Episode 681 - Abbi and Ilana
Marc:Lock the gates!
Marc:Alright, let's do this.
Marc:How are you, what the fuckers?
Marc:What the fuck, buddies?
Marc:What the fucksters?
Marc:What's happening?
Marc:Mark Maron here.
Marc:This is WTF, my podcast.
Marc:Welcome.
Marc:Thank you for coming.
Marc:I hope you're okay.
Marc:Hope you're bouncing back from Valentine's Day.
Marc:I know most of you have the day off today, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be spent in the best mental state.
Marc:Today I've got Abby Jacobson, Alana Glazer from Broad City.
Marc:That's happening.
Marc:I happen to be very lucky in that the woman I'm seeing, the painter, Sarah Kane, really did not realize it was Valentine's Day and kind of made other plans.
Marc:So all I can say is I'm blessed.
Marc:But I did remember.
Marc:I've learned my lesson.
Marc:That you better do a little something.
Marc:Or even, it doesn't matter, male or female, who's ever in charge of doing the thing or who's ever doing the nice thing for Valentine's Day.
Marc:If one of you says it's not important, I would not take that to heart.
Marc:I would go ahead and make a little effort.
Marc:I did.
Marc:I woke up and I made waffles with this nasty old waffle iron that I have.
Marc:And I think it was nice.
Marc:I think it was a nice thing to do.
Marc:I make cornmeal waffles.
Marc:But I did lose my shit a little bit when the first one stuck.
Marc:And I know that the first one always sticks.
Marc:The first pancake, the first waffle are bullshit.
Marc:I'm not seeing it as symbolic in any way, but I did get a little aggravated.
Marc:But I caught myself and I said, why ruin the morning, Mark?
Marc:It's Valentine's Day, even though the woman you're seeing, it's not important to her.
Marc:Why ruin the day anyways with waffle angst?
Marc:But love.
Marc:Love.
Marc:Is that what Valentine's is?
Marc:Is that what it's about?
Marc:Is it guilt?
Marc:Is it doing something nice?
Marc:Is it a sham and a scam put together by the greeting cards company and some sort of traditional idea?
Marc:Flower sales?
Marc:What not?
Marc:Chocolates?
Marc:Is it an actual day where people reflect on love or they're just sort of like, I get to eat that brunch today?
Marc:But I, you know, love.
Marc:Yeah, I know a lot of people were alone out there on Valentine's Day, and that's sort of a rough gig, even if you don't believe in it, even if you think it's stupid.
Marc:It's hard to see all those couples in different variations of true relationship or playing the role out there doing the thing, and you're walking by dragging your feet.
Marc:Love is tricky, man.
Marc:The one thing I've been realizing now about myself when I look at myself in pictures and I see myself on television is that there was a sense of desperation and aggravation and need and.
Marc:and anger that I could always identify.
Marc:And that I assume, obviously people were not going to be as sensitive to it as I was, but it was there.
Marc:It's something you can't hide.
Marc:It's similar to wearing your heart on your sleeve.
Marc:But I've been noticing that some of that shit is going away, obviously because things are going okay, obviously because I'm getting older, obviously because I'm not freaked out about my career as much, and obviously because I truly don't give a shit about a lot of things.
Marc:And that's a relief.
Marc:And there's nothing you can do to make that go away.
Marc:You can pretend and pretend and act as if and do the next right thing or whatever you're going to do.
Marc:And then, you know, hopefully ease into it.
Marc:But but that's happening.
Marc:But unfortunately, alongside of that is like, all right, so maybe I finally landed in my body and I'm comfortable with myself is that there are some things that I know are still fucked up.
Marc:But then you.
Marc:You know, once you really become comfortable with yourself and you don't give as much of a shit about things that used to bother you, there's also this kind of like, you know, maybe I'm just going to fucking live with this shit.
Marc:Maybe I'm going to live with this.
Marc:These emotional liabilities, these problems, this sadness or, you know, why do I need to to struggle and fight in love?
Marc:Maybe that's just the way I am.
Marc:And I don't know that that's necessarily a bad thing.
Marc:I mean, life is relatively short.
Marc:You're not going to fix everything.
Marc:And, you know, I've thought about this and talked about it before.
Marc:But I think if you surrender to it and you do have the desire to change.
Marc:and you know what it is that you probably need to change, that sometimes the work is just surrendering to it and accepting it, accepting who you are, and then say to yourself in your secret little mind that, you know, like why I'd like to change that.
Marc:So just plant that seed in your head, but be okay with who you are.
Marc:And sometimes I would say more so than not, it will partially manifest.
Marc:The changes you want to make.
Marc:But if you're approaching it with desperation, like if I got to fix this, oh, fuck, I got to do this.
Marc:Oh, fuck, I got to figure this out.
Marc:God damn it.
Marc:Why can't I just get to this place?
Marc:Why?
Marc:If you propel yourself with that same desperation for perfecting what cannot be perfected, the flawed heart of the human, then you're always going to have that look in your eye.
Marc:Or that anger in your eye or that sadness in your eye.
Marc:But if at some point you go like, well, fuck, this is who I am.
Marc:And you really fucking accept it.
