Episode 264 - Molly Shannon

Episode 264 • Released March 21, 2012 • Speakers detected

00:00:00Guest:Lock the gates!

00:00:07Guest:Are we doing this?

00:00:08Guest:Really?

00:00:08Guest:Wait for it.

00:00:09Guest:Are we doing this?

00:00:10Guest:Wait for it.

00:00:12Guest:Pow!

00:00:12Guest:What the fuck?

00:00:14Guest:And it's also, eh, what the fuck?

00:00:16Guest:What's wrong with me?

00:00:17Guest:It's time for WTF!

00:00:19Guest:What the fuck?

00:00:20Guest:With Mark Maron.

00:00:24Guest:Okay, let's do this.

00:00:25Guest:How are you, what the fuckers?

00:00:26Guest:What the fuck buddies?

00:00:27Guest:What the fuckineers?

00:00:28Guest:What the fuckenders?

00:00:29Guest:Is that how you say it?

00:00:31Guest:Michiganders?

00:00:32Guest:Michiganders?

00:00:33Guest:What the fuckanders?

00:00:34Guest:What the fucknicks?

00:00:36Guest:What the fuckericans?

00:00:37Guest:Okay, that's it.

00:00:38Guest:That's all.

00:00:39Guest:How are you?

00:00:40Guest:Mark Maron here.

00:00:41Marc:It is Thursday.

00:00:42Marc:Today is Molly Shannon Day.

00:00:44Marc:Today, Molly Shannon is on the show for the second time.

00:00:48Marc:I couldn't be more excited.

00:00:53Marc:We had a great conversation.

00:00:54Marc:I hope you enjoy it.

00:00:55Marc:All right, let's do this.

00:00:57Marc:Now, before I forget, let's do the plugs because I want people to come to the shows.

00:01:01Marc:Tomorrow night, that is the 23rd and 24th.

00:01:05Marc:Is that right?

00:01:05Marc:The 23rd and 24th, I'll be in Bloomington, Indiana.

00:01:09Marc:Please come.

00:01:10Marc:I know there's basketball, but there's also me.

00:01:12Marc:I know basketball is important to people in Indiana, but there's Mark Maron.

00:01:17Marc:And I'm saying that with, you know, I'm obviously not serious, but I couldn't be possibly be more important than basketball to a lot of people up there.

00:01:24Marc:But but come out.

00:01:25Marc:You got it.

00:01:26Marc:I know the game's Friday night.

00:01:27Marc:You got first show Friday and you got the two shows Saturday and you got a second show Friday for non-basketball people.

00:01:34Marc:What else we got coming up?

00:01:36Marc:I want to make sure to do this on the 27th.

00:01:38Marc:We have a live WTF with Retta.

00:01:41Marc:From Parks and Rec, we got Brent Weinbach.

00:01:45Marc:We got Roy Scoville.

00:01:46Marc:We got Ron Funches.

00:01:47Marc:We got Eddie Pepitone, Jimmy Earle.

00:01:50Marc:That's the 27th at the Tiffany Theater.

00:01:52Marc:And you can get all these links at wtfpod.com.

00:01:55Marc:29th, this is important.

00:01:57Marc:This is going to be a great show.

00:01:59Marc:At the Ice House in Pasadena, L.A.

00:02:01Marc:People, me headlining.

00:02:03Marc:And then Maria Bamford and Eddie Pepitone featuring for me at the Ice House on March 29th.

00:02:08Marc:Please come out to that.

00:02:10Marc:And moving on into April, the first week into April, the Comedy Works in Denver.

00:02:15Marc:Great club.

00:02:16Marc:That's April 6th and 7th.

00:02:17Marc:Four shows.

00:02:18Marc:Go to WTFPod.com for links to all of these.

00:02:22Marc:Okay, I did it.

00:02:23Marc:I plugged me.

00:02:25Marc:What else?

00:02:27Marc:Am I going to just say it?

00:02:31Marc:Can I say it?

00:02:32Marc:Can I say what's happened for me?

00:02:35Marc:Can I share that with you in a nice way?

00:02:38Marc:I just got back from New York.

00:02:41Marc:I was there last night at the Upfront presentations for IFC, who I will be doing a show with next year.

00:02:47Marc:We've got a straight-to-series deal to do 10 episodes of a Marc Maron show.

00:02:54Marc:It's not called anything yet.

00:02:56Marc:We're going with Marin right now because that's what everyone calls me.

00:02:59Marc:Marin could be the Marc Maron show.

00:03:02Marc:The title is not important.

00:03:03Marc:What's important is the deal is done.

00:03:05Marc:It's going to happen.

00:03:07Marc:It's going to be in the third quarter of next year.

00:03:09Marc:So that's next fall.

00:03:10Marc:We're going to make 10 episodes, scripted shows, single camera about my life.

00:03:14Marc:And that's what's happening.

00:03:16Marc:And I'm excited.

00:03:18Marc:My excitement is tempered with me.

00:03:20Marc:I can't just be excited.

00:03:23Marc:I couldn't be happier.

00:03:24Marc:I really didn't think that this opportunity would happen for me.

00:03:26Marc:This is something that we all work towards on some level, even when we say we don't want to.

00:03:31Marc:When you get into comedy, there's part of you that thinks, I'd like to have a TV show about me.

00:03:36Marc:And I'd really put that on the shelf.

00:03:38Marc:I didn't think it was going to happen.

00:03:39Marc:I'd let that go.

00:03:40Marc:I was content with working in my garage and writing things and doing stand-up.

00:03:45Marc:I don't know.

00:03:45Marc:You know what content is?

00:03:48Marc:That's not true.

00:03:50Marc:But I'm okay, and I'm thrilled to be me right now on some level.

00:03:55Marc:Listen, I can't even say I'm fucking happy because it doesn't last long with me, and it's unfortunate.

00:04:02Marc:I don't think I show the right amount of gratitude.

00:04:06Marc:I'm excited.

00:04:07Marc:I'm going to do a TV show.

00:04:09Marc:I'm excited to be working with other people.

00:04:11Marc:I'm going to write the show with some guys.

00:04:13Marc:I'm going to act with people.

00:04:15Marc:There's going to be directors involved, lights, camera, action.

00:04:18Marc:I couldn't be more excited.

00:04:19Marc:I didn't think that was going to happen.

00:04:21Marc:I've had other opportunities in the past that didn't really manifest, didn't pan out.

00:04:26Marc:And this is going to happen.

00:04:27Marc:And I'm very grateful to IFC for taking the chance.

00:04:32Marc:It's all based on that pilot I shot a while ago.

00:04:34Marc:Those of you who have been listening for a while know I did that pilot presentation.

00:04:38Marc:And the upfronts were great.

00:04:40Marc:It was a big show for the IFC people, for the advertisers.

00:04:44Marc:Scott Ackerman, he hosted it.

00:04:46Marc:His show got picked up.

00:04:47Marc:Comedy Bang Bang is going to be on IFC as well.

00:04:50Marc:Kurt Braunohler, his show, the game show Bunk is going to be on.

00:04:55Marc:So they did a thing.

00:04:56Marc:And Fred Armisen and Kerry Brownstein were there.

00:04:59Marc:It was all I felt like I was in show business.

00:05:01Marc:It was very, very exciting.

00:05:04Marc:And that excitement was that lasted me about four hours.

00:05:09Marc:That's not true.

00:05:10Marc:It lasted me till the next morning, this morning or yesterday morning.

00:05:14Marc:When I got to the airport and I just wanted to have coffee and I got in line for coffee and then I got into that mode.

00:05:20Marc:So are you fucking kidding me that the woman at the counter?

00:05:23Marc:She didn't want to be there.

00:05:24Marc:I didn't want to be there.

00:05:25Marc:The people in front of me didn't seem to know how to order.

00:05:27Marc:So that just and I kept saying myself, dude, you just you know what, man?

00:05:31Marc:Shut the fuck up.

00:05:32Marc:Have some fucking gratitude.

00:05:34Marc:Humble yourself, you asshole.

00:05:36Marc:You finished your book.

00:05:37Marc:You turned it in.

00:05:38Marc:That process going to start the editing process.

00:05:41Marc:You just signed a deal for a show, your own show.

00:05:44Marc:Just can't you just be in that and not worry about getting your coffee?

00:05:48Marc:Can't you?

00:05:48Marc:This is what I said to myself.

00:05:50Marc:And then I said back to myself, dude, I need coffee.

00:05:53Marc:I know, but just fucking relax.

00:05:54Marc:You'll get your coffee once you shut the fuck up.

00:05:57Marc:Can't you know that things are going all right for you?

00:06:00Marc:What does that got to do with coffee?

00:06:01Marc:And that's a negotiation I went through.

00:06:03Marc:And I got on the plane.

00:06:05Marc:I'm like, I'm going to be happy.

00:06:06Marc:Things are going to be okay.

00:06:08Marc:I have a lot to be grateful for.

00:06:10Marc:And that was until I lost my brand new headphones.

00:06:13Marc:That fucking killed me.

00:06:15Marc:I just bought these headphones.

00:06:16Marc:$60, not much.

00:06:18Marc:Skull candy.

00:06:19Marc:But I could talk on the phone on these headphones.

00:06:21Marc:Don't know what happened to them.

00:06:22Marc:Went back on the plane to look for them.

00:06:23Marc:Thought I put them on my back.

00:06:25Marc:I have no fucking idea what happened to these headphones.

00:06:27Marc:And it just polluted everything about my day.

00:06:30Marc:I should know better.

00:06:31Marc:I can let that shit go.

00:06:33Marc:Come on, man, just buy new headphones.

00:06:35Marc:But I bought them the day before.

00:06:38Marc:It was as if I bought the headphones and then just threw them directly into the garbage.

00:06:43Marc:Didn't even put them in my fucking head.

00:06:46Marc:I did, but it doesn't matter.

00:06:47Marc:I have no idea what happened to them.

00:06:48Marc:Now I have to angrily go buy headphones.

00:06:51Marc:Have you ever done that?

00:06:52Marc:I can't tell you how many times I've done that in my life where I bought something that didn't work out or I bought something that I lost and I had to angrily go buy the exact same thing.

00:07:01Marc:I've bought many pairs of shoes like that.

00:07:03Marc:I've had three or four of the same kinds of shoes because I insisted that they would work for me.

00:07:07Marc:I think I've talked about that before.

00:07:08Marc:So I'm yet to go angrily by my headphones and I have to go do that.

00:07:14Marc:But I'm very excited about the show.

00:07:16Marc:And I wanted to tell you guys, I knew a couple of days before, but I couldn't really say anything because it wasn't official.

00:07:22Marc:And I'm thrilled.

00:07:23Marc:I genuinely am excited to work.

00:07:25Marc:I'm ready to work.

00:07:26Marc:I don't know that I would have been ready to work at any other point in my life, but I'm ready to do this now.

00:07:30Marc:I'm about as me as I can be, for better or for worse.

00:07:34Marc:And also I started thinking about like, man, I don't, I've got to just relax.

00:07:41Marc:I just got to relax.

00:07:44Marc:Things are okay.

00:07:45Marc:I got to take a vacation.

00:07:46Marc:I got to stop eating so many nicotine lozenges.

00:07:48Marc:I mean, enough already, right?

00:07:49Marc:I got to go to the gym.

00:07:51Marc:I got to take care of myself.

00:07:52Marc:I got to be more giving to people.

00:07:55Marc:Stop taking.

00:07:57Marc:Enough of the taking.

00:07:59Marc:Let's start the giving.

00:08:01Marc:That's where it's at, right?

00:08:02Marc:The giving.

00:08:04Marc:Stop thinking about it.

00:08:04Marc:It's all this taking.

00:08:07Marc:I'm not saying I'm a big taker, but you know, it's very easy to get hung up in that.

00:08:11Marc:And this world we live in just like, what about it?

00:08:13Marc:What about it?

00:08:13Marc:Where's mine?

00:08:14Marc:How come I didn't get any?

00:08:15Marc:Where's mine?

00:08:15Marc:I got mine.

00:08:16Marc:I got a little taste of mine.

00:08:18Marc:I got enough mind to feel like I'm me.

00:08:20Marc:So I got to give back a little bit.

00:08:22Marc:All right.

