:38Guest:No, yeah, he's not small.

00:42:40Marc:No, big boy.

00:42:42Marc:Super tall.

00:42:43Marc:So the penny dropped and you start committing.

00:42:46Guest:I started committing, yeah.

00:42:48Guest:And so, yeah, that was it.

00:42:50Marc:She was great.

00:42:51Marc:Well, I find with improv, I didn't do it.

00:42:53Marc:I come from stand-up.

00:42:54Marc:But it seems that with improv, because of exactly what you're talking about, you do sort of find innately what is exactly funny about you, right?

00:43:04Marc:And how to kind of apply it to whatever.

00:43:06Guest:You can, yeah.

00:43:08Guest:I think anyone can be funny.

00:43:09Marc:Yeah.

00:43:10Marc:I do.

00:43:10Marc:And with improv, your instincts kind of get honed with other people, which is nice.

00:43:16Marc:Yeah.

00:43:17Marc:Because there's other people involved.

00:43:18Marc:With stand-up, you're just sort of like, I'm going to go say these things and make all these fuckers laugh.

00:43:23Guest:No, but you're still listening and paying attention.

00:43:26Marc:Sure.

00:43:26Guest:You're getting constant feedback, whether you're aware of it or not.

00:43:30Marc:Oh, I'm very aware of it.

00:43:30Guest:You are aware of it.

00:43:31Guest:Yeah, you are still in a dance with the audience.

00:43:34Marc:I can tell.

00:43:35Guest:And you make adjustments and alterations, right?

00:43:37Marc:When you do stand-up?

00:43:38Marc:Yeah.

00:43:38Marc:Of course.

00:43:38Marc:Well, I don't know how many, like, you do make adjustments, but I've gotten to the point where, like, I can identify a laugh in an audience when I hear it the first time.

00:43:47Marc:Like, I'll have to do, like, 20 minutes of an hour show, and I'll hear a laugh that I hadn't heard before, and I'll be like, really?

00:43:52Marc:20 minutes in, that's the first one you got?

00:43:56Yeah.

00:43:59Marc:I mean, I would have noticed that before it took me 20.

00:44:02Marc:That was the joke.

00:44:03Marc:So I'm very attuned to it.

00:44:06Guest:Well, it's also just like flying straight into the truth.

00:44:11Guest:Yeah, right.

00:44:11Guest:It's always okay.

00:44:13Guest:You know what's funny?

00:44:14Guest:I never was interested in doing stand-up, really, because it's too much work.

00:44:20Guest:But I took a class, and the first five minutes, each of us would have to go up and do five minutes of stand-up.

00:44:29Guest:Because his point was, the audience is uncomfortable if you're uncomfortable.

00:44:36Guest:If you're okay with everything, then the audience is more inclined to laugh.

00:44:43Marc:I wish I'd known that the first 15 years of my career.

00:44:46Guest:Even if what you're saying isn't hilarious.

00:44:48Marc:Right.

00:44:48Guest:If what you're saying is hilarious, then.

00:44:51Marc:Great.

00:44:51Guest:It's great.

00:44:52Guest:Yeah.

00:44:52Guest:And so it, I felt like that was true.

00:44:55Guest:I think that is true.

00:44:56Guest:If you can just pretend to be okay with everything.

00:44:59Marc:Right.

00:44:59Guest:Not happy, but just, I'm okay.

00:45:02Marc:Pretend to be comfortable.

00:45:02Marc:You're pissing me off.

00:45:03Marc:Right.

00:45:03Guest:Like you're just comfortable.

00:45:05Marc:Right.

00:45:06Marc:Yeah.

00:45:06Marc:I just, yeah, I didn't, I didn't do it that way.

00:45:10Guest:But you do that now.

00:45:11Marc:I'm very comfortable.

00:45:12Marc:Yeah.

00:45:13Marc:Yeah.

00:45:13Marc:But it's not it's real.

00:45:14Guest:Yeah.

00:45:15Marc:But I pretended to not be afraid for a long time.

00:45:17Marc:But that just looked like anger.

00:45:20Marc:Not hilarious.

00:45:20Guest:But that works, too.

00:45:22Marc:Oh, no.

00:45:22Marc:Well, there's a way I've noticed this about improv improvisers, too, and certain types of people.

00:45:27Marc:There's a type of anger that's funny, but it can't be literally like, you know, lashing out at the audience.

00:45:33Marc:Right.

00:45:33Marc:Like, if you're like, oh, this world, I can't take it.

00:45:36Marc:Yeah, that's that cranky business.

00:45:38Marc:Yeah.

00:45:38Marc:Me against the world.

00:45:39Marc:That's funny.

00:45:41Marc:Like, how come everything keeps shitting on me?

00:45:43Marc:Right.

00:45:43Marc:That's funny.

00:45:44Marc:But, like, you guys suck.

00:45:46Marc:Yeah, no.

00:45:46Marc:Not as funny.

00:45:47Guest:Yeah, you can't be angry at the people that came to see you.

00:45:51Marc:You're my parents.

00:45:52Marc:I don't like you, do you?

00:45:54Marc:Although that's kind of funny.

00:45:56Marc:Yeah.

00:45:57Marc:I used to say that.

00:46:00Marc:It took me years to realize that Hollywood wasn't my parents.

00:46:05Guest:What do you mean?

00:46:05Guest:I'm here.

00:46:07Guest:Just as stingy with the money.

00:46:09Marc:For sure.

00:46:10Marc:Now, you did okay.

00:46:12Marc:You got out under the wire.

00:46:14Marc:I know.

00:46:14Marc:You got in under the wire.

00:46:15Guest:We caused the wire.

00:46:17Marc:You did.

00:46:17Marc:You broke it.

00:46:18Marc:I think.

00:46:18Marc:You guys broke it.

00:46:19Marc:I think.

00:46:19Marc:You took all the money.

00:46:22Guest:Well, no, otherwise they wouldn't have paid us what we asked for.

00:46:27Guest:I thought the smartest thing in the world was the six of us saying, yeah, you can fire any one of us and still do the show, because yes, everyone's replaceable.

00:46:41Sure.

00:46:42Guest:But all of us are not replaceable.

00:46:44Marc:That was quite the revelation.

00:46:47Marc:You took on show business.

00:46:48Marc:And I got to figure at that point in that show, you're kind of like, what the fuck do we have to lose?

00:46:54Marc:I mean, it was like, what, nine years in?

00:46:56Marc:I mean, there had to be.

00:46:58Guest:No, eight.

00:46:59Marc:Eight years in.

00:47:00Guest:I don't know.

00:47:00Marc:Yeah.

00:47:01Guest:I mean, was there some- No, but we got flack from our first renegotiation when we wanted 100,000 an episode.

00:47:07Marc:Right.

00:47:08Guest:A lot of flack.

00:47:09Guest:Like, well, that's a lot of money.

00:47:11Guest:What a nerve.

00:47:11Marc:Yeah.

00:47:12Guest:Yeah.

00:47:13Marc:And then it just became the biggest thing ever.

00:47:15Guest:Fine.

00:47:16Guest:All right.

00:47:16Guest:We want a million an episode.

00:47:17Marc:You still make money off of now.

00:47:18Guest:You're going to hate us anyway.

00:47:19Marc:Yeah.

00:47:19Marc:Don't you?

00:47:20Marc:What?

00:47:21Marc:You still make money off it.

00:47:22Marc:Yeah.

00:47:22Marc:But it's on Netflix, right?

00:47:24Guest:It's on Netflix.

00:47:25Guest:And it still is in syndication.

00:47:27Marc:It's crazy.

00:47:28Guest:They thought Netflix would kill syndication.

00:47:30Marc:Hasn't.

00:47:31Guest:It boosted syndication.

