Episode 1124 - Samantha Bee
Marc:OK, let's do this, people.
Marc:All right.
Marc:I'm not going to do the whole extended momentum thing.
Marc:I will say welcome to the show.
Marc:This is WTF.
Marc:My name is Marc Maron.
Marc:Obviously, many of you know me.
Marc:Today's guest is Samantha Bee, which we taped before the tragic passing.
Marc:of my girlfriend, Lynn Shelton.
Marc:And it's been a difficult week.
Marc:I don't know about this grieving thing.
Marc:I don't know how one does it.
Marc:I mean, thank God my brother's here.
Marc:You know, my brother, family, I don't know.
Marc:You know, the day...
Marc:After Lynn passed, you know, my brother flew out.
Marc:You know, he happened to be in Denver and he flew out.
Marc:And he's been here all week, kind of moving through this process with me.
Marc:And as some of you know, as I told you before, you know, I didn't know Lynn's family that well, but I've gotten to know many of them.
Marc:And just as I said on Thursday, the amazing support from all the people in my community, like all of them, the comics, unbelievable.
Marc:And you people who listen to this show, thousands and thousands of emails.
Marc:It really helps because I'm not great at staying in a feeling or accessing.
Marc:I think if I was left alone, I would just bury it all and stuff it deep inside me and cry at inappropriate things as opposed to what I should be grieving about, which is a horrendous loss.
Marc:Everybody, there's so much food is coming in.
Marc:I swear, man, we got me and my brother are the only ones here.
Marc:And the other day we got like the full Shiva situation.
Marc:We got the full Shiva package.
Marc:I mean, somebody sent us, you know, bagels, lox, cream cheese and smoked fish platter with with with with hot coffee for like 20 people.
Marc:And, you know, both Craig and I have a slight compulsive eating situation.
Marc:So we felt that part of us felt like, you know, we really got to we got to just strap in and do this.
Marc:But that's just an example.
Marc:A lot of stuff is just coming.
Marc:And I didn't realize how paralyzed I would be and unable to cook or anything else.
Marc:So the food has been great.
Marc:Even the even the food that's bad for me.
Marc:I ate four cookies before I came in here.
Marc:I spent the week going through Lynn Shelton's stuff at my house, her clothing, her vitamins, her lady stuff, jewelry, everything, papers.
Marc:I didn't even know how much stuff was here.
Marc:And I could only do it in sort of fits and starts, waves, where I kind of emotionally was capable.
Marc:I would just get in there and throw away stuff that was just clearly garbage.
Marc:And then process things that meant something to me.
Marc:And then kind of move stuff that I think is going to be for her family and friends.
Marc:So that took a few days to do that.
Marc:To kind of decide the one or two items that I would keep to remember her by.
Marc:There were just moments where I'm like, what am I going to do now?
Marc:I mean, what happens now?
Marc:But I don't think I'm going to get bitter and angry.
Marc:I might yell at the sky a bit.
Marc:But I'm hoping in honor of Lynn and what she did for me that I can somehow...
Marc:work on keeping my heart open.
Marc:It was not working this last week because so much grief was coming up.
Marc:People would call me and I couldn't get through a five-minute conversation without crying, which was fine.
Marc:It's good to cry.
Marc:But I feel like I needed a really big cry.
Marc:Like the other day, I thought I actually was getting the virus because my chest was so tight.
Marc:And then I cried a little bit and it was like, oh, okay.
Marc:That's what needs to happen.
Marc:I don't know if it's going to happen a bit at a time or like eventually I'll just be able to unload it.
Marc:There's only a few people I can do that with.
Marc:But maybe it'll happen.
Marc:I'm trying to breathe.
Marc:I'm trying to breathe.
Marc:I'm trying to sit with the feelings.
Marc:The amazing thing that we did that Michaela Watkins did was set up a sort of Zoom shiva, a Zoom morning group.
Marc:She just put out feelers and got people to pull in people that knew Lynn, that worked with Lynn.
Marc:So every night for seven days, I think we did it.
Marc:Six or seven, maybe six.
Marc:Six nights.
Marc:At 6.30, whoever wanted to be there was there.
Marc:Anywhere from 35 to 60 people who loved Lynn, who knew Lynn.
Marc:Family, friends, co-workers, actors, musicians, everybody who knew her.
Marc:And just to hang out.
Marc:Filmmakers.
Marc:To hang out and talk about Lynn.
Marc:And I think it really worked in a way to get us through that shock, to get us through that initial period of complete horror and shock and to celebrate her a bit and to share stories and to cry with each other.
Marc:It helped.
Marc:It helped me, even though I started to feel like, what was she doing with me?
Marc:All these people that I've known her forever, just the sweetest, most charismatic person in the world that was full of joy and happiness and was excited and driven and had vision and was amazingly talented and brought people together and everybody loved her and so many people met their people through her.
Marc:Just like this beautiful, collaborative mess of talent and love.
Marc:And I'm just like...
Marc:How do I fit in?
Marc:I'm like, I come from the world of rogues, borderline criminals, the comics, the comics.
Marc:She saw something in me and that made me see it.
Marc:So I love her, love her for that.
Marc:But I did really start to feel insecure and feel like I don't, all these people have known her for so long.
Marc:I've known her like five years, not even.
Marc:But what we had was not, you know, what we had was what we had.
Marc:And it was all in, all good, beautiful stuff.
Marc:Unique to us.
Marc:I didn't want to tell stories.
Marc:I was too, how many stories do I have?
Marc:I got a lot of love stories.
Marc:And I can't, I don't want to share those.
Marc:Those are mine.
Marc:Those are mine.
Marc:And really, after last week, I want to again thank my listeners for really... I'm trying to look at the emails.
Marc:All of them help.
Marc:It all helps.
Marc:It helps me.
Marc:This is, I guess, the nature of what I do.
Marc:When I'm in relation to someone else, connected, then I can feel myself be present and feel my feelings.
Marc:Now I have to learn how to do it alone.
Marc:But thank you guys for really...
Marc:stepping up and sending me all those emails and all that love i appreciate it so samantha b is um a funny sharp woman full frontal with samantha b airs wednesday nights at 10 30 9 30 central on tbs and i talked to her remotely before my life got turned upside down so this is me talking to samantha b
Marc:So, hi, Samantha.
Marc:Hi.
Marc:Nice to meet you.
Guest:It's really nice to meet you.
Guest:Finally.
Guest:It's really nice to meet you.
Guest:Finally, I loved your special.
Guest:Is it okay for me to compliment you?
Guest:I loved it.
Marc:Yeah, I'll take it.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Especially these days.
Marc:Yeah, I enjoy compliments.
Guest:Yeah, I loved it.
Guest:I watched it as soon as it came out.
Guest:I watched it right away.
Marc:Like right when we were forced indoors.
Guest:Right when we were, it was one of the first things that I watched.
Marc:Well, thank you.
Marc:I'm glad you liked it.
Marc:It's hard.
Marc:It's so weird, like day to day.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:How are you with compliments?
Guest:Terrible.
Guest:I can't take them at all.
Guest:They're horrible.
Guest:I hate them.
Guest:I become like my body physically shrinks.
Guest:Like I start to.
Marc:What is that?
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:I mean, how are you with with horrible things with criticism?
Guest:uh also horrible but i don't expose myself to it too much like i don't i don't really actually really really disciplined about not reading stuff about myself i just don't so like you you don't immerse yourself in the uh comment sections of anything no twitter never no i turned off all of those notifications on twitter a long time ago at what point what what happened
Guest:The election, the election happened actually.
Guest:And like that night I started to, cause I used to, I was like pretty disciplined about like, I don't Google myself or any of that shit.
Guest:I never did that for years, but I would read stuff on Twitter and that election night.
Guest:It was so dark.
Guest:Everything was just crushing as the night progressed.
Guest:And then my Twitter mentions started to go berserk.
Guest:It was homicidal.
Guest:People were so intense.