00:08:23Marc:Before we talk to Molly Shannon in the garage, I wanted to share with you this story she told on a live WTF, which I loved and I'd never talked to it before.

00:08:39Marc:And it was a great story.

00:08:39Marc:And I don't know how many of you heard it.

00:08:41Marc:Maybe some of you have.

00:08:42Marc:Now you're going to hear it again because I love this story about her and her friend basically running away, but in a big way and not with malice just because they wanted to.

00:08:53Guest:I hopped a plane when I was 12.

00:08:55Guest:We told my dad, me and my friend, Ian, we're like, we're going to hop a plane to New York.

00:08:58Guest:And he was like, he dared us.

00:08:59Guest:Yeah.

00:09:00Guest:How old were you?

00:09:01Guest:We were like 12.

00:09:01Guest:Oh, good.

00:09:02Guest:That's good.

00:09:04Guest:We went to the airport and we had ballet outfits on and we put our hair in buns and we wanted to look really innocent.

00:09:09Guest:And this was, again, when flying was really easy, you didn't need your ticket to get through.

00:09:12Marc:Apparently you didn't need an adult either.

00:09:15Guest:Yeah.

00:09:15Guest:And we told my dad and we were just like, we saw there were two flights.

00:09:18Guest:We were either going to go to San Francisco or New York.

00:09:19Guest:And we thought, oh, let's go to New York.

00:09:21Guest:It's leaving early.

00:09:21Guest:So we went.

00:09:22Guest:We said to the stewardess, we just want to say goodbye to my sister.

00:09:25Guest:Can we go on the plane?

00:09:25Guest:And she was like, sure.

00:09:26Guest:And then she let us on.

00:09:28Guest:And it was a really empty flight because it was out of Cleveland, Ohio.

00:09:32Guest:And we sat back there.

00:09:33Guest:And then all of a sudden you just hear like, the plane takes off.

00:09:37Guest:We were like...

00:09:39Guest:And we had like little ballet outfits and buns.

00:09:42Guest:And I was like, hail Mary, full of grace.

00:09:46Guest:And then the stewardess that had given us permission to go say goodbye to my sister came by to ask if we wanted snacks or beverages.

00:09:56Guest:And she was like, can I get you ladies something to eat?

00:10:00Guest:She looked like she was like, oh, motherfucker.

00:10:02Guest:Fuck her.

00:10:04Guest:So we wondered if we were going to get in trouble, but she ended up not telling anyone.

00:10:09Guest:And then when we landed in New York City, she was like, bye, ladies.

00:10:13Guest:Have a nice trip.

00:10:21Marc:It's such an exciting story, but the irresponsibility of all the adults in this story is somehow undermining my appreciation of it.

00:10:30Marc:You were 12-year-old girls in fucking ballet outfits, and everybody's sort of like, have a good time.

00:10:36Marc:What world was that?

00:10:37Guest:It was a crazy world.

00:10:39Marc:What did you do in New York?

00:10:40Marc:And now you can say, we got drunk, and we went to a...

00:10:43Guest:well again because i had a crazy childhood we called my dad we were like we did it oh dad molly oh geez we'll try to so basically he couldn't try to what he didn't know what to do he said try to see if you could stay go find a hotel that you could stay in me and mary my sister will come meet you we'll drive there so basically we were like all right we'll try to find a hotel but he was kind of excited because he liked crazy stuff

00:11:07Guest:But basically, we didn't have that much.

00:11:09Guest:We just had our ballet bags and a little bit of cash, so we went to a diner, and we dined in Dash, and we stole things.

00:11:16Guest:We were like little con artists.

00:11:19Marc:Wait, did you actually make it to the city?

00:11:21Guest:We made it to the city.

00:11:22Guest:We just asked people.

00:11:22Guest:I was like, how do you get to Rockefeller Center?

00:11:24Guest:Because I'd just seen TV.

00:11:25Marc:And you're still in your ballet outfit.

00:11:27Guest:Ballet outfit, yeah.

00:11:28Marc:Nobody said, are you girls lost?

00:11:31Marc:Nothing like that?

00:11:32Guest:No, nothing.

00:11:33Guest:They went to a bar and they got to drink up, ladies.

00:11:37Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:11:38Guest:So we did try to go to hotels and my dad would call and ask, could they just stay there till we get there?

00:11:42Guest:And none of the hotels wanted to be responsible.

00:11:44Guest:Oh my God.

00:11:45Guest:So he was like, he was like, oh, you got to come home.

00:11:47Guest:And he was like, but I'm not paying for it.

00:11:49Guest:So try to hop on one on the way back.

00:11:51Guest:So we tried to hop on many planes, but the flights were all so crowded.

00:11:58Guest:So we ended up having to have him pay for it, and he made us pay it all back with our babysitting money.

00:12:05Marc:So that was the big punishment?

00:12:07Guest:Yeah, there was no punishment.

00:12:08Guest:punishment no i know i mean clearly was there any sort of like oh you survived i was just testing you he loved that kind of stuff like i said he was wild he used to in his drinking days he would you know go to bars and if somebody didn't let him in he'd be like damn it you know he'd go go into the bar and knock all the glasses down he was like a kind of guy who could maybe get arrested like it was crazy

00:12:31Marc:I love the sort of strange nostalgic excitement you have for this borderline child abuse.

00:12:48Marc:I don't know why I chose to do this kind of like weird rec room jukebox floor.

00:12:54Marc:These linoleum tiles, if you'll notice.

00:12:56Marc:Did you see them down there?

00:12:57Marc:The red and the gray, like it's like a TGIF or something.

00:13:01Marc:But I actually put those in at one point thinking it'd be a great idea.

00:13:04Marc:I don't know what the hell I was thinking.

00:13:06Guest:I think it looks nice.

00:13:07Marc:Yeah, but it's sort of like, why would I use those?

00:13:10Marc:Was I making a game room?

00:13:13Marc:But I got on my knees and did that to myself.

00:13:15Marc:I thought it was a good idea.

00:13:17Guest:Was it when you first moved in?

00:13:18Guest:Kind of, yeah.

00:13:20Guest:Because sometimes when you first move in, you're too ambitious.

00:13:22Guest:Right, and you make bad choices.

00:13:25Guest:Yeah, you have to kind of take your time and live in it before you do all that stuff.

00:13:28Marc:I just don't know when I'm going to stop making mistakes like that, like shirts to wear on Conan.

00:13:33Marc:I wear things, and then I look a year later, I'm like, what the fuck was I doing?

00:13:39Guest:Did you just do Conan?

00:13:40Marc:I did, and I wore a lumberjack shirt.

00:13:44Marc:But I really like the shirt.

00:13:45Guest:Do you ask people for their opinions before?

00:13:47Marc:No, I mean, no, I thought it was a good idea.

00:13:49Marc:I have four shirts and it was my new shirt.

00:13:52Marc:And then I looked at it on TV.

00:13:53Marc:I'm like, you can't even see my face.

00:13:56Marc:It's such a loud plaid.

00:13:58Marc:And I was like, and I'm like, what?

00:14:00Marc:And I just keep doing that.

00:14:02Guest:All right.

00:14:02Marc:So no, wait, no, let's discuss this car accident.

00:14:04Marc:Yeah.

00:14:04Guest:Well, it's not really a car accident.

00:14:06Marc:Coming over here.

00:14:07Guest:Are we being recorded now?

00:14:08Marc:Sure.

00:14:08Guest:Okay.

00:14:09Marc:Molly Shannon is here, by the way.

00:14:10Guest:Hello.

00:14:11Guest:Good morning.

00:14:14Guest:Let me take a sip of my coffee.

00:14:15Marc:You were late and you came in.

00:14:17Guest:Well, no, a little.

00:14:18Guest:A few minutes.

00:14:19Marc:No, no, I know.

00:14:20Marc:Not bad.

00:14:20Marc:No, it wasn't bad at all.

00:14:21Marc:Nice.

00:14:23Marc:The audible swipe is great.

00:14:25Marc:JustCoffee.coop, by the way, is supplying us with our coffee.

00:14:28Marc:Thank you.

00:14:30Marc:So you sideswiped it there?

00:14:31Guest:Yeah, very.

00:14:33Guest:It sounded louder than it was, but yeah, I was a little nervous because I don't know this neighborhood so well.

00:14:39Guest:So yeah, so I just slightly sideswiped a car, but I left a little note.

00:14:44Marc:Did you leave a note saying, hey, I'm Molly Shannon from... Did you autograph it?

00:14:49Guest:No, I didn't.

00:14:49Guest:I initialed.

00:14:50Marc:Oh.

00:14:50Guest:I said, look, I'm so sorry I sideswiped your car.

00:14:55Guest:I said, please call me.

00:14:55Guest:I'm so happy to repair for any of the damages.

00:14:58Marc:Oh.

00:14:58Guest:Yeah.

00:14:58Guest:Don't you always leave... You got to leave a note.

00:15:00Marc:Yeah, no, you do.

00:15:01Marc:I don't know when the last time I did that was.

00:15:03Marc:The other night that we had an incident where people get very, like my girlfriend opened the car door into a car next to her in a parking lot and they just happened to be in the car, which is horrible.

00:15:13Marc:Horrible.

00:15:14Marc:And then there was that moment where she's like, hey, what are you doing?

00:15:16Marc:And then, you know, my girlfriend was like, I'm sorry.

00:15:19Marc:And there was an awkwardness.

00:15:21Marc:But what, cars are built to take that shit.

00:15:23Marc:Did you leave, was it marked?

00:15:24Marc:Did you really screw up the car?

00:15:25Guest:You know, it really wasn't bad.

00:15:26Guest:There was no body damage.

00:15:27Guest:It looked like a little bit of chipped paint.

00:15:29Guest:I think it was more that I hit the mirror sticking out, so it makes a loud thump, so it sounds worse.

00:15:35Guest:But you know what?

00:15:36Guest:It needs a little bit of a little chips of paint.

00:15:39Marc:I think that's a good opportunity for you to carry headshots in your car and write the note on that.

00:15:43Marc:Sorry, I hit your car.

00:15:44Marc:Thanks for everything.

00:15:47Guest:Okay, Mark, I'll do that next time.

00:15:50Marc:Would that be horrible?

00:15:51Marc:Yeah.

00:15:51Marc:I think that'd be hilarious if you got that out of the car, like this weird apology and an autograph.

00:15:55Guest:That's funny.

00:15:57Marc:How many kids do you have?

00:15:59Guest:Two.

00:15:59Guest:I have a boy who's six and a half, Nolan, and my daughter, Stella, our daughter, Stella, is eight.

00:16:05Guest:Wow.

00:16:05Marc:And I think it seems to me that you'd be like the greatest mom in the world.

00:16:09Marc:Do you feel that way about your mom?

00:16:10Guest:Thanks so much.

00:16:10Guest:I really do.

00:16:11Guest:I love being a mom.

00:16:12Guest:I always wanted to be a mom.

00:16:15Guest:And I really feel so fulfilled.

00:16:17Guest:I'm so happy.

00:16:18Guest:I feel like I worked really hard in my 20s and 30s and struggling to make it and doing Saturday Night Live.

00:16:24Guest:And I really killed myself with work.

00:16:26Guest:It was just work, work, work, work, work.

00:16:28Guest:And now I really feel like I've created a family.

00:16:31Guest:And I feel like I'm living my dream.

00:16:33Guest:This is all I've ever wanted.

00:16:34Guest:Well, you know what?

00:16:35Guest:And my mom died when I was little, when I was four.

00:16:39Guest:So for me, getting to be a mom and do all the things that she was never there for, it's very rewarding to me.

00:16:46Guest:It makes me feel so happy.

00:16:47Marc:Almost like you get to have that experience on the other side of it.

00:16:50Marc:You get to provide that experience even though you were denied it.

00:16:53Marc:exactly there's something about it that just feels so good just the simplest little things just being there for them or dropping them off at school or you know just little things make me feel really really happy so you lost your mom when you were that young i did yes and do you when like because i always wonder about that because i know somebody uh who lost their mom when they're very young was there like do you think that drove you somehow in terms of like you know wanting to get love from other people oh my god yes like feelings of abandonment or maybe oh huge really

00:17:22Guest:I think that it, yeah, I think that there's that like hole inside of you and you feel like, you know, it gave me a certain drive and show business to make it.

