Episode 1325 - Vanessa Bayer
Guest:Lock the gates!
Marc:All right, let's do this.
Marc:How are you, what the fuckers?
Marc:What the fuck, buddies?
Marc:What the fuck, Knicks?
Marc:What's happening?
Marc:How's it going?
Marc:Are you all right?
Marc:How's that thing?
Marc:Did you clean it?
Marc:I mean, is it good now?
Marc:Is it going to work?
Marc:How's that?
Marc:Did you fix that thing in the car?
Marc:What did you do, man?
Marc:What did you do?
Marc:How did you fuck that up?
Marc:Jesus, what the fuck happened?
Marc:I thought you had that under control.
Marc:Happy birthday.
Marc:I'm sorry.
Marc:I'm sorry.
Marc:That sounds terrible.
Marc:No, that's terrible.
Marc:How's the doggy?
Marc:How's the doggy?
Marc:Hey, look, I'm Mark Merond.
Marc:I mentioned that.
Marc:I'm in Madison, Wisconsin at the Barrymore Theater.
Marc:That'll be Wednesday, April 27th.
Marc:That's this Wednesday.
Marc:I'll be in Milwaukee at the Turner Hall Ballroom on Thursday, April 28th.
Marc:I'll be in Chicago at the Vic Theater on Friday, April 29th.
Marc:And then Minneapolis at the Pantages on Saturday, April 30th.
Marc:I am a road dog.
Marc:Damn.
Marc:You can go to WTF pod dot com slash tour for ticket links and other info.
Marc:Look, Vanessa Bayer is on the show.
Marc:You know her from her seven years on Saturday Night Live.
Marc:She's also from Trainwreck.
Marc:She was in that.
Marc:She has a new series on Showtime called I Love That For You, which is somewhat inspired by what she went through in her life when she was diagnosed with leukemia in her teens.
Marc:She's an odd duck, but I love her.
Marc:I had a nice chat with her, so that's going to be happening.
Marc:Let's go back.
Marc:Let's take it back.
Marc:The last time I talked to you, I was about to do The Tonight Show.
Marc:Man, it's been a whirlwind.
Marc:I did The Tonight Show on Tuesday.
Marc:It was great.
Marc:I got Jimmy laughing.
Marc:That's all you want to do on The Tonight Show.
Marc:Get Jimmy laughing.
Marc:Wake Jimmy up.
Marc:Come on, Jimmy.
Marc:Let's laugh a little bit.
Marc:And I got him.
Marc:I got in there.
Marc:I got him laughing and we had a good time.
Marc:It was funny, though.
Marc:It was funny because they told me, like, look, we've got a long time.
Marc:You got like eight minutes out there.
Marc:I'm like, all right.
Marc:They're like, yeah, we cut a few jokes here and then we did something.
Marc:I'm like, great.
Marc:So we're doing it.
Marc:And I set up and do the old head bit and I do a couple other bits.
Marc:But the idea initially was to call back the old head bit with the with the record store bit.
Marc:But he threw to the to the bad guys clip, which is what I was there to promote.
Marc:It's fine.
Marc:And while the bad guys clip is going, he's like, good job, man.
Marc:Great.
Marc:And I'm like, are we done?
Marc:He's like, yeah, I'm running the clip.
Marc:I'm like, we didn't do the record store.
Marc:With the old guy head callback.
Marc:And he's like, do you think they'll remember?
Marc:I'm like, yeah.
Marc:I mean, it was like three minutes ago.
Marc:I think they'll remember.
Marc:And he's like, all right.
Marc:And I'm like, why?
Marc:You don't think so?
Marc:He's like, no, let's just do it.
Marc:And if it doesn't work, we'll just cut it.
Marc:And then we did it.
Marc:We came back.
Marc:We did that last bit.
Marc:And I landed the callback.
Marc:He's like, we got the show ended.
Marc:He's like, you landed it.
Marc:You know how to land it.
Marc:I do.
Marc:I can.
Marc:I can land that fucker.
Marc:I can put this thing down on occasion.
Marc:So, yes, that was fun.
Marc:I went, I took Sam Whipside up there.
Marc:And then after the Tonight Show, we went to the Greek restaurant, Kid Clyde's.
Marc:I forgot to mention that before that, I woke up in New York City and I'm like, fuck, I got to get to the Whitney Biennial.
Marc:I'm a Whitney member because I think it's important to support the arts.
Marc:And I got up and I got there at opening time.
Marc:And I spent an hour at the biennial, took it all in.
Marc:Very eclectic bunch of stuff.
Marc:A lot of different stuff.
Marc:A lot of, it's just, I don't want to say a hodgepodge.
Marc:It's a carefully curated hodgepodge of things, large things, some very large things.
Marc:But I think that's the idea of the biennial.
Marc:You're sort of like, wow, this is a lot.
Marc:And I'm not sure I understand a lot of it, but I'm glad it's all here.
Marc:I'm glad people are out there making stuff that I don't understand because maybe someday I will.
Marc:And maybe some people do.
Marc:And maybe this is just a vision the artist had.
Marc:And it's beyond understanding.
Marc:Maybe we should just ride it to another plane.
Marc:Wake up, man.
Marc:And that night I got tickets.
Marc:My agent set me up with house seats over at American Buffalo with Sammy Rockwell and Larry Fishburne.
Marc:I know Sammy.
Marc:We're in the number one box office movie right now.
Marc:Sammy and I are in the the the number one movie at the box office today.
Marc:So I watched him in American Buffalo, which I hadn't seen for years when I saw Al Pacino in it.
Marc:And when Al Pacino did it at the Schubert in Boston, all I remember is Al Pacino, center stage, walking around with his hands on his hips, yelling, and they just gave him the full reign of the fucking play.
Marc:And this one, it seems a little more engaged.
Marc:Fishburne's Donnie's up and around.
Marc:Rockwell's moved around the junkie kids in and out.
Marc:But Rockwell owned it as good as I've seen it, and I've only seen it once, maybe twice, once on television.
Marc:But he did a great teach, worth seeing.
Marc:But it's weird.
Marc:It's not as heavy a play as I remember it, because I remember it being much heavier.
Marc:But there's a comedic element going through it.
Marc:But it's also, at the end, it's not tragic.
Marc:It's just sort of losers.
Marc:Just amateur thieves.
Marc:There's no follow through to it.
Marc:It's kind of a ridiculous empty ending.
Marc:But that thing moves.
Marc:It's not a long play, but Jesus, it just flew by.
Marc:And it was great to see Sam.
Marc:Afterwards, I said hi.
Marc:Clark Gregg was there.
Marc:I said hi to Sam.
Marc:I met Lawrence Fishburne, which was exciting.
Marc:And then they all drove away in a limo.
Marc:And me and Sam were standing there going like, I guess we're done.
Marc:I guess that's it for us.
Marc:And Sammy went home.
Marc:So that was the New York business.
Marc:So then I fly from New York to Austin.
Marc:I do Big Jay Oakerson show that night.
Marc:It's just a dirty story show where I chose to make it dirty.
Marc:For some reason, I get around Big Jay.
Marc:I'm like, I got to be filthy.
Marc:Big J brings out the filth in me.
Marc:What can I tell you?
Marc:So I do that.
Marc:And I go hang out, see a bunch of comics, had some food.
Marc:And that night I did the Paramount.
Marc:And it was great.
Marc:It was great.
Marc:Great crowd in Austin.
Marc:Alejandro Escovito came out.
Marc:I'd never met him before.
Marc:Bruce Hills brought him and introduced me.
Marc:He knew of me, said I was a good guitar player, said I'm a big fan of all the records, gave me his new record, hung out, enjoyed the show.
Marc:I believe Chuck Woolery came with Kristen, who owns Opie's.
Marc:That happens.
Marc:He can handle it.
Marc:And who else was there?
Marc:My ex-wife, my first ex-wife lives in Austin.
Marc:Her and her husband came.
Marc:It was nice.
Marc:It was all good.
Marc:Everything's okay.
Marc:I'm getting emotional.
Marc:I'm getting older.
Marc:I'm getting emotional.
Marc:I don't know how long it goes on for.
Marc:I do not know.
Marc:Did I mention I had borscht at Veselka?
Marc:I didn't mention that.
Marc:In New York, I also went to Veselka, took care of that business.
Marc:Four pierogies, bowl of hot borscht, which is pretty fucking good.
Marc:And I think a little money gets kicked back to Ukraine from the borscht because it's a Ukrainian restaurant.
Marc:And I had some kasha with gravy.
Marc:I did the business.
Marc:I did the food business and now I'm pig fat.
Marc:Because I ate a lot of pig fat and beef fat.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:What am I talking about?
Marc:You guys, Austin was great.
Marc:Had a minor, minor problem with a drunky woman.
Marc:And I was like, what's the matter?
Marc:And someone behind this woman points her to go.
Marc:She keeps talking.
Marc:And then the drunky woman goes, well, this bitch.
Marc:I'm like, all right.
Marc:OK, OK, let's let's everybody relax.
Marc:Let's pull it together.
Marc:Get hold of yourself.
Marc:Handle your liquor.
Marc:Please.
Marc:Please, lady.
Marc:And she used to look at me like she was going to cry.
Marc:And then I proposed.
Marc:It was very funny in context.
Marc:And from what I understood, she did cry.
Marc:But one crying lady at a performance is, that's a success.
Marc:There could have been more crying ladies.
Marc:And I wasn't even mean to her.
Marc:That's how I know that maybe I'm evolving somehow.
Marc:Maybe.
Maybe.
Marc:I'm evolving somehow.
Marc:When I left that show, I was walking out and African-American woman, middle-aged woman, maybe in her late 30s, not middle-aged.
Marc:She stops me and she says, that was a great show.
Marc:And I really appreciate you handling that woman empathetically, which I did because I could have just like leveled her.
Marc:And I've done that.
Marc:I could have just destroyed her with the horrible mean funny.
Marc:But I just went with it like, okay, let's just behave like grownups.
Marc:Let's manage the situation.
Marc:Come on, get hold of ourselves.
Marc:Come on.
Marc:Maybe I'm not that guy anymore.
Marc:But I don't know.
Marc:I could have been.
Marc:It just depends.
Marc:But I think the tone I'm taking is not that.
Marc:And I went again up with no opener.
Marc:It was spectacular.
Marc:I don't know what it is.
Marc:Maybe I'm just...
Marc:It's just the idea like I'm pretty present and I'm actually I'm actually fearless up there and I'm not pretending to be.
Marc:I feel like I'm at the top of my game and and there's a lot of riffing and going on.
Marc:It's just there's something about owning it, owning the whole thing.