Guest:I felt like a darkness.
Guest:I felt like...
Guest:like the Death Star, kind of like the shadow of the Death Star over my Twitter mentions.
Guest:And so it took me a couple of days.
Guest:It took me to a dark place.
Guest:And then my assistant at the time actually took away my phone and she changed my password.
Guest:So she was like, this will be temporary.
Guest:Just like, you can't.
Guest:And I just really liked the way that I was living.
Marc:Without it.
Marc:Without it.
Guest:I didn't need it or want it anymore.
Guest:And so I just don't.
Marc:Oh, that's great.
Marc:But you're on it, though.
Guest:I'm on it.
Guest:I'm reading it.
Marc:I'm definitely reading it.
Guest:But I shut that part down.
Guest:So I don't take negativity well, but I just avoid it really strenuously.
Marc:It's weird because it's a visceral feeling.
Marc:And for me, I guess maybe I'm oversensitive.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:But it just takes one of those things to fuck my day up.
Guest:Fuck the whole day up.
Guest:And you could get 1,000 glowing compliments.
Guest:And it's that one person who's like, you're ugly.
Guest:And you're like, why?
Guest:I can't do this.
Marc:And it just erases everything else.
Marc:It just erases.
Marc:Like the good ones, you're like, yeah, yeah, oh, thanks, okay.
Marc:And then the one that's sort of like, you're kind of, like the ones that really like are specific and hit a button that you're insecure about, then you're like, oh my God.
Marc:How the fuck they know that?
Marc:And it just ruins all.
Marc:And then I talk to people that are like, well, you got to get a callus to it.
Marc:And I'm like, do you?
Marc:Is that a healthy thing to do?
Marc:I mean, I know these are nameless monsters that are trying to get my goat on purpose.
Marc:But even when I choose not to engage, which I do, I still have to choose it.
Marc:Like, I'll read it and I'll be like, I'm going to...
Marc:No, I'm not gonna.
Marc:Is that really a good muscle to have?
Marc:I don't know.
Guest:It's not.
Guest:I don't think it's helpful.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:I don't have art in my house to speak of.
Guest:I'm just not built for it.
Guest:But I did buy this one picture recently.
Guest:It's one of the only ones I ever bought.
Marc:What does it mean that you're not built for art?
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:I don't know anything about it.
Guest:I'm just like, everything is...
Guest:You could just paint something red and put it on the wall.
Marc:And I'm like, yeah.
Marc:So you're intimidated in terms of you don't trust what you like because somebody will come over and go, oh, my God.
Marc:What is that?
Guest:Did you paint that?
Guest:But I did buy one thing recently and it is just this, it's really, really pretty.
Guest:And all it says is it did not ruin her.
Guest:And I think that it means a lot to me because I'm like, yes, like you don't want to build that.
Guest:You don't want to have that much of a callus that it actually changes the core of who you are, I think.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So that's like, I don't, I don't think that's a great...
Marc:healthy muscle i don't either you know and it's very hard for me to compartmentalize this shit you know like i think detaching with a certain amount of empathy is fine like hey i'm not going to engage with that person they're angry and it's probably not anything to do with me or they're just a monster that likes you know making people upset yeah okay and walk away from it but just that sort of like no i'm not i i you know i can take anything i'm i am so ready to quit aren't you
Guest:I'm always ready to quit.
Guest:Of course.
Guest:I've been ready to quit since I started.
Marc:What is that, man?
Marc:I don't know what you're doing, but you've got kids, right?
Marc:You've got a lot of kids.
Marc:I do.
Marc:But for me, I'm like, this is what I work towards, not doing anything.
Marc:And then there's the added bonus of knowing no one else is.
Marc:So no one's competing for anything.
Marc:Right.
Guest:What are we doing?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Let's just stop all of it.
Guest:There's so many good hobbies out there.
Marc:Oh, there are, kind of.
Marc:Or just nothing.
Marc:Yeah, maybe you could learn.
Marc:Yeah, or nothing.
Marc:Nothing's fine.
Marc:But you find, I just find that once you adjust to, you know, the time that's given, like, I adjust to it.
Marc:I'm not like, oh, I'm fucking bored.
Marc:What am I going to do with this hour?
Marc:It's like, oh, my God, my days are full.
Marc:Things just spread out.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I'm so good at, like we're doing, you know, we're doing the show, so I'm busy from that.
Marc:I know, I see you outside doing things.
Guest:Outside doing things, but like when I'm, we're coming into a break soon.
Guest:We have like a nice break, like three weeks.
Guest:I'm so good at puttering.
Guest:I can just like, just putter around, like repot little plants.
Guest:That takes hours.
Guest:I'm perfectly happy.
Guest:Perfectly happy.
Guest:Just like putting fingers in soil, going to make something in the kitchen.
Guest:I don't know.
Marc:No, I know.
Marc:Me too.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Like I'm going to cut up a squash.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And then I'm going to go obsess about the plant bed out front where I can't seem to grow anything.
Marc:Oh.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Well, we've recently discovered it's like a whole new world since the self-isolating began.
Guest:We've just, we're like very into composting.
Guest:We became, we weren't like, I was like, when I grew up, my mom was a big composter and I was just like, this is awful.
Marc:I don't think you have to say that with any shame.
Guest:I don't want to do this.
Guest:And now it's good, but we're very like we could spend what I'm saying is we could take that whole three week period and just be composting, like just be like chopping up banana peels into small pieces.
Guest:So that's like a full activity.
Marc:So how many bins do you have?
Guest:We have two bins.
Guest:They're large.
Marc:The big ones.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:The big ones.
Guest:Like the big, it's like a big tumbler that just like all year round, like it insulates the compost and it just breaks it down really quickly.
Guest:So we're very, it's like our new child.
Guest:We have a new child.
Marc:All right, so walk me through it.
Marc:So, you know, like you have to rotate the bins.
Marc:Like one is not as ripe as the other one.
Marc:So you have one that's sort of usable and then one that's still sort of rotting.
Guest:I have so much compassion for your audience right now because they don't want to hear about this at all.
Guest:But I'm still telling you.
Guest:I'm still going to tell you.
Guest:So, yes, it's like a big, wide – it's a double bin.
Guest:So while one bin is –
Guest:one bin stays kind of empty and you fill the other one and then you tumble it and then you fill the other one up and while you're filling the second one up the first one has turned to compost is the hope so that's ready by the time the other one is full the other side is is ready to go in your garden and do its magic
Marc:because i feel guilty that i don't compost like i'm it's not it's not even a like an environmental thing it's just like i know that it sounds fun and it's like nice to use everything sure and you know yeah and uh but so what does it do for so it turns into it looks like soil right just like really rich soil just really rich soil really rich and it does work magic on the garden so well we'll find out
Guest:I mean, supposedly, but like when I was like growing up in the 70s, it just wasn't as it was not cool at all to do that.
Guest:And it was just like a disgusting thing that I had to like be putting coffee grounds in a bin.
Marc:Yeah, but they didn't have they didn't have the fancy bins.
Marc:There was no fashion around it.
Marc:It was usually something someone made, right?
Guest:A wooden box thing just made your kitchen smell sour.
Guest:And it was just like a horrible sour smell that followed you everywhere and plagued your life.
Marc:And what did you have?
Marc:Like hippie parents?
Guest:Yes, my mom is very into all that stuff.
Guest:Yeah, she's into all that stuff.
Guest:Like she... Where'd you grow up?
Guest:I grew up in Toronto.
Marc:Right in the city?
Guest:Yep, right in the city.
Marc:And your mom was a hippie and your dad was not?
Marc:How did it work?
Guest:They were divorced.
Guest:They got divorced really early when I was a baby.
Guest:So it was really me.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Kind of...
Guest:Partially raised by my grandmother, but also my mom who was a single mom and my dad was remarried.
Guest:So I was like always going around to different, everybody's different.
Guest:Do you have siblings?
Guest:No, I'm an only child.