Marc:And you know you want to change at least a little bit to experience something differently than what you're used to.
Marc:I think it'll happen.
Marc:I think it will manifest if you truly accept yourself with all your flaws.
Marc:That's my Valentine's Day message.
Marc:And if you were alone on Valentine's Day...
Marc:Well, I mean, look, I mean, be thankful.
Marc:You have nothing to lose.
Marc:That might be cynical.
Marc:It might be sad.
Marc:You might be nurturing a broken heart or longing for someone in an unrequited way.
Marc:But there's beauty in that, too.
Marc:Just don't hurt yourself.
Marc:That's my general message for all holidays.
Marc:Try not to hurt yourself.
Marc:Could you?
Marc:Could you do that?
Marc:So...
Marc:These Broad City gals, females, I like them.
Marc:You know, it's weird because, you know, Abby and Alana, I had the opportunity to talk to them and I want to talk to them.
Marc:I like talking to creative people.
Marc:And, you know, I got caught up a bit with Broad City.
Marc:I watched it.
Marc:I started to get it.
Marc:It's interesting with things.
Marc:And I know this for myself.
Marc:And I talked to them about it a little bit.
Marc:With certain shows, I mean, it's like anything else.
Marc:It's like music.
Marc:It's like any sort of art of any sort of creative person.
Marc:It takes a while to get the groove, both as an audience and as the people creating it.
Marc:I know I've gotten better on my show.
Marc:This is the fourth season.
Marc:God knows I should be comfortable.
Marc:I'm no Olivier, but I sort of...
Marc:eased into myself and and and have a more comfort on set and and and what can and can't happen on the show and what can't what i can and can't do as a character and that's the same with anything there's an evolution especially with comedians you know by nature comics on television or in movies um we tend to be a bit a little self-conscious and
Marc:And I'm very sensitive to it, especially if I know whoever's doing it and who I'm watching.
Marc:Some are better than others.
Marc:But it just takes time.
Marc:So I took the time.
Marc:I got the groove.
Marc:And I really started to enjoy Broad City.
Marc:Generationally, there's a difference.
Marc:But it ain't that big of a difference.
Marc:And there are some things that I definitely related to.
Marc:And one of the things...
Marc:that I related to was, and this is with Louis too and Woody Allen and people who are very committed and really use New York City as a character in their work.
Marc:You know, there are New York City artists and writers and people who do films and TV and the people that embrace New York and that really showcase New York the best are the people that have a real relationship with the city.
Marc:And one of the things that's great about Broad City is that
Marc:You know, I know all those places.
Marc:And if you watch Broad City, you could you could see some of those places on Louie's show, too.
Marc:You can see some of those places in Woody Allen's movies.
Marc:It's like there are some pieces of film and music that embrace New York full heartedly.
Marc:And, you know, having lived there on and off for over a decade, you know, I have a.
Marc:a real romantic and love-hate relationship with New York and also a sort of love-hate relationship with how the sort of profile of the city has changed.
Marc:It's the profile or the texture, the culture of the city.
Marc:It's very hard to identify what was once there.
Marc:And I think, you know, talking to...
Marc:to alana and abby you know we we kind of got into that and and also to approach new york as a comedic foil you know has been done to death and and and and watching their show they actually managed to do it a little differently and the the other great difference about the the generational difference between me and the broad city gals is
Marc:Is that what's great about their show is there's a lot of things that are just they just are that when I was coming up or even five or 10 years ago, they just weren't.
Marc:They had to be explained.
Marc:They had to be, you know, stuff about.
Marc:sexuality, ethnicity, different types of relationships, how women are depicted.
Marc:I like the way that Abby and Alana just, it just is.
Marc:You don't have to explain anything.
Marc:This is the life we're living.
Marc:This is New York.
Marc:This is our generation.
Marc:This is the landscape of our experience.
Marc:And it's definitely different than when I was a kid.
Marc:And I love it.
Marc:I really had a great time talking to them.
Marc:And also, there's a Jewish component to today's show, as does happen sometimes on this show.
Marc:What was great is I want you to know that before they came over, I made sure to clean my toilet because I wanted it to be nice for the women.
Marc:And when they came over, they came over at 11 in the afternoon.
Marc:And I will love Alana Glazer forever for walking in.
Marc:And I was just sort of like getting set up and I had to go out front to get a chair because there were two of them.
Marc:And I didn't like the chair I have in here.
Marc:It was kind of loose.
Marc:It was a loose transition from their car to the house.
Marc:Made some coffee, offered him coffee.
Marc:And Alana said, you know, if we're being so casual, can I have a bowl of cereal?
Marc:I didn't eat breakfast.
Marc:I was very happy to give Alana a bowl of puffins with unsweetened almond milk, which she said she preferred, right?
Marc:That is a woman after my own sad middle-aged heart.
Marc:Yeah, I love Barbara's puffins with unsweetened almond milk.
Marc:She didn't even stevia that shit, man.
Marc:She just ate it.
Marc:And then we did the thing.
Marc:And here is the thing.
Marc:I just made two notes.
Marc:Here's what I wrote.
Marc:I wrote that.
Marc:Abby Jacobson, straight hair.