00:17:32Guest:Yeah.

00:17:34Guest:And I was able to kind of take rejection easily because I felt like, God, what I'd gone through when I was little, this is nothing compared to what I went through.

00:17:40Guest:You know, when I was four and a half to the loss.

00:17:43Yeah.

00:17:43Guest:so you're kind of like i remember doing my shows i did these comedy shows in santa monica and i was performing and but it always felt like somebody was missing i had like an anxious feeling like but somebody's missing like it wasn't good enough but it would drive me and drive me and drive me and then even when i got saturday night live i remember like even at the peak of like snl when there were you know when i didn't have to invite people down to the theater and

00:18:06Guest:people would come up to me, I felt like I got really depressed because I felt like, oh no, this doesn't fix it.

00:18:13Guest:All these people can come up to you and be like, oh my God, I love that.

00:18:16Guest:But the one person you want is not... But it actually was like... So I thought it was kind of freeing in a way because I felt like this doesn't fix it, so don't fool yourself.

00:18:28Guest:But it felt like a relief in a way that then you could just...

00:18:31Guest:kind of enjoy being creative and do what you do and do what you love to do, but know that that's not going to, that's not going to fix anything.

00:18:37Guest:You know what I mean?

00:18:38Marc:Right.

00:18:38Marc:There's like, at some point you, as a grownup, you've got to actively acknowledge the grief and realize that that's not something that's going to be filled up.

00:18:46Marc:No, it's just a loss and you integrate it.

00:18:48Guest:Exactly.

00:18:49Marc:Yeah.

00:18:50Marc:So when you started out, like, cause I, I didn't know that the whole trajectory, which is a word I use frequently and I've been made fun of because of it, but I just want to put that out there.

00:18:58Guest:I like that word.

00:18:59Guest:I do too.

00:18:59Marc:But you start, you didn't start in New York.

00:19:01Guest:I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, and I did... Sorry, my throat's a little hoarse.

00:19:06Guest:I did... Should I go get you water?

00:19:08Guest:Maybe I'll get... Do you have tea?

00:19:10Marc:You want tea?

00:19:12Marc:Sure, I'll just have the waitress get it.

00:19:17Marc:Can't wait.

00:19:18Guest:I'm just worried I'm a little hoarse.

00:19:20Marc:Yeah?

00:19:20Guest:Well, you know what?

00:19:21Guest:I'll just have the coffee.

00:19:21Guest:Don't worry.

00:19:22Marc:I can get you a water.

00:19:24Guest:Okay.

00:19:24Marc:You want me to do that?

00:19:25Marc:Sounds good.

00:19:25Marc:Okay, Cleveland, Ohio.

00:19:26Marc:Now, before we go any further, I was just in Cleveland.

00:19:29Marc:You were?

00:19:30Marc:Yeah.

00:19:30Marc:Do you still have family there?

00:19:31Guest:I do have cousins and some aunts.

00:19:33Marc:So that city's taken quite a hit, and it's kind of an interesting place.

00:19:37Marc:There's a couple of good restaurants in that 4th Street area.

00:19:39Guest:I can't believe you were there.

00:19:40Guest:I haven't been there in a while, though.

00:19:42Guest:Since my dad died, I don't go as much.

00:19:44Marc:When did he pass away?

00:19:44Guest:2002.

00:19:45Guest:Oh.

00:19:46Marc:Yeah.

00:19:47Marc:And I guess you grew up with him mostly.

00:19:49Guest:I did, yeah.

00:19:49Guest:He raised me from the time I was four and a half.

00:19:52Guest:Catholic, right?

00:19:53Guest:Yeah, me and my sister.

00:19:54Marc:Catholic, yeah.

00:19:54Marc:I know you've been on a live show, and I'm kind of obsessed with Catholic.

00:19:57Guest:Are you?

00:19:58Marc:A little.

00:19:58Guest:Wow.

00:19:59Marc:What are you doing with your kids now?

00:20:00Marc:What are you laying on them in the God department?

00:20:02Marc:Anything yet?

00:20:03Guest:Well, I stopped going to church when I was in college, and I'm spiritual.

00:20:07Guest:Oh, my God.

00:20:07Marc:You waited that long?

00:20:08Guest:I waited that long, yeah.

00:20:10Guest:I was really like a good little Catholic girl.

00:20:12Marc:Was hell real to you?

00:20:14Marc:I don't know if I asked you that before.

00:20:17Guest:No, I know.

00:20:17Guest:No, I didn't really believe that.

00:20:19Guest:I thought, this is kind of silly that I have to go to these, confess my sins to these men.

00:20:24Guest:But I did pray a lot.

00:20:27Guest:And let me see.

00:20:30Guest:But then in college, I was like, I don't want to do this anymore.

00:20:32Guest:I don't want to go to church.

00:20:33Guest:So I think with our kids, we kind of, no, they're not going to be brought up Catholic.

00:20:43Marc:No.

00:20:43Marc:Are you waiting it out until they ask questions about God?

00:20:46Marc:Because I don't remember anyone telling me, anyone actually giving me any sense of belief or that it was important.

00:20:51Marc:I don't remember anyone saying there's a God, not from a parental level, but because of that, I don't really care one way or the other, but I just wonder when a parent does that conversation.

00:21:03Guest:I know you really should start when they're young because they do kind of ask about that.

00:21:07Guest:They do?

00:21:07Guest:But I think it's okay for them to hear two different sides.

00:21:09Guest:Like I believe that mommy believes this and daddy believes this and kind of let them formulate their own.

00:21:14Guest:Sure.

00:21:14Marc:Confused children are always good.

00:21:15Marc:It's good to have them being questioning things and not have a real sense of what's going to happen.

00:21:21Guest:No, I would just say we don't.

00:21:23Marc:Do you have different beliefs from your husband in general?

00:21:25Guest:Yes.

00:21:26Guest:I think I believe in God and he doesn't, you know, but I think he believes in something higher than himself.

00:21:32Guest:I think, you know, but I don't think he would call it God.

00:21:35Marc:Right.

00:21:35Marc:Yeah.

00:21:36Marc:Okay.

00:21:36Marc:So, so you have, you're Catholic and you had a lot of cousins and big family or what?

00:21:41Guest:Um, no, it was really just my dad, my sister and I, just the three of us.

00:21:45Marc:There wasn't some weird kind of extended Catholic, you know, a bunch of Pete.

00:21:49Guest:No, not at all.

00:21:50Guest:No, no.

00:21:51Guest:Just the three of us.

00:21:52Guest:Okay.

00:21:53Marc:And now, uh, in terms of that, so I know you pitched a show to HBO about the nun thing.

00:21:58Guest:Is that happening?

00:21:58Guest:No, they passed on that.

00:22:00Guest:I know, but I'm going to do another show for HBO.

00:22:03Guest:What?

00:22:03Guest:My friend Mike White created the show in light.

00:22:05Guest:So I'm going to do, I'm going to do that show.

00:22:07Guest:This next season.

00:22:08Marc:The Dern show?

00:22:09Guest:Yeah.

00:22:10Guest:Oh.

00:22:10Guest:I'm so excited.

00:22:11Marc:You always seem to keep working.

00:22:13Marc:Oh, that's nice, Mark.

00:22:15Marc:Thanks.

00:22:15Marc:I mean, you always show up everywhere.

00:22:17Marc:You're like, hey, there's Molly Shannon in my house.

00:22:19Marc:That was today.

00:22:20Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:22:21Guest:Hey, she's here.

00:22:22Guest:Thanks.

00:22:22Guest:Well, I feel really grateful.

00:22:23Guest:I think I worked really hard for that.

00:22:25Guest:All right.

00:22:25Marc:So how do you get from Cleveland to SNL?

00:22:28Guest:Cleveland to SNL.

00:22:29Guest:Let's see.

00:22:29Guest:Well, I was, my dad, I grew up, my dad loved theater.

00:22:33Guest:He loved movies and he loved theater.

00:22:36Guest:He really would have liked to have been an actor himself.

00:22:39Guest:Yeah.

00:22:39Guest:But he didn't have the confidence.

00:22:40Guest:So I think he really wanted me to do that.

00:22:42Guest:And so we would watch, he loved Judy Garland and musicals and movies.

00:22:47Guest:And, you know, he was a really good dresser.

00:22:49Guest:He was kind of preppy and charismatic.

00:22:51Guest:He drank.

00:22:52Guest:Yeah.

00:22:52Guest:He's an alcoholic.

00:22:54Marc:Yeah.

00:22:54Guest:But then got sober.

00:22:55Marc:Oh, he did?

00:22:55Guest:Yeah.

00:22:56Marc:For how long was he sober?

00:22:57Yeah.

00:22:57Guest:Well, he was sober till his death.

00:22:59Marc:I mean, when did he get sober?

00:23:00Guest:When I was like 16 or 15, but he would struggle with it.

00:23:04Guest:Uh-huh.

00:23:04Guest:Yeah.

00:23:05Guest:Uh-huh.

00:23:06Guest:So we were really affected by that.

00:23:08Marc:Fun drunk?

00:23:09Guest:Fun drunk?

00:23:12Yeah.

00:23:12Guest:no i it's hard when you're little you know when you when it's the only person you're relying on it's scary you know did you go through uh that whole did you do any recovery around that yourself yes oh you did yeah you did the adult child alcoholic thing i remember going to a meeting when i was little like my dad went to aa and i went to a meeting but it was all like 50 year old women and me and i was like 13 and i was like this is strange but i like listening to their stories but then yes i have been involved in that

00:23:39Marc:Alateen?

00:23:40Marc:You never did Alateen?

00:23:41Guest:No, I never did Alateen.

00:23:41Marc:It might not have been around then.

00:23:43Marc:I feel like it's new.

00:23:44Guest:I know, but it's great that they have that.

00:23:47Marc:Just out of curiosity, because not to necessarily talk about recovery, but what were the things that you think about your personality that were directly in relation to growing up with an alcoholic?

00:24:00Marc:How did it affect you directly that you couldn't seem to help?

00:24:03Marc:Or did you find yourself like you needed order?

00:24:07Marc:What was it?

00:24:08Marc:Weird question.

00:24:10Guest:No, that's not a weird question at all.

00:24:12Guest:I think I felt like it was hard to enjoy myself.

00:24:15Guest:You know, you feel kind of like a little adult because like if we would go to parties, I would worry.

00:24:20Guest:My sister and I would worry.

00:24:21Guest:We would count drinks.

00:24:22Guest:We would go take sips of his drink, you know, and we would.

00:24:27Marc:So he wouldn't drink it.

00:24:28Guest:You would go take sips at his degree?

00:24:30Guest:Well, maybe he would disguise it because he knew we'd be checking on him.

00:24:33Guest:Really?

00:24:33Guest:So maybe he'd pretend like it's a Coke and then my sister would go take a sip.

00:24:37Guest:So it was very disappointing.

00:24:39Marc:Right.

00:24:40Marc:Because you didn't want him to cross that line into like, oh, no, it's embarrassing.

00:24:43Marc:That kind of thing.

00:24:44Guest:Yeah, it was embarrassing.

00:24:45Guest:And you feel abandoned.

00:24:46Guest:You feel like you're just alone kind of.

00:24:49Guest:And then it's scary.

00:24:51Guest:On the way home, it feels scary.

00:24:53Guest:Yeah, because he's driving.

00:24:55Guest:Yeah.

00:24:55Guest:Yeah, so that felt, yeah, I don't even know where to begin.

00:25:00Guest:So we were, yeah, so you just felt kind of anxious.

00:25:03Guest:And I remember I still love coffee to this day because I remember at parties, there would be drinking, drinking, drinking.

00:25:09Guest:But then I remember I love the smell of coffee.

