Episode 277 - Rachael Harris
Guest:Lock the gates!
Guest:Are we doing this?
Guest:Really?
Guest:Wait for it.
Guest:Are we doing this?
Guest:Wait for it.
Guest:Pow!
Guest:What the fuck?
Guest:And it's also, eh, what the fuck?
Guest:What's wrong with me?
Guest:It's time for WTF!
Guest:What the fuck?
Guest:With Mark Maron.
Marc:All right, let's do this.
Marc:How are you, what-the-fuckers?
Marc:What-the-fuck buddies?
Marc:What-the-fuck nicks?
Marc:What-the-fuckineers?
Marc:What-the-fucking-ishins?
Marc:You people there in Phoenix, Arizona, who came out to see me the other night at Stand Up Live.
Marc:Fucking great time.
Marc:I appreciate you coming out.
Marc:By the way, I am Mark Maron.
Marc:This is WTF.
Marc:On the show today, Rachel Harris from The Hangover and also from...
Marc:from her new film, which sounds really interesting, but I didn't get a screener.
Marc:I was honest with her.
Marc:I told her that.
Marc:It's called Natural Selection.
Marc:It's going to be premiering in Los Angeles on the 18th of this month at the New Art.
Marc:And I've always been fascinated with Rachel Harris, and I'm thrilled to talk to her.
Marc:Phoenix was awesome.
Marc:It's a weird city.
Marc:I have a history in that city.
Marc:As some of you know, my brother lives there.
Marc:My first wife lives there.
Marc:A lot of weird memories over there.
Marc:And every time I go back, it always is a little odd.
Marc:But I never stayed downtown before, and I'd never been to a downtown area.
Marc:Literally, I got in on the Wednesday night.
Marc:And it almost seemed like an abandoned city from the future.
Marc:Like some horrible radiation event happened, a neutron bomb, something.
Marc:But literally there was nobody on the streets and it was completely empty.
Marc:And there's a small train that runs through there and some weird sculptures.
Marc:And I was just, again, having that moment where I'm looking out over what seemed like an abandoned city thinking, I'm the only one left.
Marc:It's on me.
Marc:I am the only hope that the entire planet has to continue the species.
Marc:Where do I start?
Marc:But then it turns out it's just very hot there.
Marc:And downtown, not unlike many cities, is just a little empty at night.
Marc:But I was able to hang out a bit.
Marc:By coincidence, the people who live next to my grandma, Goldie, in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, which, by the way, is Passaic County.
Marc:I've been corrected by one of these people.
Marc:I saw Tracy.
Marc:The family that lived next door, one of their grandkids was graduating from University of Arizona, I guess it is.
Marc:And they were all out there.
Marc:And I had not seen all these people in years.
Marc:And I knew them when I was a little kid.
Marc:who live next door jody she actually changed my diapers when i was one years old and it's just so weird that to see people that you grew up with i mean it's very young and you sort of all that memory comes back to you these people were essentially a portal into my past and they they had a swimming pool we always swam in the swimming pool we always hung out as i told you before on the podcast uh the the son of this family carrie he had this bedroom that made a profound impact on my life
Marc:No, it wasn't anything like that.
Marc:It was just the early 70s and even the late 60s.
Marc:And he just had this room covered in posters and books and all kinds of trippy ass shit.
Marc:Frank Zappa posters.
Marc:It was just wild, classic, late 60s.
Marc:Man cave, hippie man cave.
Marc:And I really think that my entire life I've been trying to construct, reconstruct that room.
Marc:It was the first time where I saw the lobby card for the movie Freaks.
Marc:And as a young child, that blew my mind.
Marc:It just blew my mind.
Marc:The bearded lady, the pinheads.
Marc:The the the the guy with no legs.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:It permanently scarred my mind and sent me off on an obsession with human anomaly that that lasts till this day.
Marc:There's nothing more jarring than looking at the lobby card for freaks.
Marc:And that was the first place I saw.
Marc:But it was great seeing them and sort of taking a trip down memory lane.
Marc:Jody, the one who told me that she changed my diapers, that was the first diaper she changed, she also told me something about my Grandpa Jack that I did not know.
Marc:I knew my Grandpa Jack used to lay on that couch and sit in that chair and just watch television for hours.
Marc:He would watch every sporting event on television.
Marc:It didn't matter what it was.
Marc:Basketball, hockey, baseball, football, curling.
Marc:It didn't matter.
Marc:Jack loved sports.
Marc:And I didn't gravitate towards sports.
Marc:And I always felt like this amazing disappointment to my grandfather.
Marc:And Jody apparently used to hang out at the house and sit with my grandfather and watch these sports shows, these games with sports shows.
Marc:What the hell is that?
Marc:And that's where she learned about sports.
Marc:But she divulged something that I didn't know.
Marc:She said he would watch these sports and he had two different phones.
Marc:He'd watch it on two different televisions sometimes.
Marc:And his bookies would call.
Marc:And I had no idea.
Marc:And maybe this was before I was really born.
Marc:that he was betting on games and it just gave me this whole new outlook on my grandfather.
Marc:I mean, maybe it's, I love the fact that he was just, you know, sports better.
Marc:And also I think that maybe it's better off I didn't watch sports or get into it with him.
Marc:Maybe I would have been a compulsive gambler instead of just, you know, an alcoholic and recovering drug addict.
Marc:That would have had to add that to the pile.
Marc:I knew he played poker with a bunch of guys.
Marc:I remember the guys, but maybe I dodged a bullet on that one.
Marc:But the shows were great.
Marc:I really appreciate you coming out.
Marc:It's a great club, Stand Up Live.
Marc:I'd definitely go back out there again.
Marc:It was during finals week, but we still did all right.
Marc:A lot of WTFers came out, and we had a great time.
Marc:It was actually a good set for me.
Marc:I think I did like an hour and a half, and I improvised a lot, and that always helps me out, gets me some new shit.
Marc:I believe I'm doing Conan O'Brien this week as well on Tuesday.
Marc:You know, I've done a few things in the last couple days that I never thought I would do.
Marc:I bought a Vitamix blender.
Marc:I was researching it yesterday morning.
Marc:I thought, we need this.
Marc:Jessica wanted something that blended better because she's a veggie and she makes a lot of veggie dishes that require some intense blending, I guess.
Marc:I had an old crappy blender.
Marc:So I'm looking at prices of Vitamixes.
Marc:I'm thinking, like, this is a hell of a commitment.
Marc:But I've been looking at these things for years because people are like, they're amazing.
Marc:They'll purify everything.
Marc:It's the perfect kind of juicer because you don't lose anything.
Marc:All the great fiber is still there and you can make soup with it with friction.
Marc:What a selling point that is.
Marc:You can make soup with friction.
Marc:So I'm looking at these things yesterday and I'm like, all right, well, maybe we'll get one.
Marc:Then I go to Whole Foods and they had one of those pitch people there, this old woman.
Marc:Well, not old.
Marc:She was in her 60s.
Marc:She was doing the whole step right up shit.
Marc:I got a Vitamix.
Marc:I got my first Vitamix 20 years ago and I still have it.
Marc:And she holds up this old sort of almost looked like it was a metal blender with a spigot on it.
Marc:Like, I love it.
Marc:And I'm wondering, is this a racket?
Marc:Do they give you all 20-year-old Vitamix to hold up?
Marc:And then she was making the stuff, and I just thought it was kismet.
Marc:I thought it was serendipitous.
Marc:And then I thought, I'm buying a Vitamix today.
Marc:I'm putting that on my credit card.
Marc:I don't care what happens.
Marc:I don't care whether I can afford it or not.
Marc:I don't care that I'm spending $450 on a fucking blender.
Marc:So needless to say, I've been making a lot of smoothies almost on the hour since I purchased it.
Marc:So we've gone through probably seven smoothies in 24 hours because it's good times.
Marc:There's nothing like blending the shit out of things.
Marc:And then I've got this morose sort of vision in my head like, wow, you know, you could use this for anything.
Marc:It'll blend anything.
Marc:It's basically a blender blade and a container hooked up to a jet engine.
Marc:That's the principle.
Marc:So it'll just turn anything into pulp, into mush, into liquid.
Marc:And then I got, you know, my girlfriend watches too many murder shows.
Marc:And then I started thinking about disposing of bodies, you know, because I did get a Ginsu knife with this.
Marc:That was part of the deal.
Marc:You get a couple of cutting board things, plastic, some spatulas, some cookbooks, and this Ginsu knife business that'll cut through anything.
Marc:So I thought if you were patient and a complete, you know, conscienceless sociopath, you could dispose of a body pretty easy just by making it a smoothie.
Marc:Take some time, just Ginsu knife it.
Marc:Then just, you know, piece by piece, make it a smoothie and go out there and, you know, maybe fertilize your plants with it.
Marc:At least, you know, there's nothing wrong with being a green serial murderer.
Marc:I wonder if that's an angle.
Marc:That'd be interesting.
Marc:Is that Dexter?
Marc:I never watched Dexter.
Marc:Is he a green cereal?
Marc:What's the angle on that?
Marc:People who kill people specifically to help the environment.
Marc:Is that a stretch?
Marc:But today was sort of wild because today we went on a quest for jackfruit.
Marc:Do you know anything about jackfruit?
Marc:I did not, but Jessica needed something.
Marc:She needed jackfruit for a recipe.
Marc:So we went looking for jackfruit.
Marc:I had no point of reference for jackfruit.
Marc:But she found out you got to get it in an Asian market.
Marc:So then we go to India, the India Sweets and Spices on Los Feliz Boulevard in Atwater.
Marc:Holy shit.
Marc:I love Indian food.
Marc:I like Indian culture.
Marc:I don't know much about it.
Marc:I just find it fascinating.
Marc:It smells good and it sounds interesting.
Marc:It's I it's I don't it's no reason to build an opinion on a culture, but it's enough.
Marc:So whenever I go to this place, we've been there before, but you just don't realize it.
Marc:Usually I go for the buffet.
Marc:They got a great Indian buffet.
Marc:But this it just dawned on me when I walked in there.
Marc:Indian stores are fucking outrageous because they're basically a food store, a drug store.
Marc:a religious gear store.
Marc:They've got clothing.
Marc:They got hardware.
Marc:You can get DVDs there.
Marc:They have, like, perfumes.
Marc:There were two women sitting there.
Marc:They have perfume bottles that just say luck, money, well, you know, not sick.
Marc:Just the scents you put on that is supposed to bring you this stuff.
Marc:Like, you just put on a... Let me just put on this smell.
Marc:This smells like melon.
Marc:I think I'm going to win the lottery.
Marc:But I'm walking out.
Marc:We find jackfruit in cans.
Marc:And then...