Marc:And the work is good because I I feel like at this stage of my life.
Marc:I can't look at it as just a job.
Marc:It's not a job.
Marc:It's something much more important to me.
Marc:And I think it's important what I do.
Marc:But I don't know if there's any indication of that necessarily in the bigger, broader cultural sense.
Marc:But I don't know what relevance means in that sense anyways.
Marc:So I'm just sort of tempering the thing to understand and appreciate the audience I have and the skill set that I have and the sort of creativity that I'm putting into it.
Marc:and trying to have a good time.
Marc:And it's kind of working, he said, because he's had a string of good shows.
Marc:Talk to me the next time I'm in a hotel room.
Marc:Sadly being in a hotel room, doing what one does sadly in a hotel room.
Marc:Talk to me when that happens.
Marc:So Vanessa Bayer, I had a lovely time with her.
Marc:I like her.
Marc:She's an odd, funny person.
Marc:And her new series, I Love That For You, is an odd, funny series.
Marc:It premieres this Friday, April 29th on Showtime.
Marc:And I talked to her.
Marc:I talked to her.
Marc:I'm going to share it with you right now.
Marc:Right now.
Marc:Right now.
Marc:All right, let me see if I can actually turn off all my bells and ringers.
Marc:I don't know how to turn the one off on here.
Marc:It's the weirdest thing.
Marc:Like, I can, okay, I'll turn the phone off.
Marc:That's done.
Marc:But where's the volume on this new, I don't understand what's happening.
Guest:I use a Shure on my podcast and I feel so professional.
Marc:You do?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Do you use that one?
Guest:No.
Guest:Mine's not as cool as this, but it makes me feel like I'm doing something right.
Marc:Well, okay.
Marc:But I mean like, you know, they make all of the microphones.
Marc:I didn't know that.
Marc:They make every one.
Marc:Do you use like something that looks like a stage mic?
Guest:Actually, it might be this.
Guest:It's like this, except it's not attached this way to this thing.
Marc:Oh, it's on a stand?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's on one of these things.
Marc:Okay.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So I guess.
Marc:Oh, I see.
Marc:So it's probably this mic.
Guest:It might be.
Marc:What's your podcast?
Guest:I just started it with my brother, who's also a big fan of yours.
Guest:It's called How Did We Get Weird?
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And what's the angle?
Guest:We talk about nostalgic stuff.
Marc:Oh, yeah?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Like how far back?
Guest:Like pretty far back.
Marc:But your lifetime, not before that.
Guest:But if our guests want to.
Marc:Oh, so you have someone come in.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Who have you had on there so far?
Guest:We just had Michael Showalter.
Guest:He just came out.
Guest:That came out yesterday.
Marc:Oh, it did?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And that's the first one?
Guest:No, that was the 30th one, I think.
Marc:Oh, okay.
Guest:Yeah, but pretty new.
Marc:Showalter.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:I know that guy.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:He directed that movie.
Marc:He's directed a few movies, but he directed the Tammy Faye Baker movie.
Guest:I know.
Marc:She was so fucking good in that.
Guest:I know.
Guest:I got to see it.
Marc:You didn't see it?
Marc:Well, it's one of those weird times where I didn't pay that much attention to the Oscars, although I was watching.
Marc:But I was like, she's got to win.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:I'd heard she's incredible.
Marc:It was that crazy.
Guest:She's so good.
Marc:She is.
Marc:Do you know her?
Guest:I don't know her.
Marc:No?
Guest:No.
Marc:Do you live here?
Guest:I moved here three years ago.
Marc:Really?
Guest:Yeah, from New York.
Marc:And how's it going?
Marc:How's the transition?
Guest:I love it here.
Marc:You do?
Guest:Yeah, I really love it.
Marc:Do you ever think about New York?
Guest:No.
Marc:I hardly ever do.
Guest:Once I left New York, I was like, it's so hard to live here.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like right before I moved, but I was like, I gotta get out of here and I never come back.
Guest:Really?
Guest:I mean, I like going back to visit.
Marc:It's fun.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:But it's just so hard to live there.
Guest:It's so easy to live here.
Marc:I guess, well, yeah, if you're acclimated suburbanly.
Guest:Yeah, I guess.
Marc:If you're used to having a driver's license and stuff like that.
Marc:So a lot of people come out here, they're like, I don't know how to drive.
Marc:And I'm like, well, you got to leave.
Marc:There's no, you're not going to make it here.
Guest:When I moved here, I hadn't really driven regularly since high school.
Marc:But you have it in you.
Guest:Yeah, I have it in me.
Marc:Yeah, and you grew up where you had to drive.
Guest:Yes, exactly.
Marc:I guess most people do, but some people it's kind of odd and they kind of gravitate to the one or two blocks that remind them of New York.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Everybody who moves here moves over there by the Gelson's and over on Franklin.
Guest:Right, right, right, right.
Marc:There's a little strip there with a bookstore.
Guest:That's what I did.
Marc:How many times did you walk over there to the Gelsons?
Guest:I mean, I moved to Larchmont, so I could be, yeah, same thing.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:So you can walk out, and then you know that one or two blocks really well.
Guest:Yeah, and everything's there.
Guest:My eye doctor, you know what I mean?
Marc:So you live there now.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Okay.
Guest:And I love it.
Guest:It's a little New York there.
Marc:Like Larchmont Village.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You got the bad bagels.
Guest:And the good bagels.
Marc:Oh, is there good bagels now?
Guest:I think that, well, there's Noah's and Sam's.
Marc:I don't know what Sam's is, but Noah's is okay, right?
Marc:I don't eat a lot of bagels.
Guest:Who eats bagels?
Marc:Well, we did when we were kids.
Marc:Yeah, right.
Marc:I mean, it was important.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:When I lived in New York, that place, what was it?
Marc:B&B or H&H?
Guest:Yeah, yes.
Marc:You remember that one that had those heavy, dense bagels?
Marc:Yes.
Marc:And you had to go downtown to get them?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, I ate so many.
Guest:When I was on SNL, I would sleep in and order in a bagel sandwich the next day.
Guest:And then I would order in something else for dinner.
Guest:Bagel?
Guest:Yeah, I mean, where'd you grow up?
Guest:In Cleveland, a suburb of Cleveland.
Guest:For real Cleveland?
Yeah.
Guest:Just suburban, like Shaker.
Guest:I'm actually not from Shaker, but that's the suburb near me that everybody knows.
Marc:Yeah, I don't know if I understand Cleveland.
Marc:Was it alive when you were a kid?
Marc:Did your family be like, we're going into the city to eat?
Guest:I mean, the thing is, when people say they're from Cleveland, they're usually from a suburb.
Guest:And they're really nice suburbs.
Marc:I think Ohio's a pretty state.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And there's nice restaurants and stuff to do, but you rarely go downtown, especially when you're a kid.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I have friends that like live there now as adults.
Guest:And when you live there as an adult, you say like you go like you should see what they're doing there now.
Guest:Like everyone in Cleveland is like always like Cleveland's really doing it now.
Marc:It's really coming around.
Marc:There's three blocks that are great.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, it is, has, you know, Michael Simon in restaurants and- Yeah, I know.
Marc:I mean, when I used to play over there at whatever that- Oh, yeah.
Marc:The Laugh Stop.
Marc:What's over there?
Marc:Nick's, I forget the name of the- It's a nice comedy club.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Now it's going to bother me.
Guest:Well, there's an improv there, which I did very- And then there's Hilarities?
Marc:Hilarities.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, Hilarities.
Marc:The improv, you did-
Guest:I did a stand-up show there once, and all my friends and family came.
Marc:Oh, so when you were younger?
Guest:It was really nice.
Guest:Yeah, it was probably 10 years ago.
Marc:Oh, so not kid young.
Marc:Not kid young, but yeah.
Marc:The big return.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:She's coming home.
Marc:She's working the club.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:But yeah, Michael Simon's restaurant's there, and his sous chef had a restaurant there that I loved, but he closed it.
Marc:Greenhouse Tavern, it was called.
Guest:Okay, okay, yeah.
Marc:It was right down the street from the one on that area, you know, that block?
Yeah.
Guest:Of Cleveland where there's like cobblestone stuff.
Guest:And the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Guest:Have you been there?
Marc:I have gotten there.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:It's nice.
Marc:You know, it's like, it's nice.
Marc:I saw, you know, yeah.
Marc:I mean, if you like that stuff, I mean, of course.
Guest:The costumes in the basement.
Marc:I'm not going to be a dick about it.
Marc:It's nice.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:I like seeing all the outfits and the guitars.
Guest:Also, Clevelanders are very nice.
Marc:I think so.
Marc:It's my experience.
Marc:I haven't had any bad times in Cleveland.
Marc:And I went to that weird corned beef place.
Marc:There's a corned beef place.
Marc:If you do radio in the morning, they're like, let's go get corned beef.
Marc:I'm like, for breakfast?
Marc:Yeah, it's at this place.
Marc:I forget what it's called.
Marc:Do you know that place?
Marc:I don't know about the corned beef place.
Marc:You don't?
Marc:Come on.
Guest:Well, there's Davis Bakery and Corky and Lenny's and stuff.
Marc:Well, that sounds like Jewish world.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Yeah, no, hold on.
Guest:This is like a... When is corned beef not part of Jewish world?
Marc:When it's part of Irish world.
Guest:Oh, got it.
Guest:Right, right, right, right, right.
Guest:That's a really, really good point.
Marc:Slimans.
Marc:It's called Slimans Restaurant and Deli.
Guest:This is something that I'm sure my brother and my parents know about.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:It's all corned beef.
Marc:Breakfast, lunch, dinner.
Guest:Got it.
Marc:It sounds like it's Jewish.
Marc:Slimans sounds Jewish.
Marc:How Jewish were you?
Guest:Well, we went to like a reformed temple, but my brother and I both got bar and bat mitzvahed.
Marc:Reform temple?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Guitar?
Marc:Was there a guitar?
Guest:That's so funny.
Guest:Guitar playing rabbi.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:No, not really.
Marc:Was that a character you almost did on the setup?
Guest:I wish I had.
Guest:I really wish I had.
Guest:But we actually were more religious than...
Guest:My brother and I have talked about when we think back, like we went to temple every Sunday and then we both, I think, at least I got confirmed.
Guest:So I got bat mitzvahed and then I did like Monday nights until I was like 16.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So you did it.
Marc:But Sunday, that's a red flag.
Marc:You went to temple every Sunday.
Guest:Well, every Sunday, yeah.
Marc:That's a little weird.
Guest:Is that weird?
Guest:Right, because there's Saturday.