Marc:So they had the one kid, and before you were conscious, they were split up?
Marc:Pretty much.
Guest:They were in high school.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:I'm a high school pregnancy, like final year of high school, but like teen pregnancy for sure.
Marc:So you and your mom are like the same age now?
Guest:Roughly.
Guest:She's only 18.
Guest:She's only 19 years older than me.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:She just turned 19, and I was born.
Marc:Isn't it weird when you hit this age when you realize like, you know, when you're a kid, your parents are always so much older.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And then like you cross a certain line.
Marc:Totally.
Marc:We're both on the same side of this.
Guest:We both have gray hair.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:What's fucking happening?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Second half, man.
Guest:Totally.
Marc:So you spent a lot of time going from house to house?
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:To your grandma's?
Marc:Yep.
Marc:Was the grandma house a stable?
Guest:very stable yeah super very stable but she was like a single she was like a single grandma oh really she had split apart from my grandfather which it was just like single people all in my life like my single your grandpa was in your life too
Guest:He left my life because he took off with his secretary.
Guest:But then he came back to my life later in life as an adult.
Guest:So he was gone for a long time.
Marc:As an adult?
Marc:Oh, okay.
Guest:He was back later.
Guest:They kind of got back together again.
Marc:So you're just going from house to house?
Guest:Just kind of pinging around, yeah.
Marc:Is that good?
Marc:Was it a good thing?
Marc:Or did you feel instable?
Marc:Did you feel like it was nicer that way?
Yeah.
Guest:Well, I don't know.
Guest:It was the only thing that I knew.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And I think it was like kind of cumulatively healthy because everyone, like everyone loved me.
Marc:So it wasn't like... Yeah, and everyone was doing what they wanted to do as opposed to staying in.
Guest:Everyone was doing what they could.
Guest:Everyone was doing it with love.
Guest:So I don't think it was like...
Guest:It wasn't like our family is now, but it was still fine.
Guest:Like I felt stable and cared for.
Guest:I was cared for, for sure.
Marc:And also like a lot of different environments, which is nice.
Marc:You can go to one house and have favorites, which house you like better, which bed is better.
Marc:Totally.
Guest:I definitely lived the most in the earliest years with my grandmother.
Guest:And we just shared a bedroom.
Guest:It was really small.
Guest:We lived in a small apartment.
Guest:But we were very tight.
Guest:We had little twin beds.
Guest:Just me and my grandma.
Guest:It was really cute.
Marc:And is she still around?
Guest:No.
Guest:No.
Guest:She died in 1997.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So what did your mom do, the hippie mom?
Guest:She worked for the government for most of her career.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:She had various jobs, and she worked for...
Guest:like a different kind of like alternative weekly magazine for a while she kind of pinged around a little bit and she ended up working for the government my dad was did computer stuff for oh yeah colleges stuff like that huh alternative weekly so she was really kind of living she was on the edge of it she was not a radical
Guest:Yes, yes.
Guest:We were, like, boycotting things way before it was cool.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Like, wait, so this was, like, the 70s, probably?
Guest:Yeah, 70s, yeah, yeah.
Guest:I mean, I feel like everybody was, like, boycotting grapes and apples.
Marc:Yeah, grapes were bad.
Guest:Grapes were bad.
Marc:Sure, I don't remember the apple one, but I remember the grapes were bad because of... Grapes were bad.
Marc:The slave labor, the Mexican labor.
Marc:That's right.
Guest:And all I ever wanted was grapes.
Guest:I was just like, can we just have grapes?
Guest:Which would launch a whole other conversation about.
Marc:Do you remember the apple problem?
Marc:I don't remember the apple problem.
Guest:I only remember it vaguely, but it was definitely.
Marc:Maybe that was a Canadian problem.
Guest:It was a pesticide problem.
Guest:I feel like it was, yeah, it was like a pesticide issue.
Guest:And it was poisoning the workers and also people.
Guest:Right.
Guest:who were eating the apples.
Marc:It was a certain type of pesticide.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:I can't remember what it was called.
Marc:And that started the whole scrub your vegetables hard trend.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:We would scrub them, which is like with soap.
Guest:Just like every piece of fruit tasted like dish soap.
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:You didn't even use the hippie soap, Dr. Bronner's, all in one, one for all soap?
Guest:Yeah, no.
Guest:I came to it as an adult.
Guest:I don't think we had that in Canada.
Yeah.
Guest:Really?
Marc:No Bronner's?
Guest:No Dr. Bronner's.
Guest:We had our own weird brands.
Marc:Oh, see, but you came to Bronner's later in life.
Guest:I did.
Guest:Sure.
Marc:Well, you got to love that label.
Guest:I think I met a boy who used Dr. No, when I was in college, maybe I started using it.
Guest:And I was like, what the hell is this?
Guest:And he was like, it's incredible.
Guest:You use it on your whole body and you shampoo your hair with it.
Guest:And I was like, I'll try that.
Guest:And it just turned my hair into like...
Guest:yeah crusty the clown like nightmare yeah too harsh for hair horrible no no no but you can't yeah you can't yeah something you can wash floors and your hair with is no one product should do everything
Marc:But that label, man, you can just say, I actually interviewed the guy who runs Bronner's.
Marc:You did?
Marc:The grandson.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:David Bronner.
Marc:I interviewed him years ago because I was fascinated with his grandfather.
Marc:And there was a documentary about the, about one, there's one Bronner that's a little out of his mind.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:And he wrote a, he made a documentary about the rest of the Bronner's.
Marc:But it was like, like the old man, the original Dr. Bronner was a complete lunatic.
Oh.
Guest:Oh, and who writes the stuff on the side of the bottle?
Guest:I don't know anything about the family.
Marc:He did.
Marc:He wrote it all.
Marc:The grandpa?
Marc:Yeah, he was like a Holocaust survivor type of guy or a guy that got out under the wire, came from a family of soap makers, set up shop, and he kind of got, because of the label and the nature of the soap, he kind of got lumped into that whole 70s, late 60s, 70s enlightenment thing with all those people who were gurus and practitioners of self-help.
Marc:He was part of that.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Bronner was.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Okay.
Marc:I like the boyfriend though.
Marc:Like, cause I, you know, I, I wear patchouli because of a girl and I've worn it for 30 years.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:Well, it was right for you.
Guest:It was your destiny to find patchouli.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:And it's like, it's like, it's a hippie thing, but I just wear it just because she was kind of a witch at the time.
Marc:And I was fascinated with the smell of it.
Marc:Okay.
Guest:That's great.
Marc:That's what I got.
Marc:So do you think you got your political mindset from your mother?
Guest:I do, actually.
Guest:I do.
Guest:I have to give her credit for that because she was just always a political person.
Guest:It was important.
Guest:It was important to her to take a position, to take a side position.
Guest:on things and it was um she just talked about it a lot and thought about it a lot and my grandmother was much more conservative and that was there was a real clash between them the you know they loved each other but they fought a lot and politically they fought because my grandmother worshipped
Guest:nancy reagan that was just like so toxic to my mom but what about that but what about what you're canadians right yeah oh yeah but she it's fine that stuff is seeps over the border it's like the air we breathe i know but like why would you have like is there a relevant discussion to have about nancy reagan as a as a canadian we always followed american politics for sure for sure and it's interesting that like it was
Marc:You guys really do.
Marc:I mean, because I see a lot of people that seem to be more informed and more kind of agitated with Canadian addresses than some Americans.
Marc:Like there seems to be an attention and nuance.
Marc:Like I know these people in Vancouver that are like you would think that they were living here with the degree of anger.
Marc:Exactly.
Guest:There's an immense... I mean, the connective tissue is strong.
Guest:And we take... We intake so many American cultural products growing up in Canada.
Guest:You just end up watching the news from Buffalo.
Guest:And it just sort of... It just... It's a very... There's a very, very easy flow.
Guest:A lot of the... Most of the television shows you watch are just American.