00:47:32Marc:Did it?

00:47:33Guest:Well, not everyone has Netflix, but everyone wants to be able to.

00:47:36Guest:Kids discovered it on Netflix.

00:47:40Yeah.

00:47:40Marc:want to watch yeah but if you don't have netflix you have to watch it somewhere and it's always on somewhere and you can just sort of sit there and like oh there it is and all over the world it's on in syndication it's crazy so like great it is great but like you are that person to so many people yes that's fine it's fine with you yeah yeah but wait so the groundlings who was in it with you how'd you get you finally got in

00:48:05Guest:Yeah, take the classes.

00:48:07Guest:And is your dad happy with this?

00:48:11Guest:Very.

00:48:12Marc:What's your mom do?

00:48:13Guest:My mom is retired.

00:48:15Guest:She was a travel agent.

00:48:17Marc:That's what they do.

00:48:18Marc:Doctor's wife sometimes become travel agents or real estate brokers.

00:48:21Guest:She did different things.

00:48:23Marc:My mom splatter painted sweatsuits for a while and then opened a boutique.

00:48:27Guest:Really?

00:48:28Marc:Yes.

00:48:29Guest:And how'd it go?

00:48:29Marc:It's okay.

00:48:30Marc:It's all right.

00:48:31Guest:She's still doing it.

00:48:32Marc:No, I think she tried to be a travel agent, but that didn't pan out, but she had the kit, and then later she got into real estate, and she wasn't that great at it.

00:48:43Marc:She's okay now, she's just retired.

00:48:44Marc:Yeah.

00:48:44Marc:Yeah, she's good.

00:48:45Marc:Yeah.

00:48:46Marc:But your folks are happy with your comedic decisions.

00:48:48Guest:Yeah, my mom was nervous for a while, you know, because it took like eight, nine years before I could support myself.

00:48:56Marc:What'd your brother end up doing?

00:48:57Guest:Neurologist.

00:48:59Marc:Oh, so they were like, we got one.

00:49:01Guest:I don't think they, they were never worried about us.

00:49:04Guest:And my sister was married to a great guy and, you know, she has two.

00:49:10Guest:Now they're grown.

00:49:13Marc:Yeah.

00:49:13Guest:They were never worried about us.

00:49:14Guest:But I mean, my sisters told me my mom was actually worried about me.

00:49:19Marc:Well, they are because they're worried about security.

00:49:22Marc:It's just like, what are you going to do if things don't go well?

00:49:25Guest:Yeah.

00:49:25Guest:For my mom, I think mostly it was always, how are you going to find a husband?

00:49:29Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:49:29Guest:You know, and with biology, it was, you got to lighten up.

00:49:35Guest:So, yes, maybe with the acting thing, she'll lighten up and then meet someone.

00:49:39Guest:Maybe she'll start flirting.

00:49:41Guest:Like, that's got to be part of the behavioral repertoire.

00:49:45Marc:It's just not, you know.

00:49:46Marc:It wasn't your focus?

00:49:47Marc:No.

00:49:48Marc:This is your first husband?

00:49:49Guest:Uh-huh.

00:49:50Marc:Not that long, right?

00:49:51Guest:That we've been married?

00:49:52Marc:Yeah.

00:49:53Marc:24 years?

00:49:54Marc:That's a long time.

00:49:55Guest:Yeah.

00:49:55Marc:Oh, so you found a guy and you stayed with him for a long time.

00:49:58Guest:Yeah.

00:49:59Marc:Oh, it worked out.

00:49:59Guest:Yeah.

00:50:00Marc:I thought for some reason it was new.

00:50:02Guest:I learned how to commit.

00:50:03Marc:Yeah.

00:50:04Guest:From Cynthia Sagetti.

00:50:06Marc:Who is in your Groundlings crew?

00:50:09Guest:So Julia Sweeney.

00:50:10Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:50:12Guest:We were in the company together.

00:50:14Guest:I've talked to her.

00:50:14Guest:And when she got on Saturday Night Live.

00:50:16Guest:Yeah, she's so good.

00:50:18Guest:She's so talented.

00:50:19Guest:Oh, my God.

00:50:20Guest:And Kathy Griffin.

00:50:22Marc:Oh, yes.

00:50:23Guest:Kathy Griffin, who, you know, she's a really good person.

00:50:28Marc:No, I agree with you.

00:50:29Guest:Yeah, I think that's not fully understood.

00:50:32Marc:Definitely knows how to commit.

00:50:33Guest:She knows how to commit.

00:50:35Guest:Well, she was great at in-between sketches.

00:50:38Guest:You just send her out to talk to the audience.

00:50:41Guest:Oh, right.

00:50:41Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:50:42Guest:And she was hilarious and great.

00:50:45Guest:And she would do song improvs, which I think are really hard.

00:50:48Marc:Yeah, they are hard.

00:50:49Marc:So good.

00:50:50Marc:Make up a song.

00:50:51Marc:You really can't be embarrassed with that stuff.

00:50:53Guest:No.

00:50:54Guest:I remember voting in Will Ferrell.

00:50:56Marc:He's very funny.

00:50:57Guest:Oh my God.

00:50:58Marc:He could do it so quickly.

00:51:00Marc:But he's very serious when you talk to him.

00:51:01Guest:And even if he just does it a little bit, you're like, oh, you did it.

00:51:07Marc:It's so wild to have that kind of weird magical power.

00:51:12Marc:Because he just turns one little switch and it's just like fucking funny.

00:51:16Guest:Yeah.

00:51:17Guest:No, beyond.

00:51:18Guest:Yeah.

00:51:18Marc:I watched that whole Sherlock Holmes movie.

00:51:20Marc:Not a funny movie, but you just wait for a couple moments.

00:51:23Guest:Well, but what about the other guys?

00:51:25Guest:That movie still makes me laugh out loud every single scene, and I don't understand why there wasn't a second one.

00:51:31Guest:I don't understand.

00:51:32Marc:Was that McKay?

00:51:34Marc:I think it was an early McKay movie, wasn't it?

00:51:36Marc:Those movies, I don't understand those movies, because they don't play anything real.

00:51:41Marc:The movie you just did that I watched, Booksmart,

00:51:43Guest:Oh, yeah, that's good, isn't it?

00:51:45Marc:It's good.

00:51:45Marc:I thought that movie was great, and I hadn't seen a lot of those kids.

00:51:50Guest:No, I know.

00:51:50Marc:Isn't that fun?

00:51:51Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:51:52Guest:They're so good.

00:51:53Guest:Yeah.

00:51:54Guest:I loved that movie.

00:51:56Marc:Why do you end up doing movies now?

00:51:59Marc:What was the process of that one?

00:52:01Marc:Because you can do whatever you want.

00:52:03Marc:Did you like Olivia, or were you friends with her?

00:52:06Marc:Didn't she direct it?

00:52:07Guest:She directed it, yeah.

00:52:08Guest:No, no, it's not that we were good friends or anything.

00:52:11Guest:I just thought I like it, it's a day.

00:52:14Guest:I mean, it was one day.

00:52:17Guest:That was how I chose to do things.

00:52:20Marc:And I didn't have to leave town.

00:52:21Marc:I didn't have to leave town.

00:52:25Guest:Now I'm more, I think I'm okay to leave town and work more.

00:52:35Marc:Oh, really?

00:52:36Marc:You ready?

00:52:36Guest:Even if it's inconvenient.

00:52:38Guest:I went to Manchester, England to shoot four episodes.

00:52:42Guest:You were in Manchester?

00:52:44Marc:I didn't get a sense of it.

00:52:45Marc:I was only there for a minute.

00:52:47Marc:Yeah.

00:52:47Marc:To shoot four episodes of the genealogy show?