Marc:It's Friday and Saturday, right?
Marc:Friday night, Saturday.
Guest:Well, that's funny, because my dad was like, I used to go on Saturday.
Guest:We went on Sundays.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:Was there a choir?
Guest:No, I wasn't that involved in it.
Marc:I just had Adam Ray on here, and he was a reform in Pacific Northwest, and he was like, there was a choir.
Marc:And I'm like, did you believe in Jesus, too, or no?
No.
Marc:And then someone just wrote me.
Marc:It's like, there's many choirs in the Jewish, or whatever.
Guest:Yeah, choir feel, yeah, we didn't have.
Marc:But you went on Sunday.
Guest:But we went on Sunday, but then when I was like, after I got bat mitzvahed, I'd go on Monday night.
Guest:Or before I got, until I was like 16, I went on Monday nights.
Marc:But I think that probably has to do with the fact that it's a big part of your social group.
Guest:Well, it was interesting because I feel like it was, um, it was the time that I felt like I could kind of act out.
Guest:Like they would give us, I would talk during Monday night temple and then they would give us homework and I'd be like, uh, what am I going to do?
Guest:Fail temple?
Marc:I'm not doing this.
Guest:Where I was like such a, I was so studious in regular school.
Marc:Are you going to kick me out of the religion?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I was like, what am I gonna get an F in Temple?
Marc:Guess what, I don't care.
Guest:So a lot of, yeah, it was kind of where I was, I guess it was where I was my coolest.
Marc:Yeah, well, yeah, I made, I actually, I remember making at least one Hebrew school teacher cry because I was such a pain in the ass.
Marc:I was so hilarious.
Guest:You get to really test out your comedy.
Marc:She couldn't control me.
Guest:Do you remember any of your best bits that you did in Temple?
Marc:No, I just know that I would hijack the situation.
Marc:I don't I can't even I don't know really fully what a terror I was really up until like five years ago.
Marc:Like I can't I don't I don't think my brain does it.
Marc:Yeah, I do remember the teachers clearly.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And I just remember I don't know if I was funny or just completely disruptive.
Guest:Yeah, right, right, right, right.
Marc:I mean, I don't know if the rest of the kids were like, Jesus, what's wrong with this guy?
Marc:Why don't his parents do something about this?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Do you remember your bits?
Guest:I just remember... Did you do characters?
Guest:Not in... But, like, I just remember we would talk all the time and just... I think my main bit was I kind of already did it for you, which was we would get homework assignments and I'd be like, guess what?
Marc:I'm not going to do that.
Marc:The rebel bit.
Guest:I bet to the teachers I was, like, probably pretty...
Marc:Okay.
Guest:Fine.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But to me, I was like, I'm being a real piece of work.
Marc:What did your parents do?
Guest:My dad was, he worked at like a hoist and crane company when we were younger.
Guest:And then he started his own small business, like a packaging company.
Marc:Really?
Guest:That my brother's friends would like work at over the summer and stuff.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Packaging?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Like a UPS store?
Guest:Like shrink wrapping stuff.
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:Very specific packaging.
Guest:Yeah, kind of shrink wrapping and putting just really specific little jobs.
Marc:So how much stuff did your brother shrink wrap for fun?
Guest:Yeah, he and his friends would just mess around and like, yeah, totally shrink wrap.
Guest:Yeah, you could get into a lot of trouble there.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:They would really mess around.
Marc:And that was a good business for him, the shrink wrapping?
Guest:Yeah, he actually just kind of finally sold it all off, like very recently.
Marc:Really?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:What a weird niche.
Marc:Like, I don't understand these.
Marc:I don't know what a job is, really.
Marc:When I really think about the idea of having one, like a real job, and then like opening a business and deciding that that's something that specific, that there's a niche for this, like there's a gap in the shrink-wrapping world of packaging.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And then that's, is that a passion?
Marc:I guess it's like the difference between having a work, doing what you do because you're passionate about it or doing what you do to be successful at it so you can do your passions elsewhere.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Well, I think he had a similar thing where he was sort of, when he opened his business, I think he was sort of done having like a boss.
Marc:Right.
Guest:He like was, he never really had a, and he was like, I can't, like, he didn't have to like dress up for any, like, and so he just, um,
Guest:Yeah, I think he just he opened this business and then his employees were like, you know, some of them were like in and out of jail and they were sort of like borrow money from him.
Guest:And it was like a whole it was like a real like he specifically hired specific ex-cons.
Marc:I mean, there was this world.
Guest:There were some ex-cons there.
Guest:And I remember.
Marc:Was that charity or just sort of no one wanted to shrink?
Marc:I think it was sort of both.
Guest:I think it was sort of both.
Guest:And yeah, my brother and I always wanted to start like a reality show of his work because we thought it was so interesting.
Guest:But just the logistics of it, especially because we were both in New York, how would we have gotten the production going?
Marc:Yeah, to document the ex-cons of the shrink-wrapping business.
Marc:So I watched a new show, and I didn't really realize at first, because I'm not great at homework until day of.
Marc:I get it.
Marc:It's so hard to do homework, isn't it?
Marc:No, look, I wasn't worried about you.
Marc:I'm reading all of Harvey Fierstein's books, because I didn't want to go into one of the biggest guys in modern theater and be like, so what do you do?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But I watched the episodes they sent me of I Love That For You.
Guest:Oh, great.
Marc:Great.
Marc:And it was funny and it was weird because you're funny and weird in a good way.
Guest:No, I know I'm very weird.
Marc:How long have you been weird?
Guest:Forever, I think.
Guest:I've been weird.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:But the whole background of the character is that she had cancer when she was a kid.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And then I should have known that you had cancer when you were a kid.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So this is sort of like you created this out of your own experience somehow.
Marc:Right.
Marc:That, you know, you decided the world would be the Home Shopping Network or whatever, whichever.
Marc:What is it called?
Marc:Is it the home?
Guest:Ours is called SVN.
Marc:But, you know, it's based on basically the celebrity world.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:The Home Shopping Network.
Marc:And this is your aspiration.
Marc:And your hook is cancer.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And it's back.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But it's not back.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I'm lying.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But it's like, does it help when you like because this is something you could do.
Marc:Like when I did my show, the last season was not, you know, I'm a recovered alcoholic drug addict person.
Marc:But in the last season, I relapsed and it was weird.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So when you do this based on the fact that you did have cancer, do you feel horrendous about it or scared in a way?
Guest:No, a couple people have said to me, like, are you worried that you're like tempting fate?
Guest:And I'm like, not really, but maybe I should.
Guest:I don't know.
Marc:Well, not tempting fate, but there is a like, you know, you could because you come from that, you could really do that.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And it's like it's a horrendous lie.
Guest:Well, it's something that like when we started doing it, I used to do.
Guest:Now, I feel like a little silly talking to you about when I used to do stand up more because I feel like you're such a stand up and I'm done like two shows.
Marc:That's right.
Marc:You got out.
Marc:You're lucky.
Marc:But look, you found a way.
Guest:But but I used to do it about the fact that like when I was a sick teenager, because I was diagnosed when I was 15, I used to like use it for all kinds of things.
Guest:Like I would come into school late all the time.
Guest:And like, you know, our attendance woman was really strict and she would just give me a complete pass.
Guest:And she was like, take care of yourself.
Guest:And I would be late because I was like watching TV.
Guest:I was like doing normal.
Guest:all teenage things but she just you know and then like I said I told someone I couldn't go to like the homecoming dance with them because I had to get chemo that weekend and then like I just like you and my dad like almost got a speeding ticket once and then he just said he was thinking about his daughter like we all used you know what I mean so I feel like that was such a like perk of it and of course it's like you know there were also very difficult moments of it but it's like I got so much out of it in a positive way that it was like working people's feelings
Guest:But I truly think that, like, if someone is going through a traumatic time, they've earned that.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:And it's like, I think, like, you get to, like, use it for as much as you can, kind of.
Guest:And then I think this character is, like, misses that and is like, I want that stuff back.
Marc:Well, yeah, you established that pretty well, I thought, with the kid version of you.
Marc:Right, right, right.
Marc:Like, even the nurses don't like.
Yeah.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:You're just working everybody because of the cancer.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So you got it when you were 15?
Guest:Yeah, I was 15.
Guest:I was diagnosed over like spring break of ninth grade.
Marc:What were the symptoms?
Guest:I kept getting this like this like headache in one side of my head, like by my left eye.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I was like just had sort of like cold and flu symptoms, but they weren't going away.
Guest:And so at first they thought it was like an eye infection.
Guest:And then I just I took like prednisone steroids, you know, and it went away and then it came back and they and then they diagnosed it.
Marc:That's always the first course these days.
Marc:What's with the steroids?
Marc:I know.
Marc:I don't remember them growing up, but now like, you know, let's try steroids on that.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Because they think everything's inflammation.
Guest:When I first moved here, I didn't have like a doctor, like a general doctor.
Guest:And I would go to urgent care if I was sick and they would just always give you steroids.
Marc:I know.
Marc:It's the weirdest thing.
Marc:I don't remember that ever being the case.
Guest:They're very anti-inflammatory.
Marc:Well, that's the thing.
Marc:Everything's inflammation, they decided.
Marc:Like five or 10 years ago, it's probably inflammation.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You got to eat this so you don't have inflammation.
Guest:Of what?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Everything.
Marc:Everything's inflamed.
Guest:Yeah, everything's inflamed.
Marc:Okay, so they give you steroids.
Marc:They don't work.
Marc:They work for a minute.
Marc:And then what happens?
Guest:And then it came back and then they figured out.
Marc:And you're 15.
Guest:And I'm 15.
Guest:I know.
Guest:And they figured it out and it was leukemia.
Guest:And then I missed the rest of ninth grade.
Guest:And then I was treated for like 10 months with like very intense chemo.
Marc:they figured it out.
Marc:You're telling me that they, they kind of got childhood leukemia.
Guest:So they kind of have it figured out.
Guest:I mean, it's like, it's a compared to other cancers.
Guest:It's a pretty high cure rate, especially what I had, which is ALL, which is like the more common kind of leukemia.
Guest:But they, but it's one of the first ones that they learned how to sort of cure, but they would give kids chemo for like two or three months and then it would come back.
Guest:So they do this thing now where they treat you intensely for like 10 months to a year.
Guest:And then, and then you do like two years of maintenance chemo where you basically like,
Guest:you basically take chemo pills and do all this stuff that's less intense.
Marc:So you missed school the whole year?
Guest:I missed the fourth quarter of ninth grade, and then I went back to school in 10th grade, but I missed something like 40 days or something.
Guest:I kept having to miss.
