Episode 205 - Jason Sudeikis
Guest:Lock the gates!
Guest:Are we doing this?
Guest:Really?
Guest:Wait for it.
Guest:Are we doing this?
Guest:Wait for it.
Guest:Pow!
Guest:What the fuck?
Guest:And it's also, eh, what the fuck?
Guest:What's wrong with me?
Guest:It's time for WTF!
Guest:What the fuck?
Guest:With Mark Maron.
Marc:Okay, let's do this.
Marc:How are you?
Marc:What the fuckers?
Marc:What the fuck buddies?
Marc:What the fucking ears?
Marc:What the fuck Ohioans?
Marc:I am in Cleveland, Ohio.
Marc:I am in a hotel room in Cleveland, Ohio.
Marc:I am naked and sitting in a hotel room.
Marc:That's how I like to broadcast when I'm not in the garage because I can't walk naked from the house to the garage.
Marc:I could, but you know, I got neighbors.
Marc:So here I am in Cleveland.
Marc:It's been great up here, and I'm excited about today's show.
Marc:We've got Jason Sudeikis from the movies and from the SNL.
Marc:Just talked to him.
Marc:It was a great conversation.
Marc:Genuinely a nice guy.
Marc:Kansas City guy, Midwest.
Marc:Speaking of that, I'm in Cleveland.
Marc:Am I in the Midwest?
Marc:Can I just say one thing?
Marc:Can I be honest with you for a second?
Marc:I don't want to die in Cleveland.
Marc:I don't want to die on the way to Cleveland.
Marc:I almost died.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:In my mind, I almost died on the airplane.
Marc:All right.
Marc:I've been here.
Marc:I'm okay.
Marc:Don't worry.
Marc:But it was touch and go in my mind.
Marc:We all know that airplanes are built to take a certain amount of shit.
Marc:We know that.
Marc:I know that in my mind and in my heart, but God damn it.
Marc:I have been flying a lot all my life.
Marc:And I was on a flight from Los Angeles to Cleveland that was supposed to arrive in Cleveland at 1135.
Marc:And I got to be honest with you, I thought I was going to die.
Marc:I had not been through this kind of turbulence.
Marc:And it was very surprising in a lot of ways.
Marc:Look, I got up and I checked the weather in Cleveland because I'm going to the airport, as I said.
Marc:And as you know, I travel a lot.
Marc:And I got up, I checked the weather just to see what was going on.
Marc:And sure enough, there was going to be a thunderstorm in Cleveland.
Marc:So I automatically assumed I'm leaving at four in the afternoon.
Marc:They're going to delay the flight.
Marc:That's what they do now.
Marc:If there's bad weather, forget about it.
Marc:Flights delayed all around the country for a storm.
Marc:And then, of course, I think in my mind, you know, when I was a kid, we used to fly through anything.
Marc:I remember flying through thunderstorms when I was a kid.
Marc:I remember flying through snowstorms.
Marc:You flew, man.
Marc:No matter what, that plane was going to go and get there.
Marc:But, you know, that was when it was a different time.
Marc:There was only a few airlines.
Marc:The skies were not as congested as they are now.
Marc:And I completely know and I get pissed off at the fact that they delay flights for storms that don't seem that bad.
Marc:And I've gotten angry.
Marc:I'm like, oh, what the fuck?
Marc:Is it drizzling?
Marc:You know, we can't get planes stacked up.
Marc:It's all about commerce, about business, about the number of planes.
Marc:So I was completely anticipating a delay, but no delay.
Marc:I get on the airplane.
Marc:I'm already a little freaked out about it because I don't fly United usually.
Marc:I usually fly American, and United is merging with Continental.
Marc:So the terminal was having an identity crisis.
Marc:Everything was in flux.
Marc:There was construction.
Marc:I didn't know whether I was on a United plane or a Continental plane.
Marc:It all made me a little nervous.
Marc:But the plane was nice.
Marc:It's a continental plane to get on the plane.
Marc:We're flying to Cleveland.
Marc:No problem.
Marc:No Wi-Fi.
Marc:I'm okay with that.
Marc:I did have a little Twitter withdrawal.
Marc:Don't like to be off the grid for that long, but I'm not complaining.
Marc:So I'm on the plane.
Marc:I'm watching DirecTV.
Marc:Woodstock, the movie, is playing on VH1.
Marc:Watching that.
Marc:And then the pilot comes on and says, this is an hour before we're supposed to land.
Marc:But mind you, when we took off, he said, there may be a little weather coming into Cleveland, but I think we're going to beat it.
Marc:OK, took that away in my head.
Marc:No worries.
Marc:About an hour before we're scheduled to land, the pilot comes on and says, if the flight attendants could please make the plane ready for landing and take your seats, it's going to get bumpy.
Marc:All right, I can handle turbulence.
Marc:No problem.
Marc:I'm watching Joe Cocker in the Woodstock movie, singing with a little help from my friends, and I got it cranked up.
Marc:I can't hear much.
Marc:The plane is not that full.
Marc:There's not that many people on it.
Marc:I've got a whole row to myself.
Marc:There's a woman across from me, a row to herself.
Marc:There's a guy behind me, across from me, wrote to his self.
Marc:His wife is sitting directly behind me.
Marc:And I got to be honest with you, they were really annoying when I got on.
Marc:I mean, completely annoying people just by virtue of, I don't know, they were just annoying for a lot of reasons.
Marc:Not part of the story.
Marc:So all of a sudden, the flight attendants are seated.
Marc:I'm like, all right, we'll hit some bumps.
Marc:No worries.
Marc:Watching Joe Cocker.
Marc:Then outside of the plane, it's dark out.
Marc:I see lightning.
Marc:I mean, I see lightning close by on both sides of the plane.
Marc:Lightning.
Marc:At first, I thought it was just the lights of the plane on the wing reflecting off the clouds.
Marc:No, lightning.
Marc:And I'm just sitting there going, oh, man, I feel a little bump.
Marc:And I'm like, all right, this is manageable.
Marc:And then the fucking plane must have dropped 50 feet.
Marc:And it was like, whoa, like I just felt it go.
Marc:And then all of a sudden, you shouldn't be grabbing hold of your armrest to like out lean the plane.
Marc:The plane is leaning to the left.
Marc:We are what I think out of control.
Marc:He can't seem to get a handle on the plane.
Marc:There are huge clouds outside.
Marc:It's ominous.
Marc:And through Joe Cocker singing, you know,
Marc:I get high with a little help from my friends.
Marc:I hear the guy in the row behind me across the aisle going, oh no, oh no, oh God, no.
Marc:I hear that kind of inaudibly, but this is bad turbulence.
Marc:We are rocking out there.
Marc:I mean, it's like a roller coaster, and it feels like the plane is out of control, but I'm just thinking, man,
Marc:God, I wish my girlfriend were here.
Marc:This is something we should be doing together, dying.
Marc:And then I was completely surprised because apparently when I scream in terror, which I eventually did, and it was involuntary because when, not unlike a roller coaster, when you just drop, it just comes out of you.
Marc:And I was happy it didn't sound like a frightened child.
Marc:Instead, when I scream, apparently this is what it sounds like.
Marc:Oh, come on, man.
Marc:Come on.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:Maybe that's a prayer.
Marc:You know, I'm not really a believer, but maybe I was addressing a higher power or something outside of me that might remedy the situation.
Marc:This is how I sound when I am terrified that my plane might fall out of the sky.
Marc:Oh, come on, man.
Marc:And then this also came out of my mouth involuntarily.
Marc:Jesus, are you fucking kidding me?
Marc:Are you fucking kidding me?
Marc:And I vaguely hear the guy screaming.
Marc:I hear Joe Cocker singing.
Marc:And I'm thinking, is this a good song to die to?
Marc:Not really, but kind it is.
Marc:It's not, you know, it's not a bad song.
Marc:There's a lot of feeling in it.
Marc:It's not that bad.
Marc:But then I got into my head and I realized, kind of reminded me of an old bit I did that maybe I should make a death playlist.
Marc:for my iPod, just in case I've got a few minutes knowing that it's about to be over on the treadmill when my heart explodes or in a plane crash situation.
Marc:But it was bad, man.
Marc:There was lightning.
Marc:We were rocking back and forth, and I was just waiting for it to level off.
Marc:I was like, please, come on, man.
Marc:And sure enough, we get out from under the clouds.
Marc:I take my headphones off.
Marc:I look back at the guy behind me.
Marc:He's like, I'm sorry, man.
Marc:I'm sorry.
Marc:I'm like, it's okay, dude.
Marc:He's like, I just can't handle that.
Marc:And in my mind, I'm thinking, you know, planes are built to handle this, but I was certainly not built to handle it.
Marc:I didn't freak out as much as that guy, but I freaked out.
Marc:And then we get out from under the clouds.
Marc:And, you know, we can see Cleveland and the guy who's flying, the pilot is just hot dog.
Marc:And I realized, man, either he was terrified up there who he or he was thrilled to have the opportunity to do whatever the hell he just did, because he's just flying around Cleveland.
Marc:We're circling.
Marc:He's winging back and forth.
Marc:He's rocking the plane.
Marc:But I can tell he's just I thought he was taking a victory lap and I thought, let him have it.
Marc:You know, we made it.
Marc:Let him have that victory lap.
Marc:And then, of course, I said to the woman across from me, because I had my headphones on, I said, so was everybody screaming?
Marc:And she looked at me and nodded, no, just pointed at the guy behind me and me.
Marc:So we were the only two screamers, I guess.
Marc:And that was kind of embarrassing.
Marc:But he finally leveled off, and we landed, and I applauded.
Marc:And the guy behind me, who was annoying initially, but now we were kindred spirits, we were sort of brothers.
Marc:We'd made it through something together.
Marc:We both applauded, and no one else did.
Marc:And it's sort of something you want the pilot to acknowledge when you land.
Marc:I'd like him to come on and just go, whoa, fuck, am I right?
Marc:Well, we made it, man.
Marc:That was touch and go.
Marc:But no, he just said, welcome to Cleveland, yada, yada.
Marc:And then the woman across from me brought up a Doppler map on her iPhone to show this storm front that we'd made it through.
Marc:It was a huge storm.
Marc:It was a huge storm because when I got back to the hotel, the storm hit Cleveland.
Marc:And it was like, I mean, there was rain.
Marc:It was raining sideways into my windows with thunder and lightning.
Marc:And she showed me that Doppler map.
Marc:And you could see the whole sort of crescent of the storm front coming down from the north.
Marc:And in the middle of the storm front was a bear patch.
Marc:There was literally a channel of air, of clear air in the middle of the storm front.
Marc:And that's what this dude, he shot through the middle of that.
Marc:He knew he like we didn't beat it.
Marc:He saw a window in the middle of a storm and flew through it.
Marc:Jesus Christ.
Marc:The balls on that guy.
Marc:Unbelievable.
Marc:So we're getting off the plane and I see the dude.
Marc:I see that, you know, the cockpit is open.
Marc:And, you know, I look at him and, you know, I didn't know what to say.
Marc:So I looked at him and said, did you have a good time up there?
Marc:He goes, yeah, we did.
Marc:We did.
Marc:And I'm like, all right.
Marc:But so, of course, I got to the hotel and I couldn't sleep because I was happy to be alive.
Marc:Because in my mind, we had just survived something that could have been the end.
Marc:But of course, in the cockpit, it could have just been another day at work.
Marc:But holy shit, I'm just glad I didn't shit my pants up there.
Marc:Me or the other guy that was screaming.
Marc:I'm just glad we didn't have to bond around that.
Marc:Like, did you shit your pants too?
Marc:Me too.
Marc:It's embarrassing.
Marc:But hey, you know what?
Marc:Between us, right?
Guest:Am I right, buddy?
Guest:So, all right, so we're already on a roll, man.