00:52:50Guest:No.

00:52:51Guest:Do you know Mae Martin?

00:52:53Marc:No.

00:52:54Guest:She's a comedian.

00:52:55Marc:Yeah.

00:52:55Guest:And she has her own show for Netflix and E4.

00:52:59Marc:Okay.

00:52:59Guest:And I'm playing her mother.

00:53:01Marc:I don't know what E4 is.

00:53:02Guest:It's a UK network.

00:53:05Marc:Oh, and you play her mother?

00:53:06Marc:Mm-hmm.

00:53:06Marc:And you had a good time?

00:53:08Guest:Yeah.

00:53:08Marc:And you were there for what?

00:53:09Marc:How long?

00:53:09Guest:I did.

00:53:10Guest:Nine days.

00:53:10Guest:Okay.

00:53:10Marc:That's all right.

00:53:11Marc:That's good.

00:53:12Marc:You're probably ready to come home, right?

00:53:13Guest:Sure.

00:53:14Marc:You're good for nine days.

00:53:15Guest:I think I did that.

00:53:17Marc:About nine days.

00:53:19Guest:I don't know.

00:53:19Guest:Let's see what I can do.

00:53:21Guest:I'm willing to test it again, but I didn't want to for a long time.

00:53:24Marc:Yeah.

00:53:25Marc:So when you're in the groundlings with all these people, did SNL, you never tried out for it?

00:53:31Guest:Yeah, they came once and I was told they were looking at me and Julia Sweeney.

00:53:37Guest:Right.

00:53:38Guest:Kathy Griffin was told they were looking at her.

00:53:40Guest:Heather Morgan was told they were looking at her.

00:53:42Marc:Heather Morgan?

00:53:43Marc:Yeah.

00:53:43Marc:What happened to Heather Morgan?

00:53:44Marc:She was so trippy, man.

00:53:46Marc:She's amazing.

00:53:47Marc:She was great.

00:53:48Guest:Yeah, great talent.

00:53:49Guest:Yeah.

00:53:49Marc:I've not seen her in so long.

00:53:51Guest:Yeah.

00:53:52Marc:I knew her in New York.

00:53:54Marc:I remember seeing, I think, a one-person show, and it was like, what the fuck?

00:53:57Guest:Dad, cancer, fear, and boys, or something, yeah.

00:54:00Guest:No, she's unbelievable.

00:54:02Marc:What's she doing?

00:54:05Guest:Just writing.

00:54:06Marc:Huh.

00:54:06Guest:Yeah.

00:54:07Marc:I haven't seen her in so long.

00:54:09Marc:I haven't heard that name in so long.

00:54:10Marc:I remember being so like, like this person's like from another world.

00:54:13Marc:Yeah.

00:54:14Marc:Kind of person.

00:54:14Guest:No, she's the real deal.

00:54:16Marc:Yeah.

00:54:16Guest:Like a real artist.

00:54:18Marc:Right.

00:54:18Marc:Like Maria, like Bamford.

00:54:20Marc:You're like, where does this come from?

00:54:22Guest:Yeah.

00:54:22Marc:Huh.

00:54:23Guest:Yeah.

00:54:24Marc:So you're all auditioning.

00:54:25Guest:So we all thought that, but I think they were there to see Julia for sure.

00:54:29Marc:Right.

00:54:29Marc:Yeah.

00:54:29Marc:And she got it.

00:54:31Marc:Yeah.

00:54:31Marc:And you never tried again.

00:54:33Guest:No.

00:54:34Hmm.

00:54:34Guest:No.

00:54:35Guest:I mean, the Groundlings was pretty competitive, and I had heard SNL was a pretty competitive place, so I never felt like, shoot, that's what I need to be doing.

00:54:44Marc:Yeah, I mean, I don't think it's for everybody.

00:54:46Marc:You assume, like, once you learn that this is how you get into show business, you assume, like, who doesn't want to be on Saturday Night Live?

00:54:55Marc:I don't know.

00:54:56Marc:Some people don't.

00:54:58Guest:Yeah.

00:54:58Marc:And you just started acting?

00:54:59Marc:Is that what happened?

00:55:00No.

00:55:00Guest:Yeah, I was in a play that Robin Schiff wrote and she had been a groundling.

00:55:05Marc:Yeah.

00:55:06Guest:Yeah.

00:55:06Guest:She had been a groundling and she had a play called Ladies Room.

00:55:09Guest:That was my first audition for a backers audition for Ladies Room.

00:55:13Marc:A backers audition.

00:55:14Marc:A backers audition.

00:55:15Marc:Does that mean like if there's a fallout, if someone doesn't show up?

00:55:20Guest:No, like in order to mount the play, they needed backers to finance the production.

00:55:25Guest:So there was an audition for like Aaron Spelling and Doug Kramer.

00:55:29Guest:Okay.

00:55:30Guest:And I auditioned to play one of two idiot girls.

00:55:34Guest:Yeah.

00:55:35Guest:It was called Ladies Room.

00:55:36Guest:Okay.

00:55:38Guest:And I got it.

00:55:38Guest:That was my first audition, and I got it for the backers audition.

00:55:42Guest:Okay.

00:55:43Guest:And so then I was in the play.

00:55:44Guest:Yeah.

00:55:44Guest:And our two characters, Romy and Michelle...

00:55:48Guest:were who those two characters were.

00:55:50Marc:And that became a movie.

00:55:51Guest:And then later, later, later, later, it became a movie.

00:55:54Marc:Written by the same person.

00:55:55Guest:Robin Schiff.

00:55:56Marc:She decided to make it a movie.

00:55:58Guest:Well, she had tried before.

00:55:59Marc:Yeah.

00:56:01Guest:And also, there was a pilot.

00:56:03Marc:Yeah, for a TV show.

00:56:04Guest:For Rome and Michelle, for us.

00:56:06Marc:This was her wife's work.

00:56:07Guest:Well, not really.

00:56:12Marc:She did a lot of other things.

00:56:13Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:56:14Guest:But, yeah, and then that was my first audition

00:56:18Marc:And then it just took off from there?

00:56:19Guest:It came way later.

00:56:21Guest:Yeah, I got some auditions.

00:56:23Marc:From that?

00:56:24Guest:From the play.

00:56:26Guest:That was great.

00:56:26Guest:And my first guest star on Cheers.

00:56:28Marc:That was exciting.

00:56:29Guest:That was good.

00:56:30Guest:Yeah, that was exciting.

00:56:31Guest:And it was good to see that all that stuff, like, oh, my God, how could it ever end?

00:56:36Guest:And then nothing.

00:56:37Marc:For really?

00:56:38Marc:Yeah.

00:56:38Guest:After Cheers?

00:56:39Guest:Yeah, for a few years.

00:56:41Marc:Oh, my God.

00:56:41Guest:So that was all good stuff to see.

00:56:44Guest:Oh, it goes up and down.

00:56:45Guest:Just stay with it.

00:56:46Guest:It goes up and down.

00:56:47Marc:Right.

00:56:48Marc:Okay, good.

00:56:48Marc:And were you just doing like TV at the beginning?

00:56:52Guest:Yeah, like guest star stuff.

00:56:53Guest:Yeah.

00:56:54Guest:And, you know, movie role here and there.

00:56:57Marc:Little ones?

00:56:57Guest:Yeah.

00:56:59Marc:Like it says, like you worked with Newhart?

00:57:01Guest:Yeah.

00:57:02Marc:He's the best.

00:57:03Guest:Two times.

00:57:04Guest:Two different shows.

00:57:05Guest:Romy and Michelle, Christy Meller and I, were in the finale, the series finale of The New Heart Show, that phenomenal thing where he wakes up with Suzanne Plachette.