Guest:Were you terrified?
Guest:you know i'm i'm pretty optimistic i really what i really was like i really felt like i would get through it i was more sort of worried for my family like i was i remember right after i was diagnosed this is gonna make me cry i felt so scared for my brother to have to like go into school and like interact with people why just because they were going to be asking him about it yeah whereas like i'm the one right
Marc:So you felt like you'd be a burden on him?
Guest:Yeah, I just didn't want him to have to deal with it.
Marc:And did he?
Guest:Yeah, and he would come home from school and he'd be like... And then it turned very quickly into this thing of me being like, Jonah, who asked about me today in school?
Guest:And he'd be like, so-and-so asked about you.
Guest:Is he younger than you?
Guest:He's two years older.
Guest:Older.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So I was in ninth grade and he was in 11th grade when this happened.
Guest:So it quickly turned into me just getting a report from him of who asked about me.
Marc:Why'd you want to know?
Guest:Because here's the other thing that I think is a bit of something that we address on my show is like,
Guest:I also always loved attention.
Guest:So like, which is probably why I do what I do.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But it's like I something there was something fun about being like the attention.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:The attention.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Like I was like, I guess I'm inspiring everybody.
Marc:So, so that, so this is your optimism, you know, it's all about me now.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So that's good.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It was sort of like, I mean, it was obviously very difficult, but like the things that I remember are those things, you know?
Marc:Right.
Marc:How did the other kids treat you when you did go back to school?
Guest:Everyone was so nice to me.
Guest:I mean, the thing is, I was always someone who was sort of like friends with everybody.
Guest:And I was very open about, you know, like I was like, I mean, people were so nice to me.
Guest:And I truly, it's funny because at my 10-year high school reunion, I remember...
Guest:this one woman told my friend, like, there was someone who she was, like, worried about seeing because she was like, he used to bully me so badly and whatever.
Guest:And I was like, oh, my God, he was a bully?
Guest:Like, nobody bullied me.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Because everyone was like, I got to leave her alone.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:But, and then I was like, prom queen and stuff.
Guest:Like, everybody, it's like, if you don't vote for me, you're kind of a... What kind of monster?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Who's not going to vote for cancer girl?
Guest:But I also, the thing that I think...
Guest:sort of also was really like influenced me was that like my dad was always joking about it and so we would always just like joke about it in my house and i would joke about it with my friends and it put them at ease i think like what kind of jokes like you know like like this is a bad joke but it's the one that i always remember is that i'd say to my friends like you guys think you're so cool because your hair is real because i was always wearing like a wig yeah
Guest:And like, you know, look, you're a stand up.
Guest:It doesn't feel like this is like the highest level.
Guest:But it was like the joking made everybody put everybody at ease.
Guest:And I kind of think that's why I went into comedy, because it was like it was like that it was like this language not to be like whatever, but it was like this language that like made everyone feel like, OK, we're like, it's fine.
Marc:Yeah, I think that's true.
Marc:I think that like, you know, part of our jobs as comedy, comedic actors or comedic people or comics is to frame things that are that are terrifying or menacing in a way that makes them palatable.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Or at least, you know, gives you some control over it.
Marc:I mean, I think that's why.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Like I like I never forget.
Marc:Harry Shearer said to me years ago that the reason people do.
Marc:Comedy is so they can try to control why people laugh at them.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, that's so interesting.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Right.
Marc:So like, but there is something to the fact that it's a skill set that enables you to present things to people that could be anything and can be truly horrible in a way that they can process.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And laugh even.
Marc:Totally.
Marc:That's the whole agenda of it.
Guest:And I think there's also something when someone gets sick, you sort of... I think it can be scary for people.
Guest:And you think they're like a different person now.
Guest:But they're like... It's terrifying.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They're like the same person.
Guest:So I think it was like a way to remind my friends that like I was still the same person.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Well, they feel...
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:It sort of ruptures the social patterns and expectations because you don't really know what to do.
Marc:It's scary.
Marc:And it immediately implies the possibility that you could die.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:The other person.
Marc:That's true.
Marc:It's like, you know, as soon as, especially if something's tragic.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:You know, all of a sudden everyone's sort of like, well, death is here.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And a lot of it's selfish.
Marc:They're freaking out.
Guest:Right.
Marc:Right.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Right.
Marc:But I guess it's interesting that you are the same person, but people all of a sudden really don't know.
Guest:Yeah, it's like a reminder.
Guest:It's like a way to show people I'm still the same.
Marc:So you lost your hair pretty quick?
Guest:I lost my hair pretty quickly, and I got a wig that was like, it was really funny because obviously my hair is curly, and I got a wig that was straight, and I was always straightening my hair before that.
Guest:I guess I was really optimistic.
Guest:I mean, I was just like, now I don't have to straighten my hair.
Yeah.
Guest:You know, like I was just like, and it was so funny because like, especially like the boys, like all thought it was my, they were like, she didn't lose her hair.
Guest:Like, you know, boys are so dumb.
Guest:But, but yeah.
Guest:She didn't really have cancer.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So, but yeah, I got this wig and I also like, I went through high school, like it was, I lost all this weight because I was sick, but I wasn't like skeleton thin, but I also was like, got to be a teenager who didn't have to worry about her weight.
Marc:Wow.
Marc:So these are all the perks.
Guest:There are some perks.
Guest:And that's how I think I frame, I think I truly do think because I was framing it that way in my mind, again, loved being skinny.
Guest:It helped me get through it because it was like, I'm going through this thing, but I have all these.
Marc:But you were self-centered and funny before the cancer, right?
Guest:I think so.
Guest:I think so.
Guest:Or at least I love detention.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Love detention.
Marc:Right.
Marc:I'm sorry.
Guest:Self-centered love detention.
Marc:You know.
Marc:Maybe it's different.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:How'd you do on your bat mitzvah?
Marc:Did you kill it?
Guest:We went to Israel.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Guest:I got bat mitzvahed on Masada.
Guest:No.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:I know.
Marc:What the fuck is that?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So you guys were pretty Jew-y for Reformed Jews.
Guest:Well, here's the thing.
Marc:It's a package deal?
Guest:You go with other kids, and then you get to split up a Torah portion.
Guest:So my Torah portion that I had to learn was so short.
Marc:What was it, like, three lines?
Guest:Yeah, it was, like, pretty short.
Marc:I mean, it was, like... How many other people were getting bar mitzvah?
Guest:Probably seven of us.
Marc:There's seven of you for this?
Guest:Well, one kid got the English part, like, got to read, like, whatever is in English.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:I can't remember what that is.
Guest:But the rest of us, you know, memorized sounds and did great.
Marc:Yeah, I was just singing the Haftorah, the pre-Haftorah, the setup, you know.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, like, I was just doing it with Adam Ray the other day.
Guest:You guys had a very Jewish...
Marc:Yeah, it was Jew-centric.
Marc:It's been a while since I did the Jew-centric talks.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Welcome back.
Marc:Yeah, thank you.
Marc:Sometimes I'm concerned about the Jews running away from the comedic arts.
Marc:Right.
Marc:It feels like it all used to be Jewish.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I'm not complaining, but it used to be you'd be on a bill.
Marc:Sometimes I'm the only Jew on an evening of comedy.
Marc:I'm like, what's happened?
Marc:Where have all the Jews come?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:When I got on SNL, it was like it was like me and Andy Samberg were the only Jews.
Guest:And I was like, what's.
Marc:Well, how was it?
Marc:Did SNL?
Marc:But SNL, like, if you think back on it, who is Jewish in the original cast aside from Lorraine?
Guest:That's a good point.
Marc:Well, Franken's Jew.
Marc:I mean, the writers are probably, you know, some Jews around.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But there was this idea, I guess, back in the day.
Marc:I actually have a theory that once antidepressants took hold of culture, it was harder for Jews to become comics because who would tolerate all the complaint?
Marc:And it's like, well, maybe you should just take some medicine.
Marc:I always used to think about that with Richard Lewis.
Marc:I'm like, you know, when I see him now, and I love him, I'm like, nothing's gotten better?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I mean, it's been 50 years.
Marc:Nothing?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But I guess it's, I don't know why that is, but yeah, I miss the Jews.
Marc:But then you got Kroll and you got people that are holding, they're doing enough work for two or three Jews.
Guest:Yeah, he's doing, he's doing, he's carrying at least three.
Marc:Three Jews worth of that comedy, Nick Kroll is.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So, all right, so the cancer's going on.
Marc:So that's why...
Marc:Well, then you got confirmed and you're cancer-y then.
Guest:I got confirmed.
Guest:With the cancer.
Guest:I think I was almost done with treatment then.
Guest:And I had very short hair.
Guest:And I remember my brother told me when I was getting confirmed, he said that a woman in the audience was like, she's got very short hair.
Guest:That's very daring for a teenager.
Guest:That's very rare.
Guest:Fashion-forward?
Guest:That's very fashion-forward.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Daring in a positive way.
Guest:It's so weird that I remember my brother telling me about that.
Guest:I just thought about it.
Guest:You just thought about it?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Well, you were cutting edge.
Guest:Yeah, I was cutting edge.
Guest:It also did, I think, kind of by that point look like it was a choice, which was really nice for me.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You were able to appear kind of like artsy.
Guest:Yeah, like actually, do you know the Coventry area in Cleveland?
Guest:Do you know that area?
Marc:It's sort of like... I know two blocks of Cleveland.
Guest:Okay, Coventry is sort of like, it's sort of like a hippie area that was like, I'm making this up, but I think it was like very big in the 60s and 70s.
Guest:And like they have all these like, they have like...
Guest:smoke shot like it's just sort of like very hippie and i remember going there like with my friends when my hair was short and just being like let's go in this in this like just talking to the person at like the weed store or whatever and just being like yeah like what kind of like bowls do you have even though like i never smoked weed but i was just like i have short hair and i look like i've it's like kind of punk rock
Guest:Yeah, like people thought that I was cooler than I was because my hair was short and I felt like I could.
Guest:And because my brother was always in these punk bands and stuff, like I would go to his shows and just be like, I guess I'm just like someone who listens to punk.
Marc:You just have to wear a t-shirt that implies you're part of it.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And so he's a punk rock guy.
Marc:I kind of saw that when I was walking around.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But he's like a big punk rock guy, right?
Guest:He was in this band most recently, his most recent band, this band, UN.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Jeff Rickley was a singer who was in Thursday.
Guest:I don't know if you know those bands.
Guest:But yeah, he was really into that stuff.
Marc:I think the generation of punk people I know is older.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:He's like a new punk.
Guest:But all punk, I feel like all punk people know each other in some way.