Marc:When I got home, I had to figure out what the hell jackfruit was because I'm probably going to be eating it.
Marc:But as I'm walking out, I realized, holy shit, they've got Indian musical instruments up on the top.
Marc:So you can get some salve.
Marc:You can get some lotions.
Marc:You can get some vitamin pills.
Marc:You can get yourself some incense and maybe a Ganesh.
Marc:Perhaps get yourself some rice, your favorite Bollywood films.
Marc:And then if you feel like it, maybe you pick up a sitar.
Marc:Or a tabla.
Marc:Is that what it's called?
Marc:I should have got one.
Marc:I should have bought a fucking sitar.
Marc:But we got the jackfruit, and then I got home, and I'm like, shit, I better do a little research on jackfruit.
Marc:And it turns out it's like this weird fibrous fruit, almost like a spiny oval melon.
Marc:But this stuff was pickled.
Marc:But...
Marc:The weird thing about it is I read that in Brazil it's a problem because it's an invasive species.
Marc:They try to temper it because what happens is in this national forest, they add jackfruits in there, they planted them, and the marmosets started eating these jackfruits, and then they'd shit the seeds all over the place.
Marc:So now the jackfruits are now killing off some of the indigenous trees, and because of all the marmosets who are eating the jackfruits and making more of them,
Marc:then the birds are getting nailed.
Marc:The marmosets are eating the birds.
Marc:So on some level, whatever she's making, I'm saving trees, I'm saving birds, I'm saving the rainforest.
Marc:Shit.
Marc:I hope it's good.
Marc:I should have got a sitar.
Marc:Do you do a lot of radio?
Guest:Um, I did, we just did like a big serious radio tour.
Marc:you did the junket you stayed in one room or did you be where you walked around i walked around in new york yeah to like the different the hallways okay now you're going to be going in with joe and barbara it's uh they're on cosmo radio yeah and you're going to talk to somebody who talks about cox with pete yeah and they talk about guy things yeah and you did cox with pete
Guest:I didn't do Cox with Pete.
Marc:Is that really a show?
Guest:I've listened to it.
Marc:That's really a show?
Guest:That is a show, Cocktails.
Guest:It's called Cocktails with Patrick.
Marc:Oh, I thought, oh, okay.
Guest:And they always go, yeah, call me back at Cox with Pete.
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:Cox with Pat.
Marc:But you didn't do that?
Guest:I didn't do that show.
Guest:They weren't really interested in natural selection.
Marc:Yeah, that looks like quite a movie.
Marc:I don't know why I wasn't sent a screener so I could watch it.
Marc:You weren't doing that?
Guest:You didn't get a screener?
Marc:I don't think so.
Guest:Are you kidding?
Marc:I think we can talk about it.
Guest:We can talk about it.
Guest:But if you'd seen the movie, it'd be so much more impactful just because it's... I saw an amazing trailer.
Guest:What?
Marc:I have other things planned.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:What do you think we're going to talk about?
Marc:Natural selection for an hour?
Marc:No, that would hurt my feelings.
Guest:It would after a 20...
Guest:I don't want to talk about it anymore.
Guest:We're done with natural selection.
Guest:I don't even I don't want to even talk about it.
Guest:Like I just said, you know, it came out in New York and then it'll be it'll be here in May.
Marc:But but I mean, they are saying that this is like this is your this is Rachel Harris's breakout role.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Now, how does that feel after 20 years?
Marc:I mean, seriously.
Guest:Well, it's a different thing because I cry in this one.
Guest:And it's not joke crying.
Marc:No, but some of us who have watched you for years have just been dying for that to happen.
Marc:We've just been sitting around going, when is she just going to let this shit go?
Guest:If only she could just let it go.
Marc:Oh, it's so hard.
Marc:You could feel her.
Marc:She's just stomping on her heart.
Guest:There's just so much depth down there.
Guest:Yeah, there's a lot of stuff.
Guest:No, but that's the thing is I never intended to, when I started out, I was not going to do comedy.
Guest:I thought I was going to, I went to New York to do straight up stage, theater, Medea, Night Mother, all that stuff.
Guest:Like that wasn't.
Marc:But wait, wait, let's go back.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:Because you're, I mean, I want to make sure everyone knows.
Guest:Comedy just happened to me.
Guest:That happens to a lot of people.
Guest:I just walked into it.
Marc:But that happens to a lot of people, though.
Marc:Like you, I mean, people, the big break really was the Daily Show first, right?
Marc:I mean, that's when people really started to notice you.
Guest:I mean, the big break really was the Groundlings.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But I mean, what everyone would know you for.
Marc:Because you're one of those people that's sort of like, oh, yeah.
Guest:Yeah, I do.
Guest:This woman today, I was just getting my hair done.
Marc:I don't mean that as an insult.
Guest:No, no, no, no, no.
Guest:I was just getting my hair done earlier today.
Guest:And this woman walks up to me.
Guest:She goes, hi.
Guest:And I was this close to saying hi.
Guest:Like, I know you recognize me.
Guest:She goes, is your name Kathy?
Kathy.
Guest:that's the worst and I said no and she goes because you look so familiar you look like and I didn't want to say well you know why I look familiar I'm in the movies because I'm in television and film like gross gross that's happened a couple of times like once on a plane when I was in I didn't realize I was in the exit row and they were
Guest:And she goes, are you?
Guest:And I was this close to saying I was on a television show at the time and I was like, yes, I'm not.
Guest:And she goes, are you old enough?
Guest:Are you over 18?
Guest:I was like, first, I didn't know whether to be pissed that she didn't recognize me for TV or like so grateful that she didn't know if I was over 18.
Marc:It's a weird moment.
Guest:Well, what's weird is when a family comes up to me and their daughter's like, are their sons maybe like 14, 15 or something?
Guest:And they go, we know you.
Guest:We loved you.
Guest:And I'm thinking, Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
Guest:And they go, The Hangover.
Guest:And I always, I can't help it, but I do judge them.
Guest:Like when they have young ones.
Guest:When I go, you let them watch The Hangover.
Marc:Well, let me ask you about that.
Marc:Because that's a movie that is a hugely popular movie.
Marc:And you played Ed Helms' wife or fiance, right?
Guest:Well, it was actually his girlfriend.
Marc:Right.
Guest:He was thinking about it.
Marc:The insanely cold, bitchy, bordering on evil girlfriend.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And then the other women in that movie, one was a hooker.
Marc:Of course.
Guest:One's a hooker, one's a bitch, and one's absolutely fucking clueless.
Guest:And beautiful.
Guest:And beautiful.
Marc:Now, on some level, didn't you think at any point before that movie opened that women were going to hate that movie?
Guest:Nope.
Guest:I don't know why I didn't think that way.
Guest:You know what?
Marc:I really didn't think that way until... Is it surprising that they didn't?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Well, my friends like, well, Kathy Najimy, she was the only one who said, huh, interesting movie, what it says about women.
Guest:Hooker?
Guest:bitch and and i was like wow i am really not paying attention well because i coming from comedy and being with like the boys and what's funny you know like that's what i was i just wanted to be funny it's boy funny yeah it's all boy funny but i think it's i i mean i thought it was female funny too no i think so because i think the way bridesmaids
Marc:Right.
Marc:It was less empowering.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Well, yeah.
Guest:It's not like Price Mace was so crazy empowering.
Guest:I just thought it was, but it just was made, you know, there was more from, two women wrote it.
Guest:It was more from a female point of view and something that they would struggle with and still held up, I think, just as well as.
Marc:Well, I think it was empowering in the sense that it was women acting like we hadn't seen women act in movies.
Guest:Right.
Guest:I mean, how often have you seen Melissa McCarthy taking a dump in a sink?
Marc:Yeah, no.
Marc:And I'd like to see more of that.
Guest:And honestly, no one could do it better than her.
Marc:No, I don't think so.
Guest:Like, just the real reaction.
Guest:Right.
Marc:How would you have handled that part?
Marc:Would you have looked at that script?
Guest:Well, you know, for me, I just love it.
Guest:No, I didn't.
Guest:I would have loved to have been in it.
Guest:Are you kidding me?
Guest:Oh my God, I would have loved to have been in it.
Guest:But I think looking at everyone that was in it made perfect sense.
Guest:A bunch of us are from the groundlings.
Guest:Wendy McLennan-Covey, Melissa McCarthy,
Guest:And all of, like, it was fun to see, like, all the little parts with groundlings that are still, like, in the groundlings and stuff.
Guest:Like, one of the guys that was the valet was, like, holding the puppy.
Guest:Like, he was the one that said, like, when they leave and they're giving away puppies as favors.
Guest:I remember just looking at David Hoffman and going, oh, my God.
Guest:Even David Hoffman just standing there with the puppy is funny.
Guest:You know, like, some people are just...
Guest:funny and i i mean like so that was fun but but i think all the women that were in that as far as groundlings go they were so perfect for that like maya was so perfect to play she's a groundling yeah i think we then maybe we should talk about that but i want to go back to where you know where the dream starts oh yeah i mean where'd you come from ohio ohio yeah columbus ohio people leave oh yes
Guest:Yeah, they do.
Guest:And it's hard to go back.
Marc:Yeah, I know.
Marc:I've been to Columbus.
Marc:I worked at a... There's a comedy club in Columbus.
Guest:Oh, yeah, there is.
Guest:A bunch of my friends have done... Yeah.
Marc:But I've been to Cleveland.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That's a city that's proud and sad.
Marc:And they're trying to overcome the sadness.
Marc:And Columbus, I don't really have a...
Marc:A good recollection of it, but it's so American.
Marc:So we're kind of Rust-Beldy, industrial.
Guest:It's really, you know, it's a great place, I think, for people to raise their kids if they want them to go to public school and have access to everything.
Guest:Like as far as the arts, like what, I mean, and obviously this is 20, 30, oh God, 30 some odd years ago.
Guest:But we had everything, you know, like I learned to play the cello.
Guest:in third grade.
Guest:They gave me a cello.
Marc:I walked out of the school with a cello.
Marc:That was my choice.
Marc:You said, okay, it's instrument time.
Marc:I'll take the big one.
Guest:Yeah, it literally was as if they were, yeah.
Guest:I know, being like the teensy person.
Guest:No, I loved the sound of it.
Guest:I loved that it was so soothing.
Marc:Do you still play?
Guest:I don't.
Marc:When was the last time you played a cello?
Guest:Oh my God.
Guest:I think it was just before I went to college.
Marc:Yeah, so that was not part of the dream.
Guest:That wasn't, no.
Guest:No, I loved it.
Marc:Right.
Guest:But that wasn't, no.
Marc:But you knew your limitations?
Guest:You know what?