00:57:16Guest:We were in that.

00:57:17Guest:So that was so exciting to be there.

00:57:19Guest:And there's Suzanne Plachette like, well, I don't know.

00:57:21Guest:I don't say anything about what this is.

00:57:24Guest:Yeah.

00:57:25Guest:It was so exciting.

00:57:27Guest:We were the wives of Larry, Daryl, and Daryl.

00:57:30Marc:I interviewed him.

00:57:32Marc:It was such an honor somehow.

00:57:34Guest:Bob Newhart?

00:57:34Marc:Yeah.

00:57:35Guest:Yeah.

00:57:36Guest:Well, then he had a show, Bob, and I played Tom Poston's daughter, Kathy.

00:57:41Guest:I had a recurring role.

00:57:43Guest:And Bob Newhart remembered me.

00:57:44Marc:From Bob?

00:57:45Guest:Years later.

00:57:46Guest:From that, from Bob.

00:57:48Marc:Wow.

00:57:49Guest:That's thrilling.

00:57:50Marc:Yeah, it is.

00:57:51Guest:Yeah.

00:57:51Marc:Because it's really exciting to meet these old comedy heroes.

00:57:55Marc:Yeah.

00:57:55Guest:I know.

00:57:56Guest:And he's nice.

00:57:57Guest:He's a really decent, good person.

00:58:00Guest:He's also just hilarious.

00:58:02Marc:So funny.

00:58:03Marc:The timing, right?

00:58:06Marc:Tim Conway just passed away.

00:58:08Guest:He did?

00:58:08Marc:Today.

00:58:09Guest:Today?

00:58:10Marc:Yeah.

00:58:12Guest:Oh, no.

00:58:12Marc:Sorry to mean to be the one to tell you.

00:58:14Guest:Oh, I went to school with Tim Conway Jr.

00:58:17Marc:Did you go to school with Paul Thomas Anderson too?

00:58:20Guest:I don't think so.

00:58:21Marc:No.

00:58:23Guest:No.

00:58:23Marc:Because Paul Thomas Anderson's dad and Tim Conway were like best friends.

00:58:27Guest:Yeah.

00:58:28Guest:I think he's a little older.

00:58:29Guest:He went to Taft High School, I think, or Birmingham.

00:58:33Marc:Paul Thomas Anderson?

00:58:34Guest:Yeah.

00:58:35Marc:I don't know.

00:58:35Marc:Where'd you go?

00:58:36Guest:Taft.

00:58:37Marc:But you think he was a little older?

00:58:38Guest:I think so, that's what I'm trying to remember.

00:58:40Guest:Well, maybe he's not, I don't know.

00:58:42Marc:Yeah, but you didn't know him.

00:58:43Marc:I don't know.

00:58:44Marc:Oh yeah, so you knew Tim's son?

00:58:46Guest:Tim.

00:58:46Marc:Yeah, Tim Jr.

00:58:47Guest:He's Tim Conway Jr.

00:58:48Marc:I guess, I think he was ill for a little while with the Alzheimer's or something.

00:58:55Marc:But he passed away today, he's very funny too.

00:58:57Marc:That generation's going, I guess, and it happens.

00:59:01Guest:Yeah.

00:59:02Marc:Do you think about death?

00:59:03Guest:Yeah.

00:59:05Guest:I mean, I try not to.

00:59:06Marc:Yeah, but it's right there all the time.

00:59:08Guest:Because I don't like that we don't get to know what that is.

00:59:11Guest:You know?

00:59:12Marc:You're kind of a little control freak, a little bit?

00:59:14Guest:I think so, yeah.

00:59:16Guest:I try not to be.

00:59:17Guest:I try to control it.

00:59:18Marc:So what is the process to, like I know you've got quite a resume, but Friends, like 236 episodes?

00:59:30Guest:Okay, yeah.

00:59:32Marc:Wow.

00:59:32Guest:That's a lot.

00:59:33Guest:I know.

00:59:33Guest:I don't remember any of them.

00:59:35Marc:But they have it separated on this.

00:59:37Marc:What?

00:59:37Marc:Did you play your sister too?

00:59:39Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:59:40Guest:Ursula.

00:59:41Marc:Right.

00:59:41Marc:So it says main role, 236 episodes.

00:59:44Marc:Recurring role, eight episodes.

00:59:46Guest:That's funny.

00:59:47Guest:Is that IMDb?

00:59:48Guest:No, it's on Wiki.

00:59:49Guest:Oh, recurring role.

00:59:51Guest:Yeah.

00:59:51Guest:Well, because also Ursula was from Mad About You.

00:59:55Marc:Right.

00:59:56Marc:That's where the character originated?

00:59:58Guest:Ursula.

00:59:59Marc:Yeah.

00:59:59Guest:Yeah.

01:00:00Guest:Ursula did.

01:00:01Marc:She showed up.

01:00:02Marc:So when did that, I don't know the whole history of Friends.

01:00:05Guest:Phoebe wasn't really like Ursula.

01:00:09Marc:Right.

01:00:10Guest:Not really.

01:00:10Guest:Right.

01:00:11Guest:Yeah.

01:00:11Guest:I had a recurring role on Mad About You.

01:00:13Guest:And because of that, David Crane, who created Friends, his boyfriend, Jeffrey Cleric, was a writer on Mad About You.

01:00:20Guest:And he's like, oh, you should see her.

01:00:22Guest:Yeah.

01:00:22Guest:For Phoebe.

01:00:24Marc:And the rest is history.

01:00:25Guest:And I got to.

01:00:26Guest:And then we were on...

01:00:28Guest:Right after Mad About You.

01:00:30Guest:So it was, well, you're going to see the same blonde head and voice.

01:00:37Marc:Was it a problem?

01:00:38Guest:After a half hour later.

01:00:38Guest:Oh, you did a lot.

01:00:41Marc:You were Ursula on there a lot.

01:00:42Guest:Yeah.

01:00:44Marc:But the character's different a little.

01:00:47Guest:Yeah, I thought, I mean, to me it was, you know, what you see on the outside, I don't know if it feels that different, but, you know, I mean, she was really dense.

01:00:57Marc:You were coming from a totally different place.

01:00:58Guest:She was dense.

01:01:00Marc:Now, how much do you, like, how did those relationships sustain, like, you know, after working with those people for, geez, a decade?

01:01:10Marc:Yeah.

01:01:10Marc:I mean, do you talk to the other ones?

01:01:13Guest:Yeah.

01:01:13Yeah.

01:01:13Marc:Really?

01:01:14Guest:Yeah.

01:01:14Marc:Which ones?

01:01:15Guest:I mean, the girls more than the guys.

01:01:17Marc:Right.

01:01:18Guest:But yeah, we all still get along.

01:01:21Guest:We had dinner a couple years ago.

01:01:24Marc:Everybody.

01:01:24Guest:Everybody for the first time since we were finished.

01:01:28Marc:Where'd you eat?

01:01:30Guest:At Jennifer's house.

01:01:32Marc:Oh.

01:01:32Guest:Yeah.

01:01:33Guest:Yeah, where were we going to go?

01:01:35Guest:You know, that would be weird.

01:01:37Marc:See, what about that part of a celebrity life?

01:01:40Guest:Yeah.

01:01:41Marc:What about that?

01:01:42Guest:Well, I don't feel like it's so bad for me.

01:01:44Guest:Right.

01:01:45Guest:I mean, I'm married to a regular person.

01:01:48Marc:Really?

01:01:49Marc:Yeah.

01:01:49Marc:What do you do?

01:01:50Guest:He was in advertising.

01:01:52Guest:He's retired.

01:01:53Marc:Oh, you're married to a retired advertising guy.

01:01:56Guest:Uh-huh.