Guest:That is so funny.
Guest:Not today.
Guest:Now you're going to be confused.
Guest:I was going to joke that that was your fucking note because literally our friend's dad did that.
Marc:My dad.
Guest:Abby straight Alana Curley.
Guest:No, no.
Marc:That's what I wrote.
Marc:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Look, I wrote that.
Guest:That is so fucking funny.
Marc:Why do you think that is?
Guest:Because you're an older dude and you see two young women and you're like, oh, straight curly.
Guest:I don't fucking know.
Marc:Well, I didn't watch all of the shows, but I watched a bunch of them.
Marc:I imagine there are people like the people that are huge fans of the show.
Marc:They're like, oh, Abby, so this, and Lana, so that.
Marc:But I had to get it in my head.
Marc:Not because I'm old.
Marc:What is that?
Guest:End a man, I said.
Marc:End a man.
Yeah.
Marc:Look, I don't remember people's names that I've known for 20 years.
Marc:It's fucking tragic.
Guest:I'm so... That is tragic.
Marc:Well, no, I'm so self-involved that the people I keep running into again and again, I'm like, oh, it's a fucking guy.
Guest:You're like, nose guy.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Hey, nose guy.
Guest:Like, I...
Marc:I know them, but I just can't fucking manage their names.
Marc:So, you know, I'm glad you used the bathroom because I went out of my way to clean the toilet.
Guest:It was so clean.
Guest:That's cool of you.
Guest:I like that you have the Meyers.
Guest:I'm really into that Meyers hand soap.
Marc:Right?
Guest:It's so good.
Guest:What did we use?
Guest:We all are like into that now.
Guest:What did everyone use before that?
Marc:I've tried other ones.
Marc:Like sometimes I'll just get the supermarket brand and it works, but there's something about the Meyers label that makes you believe in it.
Guest:I know.
Guest:It's like a very crisp graphic.
Guest:It's gross, the packaging.
Guest:It looks old, kind of.
Guest:Yeah, right?
Marc:Retro.
Guest:It's old school.
Guest:It's such bullshit.
Marc:You don't buy into it?
Guest:New sincerity.
Guest:You don't buy into it?
Guest:No, I love it.
Marc:It's bordering on.
Guest:I have it, and I got two refills, and I prefer bar soap.
Guest:And I still got refills, because I was like, when I add the bar, I don't know.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:right that's what it is it's the new authenticity it's like bordering on artisanal yeah right that's the whole thing yeah that's and i buy into it local soap even though we all have it you can get it anywhere it's off amazon from england or something it's like fancy meyers right yeah i've had people make me soaps like do you do people send you do fans what are you getting from the fans now
Marc:Nothing?
Marc:Do you filter that stuff?
Marc:Does it come to you?
Marc:Is there a P.O.
Marc:box?
Guest:It doesn't really come to us.
Guest:We did a tour and we got some stuff that was like... We get weed.
Marc:Right.
Guest:Well, when weed is handed to us.
Guest:When they hand it to us, that's dope.
Guest:But when they want to smoke with us, it's like, no.
Marc:Oh, no.
Marc:There's this sort of like, you guys want it?
Marc:I'm like, nah, I can't.
Marc:You know?
Guest:Yeah, I'm not doing this.
Marc:When you go on tour, when did you go on tour?
Marc:Did you just get off tour?
Guest:No, like right before the second season.
Guest:So two Novembers ago.
Marc:How many dates?
Guest:It was like the whole month of November.
Guest:I think we did like 24 shows.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It was cool.
Guest:Some were double.
Marc:Okay, two a night.
Marc:So where did you go?
Marc:Comedy clubs, small theaters.
Marc:Rock clubs.
Marc:Rock clubs.
Marc:So you're up on the elevated stage with the monitors.
Marc:People standing.
Marc:Did they seat them?
Marc:we liked seated it's better right we had some standing like seattle was standing and that was like it's awkward right yeah because it makes you uncomfortable i wish you guys could sit down me too and it's like feel i felt like i would feel like they were just uh uncomfortable yeah it was like they were discomfort yeah yeah yeah it's like i feel bad you guys gotta stand up but we're gonna do the show and like how like so what four to eight hundred people coming
Guest:I think our biggest venue was in D.C.
Marc:Oh, yeah?
Guest:It was like 1,500.
Guest:Yeah, four to eight, I feel like.
Guest:And our show is like we're not... Alana's done more stand-up than I do, but we're not... It wasn't stand-up.
Guest:It was like this weird...
Guest:Weird show.
Guest:We had been doing a show, a live show at UCB for a couple years.
Guest:In the basement of New York?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it was just Broad City Live and it was just us doing whatever we thought was funny and having guests on.
Guest:So for the tour we had, we had different stand-ups, friends of ours open for us.
Marc:Like who?
Guest:Naomi Ekparrigan, who writes on our show.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Sabrina Jolies.
Guest:Kevin Barnett.
Guest:Rory Scovel.
Marc:How many openers?
Marc:Two?
Guest:Just one.
Marc:Just one guy.
Marc:So you guys could go do 45 minutes of sketch, basically?