Guest:Yeah, I did not have, oh my God, I did not have the skill set or the, I didn't want to practice like that.
Guest:The only songs I practiced were like musical theater songs.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And I knew them all.
Guest:And one time I won a jury.
Guest:Right.
Guest:and I won first chair and it was very scandalous in seventh grade because Becky Bunty was this, she's probably a concert cellist now to this day.
Guest:Of course I loved all music and I loved doing the Bach and all that kind of stuff.
Guest:But the thing that I really loved was they gave us, we were doing the whole like Overture to Carousel.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:And so that was a musical and I loved, you know, all the musicals and everything.
Guest:So I learned that.
Guest:That's the only thing I ever practiced because I would sing.
Guest:I would sing with it like the melody, which was really fun.
Guest:You loved it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so, um, so then I did it for the jury and then they said, then they put the list up, uh, you know, for our seed assignments and I was first chair and the buntings, like Becky Bunty's parents, they had a meeting at the school and they were like, this is outrageous because Rachel's terrible.
Guest:Like I'm not, I wasn't as good as Becky, but then they played back, like they did play back all the tapes and they were like, she killed it on the carousel.
Guest:It's just, it's there.
Marc:It's right there on the record.
Marc:It's right there on tape.
Guest:It's right there.
Guest:But it was really like, I was shocked.
Guest:Like I felt bad.
Marc:And what happened between you and Becky after that?
Guest:We were not close friends ever.
Guest:To this day, I should tell her, like, I'm so sorry.
Guest:I never intended to take you out of your well-deserved chair because you definitely were the better cello player.
Marc:Why don't you do that?
Marc:Go home after this on Facebook.
Guest:My God, it's like, you know, why not?
Guest:I should write it down.
Marc:What if you find out that that day changed her life for the worse?
Marc:That she was a gifted musician, but after that day, she broke her cello, got strung out on heroin.
Marc:Right.
Marc:and for years was lost to her family, and now is just getting her life together.
Guest:Well, then I would say that was her path, and I am not God.
Guest:And thank God I am not her God, and that she made that choice.
Guest:I can't cure it, I didn't cause it, and I certainly can't control it.
Marc:Do you want to apologize to Becky?
Guest:Becky, listen, I just want to say, Becky, you clearly were the better cello player.
Guest:I got lucky, and for whatever reason, I was supposed to sit first chair, and for whatever reason, you were supposed to eat it.
Marc:Yeah, that's nice.
Marc:And take it in.
Marc:Yeah, that was nice.
Marc:That came from your heart.
Marc:It did.
Marc:I feel that.
Guest:She was actually, she's really, really talented, but she was intense.
Guest:Like, she was one of those people that really, like, that I would see and run away from.
Marc:Was it all about cello?
Marc:Like, that was her life?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And see, and I was into, like, cheerleading.
Marc:You were a cheerleader?
Guest:No, I didn't make it in seventh grade, and it really made me craze, craze.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, that's probably better.
Guest:Which is embarrassing.
Marc:I think that might have something to do with your disposition.
Guest:Mm-hmm.
Guest:Mm-hmm.
Marc:Do you hate cheerleaders?
Guest:I don't.
Guest:I don't.
Guest:I just know what is in the thinking.
Guest:What were you like then?
Guest:Okay, listen.
Guest:I was a cheerleader in the eighth grade.
Guest:I was chunky.
Guest:I had, I mean, I did a really good job with my tryout because again, it's like I wanted it so bad that I just had laser focus.
Marc:Just like that cello thing.
Marc:Exactly.
Marc:So did you hurt some cheerleaders feelings?
Guest:I'm sure I did.
Guest:I'm sure I did.
Guest:But I have a red birthmark, like a port wine stain birthmark all up the backside of my right leg.
Guest:So we wore bright yellow cheerleading uniforms with super white legs because we didn't have Tanner back then.
Guest:We had QT.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Right.
Marc:QT.
Guest:QT tanning.
Guest:It was like by Coppertone.
Marc:And they turned you orange.
Marc:It's just like that makeup.
Guest:But no, there was no makeup.
Marc:Lotion.
Guest:Yeah, it's like a lotion.
Guest:And I was short and chunky.
Guest:I love all albinos.
Guest:I feel a kindred spirit with them.
Guest:I am not one technically.
Guest:But boy, I was fair skinned and all of them were tall and tan and
Marc:Are you trying to be polite about saying black or?
Marc:No, they weren't black.
Guest:No, there were two black girls in my middle school in Ohio.
Marc:Not cheerleaders.
Guest:They were.
Marc:They were two.
Guest:Anita Penn and Elise Saunders.
Guest:Holy God.
Guest:Hi, girls.
Marc:Hey.
Guest:Because I know they listen to this.
Marc:Yeah, of course.
Marc:I have a lot of ex-black cheerleaders who listen to this.
Marc:It's a weird following.
Marc:That's what I thought when I looked at you.
Marc:I don't know if they talk to each other, but it's weird.
Marc:I get a lot of email.
Marc:I used to be a cheerleader and I'm black.
Marc:And I'm like, this is another one.
Guest:Another one.
Marc:But, okay, so there you were.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:With your birthmark.
Marc:Where does that come in?
Guest:With my birthmark.
Marc:Just trying too hard.
Guest:Trying too hard.
Marc:Always trying too hard.
Marc:Well, I think that's part of your comedic persona, kind of, isn't it?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:You tried too hard and then you just snapped.
Yeah.
Guest:I don't know, yeah.
Guest:I don't know if I ever did a full snap.
Marc:Almost in The Hangover.
Guest:That was so fun.
Marc:But was that a real snap?
Marc:I mean, you snapped in that, kind of.
Guest:Oh, I had a full-blown freakout.
Marc:Right.
Guest:Yeah, I've never done that to somebody like that.
Marc:In real life?
Guest:No, but I've witnessed it.
Guest:Like, I've witnessed people losing it like that, crazily.
Marc:Who?
Marc:Like, what does that mean you've witnessed?
Guest:My mom.
Guest:my mom had a slight rage problem when we were little yes oh my slight rage problem like uncontrollable not uncontrollable just like an earthquake you never knew when it was coming but to this day i think actually it was probably hormonal right so you're gonna let her off the hook yeah well we've done lots of talking about it trust me well what kind of family did you grow up in like a married family
Guest:Okay, this is the deal.
Guest:My parents divorced when I was two.
Guest:My dad moved away to, well, he moved on.
Guest:My dad was married a few times.
Marc:He just moved on like that was an old family.
Guest:It wasn't an old family.
Guest:I saw him once a year.
Guest:Until I was in college.
Guest:And that's when I started having a relationship with him because I was starting to kind of come to.
Marc:Right.
Guest:Like I was like, oh, I better know this man.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Or I'm going to be kind of crazy.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Really?
Marc:You were aware of that?
Marc:Yes, I was.
Marc:How does that manifest itself?
Marc:Because everybody talks about like daddy issues and I've dated women who I say have daddy issues.
Marc:But to actually say, I better get to know this guy or else what?
Marc:Yeah.
Yeah.
Guest:My big fear always was I'm going to go crazy if I don't know him.
Marc:Oh, just because out of curiosity.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Well, and then also I think that my development just for me as a person, I was like, I think if I don't get to know him or deal with this now, it will...
Guest:come back later.
Guest:The abandonment issue.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:And also, because I, you see, so, okay, so my dad moved away, but he always kept contact with us.
Guest:And what was great is that when I did go to college and I moved to New York, he got to kind of come in and be there.
Marc:Do you live there?
Guest:In a way, he didn't live in New York, but he lived in Alabama at the time.
Marc:So you mean he got to be involved because your mother wasn't going to...
Guest:be an obstacle or no my mother wasn't he just I think because yeah well I think because I wasn't living at home right and because I was in in college and especially when I moved to New York right I think he had I think it was easier for my dad to deal with me as an adult than it was as a child and you know unfortunately my brother and sister didn't have that they never got to really have that relationship with him
Guest:that I did.
Marc:He's gone now?
Guest:Yeah, he passed in 2006.
Guest:And I was so, so glad that I'd had that relationship with him.
Marc:And you got to know him as a dude.
Guest:Yeah, and I also got to know him as an imperfect person and be okay with it.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:Because our parents, we often put on a pedestal and don't want them to be infallible.
Guest:And I got to kind of deal with him
Marc:Outside of just being angry that he left, you got to sort of assess.
Guest:And look at why.
Marc:Right.
Guest:And look at, and deal with like.
Marc:He told you why or you just had to put it together?
Guest:Oh, no, no.
Guest:He told me why.
Guest:I mean, they got a divorce because they just had a really combative relationship.
Guest:It was, you know, not good.
Marc:Dangerous?
Guest:My dad, yeah, a little bit.
Guest:And then my mom remarried when I was four to my stepdad, who is my dad.
Marc:Good guy?
Guest:Oh, really good guy.
Marc:That's lucky.
Guest:You know, it's like only now do I realize how lucky I was that my mom married such a great guy.
Guest:And we talk about it a lot.
Guest:My mom and my dad and I. And my older brother and my older sister and my two stepbrothers and my stepsister.
Guest:When my mom remarried my dad, there were three of us.
Guest:He had three kids and my mom had three kids.
Guest:So it was literally like the Brady Bunch.
Guest:We were living the Brady Bunch.
Guest:But it was nothing like the Brady Bunch.
Marc:No, it wasn't fun?
Guest:No.
Guest:Well, it was really fun, actually.
Marc:There wasn't closure at the end of each 22 minutes?
Guest:No, there wasn't.
Guest:There was craziness, though, because my dad, his ex-wife was a Jehovah's Witness.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, for all of you out there, Mark's eyebrows just went up two feet off of his face.
Marc:Did she come to the house once a week with a few other people?
Guest:No, I never really met her.
Marc:White House magazines?
Guest:No, I never met her.
Guest:He just would drive up to Bucyrus and pick them up.
Guest:And then they would come every other weekend.
Guest:And for me, I was like, this is awesome that they're coming every other weekend.
Guest:Because we got to play and we got to hang out.
Marc:How did that religion affect the kids?
Marc:Isn't that one of those restrictive...
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:The big place that it came into play was that, and which caused my dad, my stepdad and my mom so much guilt and grief was that they could not celebrate Christmas or birthdays.
Guest:And so we would celebrate our birthdays when the kids weren't around.
Guest:And then we would still give them a gift though.
Marc:When they'd come over?
Guest:Yeah, but we just couldn't say it was for their birthday.
Marc:And then for Christmas- And they couldn't take it back to their mother's house.
Guest:They could.
Guest:Like, I think she knew, but as long as we didn't, like, we just couldn't do it.
Guest:So, you know, and one of my stepbrothers is still Jehovah's Witness.