01:01:57Marc:Did he have his own company?

01:01:58Marc:Yeah.

01:01:59Marc:Oh, so he sold it.

01:02:00Guest:Yeah.

01:02:00Marc:Oh, that's good.

01:02:01Marc:Yeah.

01:02:02Marc:So it's not that bad for you, but during the heyday of it, it must have been kind of intense.

01:02:07Guest:Yeah.

01:02:07Marc:But you didn't mind it.

01:02:09Guest:No, no, I did.

01:02:10Marc:Oh, you did?

01:02:11Guest:Yeah, because I don't like crowds.

01:02:14Marc:And they would gather?

01:02:14Marc:Yeah.

01:02:15Guest:Sometimes, but you try to avoid that.

01:02:19Guest:I can't even go to concerts, not because of celebrity, but because I don't like crowds and clubs, never, no way.

01:02:27Marc:Just too many people around?

01:02:29Guest:I get nervous when you see a club and everyone's stampeding out and 10 people die.

01:02:37Marc:That one time that happened?

01:02:39Guest:Well, there was a rash of that happening.

01:02:41Marc:I guess so.

01:02:42Guest:I realized it in college.

01:02:43Guest:We were waiting in line for a concert at the chapel, and we were all tightly packed in line.

01:02:49Guest:And the person behind me, I could feel them, and I wanted to punch them.

01:02:55Guest:I felt really violent.

01:02:57Marc:Yeah.

01:02:58Marc:Well, you know the feeling where the whole crowd is moving and no one really has control?

01:03:01Marc:That's horrifying.

01:03:02Guest:Oh, no.

01:03:03Guest:Right.

01:03:03Marc:The worst feeling where you're like, what's happening?

01:03:05Marc:And no one can answer the question because it's just happening.

01:03:08Guest:Yeah.

01:03:09Marc:Yeah.

01:03:09Marc:That's terrible.

01:03:10Guest:So that for you too?

01:03:12Marc:I don't like that shit.

01:03:12Marc:Is an issue?

01:03:13Marc:Yeah.

01:03:13Guest:Can you be at a concert?

01:03:15Marc:I can.

01:03:15Guest:Like where everyone is-

01:03:16Marc:Well, I don't go up to the stage, but sometimes I'm like, I can't get up there.

01:03:20Marc:But sometimes if I do it, I'm like, I'm glad I came up here.

01:03:24Marc:But who am I really seeing now?

01:03:26Marc:Usually the concerts I go to, it's people my age standing around.

01:03:31Marc:If you're sitting up front, you're like, are we gonna stand?

01:03:35Marc:Is anyone else standing?

01:03:37Marc:I think we can stay sitting.

01:03:38Marc:Let's just stay in the seats.

01:03:39Guest:It's easier on the legs.

01:03:41Guest:Let's just sit down.

01:03:42Marc:Oh, fuck that guy standing.

01:03:43Marc:I guess we're up.

01:03:45Marc:Here we go.

01:03:46Guest:But I get, like, anywhere.

01:03:48Guest:It's, okay, if we can leave just a few minutes before everybody else.

01:03:52Marc:Oh, always.

01:03:54Marc:Yeah, it's the best.

01:03:55Marc:I did a whole bit about that.

01:03:56Marc:It's actually better than the show.

01:03:58Marc:Getting out successfully before everybody else.

01:04:02Marc:That feeling of, like, we fucking did it.

01:04:04Guest:Yeah.

01:04:05Guest:We're out.

01:04:05Guest:Oh, my God.

01:04:06Guest:It's like walking within a crushing herd.

01:04:09Guest:No, no, no.

01:04:11Guest:I don't like too much of anything.

01:04:12Marc:Can't you get backstage?

01:04:14Marc:I think you can get backstage if you had your people call, if you want to go to something.

01:04:18Marc:I don't know if you know this about being who you are, but you could probably make a couple calls and get pretty good seats.

01:04:23Guest:But backstage?

01:04:26Marc:Probably.

01:04:26Marc:It's a side stage.

01:04:28Guest:Yeah.

01:04:28Guest:Well, I mean, I have.

01:04:29Guest:I went... Sia is a friend, and she wanted me to go see her, and I was like, ah.

01:04:36Guest:She said, no, no, it'll be okay.

01:04:38Guest:You'll see.

01:04:38Guest:And I brought my son, and it was.

01:04:40Guest:It was fine.

01:04:41Marc:Yeah.

01:04:42Guest:It was great.

01:04:43Marc:You guys hang out?

01:04:44Marc:Yeah.

01:04:45Guest:Not lately.

01:04:45Guest:She was doing this project, and so she was really busy, but...

01:04:49Marc:So you all go to dinner at Jen's house.

01:04:52Marc:And how'd that go?

01:04:53Marc:Great.

01:04:53Guest:I mean, we just laughed the whole night.

01:04:56Guest:It was really fun.

01:04:57Marc:Yeah?

01:04:58Guest:Yeah.

01:04:59Marc:And everybody's got their own lives now.

01:05:00Marc:Yeah.

01:05:01Marc:It's wild.

01:05:02Marc:Yeah.

01:05:02Marc:And everyone's pretty happy?

01:05:04Guest:Yeah.

01:05:04Guest:Seems to be.

01:05:05Marc:I mean, you would assume that.

01:05:07Marc:How could they, you know?

01:05:08Marc:I mean, you see a lot of Jen somehow in the world.

01:05:13Marc:Right.

01:05:13Marc:There's never a non-Aniston time.

01:05:16Marc:that's true that's completely true even if she's not doing anything she's around oh there she is she's on that oh there's Jen yeah oh look she's on that thing yeah yeah she's a really happy person that's good to know yeah yeah don't need to worry about her

01:05:35Marc:So it seems like when you did like the comeback, though, like you can do the dramatic thing.

01:05:42Guest:Yeah.

01:05:42Marc:Do you do you like doing that?

01:05:44Guest:Yeah.

01:05:44Marc:Is that what you want to do now?

01:05:46Guest:Oh, yeah, I wouldn't mind.

01:05:48Guest:There's something to me a little easier about that.

01:05:51Marc:About being, about not being, about being.

01:05:53Guest:Yeah, funny, you know.

01:05:54Marc:Funny's hard.

01:05:55Guest:Which kind of funny?

01:05:56Guest:Which tone of funny?

01:05:57Guest:Which level?

01:05:58Guest:How broad?

01:05:59Guest:How, what's, you know?

01:06:01Marc:Yeah, yeah.

01:06:02Guest:There's so many possibilities.

01:06:03Marc:But you're one of those people where it's sort of like you do a thing.

01:06:06Guest:I do?

01:06:08Marc:Yeah.

01:06:08Guest:Okay, what is that?

01:06:10Marc:You just did it.

01:06:11Guest:Oh.

01:06:11Marc:Like, you know, what's that?

01:06:13Marc:I mean.

01:06:16Marc:You have a Lisa thing that you do.

01:06:20Marc:And I imagine when people hire you, they're like, do more of your thing or less of your thing.

01:06:24Guest:Yeah, maybe.

01:06:25Marc:Serious movies, though.

01:06:26Marc:I'm trying to remember.

01:06:27Marc:Because to come back, you were kind of intense.

01:06:29Marc:I mean, that was not- Oh, yeah.

01:06:30Guest:It was up and down.

01:06:31Guest:To me, I laughed out loud.

01:06:34Guest:That first season, it made me laugh just from start to finish.

01:06:38Guest:And I know it was very disturbing to other people, which I didn't-

01:06:42Guest:fully understand why.

01:06:43Marc:Because they assumed it was you.

01:06:47Marc:I guess.

01:06:49Marc:Because the similarities were too much for them to bear.

01:06:52Marc:Because I see you now.