Guest:We did like an hour.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And then we had some video stuff, because it was kind of a tour leading up to the second season, so we had some characters on the show do little bits.
Guest:It was almost like contextualized stand-up, where we did this...
Guest:This thing like soundtrack of our lives where we were like different moments in our lives and songs that we would play for them.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:When you like make soundtracks for a certain time in your life.
Marc:Like a mixtape.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:So it was like kind of like being able to like talk about something, but having this context to work off of.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And did you guys, because now you're just sitting here being yourselves, but the dynamic on stage, how does that play out?
Guest:Yeah, it was amplified.
Guest:It's amplified, but it's not them on the show, but it's not quite us.
Guest:Sure, yeah.
Guest:You come to a live show and you're like, it's Abbie and Alana from the show, basically.
Marc:Right, the curly-haired one, the straight-haired one.
Guest:I straighten that hair.
Guest:That's right.
Marc:But who's your audience do you find when you look out there?
Marc:Is it men?
Marc:Is it women?
Marc:Is it young people?
Marc:Is it people dressed like in plaid shirts like me?
Marc:Like is it hipsters?
Marc:How do you categorize them?
Guest:Yeah, I think it's like hipsters.
Guest:I think it's, I felt like it was like a lot of couples.
Marc:Oh yeah?
Guest:But after the shows, we would do meet and greets and like people that got merch, we would sign everything.
Guest:So we met a ton of people.
Guest:And it was, I mean,
Guest:I think a lot of women watch the show, but a lot of dudes too.
Guest:It was really awesome.
Guest:It was also pretty queer.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It was pretty queer.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It was dope.
Guest:It was the coolest.
Guest:It was so hard, but it was so fucking cool.
Guest:Queer and diverse and straight and white.
Guest:It was like, oh, you know.
Marc:Well, I think that you guys do that.
Marc:The benefit of having the backdrop of New York and being sort of in the generation that you're in, where all this shit is breaking down in New York is this melting pot of gender and sexuality and ethnicity and everything else.
Marc:And the sort of open-mindedness of the show and the comedy of it, it's very all-encompassing of people that are progressive and interesting.
Guest:It's such a special place.
Guest:New York?
Guest:Yeah, and we've been out here for a couple weeks, and we both love LA, and it's so comfortable.
Guest:But New York, it's so unbelievable.
Marc:It's like a battery.
Marc:If you know how to be in New York when you're there, you're engaged all the time, and you have no choice, because there's someone in your face at all times.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, it's very electrifying.
Guest:Like I've been here.
Guest:Yeah, I've been here for two weeks and we go back this weekend and I'm like excited to ride the subway.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:What?
Guest:I can't wait to be able to just because I've been so in my car, which I like driving, but I'm also excited to be like among people again.
Marc:Right.
Marc:To be part of the big body of New York.
Marc:I wonder what would happen to you guys if you stayed out here.
Marc:You should do a whole season where you moved to L.A.
Marc:And just everything.
Marc:You don't know how to get pot.
Guest:I was talking to someone about doing promos on a lot that looks like New York.
Guest:That's so funny.
Guest:Paul was just saying.
Guest:I was saying it to Paul.
Guest:Oh, Paul was just saying.
Marc:Was he saying it like it was his idea?
Marc:No.
Marc:We might have been talking about it together.
Guest:Paul writes on the show, too.
Guest:Paul W. Downs.
Guest:He's axed and writes on the show.
Guest:But he was saying like a whole season on the New York lot and we pretend it's New York.
Guest:It becomes like the Seinfeld New York.
Marc:Oh, right.
Guest:Which is like one block.
Marc:It's so funny watching the show because I know all those places.
Marc:I mean, I wandered those streets and I'm like, oh, there's that.
Guest:Are you like, that's not that restaurant anymore?
Guest:No.
Marc:Well, I haven't gotten that specific, but there are certain blocks where I'm like, I know exactly where that is.
Guest:Did you see our St.
Guest:Mark's episode?
Marc:I didn't.
Marc:Which one?
Marc:What happened?
Marc:It's just that one.
Marc:It's all St.
Marc:Mark's.
Guest:That one will give you douche chills on St.
Guest:Mark's between third and second.
Marc:Yeah, I know the chunk, but like when I was there, it was like, now I don't even know what it is.
Marc:Or St.
Marc:Mark's between Lafayette and what, third?
Marc:That like towards right by Cooper Union.
Marc:Yeah, just that block.
Marc:Right.
Marc:That used to be so fucking different.
Marc:I don't even know what it is now.
Guest:I know.
Marc:Now it's like- Asian noodle places and stuff.
Guest:Yeah, it's like NYU's quad.
Marc:And the little markets.
Marc:Yeah, they've taken over the entire part of the city.
Marc:Complete downtown.
Marc:Where do you go?
Marc:What's authentic anymore?
Marc:What are your haunts?
Marc:Ooh, B&H is authentic.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:Do you know B&H?
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Is that the bagels?
Guest:Or no, B&H is- No, it's right off St.
Guest:Mark's, but it's this little-
Marc:the Jewish food place yeah the counter yes the dairy counter I haven't been in a while though me too I gotta go actually it's freezing in New York right now we gotta go and get matzo ball soup is that what they have there tomato soup and grilled cheese but you guys but you're not from the city either of you right no I'm from Long Island and I'm from outside Philly
Marc:Outside how far?