Guest:I love it.
Guest:We're already on a roll.
Guest:Trying to get these things out of the way so we can look each other in the eyes.
Marc:Yeah, you all right?
Marc:Yeah, I'm good.
Guest:Can you see me?
Guest:Yeah, I can see you.
Marc:You've already discussed this.
Marc:Jason Sudeikis is in the garage.
Marc:We're in Los Angeles.
Marc:He's in Los Angeles for two days.
Marc:He sent me a joke email, and I took it seriously.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And I said, what are you doing Tuesday?
Guest:Right.
Guest:And you came.
Guest:Well, no, the joke was after that.
Guest:The joke was the clarification of being able to do the live one in New York.
Marc:All right, because I wrote you to say, do you want to do a live one?
Marc:And then you wrote back to say, I think I'm a little big for that.
Marc:Well, not in so many words.
Marc:No, but that was the impression I got there.
Guest:I mean, my people wrote the email.
Guest:Oh, they did?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Did you skim it after they wrote it?
Marc:I don't even skim it, no.
Marc:They're just that good.
Marc:You trust them.
Marc:Nah, but they're that good.
Marc:It was funny because there were a few jokes in there I thought could have been yours.
Marc:No, they weren't.
Guest:Mailroom kid.
Guest:That's amazing.
Marc:He really speaks to you.
Marc:Big fan?
Marc:Doesn't scare you at all?
Guest:No, he's frightening, but he's good.
Guest:Like I said, he's good.
Guest:I don't trust him.
Guest:I don't know what else he just sends.
Guest:He has access.
Guest:He has my password.
Marc:Okay, so we'll blame him.
Guest:But no, the joke was the earnestness of my email, which was true and being a fan of it.
Guest:And then you asking, well, what are you doing Tuesday?
Guest:And then me saying, oh, buddy, I was just kidding.
Guest:That was the joke.
Guest:But it's nice to know that you don't read your emails either.
Marc:You know what?
Marc:Now that you mention it, I do remember it.
Marc:It was two days ago.
Marc:No, I know that.
Marc:What have you done?
Marc:I haven't done anything, but I read it as a joke, but I still knew that you were going to come.
Marc:Yeah, of course.
Marc:I mean, you showed up.
Marc:Well, underneath me saying I was kidding, I said I was kidding about kidding.
Marc:Yeah, I know, but see, then it gets layered, and then I'm like, Jesus Christ, this guy's fucking a handful.
Guest:Too much.
Guest:Two handfuls.
Marc:What did you do today?
Guest:What did I do today?
Guest:I went and had a... I just came from an audition for a major motion picture.
Marc:But aren't you in enough motion pictures?
Marc:I mean, what stage of this are you at?
Marc:Are we almost a star?
Marc:Where are we at with that?
Guest:I think I'm at a place where people think I'm either me or Ed Helms.
Guest:so you're in the end so i'm in so i'm in a good that's a good thing because i either think i'm in in in what i do or or two of the the biggest comedy movies and one of the like three best television shows you know like you're familiar i'm familiar yeah you're in the wheelhouse of big comedy stars yeah yeah you might get mistaken for somebody else absolutely
Guest:But I think I still have that thing where people are like, did I go to high school with you?
Guest:You still got that?
Guest:Oh, yeah, sure, sure.
Guest:Or just familiar.
Guest:And that may be BS.
Guest:I don't know if you've had, like, some people will pretend like they... Right.
Guest:They fuck with you?
Guest:Yeah, someone on Facebook, a gal, sent me a message, and it was like, have I met you before?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it's like, well, now, hold on.
Guest:Yeah, come on.
Guest:How did you find this?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like, if you can spell my name right, then there's a whole bunch of stuff you can figure out before asking, going straight to the source.
Marc:Well, there's that horrible moment where they're like, do I know you?
Marc:And then you're like, well, yeah, I was in, you know, the Bosses movie.
Marc:And they're like, no.
Marc:No, no.
Marc:It's like, office hangover.
Guest:Yeah, there you are.
Guest:I love you.
Guest:You're really funny.
Guest:And I definitely have, I mean, certainly not as much since...
Guest:Since people know who he is because of the hangover and office and whatnot.
Guest:But we did have a little bit of... Crossover?
Guest:Well, not really ever.
Guest:He and I, we've only performed together like once at UCB in the marathon years ago, him and I and Rob Riggle.
Marc:But he comes from... Where does he come from?
Marc:He's not... I can't remember where he comes from.
Guest:He went to Oberlin College and then... Oberlin.
Guest:Yeah, and then...
Marc:That's a good school.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Where'd you come from?
Guest:Kansas.
Guest:I'm from Overland Park, Kansas.
Marc:Overland.
Marc:Yeah, Overland Park.
Marc:Similar.
Marc:Maybe that's where people get.
Guest:That's probably what it is, right?
Guest:Just Wikipedia, wiki confusion.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Overland, Overland.
Guest:Yeah, that's it.
Guest:Kansas.
Guest:You grew up in Kansas.
Guest:Yeah, I was born in Virginia, but then grew up there.
Guest:I mean, you know, it's quite remarkable.
Guest:It speaks highly of me to put these guys in the same, having them from the same place.
Guest:But Rob Riggle from the same hometown.
Guest:Paul Rudd, same hometown.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:I think I knew that.
Marc:I think Riggle told me that.
Guest:Yeah, we're all... Did you know each other growing up?
Guest:No, no.
Guest:I knew of Paul because he graduated from the same high school I went to many, many years before me.
Guest:And the teacher that this woman, Sally Shipley, who's just awesome, one of those Mr. Holland's opus kind of teachers, pointed me in the direction of the work that he did in this radio and TV class early on.
Guest:And it was just really, really funny.
Marc:So he was sort of a legend?
Marc:Yeah, he was kind of... Communications?
Guest:Yeah, exactly, yeah.
Guest:And forensic, speech and debate, like, legend.
Guest:And I played sports and whatnot, and I was kind of doing that stuff as, like, a fun way to spend 50 minutes playing improv games in school.
Guest:And then I didn't meet him until years later.
Guest:I met him through Amy Poehler going to see Three Days of Rain.
Marc:So you were on the jock, thespian, you know, like, precipice?
Guest:I was...
Guest:Full jock with thespian tendencies.
Guest:I threw a lot of behind-the-back passes in basketball.
Guest:I was definitely a showboat with a hot dog.
Marc:So knowing now what I know.
Marc:Were you able to tell your teammates that you had this secret acting desire?
Guest:I think people may have known it.
Guest:I have an uncle who's an actor.
Guest:Who's your uncle?
Guest:George Wendt.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Marc:How's he doing?
Guest:Doing well.
Guest:Is he?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He does a ton of live theories.
Guest:He's been touring with Broadway.
Guest:But he was a big Second City guy, wasn't he?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Him and his wife, Bernadette Burkett, who was on the original Gary Shandling show.
Marc:So you grew up in this shit?
Guest:No.
Guest:Not really.
Guest:I mean, he was doing it.
Marc:How's he your uncle?
Marc:Excuse me?
Marc:How is he your uncle?
Guest:My mom's brother.
Guest:There's seven Wint kids.
Guest:He's Kathy.
Guest:My mom's the first.
Marc:Really?
Marc:So you grew up knowing that your uncle was on Cheers, and you probably visited out here, and you went to the set?
Marc:Only a couple times.
Guest:I mean, I've told the story recently.
Guest:I saw it, like, in... To who?
Guest:Someone in London, I think, actually.
Guest:Let's fucking do it.
Guest:Yeah, but just the fact that I went to go visit them, visit the Cheers set, like, when we came out here to Disneyland as kids, and both, like, you know, George and John Ratzenberger and, like, Woody, and they were...
Guest:they were rehearsing uh and they're all hanging out in shorts laughing at a good time and they had this big long steel pole and they made a homemade blow dart and they're shooting it across the bar trying to get stick on those like i'm like you know like how you have things hang on your wall in here like trying to hit things on the cheers set and i was just like this is the coolest job ever yeah this is and george always had like the coolest stuff and like it was just like the nicest guy and
Guest:He'd go into bars and people would yell a fake name at him.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Give him free beer.
Guest:Oh, the guy hasn't bought a beer since 1983.
Guest:We can only hang out together in a bar for an hour before it's just shots lined up.
Guest:And now with camera phones, to have Norm Peterson, to drink a beer with Norm Peterson is right up there with like, I don't know.
Marc:Oh, sure.
Marc:It's like being taken in a picture with the president.
Marc:Absolutely.
Marc:The president of beer.
Yeah.
Guest:It's so true, yeah.
Guest:It's like, I don't want to ride a Clydesdale.
Guest:Fuck that.
Guest:I want to cheers with this guy.
Marc:Yeah, Norm.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Marc:So now, wait, do you hang out with him?
Marc:I mean, do you... We see each other a bit.
Marc:But he must be proud of your success.
Guest:Yeah, he's been really, really good.
Guest:You know, he was always... His influence was both that it was possible, like to be... I mean, being from Kansas, him being from Chicago, being from the Wint family, like that it was possible to actually do this for a living.
Guest:Also, he maintained being just as...
Guest:As nice of a guy and as like, I'll say Midwestern for lack of vocabulary, of a guy throughout all this craziness that you get to do and is thrust upon you.
Guest:And then he also was really good at keeping my...
Guest:my mom at bay being like, no, he's actually good at this.
Marc:You had an ally.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Because they were probably hoping you'd continue basketball or perhaps going to sales.
Guest:Just going to school.
Guest:Oh, sales, yes.
Guest:It was definitely sales in the making.
Marc:No, I don't know.
Guest:He's so outgoing.
Guest:He's so good with people.
Marc:Was it sales in the making?
Marc:I mean, every time I think of the Midwest, it's just for some reason, that's where sales comes from.
Marc:Wasn't that invented in the Midwest?
Marc:I think so.
Marc:The idea of sales?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Marc:What does anyone do in Kansas City?
Marc:I'm not being condescending.
Guest:No, I don't think people... There's a lot of sales.
Marc:Kansas City, Kansas.
Guest:Overland Park, Kansas, yes.
Guest:But not Kansas City, Missouri.
Guest:No, but I went there for high school for a couple years, and I had a lot of friends that...
Marc:What is the thing with that?
Marc:Why two different Kansas cities?
Marc:I mean, isn't that bullshit?
Guest:You know, I really appreciate you endowing me with having a wide knowledge of my hometown.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:I mean, you're the one with the computer.
Marc:I'm not going to Google anything.
Marc:You come from this place.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:I will admit that.
Marc:How many pairs of cowboy boots did you own in your life?
Guest:none never owned a pair my dad owned a pair okay but he i think he owned him in like the early 80s when like you know drug like urban cowboy when i won yeah yeah but i was only what was i like i was 81 1981 i had a few pair of black cowboy boots one pair of lizard boots i grew up in new mexico and i had the beat it jacket you know so we you know i did how old are you seriously i'm 35 seriously 30 35 okay i can play 32 36 in about a about a month
Marc:So you're doing all right.
Marc:So far, so good.
Marc:35, it's very good.
Marc:Everything's working out in your favor.
Guest:Not everything.
Guest:I appreciate that.
Marc:Dude, I read things, and I watch you in motion pictures and on television.
Marc:I've seen you walk down the street with sunglasses on.
Marc:I know what's going on.
Guest:Running, if I'm being chased.
Marc:Yeah, and that happens a lot.
Marc:Well, not really.
Marc:Sudeikomania hasn't hit the country?
Marc:Not yet, no.
Marc:What kind of name is that?
Marc:It's Lithuanian.
Marc:You're lucky it's alliterative and memorable.
Marc:If there was another few syllables on there, you'd be fucked.
Guest:It sounds like a nightmare.
Marc:Sudeikis.
Guest:I bless Zach's heart for paving the way for us.