Marc:Really?
Marc:You guys... You don't have enough Canadian television shows that are engaging to...
Guest:How dare you?
Guest:How dare you say that?
Guest:How dare you, sir?
Marc:So you're growing up an only child with several sets of caretakers.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:And, you know, what are your interests?
Marc:When do you start knowing your interests?
Marc:Was it initially to be a journalist or something or what?
Guest:I didn't know what I was going to do.
Guest:I really was.
Guest:I really floated around.
Guest:I had some troubling years in high school.
Marc:How did that manifest itself?
Guest:I met a boy.
Guest:All my stories are boy related today.
Guest:That's okay.
Marc:Dr. Bronner's and now this is the bad one.
Guest:I met a bad boy.
Guest:In early in high school, like I was 15 and we dated for a year or two and he was a very bad boy.
Guest:And so I for a while thought that my destiny was to be like a grifter.
Guest:I was like, this is my life will be a life of crime.
Guest:Normally, I went to Catholic school and I was always a really good student and I really cared about that and I continued to care about that even through my phase of being a very difficult person.
Marc:A grifter?
Guest:A grifter on the beaches of Miami was my goal.
Marc:What?
Marc:You made it down to Miami?
Guest:I was like, here's our plan.
Guest:Once I kind of got into his badness and I was fully in, I was like, here's the deal.
Guest:We're going to get on a flight.
Guest:We're going to go to the airport.
Guest:We're going to pay for two tickets to Miami in cash.
Guest:And we're going to work the beach.
Guest:And he was like, great.
Guest:And then when we were supposed to leave to go to the airport, he was like, I don't want to go.
Guest:And I was like, you're a pussy.
Guest:I'm ready to go.
Guest:Anyway, I worked it out of my system.
Marc:And that was the end of it?
Guest:No, we, you know, I eventually broke up with them because I was like, I don't, hey, I was like, I kind of, I honestly really woke up one day.
Guest:My whole family was just collapsing under the weight of me being just a shitty person.
Guest:And I kind of woke up one day and I was like, hey, wait a minute.
Guest:I don't have any friends.
Guest:My family hates me.
Guest:I'm actually an asshole.
Guest:I'm 16 years old.
Guest:No one wants to spend five minutes with me because I've become this like monster of a person.
Guest:I'm still doing well in school, but I'm an awful human being.
Guest:I should just stop doing all of this stuff and start being nice again.
Guest:And I flipped the switch on myself and was like, all done.
Guest:and that guy you got rid of the guy I got him loose that day I was like I'm out I don't this is too much trouble I can't live this I can't live this way thank God he didn't follow through with the Miami plan yeah no he was really mad for a long time but I was like oh sorry once I've I just like oh I just cleaned you out of my consciousness it's weird when it turns off like that I mean like I I can I've done that I couldn't do it in high school but in adult life I have had to do that right like when it goes away it goes away
Guest:When it goes away, it's just gone.
Marc:It wasn't meant to be, though.
Guest:No, it was not.
Guest:Thank God.
Marc:What was the big grift?
Marc:What was the plan?
Marc:How were you going to work the beaches?
Marc:Pickpockets?
Guest:Just like jacking cars and doing stuff like that.
Guest:It was very bad.
Guest:I'm not really...
Guest:I'm not proud of that phase of my life, but I do like to talk about it because I do like to just be honest with the... I do like... I like the journey of it.
Guest:I'm like, okay.
Guest:I like that I came clean after and I'm very honest with my kids about it.
Guest:I'm like, here's what I did.
Guest:Don't...
Guest:Don't do this.
Guest:It was so useless.
Guest:What a fucking waste of time.
Marc:Well, you never got busted, right?
Guest:No.
Guest:No, he did.
Guest:I didn't, which was great.
Guest:Oh, good.
Marc:Okay, so you get out of that.
Marc:You change.
Marc:You get rid of that guy.
Guest:Yeah, I was very studious, and I thought, oh, I guess I'll just, I guess I'll go to law school or... Law school?
Guest:Well...
Guest:No one in my family had really gone to college, really almost.
Guest:I think maybe no one in my family ever had gone to college.
Guest:So I knew your mom didn't.
Guest:No, I knew that I knew that that was what I wanted to do.
Marc:And you can go in Canada, right?
Guest:You can go.
Guest:Yeah, you can go.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:My first year of college, I went to McGill and it was $800.
Guest:For the year?
Guest:For the semester.
Guest:So it was $1,600 for a whole year.
Guest:Oh my God.
Guest:Not including your living expenses and stuff like that, but the tuition is very low.
Guest:It's very reasonable.
Guest:Comparatively, it's like you just can't compare.
Yeah.
Guest:So I knew I wanted to go to school.
Guest:I didn't know what I wanted to do.
Guest:So I thought, okay, well, I'll take a general degree and then I'll apply to law school or something.
Guest:So I can be a professional.
Guest:I just need a job.
Guest:I got to get a job.
Guest:I would like to be professional.
Guest:I would like to have a house one day.
Guest:I would like to have goals.
Marc:So unclear as to the passion or the talent.
Guest:Nothing in particular.
Guest:No performance vibes.
Marc:Keepings.
Marc:Keep being studious.
Marc:Keep being studious.
Marc:Right.
Guest:Like absolutely like reaching for a gold ring.
Guest:Just not super clear what that was.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So in college, I took a theater class.
Guest:Like I was older, you know, I was like in my 20s.
Guest:I took a theater class.
Guest:I was like, this is stupid, but I'll get a good grade and it'll help me in my pursuit of the law, which I also just don't give a shit about at all and would be terrible at, like very bad.
Guest:I would not be good at that job.
Marc:The law.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then I started performing and I really liked it.
Guest:I really liked it.
Guest:It was almost.
Marc:What was it like?
Marc:What was the theater?
Marc:You just started doing monologues and scenes and whatnot?
Guest:No, I took you had to audition for something or you had to participate.
Guest:Like one of the requirements of this class I took was you had to participate in some meaningful way to a production that they were doing at the school.
Yeah.
Guest:And I thought, well, okay, I'll audition for a part.
Guest:And I got a part and I had to sing on stage a solo song.
Guest:And it was like a Brecht play.
Guest:And I really liked my part.
Guest:I thought it was really fun to do.
Guest:And then I didn't even know that you were supposed to read the whole play.
Guest:I only read my own part.
Guest:I was like completely...
Guest:There was one point where we were doing, they were doing like a full dress rehearsal of the play and everyone was like, okay, now we go backstage and they do the dress rehearsal and then you come out when it's your part.
Guest:I was like, no, but I was like, I want to see how it ends.
Yeah.
Guest:I want to know how does it go for this guy?
Guest:I'm so curious.
Guest:Never had no clue.
Guest:But the moment that I started, the moment that I stepped onto the stage, it was actually very, I was not fearful, like nervous in a normal way, but not fearful.
Guest:I really enjoyed it.
Guest:And I thought, oh.
Marc:It's so funny, though.
Marc:I got to tell you that there's still many people that don't read the whole play.
Marc:Really?
Marc:I've talked to a couple of actors who do movies, and some of them read the whole thing over and over and over again, but some of them are sort of like, where do I stand?
Marc:Especially if it's a scene or it's just two scenes.
Guest:Well, that makes sense.
Marc:But I think it does happen.
Marc:Maybe I've even done that on GLOW before.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:I have a hard time reading scripts.
Marc:I can read them, but I don't always understand what's happening in them because I can't picture it.
Marc:So a lot of times, even though I've read the whole script, I'm like, oh, they drive over to that place?
Marc:So I don't, for some reason.
Guest:You're like, well, it doesn't matter.
Guest:It doesn't matter what happens because it's not happening to my character.
Marc:Well, even if it's my character, I'm like, oh, this is in the car.
Marc:Like, there's some things I just miss.
Guest:Right.
Marc:Like, you know, I know the lines.
Marc:I know who I'm talking to and I know the story.