Guest:And, you know, for him, you know, my philosophy is always like, whatever works.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Whatever works for you.
Marc:Just don't annoy me too much.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And he doesn't.
Guest:He doesn't do it at all.
Marc:And... You were brought up with no...
Guest:I was brought up with no religion.
Guest:I mean, when I was in eighth grade, I wanted to go to, I remember my friends all went to this Presbyterian church.
Guest:And my friend's dad was like this really nice, normal,
Guest:guy who was a minister there but he was funny yeah like he was funny and nice sure and infallible you know what i mean like so i mean inf and fallible i should say like he was big on well you know whoop messed up here yeah oh well and i thought that was so attractive yeah you know like really and so i said to my mom i want to go to this church and we started going and
Guest:It was great.
Guest:I mean, there would be sermons that I would literally check out and not understand a thing that he was talking about.
Marc:You sort of had a crush on this guy, I think.
Guest:Well, there was two.
Guest:There was Mr. Ferguson and then Mr. Johnston.
Guest:And they were both, yeah, they were kind of like, you know, great dad figures.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:For me, they were like appropriate people.
Guest:They were like appropriate men in my life.
Guest:And my stepdad was crazy appropriate.
Guest:I couldn't, as a kid, imagine your stepdad doing something weird to you.
Guest:I mean, I was always aware that my stepdad wasn't my dad and wasn't my family.
Guest:So it's like the way that you carry yourself in a house when you live with men that aren't your brothers, like aren't family necessarily.
Guest:I think you are aware of what clothes you're wearing.
Guest:Is that true?
Guest:But it wasn't out of fear.
Marc:Not fear, but just like it's not your dad.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But I think that I honestly think that was just totally natural, but it did not come out of a place of he's looking at me or like my brothers.
Marc:Right.
Guest:My stepbrothers.
Marc:So it was all you were just being appropriate.
Guest:just being inappropriate he was doesn't mean he was being inappropriate but I mean yeah and he was like five even when I was five or six though he you know I think that transition was much easier for me than it was for my sister and brother like I really adapted to him being my dad you know and they never did and they were a little older than you
Guest:And they did, oh, they did for sure.
Guest:My older brother and older sister, Jack and Julie, they are, my sister it was hardest for, who is seven years older than I am.
Guest:And it was really tough for her.
Marc:Because she had a pretty deep relationship with your real dad.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:See, I always find, like, I always wonder about that in terms of father figures and stuff, because my father was relatively absent, but charismatic.
Marc:But when you don't have a...
Marc:an emotionally attentive father, or I would imagine that if you were conscious that it's not your real father, that there's always that part of you that is kind of half looking for that type of figure.
Marc:And I mean, I've definitely felt that for myself.
Marc:And I think that happens a lot with women in terms of what daddy issues are.
Guest:Heck yes.
Guest:You have to be really careful not to make the person that you're with your sole emotional support.
Marc:I gotta tell my girlfriend that.
Marc:Uh-oh.
Marc:See what you did.
Guest:I did.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:And that was for free.
Marc:What did your old man do?
Marc:The original one.
Guest:The original one?
Guest:I love that.
Guest:The original dad, my biological father.
Guest:He was a software engineer for the United States government.
Guest:He designed missile systems.
Guest:And he did the Patriot Project.
Guest:He was a big, big Republican.
Marc:Wow.
Guest:All my parents are Republican.
Guest:But I don't remember politics.
Guest:I don't remember anybody talking about politics until I was older.
Guest:You know, I mean, I remember thinking, I remember one time my mom asked me, she told me a story that when I was in school, they said, which president do you like?
Guest:And this is like later, I think like Carter was president.
Guest:I was like, I always liked Nixon.
Guest:And my mother's like, oh, she's like, we all gasped.
Guest:But there was something about, you know, he was very, he was a good speaker.
Marc:Who, Nixon?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But how old were you when you, I mean, I remember Nixon.
Marc:I'm sure I just said some name.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:It was catchy.
Marc:It had an X in it.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Nixon.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But I, you know, and I remember being in love with Jimmy Carter, like just thinking he was like the best and.
Marc:It was that daddy thing again.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, Ronald Reagan wasn't... I didn't like him so much.
Guest:Interesting.
Guest:He's an actor.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I think I would have been crazy about him.
Guest:So you grew up... Maybe Jimmy Carter had some latent, like, substance abuse problems, and that's why I was so attracted to him.
Marc:No, I think the theme is that he was very aware of... He had humility.
Guest:Yeah, Jimmy Carter.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That, you know, he seemed like a- Yes, anyone who's really humble.
Marc:Right, a flawed person that can live with it.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:That is exactly the person that I'm the most attracted to.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Are people that, like, are like, man, like, usually people in recovery.
Guest:Yeah, sure.
Guest:You know, that are like, this is my deal.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I'm not perfect.
Marc:I've been through some shit.
Marc:I'm going to make mistakes.
Marc:I'm trying the best I can.
Guest:Right, and I'm so empathetic to that.
Guest:And I think it's because my dad-
Marc:Is he in recovery?
Guest:My dad's not in recovery, but my real father was very misunderstood.
Guest:And I felt like he never got a break.
Guest:He was always the bad guy with my mother and my stepdad, and rightly so.
Guest:I understand why.
Guest:But as I got older, I was like, well, people aren't all bad.
Marc:Well, how many alcoholics did you have to date?
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:Dating.
Marc:Dating.
Guest:Are you married?
Guest:No, I'm divorced.
Marc:Oh, really?
Guest:Yes, I'm divorced.
Guest:Oh, no, no, it was like four.
Guest:It'll be, man, 2008, May 2008.
Marc:Mine was 2007.
Marc:I'm just barely over it.
Guest:Yeah, isn't it?
Marc:I hear it takes half the amount of time you were with them.
Guest:Okay, well, we were together seven years.
Marc:Total.
Guest:We were married five.
Marc:Yeah, I was married three.
Guest:Oh, wow, only three years.
Marc:But I was with her for eight.
Guest:Oh, yeah, sure.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:It's intense.
Guest:Fucking awful.
Guest:I've told everybody, I'm like, never get divorced.
Marc:What do you mean never get divorced?
Guest:Well, I'm like, work through it, work through it.
Guest:I mean, I think.
Marc:Oh, I see what you're saying.
Marc:So you're like, don't throw the towel in if it's possible.
Guest:Right, if it's possible.
Guest:But for me, we went to counseling for a long time.
Marc:Like after the honeymoon?
Guest:No, we went, honestly, Mark, we went before we got married.
Guest:Just to like, we were like making sure like, that I like, I talked to my people, he talked to his people, we come together, talk to people together.
Guest:Right from the beginning?
Guest:Yeah, well, because he had some stuff that he had when he came in, and I had, you know, some stuff.
Guest:And so... Which stuff?
Guest:Well, for me, I've just been in Al-Anon because my stepdad was a recovering alcoholic.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Like, that was my first... That's why I thought I knew you.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Marc:I'm 12 years sober.
Guest:Oh, sure.
Guest:Okay.
Marc:Literally, this is like a peace talk we're having.
Guest:Yeah.
Yeah.
Guest:No, it's like there could be 50 great guys in the room.
Guest:If there's one alcoholic, I'll find him and I will track him down and I will take him hostage.
Guest:And in the beginning, I'll be like, he's such a normie.
Guest:Yeah, if there's one in the room, I will find him.
Guest:Because your stepdad was an alcoholic?
Guest:Well, my stepdad was a recovering alcoholic.
Guest:He got sober when I was in college and he's been sober ever since.
Marc:So you grew up with alcoholism.
Guest:Oh, yes.
Guest:And so did my parents, both my parents.
Guest:All of my parents grew up with it.
Guest:My original dad, my stepdad, and my mother all steeped in it.
Guest:My mother grew up in a home, in a Masonic home, because my aunt, she, my aunt, and my uncle were taken away from her, from their parents because of neglect.
Guest:And they were put in a Masonic home.
Guest:And my mom stayed there from the time she was probably five, six until she was 14.
Guest:And her best friend's family took her in.
Guest:And my aunt never was adopted or never went to a foster family.
Guest:She was in the home.
Guest:She went in the home, I think around nine.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:And then she graduated high school living in the home.
Guest:It was a Masonic home.
Guest:And to them, they're so grateful because they had clean beds.
Guest:They had food.
Guest:They had people.
Marc:But then there's all that abandonment stuff too, though.
Guest:Exactly.
Marc:You got borderlines in your family?
Guest:We don't have any borderlines, no.
Guest:I know, shocking.
Marc:I barely understand that diagnosis.
Marc:But I know it has something to do with abandonment.
Marc:So your husband, alcoholic.
Guest:No, another, another, another thing that was, yeah.
Marc:Equally as focused.
Marc:Exactly.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Yes.
Guest:And he was in, he's, you know, he was in recovery when I met him and worked a really good program and took care of himself and, you know, and, and, and then over the years things happen, you know, people grow apart and.
Marc:Got bad.
Yeah.
Guest:It just was, you know, he's not here to talk about it and to tell his side of the story.
Guest:But I will say that for me, the hardest thing was knowing that it was for me the right thing to do.
Guest:Staying was awful.
Guest:The thought of leaving was hideous and awful, but the thought of staying was worse, which I would hate for him to hear.
Guest:That's just hard, but he, yeah.
Marc:Well, let's talk about this then, because there's some things about that disposition that you have.
Marc:that I don't know is really understood by some people, that a codependent or somebody who thinks that they can fix somebody, or they're intrinsically attracted to people.
Guest:That are somewhat broken.
Marc:Broken and don't have a lot of control, so they can sort of have that control, that you can hit a bottom with that.
Marc:Like, I mean, that there is such thing as a codependent bottom.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Oh, for sure.
Marc:Which means essentially that you no longer- Are taking care of yourself.
Marc:Right.
Guest:And you're so obsessed in what the other person is doing.
Guest:That you forego- That you forego your own, like, basic things like brushing your teeth.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But it can get bad.
Marc:Like, you can end up, like, getting in accidents and- Oh, yeah.
Guest:Usually, like, yeah.
Guest:Usually if you're obsessing about your qualifier, I like to say-
Marc:Yeah, that would be the other person.
Guest:Yeah, the other person.
Guest:Then you, that's when I do have car accidents.
Marc:Really?
Guest:Or that's when I do, or anything.
Guest:I mean, like, because I'm an obsessive personality anyway, so it's like, if I'm obsessing about having to be somewhere at a certain time, and I just get laser focused on it, as opposed to like...
Guest:Taking a breath and going, okay, I don't need to be there.
Guest:It's okay.
Guest:It's like the perfect thing.