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:So how far from Jersey?
Marc:How far from New York?
Marc:Hour and a half?
Marc:Hour 45?
Guest:Like an hour and a half from New York.
Guest:I'm like northwest, so like 20, 25 minutes outside the city.
Marc:But you grew up going into the city every weekend, I imagine, right?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Maybe, yeah.
Guest:I mean, I didn't do like shows.
Guest:I would just go in and walk around.
Marc:Right, just to be like, I'm in New
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And be like north, south, east and west.
Guest:And like to flex that, you know.
Guest:And then when I got to New York, I like lost my compass.
Guest:I was so like, oh, fuck.
Guest:I'm fucking here now.
Guest:I don't know what I'm doing.
Guest:This is like way deeper than the idea of like, it's cool to walk around a block.
Marc:Well, that's the weird thing.
Marc:When you first go to New York, even if you live in Long Island, you're like, I'm just going to walk around.
Marc:And then like nothing happens.
Marc:You just walk for blocks and blocks.
Marc:You're like, I should have some destination because I'm exhausted.
Guest:Yes, exactly.
Marc:Where'd you end up gravitating towards?
Marc:When did you start going in?
Marc:Like taking the train in?
Marc:Were you like 14 or 15?
Guest:More like, I was like nervous.
Guest:Maybe more like 16.
Marc:Were your parents nervous?
Marc:Like, you'll disappear.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Which town?
Guest:I guess I did go.
Guest:What town on Long Island?
Guest:Smithtown.
Guest:It's near Stony Brook University.
Guest:Alana was like a good girl until she got bad.
Marc:You were?
Guest:Yeah, I still am.
Guest:I still am.
Marc:You're the good girl?
Guest:But you weren't like going into the city to like fucking go to concerts and like... Or do anything.
Guest:I was and I think we met and then switched because I'm not...
Guest:I'm not, I was much crazier in high school and college than I am now.
Guest:And you, not that you're crazy at all now.
Marc:I'm just freer.
Guest:We're like the same, but.
Marc:But you play, but on the show, you play the sort of like anything goes person and you're like the kind of like you need your things.
Marc:You have to have your things to manage your life.
Guest:You need your things.
Guest:It's so funny.
Guest:It's lined up.
Guest:What?
Guest:You need your things.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:That's succinct.
Guest:Damn.
Damn.
Marc:So what kind of childhood?
Marc:Like middle class, Jewish, you know, everything's okay.
Marc:Progressive parents.
Marc:Let me just keep projecting like I'm in a fucking Woody Allen movie.
Guest:I know.
Guest:That's so funny.
Guest:You know when, what's her name?
Guest:Allison Kahn.
Marc:Uh-huh.
Guest:You know that part?
Marc:Carol Kane.
Guest:Carol Kane.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Right, right.
Marc:Let me guess.
Marc:Did you know?
Marc:Huh?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Marc:Because I knew the scene that I found myself referencing.
Guest:Exactly, exactly.
Guest:The scene in Annie Hall where Woody Allen's like, let me guess A, B, C, and D. Ben Sean drawings on the wall, socialist summer camps.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:She's like, yeah, that's what, you know, she's like pissed that he like nails it.
Guest:But I'm like, I'm not even pissed.
Guest:I'm like, that's it.
Marc:Yeah, but the more updated version of it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Just me and my brother.
Guest:Older, younger?
Guest:He's four years older.
Guest:He's also on the show.
Guest:He's a comedian, too.
Marc:What's his name?
Marc:Elliot.
Marc:Elliot Kaiser.
Marc:Wow, comedic family.
Guest:Yeah, and my parents are funny, and we just kind of entertained ourselves.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:What version of Jews are they?
Marc:Like, what's your dad do?
Guest:Reform.
Guest:He's a, like, financial planner.
Guest:Sells, like, insurance and shit.
Marc:Sells insurance?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And your mom?
Guest:Like, works with him.
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:From the house?
Guest:No, just, like, part-time.
Guest:Like, goes to his office.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:Right, right, right, right.
Marc:Keeps an eye on things.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:And they're, like, married for many years.
Marc:Really?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:That's so rare.
Guest:I know.
Guest:It is rare.
Marc:And they're still married and happy and proud?
Yeah.
Guest:They're very proud.
Guest:They seem quite happy.
Marc:Okay, now we're going to switch over to Abby.
Marc:Pennsylvania Jew?
Guest:Yep.
Marc:How'd that happen?
Guest:Well, my mom's from Jersey.
Marc:My mom's from like Cherry Hill, South Jersey.
Marc:Right, right, right.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And my dad's from like Philly, Philly.
Marc:Yeah?
Marc:Does he talk like Philly, Philly?
Guest:Yes.
Guest:No, I don't.
Guest:Does he?
Guest:They both do.
Guest:She catches my Philly accent, but I don't know it.
Guest:They both do.
Guest:He's like, my mom has a South Jersey accent.
Marc:Uh-huh.
Marc:I can't identify it.