Marc:But, oh, we're not in.
Marc:Oh, I thought we were at the other.
Marc:Oh, OK.
Marc:All right.
Marc:I didn't read that.
Marc:I missed the stage direction and set, you know, the detail.
Guest:OK.
Marc:So that's so that's what got you going is a Brecht play in a theater class.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And then and then how does it go from there?
Marc:Then how do you then now all of a sudden you've got your passion.
Guest:Got my passion.
Marc:What are you going to do with it?
Guest:I'm going to be a really serious theater actor.
Marc:Serious.
Guest:I'm going to play Lady Macbeth one day.
Guest:All that.
Marc:That was going to be it.
Guest:I'm going to live in the theater.
Guest:I'm going to do that.
Marc:What year of college were you?
Marc:Did you switch your major?
Marc:I did.
Guest:I switched my major.
Guest:Yeah, I switched my major.
Guest:And that was fun.
Guest:I loved it.
Guest:I loved it.
Guest:So I was going to do that really seriously.
Guest:And then...
Guest:There was a point where I was just in theater school for too long.
Guest:How old were you?
Marc:How come you were so old, it seems?
Guest:Cause I switched my major halfway through, I switched to something else.
Guest:And then I was, and then I moved into, I, I finished college and I was like, I'm going to go now to a more conservatory style acting program.
Guest:Cause you know, I need to know more.
Guest:I need to know more of the people.
Guest:I didn't, I had been, I needed to move to, I felt I needed to move back to Toronto.
Guest:I had moved away for college and I moved back to Toronto and,
Guest:And I was like, I don't know any of the people here.
Guest:I don't know any of the casting people.
Guest:I don't really know the theaters.
Guest:I've been gone for so long.
Guest:So to kind of get back into that or to understand the industry, I thought, well, I'll go to like a conservatory style acting program and I'll get to know all this stuff.
Guest:And then I was just like 25 or 26.
Guest:And I was like, if I am going to try to do this, I should quit theater school.
Guest:I should stop going to school and I should actually try to do this job as opposed to just studying.
Guest:And my family was like, yes, please.
Guest:Can we please stop with this?
Guest:And so I quit that.
Guest:And then no one hired me ever.
Marc:You auditioned?
Guest:Yeah, for sure.
Guest:A lot.
Guest:And no one was interested at all.
Guest:um did you get an agent or anything oh god no nobody i did not have an agent or i did but i did but she hated me like she had real resentment to her but she did not think that i was good she kind of like took me on as a favor to someone else and she was like oh i've been that guy yeah yeah it's awful
Marc:So you were 26 by the time you decided you had enough school?
Marc:Something like that.
Marc:Yeah, 25, 26.
Marc:And you're going out for TV commercials and TV shows?
Guest:Going out for stuff, not getting anything.
Guest:Then what happened?
Guest:And doing kind of like free acting jobs, you know?
Guest:At the back of a bar, we're putting on a play.
Guest:And I was like, I'll do it.
Guest:I'm all right.
Guest:That sounds great.
Guest:But I did meet people and that was very valuable.
Guest:And two of the people that I knew and really got to know from some children's theater projects asked me to just sub in for someone at a comedy show in a sketch show.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Guest:oh sketch yeah yeah yeah and so i said yes because i really had nothing to lose and then i loved it and i was like oh oh okay well that's what i should be doing i should be doing comedy like definitely i'm so i'm super comfortable and i love it i love it love it love it and i could do this for free forever like no one even has to pay me for this i just enjoy it so they were it was a sketch group
Guest:Sketch group, yep.
Guest:And then I did that for a little while with them, but then I started doing comedy with an all-female sketch group called the Atomic Fireballs, and then we really performed a lot.
Guest:They were amazing.
Marc:Now, was that like a long-running sketch group?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:They were going before you joined?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:They were... And I joined them.
Guest:Actually, one of the women who was in that sketch troupe is on my show.
Guest:She's one of the co-EPs of my show.
Guest:And then two of them still live in Canada.
Guest:They're doing other work now.
Guest:But we performed a lot for many years...
Guest:you know, trying to get stuff started.
Guest:We were, like, very do-it-yourself.
Guest:We would put on our own shows, like, plaster posters all over the city.
Marc:So was the model, like, is that, like, the kids in the hall model?
Guest:Yeah, I think so.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Like, you try to get, you got a thing going.
Marc:Try to get a show.
Marc:Residency at a theater.
Marc:Was it ever, like, a thing?
Marc:Were they lining up to see...
Guest:We didn't have like a residency, but we performed a lot.
Guest:I think people knew about us and we definitely were aiming toward getting our own show.
Guest:Like that was definitely on our minds.
Guest:We were performing all the time.
Marc:How many people were in it?
Marc:Five?
Guest:Four.
Guest:There were four of us.
Marc:Oh, four of you.
Marc:So like you went in and pitched executives and stuff?
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, all around that time, we were planning, I guess, there were little opportunities and showcases.
Guest:It wasn't like a big, wide talent search for comics or a talent search for sketch comedians, but we definitely, I think we were on people's lists to some extent.
Guest:Then in 2003, I got hired at The Daily Show, and then we still continued to try to pitch a show with ourselves.
Guest:The Atomic Fireballs?
Marc:Yeah, and no one... In Canada?
Guest:No one wanted it.
Guest:No one wanted it.
Guest:Anyway.
Marc:So you started to do the segments for The Daily Show.
Marc:Did you move to New York?
Guest:I did.
Guest:I did.
Marc:But you still had the connection with the women in Canada?
Guest:Yep.
Marc:And that was still sort of the dream?
Marc:And you were with them for years?
Marc:years i would say i can't even i'm so my memory is so bad it was many many years but i can't tell you how many years because how does the how how does the daily show auditions sort of happen um that's 2003 so they've been on the air a while right how long had john john been on uh
Guest:I feel like I don't remember when he started.
Guest:1999 maybe he started.
Guest:Yeah, maybe that's it.
Guest:Maybe he took it over in 99.
Guest:Anyway, we watched it.
Guest:I got married in 2000.
Guest:When the?
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:I can't remember anything.
Marc:Where'd you meet that guy?
Guest:I met that guy doing children's theater.
Guest:we did a touring children's show which was a jesus which was a live action version of the anime show sailor moon okay yeah so good but where'd you tour with that when did that happen
Guest:That happened in the 90s, like 97 we met, I would say, like 97.
Guest:We started dating in 1997.
Marc:You were doing the Atomic Fireballs and the Touring Children's Show?
Guest:Doing the Fireballs, doing children's shows, doing, you know, piecing it all together, how you do.
Marc:So that's kind of cute that you met doing children's shows, I think.
Guest:Yes, it's cute.
Guest:We were in it.
Guest:We didn't, yeah, we didn't like date immediately, even we respected our work environment.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:We didn't date each other for a long time.
Marc:But you knew you liked kids, I imagine.
Guest:No, doing children's theater has nothing to do with liking children.
Guest:It can really turn you against children.
Marc:It's a desperate act, is that what you're saying to me?
Guest:It's not where you would choose, necessarily.
Guest:But it's a good training ground.
Guest:right it's it's for what for kids or theater just for taking the humiliations of show business of show business just to prepare you for what show business is going to deliver to you on a very regular basis you're just like i believe that i've been at the bottom i can fucking take it right right you know what i mean one more uppercut i could take these body blows
Marc:Well, yeah, this is like I'm seeing the things that you're made of.
Marc:You dated the criminal and you did children's theater.
Marc:Resilience.
Marc:I mean, who's going to hurt you?
Guest:This person has grit.
Guest:You understand?
Guest:I'll be the last man standing.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Like a cockroach.
Marc:So how does the Daily Show audition come about?
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:They were...
Guest:They were looking for a woman, actually.
Guest:They were looking for a woman, and they came to Toronto because of Second City.
Guest:They were like, there are some very quality women at Second City, so we will see those women and those women only.