Marc:Well, this is sort of interesting because, you know, in most of the roles that you play, I think even as a correspondent on The Daily Show, that your comedic disposition is a barely in control control freak.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:A control freak who's slowly losing control.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Which I find very attractive.
Yeah.
Guest:Everything about it is attractive.
Yeah.
Guest:It's so attractive.
Guest:Somebody desperately clinging to control.
Guest:Nothing's hotter.
Marc:It's amazing because you're just waiting for that break.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:When is that going to, when did the tears come?
Guest:I know.
Marc:So, okay.
Marc:So you grew up in this madness, but you were obviously, you know, you weren't hurting for money.
Marc:It was good, you know, middle class.
Guest:Well, yeah, I like to say we grew up, like I always say, I watched so much TV growing up that I like base everything off of TV shows.
Guest:Oh, well, it was like this.
Guest:Like I always say it was sort of like Roseanne where I grew up.
Guest:Like John Goodman would be best friends with my dad.
Guest:Like those people came over to my house and played guitar, got drunk, had the best Saturday nights with our neighbors.
Guest:Right.
Guest:eating cheese and crackers with the women smoking and drinking Chardonnay.
Guest:That was the best for me as a kid.
Guest:Oh, that's sweet.
Guest:Because they would just sit there and talk and sit around the table.
Guest:I would just listen to them for hours.
Marc:And did you do musicals in high school?
Guest:I did.
Guest:I did all the musicals in high school.
Marc:And you played cello and you were a cheerleader.
Guest:How were your grades?
Guest:Not good.
Marc:That's good to hear.
Guest:Yeah, no, my grades were not good.
Marc:Because I was starting to think you were perfect.
Guest:No.
Guest:Oh, well, yeah.
Guest:That's a... No.
Guest:That's... You know what?
Guest:That's the scariest thing to me.
Guest:That's the scariest to anything... That's the scariest thing anybody can say to me.
Guest:Is when they start to say, oh, my God.
Marc:You seem to really have your shit together.
Guest:Yeah, you're an angel.
Guest:I'm like, oh, my God.
Guest:Like, my head goes... I go... Like, I start to freak out.
Guest:Like, I'm not!
Guest:I'm not!
Guest:Let me tell you this, this, this.
Guest:Like, I'm so...
Guest:Like that really, that sends a shiver down my spine when somebody says, wow, you've just got it all together.
Guest:I'm like, no.
Marc:Why do you think they say that?
Guest:Well, I think because...
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:I think because when you're someone who's cognizant of like working on themselves, you know, where you're like, I need to work out.
Guest:I need to eat right.
Guest:I need to make calls, you know, to the people that I call.
Guest:And then I get outside help.
Guest:And I have a lot of support and I have amazing friends that I'm completely honest with.
Guest:You know, the brutally honest, you know, friends that have said to me,
Guest:I would still love you even if you killed someone.
Guest:And we would deal with it.
Guest:And then you'd say, well, I have something to tell you.
Guest:I have something to tell you.
Guest:This isn't a guitar.
Guest:It's actually a shotgun.
Marc:And I need your help hiding some bodies.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:No.
Guest:But that, you know, I don't know.
Guest:Maybe I just give off an appearance of...
Guest:Like that I'm have it all together.
Guest:You know, I would never say I'm a disaster.
Marc:But isn't that the control?
Guest:I have been a disaster in the past.
Marc:The biggest sadness of the control freak is that, you know, inside they know that they're barely holding.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And that outside, you know, everyone's like, wow, she's really focused and really got it together.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Everything's clean here.
Guest:No, if anybody's really too together and I never see them lose it, I don't trust them.
Guest:Only until I see you totally fuck up and behave really badly.
Guest:Say something shitty to someone, awful.
Guest:Then I go, ugh.
Guest:Then I breathe a sigh of relief and I'm like, okay.
Guest:Okay, they're normal to me.
Marc:I do a joke where I say, I don't know if someone loves me unless I can make them cry.
Guest:Oh my God.
Guest:What?
Guest:That's horrible.
Guest:You mean like make them cry like because they're sad because you've hurt them so bad?
Marc:Well, I mean like a lot of times when you have an angry disposition or even an alcoholic disposition.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:See, I'm always on the receipt.
Guest:I'm the crier.
Marc:That's what I mean.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:It's like, fuck you, you don't love me.
Marc:If you cared about me, you would fucking understand what I'm saying.
Guest:And then I go, yes, I do, I do, I do.
Marc:Okay, you do, you do.
Marc:I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
Guest:And then once you said you were sorry, then I'm like, oh, I'm in.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, it's over.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, locked in.
Marc:And there you go, and that's how it goes, round and round.
Guest:Listen, I just want to say for people that are listening, too, that I love alcoholics.
Marc:I know you do.
Guest:They're my favorite people.
Guest:That's the thing is I don't like that when people kind of go, oh, I'm attracted to alcoholics.
Guest:I'm like, yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:They're awesome.
Marc:That's where the fun is.
Guest:It's fun people.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Like everyone that's smoking.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:In the back.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I don't smoke.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:But that's where I want to be.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:You grew up with it.
Guest:I did.
Guest:So it's like, it's that thing where.
Marc:But did you have that thing also when you were a kid where you're like.
Marc:Was there enough drunken behavior in the house that you sort of knew, like you felt like, I have to take care of this?
Marc:I mean, did you find that?
Guest:No, my stepdad was really, he was the type of guy that would come home after work and drink a six pack of beer.
Guest:But I would never know he was drunk.
Marc:Right, but you knew he was gonna drink it.
Guest:Yeah, but back then in the day, I was like, well, that's like a can of Coke.
Marc:Sure.
Guest:Like, I didn't really think, because I didn't see horrible ramifications, like his behavior didn't, he didn't go, like, he didn't become mean.
Guest:He might have done that with my mom, you know, like the way that he talked to her or whatever.
Guest:But it was my mom who was the crazy person because of his drinking.
Guest:She was the...
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Reactor.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You know, that was like picking up everything and, you know, and like, sure, he was numbing out, but she was feeling everything, you know?
Guest:And so we were like, man, mom's the crazy person when really.
Marc:Interesting.
Guest:She wasn't.
Guest:I mean.
Marc:She just had a lot on her plate.
Marc:She did.
Marc:No way to deal with it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And for me then, the way it trickled down for me was, okay, I'm going to clean the house before any of them get home.
Guest:Make sure everything's in its perfect place.
Marc:So mom doesn't go crazy.
Guest:So mom doesn't come home and go, what the hell?
Like, what the fuck?
Marc:fuck are you know why are these dishes in here yeah like didn't i tell you to clean this up yeah i work all day what the you know so that's a little bit interesting so the the your dad's qualifier your stepdad's qualifier was your qualifier like you were like his alcoholism didn't affect you directly affected you through your mom trying to deal with his shit yeah
Marc:Wow.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I also think that, you know, they were people that did not, my mother didn't have parents.
Guest:Right.
Guest:She didn't know how to parent.
Guest:I mean, she did a really great job.
Guest:I mean, like the fact that, you know, the three of us aren't sitting on top of a rifle, like on top of a roof with a rifle is amazing, you know, because, but, but then, you know, like.
Marc:Well, control freaks, at least there's discipline there.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:If that's one thing I will say about myself, I am disciplined.
Guest:I'm doing a cleanse right now.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Good for you.
Marc:How's that working out?
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:It's a 10-day cleanse.
Guest:And I was like, oh, I'm going to be really accessible.
Guest:Because you know when everything's sort of stripped down, you're like, you can say anything to me, Mark.
Marc:I'm just going to let it out.
Guest:I'm just letting it go.
Marc:Maybe you'll cry?
Guest:Yeah, and then we'll fall in love.
Marc:That's exactly the show I need right now.
Marc:Why don't you just hang out until she comes home so we can break it to her?
Marc:Let's not rush into anything.
Marc:We've still got a little time.
Guest:No, no, no.
Guest:But that's what happens, though, with alcoholics, too.
Guest:They're like, now, more, now.
Guest:Got to start.
Guest:Let's get married tomorrow.
Guest:Let's move in tomorrow.
Guest:Guess what?
Guest:I've got a great place in Hawaii.
Guest:Let's go next week.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And they get really excited.
Guest:And that's when I go, oh, now.
Guest:I go, oh God, that's a bad sign.
Guest:Like when somebody's too, when they're too into you too fast.
Marc:Okay, but let me ask you this.
Marc:Okay, so you're doing the thing like, I can date normal people and I can have a normal relationship.
Guest:Absolutely boring.
Marc:Right, so you're doomed.
Marc:I mean, so you're going to play this fucking repression game in the name of protecting yourself.
Guest:No, but you just find someone.
Guest:Who is in recovery.
Guest:That's still, you know.
Marc:Raw?
Guest:A little bit raw.
Guest:No, but no, no, no.
Marc:You're a predator.
Marc:You're a newcomer predator.
Marc:That's what you are.
Marc:How long has that guy been sober?
Guest:I just hang out at opening A meetings.
Marc:Six months?
Marc:Perfect.
Marc:Perfect.
Marc:He's got enough under his belt to where he's not too crazy.
Marc:He's not.
Marc:No, no, no.
Marc:I know the one-year rule.
Marc:I know the one-year rule.
Marc:Who the fuck respects that?
Marc:I do.
Marc:What, are you kidding me?
Guest:But no, I've never dated anybody that was that newly sober.
Marc:Well, you get them right at the moment where it's like the obsession has been lifted.
Marc:How about a new one?
Guest:My thing is I always get them before they know they need it.
Guest:Like I'm always the one that says, you know what?
Guest:You got some issues.
Guest:You might want to check out the room.
Marc:So you do save them.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But the thing is the thing.
Guest:It's like I don't recognize it in the beginning.
Marc:I honestly will think this one is... He can just have two glasses of wine.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:He's not a problem drinker.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And then something else comes out and I go, and then... There's pee in the bed.
Marc:Maybe we need to talk about that.
Guest:Again.
Guest:Again.
Guest:I'll let it happen four times.
Guest:The first time, just a crazy accident, because who doesn't pee in the bed?
Marc:Yeah, once or twice.
Marc:Once or twice.
Marc:You have a couple cocktails.
Guest:No one, Rachel.
Guest:My friends would be like, absolutely no one, Rachel.
Guest:We have this saying, it's like, how far are you going to lower the bar?
Guest:yeah so that finally it's just dug six feet deep and there is no bar there's no bar anymore and you're like there's no well good good for you there's a lot of hope here there's a lot of hope i like your commitment to you still uh honor the integrity around choosing alcoholics that's a that's commendable well it's you know the other way it's just been so shaming what do you mean well to be like uh
Marc:I'm doing it again.