Guest:It's like connected like the comedy world.
Marc:That's probably true.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Because it's pretty specific.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And they all come from kind of the same place.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:I don't know all the comics anymore.
Marc:It's thousands.
Guest:Oh, doesn't it make you feel old too?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:No, I mean, I am old.
Marc:I'm 58.
Marc:I don't know who the fuck is doing anything anymore.
Marc:I know.
Marc:And I used to think I was so on top of it, but I'm reading about this British comic, and I'm like, I don't know who that guy is.
Guest:Yeah, I don't know who anybody is.
Marc:And he's got like three Netflix specials.
Marc:I'm like, should I have watched it?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, you should have.
Marc:Maybe.
Guest:No, you don't.
Guest:It's okay.
Guest:How could you keep up?
Marc:You can keep up, but sometimes I'll watch comedy specials.
Marc:I'm game to laugh.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:I laugh more now as I'm older.
Guest:That's great.
Marc:That's so nice.
Marc:Yeah, I don't know when it happened.
Marc:I guess I got less defensive.
Marc:I didn't see every funny thing as a threat.
Marc:You know, like, well, you think that's funnier than me?
Marc:Is that funnier than me?
Marc:Maybe it's funnier than me.
Marc:Why can't I be that funny?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:That's how I used to laugh.
Guest:That's such a common...
Guest:thing with comedians.
Marc:That's how it sounded when I laughed.
Marc:Oh, man.
Marc:Shit, I should have thought of that.
Marc:So when do you start realizing that you're like a funny person?
Guest:Well, you've asked a question that anyone who knows me who's going to listen to this is going to know exactly what I'm going to say.
Marc:I'm sorry I didn't do enough research.
Marc:No.
Guest:Please.
Guest:Please, please.
Guest:I was in an all-female sketch comedy and musical parody troupe called Bloomers in college.
Marc:In college.
Marc:Where'd you go to college?
Guest:UPenn.
Marc:So wait, tell me first before we leave this area.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Is that the good Penn?
Marc:UPenn?
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:It's never been asked of me that way, but you know, like people who went there are so crazy about that.
Guest:They're like, if you think it's Penn State, you better take a hike.
Yeah.
Marc:No, the smart pen.
Marc:It's a smart one.
Marc:You pen, right?
Marc:Right, right, right.
Marc:How does the cancer cure?
Guest:Like, how does that land?
Guest:So then I finished all of my treatment by the end of all my maintenance and everything by the summer before my senior year.
Marc:So are they testing you all along?
Marc:Or is it sort of like, you know, you finished a treatment and they're like, let's see if
Marc:We did it.
Guest:So you get treated for like 10 months intensely.
Guest:Remission is like when it's under, I'm sorry to give you all this medical, but remission is when it's under 5% leukemia blast in your blood because it's cancer of the blood.
Guest:And so I was there after like week two, but they keep treating you so it doesn't come back.
Guest:That was the thing.
Guest:So I had like intense chemo for 10 months.
Guest:And then for two years after that, I had like this maintenance chemo where I would take these pills and I'd go in once every three months and stuff.
Guest:And during that time, like your hair grows back and you sort of like, things are a lot more normal.
Guest:Did you just hear that?
Guest:Yeah, I did.
Guest:I don't think that was me.
Marc:No, it was me.
Marc:It was in our earphones and I don't know how to stop it.
Guest:That's OK.
Guest:It won't make me.
Marc:I just like I used it.
Marc:It doesn't matter.
Guest:So, yeah.
Marc:So, OK.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So you're taking the pills.
Guest:So, yes, taking the pills and then and things were more normal.
Guest:And then the summer before my senior year is when I stopped.
Guest:It was when I finished my treatment completely.
Guest:And then I had like an end of chemo party that summer.
Marc:Okay, and then your blood's completely clean?
Guest:Yeah, your blood's clean.
Guest:And it actually, it was always in my bone marrow.
Guest:It never made it out to my blood when I was diagnosed.
Guest:It was still in my bone marrow, which I guess, I guess like so technically they caught it early, but it's like once it's in your bone marrow, it's kind of like everywhere.
Guest:Like that's how blood, you know.
Guest:But everything was clean.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:And that was it.
Guest:Yeah, and that was it.
Guest:No more special treatment for you.
Guest:Yeah, no more special treatment for me.
Guest:I kind of extended it through senior year.
Guest:But once I went to college.
Marc:With the cure, with this sort of like, I'm good.
Guest:It's like, oh my God.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Well, it was interesting because...
Guest:Yeah, then I went to college and nobody knew about it.
Marc:And I was like... Starting from scratch.
Marc:It's all based on you now.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:You got to succeed with your own personality.
Guest:Exactly.
Marc:But did you kind of do it?
Marc:It's like, well, I had cancer.
Guest:No, I really didn't.
Guest:And you know what's interesting is because I...
Guest:I mean, I'm sure I told people about it all the time, actually.
Guest:I don't know why I said no.
Guest:But what was interesting was I think when I was in high school, people sort of knew me as being really nice.
Guest:Like that was kind of my thing.
Guest:And then when I went to college, because I was in bloomers and stuff, people more knew me for being funny.
Marc:Well, what did you go to college for?
Marc:Did you know?
Guest:What a great question.
Guest:No.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I went for communications.
Marc:That's that vague, weird, non-committal... Especially at my school.
Guest:It was like communicating in spaces.
Guest:Career and entertainment.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Communicating in spaces.
Guest:That was one of the classes I took, was space and communication.
Marc:Wait, what does that mean?
Marc:I know.
Guest:It was real.
Guest:My brother went to Ithaca College, and he did communications, and they learned a lot of hands-on stuff.
Guest:Like what?
Guest:Broadcasting?
Guest:Yeah, and all that kind of stuff.
Guest:Whereas communications at Penn was more like...
Marc:How do we integrate the many voices of diversity when you're on a conference call?
Guest:There were classes about children's media and stuff that I really liked.
Marc:That's what you get with Ivy League is that you get all these thinky things.
Marc:The regular college is like, here's a camera.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:It was very thinky.
Guest:It was very, very thinky.
Marc:Did that start to wear on you?
Guest:Well, I mean, I don't know.
Guest:I don't even remember.
Guest:I was so into my comedy group.
Marc:Okay, so you did that freshman year you got into the comedy?
Guest:Got in freshman year.
Marc:You auditioned.
Marc:Auditioned.
Marc:It's a pre-existing improv group.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:At UPenn.
Guest:It's a sketch comedy and musical parody, Mark.
Marc:Oh, sorry.
Marc:Not even improv.
Marc:You're writing and singing.
Guest:We're writing and singing.
Marc:And it's been there for years.
Marc:And you know, is it old?
Marc:Is it still there?
Marc:The bloomers?
Marc:It's still there.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Sure.
Guest:And it's been there for years.
Guest:And I also auditioned.
Guest:I went to the freshman performing arts night where they were like, all these groups acted like they needed new people.
Guest:So I also auditioned for that along with two acapella groups and a hip hop dance group.
Marc:What did you do for your audition?
Guest:Well, with those, for my acapella groups, I said- Oh, you went with an acapella group?
Guest:No, no, no, no.
Guest:Sorry.
Guest:I auditioned for these really kind of famous acapella groups that I thought genuinely needed people.
Guest:And I auditioned with Give My Regards to Broadway because I hadn't-
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And everyone, I didn't get in.
Guest:And then the hip hop dance group, I was like, again, I was like, if they need people, I'll audition.
Guest:Like, it sounds like they need.
Guest:And then like, there were so many people there and they taught us this dance.
Guest:And I was like, how is everyone remembering this dance?
Guest:And that's because that's what dancers do.
Guest:It was like, but then the comedy group, it was like, oh, here's where I belong.
Guest:It's a little bit of like a goldy wax.
Marc:But man, those other two auditions, I would like to see those.
Guest:I, they would be so funny.
Marc:I remember.
Marc:They should have been all you did in the comedy group.
Guest:There's this group called Off the Beat that like was like such a big deal on campus.
Guest:And I remember going to audition and I was like, okay, I'm going to do Give My Regards to Broadway.
Guest:And this girl that I knew was, she was like, I'm going to audition with like a prayer.
Guest:And I was like, okay, that's weird.
Guest:Like, that's weird.
Guest:And I remember signing the sheet and being like, oh, that's weird.
Guest:There's 100 people on the sheet audition.
Guest:And then, yeah, it was just like, I'm sure they were like, what the fuck?
Marc:Didn't your confidence diminish by the time you got out there?
Marc:You really thought that you just gave it your all?
Guest:I just gave it my all.
Marc:Really?
Marc:No fear?
Guest:I think I put myself in this position where I was like, I hadn't auditioned for anything since middle school theater.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I was like, I was like, just I was I felt like good about like, just like, you know, like making myself do this scary thing.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But it was like, I'm sure they thought it was so funny.
Guest:Like they were probably like, who is this?
Marc:I have such a paralyzing fear of being embarrassed.
Guest:It's surprising because of comedy.
Guest:It's like, I know.
Marc:It's why I do it.
Marc:It's really this lifelong goal to overcome the fear of embarrassment.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Good for you.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But it waivers.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Even like yesterday, I did a band practicing.
Marc:I'm playing some music and it's a fairly new thing for me to do it publicly.
Marc:And I recorded it and I watched it and I'm like, I can't do this.
Marc:This is terrible.
Guest:I know.
Marc:And then like I watched it again, I'm like, it's okay.
Guest:Yeah, I'm sure it was great.
Marc:I don't know if it's great, but it's okay.
Marc:But yeah, all right.
Marc:So you're doing the bloomers and that's it.
Marc:I'm doing bloomers.
Marc:And you realize this is it.
Guest:And I was like, this is what I should do because I love doing it so much.
Marc:And you guys were writing original material and stuff?
Guest:Yeah, we were writing original material, original sketches and song parodies.
Guest:And I was like, it was like I finally felt like I was like good at something.
Guest:Not that like I was very good at studying.
Guest:I was good at school.
Guest:But I just like all my friends growing up were like athletes and stuff.
Guest:And I was like, I'll never know what that's like to be like good at a sport.
Guest:And I was like, oh, this is something that like I really feel like I get it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I just like loved it.
Guest:And it actually made me feel like I didn't have to worry as much about like my grades and stuff.
Marc:Oh, you're really hanging your life.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, my grades were still like good.
Guest:Like I was still, you know, but you just knew this.
Guest:But I was just like, yeah, I was like, I have to just do this.
Marc:And you did it all through college.
Guest:Yeah, I did it all through college.
Marc:And you graduated college.
Guest:And I graduated college and then I moved to Chicago.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Because I did some internships in New York.