Guest:Galifianakis.
Marc:Yeah, but his is impossible to spell.
Marc:You can actually spell yours if you get the U in there and not an E. I mean, you can sort of phonetically sound it out.
Marc:Galifianakis, it doesn't spell like that.
Marc:It's like Galifianakis.
Marc:It's his greatest joke.
Guest:Yeah, it is?
No.
Marc:It was pretty ballsy for him to keep that, I'll tell you that.
Marc:He could have went with Zach G. Zach G would have been great.
Marc:Something like that.
Marc:And the people would have thought he was a director.
Marc:He directed Charles Angels.
Marc:Or maybe a bad sax player.
Marc:All right, so, okay, so Kansas City, you were a jock in high school.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But not a mean one.
Guest:No, because my sisters did like, well, gosh, you know...
Guest:I mean, do you ever really know?
Guest:I feel like you spent a lot of time on this thing, hearing people play back their impressions of you at a point in your life that you're surprised by.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know, because we're sitting in the skin now, these people now.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:And I'm certain that if people gave me some of the pull quotes from things I said and did back then, even through my Chicago years when I was in my early 20s.
Guest:Could be under a douchebag column.
Guest:Oh, I'm certain of it, and I'm...
Guest:I'm embarrassed by it, but I sort of have to own it and know that I've at least done that so I know how to play those guys.
Marc:Do you want to try and reach down and find one of those moments where you hurt some nerd's feelings?
Marc:I don't know if I honestly ever realized it.
Marc:See, this is the problem with guys like you.
Guest:Guys like us.
Marc:Let's throw it in there.
Marc:Yeah, why not, right?
Marc:Okay, fine, all right.
Marc:Where you just sort of like, it's, you know, like, come on, really?
Guest:I mean, having just had the luxury of listening to you talk to a poller about, like, those days, it's wonderful because, like, there's such a clear respect and, like, it was just two people that just needed to have, oh, what did I call it?
Guest:Heart to heart?
Guest:Yeah, just, like, drive across the country, you know, or have a bottle episode, you know, like when Skippy and Mallory are in the basement of Family Ties and they just need to break through this shit.
Guest:They're just like,
Guest:Uh, so I certainly, and I've, and I've tried to prompt those with, with people, you know, in, in, in my life.
Marc:How does it usually start?
Guest:So like, Hey, what, did I do anything to piss you off?
Guest:Like, like almost like a, you know, like I'm in a program.
Guest:Like if I did anything like that's like, that's my bad.
Marc:So that was a greeting that you actually are familiar with.
Marc:Cause I have that, you know, are we good or, uh, Hey, are we, you know, I'm sorry.
Marc:Uh, you know, preemptive, uh, kind of damage control, but I'm older than you.
Marc:We don't, we don't have any run-ins.
Marc:You and I don't.
Marc:No, not at all.
Marc:No, no baggage at all.
Marc:I don't think I have any baggage with people you know.
Marc:So this is a rare interview.
Marc:There's clarity.
Marc:Like, I can enter this with a clear mind.
Marc:Right, yeah.
Marc:I don't even have any resentment towards you.
Marc:No kidding.
Marc:Yeah, I'm sorry.
Marc:Does that disappoint you?
Marc:No, no.
Marc:I was just kind of hoping you would.
Marc:Yeah, I mean, I think if I dug deep, I could.
Marc:But I find you to be a pleasant presence on the box and on the screen.
Guest:Thank you.
Guest:What was that?
Guest:Was that a hawk?
Guest:So a huge shadow just went across your face and your face changed.
Guest:Did you see that?
Guest:No, I saw your face change and I saw it literally like it get dark in here for a second.
Guest:What was it?
Guest:I don't know what the fuck it was.
Guest:I just saw a huge shadow over that tree.
Guest:Sudeikomania starting.
Guest:It is.
Guest:Is that the paparazzi?
Marc:no it might it might be a falcon yeah it could be you have a falcon with you did you not put him somewhere no i'm looking for you he's put him on the hood i put him on the hood of the car he looks like a hood ornament holy shit whatever that was it was close and weird i don't i didn't hear a crash or anything no all right so kansas city so how the hell do you get from there to snl practice no no uh did you do any theater in high school
Guest:I did speech and debate, where it was like... That's different, because he can just be a dick.
Guest:Well, no, we literally had to do improvised duet acting, me and this fellow Ryan Ellis, and then we did... What happened to that guy?
Guest:He's like teacher of the year, like in Kansas.
Guest:He's doing really well for himself, teaching, I believe, the same kind of stuff, possibly.
Guest:We've only reconnected recently on Facebook.
Marc:Do you ever have moments where you're like, man, he did the noble thing.
Marc:Look at me, banging another star.
Marc:No, I never think that.
Guest:I never.
Guest:I write it down.
Guest:And then I burn it.
Guest:But I never think it.
Guest:No, he's teaching in Kansas City, though.
Guest:But then we also did this thing called duet acting, which was legitimately, you know, you're going up.
Guest:It's kind of weird because you're performing and then you're being judged.
Guest:It's like being on Last Comic Standing or American Idol.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:You're doing the speech and debate.
Guest:People are watching your scene and they're judging it like one through five.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And at the end, you get a medal.
Guest:And you can letter like a letterman, like a sport athlete.
Marc:But it's supposed to prepare you for a healthy competition and the ability to express your argument.
Marc:Yeah, well, for all that stuff... It's not supposed to delude your dreams and give you false hope in a business that's going to crush you.
Marc:Nobody told me that.
Guest:2020 hindsight, buddy.
Guest:So we would do the scene from the courtroom scene, the You Can't Hail the Truth scene from A Few Good Men, and fucking mean it.
Guest:As much of my living that I've made...
Guest:This is for a debate class.
Guest:This is for a debate class.
Guest:Like, where we'd go to high schools on Saturday mornings, you know, when the basketball season was over, and my basketball coach would be like, you gonna go do your silly little acting thing?
Guest:You know, he was always, you know, riding.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:So, yeah.
Guest:Like, when you talk about, like, a jock bully, like, I played hoops for the guy, and he's wonderful, and he's definitely a big character in my life.
Guest:What's his name?
Guest:Donnie Campbell.
Guest:Mm-hmm.
Guest:Yeah, and great, I mean, like... He's a basketball coach?
Guest:Yeah, and he's younger now, or he was younger then than I am now.
Guest:Like, he was, like, 31, and he was coaching 18-year-olds.
Guest:Is he still there?
Guest:He's not at that same school.
Guest:He's at another school.
Guest:But he won, like, Coach of the Year recently.
Guest:Have you gone back to see him?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:You did?
Marc:Yeah, of course.
Marc:We all, yeah, we all, yeah.
Marc:Okay, so you went back to see your high school basketball coach.
Marc:You used to bust your balls for doing acting classes.
Marc:How does he treat you now?
Marc:Very nice.
Guest:but also but also like with like you always were look you always were all right right there yeah I knew it man you were always cracking jokes man you know like I'm serious but he's also but he's also very genuine it's like from Lyons Kansas he's like you know he's like sober you know probably man you did you did your thing you know but when I went to go play basketball in college he's like what I mean he literally was like why are you gonna do that yeah
Guest:And he was right.
Guest:I dropped out.
Guest:I was ineligible my second semester at a community college.
Guest:Why?
Guest:Because you weren't big enough or what?
Guest:No, ineligible grades.
Guest:Just didn't go to class.
Guest:Couldn't play because of grades.
Guest:So you were a bad student.
Guest:I just didn't go to class.
Guest:I'd stay up until 4.
Guest:Much like I do now.
Guest:Stay up until 4 a.m.
Guest:and then get up at noon.
Guest:And by noon, all the classes were over.
Guest:So I'd eat lunch and then go to practice.
Guest:So you couldn't figure out a way to build your schedule around what your needs were?
Marc:Not with practice.
Marc:Oh, shit.
Marc:It's horrible.
Guest:It's tough, right?
Marc:Yeah, a community college on top of it.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Awful.
Marc:But could you have cut it in college ball?
Guest:Yes, small college.
Guest:I never could have played Kansas University or maybe at a D2 school.
Guest:But yeah, when I stopped playing, I was actually pretty good.
Marc:So the other trajectory your life could have taken was playing college ball at a small college or a community college.
Marc:Mm-hmm.
Marc:And then, you know, have that sort of hometown hero, a few trophies, you know, sitting behind your desk at wherever you were selling feed.
Marc:Never was, yeah.
You know.
Guest:It is a thriving city, Kansas City.
Guest:We have a baseball team sort of, a football team kind of.
Marc:I pictured out more in the suburbs than maybe in that farmland.
Guest:What do all my friends do?
Guest:I mean, I have a lot of teachers and coaches that are friends.
Guest:I have a friend that's an emergency room doctor.
Marc:I feel like I've been condescending.
Guest:no no but no but you know it's a Kansas still Kansas can still Kansas and there is something going on there other than Kansas City but but it's not yeah tornadoes help doing stuff you know he's working his magic religious fanaticism and unemployment I think it's you know we're big proponents of teaching the Ten Commandments instead of evolution
Guest:I don't think I was aware of it.
Guest:No, nothing was as political when we were in school as it is now.
Guest:I think that's true.
Guest:Did you grow up with that religion?
Guest:Yeah, I went to Catholic school.
Guest:For the back half.
Guest:I went to an all-boys Jesuit high school for the first two years.
Guest:Just a bad fit.
Marc:How are you a Catholic?
Guest:What's your family come from?
Guest:Southside Chicago, South Shore Chicago, like Irish Catholic.
Guest:Ukrainian or?
Guest:German.
Guest:German.
Guest:Irish and Lithuanian.
Marc:Mostly Irish.
Guest:Went to Sudeikis and then both the main names.
Guest:So they started in Chicago and they migrated?
Guest:Yeah, my dad was working for IBM, I think.
Guest:They were living in D.C.
Guest:I was born in Fairfax, Virginia.
Guest:Then after about six months from what I can remember them telling me, not my actual own memory, we moved to Kansas City and he started a job there.
Guest:For IBM?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I think it was IBM in the early days, but then eventually my dad was like a headhunter growing up.
Guest:Going out and finding the talent?
Guest:Yeah, almost like an agent for real jobs.
Guest:And then my mom was a travel agent.
Guest:Oh, that's nice.
Marc:At home?
Marc:No, no.
Guest:And she was traveling a bunch.
Guest:I grew up where my mom was probably gone more than my father.
Guest:Yeah, just for her pleasure, because she said she had to go?
Guest:Well, I mean, I won't bust her on that.
Guest:That's good.
Guest:She said it was work.
Guest:No, she was always going to conferences or going to try things out.
Guest:And then when we would go travel as a family.
Marc:She would try trips out?
Guest:Yeah, like where, you know, hey, China's got a new hotel.
Guest:We're all going.
Guest:So, you know, it's like they bring them in.
Guest:It's just like a recruiting trip for like an athlete.
Marc:You went to China?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I never did, but she was going everywhere.
Marc:Really?
Guest:We as a family, it's like, hey, they opened up.
Guest:You got to see Epcot Center has a new thing.
Guest:All right, family's going down.
Guest:We'd get good deals.
Guest:We'd stay in one of the things, and she'd hand out her business card and probably get 40% off everything.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And so even though middle class, we got to do pretty high school stuff.
Guest:Oh, that's a good racket.
Guest:Oh, it was fantastic.
Guest:It's like a food critic.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then the old, then the frigging Al Gore had to, you know, invent the internet.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And now it makes it a lot tougher for the, for the young lady.
Marc:It's horrible.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Everybody's doing it themselves, but people there, if you, if you want to do it easily, uh, you know, maybe she'll leave your mom's card here.
Marc:Do you have her card or?
Marc:No, no, no, no.
Marc:She's not doing it.