00:25:11Guest:Like when they put on coffee, I was like,

00:25:12Guest:coffee because it meant like oh good please drink a cup of coffee like it just made me really happy if i saw him having coffee because then that would be the end of it right no yeah so to this day i love i love coffee i love the smell of coffee i like people who offer me coffee i love everything about it so like you know but in a deeper way like some way the smell of coffee triggers the idea that like well we might make it home yeah yeah yeah daddy won't be weird

00:25:39Guest:and i remember like i went to to um but but again i don't want to give the wrong idea because i know you're a recovering addict yeah um you know people think oh as if they're drunk all the time no look he was a very he raised two kids by himself my mom died when i was four and a half so it was hard on him he was a single dad with he's left with a four-year-old and a six-year-old my my little sister katie was also killed and my mom killed in that car accident when he was driving he was driving he was driving

00:26:06Guest:oh my god yeah and we were was he drunk then well you know i mean yeah you know um he he they were at a party he claims he took a nap or that he you know i don't want to go too it's so dark yeah like i guess um but let me see yeah we were all in the car and he had taken a nap you were in the car too yeah you know we were in the back it was a station wagon and

00:26:29Guest:you know, it was late at night, and he was going to drop my cousin off.

00:26:34Guest:And, you know, my aunt let our cousin Fran go with us too.

00:26:39Guest:And, you know, my dad and I talked about it later.

00:26:42Guest:He's like, you know, I think he would have liked my mom to drive, but she was like, no, you can drive.

00:26:49Guest:And

00:26:49Guest:You know, I don't know if he nodded off.

00:26:51Guest:I don't know what happened.

00:26:52Guest:But at that time, they didn't have breakaway lampposts or light posts.

00:26:57Guest:So he just smashed into it.

00:26:58Guest:Nowadays, they'll bend or they'll break away.

00:27:01Guest:So it was just a collision.

00:27:02Guest:And my mom was in the front and he was in the front.

00:27:05Guest:My sister and I were in the very back of a station wagon.

00:27:08Guest:So we were bruised up.

00:27:10Guest:But my baby sister, Katie, and my cousin, Fran, were in the middle.

00:27:15Guest:So they were killed.

00:27:17Guest:Very sad, yeah.

00:27:18Marc:Do you have, like, memory of it or no?

00:27:22Guest:I do have a memory of it because we were, you know, we went to the hospital and I remember thinking, like, where, I think I had a fantasy that they were still alive.

00:27:31Guest:Like, I'm like, oh, Katie must be, my sister and I were in beds next to one another in the hospital.

00:27:36Guest:And because she was, I was four and she was six, developmentally there's such a big difference between a six-year-old understanding what's going on and a four-year-old.

00:27:43Guest:I was really out of it, like, in fantasies.

00:27:45Guest:Like, oh, they must be somewhere else up there on a different floor.

00:27:49Guest:And my sister kind of knew what had happened and kind of had to answer questions and, you know, talk to people because she was like the, you know, one that was the most with it.

00:27:59Guest:And so basically, I remember thinking, oh, I want to go see Katie.

00:28:04Guest:I really wanted to see my baby sister because I thought she must be with the other babies.

00:28:07Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:28:08Guest:So immediately, I was kind of perky.

00:28:11Guest:There were a lot of kids that were on our floor, and I was helping them.

00:28:15Guest:They didn't have parents coming to visit them, so I helped those kids.

00:28:18Guest:I remember feeling like playing with them and helping them, and I think that's instantly where I went to.

00:28:23Guest:And then there were all these people bringing us toys and stuff, and I was like, why are all these people bringing us toys, like relatives bringing us toys?

00:28:30Guest:And then I was like, I said...

00:28:32Guest:I really want to go see my mom and my sister now.

00:28:35Guest:I think I knew my dad.

00:28:37Marc:You were probably in shock.

00:28:40Guest:No, I assumed they were alive.

00:28:42Guest:So I was like, oh, I want to go see them now.

00:28:45Guest:So I finally put on my robe and wanted to go see them.

00:28:48Guest:And they were like, oh, we're so sorry.

00:28:49Guest:I think an aunt told me or something, I'm so sorry, but they've gone to heaven.

00:28:54Guest:And I was like, what?

00:28:56Guest:I was like, heaven, can we get there?

00:28:57Guest:Yeah, right.

00:28:59Guest:Could we, could we fly there or take a hot air balloon or could we, could we, could we take an airplane or could we, you know, I just couldn't accept the fact that we couldn't get there, you know?

00:29:09Guest:Yeah.

00:29:09Guest:So I kind of kept that on for a long time.

00:29:12Guest:It's very complicated, but I think there's no way that you can like take that in.

00:29:17Guest:It would just like annihilate you when you're that little.

00:29:20Guest:So you just kind of go into some fantasy waiting.

00:29:22Guest:Yeah.

00:29:22Marc:And did it hit you gradually?

00:29:26Marc:I guess on some level to be that young, it was better to deal with a situation like that because you weren't fully emotionally capable of wrapping your brain around it for a while, I would imagine.

00:29:38Guest:Yeah, let me see.

00:29:39Guest:I think what it was, too, and then in the night, I was like, I want my mommy, because I had learned how to not use the bathroom at night, and I remember nobody came, and I was just like, ugh.

00:29:50Guest:I just remember feeling so deflated.

00:29:51Guest:We were in this weird hospital, and it was just scary, and they did tests, like, are the lights on, are the lights off, and touching us, and it was frightening, you know?

00:30:01Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:30:02Guest:you know and then but i i think um but your question is yeah you don't deal with it and it comes up later in life like for me i mean i'm sure everybody has a different but for my age i think it didn't come up through through then dating and falling in love right kind of beginning getting close to someone came up later did you have the envy of people who had moms that thing or the anger

00:30:27Guest:I was so close to my dad, so I didn't really feel that way.

00:30:30Guest:But I remember if a teacher put her arm on me, I was like, oh my God, I felt like, wow, that feels so good.

00:30:36Guest:It made me feel really shy.

00:30:38Guest:And I think for teachers in third grade, I didn't want to get too close, so I would act really bad just so that I could be in control.

00:30:45Guest:I didn't want them to be disappointed in me.

00:30:47Guest:I was like, I could act bad, so that way I'm in charge.

00:30:50Guest:Does that make sense?

00:30:51Guest:Because I think...

00:30:52Guest:When you're that little, you feel like you must have done something wrong to make them leave.

00:30:56Guest:You're too self-centered, so you think you must have done something wrong.

00:31:00Marc:But that's interesting because that disposition is really the beginning of a performer's disposition.

00:31:06Guest:Exactly.

00:31:07Guest:Exactly.

00:31:08Guest:Make them come back.

00:31:10Guest:And right, so when you ask God about performing, I'm like, it was the drive to entertain, make her come back.

00:31:17Marc:It's amazing how easily it seemed like when you were just doing yourself as a four-year-old, emotionally, it's pretty easy to access.

00:31:25Guest:Yeah.

00:31:26Guest:Yeah.

00:31:27Guest:It's sad though.

00:31:28Guest:Like when I really think about it, I'm like, it is so sad, you know, but the thing about it is that it gives you like, I think when you go through that, when you're so young, you have a, I have a different take on everything.

00:31:39Guest:Like I feel like so lucky, you know, like I feel like I don't take things for granted at all, you know, because I, because I feel like, Oh my God, I pulled myself up out of the wreckage and I, I created a life for myself and now I'm a mom and I have children and I,

00:31:53Guest:I got help for myself so that I could start my own family, and it's a miracle.

00:31:58Guest:Yeah, definitely.

00:31:59Guest:My sister and I talk about it.

00:32:00Guest:We feel really lucky because it might not have gone that way.

00:32:04Marc:Yeah, and you're close with your sister.

00:32:06Guest:Yeah.

00:32:07Marc:Oh, that's great.

00:32:07Guest:Yeah.

00:32:08Marc:So when did you start to realize that he wanted you to be a performer?

00:32:12Yeah.

00:32:12Guest:Because, let me see, we would do St.

00:32:15Guest:Patrick's Day shows.

00:32:16Guest:And he was like, get in the front row, Molly.

00:32:18Guest:That's my Molly.

00:32:20Guest:You know, we'd sing like G-A-L-L-A-G-A-G-E-R.

00:32:24Guest:Spells Gallagher.

00:32:24Guest:We do Irish songs.

00:32:27Guest:And we'd wear costumes.

00:32:28Guest:And I liked it myself.

00:32:29Guest:We have these choreographers that would come before St.

00:32:32Guest:Patrick's Day, Miss Patty and Miss Jackie.

00:32:34Guest:They were sisters.

00:32:35Guest:And they wore, you know, red spandex pants.

00:32:38Guest:And they would teach us a routine.

00:32:39Guest:And I was like, yes, I live for Miss Patty and Miss Jackie to come.

00:32:42Guest:And so, and my dad was so proud of me and I really liked him myself.

00:32:47Guest:But I remember St.

00:32:48Guest:Patrick's Day was like a day he would really like get loaded.

00:32:51Guest:So I was like, oh no.

00:32:53Guest:So by the time we do the show, I could tell by the way he would wave like how much he'd had to drink.

00:32:58Like, come on!

00:32:59Guest:so i would be like don't you can't come into the classroom after like most of the parents were allowed to come in and pick up the kids and i was like do not come in you know i'll come pick you up so with all that control but he was still excited right oh my god he was so proud of me so i think he was just so you know he struggled he had his own demons and he really struggled but he was also like very loving and he would really listen to my stories and so he it was complicated it was both you know it was

00:33:25Marc:And did you do theater in high school and stuff?

00:33:28Guest:I did.

00:33:28Guest:I did theater.

00:33:30Guest:So I did those St.

00:33:31Guest:Patrick's Day shows, and I knew I really loved acting.

00:33:33Marc:Were you singing, too?

00:33:34Guest:Singing.

00:33:35Guest:Yeah, I sang.

00:33:36Guest:And then in high school, I did musicals.

00:33:38Guest:But I was a little embarrassed to admit that I really wanted to be an actor.

00:33:41Guest:But then once I did, I felt really relieved, and then I started applying to drama schools.

00:33:45Guest:And my dad was just so supportive, and I went to NYU drama school.

00:33:48Guest:Okay.

00:33:48Guest:But I was always wanting to put on shows and, you know, make up plays, play house, you know, always like living in an imaginary life, whether it was through Barbie dolls or, you know, playing house or convent or whatever.

00:34:02Guest:It was always making up characters.

00:34:03Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:34:04Marc:So NYU, I mean, that's like a real deal kind of.

00:34:06Marc:Yeah.

00:34:07Marc:Were you ever, what was your, were you sort of on a career path or were you experimental?

00:34:13Marc:I mean, because you're in New York, were you ever, did you do any like ridiculous theater?

00:34:16Yeah.

00:34:16Guest:um ridiculous i i didn't do the experimental i really wanted to make it i was really driven and i wanted career driven but i loved so i was there was the experimental wing i was in circle in the square and we did yeah lots of body exercises and you know scenes and i was a very serious dramatic actress but then i remember they had auditions for this comedy show and i felt like god i like this more because it just felt like it came really natural to me and you didn't you didn't have to do all the sense memory and you know right right but i had a

00:34:44Guest:Yeah, but I had a very dramatic approach to my comedy, I would say.

00:34:47Marc:But you're naturally funny.

00:34:48Marc:So, I mean, that's a gift.

00:34:51Marc:So, it wasn't like you weren't like some dry actor coming to stand.

00:34:55Marc:When was the moment where you realized, like, holy shit, I'm funny?

00:34:58Marc:I mean, there had to be a moment where, because that's a real buzz.

00:35:00Marc:Yeah.

00:35:01Guest:Yeah, that's a real buzz.

00:35:02Guest:I was at my friend's house yesterday.

00:35:03Guest:I had a lot of sleepovers and I was at my friend Amy Wall's house and she had a lot of sisters.

00:35:08Guest:And the mother was like, we're going to make chicken cacciatore for dinner, Molly.

00:35:11Guest:And in my head, I was like, I knew I was going to make a little joke.

00:35:13Guest:And I was like, I'll have a chicken, but I don't want any cacciatore.

00:35:16Guest:I was little and they all laughed.

00:35:18Guest:And I remember like, I like this.

00:35:20Guest:But it's not like, but, um, but I would say I wasn't like telling jokes.

00:35:24Guest:I was just intense, you know?

00:35:26Marc:Right.

00:35:26Marc:We are intense.

00:35:27Guest:Yeah.

00:35:28Yeah.

00:35:28Marc:I'm trying to keep up.

00:35:31Marc:So you graduate NYU?