Guest:Why not just go, okay.
Marc:No, but tell me about dating normal men.
Guest:That's what I can tell you.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:You know, it's really...
Marc:It's like being on Prozac.
Guest:It's sort of like, you know, like, this is the thing too is that I find that they don't understand you.
Guest:They don't understand the way that you think.
Marc:Hyper self-aware people that have deeper needs and can be met.
Marc:That's true.
Guest:I was listening to you.
Guest:I was listening to your podcast and you were just talking about like, why can't I just be happy about my show?
Guest:You know, I was happy about it for four hours.
Guest:And I can totally relate to that.
Guest:You know, it's like,
Marc:Okay, so I had that feeling.
Marc:So now I got to wait till we start making them.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:It's like you can't just allow yourself to really enjoy it.
Guest:Your mind wants to catch on to something.
Marc:When you feel gratitude and joy, don't you just want to cry?
Marc:Because it's so fucking weird.
Guest:No, I usually get really excited about something and feel happy.
Guest:And then I get anxious.
Guest:Like, oh, when's the other shoe going to drop?
Marc:I'm always waiting for another shoe.
Guest:Yeah, and also, something that's too far in the future, but I've gotten really good at just staying in the day, like staying present.
Marc:Don't you just need a new obsession?
Guest:No, I used to say my obsessions migrate.
Guest:And I do think if you're obsessing on something and those thoughts are not helpful, to distract yourself with something else, I wholeheartedly believe is a really healthy thing to do.
Marc:Sure, as long as that.
Guest:As long as that is positive.
Marc:That's sort of a sort of result though, right?
Guest:Well, yeah, but I also think even if you're going to watch the news to get you out of, that'll put you in perspective, that'll put things in perspective for you.
Marc:So that kind of distraction, not something like eating a two pints of ice cream.
Guest:No, I've already been down that road though too.
Guest:Road too, though, as far as with food, you know, and eating disorders and all that stuff.
Guest:No, sex hasn't been a problem yet.
Marc:Fingers crossed.
Marc:So you got one more to go.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So you did food.
Marc:I did food.
Guest:I did.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:In my 20s, that was a big, I had a, I was never hospitalized, but I did a really good round with anorexia.
Marc:And that was when you moved to New York.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Oh, let's talk about the move to New York.
Marc:So you go.
Guest:This is so.
Guest:I'm going to have to put a block for my family not to listen to this.
Marc:I'll give you the option to think it all through and then call me up and go, can we not?
Guest:Can we not talk about the fact that I have a penis and a tail?
Marc:Who's still, everyone's still around?
Marc:Stepdad, mom?
Guest:Stepdad and mom still around in Ohio.
Marc:Adorable.
Marc:Yeah, you don't have to tell them about this.
Marc:Just tell them about the movies and stuff.
Marc:They won't hear it.
Marc:No, I know.
Guest:Do you like that I whispered that?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I'm like, they won't, they won't.
Guest:I got a surprise for you.
Guest:This is way too hip for them.
They're here.
Marc:What?
Marc:So, okay, so you leave.
Marc:So I leave New York.
Marc:But you're not.
Marc:Oh, I leave Ohio.
Marc:When did you start al-anoning?
Guest:Oh my goodness.
Guest:I think I could say this.
Guest:This would actually be, no, no, I'd be breaking somebody's anonymity.
Guest:Oh.
Guest:But after you left?
Guest:No, not until I went to New York.
Guest:Could not get anyone to hire me.
Guest:You went as an actress?
Guest:Yes, I went as an actress.
Guest:I worked at every restaurant.
Marc:After college?
Marc:After college.
Marc:And you did an arts degree?
Guest:Yeah, I bachelor of fine arts in theater and music.
Marc:So you were a singer?
Guest:I sang, but I don't talk about the singing part anymore.
Marc:But you were all full of it.
Guest:I don't want to be known as a singer.
Marc:You're all full of the juice.
Marc:Like, I'm here.
Guest:Oh, I was ready.
Guest:And then I saw a Broadway show.
Guest:I saw Jerome Robbins Broadway.
Guest:I was like, there's no fucking way I can do that.
Guest:The way they dance and sing.
Guest:I was like, I'm not that good.
Marc:Honest to God, I was like, I'm not that good.
Marc:In some of the down times, you did think about putting together a cabaret act.
Guest:Oh, I did a cabaret act when I was in college.
Guest:And it was all on, guess what?
Guest:What?
Guest:Love.
Guest:Different kinds of love.
Guest:And I sang one of the songs from Beaches.
Guest:From The Wind Beneath My Wings.
Guest:So then I have an agent that says, I'm going to open up a store in Los Angeles.
Guest:Why don't you come out there?
Guest:Because I think you'd work a lot in television and commercials.
Guest:And so I said, great, let's try it.
Guest:And my family was like, great.
Guest:Because I knew nothing was happening in New York.
Guest:So my parents were super behind it.
Guest:So I go to Los Angeles.
Guest:I'm there in 93.
Guest:I come just before the big earthquake of 94.
Marc:I was in town for that.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, that was a big one.
Guest:That was a big one.
Marc:So you got there right in time and somehow it was about you, right?
Yeah.
Guest:Thank God.
Guest:Thank God I'm not that narcissistic.
Marc:So you get here, the earth shakes.
Guest:The earth shakes.
Marc:You're like, I'm home.
Guest:I feel like it's something.
Guest:Like I said, earthquakes.
Guest:Very familiar.
Guest:And I love it.
Guest:And I start auditioning for commercials and things like that.
Guest:And I start to book commercials.
Guest:Then I started The Groundlings.
Guest:I went to a Groundlings show.
Guest:I was doing terrible theater like The Tamarind, which is now UCB.
Guest:I mean, some of the worst theater ever to grace the stage.
Marc:Serious theater.
Guest:serious theater sure i did it i did a um a play with ron glass remember harris from yeah sure bernie miller yeah which was really good and i really cried my eyeballs my eyeballs out in that for audiences of nine well yeah yeah it was a 99 seat theater but we we were pretty packed like we had sean weatherly was in it who was miss america something or other i don't know um but she was so nice and funny and she's the one who actually took me to my commercial agent she said i think you'd
Guest:So had I not done that play at the terrible Tamarind Theater, and Sean Motherly literally drove me to her commercial agent's office, and they said, yes, we'll sign you, that never would have happened.
Marc:And you did a few commercials, so you started making money.
Guest:I started making money, and then I went to the Groundlings, and I was like, oh my good golly, what am I seeing?
Marc:Who was in the cast?
Guest:It was Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, Chris Parnell,
Guest:Sherry Oteri, like all of those heavy, and this is all before they went to SNL, obviously.
Guest:And they were, it was on, like I just remember seeing it and going, oh my God.
Marc:Just saying those names, I'm like, holy shit, what could that have been?
Guest:Yeah, no, it was crazy.
Guest:There was a sketch between Will and Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan that I will never forget where there were two priests and they're playing checkers.
Guest:They're just sitting there playing checkers.
Guest:And Chris Kattan says, you know what, I'm gonna put on some music.
Guest:And Will's like,
Guest:that's a good idea puts on this music it's this totally erotic like fuck me music like it's like like super strong bass and they're just playing checkers and they're just looking at each other and they just keep staring at each other like it's a really good song it's a really really good song
Guest:And just that, that could have gone on for two hours for me.
Guest:And I was just cracking up.
Guest:Like, because the people that, I don't, I don't do a lot of this, but that kind of comedy, specifically with the sketch that was just so subtle and so dry.
Guest:And Will Forte did a lot of that too, where he would just do the spelling bee and he would just say, they give him a word and then he would just, he would get it wrong and they kept telling him it was wrong, but he wouldn't stop giving out letters.
Yeah.
Guest:And that kind of thing literally made me pee my pants.
Guest:And just the absurdity of it.
Guest:So I fell in love with them.
Guest:Like that was, you know.
Guest:The Grand Lakes probably is like an alcoholic.
Marc:Right, sure.
Marc:Just the whole building.
Guest:The whole place, yeah.
Guest:You just want to please it.
Guest:You're like, oh, please love me.
Guest:Well, that's sort of like SNL too, I think.
Guest:Oh yeah, I think I would have done.
Guest:I never had to audition for SNL.
Guest:But I have so many friends that are like, you would not have done well in that environment.
Guest:Like it would have been.
Marc:Too competitive?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then also I just, at that point in my life, I think I would have taken everything so crazily personally.
Guest:Like I would have been that person that they were like, oh, she's upset again.
Yeah.
Marc:So the Ground Wings was a little more supportive, had a little more give to it.
Guest:Well, I just think- And you have that work, you got in, you auditioned.
Guest:You auditioned, but you start taking classes.
Marc:Right.
Guest:And then you get into a writing lab and then you go into the advanced level where you're just putting up a show, like one show every six months.
Guest:and then they vote on you and then you get into the Sunday company, which is like the rookie team.
Guest:They perform every Sunday night and the Groundlings come and they have to see a certain amount of shows.
Guest:And then they vote on you to get into the main company, but you're performing by the time you get into the Sunday company.
Guest:But the amount of work you have to do
Guest:for a six month period is you're writing every week and you try to you know it's a numbers game like you just try to get as much material as you can into that show right and then hone it with your director right and it's the best i think thing for you to get used to getting up on stage i'm sure this is the way it is for a lot of stand-ups except you're alone to just get up on stage and fail and go oh well that that didn't work okay and
Guest:So, oh, well, I know.
Marc:It's not life or death.
Guest:Right.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And you just get used to, you get really comfortable.
Marc:Right.
Guest:Being comfortable on stage.
Marc:Who are your people?
Marc:Who are in your crew?
Guest:In my crew, I was so lucky because I had Jim Rash, who, Annette Faxon, I don't know if you know them, but they wrote The Descendants, they just won.
Marc:Community, he's on Jim Rash's, yeah.
Guest:Oh my God, have you talked to him?
Marc:No.
Guest:He'd be so fun for you to talk to.
Guest:But Jim Rash, Nat Vaxon, Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph, Will Forte, Cheryl Hines, who is my best friend, one of my best friends to this day, Carrie Aisley, Kristen Susson, oh, Andy Mumolo, and Kristen Wiig, they were all in The Sunday Company right after me.
Guest:And so...
Guest:and other people that you wouldn't know that are geniuses.
Guest:There are geniuses like Damon Jones and Jordan Black.
Guest:Oh my God, Jordan Black's been on Community and is a phenomenal writer.
Guest:And then the people that I worked with like Michael Hitchcock were my teachers and Mike McDonald who was on MADtv for a long time who now is like a showrunner of, he was on Cougar Town and like all of these really great people with a fantastic work ethic that
Guest:It was not, you know, like people always say, oh, it's competitive and they don't let women in.