Guest:No, she, no, no, she's still doing it.
Guest:Uh, yeah.
Guest:Kathy Sudeikis at all about travel, I believe.
Guest:If you can spell it.
Guest:If you're in the KC area.
Guest:If you get past that U in Sadegas, you'll be able to find her.
Marc:And now she's going to get people going, so you're Jason's mother.
Marc:Yes, would you like to book some travel?
Marc:To his house.
Guest:Where does he live?
Guest:Can we get tickets to SNL?
Marc:Does a travel agent work for that?
Marc:She's going to ask you that now.
Marc:She's never asked you that.
Marc:Could you do... I got a client.
Marc:Oh, sure.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:Yeah, I do.
Guest:I mean, I give the majority of my tickets to some charity back home in Kansas, and they get great... They do.
Guest:You give two tickets, and then... Do you really?
Guest:Absolutely, yeah.
Guest:We only...
Guest:Yeah, at this point.
Guest:Because all my friends have come.
Guest:Yeah, they're like, we get it.
Guest:Yeah, they're like, you're not going to last.
Guest:We're going to come in this first season before we figure it out.
Guest:And now everybody else, now it's usually like, hey, can we get two tickets?
Guest:Our church is having a thing.
Guest:I was like, yeah, absolutely.
Guest:And then you give them, then they go for thousands of bucks.
Guest:It's really remarkable.
Marc:And the people show up.
Marc:People show up.
Guest:What are we doing in New York?
Guest:I meet them.
Guest:They usually give me like, you know, like.
Guest:It's all part of a package that they'll throw together, like the flight.
Guest:I don't do that part, but just the tickets.
Guest:And then they bring like Gates Barbecue sauce for me or a Kansas Jayhawk T-shirt.
Guest:Yeah, it's actually quite a nice system.
Marc:Listen to you doing good.
Marc:Philanthropic.
Marc:Yeah, I get people that say like, what would it take to sit in on a WTF?
Marc:I'm like, it'd be a little awkward if there were just some dude here that was like, hi.
Guest:It would be a little awkward.
Guest:I think you and I would probably just engage him and give him a mic and have him be part of the, weave him into the fabric of this.
Guest:that'd be interesting so all right so kansas city yeah basketball jock you hurt some people yeah yeah all that yeah right emotionally good men in debate class you got it that changed everything it i think the thing which part did you play you can't handle the no that was ryan ryan had the heat for that i was i was the the brash tom uh tom cruise part oh you were and in the funny thing about that is that i you know because i was in sports and sally shipley the teacher would always you know you're just doing this for whatever she's super funny lady like when if you were talking no you jocks
Marc:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:You're just visiting.
Guest:That summer before senior year, I saw that movie on VHS, and I was like, that would be a great scene to do for forensics.
Guest:So the fact that I thought about it during the summer, and then I literally, like I used to do, or we all had to do with lyrics, you know, used to write them down.
Guest:I rewound it and did it all like Ryan says this, Jason says this, and wrote down the scene, brought it in the first day of class, and she was like, so amazed that I did that.
Guest:Let us do the scene right away.
Guest:And it was fun to do, and we did it all the whole semester, and then cut to like, I don't know, two years later, I realized...
Guest:Oh, that's a fucking play that I could have just bought by Aaron Sorkin.
Marc:Yeah, but that's all right.
Guest:Yeah, I mean, if anything, it helped with my handwriting.
Guest:You jocks have to learn these things.
Guest:Yeah, we do.
Guest:We learn the hard way.
Guest:It's tough to get inside our brains.
Guest:Oh, here's ball bouncing and whistles.
Guest:I didn't know there was a play.
Guest:You say play, ask me pass and pick away.
Guest:That's a play.
Guest:Block somebody.
Guest:I'm sorry I'm being condescending.
Guest:No, it's all right.
Guest:I assume you can't throw a ball.
Marc:Is that what your deal is?
Marc:Are you all right?
Marc:Are you athletic at all?
Marc:I've talked about this before.
Marc:I can't handle competition.
Marc:I don't have the part of me...
Marc:That wants to win if I'm losing.
Marc:I have the part of me that wants to ruin the game or leave.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I think it's called quit.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I don't know if I want to win.
Guest:I just I don't believe the thought ever crosses my mind that it's not possible that I can't.
Guest:right and i've never said that out loud but i think that is one of those things like if we're throwing darts and neither of us are professional dart players and then you hit a three bullseyes in a row and i get three darts yeah there's never a thought in my head before i throw those three darts that i can't hit those three yeah and and but but if i if i miss them at this point in my life and i don't think i ever would have thrown the darts down and huffed off and been like that's bullshit you got lucky it always would have been dude unbelievable three in a row are you kidding me
Guest:Did you rope me in here and bust your balls by the beer that we gambled on and then go about our night?
Marc:Right.
Marc:No, I don't think with darts I would have thrown them down.
Marc:And I think maybe I'm not giving myself enough credit.
Marc:I would throw the darts, but I would feel threatened and intimidated that I'm playing with a very good dart player.
Marc:And that would fuck up my game.
Marc:Gotcha.
Marc:Gotcha.
Marc:you know what i mean yeah yeah sure of course like i feel there was pressure yeah like i think it's more about like i'd like to be really good at something immediately yeah and sometimes when if you're really focused you can do that it doesn't hold right like i can shoot a one pretty good game of pool it pulls the best example out yeah yeah or bowling even you know i mean one game of bowling you know i'm focused a minute i kick ass yeah and then like three games of shit yeah and that's the way i am with everything you know and then like if i do really well at something why not stop there
Marc:Why not stop after that first game?
Marc:Why not stop after that great moment if you don't want to dedicate your life to it?
Marc:Right.
Marc:I'm with you.
Guest:Like Citizen Kane, he should have got out while he was on top.
Guest:It's just one movie and I'm done.
Guest:I nailed it.
Guest:I'm sorry, I'm going back to radio.
Marc:Yeah, he did a couple good ones, but it didn't end well for him.
Marc:Wow, what happened?
Marc:What, with Orson Welles?
Guest:Oh, is that his name?
Guest:No.
Marc:Okay, so you're all full of the beans and you leave Kansas City for Chicago?
Guest:Yeah, you know what it was?
Guest:The inciting incident was literally, no shit I can remember, it was going to see the Armando Diaz theatrical experience in Hootenanny here in Los Angeles with a bunch of ImprovOlympic alumni that had moved out here.
Marc:Wait, no, where did you start with that shit?
Marc:Because I've had improv guys in here.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And a lot of people, like, I've talked to them about the sort of life of on-the-road improv stuff.
Marc:But where did you start doing improv?
Guest:In Kansas City, there was this amazing theater that I got to work at called Comedy Sports, which is basically like Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Guest:That's a chain.
Guest:It is.
Guest:Yeah, there's a bunch.
Guest:They're like 22.
Guest:And this was just me doing it for fun.
Guest:This was just like me taking the class.
Guest:Like I was still playing basketball, but then I was slowly like kind of falling out of love with basketball where it wasn't fun anymore.
Guest:And then I was really enjoying this other thing.
Guest:And I did have a certain knack for it.
Guest:probably just I literally been I'm been very very uh fortunate to have a tremendous amount of funny friends like like it's the thing I'm probably most attracted to in another human being is like if they make me laugh and if they laugh like it's just there's nothing better for me and I was just surrounded by those people growing up so I had all this sort of like ability to joke around in a bunch of different ways I can joke around like Ryan Landry or Terry Maher or Chris Eichmann all these various styles yeah and because each one of them were more individual than me who are those other guys those other
Guest:guy uh just got a doctor yeah political cartoon like just fellows just buddies that i went to grade school and high school with and and then this one fellow cam lynch uh uh was uh lived in north kansas city and he he started working at this place called comedy sports we go down to see him like for like homecoming it was like where you would go after homecoming yeah and it was amazing it was like hilarious it was like the second city thing that i'd seen a little bit when we would go up you know up or go downtown when i was back home on the south side of chicago yeah my grandma's at least
Guest:And I was like, oh, that'd be cool.
Guest:And then it was like a guy, similar to like that moment on SNL where someone from your generation is on SNL where you're like, nobody can get, wait, who's on?
Guest:Holy cow.
Guest:If he can do it, that means I might be able to do it.
Guest:Cam Lynch was performing in the show and I was just like, and he was great and he was the youngest guy and I was always like,
Guest:hey, let me know when there's an audition or something like that.
Guest:And it never came to fruition.
Guest:Then I took a course, like a class there, like a summer camp thing, six weeks.
Guest:And I just had a knack for it.
Guest:And I was just mentored by all these wonderful guys that I eventually got to be in a sketch group and an improv group.
Guest:But the culminating thing, the thing was like, I got to move to Chicago, was seeing this Armando Diaz thing here.
Guest:So I'd sort of known about long form.
Guest:I'd read Sharna's- Like Harold?
Marc:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:Like I'd read Sharna's book, you know, the Del Close book, Improv, Truth and Comedy, and Kim Howard Johnson, the other fellow that wrote.
Marc:This was the next level up from sort of pedestrian kind of like bring the family down improv kind of stuff.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Well, this is going from like, you know, Love Me Do to White Album.
Guest:Like the long form, you know, you could swear.
Guest:That was a big difference from comedy sports.
Guest:The fact that you only got one suggestion, that it wasn't like you weren't jumping through hoops, you were creating stuff spontaneously.
Guest:So did that shit blow your mind?
Guest:Absolutely.
Guest:Well, specifically one person, me and my friend Jeff Davis, who did Whose Lines It Anyway and works with Drew Carey and all those guys, went to go see this thing based on Pat Finn, who had known my Uncle George and been on a TV show with him, who was a Chicago Second City guy, was like, you should come down and see this show.
Guest:I go down and see it, and Dave Koechner.
Guest:Dave Koechner played the same character the whole show, first half, second half, and it fucking... It rattled me.
Guest:It was like... It was like... It's like, I play the guitar.
Guest:I've never seen anybody play the guitar like that.
Guest:Like...
Guest:What is he doing?
Guest:Jeff and I thought we knew it all.
Guest:We're 20 years old.
Guest:We've dominated comedy sports for the last three months.
Guest:And then jaws dropping.
Guest:I mean, the only other thing that was memorable besides that night was seeing Kim Cattrall in person.
Guest:She was stunning.
Guest:And this was 1997.
Marc:So you made a trip from Kansas City to Los Angeles.
Guest:To Los Angeles to hang out with Michael George.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:No, not specifically to see that.
Guest:Just was out here and was like, I want to go see stuff.
Guest:And it was always like, we'll go see the Groundlings.
Guest:But then Pat was like, we'll go see this.
Guest:I'd never seen the Groundlings until I went with Kristen Wiig after working at SNL.
Guest:Um, which was my bad, but it was still wonderful when I finally got to see it.
Marc:So this thing, so Kechner did.
Guest:Kechner blew, uh, didn't know who he was, asked.
Guest:He was dating a woman who was from Overland Park.
Guest:He was from, uh, Missouri.
Guest:So I was like, so it's, it's, it's like, it's possible.
Guest:Like, again, it's like, it is possible to be like, how do you get that good?
Guest:And then Pat's like, he, he's moved to Chicago.
Guest:And then September.
Guest:What did he do?
Guest:He, he,
Guest:He just owned it.
Guest:I mean, the same Dave that he is now, that when you see him in movies or if you've ever... It's very funny, yeah.
Marc:I haven't had him in here yet.
Guest:We were in touch with each other, but it didn't happen.
Guest:He's just a born leader and just one of the most supportive onstage spirits.
Guest:And yeah, he throws the rope down like nobody's business.
Guest:That guy just is...
Guest:In terms of improv?
Guest:That, and also just, I think, just looking down at people that are coming up.
Marc:Generous of spirit.
Guest:Generous of spirit.