Guest:I was not at Second City, but there weren't enough women at Second City at the time to fill the day.
Marc:Did you try to do Second City?
Guest:For sure.
Guest:And they would not have me.
Guest:Anyways, it's great.
Guest:So just to like beef out the day for the Daily Show producers, my agent was like, do you want to just go do this?
Guest:Do you want to do... It's like the John Daly Show with Stuart.
Guest:Have you heard of it?
Guest:I was very familiar with it.
Guest:I really liked it.
Guest:I love the show.
Guest:So...
Guest:I auditioned on the day in Toronto and then a few months later they had me come down to New York and then I got the job.
Guest:And then we did not, like Jason and I had a house.
Guest:I was like, don't you move down because they're for sure going to fire me soon.
Guest:So don't, let's not, let's not get rid of our stuff here.
Guest:You stay here.
Guest:I'll go check it out.
Guest:I'll be like the first team.
Yeah.
Guest:And they did not fire me.
Guest:And so then he did move down and then we've been living here ever since.
Guest:So we've been here since 2003.
Marc:Did you meet with John at first and he just kind of talked to you or?
Guest:No, we met.
Guest:I just went right into the studio.
Guest:They had a lot of people in that day.
Guest:And so I just showed up at the building.
Guest:I mean, I was very scared.
Guest:I didn't have anywhere to go in New York.
Guest:I like got off a plane and put on a sweaty shirt and sat in a Starbucks for two and a half hours or something like that.
Guest:I was like, I didn't have anywhere to be.
Guest:where am i and so i went to this they you would just come in and they'd be like here's your laugh mic and so they mic'd me up and i just went in and he was there at the desk and so i sat at the desk and i did a bit with him and that was it and then i left and as i was like leaving the building i noticed that there were closed circuit tv screens everywhere and they were just playing everyone's auditions the whole staff all
Guest:And I was like, oh my God, people just watched me.
Guest:Oh, horrible.
Guest:And then I got lost in the building getting out because once I was done and I gave them the laugh, they were like, bye.
Guest:And then I was like, I can't find my way out.
Guest:So I got lost in the stairwell.
Guest:And I finally found my way out.
Guest:And then they did hire me.
Marc:And you were there forever, right?
Guest:I was there forever for like 12 years or something like that.
Guest:Long time.
Guest:Long time.
Marc:And how did it work there?
Marc:I mean, I don't know that I've talked to anybody lately.
Marc:About that experience and certainly, you know, John will never talk to me ever because it's just not good with us.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:And so I don't know like what that process was or how much he was involved with the actual production.
Marc:I mean, you worked with guys I'm sure I know.
Marc:I'm sure.
Marc:Who were the segment producers you worked with mostly?
Marc:I'm trying to remember that guy's name that did all of those.
Marc:He was also a stand-up.
Guest:We had, there were different, there were really distinct departments in the show.
Guest:There was the field department and then there was kind of like the studio and writers department.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I really did a lot of like really where I cut my teeth was in the field department.
Guest:Just like going out, flying to some weird place, shooting for two days and coming back and piecing that all together.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so that department was small, but very, um,
Guest:uh what's the word like very bonded yeah we had our own process and for me that was my favorite part of doing the show because it was very it was very much an independent study project and certainly john was for sure involved especially at the end at the as we were editing the piece sure but it was it was very um expressive of like
Guest:how I felt or my approach to something as well as the producer.
Guest:It was very collaborative.
Guest:It was a super collaborative experience, which I really loved and still love.
Marc:Who were the producers that you work with the most?
Guest:Oh, Jim Margolis and Stu Miller and Ian Berger and Brennan Schroff.
Guest:People cycled through.
Guest:Bronwyn Epstein, she was great.
Guest:Kathy Egan, she was great.
Guest:lots of great people.
Marc:So you actually saw a lot of people coming, like you were this, you were always there.
Guest:A constant, yeah.
Marc:And you kind of trained producers that went on to do other things.
Guest:I think that's fair to say, but like at first they were training me, you know, it's a really long learning curve.
Guest:Like it's hard to get to know how to interview people.
Guest:You know that, like it's hard.
Yeah.
Marc:Well, especially to do it in a way that you're... It's not that you're going to manipulate it, but it's going to be framed a certain way.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:There's just a lot of layers to the conversation.
Guest:You're trying to be conversational.
Guest:You're trying to get information.
Guest:You're trying to build a story, and you're trying to do jokes.
Guest:There's just a lot of...
Marc:And most of the time, the subjects knew where you were coming from, correct?
Guest:They did.
Guest:Yeah, they did.
Guest:I didn't try to hide that too often.
Guest:I think at the beginning, I didn't really know.
Guest:I wasn't really on sure footing, so I didn't really know what I was doing.
Marc:But it's sort of interesting that some of them who like knew that they were going to be.
Marc:Not attacked, but framed a certain way, really had the confidence to think that they could sort of like hold their own.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:In the context.
Mm hmm.
Guest:People think that they're going to figure out what the bit is and that they're going to best you in whatever stupid bit you're trying to do, which they never really... But you get to edit it.
Guest:You get to edit it.
Guest:Yeah, you get to edit it.
Marc:It's crazy that they fall for it every time.
Guest:but also like my style or my approach.
Guest:And I really do believe this.
Guest:Like if you, and this really evolved because at the beginning, like the process of doing field pieces really changed a lot.
Guest:Like at first it was like, this is a stupid thing that's happening.
Guest:Let's make fun of this dumb thing.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It became a little more grounded.
Guest:I would say the process got more grounded.
Guest:And then yeah,
Guest:And we were doing higher stakes stories.
Guest:Like it wasn't just like a guy who knits cozies for his balls.
Guest:Like we weren't really doing stories like that anymore.
Guest:And so the stakes felt a little higher.
Guest:The stories were a lot more interesting and more political and had, you know, anyway, there were stakes involved.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:My approach to people was more like, well, you have an opinion about something.
Guest:You're very vocal about it.
Guest:I don't agree with you.
Guest:But if you're going to be very vocal about an odious opinion, you should at least defend your idea.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And often their defense of their bad idea, they would pretend that they'd been edited out of context.
Guest:But I'm like, no, you've provided the context.
Guest:This is how you feel.
Guest:If you don't like how it looks...
Guest:you should change how you feel because it does look bad because it's a bad idea.
Marc:Oh, so that became their defense is that, you know, if the final piece made them look like the idiots that they are, they blamed you for manipulating it.
Guest:Yes, yes.
Guest:But I'm like, well, you just have bad opinions.
Guest:If this is the first time you've ever seen your own opinions out loud,
Guest:Well, I'm sorry, but here you go.
Marc:It's so funny that those with the way that you guys would give things a little bit of air for comedic effect, like let things sit there.
Marc:Right.
Marc:You know, like that, you know, and they just are hoisted.
Marc:I guess that's the way you use that hoisted on their own petard by just by just their point of view and allowing it to to to sit there or just have a reaction to it.
Guest:Right.
Marc:And it's that easy.
Guest:So uncomfortable.
Guest:It's a terrible feeling.
Guest:Oh, it's awful.
Marc:Were there a lot of incidents where you felt either, not bad, but that it was like, this is not a good situation?
Guest:Well, I guess it depended on the subject themselves.
Guest:There were certainly times where I would love it, actually, to go into an interview and come out feeling personally changed by someone or just to feel like, I think I understand where this person is coming from.
Guest:And then...
Guest:You were also editing compassionately.
Guest:You also were editing to not ruin a person's life because people would make terrible mistakes in their interviews and come across much worse than they actually were.
Guest:Just sort of not.
Marc:So you wanted to balance that.
Guest:There's a balance that you could strike with people or people are very vulnerable when a camera is shining that lens in their face and there's lights everywhere.