Guest:Like I interned at Conan.
Marc:Really?
Marc:How old?
Marc:When are you?
Guest:I was probably like 20 or something.
Guest:After college?
Guest:During college.
Marc:Oh, was I on ever?
Guest:Like over the summer.
Guest:You might have been.
Guest:It was the summer of 2003.
Guest:Oh, it was just the summer thing.
Marc:Yeah, summer thing.
Marc:So only a few months.
Guest:Yeah, just a couple months.
Guest:And it just felt like a lot of people were getting their starts in Chicago.
Marc:So you were standing in that hallway at Conan at NBC?
Marc:There was a hallway next to the studio where all the dressings were.
Marc:It just always seemed to be a very crowded hallway.
Guest:Almost never got to go to that hallway.
Guest:Almost always had to be up in the offices.
Guest:Those heavily, heavily carpeted offices.
Marc:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Yeah, but got to go to the set once in a while, but very rarely.
Guest:Got to be in one sketch.
Marc:You did?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:That was your big, the big bonus.
Guest:And I emailed like everybody.
Guest:I was in this like senior society at college and I emailed like everybody about it.
Guest:Or it was like a junior, senior thing.
Guest:Like I was like, I'm going to be on Conan.
Guest:Like, and then like they didn't air it.
Guest:And then like, I was like, oh, it's going to come out tomorrow.
Guest:Like I emailed like 70 people.
Guest:And then like, it like aired randomly like a week later.
Guest:And I was like, well, if you guys saw it last night.
Yeah.
Marc:That's those weird lessons you learn in show business.
Guest:Yeah, I was like, why did I tell everybody?
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Well, I mean, I've seen, you know, it's funny.
Marc:I've seen back in the day when the road comics were around more, there were guys that were just would use a movie credit, even if they had one line forever, years.
Marc:And people would be like, what were you in that movie?
Marc:You remember this guy?
Marc:Hey, look out, that was me.
Marc:I'm one of those people.
Marc:I'm almost famous.
Marc:I'm the Lock the Gates guy.
Marc:But I don't use it as credit.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Well, now you have a lot of credit.
Guest:I have a few credits.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:But still people now... And we're in a movie together, I think.
Marc:I think we're both... Oh, the DC Super Pets?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I know.
Marc:We didn't get to work at all.
Marc:I'm Lex Luthor.
Marc:What are you?
Guest:I know.
Guest:I'm P.B.
Guest:Pig.
Guest:Good times.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:When does that come?
Marc:When it's animation, I have no sense of how big a movie is.
Marc:But I just saw it like, yeah, I'll go.
Marc:It's nearby.
Marc:I got to drive to Burbank.
Marc:And then it's going to be this huge DC movie.
Guest:Yeah, it's so fun.
Guest:It'll be end of July, I think.
Marc:I'm another animated one that's opening this month.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Yeah, Bad Guys.
Guest:Oh, great.
Marc:Yeah, I'm the snake.
Marc:You're the snake.
Marc:It's me and Sam Rockwell and Craig Robinson.
Marc:Oh, that's so great.
Guest:Oh, how fun.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I mean, but it's weird with animation because you have no sense of anything.
Guest:It's so, it's so crazy because it's like, I don't know if you've done any, well, I shouldn't, but any of the press for that, for the movie, but there was like, I was doing some press for it and they were like asking like, who in the cast is most likely to like do this, this and this?
Guest:And I was like, I don't know.
Marc:Who else is in it?
Guest:I know.
Guest:I was like.
Marc:I think The Rock is in it.
Guest:He is.
Guest:He is.
Guest:Yeah.
Yeah.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:I have no idea how it's going to all come together.
Marc:They haven't asked me to do any press.
Marc:Maybe I'm not in it anymore.
Guest:No, I'm sure you are.
Guest:I'm sure you are.
Guest:I think it's going to be great.
Guest:I think we're going to be great.
Marc:But I think the major press push hasn't happened yet, probably.
Guest:No, no.
Guest:Because it doesn't come out for- Until July.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Huh.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Well, we'll see.
Marc:We'll see.
Marc:So you moved to Chicago?
Marc:Moved to Chicago after college.
Guest:To do the Second City thing?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Do something like that?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I did IO and I took classes at Second City.
Guest:You did?
Guest:The Annoyance.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:The Annoyance, who was in it when you were there?
Marc:Anyone we know?
Marc:At The Annoyance Theater?
Marc:At The Annoyance?
Guest:Well, you know, that's how I became friends with Aidy Bryant.
Guest:She and I are very close.
Marc:How's she doing?
Guest:She's doing great.
Marc:Yeah, she's so funny.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You guys are funny.
Guest:She's a good friend of mine, and when she got on SNL, I had been there for two years, and she was one of my really good friends even before she got on.
Guest:So she was in AO with you?
Guest:It was a dream when she got... We did stuff at the Annoyance mostly together.
Marc:AO, what is it, ImprovOlympic?
Marc:Oh, at Annoyance.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Were there other people that we know?
Guest:From Chicago?
Marc:It's just so weird.
Marc:There's hundreds of people.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:There's like 20, 30 people around.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And then it's sort of like, well, you know this one person.
Marc:What are those other people doing?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, 80's the big... I mean, she and I... Yeah, it was the most fun thing in the world when she got on SNL.
Marc:So what'd you, so you did the classes and you did the classes.
Guest:I was there for six years.
Marc:Oh my God.
Marc:So that was it.
Marc:So that was your life.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:You were working jobs.
Guest:I did.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I worked at an, I worked at a production company and then I worked at an ad agency.
Guest:Like I worked at like a real, you know, Chicago's a big like ad town.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I worked at like a real ad agency for like a year and a half.
Guest:Doing what?
Guest:I was in the traffic department, so I was like the liaison between the account and creative team.
Guest:So sort of like a therapist for the account and creative people.
Marc:Was there a lot of people losing it?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Oh, yeah?
Guest:Well, it was just sort of like the account people thought the creative people were never doing their jobs and the creative people thought the account people were never doing their jobs.
Guest:And it was sort of like mediating a little bit.
Marc:So the account people sold the business.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:We got this account.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:It's whatever.
Marc:Your dad's shrink wrap business.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So you guys get us some stuff.
Guest:They did more of the business side of things.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And the creatives came up with the- We're sitting around shrink wrapping their hands going, hey, what happened?
Guest:In a shrink wrap way, that's exactly how it worked.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Yeah.
Marc:And it took a while to get the right thing.
Marc:But the account people are always sort of like, what's with these fucking artists?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:But it was it was it was interesting because it was like I was such a I was like such an an achiever.
Guest:But it was like I was so weird because I knew I wanted to do comedy and I was doing that on at night and on the weekends.
Guest:And I was like so had no ambitions to like move up at this ad agency.
Guest:Whereas like everybody else at an ad agency is like, you know, they're switching to other ad agencies to get a bigger title and they're switching back and they're like, it's all like a game.
Guest:And I was just like, I don't know.
Marc:I don't understand any of that.
Marc:For me, it's all like, fuck, that guy's funnier than me.
Marc:It all comes back to that.
Marc:He knows how to do it, how they figure it out.
Marc:I had no idea what show business was until like three years ago.
Marc:But I didn't know you had a plan and stuff.
Marc:So you're just there doing that work.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And then Second City hired me.
Guest:This was a big thing that 80 and a bunch of people have done.
Guest:Second City hired me to work on a Norwegian cruise ship to perform on a cruise ship.
Marc:Oh, it's like some version of the touring company.
Guest:Yes, exactly.
Guest:It's like a four-month thing that you do and you do like a show every... So I worked on this cruise ship for four months.
Guest:Did you get nauseous?
Guest:No, actually it was fine.
Guest:It was really fun.
Guest:And that was when I stopped working like nine to five jobs.
Marc:What did you see?
Guest:Yeah, we went to Miami to the Caribbean.
Guest:We did these one week trips.
Marc:So you had nothing to do with going to Norway and stuff?
Guest:No, then we did New York to Bermuda.
Guest:Some people did like European ones.
Marc:Those ones in the Caribbean are just like, that's what everyone does.
Guest:The Bermuda one was, I thought, way better.
Marc:I went on one, man.
Marc:I went on one with my grandmother.
Guest:They're so stressful, aren't they?
Marc:Well, yeah, but they're just sort of like, all right, everyone get off and go.
Guest:Well, that's the thing that's stressful is like you got to see everything in one day.
Marc:If that.
Marc:Most people just go where they're told.
Marc:Within 100 feet of the boat, there's people selling things.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Well, we learned that a lot of older people go like elderly people because they just stay on the boat the whole time and have like a great time.
Guest:And actually a lot of so much eating.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:The food was.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And but a lot of older people actually, I think, like die on those boats.
Marc:They die on the boat.
Yeah.
Guest:Like they kind of go there and they just... Did someone die in the boat when you were there?
Guest:I think maybe one person.
Guest:But it's like a great... It's like they're... Did they just throw them overboard?
Guest:Well, there's a morgue on the boat.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I know.
Guest:There's also a jail.
Marc:Yeah, I kind of knew that.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:I guess I assume that.
Marc:It's like a little city.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:It's like a guy... It's a police force.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:A mayor.
Guest:Yeah.
Yeah.
Guest:it's it's a little town yeah all right maritime law yeah yeah so you did so that was fun you did one show that i did we did like it was so easy like we there was also like i learned like more recently people were going on those boats and having to do like shows every night like stuff during the day we had to do like one we had to do like two shows a week one sketch show one improv show maybe two improv shows and that was it
Marc:Wow.
Marc:And that was it?
Marc:It was really easy.
Marc:It was fun.
Marc:But you're on a boat and you're with the audience.
Guest:Yeah, but we got to go on the islands and stuff.
Marc:Yeah, sure.
Marc:But what about the people that are like, oh, there she is from the show.
Guest:Well, here was the greatest thing was that we started the cruises on Sunday and we didn't have a show until Thursday night.
Guest:That was our first show.
Guest:So we went around kind of anonymously.
Guest:You could be invisible for a while.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And then all of a sudden old people were like, you remind me of my daughter.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I think we had it the best of any of those ships because we, of the performers for sure.
Guest:But also we got, we had like, we had like dual citizenship.
Guest:So we were like considered crew so we could go to the crew bar.
Guest:But we also were considered guests so we could go on.
Guest:We could at the same time as the guests go onto the islands and stuff.
Guest:We didn't have to wait for them.
Guest:It was for the crew.
Guest:The other crew had to like wait and like do work.
Marc:Yeah, but you can mingle.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And eat both places.