Marc:Well, you guys are sort of like kind of men's men.
Guest:See, those guys are much more men than me.
Guest:I feel like I can skew a little bit.
Guest:A little more wuss-ish?
Guest:Yeah, or just, like, where I know when those guys, I mean, they're bigger than me, you know, they're just, like, those guys feel like guys, you know, like, to me.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so then, yeah, so that was May, and then September, September 1st, moved to Chicago.
Guest:That was it?
Guest:Yeah, it was, like, away we, like, I got to get up there and took classes at every theater they had up there, Second City, Annoyance, ImprovOlympic, didn't do comedy sports up there because I had done it there, and even though that would have been a nice way to, but, and then just, like,
Guest:put my head down and, like, just got into it.
Marc:And did you feel like... Were you kicking ass?
Guest:Did you dominate those scenes?
Guest:I... Things moved fairly quickly, you know, in relation to other people.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like, you know, you get on an improv team at ImprovOlympic, and that happened while I think I was in level one or two, which was unusual for... And that's a weird moment, you know, because I just...
Marc:you don't know you know it's like you you don't know that you know you you don't know that you know how to do what you do until other people start sort of telling you to a degree yeah and also with that kind of stuff you know uh when talent sort of becomes realized yeah uh it's not like necessarily it's not like you know stand-up or stuff i mean they're i guess performers do evolve yeah but like i think improv talent is fairly specific and either you're connected or you're not
Marc:Right.
Guest:I mean, but do you see like a new stand-up?
Guest:I mean, do you ever even venture into open mic nights or like when you do?
Marc:Well, no, I mean, but see, with me, I'm at an age where it's like new could mean, you know, your age.
Marc:Right.
Marc:So even if I'm not going to open mic nights, if I see somebody like Hannibal Buress for the first time or Moshe Kasher or anybody that sort of, you know, already jumped through, you know, six or eight years of hoops.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And now they're at where they're at.
Marc:They're still a young comic to me.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:And, you know, you can sort of see it's interesting to see people evolve.
Marc:Right.
Guest:Oh, it's, it's the, it's, it's literally the only reason I watch American Idol is because you see the person like the, whatever, we'll use Carrie Underwood as an example, who from Oklahoma, she doesn't, she can, she can sing.
Guest:She doesn't know that she's about to like change like whatever country music or popular country music that is.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Like, and then you see them sort of come into like them grow their wings.
Guest:It's,
Guest:And the great teachers and the great mentors do that for the people within the time they have it.
Guest:And me, I'm not a good enough student to get it in reflection.
Guest:Unfortunately, not in the moment.
Marc:Right, yeah, you can't appreciate the moment.
Guest:Yeah, just when people say, like, you remember that thing you did?
Guest:That was fucking great.
Guest:And I'm like, I don't.
Guest:Thank you.
Guest:Thank you for reminding me, yeah.
Guest:My sisters do that to me all the time.
Guest:Jason, you remember when you did this thing with our parents?
Guest:I was like, no, golly.
Guest:Like, it's really funny.
Guest:I can't believe it.
Guest:What a dick.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Who ushered you into the, uh, the world of, uh, SNL?
Marc:Who were your guides in Chicago and whatnot?
Guest:Well, I mean, it was, it was still a long road from that.
Guest:I was in Chicago for like three years and did everything I could there.
Guest:And, uh, you know, second city and did shows everywhere that created a show called JTS Brown, which I'm really proud of the people we put together, uh, who was in that show.
Guest:Um, gosh, I mean, I'm trying to think of anybody, uh, well, John Lutz, who's on, who's on a 30 rock and, um,
Guest:Pete Gross, who wrote for Colbert Report and is a wonderful actor.
Guest:I mean, I could go through the list, but it's blank.
Marc:Now, did your uncle help you at all with Second City or anything?
Marc:No.
Guest:I mean, that might be a misnomer that people think.
Marc:Yeah, everyone's talking about it.
Guest:Well, I mean, then and there.
Guest:Obviously, I don't think people talk about it now.
Guest:That would surprise me if they did.
Guest:Um, but, uh, no, the biggest, the biggest help would have been a fellow named Kevin Dorff.
Guest:You know Kevin?
Guest:He wrote for, uh, Conan for, for many years.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Him and Scott Adesit were, once I got to Chicago, they were the guys that I wanted to be like.
Guest:They were incredible actors.
Guest:They were, they were, they were masculine on stage.
Guest:Uh, Kevin was like, like Larry Bird.
Guest:And Scott was like Magic Johnson.
Guest:Scott felt like a good time on stage.
Guest:Audiences loved him.
Guest:He was so vibrant and playful.
Guest:And Kevin just locked it down.
Guest:Kevin's right out of Mad Men.
Guest:And brilliant minds, the two of them, in very different ways.
Guest:But they complement each other so well.
Guest:And I wanted to be both.
Marc:Yeah, so Adsit was a big deal, he was mythic.
Guest:Adsit, oh my god, Scott Adsit is like, I still to this day when I talk to him, it's kind of like, I mean, nerve-wracking.
Guest:Oh really?
Guest:Yeah, absolutely.
Guest:The way Amy talks about her second city, like when she's with Carell,
Guest:It's so true.
Guest:You regress to that thing.
Guest:That story that Lauren tells about Paul and George.
Guest:I feel bad people are going to have to, God, I've got to go back and talk and listen to the polar thing and get all the goddamn references.
Guest:But that is so true.
Marc:It's so weird, because I had Scott, for me, because I come from stand-up, and now obviously the age of stand-up effectiveness on television is waning.
Marc:When I see Scott Atzit on 30 Rock, I'm like, where the fuck did that guy come from?
Marc:Because he looks like he's been around somewhere for a while, and I really had no point of reference for him, and I had him on a live show, and he's great, and he's funny, but I don't have this connection that some people have to him.
Marc:It's like, he was a fucking shit, man.
Guest:he he left uh pretty uh early i think he the barry levinson was going to create a show similar maybe to 30 arc backstage at a sketch show tina had just left to go write for snl uh so she had just left but were you friends in chicago tina yeah no i knew her husband uh well because he was a director and musical director one of the best they've ever had and just one of the like funniest like one of those guys i could watch where it's heckin
Guest:city yeah yeah well i mean then wherever he goes he's that good and it's like he he would watch a scene and then like he could come into our show when the later in my journey i end up in las vegas he came to watch our show in las vegas an hour you know show yeah we were doing trying to over the din of you know the ding ding machines outside i'm not i'm not talking about the jackpots i'm talking about the people
Guest:And he literally adds, he can watch a show and add two more minutes of laughter to your show.
Guest:He's just good.
Guest:With music.
Guest:With music and the music, this sounds so corny, but the musicality of a scene.
Guest:He knows where the heat is.
Guest:What do you mean Vegas?
Marc:You were in Vegas?
Guest:I lived in Vegas, yeah.
Guest:I performed Second City.
Guest:I can speed you up there really quick.
Guest:Go from Chicago, dating a gal, Mr. Like Crazy.
Guest:She was in Amsterdam working in a place called Boom Chicago, which is a great place.
Guest:else didn't Seth Meyers Seth Meyers that's right Pete Gross the film I brought you I mentioned a lot of the folks that worked on Mad TV in the last four years of that show Boom Chicago Jordan Peele yeah yeah Boom Chicago it's still there I think it's celebrating maybe it's 20th 25th anniversary yeah Seth said he had a great time there it's
Guest:Yeah, it's an amazing thing that those guys have accomplished, starting in the back of a theater now.
Guest:Back of a bar, and now it's like a 200-seat dinner theater.
Guest:It's the biggest improv theater in Europe.
Guest:It's incredible what they've done.
Guest:And then while there, they're like, hey, we're going to open up a second city in Las Vegas.
Guest:Do you want to do it?
Guest:I was like, cool, we'll do it for six months.
Guest:After six months, my girlfriend, who was great, Kate Cannon, at the time, girlfriend, she gets hired.
Guest:So now we're there six months.
Guest:Three months after that, 9-11 happens.
Guest:And they cut down the cast to just five people instead of a rotating cast of nine.
Guest:And then I stayed there for two years, nine months.
Marc:In Vegas?
Guest:In Las Vegas, a block away, Flamingo and Koval, right where Tupac got shot.
Guest:We were in the shit.
Guest:Had scooters there, like little Yamaha scooters.
Guest:We made a life there.
Guest:We became friends with people on the show, people that we taught classes to, because just like UCB,
Marc:What was your experience of Vegas in general?
Marc:I mean, did you learn the hustle?
Marc:I mean, did you get people in and did you need to do that?
Guest:We ate crow for a while there.
Guest:Isn't that the phrase they say?
Guest:Like where we thought we were going to come in and like they were going to be honored.
Marc:Were you at a hotel?
Marc:Yeah, we were at the Flamingo.
Marc:Oh, you were at the Flamingo.
Guest:Yeah, we were at the Flamingo and we used to do shows for 10 people, like 200 seat theater.
Marc:Everyone I know who works Vegas, and I was just there last weekend, a promoter, the guy who runs the show that I did, he's got to hustle fucking all the time.
Marc:It's crazy.
Marc:You got to get people to sort of like, could you tell people about this and grease people and build relationships with people and figure out where your comp resources are.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:You did all that?
Marc:Were you running the show?
Guest:We didn't do that.
Guest:Any way that I personally or any of us ran the show was just by trying to do it as well as we could and keep enthusiasm through an awful amount.
Guest:Where were they putting you up?
Guest:We were living at this gated community just like two blocks off the strip called the Meridian.
Guest:And it was like... Did you have fun in Vegas?
Guest:Yes.
Guest:And I also went crazy.
Guest:Started smoking more pot there.
Guest:Then boredom and stress got a hold of me.
Guest:Developed alopecia.
Guest:That's like this gray spot in my beard.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like where it just sort of like... It just showed up out of nowhere.
Guest:One... Where just a bald spot in my beard showed up...
Guest:And I was like, what the hell is this?
Guest:And then Kay was looking through my hair, and there was a bald spot on my head.
Guest:And I freaked out.
Guest:I was like, what is going on?
Guest:So then it goes bald, and then the white blood cells attack the hair follicles, thinking they're foreign bodies.
Guest:And so it kills it off, and then it grows back gray or white like it is now, like that little spot about the size of a dime.
Guest:And then it eventually grows back just like our peers normally do.
Guest:So it comes back around.
Guest:Yeah, it does.
Guest:But it's cyclical.
Guest:And you see it happen a lot.
Guest:You'll notice it most like in – you've seen it in black athletes like Rasheed Wallace or Tyson –
Guest:when he had splotches in his hair.
Guest:Like, it's probably stress-induced, but nobody really knows what causes it.
Marc:Well, you're lucky you didn't lose your hair.
Guest:I mean, yeah, yeah.
Guest:I mean, truly.
Guest:That's scary shit.
Guest:It's scary, and it's really... I mean, then I investigated it, and, you know, children are born with it, and they just, you know...
Guest:But you blame Vegas.
Guest:I blamed my attitude towards Vegas.
Guest:That made your hair fall out.
Guest:Yeah, it's all from within outward with me.
Guest:Definitely.
Marc:You'll take the hit for even the biggest of things.
Marc:Yeah, absolutely.
Guest:It goes through you first.
Marc:Yeah, it's got to.
Guest:No, we lost by two.
Guest:Well, I missed a layup in the first quarter.
Guest:That's my bad.
Guest:Yeah, that's my shit.
Guest:It's all about you.
Guest:But while there, unfortunately.
Guest:For better, for worse.
Guest:And how I've affected my teammates.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Um, but I, um, but then while there, I, I mean, I became infatuated with blue man group.
Guest:I wanted to be a blue man.
Guest:You did?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I shaved my head.
Guest:No, you didn't.
Guest:Absolutely.