Marc:Sometimes people say I talk like that, but I don't know what it is.
Marc:I can identify Philly, but I can't identify Jersey that well.
Guest:I think it's similar, but I don't think I have a crazy... I'm not hearing it.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:But every once in a while, she's like... Really?
Guest:It's a subtle thing, that accent.
Guest:It's like... Sometimes it's subtle.
Marc:Sometimes it's just... It's fucking pure, like, East Coast bro shit.
Marc:Like, there's an edge to it.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:It's almost like a real strong Philly accent with the right momentum can actually hurt your face.
Marc:It's a lot.
Guest:It's like, whoa, you go around talking like that all the time.
Marc:Just settle down.
Marc:What?
Marc:So wait, they met at overnight camp?
Guest:They met at overnight camp.
Marc:Really?
Marc:When they were kids?
Guest:They were like 15.
Marc:That's so sweet.
Guest:It's very sweet.
Guest:I have a very cool family life.
Guest:They're not married anymore, but they're friends.
Marc:Yeah, oh, that's good.
Marc:Always?
Guest:Yeah, like we did Thanksgiving together.
Marc:And they both have, do they have spouses?
Guest:Yeah, my dad's just engaged.
Guest:I do, I'm not close with them.
Marc:Does it happen later?
Guest:It happened, yeah.
Marc:Right, this is your stepbrother, like, all right.
Guest:Yeah, I was in college, I was like, I don't know.
Guest:That's so, yeah.
Guest:But I have an older brother too.
Marc:Oh, really?
Guest:Like three and a half, four years older.
Guest:And so he has two kids.
Guest:And once that happened, my parents were like, let's do holidays together.
Marc:Because it's like, yeah.
Guest:So that's working out.
Marc:What's your older brother do?
Guest:He's a graphic designer.
Marc:So now you had older brothers, because the theme on this show seems to be the influence of older siblings, brothers specifically, and you two are women.
Marc:Did you get along with them?
Marc:Was there music?
Marc:Did they show you the way somehow?
Guest:Everything.
Guest:It's so funny.
Guest:Alana kind of came to comedy, I think, quicker than I did, because my brother is not into this at all.
Guest:But I was a big tomboy, very athletic because of my brother.
Guest:My brother was so into fish and the dead and all that, and so I was.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yeah, I was into all of that.
Marc:So you caught the tail end of high school.
Marc:The Jerry dead?
Marc:You caught the tail end of that?
Marc:He died in 97, so I was too young.
Marc:You missed it.
Guest:But I remember the day that he died.
Marc:Your brother was pretty broken up.
Guest:I was at overnight camp, and it was announced.
Marc:Overnight camp?
Marc:Was it Jewish overnight camp?
Guest:Pretty, we were so reformed.
Guest:So it wasn't like religious at all, but everybody was.
Marc:Right, right.
Guest:But I remember it was announced like over the loudspeaker.
Marc:I think I was.
Guest:Over the loudspeaker?
Guest:Oh my God.
Guest:Like it's like 9-11 or something.
Guest:It was like a moment.
Guest:Let's have a moment of silence for Jerry Garcia.
Guest:And it was like, I actually didn't love him yet.
Guest:So I didn't understand the significance of that day until I was high school.
Guest:All my friends and I, we would go to see, like I went to see all the.
Marc:Was there a day?
Guest:Reincarnations of the dead.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:Rat Dog, Phil and Friends.
Marc:Right, right, right.
Marc:Bob Weir.
Marc:So was the drummers, was Rat Dog?
Marc:Who was it?
Guest:Rat Dog is Bob Weir.
Marc:Oh, it is.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Phil and Friends is Phil Ash.
Marc:Phil, right.
Guest:I didn't really see Mickey Hart.
Marc:Mickey Hart thing.
Marc:There's a drum thing that happens.
Marc:He does a drum thing.
Marc:Like a circle.
Marc:Yeah, I don't do that.
Guest:But I kind of want to see they're coming out again with John Mayer, actually, and I haven't seen them yet.
Marc:I listen to some of that, you know, and I listen to him handle those solos and he's sort of a kind of a specific guitar player.
Marc:It's okay.
Marc:It's okay.
Marc:But you're not going to hear like that weird lyrical noodling.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Listen to us talking dead now.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And I'm not even a huge dead man.
Guest:I'm not even, I'm like, you know, I dabbled.
Marc:Right, right.
Marc:Me too, me too.
Guest:But I was so into that because everything that my brother did.
Marc:How many like little like hacky sack hippie kids were at camp that were just sort of like, no, I guess we're not playing hacky today in honor of Jerry's.
Guest:A lot.
Guest:It was like a thing.
Guest:A lot.
Guest:No hacky today, man.
Guest:It's so funny.
Guest:We hacky sack on the show because we have an episode where we go to Philly to clean out my bedroom.
Marc:You find a hacky?
Guest:Yeah, we do the whole thing.
Guest:We clean out all my jam band gear.
Marc:And I like rip on her.
Guest:I'm like, yeah, man.
Guest:such a type yeah it's so wild that that type has existed and persisted like because a lot of times just sort of fade out but that thing there's a constant to it it's like my dad too like my dad was was all like classic rock so we just were and i don't know if it's now though i wonder now if that's
Marc:The fish thing still, I guess they're done too in a way, aren't they?