Guest:Yeah, eat both places.
Marc:So is that where you auditioned for SNL?
Marc:On the boat?
Guest:So not on the boat, believe it or not.
Marc:But this was a big shift for you because you were working for a living in a way.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:It was like how I was making my living.
Guest:And then I came back and I was probably in Chicago for maybe another year.
Guest:I started like doing more commercials and stuff like that.
Marc:Oh yeah, for what?
Marc:Booking more of that stuff.
Guest:Okay, I was in a commercial for, what was it for?
Guest:Blue Shield of California or something.
Marc:Did you talk?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Did you say I had cancer?
Guest:No, I didn't need to at that point.
Guest:I didn't need to bring it back yet.
Marc:I just thought they were asking you to do some real work.
Marc:Bring yourself to it.
Guest:Yeah, but then SNL came to... Chicago.
Guest:Chicago.
Guest:They would come every summer.
Marc:And I got really... The whole town got lit up, right?
Marc:They're like, they're coming.
Guest:Well, people were... Especially in that world, like in the comedy world.
Marc:Right, right, right.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I had taken a workshop a year before they came to work on characters and impressions for us.
Guest:They have one?
Guest:Where?
Guest:At Second City?
Guest:It was this director.
Guest:No, it was just this separate thing that he would do out of this casting...
Guest:I'm blanking on his name.
Guest:I wish I could tell you.
Marc:Specifically in Chicago to prepare for SNL auditions.
Guest:Well, it was like to do characters and to like work on your characters and impressions and stuff.
Guest:And it was like this thing that not very many people had.
Guest:I think I was in like the second group of people taking this class.
Guest:And you basically did characters and impressions in front of this class.
Guest:Two weeks later, you'd come in and he'd put you on tape doing like your new set of characters and impressions, giving the classes notes or whatever.
Guest:So I did that and I gave the tape to a bunch of different theaters and my agents at the time in Chicago and stuff.
Guest:And nobody really did anything with it.
Guest:And then a year later, Sharna at IO let us audition for her to be in the showcase.
Guest:And I basically watched my tape that I had given her a year before.
Guest:And I just did it for her and I got into the showcase.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:Who came from SNL?
Guest:Well, it's it's funny because it was like Lorne and Seth and a bunch of writers.
Guest:And the first night that we're supposed to do it, it ran long.
Guest:And so I didn't get to go.
Guest:And I was like, oh, my God.
Guest:I didn't get to audition.
Guest:And then she's and then we found out they were coming back the next night.
Guest:And so I did it the second night and Seth wasn't there anymore, but it was like a lot of the writers in Lorne are still there.
Guest:And then I found out, then they flew me to New York two weeks later.
Marc:To do that weird laughless audition in front of the camera.
Marc:And which characters that you did then lasted?
Guest:I did a version of the bar mitzvah boy named Austin who loves crystals and stuff and rocks, who collects rocks.
Guest:And I did Miley Cyrus and I did my poetry teacher who says like a lot.
Guest:And I think those are the main ones that made it onto the show.
Marc:That's pretty good though.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:How many did you do?
Guest:I think like six.
Guest:And I kept it to five minutes.
Guest:You know, most people don't.
Guest:They tell you to do five minutes.
Guest:And I really did keep it to five minutes because I'm a rule follower.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it was interesting when we were talking earlier about how when I was sick, I was really focused on the perks of it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:When I was auditioning for SNL, I was so excited to be there that I got myself into this headspace where I was just like...
Guest:listening to music, just like excited to be there.
Guest:And I remember they come in and have you sign a contract like before.
Guest:And I remember the guy coming in and being like, you're in a really different headspace than like most of the people auditioning.
Guest:Because he was like, he was like, I need you to sign this.
Guest:And I was like, great, how are you?
Guest:And they made me, I was the second to last person to audition that day.
Guest:So I was there for hours.
Marc:But you weren't even thinking like, oh, who the fuck was you?
Guest:I was just like, I'm so excited to be here.
Guest:I'm able to frame, I was 28.
Guest:I was 28.
Guest:And I was just like, this is cool.
Guest:I could get to be here and do this.
Marc:Wow.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And so you did the audition.
Marc:Then you had a meeting with Lauren.
Guest:I did the audition and I thought it went well.
Marc:And then did you go back to Chicago?
Guest:I went back to Chicago and then they flew me back like two weeks later to meet with Lauren.
Marc:And how long did you wait for that?
Guest:probably two or three hours in his office.
Guest:And it's where, it's where I met Taryn Killam, who's now like such a good friend of mine.
Guest:And I remember people, Taryn, he was in the cast with me for six years.
Marc:He's on that show.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:He's so funny.
Guest:And he, and he, um,
Guest:I remember being, I still remember like, you know, his wife is Kobe Smulders and she was on How I Met Your Mother and people were like asking about his wife.
Guest:And I remember being like, I guess what I'm saying is just that like something that was so interesting about SNL was like, it brought you together with all these people from like such different, like I remember being like, Taryn is so Hollywood.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And just being like, oh, my God, I'm waiting with this Hollywood guy who knows what he's doing.
Guest:I'm coming from the Midwest.
Guest:I don't know anything.
Marc:Right.
Guest:You know, and then like we both waited there for like however many hours.
Marc:I waited with Tracy Morgan.
Guest:Oh, really?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:When I was auditioning and all I remembered is like how shiny and perfect his hair looked.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:It just looked like ready.
Guest:That's how I felt about Taryn.
Guest:I was like, he's so, he's like, this guy's got a great personality.
Guest:He's so at ease here.
Guest:Like he's, he's done Hollywood.
Guest:Like who, who am I?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I felt that way too.
Marc:I'm just like, and I'm stoned.
Marc:I'm like, why am I?
Marc:But, but so did, did Lauren, what did he say?
Marc:Did he ask you if you were comfortable with wigs and you're like, I had cancer.
Yeah.
Guest:I know.
Guest:I shockingly didn't bring that up in my meeting.
Marc:I probably... I heard he brings wigs up all the time.
Marc:Did he bring them up with you?
Guest:What I do remember is that my first season, he said to one of the hair people, and they told me later, that I look very good in wigs.
Guest:Or that my face really transforms in wigs.
Guest:Which I think it does.
Guest:Sorry.
Guest:Brag.
Guest:It's good.
Guest:Huge brag.
Guest:Weird thing to know about yourself.
Guest:No, it's good.
Guest:But he was kind of explaining to me how the show works.
Guest:And he asked me if I had any questions for him.
Guest:And I couldn't... I remember I kind of wanted to ask about Chris Farley because I've always been such a huge Chris Farley fan.
Guest:And my family, we all are like huge Chris Farley people.
Guest:But I was like, I don't know how to ask about him in a way...
Guest:Like, what would I, it would be like, remember when Chris Farley did the Chris Farley show?
Guest:It would be like that.
Guest:Or it'd be like, so you work with Chris Farley.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Was that cool?
Guest:But anyway, so, so, and then he said, well, we'll let you know within 24 hours.
Guest:Huh.
Guest:And then 24 hours later, of course, I hadn't heard anything.
Guest:My parents stayed up for 24 hours.
Guest:They were like, he didn't, you know, and I was like, I was like, you guys, based on how long we've been waiting for everything else.
Guest:I was like, I don't, I don't think 24 hours.
Guest:I was like, I'm not that worried about it.
Marc:It's just like such, you're such an on purpose mind fuck.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And everyone, almost everyone speaks so positively about it.
Marc:And they just sort of take it as sort of like, it is what it is.
Marc:Like they fuck with your head from the second you audition for as long as you're there.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:But it's like a great experience.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Well, then I found out a week later when they had said, you know, he had said 24 hours.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:So, you know.
Marc:But yeah, it's a week.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:It's never, it's always a story that causes stress.
Guest:Yeah, of course.
Marc:And insecurity and like, but you know, but everyone frames it as sort of like either just the way it is or some sort of great training for what you're about to enter.
Guest:Well, the thing is then you like, it's so funny because now when I'm working and they're like, you know, we're going to have to give you like a, you're going to have to take a penalty tomorrow and come in like, you know, we're not going to be able to give you your 12 hour turnaround.
Guest:So you're going to have to take a penalty.
Guest:Is that okay?
Guest:I'm always like,
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:What is that?
Marc:I don't even know what that is.
Guest:Also, you're going to pay me for that?
Guest:I'm still not sure what it is.
Guest:I'm used to losing my... Yeah.
Marc:They're like, we're going to go a little over time and we're probably going to go into... I'm like, I don't... Yeah.
Marc:That's something the crew cares about deeply.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:But I find that when you're a performer, you're just like, what does that mean?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I've been sitting around for six hours.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:They're like, sorry you had to wait.
Guest:I'm like, that's... Really?
Guest:That's so nice.
Yeah.
Guest:yeah all right so you did that for a long time yeah i was there for seven years that's about right right yeah yeah and then you left on your own volition yes yeah that's the best yeah it was nice it was really nice and then you just started doing all the tv and stuff yeah i mean then i movies started working on the yeah then i did this movie abiza right after that and i got to go not to abiza but to serbia and croatia and a lot of movies i guess all through it huh
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I did some movies through it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Trainwreck was my first movie.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And that's when I met Amy and I love her.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I was doing a lot while we were working on this show.
Guest:I love that for you.
Guest:I was, I was doing some bits, some little bit, some little episodic bits.
Marc:What's going on with Tim Robinson?
Guest:Oh, I mean, I knew him from Chicago and then he got on SNL.
Guest:He's, he would love him.
Guest:He's so, he's the best.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He's just so funny.
Marc:So nice.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I just kind of learned about him like this year.
Guest:He's so, yeah.
Marc:Kind of fascinated with the guy.
Guest:He's great.
Guest:I mean, he was in Second City, Detroit when I was doing Second City, Chicago.
Guest:And then a bunch of those Detroit guys, him and Sam Richardson, moved to Chicago.
Guest:And we were like, all of us doing Chicago comedy were like, oh, the people coming from Detroit are so much funnier than us.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yeah, the Detroit people, I think because Tim kind of explained it to me once.
Guest:I'm probably misquoting him, but like because they I can't remember the places where they used to perform were so much less like cushy than where the Chicago people would perform.
Marc:We come from a city of rubble.
Marc:We come from an abandoned city.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That like they really had to like be funnier to like get laughs.
Guest:And so I remember when he and Sam and stuff came to Chicago, it was just like, oh, there's no comparison.
Guest:These guys are just like the funniest.
Marc:Well, they just had to.
Marc:Right.
Marc:That's interesting.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:To have to do shit gigs.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You had to transcend more.