Guest:Shaved my head, practiced in between.
Guest:Stop it.
Guest:What did you practice?
Guest:Making drumming stuff?
Guest:Oh, just drumming.
Guest:No, the acting I got, the acting, and I love that show.
Guest:I truly think it's, it's, it's well done.
Marc:I saw it when it was in New York.
Guest:Of course, yeah.
Guest:I mean, in its heyday, I imagine.
Guest:I mean, I saw the Vegas show, and I just loved the way they ran and the way they spoke about it and their attention to detail, which I didn't think we were doing very well at Second City.
Guest:So you were fucking up, and you were... And I was just practicing drumming, just...
Guest:Just like, I didn't know how to drum before.
Marc:Did you have to shave your head to practice?
Guest:I didn't have to.
Guest:I just wanted that.
Guest:I just, I was like, it was like one of those things, like, you know, fake it till you make it, you know?
Marc:You were like, man, if I'm available, then I'm ready to go.
Marc:I mean, if I got this thing down.
Marc:You don't even need to shave your head.
Guest:All my buddies that were doing it,
Guest:great heads of hair yeah like they wear bald caps oh i was just like i just you know i think i went like through like literally a blue period like he had a manic sort of break of some kind yeah but but but yes for sure and and you shaved your head and he started drumming yeah like a two guard you know not like bald not right right right not like cue ball but like you know like if they call like i used to when i was when i was in in college like as an athlete like um okay all
Guest:All right.
Guest:And you're ready to go.
Guest:You're ready to be a blue man.
Guest:I mean, I was staring at people on stage.
Guest:I just wanted to be anonymous and silent.
Guest:And blue.
Guest:Yeah, that was the anonymity as far as I was concerned.
Guest:And it was the closest I'll ever get to come to playing an instrument on stage in front of thousands of people.
Marc:So that was a dream.
Marc:It was.
Marc:What shook you out of that?
Guest:Going to audition for it in August of 2001.
Guest:For a blue man group?
Guest:Yeah, I got flown out to New York.
Guest:like the whole thing got to see myself bald and blue and no shit i talked about this on kimmel once for the four people that uh follow me through all my interviews but um is uh i i just i i don't have the face for it i looked it looked like a fucking blue peanut m&m on a body like all the all my buddies were like they had these great fucking faces like these epic like cheekbones good teeth like just strong chin yeah and i looked i looked like a fucking you know
Marc:So you didn't look good enough to be anonymously blue.
Guest:And I wasn't a good enough drummer.
Guest:It was the thing that I could control and the thing I couldn't control.
Guest:And then truthfully, what happened is that 9-11 happened and we all get a little shook up, right?
Guest:And I just sort of fell in love with Second City again.
Guest:I was just mad.
Guest:I was mad at my effort into it.
Marc:So the Blue Man thing was before 9-11?
Guest:Yeah, it was right before.
Guest:It was all the six months right before.
Marc:So 9-11 brought you back to the family of Second City?
Guest:I think the, not specifically.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:To a little bit, yeah.
Marc:So 9-11 for you was the end of the blue man dream.
Guest:I think me not getting called back to doing only three days of audition and then them saying you need to work on your drumming.
Guest:That was it?
Guest:That was a big thing.
Guest:I think there's a very good chance that had I continued to work on just my single stroke role, I would be a blue man now.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Well, Nine Lemon changed a lot of things for a lot of people.
Marc:And in some ways, it might have got you off of that trajectory.
Guest:I don't think it was specifically that.
Guest:It wasn't like after one of the planes, I was kind of like, what am I doing?
Guest:It was more like the sadness.
Guest:And then the shows got better.
Guest:Because when we narrowed down the cast...
Guest:The shows got better and it became more fulfilling.
Guest:It didn't feel like as much of a fuck around as we were allowing it to be by being like, we're not performing for anyone.
Guest:Like we really, as a theater there in Las Vegas and the production company, the side of it in Chicago, really sort of like buckled down and made it a viable, successful show for several years.
Marc:All right, well, that's Vegas.
Guest:That's Vegas, baby.
Guest:So then Vegas, and then while there, got asked to audition for SNL.
Guest:How does that happen in Vegas?
Guest:We wrote an original show.
Guest:We were doing all archive material, so we were doing old Tina Fey and Scott Adsit and Steve Carell scenes.
Guest:They do that?
Guest:Yeah, it's pretty great.
Guest:I will defend it.
Guest:Their touring company is like a best of Second City, so the opportunity to sort of kick on some air.
Guest:Yeah, please.
Guest:The opportunity to watch one of your heroes, like to watch Scott Adsit and Adam McKay on a videotape do a scene called Gump.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And then be like, I love both those guys, but I would love to play Gump.
Guest:And then get to, in your touring company, play that part.
Guest:Like you never get to be Maverick or the Karate Kid.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But at Second City you do, you know, because they're all like little plays.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So then you get to pick what scenes you want to do, or the director tells you what you've seen, they cast it, and then you get to tour those.
Guest:So we got to do that in Las Vegas.
Guest:I mean, I've probably done scenes that Steve Carell wrote more than he did, because I've done it so much.
Marc:I had no idea they did that.
Marc:But are you presenting it as an improv?
Guest:No.
Guest:Second City, it's more of a sketch show.
Guest:Absolutely.
Guest:I would say it's two-thirds written.
Guest:I had no idea.
Guest:Have you never seen it in Chicago?
Guest:No.
Guest:No.
Guest:Oh, man.
Guest:I mean, you have my... I mean, not that you couldn't get it on your own, but you, like, go... I was just there, but I didn't have time.
Guest:...and pop up the street or something like that.
Guest:It's worth going.
Guest:It's like going to see a game at Wrigley.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:You know all these people.
Guest:You have fans and people you probably dislike, too, that came from that theater.
Guest:But, like, it's amazing.
Guest:I mean, when I land in Chicago, I will go from the airport there to go see a show.
Guest:It's my favorite thing in the world.
Guest:Love it and care about it way too much.
Marc:Well, it's touching.
Guest:What do you think of stand-up?
Guest:Love it.
Guest:Yeah?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I have a tremendous amount of respect for it.
Guest:Love going to watch it.
Guest:Love watching new people.
Guest:Love watching old people.
Guest:I think if all this stuff dries up and people are like, yeah, we get it.
Guest:We're done.
Guest:And I would happily move into management.
Guest:Because I see...
Marc:The collective, well, we get it.
Guest:We're done.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:It happens.
Marc:The Sudeikis thing.
Guest:Yeah, it's over.
Guest:Yeah, we're done.
Guest:Sudeikamania.
Guest:We found the cure.
Guest:one more movie buddy yeah i know i know tell me about it i mean you mean that's all i get but i but no i truly i truly love it i mean i grew up watching it on you know when the comedy network before it was comedy central and and uh yeah i've i mean deaf comedy jam whatever i mean love watching stamp love jokes loving love being around them so let's cut to uh so you get the audition with lauren
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:What does that look like?
Guest:Well, the audition for Lauren is... You're in Vegas and they tell you... I'm in Vegas.
Marc:Were you thrilled?
Guest:The manager came to see our original show who worked at Brillstein and Gray.
Guest:Which one?
Guest:Jeff Chetty, the fellow that I'm still with.
Guest:And I love Brillstein and Gray because they did Mr. Show, most importantly, Politically Incorrect.
Guest:It was like comedy...
Guest:you know yeah Shanley yeah Shanley absolutely uh and uh so so I was like okay cool uh yeah I'll go out there and at this point uh Seth Meyers who was from a similar generation was on the show right um other people that were heroes of mine Rachel Dratch Tina and uh and uh um Horatio Sands were already on the show but I was like well I'm not that
Guest:They've always been better than me.
Guest:Seth, we never performed together, but he was from my class.
Guest:So it's that moment where it's like, oh, it is possible.
Guest:People our age can do this.
Guest:And they want people.
Guest:I just never thought that.
Guest:and uh so then we go i go out there i audition that's where i meet rob riggle for the first time we're outside of stand-up new york up there on the upper west side and i'm talking about kansas city and he comes over and just as nice as he is and it's just like you're talking about kansas city i was like yeah he goes where are you from i go kansas city where overland park where 95th and 98th and lowell i'm from you know 92nd row wherever he was from and it's like no way like dude like very nice to meet you and uh and then i i
Guest:There's 12 people, and they were mostly looking for black fellows because it was after Tracy Morgan left, and they had not asked back a fellow, Dean Edwards.
Marc:Dean's been on the show, actually.
Guest:Has he?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I've met him since, and even those that only lasted there for a little bit, we all sort of have that... I know.
Guest:You guys are all... I know.
Guest:It's weird.
Guest:It is weird.
Guest:It is.
Guest:And so...
Guest:I get ready to go audition and Chris Rock and Jeffrey Ross come walking in.
Guest:And I'm thinking, oh, it's like the old school dudes coming to see, they know it's auditions, they're going to see new talent.
Guest:Right before I fucking go up, it's like, ladies and gentlemen, I have a special guest for you, Chris Rock.
Guest:And Chris literally goes, was this your big shot?
Guest:I go, kind of.
Guest:He goes, sorry, man.
Guest:And then he goes up and to his credit, only did like, you know, he could have gone for an hour, man.
Guest:He's a polite guy.
Guest:He did like 12 minutes.
Guest:They were writing stuff for like an MTV thing that they were working on together.
Guest:You know, Jeff,
Guest:for helping them with jokes and whatnot.
Guest:And they're just going through, you know, what do you want to hear me talk about?
Guest:You know, Kobe Bryant, you know, like, because I was around when he had his indiscretions.
Guest:And then I follow him.
Guest:Ladies and gentlemen, up next, you know, Chris Rocker, everybody goes Haywire.
Guest:All right, now Jason Sudeikis.
Guest:And then I go up there and do my, you know, three characters and seven impressions.
Guest:And then...
Marc:They had you audition at a comedy club.
Guest:Yeah, and I had never done stand-up before.
Guest:I mean, I had hosted improv games.
Marc:And who was there?
Marc:Marcy?
Marc:Who was there?
Guest:Marcy, Lorne, you know, Steve Higgins, Shoemaker, Tina.
Guest:Yeah, they were all in the back row there, just like, you know, like in the movie Punchline, you know?
Marc:I know that room.
Marc:Yeah, you know, exactly.
Marc:It's a pretty shallow room, so you can see them.
Guest:Oh, and you feel them.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:You know why you're there, so you know they're there.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And then, knowing what I know now, half...
Guest:A third of the audience was also other SNL people, just like people like assistants and writers.
Guest:You just didn't know that.
Guest:And then the paying public that don't know they're watching SNL auditions.
Marc:And they're probably there for two-for-one tickets.
Guest:Absolutely, yeah.
Guest:Whatever it is, yeah.
Guest:And then I do my thing, and it went well enough.
Guest:I just had a little set list that I wrote down just with the cards and just went through them.
Guest:This is a guy that does this.
Guest:This is a guy that does this.
Guest:This is this.
Guest:This is that.
Guest:And then thank you.
Guest:And then you got called back that night, found out, okay, you're coming into the studio, and then had the long-
Guest:Yeah, the camera test where you do it on the monologue spot, the home base, and then did the exact same thing to considerably less laughter because there's only then just that table, no paying public.
Guest:And then as the weeks went by, a couple weeks later, I got asked if I wanted to be hired as a writer.
Guest:And so I was a little bit like, oh, and it's a wonderful opportunity.
Guest:Now you're in showbiz.
Guest:That's sort of the way you can think about it.
Marc:So you're excited about that?
Guest:Initially, yes.
Guest:Like, I mean, working for SNL and there was... But it wasn't like, why can't it be on camera?
Guest:I think I echoed those sentiments to definitely myself, definitely my fiance at the time and all that stuff.