Guest:It's like
Guest:it's really intimidating it's really hard to get used to for anyone even if that's your profession it's hard to get used to so right there was like there was a tenderness to the editing too it's not like we were in there like like the wild west going like yeah let's fuck you like there was definitely a lot of nuance and a lot of consideration when we were putting the pieces together
Marc:Well, yeah, because that was, you know, the tone of those pieces had to, you know, you wanted to keep getting people to do them.
Marc:Of course.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And there were enough people who would say things that were so awful that
Guest:That you just didn't want to like even amplify those ideas.
Guest:You just didn't want to give them the platform to say the things.
Marc:Well, that's a problem now with, you know, with an abundance of content and people willing to give voice to anybody thinking that, you know, just having a different point of view.
Marc:enough to counter it it's not anymore so you know if you give if you give platform to monsters monsters are gonna hear it and they're gonna be it's a victory for them yeah they feel attracted to that I mean there's such a thing as too much free speech she said yeah oh no I said that when with Twitter I was like me it wasn't it better when not everybody had a voice I mean
Guest:I feel like we could curate it a little better.
Marc:Exactly.
Guest:You know, if you want me to go in there and just clean it up a little, I'm happy to do that.
Guest:No problem.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:Me and my, I got a crew.
Marc:We'll go in, a cleaning crew.
Guest:We'll sweep it up.
Marc:So you were there for what, like 12, 13 years?
Guest:Yeah, 12 years.
Guest:Yeah, 12 years.
Marc:And then... And your relationship with John was always like sort of professional, like you didn't hang out?
Guest:No, we didn't hang out.
Guest:Always professional, like always very professional.
Guest:And...
Marc:I didn't mean that in a sordid way.
Marc:I just meant that you weren't friends outside of work.
Marc:No, no, no.
Guest:I know what you mean.
Guest:I definitely, when I was moving to New York, I was like, we're going to have so many pool parties.
Guest:And then I realized that we were coworkers.
Guest:He was my boss.
Guest:But he was really actually very generous in helping me to kind of figure out
Guest:what my point of view was in this world, I would say.
Guest:I felt like I had a real chance to explore.
Guest:I definitely felt like I got to explore some things that were really important to me.
Marc:Oh, interesting.
Marc:So you were coming from Canada with whatever your political point of view and whatever your relationship with American politics was.
Marc:Mm-hmm.
Marc:And you had to somehow get schooled on the nuance of things and the sort of point of view of the side that you were sympathetic towards.
Marc:And by giving you space or helping you learn these things, were these conversations or just suggestions around what you were coming in with?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:No, I think that really evolved over time.
Guest:So toward the end, I would say, toward the latter part of my tenure there, it was very... I guess I was more confident a performer, and it took me a long time to learn that craft.
Guest:So I just learned that I could actually flex those muscles and not...
Guest:And I could rely on myself.
Guest:I could rely on my own point of view.
Guest:And I could lean into it more.
Guest:And I had the freedom to do so.
Guest:And now, of course, I have total freedom to do that, which is totally different experience.
Guest:And I love it, but it was really great prep.
Marc:It was really great prep.
Marc:Yeah, and I just, so when you left, was it, did you leave because you were done or because you were, I mean, did you leave to do the other show?
Marc:Was that the plan?
Guest:Well, we, my husband and I worked there together.
Guest:He was also, of course, he also came to become a correspondent there, and we shared an office, and there were a lot of, like, periods of downtime there.
Marc:What's his name?
Guest:His name is Jason Jones.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:And we we knew like he's a very productive person.
Guest:He's a writer.
Guest:He is he's just like such a hard worker.
Guest:He's just always working on something.
Guest:He's just like built for work.
Yeah.
Guest:And I really admire that about him.
Marc:What's he doing right now?
Guest:He's literally working on a pitch for a show right now in the other room.
Guest:He's always doing that, like always doing that.
Guest:So we would take our time, like we would take our downtime when we were there and just be in the office together and be constantly writing and writing projects and and pitching on projects.
Guest:and going to the networks and pitching pilots and selling pilot scripts and film scripts and stuff like that.
Guest:We spent all of our downtime trying to sell something else.
Guest:Because we knew that eventually we would want our name on something.
Guest:We didn't know what form that would take.
Guest:We didn't know.
Marc:Did you sell stuff?
Marc:Did you actually sell movies or anything?
Guest:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Guest:We did.
Guest:They were never made.
Guest:And we sold a lot of pilot scripts.
Guest:And we sold pilot scripts as a duo.
Guest:But he also sold film scripts on his own and pilot scripts on his own.
Guest:So we were just always working on stuff and collaborating.
Guest:Because we wanted to take ownership.
Guest:do that job but to like put some foundational like to building blocks you know to a real career and in the end sort of like right around the time when john was getting ready to leave we did sell we sold a pilot scripted pilot to tbs uh like a show called the detour and
Guest:And it got greenlit.
Guest:So we made the pilot.
Guest:We actually got to film the pilot.
Guest:And that was the first time that that had ever happened.
Guest:And it was great.
Guest:It really was.
Marc:What was it?
Marc:It was a. It's called The Detour.
Guest:It's a half hour scripted comedy.
Guest:We did four seasons of it.
Guest:So it got.
Marc:Oh, you guys.
Marc:Oh, you did it.
Marc:But you were just producers.
Marc:You weren't in it.
Guest:Jason was in it.
Guest:He's the dad in the show.
Guest:It's an absolute, and I say this, it's such a funny show.
Guest:It's like so funny.
Guest:To me, it's a jewel box of a show.
Guest:There's only four seasons.
Guest:They're fucking great.
Guest:that's the right amount of seasons yep it was it's it's perfect um so we were leaving for that we actually were gonna leave and go make that show we were just waiting to see if it would get picked up and then john decided he was leaving and we were like well this is it everything's come together they picked up our show and we were we were leaving we just it was just the timing was perfect and then tbs also offered me my own show and so i said yes
Marc:and then that was it so we were gone at that point so you guys were already in business with tbs with the detour we were yeah yes we were and and you had it like you were you were the creator and executive producer of that yep and you had a you had a writer's room and you had a bunch of people doing it we did yeah yes i'm sorry i haven't seen it i don't watch a lot of things
Guest:No, I understand.
Guest:But it is really good.
Guest:And I think he would find it funny.
Marc:So when they gave you your own show, so you were now going to be a producer and a boss and the host of the show.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:That must have been a new thing for you.
Guest:Very new.
Guest:Very new.
Marc:So how did you tap?
Marc:How did you decide to put it together?
Marc:How did you hire the writer?
Marc:I think your producer is a guy I worked with briefly.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yes, Miles.
Guest:Yeah, you know Miles.
Marc:I do know Miles.
Guest:He's great.
Guest:He's been there since the beginning.
Guest:Alana Harkin's been there since the beginning, who I worked with in the Atomic Fireballs.
Guest:I definitely put together a small team of people and we just built out from there.
Guest:It was really intimidating.
Guest:It was really intimidating starting a show from nothing.
Guest:The network was super supportive.
Guest:They actually were...
Guest:Very supportive.
Guest:I won't say that I wasn't.
Guest:I mean, I just was like, just terrified until it launched until the day it launched.
Guest:So probably for about a year, I was had like nervous, just like Rolaids.
Guest:at all times, just like popping antacids, trying to keep my head above water.
Guest:And they really, even after the show started, it's a real journey, like going from being someone's employee to being people's boss is a whole different, it's a whole different situation.
Guest:It's hard.
Marc:But as a performer, you knew to play to your strengths.
Marc:You knew the area that you wanted to deal with.
Marc:You knew that you could do the stuff that you were great at.
Guest:I for sure didn't think that we would get past six episodes.
Guest:Like, for sure.
Guest:I was like, here's a great opportunity to try something and to be, like, really audacious with a point of view, and then we'll get canceled, but we'll have six, maybe we'll get, like, six episodes of this thing.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then this will be, like, a calling card.
Guest:You know, you, like, think of everything in terms of calling cards.
Guest:Uh-huh.
Guest:It's like a proof of concept for...