00:35:32Guest:Yeah, I thought, well, I'll give New York City a year and then see what happens.

00:35:40Marc:For stage work primarily?

00:35:41Marc:Or were you thinking like theater?

00:35:43Guest:I really wanted to be on TV.

00:35:45Marc:There wasn't a lot in New York, was there?

00:35:47Guest:You know what it was?

00:35:48Guest:I did this stage show with Adam Sandler.

00:35:50Guest:It was like a comedy review show.

00:35:52Guest:And everybody in campus saw it and they were like, you should be on Saturday Night Live.

00:35:55Marc:Wait, so he was at NYU with you?

00:35:56Guest:He was at NYU with me, yeah.

00:35:57Marc:Oh, I didn't realize that.

00:35:58Marc:So that's a big part of the story.

00:36:00Guest:He was at NYU, yeah.

00:36:01Marc:And you guys still friends?

00:36:02Guest:We're still friends, yes.

00:36:03Marc:Yeah, he's great.

00:36:04Marc:What was he like in college?

00:36:05Guest:I mean, was he such a hard worker?

00:36:07Guest:So focused.

00:36:08Guest:He was just the kind of kid who was already very famous on campus.

00:36:11Guest:He was doing stand up in the dorms.

00:36:14Guest:He would go at night and perform and do stand up.

00:36:16Guest:He was just very driven.

00:36:17Marc:And was he funny?

00:36:18Guest:very funny and sweet, quiet.

00:36:23Guest:You know, in our comedy show, the director, because there were like five of us in it, she was like, oh, you should take Adam out, you know, for coffee.

00:36:30Guest:And he seemed a little shy.

00:36:31Guest:And I was like, I don't think Adam needs any help from me.

00:36:34Guest:You know, but yeah, people really loved him.

00:36:38Guest:And he was just doing stand-up all over the place and just, yeah, very driven.

00:36:42Marc:And what was the show you guys did together?

00:36:44Guest:We did a review show where we made fun of the teachers.

00:36:46Guest:And I did...

00:36:48Guest:Mary Catherine Gallagher, I created the character of Mary Catherine Gallagher in that show, and then I ended up bringing that to SNL.

00:36:53Guest:But it was from that stage show that people were like, you should do comedy.

00:36:57Guest:But I never thought of myself that way.

00:36:58Guest:I always thought of myself as a very straight, serious actress.

00:37:02Guest:So it was really more that people told me.

00:37:03Guest:And then I thought, okay, maybe I could try for that or try to get on Saturday Night Live.

00:37:10Guest:So then I thought, let me go to LA and...

00:37:13Guest:My friend Gene Pack and I came out here together not knowing anybody, and I thought, we thought we'll create a stage show and do characters and maybe try to get people to see us that way.

00:37:22Guest:But I was thinking about Saturday Night Live after NYU.

00:37:24Guest:Oh, really?

00:37:25Marc:Yeah.

00:37:25Marc:So why'd you come out here?

00:37:26Marc:Because it's such a crap shoot out here.

00:37:29Marc:I mean, it's so easy to get lost.

00:37:31Marc:Did you?

00:37:31Marc:I mean, you did a lot of episodic work pretty quickly, though, no?

00:37:34Marc:Yeah.

00:37:34Guest:No, not so quickly.

00:37:36Guest:I worked in restaurants for a long time and, you know, was broke and had to rent a rack.

00:37:42Guest:You know, I didn't have much money.

00:37:43Guest:You rented a rack?

00:37:46Guest:I had no money.

00:37:46Guest:I would take cash advances on my credit card.

00:37:49Guest:I didn't have a car.

00:37:49Guest:I just would, you know, they have rent a rack.

00:37:52Guest:Yeah, I remember those.

00:37:53Marc:Did you ever do that?

00:37:54Marc:Yeah.

00:37:54Marc:Yeah, I remember that, but I don't think they exist anymore, do they?

00:37:56Guest:Yeah, they do still exist.

00:37:57Guest:Yeah, I just saw one in...

00:37:59Marc:Because I did it once, and it was really a wreck.

00:38:01Guest:A wreck, they'd break down.

00:38:03Marc:Yeah, the worst cars in the world.

00:38:06Guest:So, no, I didn't know anyone.

00:38:08Guest:I would... So lonely out here sometimes.

00:38:11Guest:So lonely.

00:38:11Guest:I remember I would... Before I had a car, I would just... I came out here one summer and lived at USC, and...

00:38:17Guest:And didn't even have a car.

00:38:19Guest:I would take the bus to Sunset Boulevard.

00:38:21Guest:Oh, my God.

00:38:21Guest:Taking the bus in Los Angeles.

00:38:22Guest:And pass my headshots to agent's office.

00:38:24Guest:Like, just slip it under the door.

00:38:25Guest:Like that.

00:38:26Guest:That's how I started.

00:38:27Guest:That's crazy.

00:38:28Marc:That's the most heartbreaking thing you've said to me.

00:38:30Guest:Oh, my God.

00:38:31Marc:Just this idea of taking a bus in Los Angeles.

00:38:34Guest:Can you imagine?

00:38:34Marc:Going into these big buildings to slide your headshot on it.

00:38:37Marc:Did anything ever happen?

00:38:39Guest:I did.

00:38:39Guest:I got Gary Coleman's agent sign me and I was like, I'm going to make it.

00:38:45Guest:He's got me and Gary Coleman and a bunch of like prostitute slash actresses.

00:38:52Guest:And he got me nothing other than like a hair show in Marina Del Rey.

00:38:56Guest:And he would have me come to his house and do like scene study where he would try to unbutton my shirt.

00:39:01Guest:No.

00:39:02Guest:Yeah.

00:39:03Guest:And he paid for my headshots, which we did in his hot tub.

00:39:06Guest:No.

00:39:07Guest:And I was in a bathing suit.

00:39:08Guest:Is that real?

00:39:08Guest:Yes.

00:39:09Guest:Yes.

00:39:10Guest:Did you meet Gary Coleman?

00:39:11Guest:I met Gary Coleman.

00:39:14Guest:They came to New York.

00:39:15Guest:We went.

00:39:16Guest:Yeah.

00:39:17Guest:I met Gary.

00:39:18Marc:How long were you with that guy, though, before you realized this is inappropriate and low rent?

00:39:22Guest:Well, I've actually told this story on Conan, but they came, I don't want to say this guy's name, but the guy who, the agent and Gary came to New York and we had tea at the Plaza and Gary was trying to hold my hand.

00:39:34Guest:Gary was hitting on you too?

00:39:36Guest:Gary was, yeah, Gary too.

00:39:38Guest:And so Gary asked me to come into the hotel room and he attacked me.

00:39:41Guest:I mean, a full on.

00:39:42Guest:Come on.

00:39:43Marc:Gary Coleman attacked you?

00:39:44Guest:Yeah.

00:39:44Guest:Attacked me.

00:39:45Guest:Jumped on me.

00:39:46Guest:I had to throw him off of me.

00:39:48Guest:Jumped on me.

00:39:49Guest:Again, bounced on the bed and wrapped himself around me.

00:39:51Guest:I had to fling him off of me.

00:39:52Guest:I mean, it was like an attack.

00:39:55Guest:My hair.

00:39:56Guest:And then I had to lock myself in the bathroom and he was like, I see you.

00:39:59Guest:Oh, no.

00:40:00Guest:It was awful.

00:40:01Guest:Oh, God.

00:40:01Marc:But anyhow.

00:40:02Marc:There's such a comedic element to it.

00:40:06Marc:It's hard to sort of press charges or anything else.

00:40:08Marc:I mean, for that story.

00:40:10Guest:It was the craziest.

00:40:11Guest:Yeah.

00:40:11Guest:My friends were like, what?

00:40:13Marc:Did you laugh at any point?

00:40:14Guest:Oh, my God.

00:40:15Guest:Yeah, because while he was in the middle of it, I'm like, I cannot wait to tell this story.

00:40:18Guest:But it was also scary.

00:40:20Guest:But he was little, so I could kind of fling him around.

00:40:23Guest:Exactly.

00:40:23Marc:Exactly.

00:40:24Marc:And you told that on Conan?

00:40:26Guest:I did.

00:40:27Marc:Was Gary alive then or no?

00:40:28Guest:He was alive, yeah, because it's a true story.

00:40:31Guest:Nothing ever happened.

00:40:32Marc:Didn't he pass away?

00:40:33Guest:He did.

00:40:33Guest:He passed away, yeah.

00:40:34Marc:Oh, God, nothing ever happened?

00:40:35Marc:He didn't call you out on it?

00:40:36Guest:No, well, he knows that that happened.

00:40:38Guest:He told me I reminded him of Kimberly from Different Strokes, and I was like, really?

00:40:42Guest:Really?

00:40:42Guest:You know, I was a young actress.

00:40:45Guest:But anyhow, that agent, when we would do, when I would go to his house to practice scenes and he would have buttoned my shirt, I had just, I was fresh from NYU drama school and I was really into taking risks.

00:40:54Guest:And I'd be like, yeah, and buttoned my shirt, come on.

00:40:57Guest:You know, like kind of wanting to go for it.

00:40:59Guest:But then I was like, this seems kind of sleazy.

00:41:01Guest:But then he would like take me and the prostitutes out for, he represented some like, like they were whores.

00:41:08Guest:Porno stars or just whores?

00:41:09Guest:They were like, I,

00:41:10Guest:I don't really know, but they lived at his house and he would, you know, get their headshots done.

00:41:14Marc:God, you dove right into the worst part of Hollywood.

00:41:16Guest:Yeah, I dove right in.

00:41:18Guest:And I remember the only thing he got me was like a hair show.

00:41:20Marc:Did he offer you Coke and everything?

00:41:21Guest:No, no.

00:41:21Marc:No, no drugs.

00:41:22Marc:That's all right.

00:41:22Guest:No drugs.

00:41:23Guest:But he got me a hair show in Marina Del Rey.

00:41:25Guest:And then we all went out to like Cheesecake Factory after dinner.

00:41:29Guest:Boy, you'd arrived.

00:41:30Guest:Yeah, I'd arrived.

00:41:31Marc:You and the prostitutes at Cheesecake Factory after a hair show.

00:41:34Marc:That was your dream, I think.

00:41:35Guest:I know.

00:41:35Marc:I was like, I made it.

00:41:37Marc:Oh, my God.

00:41:38Marc:Oh, my God.

00:41:39Marc:You know, why would Gary Coleman react to that?

00:41:41Marc:That was the first time you telling me that is the only time I could ever even picture him being a sexual person.

00:41:46Marc:Even if it was inappropriate, he probably thought like, yeah, I did that.

00:41:49Guest:Oh, my God.

00:41:49Guest:He was a he was a wild man.

00:41:52Marc:Oh, God.

00:41:52Guest:Yeah.

00:41:52Guest:Girl crazy.

00:41:53Guest:Yeah.

00:41:54Marc:So how long before, I mean, were there moments during this process where you like, this is not going well.

00:41:59Guest:I got to get the fuck out of here.

00:42:02Guest:Yes, there were moments.

00:42:04Guest:But then I think then I got with another agent that kind of got me some auditions.

00:42:09Marc:Did that agent say like, oh my God, what are you doing with that guy?

00:42:12Marc:I mean, like, was it one of those moments where it's like, you should be, why are you with that loser?

00:42:17Marc:Yeah.

00:42:17Guest:With, you mean that particular agent?

00:42:19Guest:No, they didn't say that.

00:42:20Guest:Because that guy had a, you know, he did have Gary.

00:42:24Guest:Yeah, exactly.

00:42:26Guest:So, no, but then I forget.

00:42:27Guest:I started to get some commercials, and I got a part on Twin Peaks.

00:42:33Guest:That must have been cool.

00:42:34Guest:My friend would call for me sometimes.

00:42:36Guest:I had a friend who could call, and we would kind of get into offices that way, so he helped me.

00:42:41Marc:What do you mean call?

00:42:42Guest:He would kind of pretend to be friends.

00:42:44Guest:I can't say too much, but he would pretend to be...

00:42:46Guest:friends with this playwright and he would recommend me saying I was part of this theater group in New York and I would get meetings.

00:42:52Guest:So my friend got me meeting.

00:42:54Guest:So he kind of got me on my first agents.