Guest:But probably kept that a little bit, you know, within because it's because it was like, okay, well, I got this.
Guest:I'm going to do this.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Heroes and other people that I looked up to have been let go from this job.
Guest:Uh, I'm probably going to get let go.
Guest:Did not unpack, like moved to 46th street between fifth and sixth horrible place to live.
Guest:First place I looked at, uh, on like a Craigslist and, uh, and then just wrote it out for, for a few weeks and had a real, real great, really, um, wonderful first month there.
Marc:The first three, you didn't have a sit down with Lauren.
Guest:I did.
Guest:I went in.
Guest:Yeah, I did.
Guest:I got flown out there.
Guest:Sat down with him.
Guest:In his office.
Guest:In his office.
Guest:He offered me water.
Guest:I said no.
Guest:I then gave myself the little life lesson of like, always say yes to the water.
Guest:Just say yes, because it'll get like this.
Guest:It'll get like a little dry mouth.
Guest:And also, like, this guy may never give you anything again.
Guest:You know, like, drink his fucking water.
Guest:It's probably great water.
Guest:And then we had a great moment where Horatio...
Guest:or was it tina i forget who it was it was one of again a person that at that point was like you know someone i looked up to and i can't believe i'm in the same room on this floor with them and they're talking to me and kind of giving me advice don't worry it's just kind of a cool me he's just gonna make sure you know you're not crazy he won't ask you anything about the show so don't think it's anything like that i'm like okay good thank god
Guest:literally five minutes in, we get, we get riffing on, uh, I get riffing on, uh, like my, my, it's, it's, uh, that I wasn't crazy about, um, uh, what's it called?
Guest:Cirque du Soleil.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Like I liked Blue Man Group and I liked, you know, and, and I just hated the music.
Guest:Now Cirque du Soleil, the Beatles show, love it to pieces because hearing Beatles that loud and, and, uh, and Pop Brownies help.
Guest:Uh, but like he then, we're talking about that and then he goes, so, um, what era did you grow up with?
Guest:And I'm like, oh, what do you mean?
Guest:uh, of the show, what era?
Guest:And I just went fucking blank.
Guest:I was like, ratio said, you wouldn't ask me a thing about the show in my head.
Guest:And I'm, and I'm just kind of staring at it.
Guest:I mean, the answer is Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, like those years.
Guest:And I was just kind of like, Oh gosh.
Guest:Um, and the first person that came to my mind was Eddie Murphy.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like one of my absolute all time favorite, like the top three performers ever.
Guest:And he, uh,
Guest:but I know he didn't hire Eddie Murphy.
Guest:Like, so like, like swallowed that.
Guest:And then the other one I was just like, didn't, uh, well, you know, we grew up with the, uh, best of John Belushi, uh, videotape and I'm just kind of stumbling for it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And, and, and he just goes and he just kind of smiled and he goes, no, no, that's okay.
Guest:I, I didn't watch the show when I didn't work on it either.
Yeah.
Guest:Which was so great.
Guest:Like such a bailout.
Guest:Because he knew how old you were and kind of... Well, I think it literally was thinking... Because there are people that work on that show that they didn't go through grade school, high school, drama program, ImprovOlympic, everything to be on that show.
Guest:And I think he's sensitive to that.
Guest:But I think there is part of him that just was bailing out the awkwardness of like, you know... He did you a favor.
Guest:Oh, totally.
Guest:I mean, the first of many, yeah.
Yeah.
Marc:And so you have no weird moments with him outside of that?
Guest:No, not really.
Guest:I mean, he's like a coach.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:He's one of those dudes that, you know, and he is, I mean, that's one of my favorite things.
Marc:Has he made judgment calls with you on sketches and characters where, you know, he said something and you're like, oh, come on.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:yeah sure yeah I mean he's protecting me I mean I auditioned for update twice you know and and I think he was very hesitant to to have me come in after Jimmy you know not not that I mean Amy you know was got it and as she should have and it was fantastic but like but like I think he you know he has he he was he was
Guest:He was very patient and understanding of my situation, of being a guy that I think he knew wanted to perform.
Marc:So it was before you were a performer?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:I wrote for 37 episodes.
Guest:I got brought in the last three episodes of my second year as a writer.
Guest:I was used a lot in monologues, as they do.
Guest:There was always sort of a sign indicating that there's a chance I would be a performer.
Guest:But I had to have that talk with him.
Guest:I was kind of like, I don't think I can write here.
Guest:I'm giving you all I can give, and you're not getting everything out of me.
Guest:But that's like I would say to a coach.
Guest:I'd go in there and go...
Guest:You got to let me, you got to give me the green light.
Guest:Like, I'm not going to shoot every time, but I got to know that you trust me to, you know, it's like one of those kinds of like conversations.
Guest:Um, and he, he responds very, very well to, uh, you know, the sports metaphor and, and, and, uh, and while his door is not always open, it's, you can always knock on it.
Guest:You know, like, uh, and that's the relationship I have with him and everybody's different.
Guest:And, you know, like we referenced, I, or I did a Citizen Kane earlier, but I think that's the most profound thing about that movie that as you're looking at, it's, it's one man, it's eight different people talking about one guy.
Guest:You know, you could have, you could have eight SNL folks in a row and they would all do a bad impression of them.
Guest:That's the only constant.
Guest:Everything else is all, it's, it's, it's as subjective, you know.
Marc:So when did he give you the green light?
Marc:Uh, I think.
Marc:How did that come?
Marc:What did he say?
Guest:I would say the green light.
Guest:You're going in kid.
Guest:He called on a Friday before a Monday and he was like, so my friend Katie, Katie who works on Jimmy Fallon's show, was an assistant for him at the time and I had a voicemail like old school where it like screened calls and I was laying in bed.
Guest:It was like 1230, you know, on an off week.
Marc:At night?
Guest:No.
Guest:In the afternoon.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like, not even up.
Guest:And, hey, Sudeikis, it's Katie.
Guest:I have Lauren for you.
Guest:Give us a call.
Guest:I was like, that's a first.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So, get up, took a shower.
Marc:To make a phone call?
Yeah.
Guest:called my wife at the time, and I said, I might be, left a message because she didn't answer.
Marc:She's a comedy writer as well?
Marc:Yeah, she writes on 30 Rock.
Guest:Oh, it's my ex-wife now.
Guest:We're divorced now, but yeah.
Marc:Your friend still?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:I mean, more and more each day, but yeah, no, she's amazing and incredibly.
Marc:I see.
Guest:Shower up for the call.
Guest:Shower up for the call.
Guest:Call Kay.
Guest:Say, hey, I might be calling you back here soon with some info.
Guest:You know, because it's something.
Guest:It's going to be something.
Guest:It's either going to be your fire or it's not going to be,
Guest:Um, how you doing?
Guest:And so, and so then I call, uh, hello.
Guest:I was like, hi, Lauren, how you doing?
Guest:Um, so we want to move you into the cast.
Guest:I let me, it's always we, the show.
Guest:Like it's, it's the, the, the Royal we is fantastic.
Guest:I actually appreciate that sentiment and, uh, great.
Uh,
Guest:Uh, uh, when?
Guest:Uh, Monday.
Guest:So, you know, just, you know, when it comes time to write, just write something you think you can score on.
Guest:I was like, okay, great.
Guest:Um, you know, and then my joke has always been, thank you.
Guest:And then hanging up for changing my life.
Guest:And, uh, and, uh, and then called K and then called my buddies, uh, Rich Tellarico, a great, great writer, uh, who was writing there at the time and Joe Kelly.
Guest:And, uh, and, uh, we, uh, we went and got day drunk and hit golf balls at Chelsea Pierce.
Yeah.
Marc:Nice.
Marc:And did those guys, when you did write the piece to score with, did it score?
Guest:The piece that I wrote did not because I think I went to like a trunk piece, like something that I had done a hundred times before that had killed in other venues besides SNL, which is a very different medium.
Guest:And that's something you sort of learn in your first few months there.
Guest:And you definitely have to relearn it when I was put into the cast.
Guest:But then Joe wrote something.
Guest:Joe and Rich wrote something with Will Forte, this great, really funny, goofy character that he only did like once or twice.
Guest:that I had a bit in there that, uh, that did really, really well.
Guest:Just literally like a, you know, feature player, you know, one, one, like just coming in, get your joke.
Guest:And I, and I got it and got out of there and it's like, good show, you know?
Guest:And then, yeah.
Guest:And it's, and then, uh, and then went home that night.
Guest:Uh, you know, uh, Kay was living out here, went home that night.
Guest:uh, and, uh, went to the after party.
Guest:It was like, I was in the cast.
Guest:Holy shit.
Guest:I got, I got a car to take me to the after party.
Guest:Went home that night, started to try to fall asleep at like, you know, 6am.
Guest:Couldn't, couldn't, had to get up, uh, went over to my television, uh, and the futon, the used futon that I had bought, you know, cause I thought I was going to be out of there in, in, in weeks time, uh, that two years before, uh, and watched, listened to the, watched the opening credits, listened to Don Pardo said my name and, uh,
Guest:bawled my fucking eyes out yeah it's like you know it's just like one of those things where you're like that's what yeah that's how it's nice to be bawling your eyes out on a used futon for good reason yeah yeah it may be the only recorded time oh that's so funny no
Marc:that story doesn't usually end well no it does not
Guest:but uh but yeah so that so that was it that's great now i don't know i don't know if that constitutes as the green light because he's because he's one of those dudes you got you got to earn it from but then once you get it from then he's like well i think he respects guys like you know like i like i keep feel like the more people i talk to from that show on this show i feel like i'm circling lauren like there's part of me oh to be on here yeah i mean i'll say i'll definitely say something
Marc:do because like i i just wrote jimmy yeah because like i've had this weird story with him and like with jimmy or with lauren with lauren yeah yeah no i've heard it yeah of course you know and i feel like he brought me in there to teach me a lesson and now like you know i want him to do it again yeah like i i want him to i i would like him to feel that like would you go to him sure yeah i'd like him to feel because he would never come to this fucking no i know
Marc:No, I'd like him to feel that whatever I'm doing, that whatever recognition I have... I mean, there's no room in here for the throne.
Guest:I know, I know that.
Marc:In my mind, I believe he would think like, well, Maren's back and he's doing a thing.
Marc:But it's really nothing.
Marc:I want him... There's part of me that wants him to have that attitude and let me sit with him for an hour.
Marc:I mean, I would...
Marc:You don't have to coach him on the attitude, but if you can put it in his ear.
Guest:I would absolutely encourage him to do so.
Guest:I think he's fascinating.
Marc:I think that there's part of me that thinks he would want to.
Marc:Because I know he's pretty private.
Marc:He doesn't talk to many people.
Marc:And I know that I've had a lot of people from the show on, certainly from your generation.
Guest:I've had Hader.
Marc:I've had Armisen.
Marc:I've had Seth.
Marc:I've had you.
Marc:I've had Mulaney.
Marc:and i know amy i mean amy yep and fallon and i know a lot of people um listen to it over there yeah i just like that's what highly regarded throughout all the circle of stand-up improv i mean it's it's it's god if we could pull that off
Marc:I don't know if he would even remember me, but I know that because I did Conan so much and that because I auditioned for the show.
Guest:He's remarkably sharp.
Guest:That guy gives a damn.
Guest:That's one of the things.
Guest:He's there.
Guest:It's not an executive producer emeritus whatsoever.
Guest:That dude, it's his show.
Guest:You know that going in.
Guest:That's why if you get mad, you're mad about something that you're doing, probably not something he's doing, because you're only there because of him.
Marc:Well, okay.
Marc:Every Saturday.
Marc:Well, let me know what happens.
Marc:I'll remind you.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, please.
Guest:You won't have to.
Guest:I mean, when I see him, I'll go, I'm supposed to do something I don't want to do.
Guest:Oh, right.