01:06:54Marc:Not similarities.

01:06:55Marc:I mean, you're a pleasant person.

01:06:56Marc:You seem happy with your life.

01:06:58Marc:You have your problems and you chew too much nicotine gum and you worry about your weight and you try to manage things that are out of your control.

01:07:04Marc:But aside from that...

01:07:06Guest:In general, I'm fine.

01:07:09Guest:I mean, it's like the normal range of neuroses.

01:07:13Marc:Right, exactly.

01:07:14Marc:But I think that people who grew to love you as Phoebe, then you do this show and they're like, oh my God, she's miserable.

01:07:21Guest:But I wasn't miserable.

01:07:22Marc:I know that, but they don't know.

01:07:23Guest:And she wasn't miserable.

01:07:24Guest:I think, but honestly, because Michael Patrick King, we did that together and we were working on that.

01:07:29Guest:He said, he had a moment where he just went, uh-oh.

01:07:33Guest:I went, what?

01:07:33Guest:He said, I think...

01:07:35Guest:We have a point of reference for this character as a man.

01:07:39Guest:There's no point of reference for this character, for a woman.

01:07:43Marc:You mean a washed up sitcom star?

01:07:46Guest:Yeah, who's still trying to get on that treadmill and ambitious and will humiliate herself for the sake of the spotlight.

01:07:59Marc:So there was no precedent?

01:08:01Marc:Is that what he was saying?

01:08:02Marc:That we could go like so and so?

01:08:04Guest:Right.

01:08:05Guest:There's no frame of reference for this.

01:08:08Guest:And it might be too ahead of the curve for that.

01:08:12Guest:And I was like, I don't understand.

01:08:15Guest:That doesn't make sense to me.

01:08:16Guest:Women are just as ambitious as men.

01:08:18Guest:I didn't even register until then we were canceled.

01:08:22Mm-hmm.

01:08:22Guest:And two things happened.

01:08:25Guest:First was artists, writers and people would say that was a fantastic show and the network made a mistake.

01:08:32Guest:The executives, mostly men, like straight men, were like, yeah, wonder why?

01:08:41Guest:Why do you think it didn't work?

01:08:43Guest:Because it didn't work.

01:08:45Guest:I was like, well, it worked.

01:08:47Guest:I mean, the ratings were fine.

01:08:49Guest:Yeah.

01:08:49Guest:Oh, really?

01:08:50Guest:Not the ratings?

01:08:52Guest:I said, well, I think maybe because she's a woman.

01:08:54Guest:Yes.

01:08:55Guest:That's it.

01:08:56Guest:I think that's it.

01:08:57Guest:Yes.

01:08:58Guest:Like, so.

01:09:00Guest:There are two things in that.

01:09:02Guest:One of them is, oh, it's a woman.

01:09:03Guest:We don't have a point of reference.

01:09:05Guest:Women shouldn't humiliate themselves because we need to take care of their victims.

01:09:10Guest:They're not in the power position, so don't make fun of them.

01:09:15Guest:The other part was the business people were not questioning a business decision by HBO.

01:09:22Guest:The artists were saying, oh, they made a mistake.

01:09:25Hmm.

01:09:25Guest:But the business people were like, no, no, it's justified somehow.

01:09:28Guest:Let's figure out.

01:09:29Guest:We'll work backward from there.

01:09:31Marc:I don't know.

01:09:33Marc:And then they made it another one.

01:09:35Guest:Yeah, nine years later.

01:09:37Marc:What was that?

01:09:38Marc:Like, were you holding onto it for that long?

01:09:40Marc:Or whose idea was that?

01:09:41Marc:How did that happen?

01:09:42Guest:That was, no, the network was like, you know what?

01:09:45Guest:I mean, we're about to do, like, redo this and redo that.

01:09:48Guest:Why don't we redo that?

01:09:49Guest:I think the audience, our audience, would like to see that.

01:09:53Guest:And how'd that one go over?

01:09:55Guest:I think great.

01:09:56Marc:Yeah.

01:09:57Guest:Great, yeah.

01:09:58Marc:But you didn't want to do more?

01:10:01Guest:No.

01:10:04Marc:Hmm.

01:10:04Hmm.

01:10:05Guest:No, they didn't want to do more.

01:10:06Marc:Oh, they didn't?

01:10:07Guest:They didn't want to do more.

01:10:08Marc:So fucking crazy, isn't it?

01:10:10Guest:Because I don't think the ratings were that great.

01:10:12Guest:It's sort of like a cult thing.

01:10:14Marc:On HBO?

01:10:14Marc:Was it HBO?

01:10:14Guest:Yeah, HBO.

01:10:15Guest:I think it's more of a cult thing.

01:10:19Marc:It's weird now.

01:10:20Marc:Now with Netflix, I'm on a show on Netflix, right?

01:10:25Marc:Uh-huh.

01:10:25Guest:Wait, which one is that?

01:10:26Marc:Glow.

01:10:27Guest:Oh, yeah.

01:10:28Marc:Okay.

01:10:29Marc:And you don't know.

01:10:29Marc:They run things like if it's not huge, you know, like three, two, three seasons, three, four seasons, right?

01:10:36Marc:We're done.

01:10:37Guest:Yeah.

01:10:38Marc:But on some level, isn't four seasons enough?

01:10:41Guest:Really?

01:10:41Guest:Yeah.

01:10:42Marc:I mean, isn't that really enough?

01:10:44Guest:It should be, but it wasn't before because there was syndication.

01:10:47Guest:But Netflix doesn't have to worry about syndication.

01:10:50Marc:And also, like, I realized, too, is, like, you know what happens, like, with friends or anything else?

01:10:54Marc:Is that...

01:10:55Marc:you're employing a lot of people.

01:10:57Marc:So whether or not you're sick of it or the stories run out or you're repeating yourself, it's like, yeah, but like.

01:11:02Guest:Couple hundred people have a job.

01:11:04Guest:Yeah.

01:11:05Guest:Yeah, I know.

01:11:06Marc:You feel that, I bet.

01:11:08Guest:Yeah, that's what's too bad.

01:11:10Guest:But you know, the other thing is that's the argument that's never taken to Sacramento for California, like the tax.

01:11:19Guest:Yeah.

01:11:20Guest:rebates for shooting right in this state yeah it's not because I know their argument is we can't give a tax credit to you know Steven Spielberg right you know that's just so you're saying they should shoot more there's incentive in it to shoot they should because it's not Steven Spielberg it's not the people who have money that you're giving a tax break to

01:11:42Guest:It's the people, the hundreds of people who work on a production.

01:11:48Guest:It's the businesses surrounding this industry that you are supporting when you allow people to shoot here.

01:11:55Marc:Right, but I guess the states are like, oh, they're making so much money.

01:12:00Marc:Let's take it.

01:12:02Marc:And then people are like, we're going to Albuquerque.

01:12:04Marc:We're going to Vancouver.

01:12:06Guest:Louisiana.

01:12:07Guest:Now I hear Puerto Rico.

01:12:09Guest:South Africa.

01:12:11Guest:What?

01:12:12Guest:Yes.

01:12:14Marc:Productions are going all the way to South Africa?

01:12:16Marc:Yeah.

01:12:17Guest:Just to do a sitcom?

01:12:19Guest:Yeah.

01:12:20Marc:That's crazy.

01:12:21Guest:Crazy.

01:12:22Marc:So you worked with Jane and Lily?

01:12:26Guest:Yeah, I love Lily.

01:12:28Guest:Yeah, yeah, because we did a thing called Web Therapy and she played my mother.

01:12:33Guest:Oh, right.

01:12:34Guest:She was fantastic.

01:12:36Marc:And what happened to that show?