Marc:Are they back?
Marc:These guys, they break up for a week and they're like, we're going to be back.
Guest:But I wonder if the audience has any like high school kids.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:That was like all my friends in high school.
Guest:We were fish heads.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Is that what they call them?
Marc:Fishers?
Marc:Fish fans.
Marc:Oh, it's just fish fans.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:Oh, is that what it is?
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:I never refer to myself like that.
Marc:But there's that whole parking lot trip where you go to the concert like two days early, you know, with a sleeping bag and just wander around and catch Frisbees.
Guest:Yeah, and they, like, set up little, like, there's, like, stands in the lot.
Guest:There's, like, Shakedown Street, which is where you can buy shit.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:It's fun.
Marc:Me and my brother drove, like, he was living in Arizona, and we drove from, like, Tucson to Anaheim to see the dead in Dylan.
Marc:I was not in great shape.
Marc:And he had this convertible.
Marc:I don't know what.
Marc:It was some used convertible.
Marc:He's a little younger than me.
Marc:And we picked up some little guy hitchhiking to the show, this little guy named Eli.
Marc:And we thought, like, oh, cool little hippie elf.
Marc:We'll pick him up.
Marc:and we and then he had no place to stay and he sort of turned evil like it was like fucked up because well we got a hotel room and we couldn't get rid of eli right and then he starts like he gets a pack of matches not wooden matches but the book of matches and he starts ripping off little pieces of each match and he puts them in a bag he's like i'm selling acid today
Marc:He was just scamming fucking hippie kids selling bunk drugs.
Marc:Yikes.
Marc:And me and my brother were like, what do we do?
Marc:Who do we turn him into?
Guest:We can't bring him to the show.
Guest:You guys are going to bring this evil guy.
Marc:He would have figured out how to get to the show, but who do you warn?
Marc:When am I going to follow him around the park?
Marc:That's bullshit.
Guest:And it's almost like kind of people's own fault for not recognizing acid.
Guest:You're like, he's selling drugs.
Guest:fake drugs like what there's like um bizarro cops at like a fish festival what is that no no i'm like making it up it's just like i don't know they like make sure all the acid is real oh right right like we got a taster a drug taster just a guy that walks around all fucked up and sweaty exactly this is legit yeah i gotta sit down yeah i gotta lay down
Marc:So, alright, so you grew up with that and like what did your brother bring to the table?
Guest:See, that was like, yeah, that was like wild.
Guest:Like my brother and I, we like as kids made hundreds of hours of sketch videos.
Guest:We just like wanted to do comedy forever.
Marc:What drove you to that?
Marc:I mean, who were you watching?
Marc:Why did you, because you're like half my age almost.
Marc:And is that true?
Marc:What are you, 28?
Marc:So who were you watching that was like, this is why we want to do comedy?
Guest:Okay, so I grew up in the 80s and 90s.
Marc:But there must have been something like, this is fucking hilarious, we can do this.
Guest:No, just all of it.
Marc:But you knew it was something you could do.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And we like did like plays and musicals too.
Marc:For who?
Marc:Your parents?
Guest:No, like at school and at camp and at the Y and like, you know what I mean?
Guest:And like we were musicians and we just- What do you play?
Guest:Drums.
Marc:Oh yeah?
Guest:And I could do rhythm, piano.
Marc:Oh, yeah?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And what were some of the early efforts, sketch-wise and musical-wise?
Marc:Did you write songs?
Guest:I did write songs.
Guest:There are some videos out there from Acoustic Cafe in high school of the songs I wrote and played.
Marc:Where can people find those?
Guest:I don't know.
Marc:Oh, you do know.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:There's a video you recently showed me of you playing the drums in like a chorus.
Guest:Oh my God.
Guest:In a percussion ensemble.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:There's like a... Oh, you were in a drum circle.
Guest:Video online.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But it's like for school all in like buttoned up.
Guest:It was like militant.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:I really...
Marc:Just on a snare?
Guest:But she's really good.
Guest:That was part of our live show.
Guest:We did this drum battle where Alana was really good and I can't do it.
Guest:That's part of the show.
Guest:Only through the last 15 minutes.
Guest:We got two full sets.
Marc:Of drums?
Guest:Like around us.
Marc:And you brought them up.
Guest:And so Alana could do it and then it would come to me and I'd be like.
Marc:Oh, that's funny.
Guest:And drum battle.
Guest:But it was drumming and then comedy.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Because I could have to.
Marc:The standard setup.
Guest:Yeah, it was great.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:You were the straight man to her goof.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:We flipped our switch.
Guest:Big old goof.
Marc:But that was funny.
Marc:Did you reveal the drum sets?
Marc:Was it a closer?
Marc:Like, I mean, was it sort of like, you know, the lights came up and there were two full drum sets?
Guest:We wish we could have done that, but we didn't have enough.
Guest:They were on stage, right?
Guest:They had to be on stage because they were like too elaborate to like bring out.
Guest:So they were just sitting there and people were like, what's up?
Guest:Yeah, and it was like at the very end, we would do it for five minutes in like an hour show.