Guest:Ask him if he wants to do the podcast.
Guest:I don't know how you would ask him.
Guest:No, me, I have a very, like me, I just, I ask him things.
Marc:I mean, I think you should tell him I did it.
Marc:And, you know, have you listened to it?
Marc:Like, you know, start off like that.
Guest:Yeah, please, help me.
Marc:No, I know what to do.
Okay.
Guest:i'm the one that works there you know i've never actually had this discussion because i just would it would just kill me to it would just be so thrilling to do it i have those things too that that where you like where it makes all the sense in the world to to to those of us that that know what what we're trying to accomplish right and it is it is it is usually comes down to like that uh
Marc:the timing of it you know like where you're like but this movie is so good if someone just did this or why don't you do the edit this way because that's the way and then people and then you know yeah i mean it would be so intimidating and so like because like the one thing that i can't seem to shake when i do this show is my awe of of people and performers you know i mean even you to a certain degree hey yeah i i appreciate that glad i got any degree whatsoever
Marc:It's the first degree I've ever received.
Marc:No, but, you know, because like, you know, I do appreciate, you know, when somebody makes it, you know, they're still doing it.
Marc:You know, you're still on the screen, you're in movies, you know, and it's exciting.
Marc:And I, you know, obviously it was a dream of mine to do that stuff, you know, whether that'll happen, I don't know.
Marc:But I do have this weird sort of like, he's a guy in the movies.
Marc:Like, you know, I had Adam Scott in here yesterday and I told him about this restaurant and we're all just guys.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But I can never look at it like that.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Like I know we're peers and I know that like he's just coming over my house.
Marc:We're hanging out and I'm wearing sandals or whatever.
Marc:Right.
Marc:You know, but I tell him about this restaurant that I also told John Hamm about.
Marc:And I'd be like, it'd be hilarious.
Marc:We just all went up and had food and he's like, yeah, let's do it.
Marc:And I'm like, no, because it's still John Hamm.
Marc:Like there's still part of me that thinks that way and I got to shake it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, I mean, you know, because John only knows that he's Jon Hamm.
Guest:He knows he was Jon Hamm all his life.
Marc:Well, that's a thing.
Marc:You know, that's a thing.
Guest:But to me, it's like... Those two guys are very, like... I mean, those are... They're sweet guys.
Guest:Oh, they're great.
Marc:Yeah, and I love those guys.
Marc:But for some reason, I still see myself as, like, some sort of fanboy or some sort of guy that's out... In my garage, Jason.
Guest:Yeah, but it's a... You know, how many people don't have a garage or even this equipment or know how to work it?
Marc:Like, I don't know.
Guest:I mean, I...
Guest:You know, I don't want to seem so contrarian to your neuroses because, good Lord, it's gotten you this far.
Guest:But, yeah, I think you're being a little... I don't think you're being faux humble, which is respected.
Guest:You're being genuinely insecure.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Completely forthright insecurity there.
Guest:No, you nailed it the first time.
Guest:You don't need to rehash.
Guest:No, it was good.
Guest:You spit pearls, man.
Guest:You don't need to go shine them.
Guest:They're fine.
Guest:They're good, buddy.
Marc:They're good.
Marc:All right, so let's finish up with the movie thing.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:I feel like we've done everything, but the Farrelly brothers, that was fun, right?
Guest:That was fun.
Guest:That was like making a movie with your fun uncles.
Guest:I don't know if you've met those fellas in your travels, but they're good dudes, man.
Guest:And how'd that movie do?
Guest:Pretty well.
Guest:Like, it won its weekend with, like, little money, you know?
Guest:If you're asking how it did, horribly critically, as, you know, I mean, even something about Mary didn't do well critically, so that we were ready for that.
Guest:But, yeah, through that, it's, I mean, all these things, it's...
Guest:You don't know.
Guest:I was just talking about this today when I had that audition where it's like the difference between my effort in that movie and my effort in Horrible Bosses and the effort of the people surrounding me, no different.
Guest:No, not a goddamn difference.
Guest:The only difference is the way it was received by the public.
Guest:So is one better than the other?
Guest:Maybe like, you know, objectively, I'm not going to sit here and say, you know, that I'm not a film critic, but what everybody goes into those jobs, giving a damn.
Guest:I mean, everybody's shooting for some form of perfection.
Guest:And you feel that there.
Guest:and nobody's just phoning it in, that I could tell.
Guest:And different processes, surely, and different reception, quite.
Guest:But it was the people you meet, like the Fairleys, you know, people who support, you know, the cast their crew, and then getting to know Owen, and getting to work with Stephen Merchant.
Guest:And, I mean, J.B.
Guest:Smoove, who got hired at the same time as I did as a writer, you know, he also got an audition to get hired.
Guest:larry joe campbell who was the guy that recommended to jeff chetty that he should go see me in las vegas everybody kind of comes up it was it was i mean it was i mean again that's that's that's just my my movie um in my head um but uh but yeah it was it was it was pretty neat getting to have like lunch with richard jenkins yeah you know like i'm just talking about theater with him and i mean that guy's
Guest:badass man that's the dad from six feet under yeah you know like he's incredible he's great stepbrothers great he's a great actor yeah great and and so you're having a good time that was that was yeah that was good and uh and do you have anything in the can right now that's good uh this movie good old-fashioned orgy comes out on september 2nd um that's coming out i'm working on next season this season which will be on in march of eastbound and down with danie mcbride oh that's great he's hilarious he's great and those guys those guys are good character
Guest:Uh, yeah, I play as best friend.
Guest:I play as catcher on the team and we're just two peas in a pod and it's just sort of me talking like this, you know, him and I just fucking assholes.
Guest:We're just dipshit assholes and, uh, running around.
Guest:It's, it's, it's, it's great.
Guest:Uh, and then, and then, uh, SNL starts up at the, uh, our first shows, uh, September 24th with, uh, Alec Baldwin and, um, Radiohead.
Marc:Maybe we'll get this up early.
Marc:So I got my girlfriend.
Marc:I got a January Jones.
Marc:That's over.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:It is.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:We broke up a while ago.
Marc:Baby's not yours.
Guest:I mean, no.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Are you mad now?
Guest:No, no, no, no.
Guest:I'm not mad.
Guest:But I don't really talk about it.
Guest:But that's a straightforward question.
Guest:And there's no insinuation there.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:That's all.
Guest:Did this end on a bad note?
Guest:What?
Guest:Did it end on a bad note?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Her and I. I mean you.
Guest:Oh, no, not at all.
Guest:I mean, I get it.
Guest:It is one of those things that there are.
Marc:No, you don't understand.
Marc:My girlfriend is like a tabloid junkie.
Marc:Have they treated you badly?
Guest:They treat everybody badly, man.
Guest:Except the people that court it.
Guest:There's enough people that want it that the people that don't and aren't asking for it.
Guest:I mean, there are people that I really care about.
Guest:Yeah, that get it.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And being, you know, wrapped up in it is like something I tried to make light of as being a comedian or coming from, you know, having that sensibility that you're powerless towards.
Guest:You can't be sarcastic about it.
Guest:So you asked me a point blank question.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And you being, you know, a man with the, you know, I'm looking you in the eyes.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's like there's integrity here.
Guest:I don't mind answering the question.
Guest:Well, thank you.
Guest:But like, but I mean, those people make fucking people.
Guest:It's dangerous.
Guest:It's scary.
Guest:It's sad.
Guest:It bums me out.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And the reason why those people's lives are made hard is because people...
Guest:Feed on it.
Marc:Feed on it.
Marc:Well, I think her thing is it becomes like a soap opera.
Marc:And unlike anything else in this culture, people forget that there are people connected to these stories.
Marc:Yeah, it's not a soap opera.
Marc:It's people's lives.
Guest:Yeah, and it's not fucking wrestling.
Guest:Because nobody thinks Hulk Hogan really hates Jake the Snake.
Guest:They know he's not really hitting him.
Guest:That snake isn't going to kill.
Guest:But people think so-and-so is sad.
Guest:They think so-and-so is a slut.
Guest:They think so-and-so is an asshole.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And the fact of the matter is all three of those people are probably all three of those things.
Marc:Right.
Guest:And they're probably all three of things that they don't talk about.
Guest:They're probably genuine and nice to their family.
Guest:Right.
Marc:They've got to have lives around this, not just what the piranhas do.
Guest:So I do have contempt for it, but there's nothing you can do.
Marc:Well, I'm sorry.
Guest:I brought it up.
Guest:No, no, no.
Guest:I don't mind it.
Guest:It's a much more intelligent way to speak about it than I've been asked in any previous incarnation of that question.
Marc:All right, are you going to still talk to Lauren?
Guest:No, no, that's done.
Guest:No fucking way.
Guest:What, are you going to ask him about Sinead O'Connor ripping off the picture?
Guest:Give me a break.
Guest:Sweetie, sweetie, ask him about.
Marc:No, no, no.
Marc:That's my impression of you.
Marc:That's my impression of my girlfriend.
Marc:Now she's going to listen to this.
Guest:That's my Andrew Dice Clay.
Guest:You had him on.
Marc:Hey, Dice.
Guest:Hey, Dice.
Marc:All right, well, you want to go to UCB?
Guest:When, tonight?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I can't.
Guest:I have dinner.
Guest:I'm having dinner with Will Forte.
Guest:Have you ever had him?
Marc:No.
Guest:He's good.
Marc:Tell him about it.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Me and you are going to be fast friends here.
Marc:I'm going to be in.
Guest:I think that occurred over...
Marc:Over the last emails or the taco salad?
Marc:I think the taco.
Marc:We bonded.
Marc:It was touch and go there during the tabloid discussion.
Marc:I felt that.
Marc:Not at all.
Guest:It truly wasn't.
Guest:No, I'm not going to bust your balls even when these things are off.
Guest:No, again, I'm speaking from my gut from this thing.
Guest:I think most people do.
Marc:And I think that's what people respect about you.
Guest:I think that's what people love about this fucking podcast.
Marc:Well, there we go.
Marc:You good?
Guest:Sweaty as hell.
Marc:But I'm good.
Marc:Thanks for doing it, Jason.
Guest:Absolutely.
Guest:Thanks for having me.
Marc:Okay, that's our show.
Marc:I'm coming to you from a hotel room in Ohio alive.
Marc:I'm alive.
Marc:I made it through the plane wreck almost that I spoke of at the beginning of the show.
Marc:Thank you, Jason Sudeikis.
Marc:Got a little tense here at the end, but we're good, right?
Marc:We're good.
Marc:Are we good?
Marc:I think we're good.
Marc:Go to WTFPod.com for all your WTFPod needs.
Marc:Get an app.
Marc:Get the premium on your computer.
Marc:Go to iTunes, search WTF Premium, get some of those older episodes that you might want to own.
Marc:Louis C.K., Dane Cook, Carlos Mencia, Judd Apatow, Jim Norton, Dave Attell.
Marc:Lots of stuff.
Marc:Uploading more stuff there all the time.
Marc:Get on the mailing list, please.
Marc:I do put a little work into emailing you guys once a week if you're on the list.
Marc:And pick up, we got a bunch of new posters in the shop there.
Marc:Signed posters from the gig.
Marc:Some of them great.
Marc:Some interesting ones.
Marc:Some new ones.
Marc:Check that out.
Marc:And...
Marc:Thanks for listening.
Marc:Do I have any dates to plug?
Marc:I'll be in September.
Marc:I'll be at Zaney's in Nashville, September 8th through 10th.
Marc:I'll be in September 22nd through 25th.
Marc:I'll be at the Improv in Louisville.
Marc:Louisville.
Marc:Yeah, I'll keep you abreast of that.
Marc:Anthony Jezelnik on Thursday.
Marc:Thank you for listening.
Marc:I'm going to get dressed and go do a show.
you