00:42:56Guest:And then I forget what my first job was, but I started just getting commercials and little jobs.

00:43:02Marc:Do you want me to check what your first job was to remind you?

00:43:05Marc:Yeah.

00:43:08Marc:You've been working a long time.

00:43:10Guest:Phantom of the Opera?

00:43:11Guest:Yes.

00:43:12Guest:Yeah.

00:43:13Marc:You were a Meg in Phantom.

00:43:14Marc:That was a movie.

00:43:14Guest:That was a movie.

00:43:15Guest:I got it with Robert England and Jill Schoen.

00:43:18Guest:And I made like $3,000 a day.

00:43:21Guest:And that was really the beginning where I was like, wow, I got flown on first class to Budapest.

00:43:26Guest:And that was a big deal for me.

00:43:28Marc:Yeah, hell yeah.

00:43:29Guest:And then slowly I started getting other little things like that where I could eventually quit my waitressing job.

00:43:33Guest:But I really struggled for a long time and could not get a break.

00:43:36Marc:I've never done this before, but tell me about General Hospital, surrogate mother number two.

00:43:40Guest:Surrogate mother.

00:43:41Guest:That was, again, a great thing.

00:43:42Guest:It was a funny part on General Hospital.

00:43:45Guest:And those parts on soap operas helped me get my SAG card.

00:43:49Marc:You did a few of them?

00:43:50Guest:Yeah, I did a few.

00:43:51Guest:I did one in New York before I came out here.

00:43:53Marc:God, you really hammered out the... You were really hitting the sidewalk with this stuff, huh?

00:43:56Guest:Oh, my God.

00:43:57Guest:Yeah, that's why I'm like...

00:43:58Guest:Yeah, it was the opposite story of somebody where it happens really quickly.

00:44:01Guest:I really struggled and I got SNL when I was 30.

00:44:04Marc:Wow.

00:44:05Guest:Yeah.

00:44:05Marc:So, you know, and you just hammered it out.

00:44:07Marc:I mean, you did a lot of episodic stuff.

00:44:09Marc:And then so SNL.

00:44:10Guest:But before, but while I was auditioning, I felt like this auditioning isn't really working for me because I would audition for pilots or TV shows.

00:44:18Guest:But they were like, oh, they just didn't quite know where to place me.

00:44:21Guest:So I started working on a stage show with my friend Rob Muir.

00:44:25Guest:And we created characters.

00:44:26Guest:And there were many other people in it.

00:44:27Guest:And we would invite people down.

00:44:29Guest:Here.

00:44:29Guest:This was in LA.

00:44:30Guest:Here in LA in Santa Monica.

00:44:32Guest:We did it at different.

00:44:33Guest:Well, we do it at different theaters around town.

00:44:35Guest:And eventually people started coming to that show.

00:44:38Guest:Like the head of HBO, Carolyn Strauss.

00:44:40Marc:Right.

00:44:40Guest:And Lori David.

00:44:41Marc:Yeah.

00:44:42Marc:Larry's ex-wife.

00:44:43Guest:Yep.

00:44:44Guest:And so I started getting better.

00:44:45Marc:She was what?

00:44:46Marc:Booking Letterman at the time?

00:44:47Guest:No, she was.

00:44:48Guest:I forget.

00:44:49Guest:No, she was a manager representing comedians.

00:44:51Guest:She had Lech Letterman.

00:44:51Guest:She was living out here.

00:44:53Guest:She was at Three Arts.

00:44:54Guest:So Lori was like my first big comedy manager.

00:44:56Guest:So from that show really is where things started to play.

00:45:00Marc:And when did the Lorne event happen?

00:45:03Guest:That happened when I was doing my stage show.

00:45:05Guest:I got invited to audition for SNL.

00:45:07Guest:So they flew me and a bunch of girls.

00:45:09Guest:And we got flown there and we got to do, you know, five minutes for Lorne.

00:45:14Guest:In the studio?

00:45:15Guest:Yeah.

00:45:15Guest:We did it at Stand Up New York, and they invited an audience.

00:45:18Guest:And they were looking for a few people.

00:45:21Guest:That was when Janine was on the show.

00:45:23Guest:And I think, yeah.

00:45:27Guest:But I think Janine was going to leave.

00:45:29Guest:She got a movie.

00:45:30Guest:So they were maybe looking for a few more people.

00:45:32Guest:And I just did my five minutes or whatever.

00:45:34Guest:And then I heard from other people, oh, I heard you're going to get SNL.

00:45:38Guest:And I said, no, I don't think so.

00:45:40Guest:And then I did get a call one day, and I came in mid-season.

00:45:43Marc:After one audition, you didn't have to go for the weird meeting in his office?

00:45:47Guest:No, it was just after that audition.

00:45:49Marc:Wow.

00:45:52Marc:I'm always fishing for Lauren moments.

00:45:54Marc:Do you think he's different with the women on the show than he is with the men?

00:45:59Marc:Yeah.

00:46:00Guest:Um, in what way?

00:46:01Guest:What do you mean?

00:46:01Marc:And just in the relationship expectations or, or, or anything.

00:46:04Marc:Cause I've never really, I mean, I've talked to Amy Poehler about it and she, no one's had anything but good things to say about Lauren, quite honestly.

00:46:10Marc:Yeah.

00:46:10Guest:And, um, but I, he's really comfortable with women.

00:46:13Marc:Yeah.

00:46:14Guest:I think that men have more of a father thing for him sometimes.

00:46:17Guest:Right.

00:46:18Guest:Like a critical, dominant father, whereas girls don't have it as much.

00:46:22Guest:He's very comfortable with women.

00:46:23Guest:He loves funny women.

00:46:25Guest:He's very insightful and deep and analytical.

00:46:28Guest:He could size anybody up very quickly.

00:46:31Guest:He's really fun to have dinner with.

00:46:33Guest:He's serious and a deep thinker.

00:46:37Guest:He's like the kind of person who, like I would say to people who were going to meet him, I'm like, don't try to be funny.

00:46:41Guest:Just let him talk.

00:46:43Guest:Because if you're like, hey, he wouldn't like that necessarily.

00:46:46Guest:It's just a big deal for comedians to have that moment where they're meeting with him and it's such a big show that's been around for so long.

00:46:54Marc:Well, that was the other thing with him is that...

00:46:57Guest:His dad died when he was young.

00:47:00Marc:Oh, really?

00:47:00Guest:He lost his father, yeah.

00:47:02Marc:Yeah, that has a tremendous impact on people, obviously.

00:47:05Marc:But, like, I've noticed that with fathers who are absent or gone, the kind of drive that comes from that and the need to prove yourself is pretty profound.

00:47:15Guest:It is.

00:47:16Marc:Like, I'm fascinated with what he knows and what he's been through and what he's created and where he comes from.

00:47:22Marc:Like, I'd love to interview him.

00:47:23Marc:But now, when you did SNL, was Sandler there yet?

00:47:27Guest:Yes, he was there when I started.

00:47:29Guest:I started with a whole different group like Sandler, Spade, Farley, and then that whole group kind of left and then the whole new group came in.

00:47:39Guest:So I did half a season with the old group and then some people stayed.

00:47:45Guest:David Spade, Norm MacDonald.

00:47:47Guest:I think Norm was there when I first started.

00:47:48Marc:Norman talked a little bit about the difference between the stand-ups and the actual actors and sketch performers.

00:47:56Marc:He felt that there were certain things he could never do just because he was a stand-up.

00:48:01Marc:He envied, in a way, the people that could do characters.

00:48:05Marc:Did you feel that tension or was there that?

00:48:08Marc:Some people were stand-up performers and others were character performers?

00:48:11Guest:We had so many real character performers during my time.

00:48:15Guest:But yeah, I heard Norm's interview.

00:48:17Guest:It was great, by the way.

00:48:18Marc:It was kind of wild, right?

00:48:20Guest:Yeah, it was so cool.

00:48:21Marc:Sweet.

00:48:22Guest:So sweet.

00:48:23Marc:It was one of those things where I'm like, I don't even know if I can talk to him.

00:48:25Marc:Is it going to be okay?

00:48:26Guest:Oh, my God.

00:48:27Marc:He just was so self-aware and self-effacing.

00:48:30Guest:Oh, yeah, yeah.

00:48:30Guest:He's a great guy.

00:48:32Guest:Um, so no, I, I didn't, I didn't, I felt like this, I didn't even, that didn't even cross your mind.

00:48:39Marc:What was your crew?

00:48:40Marc:The first crew, who was it?

00:48:41Marc:Do you remember?

00:48:41Guest:Will Ferrell.

00:48:43Marc:So you were there with Will for a while.

00:48:45Guest:Yeah.

00:48:45Guest:I was there for Will for like six years.

00:48:47Guest:Right.

00:48:47Guest:Yeah.

00:48:48Marc:Was that fun?

00:48:49Guest:So fun.

00:48:49Guest:I mean, the greatest.

00:48:51Guest:Yeah.

00:48:52Guest:The best.

00:48:54Guest:We used to do a thing where we would just, we wrote a sketch once about these people who'd lost 100 pounds, and they were really proud of their weight loss.

00:49:00Guest:And the sketch, we were out there, and the sketch was just tanking.

00:49:03Guest:Like, nobody's laughing.

00:49:05Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:49:06Guest:But Will and I would do a thing where the more it tanked, the harder we would commit.

00:49:10Guest:Yeah.

00:49:10Guest:We would just, like, pour our blood.

00:49:12Guest:heart body into it and then we would because then we would enjoy it but it kind of felt like it's all the same like whether you're like sucking or hitting you really have to treat it respect respect both yeah yeah because it's you know you don't want to just get so addicted to like getting to that so it was really cathartic to kind of do that to bomb enthusiastically yes exactly to really commit to bombing yeah and embrace it and

00:49:37Guest:drag yourself on the ground you know what i mean yeah i don't know there's a beauty in it was that just something you two did will and i did that yes just will and you knew you were doing it we would look at one we talk about it he's talked about it we would look in one of those eyes and we would just it would just felt like i felt so close to him and it felt like just those are the those some of those sketches stick in my head more than anything you

00:50:00Marc:The ones that were difficult or bombed?

00:50:02Guest:That were just terrible.

00:50:03Guest:But we were like, oh, what are we doing?

00:50:06Guest:You know?

00:50:07Marc:Yeah.

00:50:08Marc:Did he, like someone had said that he would go out of his way to try to get people to laugh.

00:50:12Marc:I think it was Fallon told me that, that he would try to get people to break.

00:50:15Marc:Did he do that to you?

00:50:16Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:50:17Guest:He just got to the point where I couldn't even... I couldn't be in a scene with him because I would just start laughing.

00:50:20Guest:That's what we would all do.

00:50:22Guest:We would just make one another laugh and try to... So many stuff that... I remember right before I left the show, I did a character who was a bad stand-up comic.

00:50:31Guest:And I really just did that character to make Jimmy Fallon laugh, Will Ferrell laugh.

00:50:35Guest:Like, I did it for my peers.

00:50:36Guest:And I didn't...

00:50:37Guest:I didn't care if the audience didn't get it because it was a weird character.

00:50:40Guest:Yeah.

00:50:41Guest:It was kind of like by the end, it was like my reaction.

00:50:43Guest:It was this character called Jeannie Darcy.

00:50:44Guest:She was like a standup comedian who had like Asperger's spectrum.

00:50:48Guest:Right.

00:50:48Guest:Where she had no sense of like people or emotion, but she really stuck with her comedy and working on jokes and material.

00:50:55Guest:But the audience didn't really get it at first, but I would just perform for them.

00:50:59Guest:They would stand and watch it and I was only performing for them.

00:51:01Marc:It's so funny because that's fairly, that's not an unusual type of person that does stand up.

00:51:06Guest:Is that right?

00:51:07Marc:No, I've grown to believe that there's probably at least 50% of the comics that are working are somewhere on that spectrum.

00:51:14Marc:That's interesting.

00:51:15Marc:Really?

00:51:16Marc:Well, because it takes very self-involved.

00:51:18Marc:It takes a very real focus.

00:51:20Marc:I've known comics in my life that clearly are overcoming tremendous social adversity, being up there and doing it.

00:51:28Marc:I know there's definitely a couple of others.