Guest:That was never the case for us at the Groundlings.
Guest:It was always just like funny.
Guest:Whatever's funny wins.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So I never felt like, I never felt like a woman at the Groundlings.
Marc:Just funny.
Guest:I felt like a groundling.
Marc:Right.
Guest:Honestly.
Marc:I've talked to other people about sketch in general that this sort of experience you get at constructing bits and writing with other people and learning how to be part of an ensemble and trust each other.
Marc:It's much different than stand-up.
Marc:And it's a great thing because it really prepares you for the business.
Guest:Collaborating.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:Well, that's the thing.
Guest:And I just did this pilot with Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone.
Guest:I can't believe I didn't say Ben in that list.
Guest:Ben is her husband.
Guest:And I've written some of the worst sketches of my life with Ben Falcone.
Guest:Where we still, every time we see each other, well, not every time because I see him a lot, but every now and then we'll just be like, do you believe that we put that up on a stage and people paid to see it?
Guest:Well, we did a spoof of, of course, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Marc:Wow.
Guest:And I thought this is going to be hilarious if we spoof this.
Guest:It just was like two lights shining on us at the top where it was like Edward Albee presents Pop Goes the Easel about our son who's an artist and we're upset that he doesn't drink.
Guest:It was so dumb and we just screamed throughout it and by the end the audience didn't know what was happening and Ben and I
Guest:The thing was that, I don't know if this happens to you, but I have so much fun when things go badly on stage.
Marc:Yeah, it's its own kind of horror.
Guest:Oh, but we were laughing so hard because, and then the audience, nobody thought, it wasn't like Carol Burnett where people laugh because the performers are laughing.
Guest:They were like, you fucking idiots.
Marc:Well, no, that's where you're sort of like, it's a type of loneliness that people who don't perform can't really understand.
Marc:It's like we are owning this stage, right?
Guest:we're the only ones i just took a major dump yeah and i'm sitting in it and i love it yeah and i don't need to get out yeah and look at these people looking at us yes but we oh but at any rate so when you've experienced that kind of stuff with people to get to to get then get paid to do a network sitcom with them where melissa's the executive producer and giving us notes
Guest:And Ben's the star of it.
Guest:And I have a part in it.
Guest:And Damon Jones has a part in it.
Guest:And Andrea Martin, who came from SCTV, where we're all kind of used to that kind of collaborating, going, oh, oh, oh, this would be funny here.
Guest:And not taking it like, wait, you can't tell me what to do.
Guest:But going, oh, fuck yeah.
Guest:Or I'll try that.
Guest:Or then going, oh, OK, I can't do it.
Guest:Just tell me how to say it.
Guest:Give me a line reading.
Guest:Because you all just collectively want it to be funny.
Guest:was so great, and I think that only comes from being in the Groundlings company.
Marc:What's the status of that pilot?
Guest:I think the network saw it last week, so we will find out at the beginning of May if it gets picked up or not.
Marc:Oh, that's exciting.
Guest:CBS doesn't have a lot of slots this year.
Guest:Uh-huh.
Marc:But you're happy with it?
Marc:You like the way it looked and it was funny?
Guest:I haven't seen it yet.
Marc:Oh, you haven't seen it?
Guest:But shooting it was one of the best experiences.
Guest:It's that thing that I've always, when you write out what you want.
Guest:For me, my thing is I want to work with people that I trust and that I completely respect, that I can completely be myself with.
Guest:on a really funny show where it's more an ensemble.
Guest:I am more comfortable
Guest:being a supporting player.
Marc:Well, how'd The Daily Show come about?
Guest:Well, The Daily Show came about because my agent said, they're looking for people on The Daily Show.
Guest:I think you'd be a good fit for this.
Guest:And then, of course, this was when Steve was still on the show, Steve Carell and, oh my God, Steve Colbert, Stephen Colbert, and they were looking for a female.
Guest:And Ed Helms and Rob Corddry had just gotten hired.
Guest:And then I auditioned.
Guest:And the great thing about it, Mark, is that I didn't realize what I was auditioning for.
Guest:I did not realize how fantastic it was.
Guest:Right.
Guest:I just thought, oh, it's this cable show.
Guest:I didn't really know much about it.
Guest:I wasn't really paying attention to politics back then.
Guest:And so I just went in and did my thing and they were like, okay, they're gonna fly you to New York to meet with John and to audition there.
Guest:And what I didn't realize, I had the balls in my audition for The Daily Show because I come from an improv background to take what they gave me and then totally made it my own.
Guest:So these are daily show writers, like the best writers on some of the best writers.
Guest:For that type of television, yeah.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:And I literally rewrote Chunks and made it personal, like made personal attacks toward John, like in the thing.
Guest:Like I found out personal things about him and then did that, which could have gone horribly wrong.
Guest:But...
Guest:I just was so, I had no idea what I was, I didn't realize what I was, that I was being perhaps disrespectful or anything.
Guest:And so, so I remember John after the audition, he just was like, okay.
Guest:He's like, I want you to do it again.
Guest:He's like, stop saying okay.
Guest:Cause I say okay all the time.
Guest:Like I go, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.
Guest:And then, and he's like, and don't call me a dirty kike.
Guest:And I said, okay.
Guest:I said, I don't think I called you a dirty kike.
Guest:I think I called you a kike.
Guest:I didn't call him a kike in the piece at all or anything like that.
Guest:But it was like he was being so self-deprecating.
Guest:And then I got to just joke back with him.
Guest:So he said, great.
Guest:And I did it again and left.
Guest:And I remember it's that thing sometimes when you don't realize.
Guest:I remember walking out and seeing these women that were bug-eyed and really dressed for the part.
Guest:Correspondence.
Guest:I was not dressed.
Guest:like that.
Guest:I, I was just doing an audition.
Guest:Does that make sense?
Guest:Like I, and so only when I walked out and I saw how these, I was like, holy shit, maybe I didn't take this.
Marc:Right.
Marc:You didn't, you didn't have any, it wasn't, uh, you had no sense of, of what you were really going in.
Guest:Right.
Guest:It wasn't like, it wasn't as if I was auditioning to be, to do the remake of broadcast news.
Marc:It was just another audition.
Guest:Like if I, if I had auditioned for broadcast news back in the day, right.
Oh, my God.
Guest:Lost my mind.
Guest:I would have lost my freaking mind.
Guest:Because that kind of movie, that kind of character would have been that for me.
Marc:Right.
Marc:So what happened?
Guest:So then I got a call, and they said, you're going to do it.
Guest:You're hired.
Guest:And I was married.
Guest:I was getting married at the time.
Guest:So I came back.
Guest:I did the show.
Guest:And then my ex-husband, husband at the time, really didn't want to move to New York.
Guest:And I was married.
Guest:I was getting married.
Guest:So we compromised.
Guest:And I did not do the show.
Guest:I left after like six, seven months.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Because of, hmm.
Marc:How'd that resentment build?
Guest:That was okay.
Guest:Because I was really cognizant of that choice.
Guest:I mean, it haunts me to this day.
Guest:But things, thank God, have worked out kind of okay.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:But I will always regret that.
Marc:Not putting your career first.
Guest:In that situation.
Guest:Yeah, good time working on that show.
Guest:I mean, I didn't want to leave.
Guest:I had the best time working on that show.
Guest:I mean, I had so much fun with Ed Helms and the field producers on that show.
Guest:And the writers, just everybody's just so, it's great to be working with people that really love what they're doing.
Marc:And it's funny, and they know that, and they have a machine in place.
Guest:Right, but this was still kind of in the beginning.
Guest:I remember.
Marc:Was it 2000?
Guest:It was 2001 when I got the job.
Guest:It was like October.
Guest:We went to war.
Guest:I was flying.
Guest:to do a field piece like in Washington DC when we went to, when the United States went to war.
Guest:And I remember my husband flipping out and just thinking, I can't believe you're on a plane.
Guest:This is after 9-11, like after everything.
Guest:And he was like, he's like, I don't think I can handle you flying all over the United States right now.
Guest:Like it was just a different time.
Guest:We didn't.
Marc:Sure, what was his job?
Guest:Actor, writer, really, really, really good actor.
Marc:Okay, so you come back here, and how'd you get in with Christopher Guest and that crew?
Guest:That was from being in The Sunday Show.
Guest:Like, I'd actually done Best in Show, yeah.
Guest:I was in The Groundlings, The Sunday Show, unbeknownst to me, Chris and Eugene and Karen Murphy, their executive producer, came to see a show, because they were looking for talent for, at that time, a film called Dog Show.
Guest:And again, thank God I didn't know that they were in the audience.
Guest:Thank God I did not know.
Guest:And then I found out afterward.
Guest:And then I got a call the next day saying, Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy would like to meet you.
Guest:And I thought it was a prank from somebody at the Groundlings.
Guest:And I said, fuck off.
Guest:And they said, we are serious.
Yeah.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:And I said, I am so sorry.
Guest:I thought it was a joke.
Guest:Like, that's how crazy I thought it was.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Because I had seen... True story.
Guest:I had seen Waiting for Guffman at the Beverly Center Theater...
Guest:in the Beverly Center, literally on a screen about as big as your monitor.
Guest:And I was with a friend, and I remember saying to her after the movie was over, if there was one director that I ever get to work with in my lifetime, I hope it's Christopher Guest.
Guest:And then, like a year later,
Guest:he's at the Sunday show.
Guest:And then I meet him.
Guest:It was almost like too big.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Like it was too much for me.
Marc:Well, he's like an improviser's dream, I think.
Guest:Oh, Spinal Tap?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And Eleven?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know, like just all of that.
Guest:And then he's so nice and so shy.
Guest:And I wanted him to like me so bad.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And he's very... He's not...
Guest:on he's not a man that needs to be on you know he's very comfortable like i would try to joke with him i could be like he called me once from vancouver when they before i went up to shoot dog uh best in show or because we shot it here in la before they came down but he's i he was talking to me about the character and what i was going to do and i'd heard it was pouring down rain up there you know it's always raining in vancouver yeah and i said wow you get enough rain up there
Guest:I was so nervous to talk to him on the phone.
Guest:He said, yes, Rachel, it is actually raining a lot.
Guest:It's been difficult to shoot around it.
Guest:And I shit came out of my pants at that point.
Guest:And I thought he hates me because I'm trying way too hard.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Already.
Guest:He's grossed out by me.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And and then, you know, then I remember years later, years later, after obsessing about Christopher Guest and how much he hated me.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Michael Hitchcock saying to me, no, no, Rachel, again, the room.