01:12:38Guest:That show got canceled.

01:12:41Guest:We were on Showtime.

01:12:42Marc:Does it hurt your feelings?

01:12:43Guest:No.

01:12:44Marc:For you, it's just part of the business?

01:12:46Guest:Yeah, I don't take it personally.

01:12:48Marc:But this genealogy show keeps going.

01:12:50Guest:We're back on NBC.

01:12:52Guest:We started on NBC.

01:12:54Guest:They canceled us.

01:12:56Marc:Yeah.

01:12:56Guest:And then TLC picked us up.

01:12:59Guest:Yeah.

01:13:00Guest:And now we're back on NBC.

01:13:02Marc:Well, that's a good story.

01:13:03Guest:It's great, it's unprecedented.

01:13:06Marc:And you love doing it.

01:13:07Guest:I love doing it with all my heart.

01:13:09Marc:Now, I haven't watched it.

01:13:11Marc:Do you travel with them when they go to these places?

01:13:14Guest:I don't.

01:13:15Marc:Oh, you don't?

01:13:16Guest:I would if someone really wants me to.

01:13:18Marc:Oh, but you'll have a subject and then you'll take them to where their ancestral roots are?

01:13:24Guest:Yes, they're walking in the footsteps of their ancestor.

01:13:28Guest:Yeah.

01:13:30Guest:It's unbelievable.

01:13:31Guest:The stuff that blows me away is like we did Josh Groban and he went to...

01:13:36Guest:where he had like a great, great, great, great, great, great.

01:13:40Guest:It was like the 17th century.

01:13:44Guest:Yeah.

01:13:45Guest:And that guy's at this college, right?

01:13:47Guest:And it's right after like Lutheranism took over, you know, or maybe it was before that.

01:13:52Marc:Are these Jews?

01:13:54Guest:No, this one was not.

01:13:55Guest:No, no, no.

01:13:57Guest:And you see what he did in school.

01:13:59Guest:He had to work as a musician to teach music.

01:14:04Guest:And his...

01:14:06Guest:Instrument was his voice.

01:14:08Guest:No.

01:14:09Guest:Josh Groban.

01:14:11Guest:Way, way, way, way back.

01:14:13Marc:See, that kind of stuff's wild.

01:14:14Guest:And his ancestor's instrument was his voice.

01:14:17Guest:That's crazy.

01:14:18Guest:Just like Josh Groban.

01:14:20Marc:We've got to go?

01:14:20Guest:Someone's calling me.

01:14:21Guest:I'm just going to say stop.

01:14:22Marc:Do you have another thing to do?

01:14:24Marc:No.

01:14:25Marc:You have the watch?

01:14:27Guest:Yeah.

01:14:28Guest:I stopped wearing it for a while and then I started wearing it again.

01:14:31Marc:Is it good?

01:14:32Marc:It seems too small.

01:14:33Guest:Too small for what?

01:14:35Guest:You can't read that?

01:14:36Marc:I can actually.

01:14:37Marc:Yeah.

01:14:38Marc:That's not bad.

01:14:39Guest:No.

01:14:40Marc:But you can't read news on there.

01:14:42Guest:No, no.

01:14:43Guest:That's not what I use it for.

01:14:44Marc:You just use it for what do I got to do?

01:14:47Marc:And hey.

01:14:48Guest:Well, it taps me.

01:14:49Guest:Like if I'm not breathing enough.

01:14:50Guest:I'm not kidding.

01:14:52Guest:Sometimes I just hold my breath.

01:14:54Marc:I do too.

01:14:56Marc:Do you sometimes realize, like, why am I holding my breath?

01:14:59Guest:No, I don't.

01:15:00Guest:That's the bad part.

01:15:01Guest:My husband, if we're on the phone, he'll say, well, you're not breathing.

01:15:04Guest:Why do we do that?

01:15:05Guest:I don't know.

01:15:06Guest:Oh, I do know, actually.

01:15:08Guest:Well, tell me.

01:15:09Guest:I do.

01:15:10Guest:What?

01:15:10Guest:It's because I feel like I can...

01:15:14Guest:be more alert to my surroundings if that pesky breathing isn't interfering with what I'm hearing and so you do oh so you're conscious of it I just find myself doing it I just I'm like all of a sudden I'm like why am I not breathing yeah if I bend down to pick something up yeah and it's taking me too long for whatever reason to do what I have to do bending over right I get dizzy because I stopped breathing

01:15:38Guest:I've been holding my breath.

01:15:40Guest:Oh, that's weird, huh?

01:15:40Guest:So I have to remind myself, you're allowed to breathe in and out when you are bending over.

01:15:47Guest:You're allowed.

01:15:48Marc:I think when I stop breathing, it's usually a tense moment in my mind or with somebody where I'm like, maybe something inside of me is like, if you're not breathing, you're not here.

01:15:58Guest:Oh.

01:16:00Guest:Oh.

01:16:01Guest:Okay.

01:16:03Guest:What?

01:16:03Guest:Is that why I do it?

01:16:04Marc:No, I don't know.

01:16:05Guest:No, that's a good one.

01:16:07Guest:That's a good one.

01:16:09Guest:God damn it.

01:16:10Marc:All right, so now what's happening now is the genealogy show is coming back.

01:16:15Marc:Yeah.

01:16:16Marc:You got the movie out, Booksmart, which is nice.

01:16:19Guest:It's so good.

01:16:21Guest:And Olivia Wilde is the real deal.

01:16:23Marc:Yeah.

01:16:23Guest:She's a director.

01:16:24Marc:There's a lot going on in that movie.

01:16:25Marc:I can't remember what it reminded me of.

01:16:27Marc:Oh, you know what it reminded me of?

01:16:28Marc:What?

01:16:29Marc:Kind of.

01:16:30Marc:I might not be remembering it correctly.

01:16:32Marc:Remember that movie Go with everybody with Sarah Pauly, Jay Moore and like, you know, I didn't see it.

01:16:39Marc:Well, there was just like a lot of young people, a lot of stuff going on from all angles.

01:16:43Marc:Like I remember that vibe.

01:16:45Marc:Like it's it just keeps moving.

01:16:47Marc:Yeah.

01:16:47Marc:What's what's that?

01:16:48Marc:What's the the the one the real funny young woman?

01:16:54Marc:Beanie.

01:16:54Marc:Is that her name?

01:16:55Guest:Oh, Beanie Feldstein.

01:16:56Marc:Where'd she come from?

01:16:57Guest:She came from here.

01:16:58Guest:She grew up here.

01:17:00Guest:You know who her brother is?

01:17:01Marc:Nope.

01:17:02Guest:Jonah Hill.

01:17:02Marc:Oh, that's his sister.

01:17:04Marc:Right.

01:17:04Marc:That makes sense.

01:17:06Marc:Yeah.

01:17:06Marc:They're funny people.

01:17:07Guest:She makes sense, too.

01:17:08Guest:I mean, she did theater in high school.

01:17:11Marc:No, I remember hearing that because I remember him saying his sister Beanie.

01:17:14Guest:She's fantastic.

01:17:16Marc:Naturally funny person.

01:17:17Guest:She just is great.

01:17:18Guest:Caitlin Deaver was so good.

01:17:20Marc:She's so good.

01:17:20Guest:She's a good actress.

01:17:21Guest:Oh my God.

01:17:22Guest:Everyone in it was just so good.

01:17:24Marc:I agree with you.

01:17:25Guest:My God.

01:17:26Marc:Are you about to make a movie?

01:17:28Marc:Is that why we were talking about it in sort of a cagey way?

01:17:31Marc:Are you going out and doing it?

01:17:33Guest:Oh, making a movie?

01:17:34Marc:Yeah.

01:17:34Guest:No, I'm not about to make a movie.