00:51:31Guest:That's interesting because I know a lot of comedy writers like that, but I haven't met as many performers.

00:51:35Marc:Well, they might end up writers.

00:51:37Guest:Yeah, yeah, exactly.

00:51:38Guest:That's interesting.

00:51:39Guest:Well, this character is supposed to be on the, like, if it was a spectrum, she's on this severe end, like high levels.

00:51:46Marc:Well, a lot of those people work because if they're okay with people laughing at them, it's a tremendous relief for audiences to laugh at people that embrace their own sort of difficulty.

00:51:56Guest:Yeah.

00:51:56Marc:You know, like that.

00:51:57Marc:Like, I guess it's okay to laugh.

00:51:59Marc:You know, maybe not for the right reason, but...

00:52:01Guest:Right.

00:52:02Marc:So when you see the crew now, there's this huge resurgence around the women on SNL because of Kristen and everything.

00:52:11Marc:Is it exciting?

00:52:11Marc:I mean, do you feel like you were part of developing that place in comedy in a way?

00:52:18Guest:Well, there were so many wonderful women before me, but I felt like, you know, I started with Sherry and Anna, the three of us kind of came on together.

00:52:25Guest:And I remember like, there hadn't been, I felt like we really, there had been kind of a lull there for a while.

00:52:31Guest:So I felt like we really came in and started getting girl pieces on and characters.

00:52:35Guest:So yeah, so it felt great.

00:52:37Marc:Those three, so different, but so funny.

00:52:41Marc:All three really have different strengths in terms of how you do comedy.

00:52:44Marc:It's interesting.

00:52:45Marc:So when you were wanting to do SNL, did you have people in your mind who were your comedic heroes?

00:52:52Guest:I was more into like Jack Nicholson or Diane Keaton.

00:52:56Guest:I liked more actors who could do comedy or just more serious actors.

00:53:02Guest:Really?

00:53:03Guest:Yeah, I like John Ritter.

00:53:04Guest:I loved his physical comedy.

00:53:06Guest:Interesting.

00:53:06Guest:But I was more into regular acting, yeah.

00:53:09Marc:Do you know, have you met?

00:53:10Guest:Bill Murray, though, yes.

00:53:11Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:53:12Guest:And Gilda Radner.

00:53:13Guest:I would say those from Saturday Night Live.

00:53:15Marc:But it seems like your crew really set a standard for women on that show.

00:53:18Marc:And it seems like there is.

00:53:20Marc:Yeah.

00:53:20Marc:Do you feel that way?

00:53:21Guest:I mean, I do.

00:53:22Guest:I felt like we came in and I remember feeling like I just.

00:53:27Guest:Yeah, I felt like we really started getting a lot of stuff.

00:53:30Marc:Rock stars in a way.

00:53:32Marc:Was there an intense amount of competition with the dudes in a way for things being written for you and that kind of stuff?

00:53:38Guest:No, no, not really.

00:53:39Guest:You just really have to write for yourself.

00:53:41Guest:You have to kind of write yourself into the show.

00:53:43Guest:I think that it was hard for people who thought if you could just who had the understanding, oh, you can just come and get written for that's not going to happen.

00:53:49Guest:Right.

00:53:50Guest:And I remember really feeling like, oh, my God, it's like a writing job.

00:53:52Guest:I didn't really realize that you really have to write yourself in and come up and have material and have characters.

00:53:59Guest:So when I first started, I felt like, oh, my God, maybe I'm in over my head.

00:54:01Guest:And, you know, all these groundlings people had been working and writing.

00:54:05Guest:But I had characters from my show.

00:54:06Guest:I just had to kind of figure out how to get them on air.

00:54:09Marc:Did you align yourself with a writer over there?

00:54:11Guest:I did.

00:54:11Guest:I remember there was this guy, Steve Corrin.

00:54:14Guest:And, yeah, I remember feeling like, oh, my God, there's all these writers and I have characters, but I don't know how to do this.

00:54:19Guest:And I felt frustrated.

00:54:20Guest:And I would go home and cry when I first started.

00:54:22Guest:And I felt like all these groundlings people are typing and laughing.

00:54:25Guest:And I felt really like I am in over my head.

00:54:28Marc:The typing and laughing.

00:54:29Marc:That'll get you every time.

00:54:30Guest:Yeah, yeah, exactly.

00:54:31Guest:So basically, I remember I had my characters from my show, and I remember there was this writer, Steve Quarren, and I showed him, I go, hey, this character I do in my show, and I showed him a picture, and he was like, well, tell me what you do in your show, and I go, well, I come on, and I go like this, then I do this, then I do this, and we just typed up the first sketch together.

00:54:52Guest:And he buoyed it with a few more jokes.

00:54:54Marc:Which character was that?

00:54:55Guest:Mary Catherine Gallagher.

00:54:55Guest:And that's the first one I got on, and that was the first one where people were like, oh my God,

00:54:58Guest:where i really fought to get that on and and um you know and people really responded and so so then i really realized even though there were many writers i thought if you can just get find two or three that you can collaborate with that's all you need right right right but i think initially i thought oh we should all be working together all the time but that's not the way it works what is it one person you can work together it's great yeah yeah you can do everything by yourself

00:55:21Marc:But that's hard.

00:55:23Marc:But there are people, it seems that a lot of those relationships with those writers have really carried throughout people's careers.

00:55:28Marc:Like with Adam and his guy.

00:55:30Guest:Tim Hurley.

00:55:31Marc:Yeah.

00:55:31Marc:And McKay and Will.

00:55:34Guest:McKay and Will.

00:55:34Guest:Tim Hurley went to NYU also with us at the same time.

00:55:38Guest:But he was in law school and he would write Adam jokes and then Adam got him hired on SNL.

00:55:45Guest:But Tim was a lawyer.

00:55:46Guest:Wow.

00:55:46Marc:That's wild.

00:55:47Guest:You know.

00:55:47Marc:Now, you've had a lot of seasons of sitcoms that didn't go the full run.

00:55:53Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:55:54Marc:Is that heartbreaking on some level?

00:55:56Guest:You know what?

00:55:57Guest:For me, it's not that heartbreaking because the schedules are grueling.

00:56:00Guest:It's so different.

00:56:01Marc:But Cat and Kim, how much did you have to do with Cat and Kim?

00:56:03Guest:We did like 18 episodes, and it was 14 hours a day, so the hours are not family-friendly.

00:56:08Guest:It's tough.

00:56:09Marc:But were you part of the development of that show?

00:56:11Guest:No.

00:56:11Marc:No, you just cast.

00:56:13Guest:Yeah, just cast, yeah.

00:56:14Marc:And that's the same with the other ones, too?

00:56:16Guest:I did Cracking Up with Mike White.

00:56:18Guest:I was just cast into that.

00:56:19Guest:That was so fun.

00:56:20Guest:We did like 13, but I think only two or three aired.

00:56:23Guest:I did a pilot that never aired.

00:56:26Guest:So usually I have not been so upset when they're canceled.

00:56:29Guest:Okay, right.

00:56:30Guest:Because I get like it's...

00:56:33Guest:Because for me, it's all about the balance between family, being with the kids, and work with family.

00:56:40Guest:So I love when I'm kind of freed up from that again.

00:56:43Marc:You wrote a children's book.

00:56:45Marc:Is that true?

00:56:45Guest:Yeah, I wrote Tilly the Trickster.

00:56:47Marc:Is this going to be a thing?

00:56:49Guest:No, you know what?

00:56:49Guest:I really just did it to challenge myself.

00:56:51Guest:I just wanted to write something that was my own.

00:56:55Guest:And I like that my kids saw me writing a book because they were like, I want to write a book.

00:57:00Guest:So I really just did it just for myself.

00:57:02Guest:And it was really fun.

00:57:03Guest:And I really, you know, it's so much harder to write for little kids.

00:57:07Guest:It's so different than what I do.

00:57:08Guest:Yeah.

00:57:09Guest:Because what they think is funny is so innocent and sweet.

00:57:12Guest:So it was different.

00:57:12Guest:And I really would read it to Stella and Nolan's little friends when they came over and see what they thought was funny.

00:57:17Guest:So it was so fun.

00:57:17Guest:So I feel really proud of myself that I did that and followed it through.

00:57:21Guest:And I went on a book tour, which you're going to be doing.

00:57:23Marc:I know.

00:57:24Guest:Isn't it crazy?

00:57:25Guest:Yeah.

00:57:25Guest:It's a lot of work, though.

00:57:26Marc:The book thing is like...

00:57:29Marc:I mean, book tours, they can go either way.

00:57:32Marc:Did you find yourself showing up places with 12 people?

00:57:35Marc:You'd probably draw a good crowd no matter what.

00:57:37Guest:They mostly come up because they want to hear all about SNL, so it's like a nice crowd.

00:57:40Guest:I enjoyed it.

00:57:42Marc:Did you read from your children's book?

00:57:43Guest:I would sometimes.

00:57:44Guest:Yeah, sometimes I would.

00:57:45Guest:And sometimes we would just do readings for little kids and families.

00:57:49Marc:Oh, you had kids come to the readings?

00:57:51Guest:Yeah, we would have little kids come.

00:57:53Marc:And did the book sell?

00:57:53Marc:Did it do all right?

00:57:54Guest:It did.

00:57:54Guest:It did really well.

00:57:55Guest:It did well.

00:57:56Guest:So I'm so pleased with it.

00:57:57Marc:But you're going to write another one, aren't you?

00:57:59Guest:Maybe.

00:57:59Guest:I don't know.

00:58:00Marc:Is it a character that can keep going?

00:58:02Marc:Tilly?

00:58:03Guest:I don't know.

00:58:04Guest:I haven't even thought about it beyond one book, honestly, Mark.

00:58:07Guest:Maybe.

00:58:08Guest:I don't know.

00:58:08Marc:Okay, so now here we are at the end of the journey that we've talked about.

00:58:13Marc:So you're going to go do Up All Night, and then what else is coming up?

00:58:16Guest:I'm going to go do Enlightened on HBO.

00:58:18Guest:Yeah, and I'm writing a movie for Disney.

00:58:20Marc:You are writing a movie.

00:58:20Guest:Me and my old comedy partner Rob Muir and Bob Destry pitched a movie to Disney.

00:58:25Guest:It's about the social world of motherhood, so I have to start writing that.

00:58:28Guest:what does that mean the social well it's kind of about at the park and you know no not really the park it's about these moms that go on this road trip with their kids together a little short trip and uh i just wanted to no not thelma louise i just like funny women and i wanted to think of projects for lots of funny women like who would you think and oh my god there's so many i i love all the women out there you know yeah yeah there's so many strong women on tv now who have you worked with that you really like lately

00:58:54Guest:My, you know, I love Kristen Wiig.

00:58:57Marc:Are you friends with them?

00:58:58Marc:With Kristen anyways?

00:59:00Guest:Kristen, I don't know as well because she wasn't part of my group.

00:59:02Guest:But when I hosted the show, I got to... But I've never socialized with her or anything.

00:59:06Guest:But I'm a huge fan of hers.

00:59:07Guest:I think she's so talented.

00:59:09Guest:I loved Bridesmaids.

00:59:10Guest:It's wild, right?

00:59:11Guest:Oh, my God.

00:59:12Guest:I felt like it was my movie.

00:59:14Guest:I just felt so excited.

00:59:15Guest:I mean, I think so many women felt that way because it was so well done.

00:59:20Marc:It was a rare thing to see that many women acting that over the top and amazingly funny.

00:59:27Guest:It was fantastic.

00:59:28Guest:It was great.

00:59:28Guest:And Melissa McCarthy, I've never met her.

00:59:30Marc:You don't know her?

00:59:31Marc:I feel like you guys would get along.

00:59:32Guest:No, she was groundling.

00:59:33Guest:She knew Maya and Kristen and Emily Spivey, who created Up All Night.

00:59:37Guest:They were all groundlings together.

00:59:39Guest:But...

00:59:40Marc:That scene where she shits in the street is one of the best things I've ever seen in my life.

00:59:44Marc:And she played that so well.

00:59:46Guest:She's so funny.

00:59:49Guest:But just, yeah, it's so exciting to see all these women all over the place.