Marc:They were just like- He had to deliver the goods.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They were instantly, like they were just so funny.
Marc:Wow.
Guest:It was just like, it was like, where did the, yeah.
Guest:And then they came to Chicago and immediately were like hired for stuff because they were just the best.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Maybe Tim will talk to me at some point.
Guest:I'm sure he would love to.
Marc:I don't know if that's true.
Marc:I don't know how much of this he does.
Marc:I think he- The talking.
Guest:Yeah, I think he would.
Guest:I think he would.
Marc:All right.
Marc:I mean, I'm bringing him up enough.
Guest:He should know.
Marc:But at this point, if he doesn't know... I hear that he's just like a nice guy, though, in real life.
Guest:He's the nicest.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He's so... And, you know, he created that show, I Think You Should Leave.
Marc:I know.
Marc:That's where I saw you.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, got it.
Guest:With Zach Kanan, who is like a Harvard Lampoon guy.
Guest:And that's kind of what I'm talking about.
Guest:Like...
Guest:they're from totally different worlds and they came together at SNL and that's one of the coolest things of working at SNL or probably any place like that like where like that's what I always think it just like brings people together from different
Guest:Like how I met Hollywood Taryn.
Marc:And talented people and people that kind of relationships that last forever, both business and personal.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Marc:There's definitely a family to it.
Marc:There's benefits to it.
Marc:I talked to Anna Gasteyer about, you know, being part of this
Marc:It's almost like a club.
Guest:Right.
Marc:But you can always go back to in a way.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:There's always a home for you in some respects, just not necessarily on the show, but through the resources of the show.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:But I think I'm sure a lot of places are like, you know, it's just like anywhere where you're working those places.
Marc:long hours and you just yeah yeah you just become but a lot of times if it's just a tv a lot of times you go away from it and you're away right and then you don't see those people like oh yeah yeah remember we were best friends for the three months on that shoot yeah yeah remember we were almost married that's why that's why whenever i do movies i think it's really sad it is sad because at the end you're like okay i guess i'll see you guys later but yeah you talk but you know after doing a certain number of them you're not gonna hang out with those people
Marc:You know, whatever.
Marc:It's just not going to happen.
Guest:Depends.
Marc:Really?
Marc:You making friends on movie sets?
Guest:I'm making friends left and right.
Marc:Wow.
Guest:Just kidding.
Marc:I don't talk.
Marc:I was on a show with like 15 women.
Guest:I know.
Marc:You're great.
Marc:Don't talk to any of them.
Marc:Really?
Marc:No, they text occasionally.
Marc:But we're not pals.
Marc:But then again, I have two friends.
Marc:I'm not complaining.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:It's exhausting to have more than that.
Marc:Isn't it?
Guest:I mean...
Marc:No, you probably have a lot of friends because you don't depend on them emotionally completely.
Marc:Well... So, why... Now, we discussed in your show a bit about your personal relationship with the character, with the cancer, but why this world?
Marc:Why the world of...
Guest:Yeah, so I really, when I was little, I used to watch a lot of QVC.
Guest:I really was very into it when I was pretty young.
Guest:And I always kind of wanted to do something about it because I always think it's so interesting.
Guest:It's still really popular.
Guest:And I always just really loved it.
Guest:And so I was wanting to write a show about it.
Guest:And then my friend Jeremy Beiler, who I used to write with, he was a writer at SNL.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He like we had brunch one day and I had been looking for like a writer to work on this with.
Guest:And he was like, I, I like was like, I have always loved it, too.
Guest:And I was he had written like some kind of outline for a show about it, too.
Guest:And so we were like, well, we should work on this together.
Guest:And then the thing of it being about like being sort of somewhat autobiographical came kind of later because we were like, what's like kind of the hook into this?
Guest:And it's interesting because.
Guest:At other times in my life, I've tried to write stuff about when I was sick and stuff, and that wasn't part of this idea initially.
Guest:Then we were like, that would be a really interesting... It would be really interesting to kind of...
Marc:combine those two things well it works for the hook i mean i i don't how many did you shoot eight so like i don't know like because it's already pretty pressing you know by the end of the second episode or third however many i watch where it's sort of like how am i going to live with this lie yeah but is that all eight
Marc:I mean, I'm not gonna.
Marc:I can't tell you.
Marc:No spoilers.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:No spoilers.
Marc:All right, okay.
Marc:I didn't spoil it, really.
Guest:No, I don't think you did it all.
Marc:I don't think you did it all.
Marc:No, they'll figure it out.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, they'll figure it out.
Marc:Yeah, all right, well, I gotta watch the rest.
Marc:What's it on again?
Guest:It's gonna be on Showtime.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Sometimes I get these screeners, I don't know where they're from.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, of course.
Guest:There's so many places.
Guest:I know.
Guest:There's a ton of places.
Marc:That's crazy.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:No one's watching the same shit anymore unless something's on fire or someone gets slapped or there's a war.
Marc:And that doesn't even bring people in anymore.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's really hard.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:How do you create the same juice?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Well, I hope that this show is... It's fun.
Marc:It's good.
Marc:The juice of the... It's emotional.
Marc:And it's odd.
Marc:I like the weird things you do when you kind of... You do things when you're talking that you say more words than you should or something.
Marc:There's like ticks and things that you decide on.
Marc:I don't remember what the ones this character has.
Marc:What does she do?
Guest:There's a lot of them.
Guest:It's almost everything you say doesn't make sense.
Yeah.
Marc:Oh yeah, you just keep talking.
Guest:Yeah, make little sounds.
Marc:And that's like a decision?
Marc:How do you figure out those little quirks of characters?
Marc:They just happen?
Guest:Yeah, I think that a lot of times they're sort of how I am anyway.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And so it's just kind of exaggerating that stuff.
Guest:Excentuated.
Guest:Exactly.
Marc:This is about the time where knowing that your assistant's on the porch where I'm like, I wonder if she has to go to the bathroom.
Marc:I didn't give her bathroom instructions.
Guest:I don't have to go to the bathroom.
Guest:Oh, my assistant?
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:She might have to go to the bathroom.
Marc:She might have to go to the bathroom.
Marc:You don't have to go?
Marc:I mean, you guys are both carrying around half-gallon jugs of water.
Guest:We're carrying around huge water bottles.
Guest:I know.
Guest:She got me into these water bottles.
Marc:What kind is it?
Guest:It's got all the little- Venture Pal.
Guest:venture pal yeah but it's got on the other side of the measurements it's got to keep going yeah good morning hydrate yourself remember your goal keep chugging yeah do we really need that much no i i don't need those statements but the straw is the but do you do you feel better that you're drinking that much water every day i really think you should get one in fact i will get one for you
Marc:I'll get one.
Marc:I'm gonna write it down.
Marc:Venture pal.
Marc:I like ordering things on Amazon and then forget about it.
Guest:The only thing is you're gonna have to pee all the time.
Marc:I have to pee all the time anyway.
Guest:Okay, great.
Marc:I mean, usually at night though, because I'm an old man.
Marc:But during the day, I manage my pee.
Marc:But at night, I'm up.
Guest:It's such a bummer, isn't it?
Marc:Do you get up to pee?
Guest:When I first started using this water bottle.
Marc:You got to cut yourself off, right?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Well, I sometimes have two of them.
Guest:That's a whole gallon of water in one day.
Guest:I mean.
Marc:What are you supposed to drink?
Marc:Someone told me.
Marc:That you're supposed to have a gallon?
Marc:Is it a gallon?
Marc:No, I don't think so.
Guest:This is like, I think this is the equivalent of like four water bottles.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, we could do the measurement.
Marc:It's a half gallon, so that's two quarts.
Marc:Two quarts.
Marc:Isn't it?
Marc:Right, two quarts, quarter of a gallon.
Guest:Yeah, because there's four quarts in a gallon.
Marc:I think so.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Right?
Marc:Well, how much is a pint?
Marc:Is a pint a half a quart?
Marc:$32.64.
Marc:A pint?
Marc:I don't know.
What?
Guest:Wow.
Guest:A pint of ice cream.
Marc:That's good.
Marc:How many of those are you eating a day?
Marc:How many do we need of those?
Guest:That's all I could think of.
Guest:Measurements are... They're so hard, but so knowable.
Guest:Even when I know them, I have to look them up.
Marc:Yeah, because you don't believe it.
Marc:That can't be called.
Yeah, I know.
Marc:All right, so I'm gonna let you go.
Marc:What kind of big press are you doing?
Marc:Are you appearing on the TV shows?
Marc:Are you gonna go on Jimmy's show?
Marc:Did you do it already?
Guest:I'm gonna do it.
Marc:Yeah, when are you gonna do it?
Guest:On Jimmy Kimmel.
Marc:Oh, no Fallon, huh?
Marc:Were you and Fallon work together?
Marc:Did you work together?
Guest:No, but he would come to set sometimes.
Guest:Yeah, he hosted once, he hosted once.
Guest:Oh, oh, oh.
Yeah.
Marc:That was somebody else.
Marc:Why is he asking me questions?
Marc:All right, enough with this phone interruption.
Marc:I got to fix that.
Marc:There's so much to ask to be.
Guest:I have to tell you, I understand it.
Guest:I don't know how to fix that stuff.
Marc:So it's alerts.
Marc:I feel what you're feeling.
Marc:I just have to find the alerts and turn them off on the computer.
Marc:That's what I have to do.
Marc:Don't yell at me.
Marc:Sorry.
Marc:Where are you going now?
Marc:Where are you going now?
Guest:We're going to edit.
Marc:Oh, the show?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:This is all the press today?
Guest:Oh, no, no, no, no.
Guest:We're going to edit the show.
Guest:Like, no more press today.
Marc:This is it.
Guest:We're still editing.
Marc:Oh.
Guest:Because it comes out so soon.
Marc:When did it come out?
Guest:It comes out.
Marc:Probably right when we're putting this out.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Whatever that is.
Marc:Well, I'm glad we know all the dates and stuff and how many ounces are in a quart.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Well, I hope everything, I hope, you know, I hope it's a big hit.
Guest:Thanks so much.
Marc:Nice talking to you.
Marc:Thanks.
Guest:So nice talking to you.
Marc:That was it.
Marc:That was it.
Marc:Vanessa Bayer.
Marc:I hope everybody's okay.
Marc:WTFpod.com slash tour for the big dates.
Marc:Coming up.
Marc:There's still a lot of them.
Marc:I'm tired.
Marc:I'm tired.
Marc:Here's some guitar.
Marc:Here's some guitar.
guitar solo
Marc:Boomer lives.
Marc:Monkey.
Marc:La Fonda.
Marc:Cat angels everywhere.