Guest:If someone wants to do something again in the future, but, um, anyway, it just, it, it, it worked like it, it was, it landed at the right time.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And, and I love it.
Guest:So who, you know, who knows?
Guest:Sometimes you just like stumble into things that don't seem like I wouldn't have said, it's not like I would have said when I was 25, I'm going to post a show one day.
Guest:I wouldn't have thought that in 1 billion years.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But I mean, the good thing about it is no matter how nervous you were, you were thoroughly prepared to do the type of show that you set out to do.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Right.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:And and it seems like, you know, over time and fairly quickly that, you know, you sort of you were able to pull pull together your own audience, but a lot of people already knew you.
Marc:pretty fucking well, I would think, over the time you were at The Daily Show.
Marc:I think so.
Marc:And I would think that the fact that John leaving and that show shifting into something different probably was helpful in some ways.
Guest:I think so.
Guest:I think it all kind of just the timing of it was really great.
Guest:The timing really worked out for sure.
Marc:And also I know that like, you know, you were part of at the beginning that you really had to take into consideration as all these shows do, these shows with comedic segments that that a lot of your audience was not going to watch in a traditional way.
Marc:They were going to watch online.
Marc:They were going to watch pieces.
Marc:They were going to.
Marc:Because I know that you seem to be ahead of the curve with people watching clips from your show.
Guest:yes well we knew that i mean it's just like it's also how i digest content like i don't i'm not i think i don't really sit down and watch a ton of tv like i don't really watch a lot of television i don't right yeah yeah i don't want to i just don't have a lot of investment in time like if you had a show like we're my whole family's watching lost right now we're just watching lost
Guest:in quarantine that's yeah we're so late to the party but my kids are into it and it's there's so many episodes it's a really good show for us to be watching i've never watched it yeah it's good for all of us during quarantine the kids like they look forward to it all day then we sit down there's 150 episodes or something like that so we always have something kind of at the end of the day together which is really nice but like
Guest:I would never watch that show if it was on week to week and I had to watch commercial.
Guest:Like, I don't digest things that way.
Guest:I don't go, let me wait for next week's.
Guest:Oh, I wonder what will happen in seven days.
Guest:Like, I don't...
Guest:I don't have the attention span.
Marc:I like that still.
Marc:I mean, I like it when shows are released.
Marc:Yeah, because if I, I mean, there are shows in my life, like when The Sopranos was on, I was excited about Sundays.
Marc:That's true.
Marc:Same with Mad Men.
Guest:It's rare these days, though.
Marc:Sure, Breaking Bad.
Marc:It was like, I can't, you know.
Marc:But I liked watching things like that.
Marc:I don't like binge watching because I can't stop and, you know, you end up staying up all night.
Marc:It's ridiculous.
Marc:It's like, you know, give me the week.
Right.
Marc:But, but yeah, I know what you're saying.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So maybe we chopped it up partially because of my own attention span.
Guest:Cause I'm like, can you entertain me in three minutes?
Marc:No, but you have to be aware of it.
Marc:I mean, I mean, there has to be some level where you're like, you know, your online presence has to, you know, I mean, as a boss, did you, you know, and in working with the network, did you have to put a whole other team in place to do that number?
Yeah.
Guest:We do have a digital team, but it's really small.
Guest:It's still, like, a pretty scrappy show.
Guest:Like, I think we're, like, still kind of a scrappy size.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And our departments are small but highly functional.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So it's not like we have, like, a home base of, like, at the network level, people putting out our content.
Guest:We're still, like...
Guest:piecing it together ourselves and we're like let's put some copy on this and send it out and let's see what happens with this you know right um but i think that's a that's a good place for us to be i like good scrappy scrappy so in is your mom still around and everything she is she lives very far away she lives yeah she lives on a very remote island off the coast of vancouver island she's like she's composting up there
Guest:For sure.
Guest:I mean, like with worms and everything.
Marc:Oh, great.
Marc:Like the worms.
Marc:But does she like the show?
Marc:Does she watch you?
Guest:I actually don't know if she watches it all that much.
Guest:She's not a person that can really be...
Guest:contain you know it's it's hard to just she's hard to describe like sometimes she'll go what was that blouse and that's the that's the only text i get like what were you thinking why so many flies around your face like as we're shooting it in the as we're shooting it in the backyard there's like gnats everywhere because it's really moist right now oh really so you see how you gotta deal with the bugs yeah there's like bugs and stuff
Marc:Oh, and the summer's not going to get any better.
Guest:No, it's going to be different bugs flying around, biting things.
Guest:We're going to be in this for a while, it seems.
Guest:It feels like it's going to take a long time.
Guest:I don't know what's going to happen.
Guest:Nobody does.
Marc:It's not a great feeling, is it?
Guest:Not really.
Guest:Not really.
Guest:Don't love uncertainty.
Guest:I like to know things.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And no regimens.
Marc:You've got to create new patterns.
Guest:I'm just going to go to law school.
Guest:Pursue my first love for law.
Marc:Online.
Marc:You're going to go to law school online finally?
Marc:That's right.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:I think the lost idea for a family that's never watched, it's a very good idea.
Marc:Did you come up with that yourself?
No.
Guest:I feel like that could have been a genius Jason move because I wouldn't have thought of that.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I feel like that's a Jason special.
Marc:To find an old show that has hundreds of episodes.
Marc:Hundreds of episodes.
Marc:That an entire family can watch.
Guest:That's right.
Marc:God, that's good thinking.
Guest:That's smart.
Guest:That's good parenting.
Guest:That's quarantine parenting.
Marc:It is.
Marc:That's the finest.
Marc:Let's see.
Marc:I'm going to take a picture of us.
Marc:I did it.
Guest:You did it.
Marc:It just happened.
Marc:I love it.
Marc:It just happened.
Marc:I like it.
Marc:It was great talking to you, Samantha.
Guest:Hey, this is a real pleasure.
Guest:You're a pleasure to talk to, sir.
Marc:I think it worked out pretty good.
Guest:It was great.
Guest:Really good.
Marc:It's like, it's really, it's different.
Marc:It's, it's new for me to do this.
Guest:In this way without, without.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I get, I get so nervous when I get, I'm already anxious, you know, but like you could, but when, even if I don't know a lot about somebody, if they come over, there's a thing where, you know, like it becomes an organic thing.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:When you're just like, you're in your environment.
Marc:I know.
Marc:I mean, Cate Blanchett, her son was playing with his phone right next to her during our interview.
Marc:I'm like, I just see an elbow and I'm like, what's happening?
Guest:Oh, my God.
Marc:I have no control over this situation.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Was Cate Blanchett nice?
Guest:Is she nice?
Guest:I really think she's great.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Okay.
Marc:She's very bright, very intellectual.
Marc:She seems nice, but well guarded.
Marc:We'll take a couple shots of you out of the gate just to establish a certain dominance.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:I love her.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:That's great.
Marc:She gets on.
Marc:She's like, are you in your basement?
Marc:And I'm like, no.
Guest:Oh.
Marc:Oh.
Marc:You know, kind of like right out of the gate, like, all right, let's go.
Marc:This is where I am.
Marc:Now you can, you know, come at me.
Marc:All right.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Exciting.
Guest:Titillating.
Marc:But it was great talking to you, and thank you for doing it.
Guest:Thank you for having me.
Guest:It's a pleasure.
Marc:I'll see you soon in person somewhere.
Guest:All right.
Guest:See you later.
Marc:That was Samantha Bee.
Marc:Again, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.
Marc:It airs Wednesday nights at 10.30, 9.30 Central on TBS.
Marc:I'm going to play this piece that Lynn liked.
Marc:It's just an extended riff on a similar thing I did for the last piece in the film, Sword of Trust.
Marc:I miss Lynn.
Marc:I miss Lynn Shelton.
Marc:Thank you for everything.
guitar solo
.
Guest:.
.
.
guitar solo
Marc:Boomer lives.