00:59:52Marc:Oh, it sounds like everything's going good still.

00:59:55Guest:Thanks, Mark.

00:59:55Marc:That's a great thing.

00:59:56Guest:Thanks.

00:59:57Guest:I'm really excited to do Enlightened.

00:59:58Marc:Yeah.

00:59:59Marc:I haven't watched it yet.

01:00:00Marc:Is it great?

01:00:01Guest:It's fantastic.

01:00:02Marc:Because Dern is so insane and great.

01:00:03Guest:She's so great.

01:00:04Guest:And what Mike White does with half an hour is like- How many have there been so far?

01:00:09Marc:I should get on it.

01:00:10Guest:I think there are 12 that have aired, 10 or 12.

01:00:12Marc:And they picked it up and it's going to keep going?

01:00:13Marc:Yeah, they picked it up, yeah.

01:00:15Marc:What is the angle?

01:00:16Marc:What's it about?

01:00:18Guest:It's about a woman who has a breakdown.

01:00:21Guest:She works in this big company and she has a breakdown.

01:00:23Guest:She goes to rehab and has a spiritual experience and then has to come back to her life to kind of figure out how to live with having this experience and having change and kind of confronting her mother and going back to work with the changes that she's made internally.

01:00:37Marc:That's amazing.

01:00:38Marc:Yeah.

01:00:38Marc:So in terms of like, yeah, I bet you would like it.

01:00:41Marc:Yeah, I'm sure I would.

01:00:42Marc:Like literally though, I don't know why I end up watching, you know, just by default, the cooking channel all the time.

01:00:47Marc:You do network.

01:00:48Marc:Yeah.

01:00:48Marc:Restaurant impossible and shopped and an iron chef.

01:00:50Marc:I'm just, that's what I do.

01:00:52Guest:Oh my God.

01:00:52Guest:I love it.

01:00:53Guest:Are you a cook?

01:00:54Marc:I can.

01:00:55Guest:Yeah.

01:00:55Marc:I don't know if it's some manifestation of an eating disorder or just that I always wanted to.

01:01:00Marc:I kind of wanted to be a chef of some kind at some other point in my life.

01:01:03Marc:And I like watching food being made.

01:01:06Marc:And also I grew up with a mother who was, you know, like kind of anorexic.

01:01:09Marc:So there was not a lot of cooking in the house.

01:01:11Marc:So there's something warm and comforting about just looking at food.

01:01:14Guest:Well, you look fantastic.

01:01:15Marc:Well, that's all I was looking for.

01:01:18Yeah.

01:01:19Guest:So that must have been, so it really affected you, huh?

01:01:21Guest:Because you don't hear many.

01:01:22Guest:So you still struggle with the eating stuff?

01:01:25Marc:Dude, I mean.

01:01:26Guest:Dude, I'm sorry.

01:01:27Marc:It's a bane of my existence.

01:01:28Marc:I mean, like, if I were to think of any, that is my core problem.

01:01:33Guest:Is that right, Mike?

01:01:34Marc:Outside, you know, the drugs or whatever and the alcohol at different points in my life.

01:01:37Marc:But the thing that is the deepest is this idea that if I'm fat, I will not be loved.

01:01:45Guest:Right.

01:01:45Marc:And and then, you know, it's a real slippery slope in terms of, you know, kind of that body dysmorphia.

01:01:53Marc:We're like thinking, you know, am I fat or, you know, in that my default is like if I'm feeling shitty, it's like, oh, my it's because I'm fat.

01:02:00Marc:Like, yeah, it's all my mother.

01:02:02Marc:And, you know, and I act like I like her now.

01:02:03Marc:So it's good.

01:02:05Guest:So was she just very self-centered?

01:02:08Guest:I like hearing about your parents.

01:02:10Marc:I just was down there.

01:02:11Marc:She's a woman that has been a functional eating disorder person my entire life.

01:02:19Marc:Her life is built around exercise and what she's going to put into her body to never get over 116 pounds.

01:02:26Marc:God.

01:02:28Guest:So she's just still in it and still living that way, huh?

01:02:31Marc:Oh, yeah.

01:02:32Guest:Man.

01:02:33Guest:So it's interesting because I would see things like a daughter would be so effective.

01:02:35Guest:But her son, you were really affected by seeing her like that all the time.

01:02:39Marc:Well, it wasn't seeing her.

01:02:40Marc:It was literally the fact that, you know, she was she had a deep fear of fat for herself.

01:02:45Marc:uh she had a deep uh almost like i don't know what you would call it but like seeing you know people who were heavy you know made her feel you know uneasy and like the fact that i was kind of a chunky kid because she was fat when she was a kid so that was what created this monster inside of her but seeing me a little chunky just the idea that i would go through whatever she went through was like oh no it's happening to him and

01:03:07Marc:And so it was really kind of that.

01:03:09Marc:It was all about that.

01:03:11Marc:Man.

01:03:12Marc:And like last night, I plowed through a pint of ice cream, and I'm barely keeping it together today.

01:03:16Guest:Aw, really?

01:03:18Guest:Did you wake up feeling like, ugh?

01:03:20Marc:I'm an asshole.

01:03:20Marc:What the fuck is wrong with me?

01:03:22Marc:And yeah.

01:03:24Marc:So yeah, that goes on.

01:03:25Marc:I'm a little better with it.

01:03:26Guest:Just be gentle on yourself.

01:03:28Marc:I hear that's the way to... You know what I mean?

01:03:30Guest:It's like, who cares?

01:03:31Guest:You know what I mean?

01:03:32Guest:So you did that.

01:03:33Guest:Just...

01:03:34Marc:It felt great.

01:03:35Marc:I would do it now.

01:03:36Guest:Yeah, who cares?

01:03:37Guest:Yeah.

01:03:37Marc:Dude, I'm trying to frame it that way.

01:03:38Guest:Just be gentle on yourself.

01:03:39Guest:Yeah.

01:03:39Guest:Because then I feel like when you're hard on yourself, then it's... Oh, yeah.

01:03:42Guest:Yeah, just you look fantastic.

01:03:44Guest:Okay.

01:03:44Guest:You know?

01:03:45Guest:And you're doing so great.

01:03:46Guest:I don't want to fuck it up.

01:03:49Guest:Come on.

01:03:49Guest:Yeah, yeah.

01:03:49Guest:I'm on your show.

01:03:49Guest:I'm enjoying it.

01:03:50Guest:I'm so excited to be here, but I like hearing you talk about that stuff.

01:03:53Guest:It's interesting because you don't...

01:03:54Marc:Yeah, my fear of talking about it is that, like, does it ever stop?

01:03:58Marc:You know, like, you go through these cycles of, like, I think I had a breakthrough.

01:04:01Marc:And then a month later, I'm like, I didn't.

01:04:04Marc:I'm back where I was.

01:04:05Marc:Like, there are these cycles that you start to notice in your life when you have a certain way of thinking.

01:04:09Marc:And I hate acknowledging that.

01:04:11Marc:I hate knowing that, like, it's never over.

01:04:14Marc:Like, you know, what is it going to take for it to be really over and not just on the upswing of a cycle?

01:04:20Marc:And then all of a sudden, you're back where you were mentally and emotionally.

01:04:22Guest:Well, do you restrict yourself?

01:04:24Guest:Do you deprive yourself?

01:04:25Guest:Do you try to have certain things you can eat or can't eat and then feel like you're cheating?

01:04:29Marc:I go on diets.

01:04:30Guest:You do?

01:04:31Marc:Kinda.

01:04:31Marc:Huh.

01:04:32Marc:I have.

01:04:32Marc:I was just on that slow carb thing for three months.

01:04:36Marc:And I'd gotten a little heavy, so I took off like 12 pounds and then sort of leveled off.

01:04:39Marc:But then you get into that sort of like, yeah, but life is life.

01:04:44Marc:And there was only a few pleasures.

01:04:45Marc:And sitting at home and eating ice cream is one of them.

01:04:47Guest:Yeah.

01:04:47Marc:I should be able to do that.

01:04:49Marc:But then it's sort of like, what's wrong with it for breakfast?

01:04:51Marc:You know, and then it's you're into something else.

01:04:53Guest:Well, it's like it sounds like it sounds like you you get mad that you're depriving yourself.

01:04:57Guest:So then you act out.

01:04:58Marc:Sure.

01:04:59Guest:Right.

01:04:59Guest:I don't know.

01:05:00Guest:Maybe just, yeah, go easy on yourself.

01:05:02Guest:And I don't know.

01:05:03Guest:I don't think there's anything.

01:05:04Marc:Did you ever work with Diane Keaton or Jack Nicholson?

01:05:07Marc:No, but I just read her book.

01:05:08Marc:I loved it.

01:05:09Marc:You ever meet her?

01:05:10Guest:No, I've never met her.

01:05:11Marc:How about Jack Nicholson?

01:05:11Guest:Jack Nicholson came to SNL when I was there, but I didn't meet him.

01:05:14Guest:He was just hanging out with Lauren.

01:05:15Guest:I would have loved to, but it was just... No, I would love to meet him.

01:05:19Marc:There's still people at your level where you don't feel like you can...

01:05:23Guest:say hey what's going on i would have liked you i forget i just think it was like one of those like big shows it was like a christmas show or something so there were just people around him but yeah no but most but we met so many great people so it was who'd you like if you had a like you know i guess sort of a hackneyed question but who would you really want to work with that you haven't that you like you know what would be a dream to

01:05:43Guest:I have to say, just from reading Diane Keaton's book, I loved it.

01:05:47Guest:She just was really honest and funny and sweet, and I loved it.

01:05:52Guest:I feel like she's the one that would come to mind right now.

01:05:55Guest:Oh, that'd be amazing, huh?

01:05:57Guest:Yeah.

01:05:57Guest:But I feel so lucky to have worked with all these girls that I've worked with.

01:06:00Guest:Anna and Amy Poehler and Kristen and Maya.

01:06:04Guest:There's just so many wonderful, strong women, and I feel so glad you've been a part of that.

01:06:09Guest:Yeah.

01:06:10Marc:Well, I'm glad you came by.

01:06:11Guest:Thank you, Mark.

01:06:12Marc:Do you need anything?

01:06:13Marc:Do you grind your own coffee at home?

01:06:14Guest:I do.

01:06:14Guest:I did this morning, actually.

01:06:16Marc:You grind it?

01:06:17Guest:Yeah.

01:06:17Marc:I'm going to give you some.

01:06:18Guest:You are?

01:06:18Guest:Thank you.

01:06:19Marc:I'll give you some WTF coffee.

01:06:20Guest:Okay.

01:06:20Marc:And I'm going to give you one of those fancy mugs, too.

01:06:23Guest:Thank you, Mark.

01:06:24Guest:It's really fun to be here.

01:06:25Marc:Okay.

01:06:25Guest:Talk to you soon.

01:06:27Guest:Right?

01:06:28Guest:Yeah, yeah.

01:06:28Marc:I like that.

01:06:29Marc:It's going to happen.

01:06:30Marc:Okay.

01:06:30Marc:So let's just do that.

01:06:31Marc:Cue music.

01:06:37Marc:That's it.

01:06:38Marc:The amazing Molly Shannon, a great comic performer and just a sweetheart.

01:06:43Marc:What a great talk.

01:06:44Marc:Really enjoyed that.

01:06:46Marc:Again, folks, tomorrow night, Comedy Attic in Bloomington, Indiana.

01:06:49Marc:Go to WTFPod.com for everything you need.

01:06:52Marc:Oh, God, my head.

01:06:54Marc:And, you know, kick in a few shekels, pick up an app, get on the mailing list, you know, do the stuff.

01:07:01Marc:Do what you need to do there.

01:07:02Marc:Comment on shit.

01:07:04Marc:Try to be nice to the women, will you?

01:07:06Marc:Oh, there's a string of idiots over there that just want to shit on girls.

01:07:10Marc:How is that on my website at WTFPod.com?

01:07:14Marc:I don't fucking... I'm now almost scrambled and... Should have eaten more than cookies.

01:07:22Marc:That's not... Those aren't... That's not a meal.

01:07:24Marc:Cookies, not a meal.

01:07:29Marc:Oh, man.

01:07:31Guest:Oh, man.

01:07:33.

01:07:43.