Guest:it's like the universe does not revolve around you it's not about you right you know he's he's like that with everyone he's just i find him he seems incredibly shy to me and you and it was fun to work with him and he gave you like what's his directing style he doesn't direct you he just says go he may say say that one bit again yeah because you're improvising everything right but he believes if he hires you
Guest:He hired you for a reason.
Guest:Do what you do.
Guest:But it's really scary for people that are used to getting direction and being over directed.
Guest:At first it's really strange because you're like, what?
Guest:You trust me just to do what I do?
Guest:And then when you're constantly looking for validation from someone, the reality is he's already given it to you.
Guest:Just do it.
Marc:So when did you know that you had a thing that you do?
Marc:I mean, was there... I think it was... Because you do a thing.
Guest:I don't think... I know, but I don't think I... Yeah, I mean, I can do that thing.
Guest:Like the overwrought person trying too hard.
Marc:But that was sort of... Would you say that that was your comedic voice at a time?
Marc:Like that you sort of evolved into knowing that?
Marc:Because you know how you get laughs.
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But I know, but also it's with, but I'm also extremely dry and that came naturally.
Guest:Right.
Guest:That I've always been that way.
Guest:Right.
Guest:My whole life.
Guest:Just fantastic.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know, like, and when, when everything's going crazy, I'll be like, awesome.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:And that wasn't an affectation or trying to be funny.
Marc:No, no, no.
Marc:I'm not saying it was, but there's a moment as, you know, when you made the shift to do funny that you knew how you sort of fit into things.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I think...
Marc:Like your choice to attack Jon Stewart did not... Right.
Marc:I mean, that's a comedic choice.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And I think that... It's aggressive.
Guest:I was being aggressive, aggressive.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Gosh.
Guest:I don't know if I'm really cognizant of when I knew that was a thing, but I think it just evolved over time at the Groundlings.
Guest:I just knew that when I got angry on stage... People loved it.
Guest:Oh my God.
Guest:And when I swore.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That was it.
Guest:But also that was very liberating too because I was not, we were not allowed to swear.
Guest:I wasn't even allowed to say fart when I was a kid.
Guest:You know, it was, it was.
Marc:You were denied fart?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Or suck.
Guest:I couldn't say suck.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:That sucks.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:No.
Marc:We had big trouble for that.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so, and to this day, my dad, like I said something like, I can't fucking believe we won South by Southwest.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:On my Facebook page, my parents,
Guest:how could I say no to my parents on Facebook right they're like what are you hiding you know so so to this day I said this is amazing I won like a praise you know which is tough for us I think as as entertainment people to say hey I'm happy that I got this thing right it's you're supposed to be you know shut it down and be humble and but it's like no you got to fucking celebrate it you have to say yes I got this thing I'm so excited how about it yeah
Guest:And so I said this, I said, I'm so fucking excited.
Guest:And my dad wrote in the comment section, really, Rachel?
Guest:Language.
Guest:and then my stepsister Kelly who's awesome wrote dad give me a fucking break let her say fuck you know whatever she just won this thing like it was very funny and then he wrote back like oh I'm so like but he's my dad and that's actually my stepdad's always been that way like I'm so grateful that I have that man in my life that's like this boy's not good enough to date you you know like you know or this is you don't behave that way oh yeah not all of them
Guest:No, not about all of them.
Guest:No, but he definitely has, you know, he cares, and I'm glad.
Guest:Like, there's some part of me that kind of likes it when he gives me a hard time about swearing.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:No, of course.
Marc:Yeah, it's sweet.
Guest:It's like dogs.
Guest:We, like, dogs need to know that you're in control.
Marc:And he's right.
Marc:You shouldn't be swearing.
Guest:I know, I shouldn't swear.
Yeah.
Marc:All right, so let's talk about this South by Southwest thing.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:Natural selection.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Which I saw the extended trailer of.
Guest:Which gives you everything you need to know.
Marc:I think it does, except for the one big part missing, but I kind of figured it out, but we don't need to talk about that.
Guest:What part?
Guest:Well, you can...
Marc:What do you mean?
Marc:Something happens.
Guest:Yeah, with me and Raymond.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:So it's about a woman who is in... It's about a woman who is in her early 40s.
Guest:She has been married to the same man for 25 years.
Guest:She met him when she was probably 15.
Guest:When they met, some stuff went down that rendered her unable to have children.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:He married her, but then because of their religious beliefs, was like, because you're unable to have children, sex is a sin.
Guest:If you cannot produce offspring, the act itself is a sin.
Guest:So she's been in a sexless marriage for 25 years.
Marc:Awful.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But because it's all she's ever known.
Marc:You must have been really able to amp up that control freak thing.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Well, yeah.
Marc:Just stuff it all down?
Guest:Mm-hmm.
Guest:Yeah, just... Well, yeah.
Guest:Because also she's... But the other thing, too, is that with Linda, the character that it plays, she doesn't really... She doesn't realize she's stuffing anything down.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Do you see what I'm saying?
Guest:She's just like... She's never... But she feels it.
Guest:I mean, that's what starts happening, though, is that as she's starting to get... She's starting to want to be with her husband, and she's feeling guilty because she wants to have sex with her husband.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And he's like, we have to pray it away.
Guest:And she's going through this kind of...
Guest:And she's having these thoughts and starting to question what's going on with her.
Guest:And then Abe has a stroke.
Guest:The husband.
Guest:Right.
Guest:He has a stroke.
Guest:He's donating sperm to a sperm bank.
Guest:He's jacking off to porn and has a stroke.
Guest:And she goes to see him in the hospital.
Marc:So he was doing that just so he could jerk off?
Guest:No, he was doing that for his legacy.
Guest:I'm sure that it was some way for him to have a release.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:As well as, yeah, he wanted to jerk off and also he wanted to continue his legacy.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You know, he wanted to have children.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So he has a stroke.
Guest:She doesn't, she goes to the hospital to see him.
Guest:He doesn't have a wedding ring on.
Guest:She doesn't understand where's his wedding ring.
Guest:And they say he probably left at the clinic and,
Guest:And she's like, what clinic?
Guest:She goes back and she finds out that he's been donating sperm for the past 25 years.
Guest:And she knows he's fathered children all over.
Guest:And so she's, instead of being mad at him and thinking, how fucking dare you?
Guest:She says...
Guest:Well, I was inadequate.
Guest:I drove him to do this.
Guest:Obviously, he wants to have a child.
Guest:And so she thinks, I'm going to go find one of his children.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So she starts on this road trip to find Raymond, Matt O'Leary.
Guest:She finds him.
Guest:And then it's basically the journey as she brings him from Florida back to Texas to meet Abe as his dying wish.
Marc:It was his dying wish?
Guest:Well, she's made that.
Marc:She's decided that.
Marc:Right.
Marc:He has to meet one of his children.
Marc:Exactly.
Marc:Because you couldn't give him.
Guest:Because obviously that's why he was doing this.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Now this is the most, I mean, in terms of the type of film it is, the most serious acting you've done.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:On camera.
Guest:On camera.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:And the challenge of that was what for you?
Guest:Well, the challenge of it for me was that just to be vulnerable where she feels like, again, she's...
Guest:She trusted him for 25 years and then he let her down and furthered that realization to come into play that for her, I think first she has the feeling of complete and utter inadequacy and that's just a horrible feeling.
Marc:Where the impulse to be funny would be to protect that or hide that reality, you had to go into it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, yeah, totally.
Guest:But I wanted to because I again, I was coming out of my divorce, which the aloneness of coming into the house.
Guest:And he had, you know, I've used it so many times, but it's just the perfect example of when I moved back into my house after he had moved out.
Guest:empty closets, pictures off the walls.
Guest:It's just a complete loss.
Marc:Oh, it's horrendous.
Guest:And the only way you can deal with it is just to feel it and to go, this is awful.
Guest:And what have I done?
Guest:And it brings up all of these questions.
Guest:And so when she's faced with being alone for the first time,
Guest:And my husband was such an emotional support for me, such a great guy that not having that there was horrifying and to walk through it.
Guest:is tough.
Guest:And so that aspect of her going back and... The character now.
Guest:Yeah, the character for Linda when she's faced with, oh my God, I'm going to be alone for the first time in my life.
Guest:And I have no idea what I'm going to do.
Guest:That's what I completely tapped into.
Marc:So it's good timing.
Guest:It's really good timing.
Marc:Well, I'm glad you're happy and things are going so well.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And I'm looking forward to seeing the movie that I should have seen before I talk to you.
Guest:It's okay.
Guest:You'll see it now.
Marc:I don't think we had a problem having a conversation.
Guest:No.
Guest:I know.
Guest:This was crazy easy.
Marc:Wild, right?
Marc:Okay.
Marc:So.
Guest:But I knew it.
Guest:I knew when I listened to your podcast, I was like, oh.
Marc:It'll be fine.
Marc:Rachel Harris, the name of the movie, I never do this either, is Natural Selection.
Guest:Yeah, and it's in Los Angeles at the New Art, May 18th.
Marc:I'll try to accommodate you.
Guest:Because who edits this?
Guest:Good Lord.
Marc:I know, I got a friend.
Marc:Do you do it?
Marc:No, I got a friend who does it.
Marc:You got a friend.
Marc:And my partner.
Marc:That sounded like.
Marc:Yeah, no, I got a guy.
Guest:That's so creepy.
Marc:I know a guy, I know a guy.
Guest:So creepy, I'm like, wait.
Marc:No, he'll do good, he'll be good.
Guest:Are they gonna take parts of this and do shit with it?
Marc:Yeah, they usually put a dance mix under this kind of interview.
Marc:I'll talk to you later.
Guest:Okay, good.
Marc:That's our show.
Marc:I hope you enjoyed that.
Marc:That was a little too connected.
Marc:That was more connected than I thought.
Marc:I had a great time talking to her.
Marc:I think she's very talented and very funny.
Marc:I hope you enjoyed that.
Marc:As always, go to WTFPod.com if you want to kick in a few shekels, if you'd like to get the app, if you'd like to get on the mailing list, which I encourage because I do write a little email every week.
Marc:We got some new merch coming out soon.
Marc:If you want to get the new first 100 episodes on DVD with the additional video footage, you can do that.
Marc:I got no dates to plug, so don't bust my balls about that.
Marc:I'm taking a couple weeks, going to a bat mitzvah next week.
Marc:And that's how that goes.
Marc:Have we got enough?
Marc:Did we do enough?
Marc:Should I say more?
Marc:Boomy.
Marc:Boomer.
Marc:There's too many strays around, man.
Marc:He's freaking out.
Marc:Fuck.
Marc:I gotta give him diet food.
Marc:Because he's fat.
Marc:But he got his meow bath.
Marc:So that's good.
Marc:Alright.
Marc:Just trailing off here.