01:17:37Guest:But I might about, I think I will, if something doesn't happen, do a pilot.

01:17:43Guest:Yeah?

01:17:43Yeah.

01:17:45Marc:Really?

01:17:45Marc:It's on the table?

01:17:46Marc:Yeah.

01:17:48Guest:It's on the table.

01:17:48Guest:Does it look good?

01:17:49Guest:It's on the table getting sorted out.

01:17:51Marc:Is it your show?

01:17:53Guest:No.

01:17:53Marc:Oh.

01:17:54Guest:Well, no.

01:17:55Marc:No?

01:17:55Marc:What are you going to do now?

01:17:56Marc:Are you going to go eat?

01:17:58Guest:Me?

01:17:59Guest:Yeah.

01:17:59Guest:Right now?

01:17:59Marc:Yeah, after this.

01:18:01Marc:No.

01:18:02Marc:Oh.

01:18:02Guest:All right.

01:18:02Guest:Fat as I am.

01:18:03Guest:No, I'm just kidding.

01:18:04Marc:Rolls.

01:18:05Guest:Do I deserve to eat?

01:18:08Marc:I'm so like in my own, up my own ass with that right now.

01:18:11Marc:I don't go to restaurants because it's like, I can make it at home and I have control of that situation.

01:18:17Guest:Oh.

01:18:18Marc:Do you eat meat?

01:18:19Guest:Yeah.

01:18:20Guest:I like meat.

01:18:20Marc:It's good, right?

01:18:21Marc:I like it.

01:18:22Marc:I have to eat less of it.

01:18:23Marc:Yeah?

01:18:23Marc:Why?

01:18:24Marc:Because of course wrong.

01:18:25Guest:No.

01:18:27Guest:No.

01:18:29Guest:That's one thing I'm completely not worried about.

01:18:31Guest:It was good talking to you.

01:18:35Marc:You too.

01:18:36Marc:Do you feel like we've done everything we can?

01:18:39Guest:Yeah.

01:18:41Guest:Yeah.

01:18:41Guest:At least.

01:18:42Marc:And you're friends with everybody.

01:18:44Guest:Yeah.

01:18:44Marc:From the friends and everything.

01:18:46Guest:Oh, yeah.

01:18:47Marc:That's great.

01:18:48Guest:Yeah, why not?

01:18:48Marc:Well, I like that you guys sometimes hang out because I still have this weird idea about show business even though I'm in it where if someone's in a movie, I'm like, you guys hang out?

01:18:57Marc:Are you and Billy Crystal?

01:18:58Marc:No.

01:18:58Marc:Why would you?

01:18:59Guest:Yeah, no, I don't hang out with Billy Crystal.

01:19:01Marc:No, I know, but I just always assume that there's a camaraderie.

01:19:03Marc:But we get along.

01:19:04Marc:He's one of those people where you just like, it's like, you know, you get the Tinder going.

01:19:10Marc:Like, you just get like, oh, there, it's gonna catch.

01:19:12Marc:You just like, and then you just light up.

01:19:15Marc:If you just like blow a little smoke under Billy Crystal,

01:19:18Marc:You've got two hours on your hands.

01:19:20Guest:That's what's great about him because he'll tell you everything.

01:19:23Guest:Like there is no secret.

01:19:25Guest:There's no everything.

01:19:26Guest:He's just an open book.

01:19:28Marc:And oddly sort of like still doesn't, like he's one of those guys that's driven by like, you know, I didn't really do his, like he's a little insecure for a guy who's done as much as he has.

01:19:38Guest:Who isn't?

01:19:40Guest:That's what always shocks me.

01:19:40Guest:When does that go away?

01:19:41Guest:That's what always shocks me.

01:19:43Marc:About all of us?

01:19:45Guest:Yeah.

01:19:46Marc:What is that about?

01:19:48Marc:Because I got to go to therapy at four.

01:19:50Guest:Oh.

01:19:50Guest:Well, stop bragging.

01:19:52Marc:No, but it's like.

01:19:52Guest:That's nice that you get to.

01:19:54Marc:But there's some part of me and of performers that just don't ever think we're good enough.

01:19:59Marc:Who did that?

01:20:00Guest:You.

01:20:00Guest:You did it.

01:20:02Marc:You did it.

01:20:03Marc:You don't seem insecure.

01:20:05Guest:Well, I have periods where I am, for sure, because that's all your decision.

01:20:10Marc:It is?

01:20:11Guest:It's a decision.

01:20:12Guest:It's a state of mind.

01:20:13Marc:Science?

01:20:14Marc:Is it science?

01:20:15Guest:Well, there's a lot you can control.

01:20:18Marc:Yeah, act as if.

01:20:19Marc:Stop thinking about it.

01:20:21Marc:Yeah, I think you're right.

01:20:22Guest:Create your own reality.

01:20:23Marc:Well, you've got to be careful with that.

01:20:25Marc:There is no reality.

01:20:26Guest:I do believe that.

01:20:27Marc:Well, I mean, so do 35% of the country who believe that Hillary Clinton was involved in a pedophilia ring.

01:20:33Marc:Oh, well.

01:20:34Marc:So you have to acknowledge some of that.

01:20:36Guest:No, there's facts.

01:20:37Guest:But in the absence of facts, which is a big chunk of our existence.

01:20:42Marc:Day to day.

01:20:43Guest:There's a big chunk.

01:20:45Marc:Yeah.

01:20:45Guest:Where there are no facts.

01:20:47Marc:You decide.

01:20:47Guest:You can decide.

01:20:49Marc:Yeah, to breathe.

01:20:50Yeah.

01:20:50Guest:To breathe.

01:20:51Guest:That people like you.

01:20:52Marc:Yeah.

01:20:53Guest:Or they don't.

01:20:54Marc:Sure.

01:20:55Guest:It doesn't matter.

01:20:55Guest:Either way, you don't know one way or the other, so you might as well decide that they do.

01:21:00Marc:Why not?

01:21:00Marc:Because you know what I've learned over time?

01:21:02Marc:They're not even fucking thinking about you.

01:21:04Guest:No one's thinking about you.

01:21:05Guest:They're thinking about themselves.

01:21:07Guest:Everything a human being says to you has to do with themselves and not you.

01:21:12Marc:Okay.

01:21:13Marc:Well, I'm glad we got that solved.

01:21:14Guest:Do you need therapy now?

01:21:16Guest:I'm wondering.

01:21:17Marc:Well, can we get my mother on the phone?

01:21:19Marc:Let me get my mother on the phone.

01:21:20Marc:After this talk?

01:21:20Marc:Can we just talk to my mother?

01:21:21Marc:Thanks, Lisa.

01:21:29Marc:There you go.

01:21:29Marc:Wasn't she great?

01:21:31Marc:I like her.

01:21:32Marc:I love her.

01:21:32Marc:Just say love now.

01:21:34Marc:It's all about love.

01:21:35Marc:All about open-heartedness.

01:21:37Marc:Trying.

01:21:37Marc:I'm trying.

01:21:38Marc:Seriously.

01:21:40Marc:Oh, man.

01:21:40Marc:My chest hurts.

01:21:41Marc:It does.

01:21:42Marc:Hey, okay.

01:21:43Marc:So, okay.

01:21:44Marc:The new movie, Booksmart, that Lisa's in is in theaters this Friday, May 24th.

01:21:48Marc:And you can watch the show Friends anytime during the day, anywhere in the world.

01:21:54Marc:I hooked up a tremolo box to the echo box on the

01:21:59Marc:Gibson West Paul Deluxe through the old 1958 Fender amp.

01:22:05Marc:And now, you will hear that.

01:22:07Marc:... ... ...

01:23:02Marc:Boomer lives.