Marc:And you jammed, and she just... She's really good.
Guest:Because I can do the different styles, so it was fun to be like, okay, start with rock, then do jazz, then do samba.
Marc:You're a real drummer.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I thought I wanted to be an orchestra percussionist.
Guest:Not too late, man.
Marc:Really?
Marc:You just wanted to be the one waiting?
Guest:yeah i like like timpani right timpani boom boom yeah it's so fun i like do i do miss being in a band and being like a big a big band not even like a i would i would do like jazz jazz combo yeah yeah for real i would i'm like a real nerd i really am really yeah you got jazz people that you love
Guest:Yeah, you know, Brubeck, Miles Davis.
Guest:Did you grow up with that stuff?
Guest:Yeah, Oscar Peterson.
Guest:My dad is an incredible musician.
Guest:So my brother trips me out.
Guest:Elliot can do what my dad can do where they can hear something and then their fingers find the keys.
Guest:And Elliot Singh is like an amazing singer.
Guest:Elliot's an incredible singer.
Guest:Yeah, so we just were always just had this nervous energy that lucky enough my parents saw that we could channel it in this way.
Guest:So we just always performed.
Marc:Isn't it wild though?
Marc:Because I play music, but I never had necessarily- Oh, guitar.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I never necessarily had the courage to sort of pursue it as a career.
Marc:Because I know there's a lot of funny people that are pretty fucking good musicians.
Marc:But there's something simplifying and concise about comedy where it's very immediate.
Marc:You don't have to rely on other people necessarily.
Marc:Well, you guys in sketch situations, you do.
Marc:But I wonder what it is why people who are incredibly musically talented don't necessarily sort of like do that.
Marc:It's a harder life.
Guest:and it's not as a different also like comedy is so transparent and it's like easy to be you're like it's easy to like craft your image and you're being honest but you're also choosing what you want to say whereas music it's like you truly are like i hope you think i'm cool you know like i fucking hope you think i look cool and sound cool and it's like there's something more transparent about that too
Marc:Well, I find that you also can sort of, if you're in a band or something, you can kind of step back a little bit.
Marc:It doesn't always have to be about you.
Marc:If you're not really on top of the song, you can be like, no, I'm just going to fake it a little bit.
Marc:You can't really fake it in comedy.
Guest:Yeah, right, no.
Marc:But I think being a musician is still categorically cooler, isn't it?
Guest:Totally.
Guest:It's the coolest.
Guest:Well, I don't know.
Guest:Comedy is becoming a new thing.
Guest:Comedy is like the new stage for philosophy.
Guest:It is kind of the new coolest thing.
Marc:Well, it's back.
Marc:People are saying things with comedy again.
Marc:And a lot of people are into it.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:So what about you?
Marc:No music?
Marc:No playing?
Guest:I wish.
Guest:My dad was in a band when I was growing up.
Guest:He plays the drums.
Guest:Really?
Guest:And he taught himself how to, not taught himself, but later in life started taking piano lessons so he can play piano.
Marc:He was in a band when you were growing up.
Marc:What was that band?
Guest:Yeah, from...
Guest:it's so good it was called second chance yeah perfect and it was his high school band reunited he married his high school sweetheart and then he reunited with his yeah right and yeah it was called second chance and they would play like i remember they played like on the art museum steps in philly and they would play bars for like a day out on the steps kind of thing like a little festival thing and here's some local guys uh-huh
Guest:And they had a tape with the whole picture on the front.
Guest:So I always had drums in the basement of my house.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so I always was into drums too.
Guest:So when Alana, when we did this show, I can't, she's always counting.
Guest:Whenever we do it, she's like, and one, two, three.
Guest:And I'm like, I can't.
Guest:but I can like kind of hold beats, but I would love to be able to play the drums actually.
Guest:I can just kind of play like a couple beats and I'm kind of like off, right?
Guest:Like, yeah, it's so weird.
Guest:It's like music, comedy, all this stuff, everything seems so much more like available or something these days.
Guest:Like I was just talking to my friend who's a DJ, talking about music, music, music.
Guest:And then I'm like, music, music, music.
Guest:And then I'm like, do you know what time signatures are?
Guest:No.
Guest:And I was like, oh.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know, and it's like just like what I'd be saying with accounting, too.
Guest:It's like, I don't know.
Guest:You can be fully immersed in music, love music.
Guest:Music is your life and you don't know how to count it.
Guest:Oh, sure.
Guest:You don't know how to read music.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And like comedy, too.
Guest:It's like that's so available and information, like even just presenting like, you know, something is so available.
Guest:It's.
Marc:the weird thing about music and i've and i've talked about this before is that is that even if if it feels familiar or what there's an effect to it that you can repeat again and again like you know you can't really repeat a joke again and again right but if you've got a song there's a magic to it where people like god i hope they play that song yeah they want to like and yeah it has a feeling thing you know and you can always go back to it like people aren't like man i want to hear him do that that finale joke like it
Marc:Maybe for one or two times.
Marc:But by the third time, you're like, nah.
Marc:It loses its magic.
Guest:It's like that intonation isn't the same as melody.
Marc:Right.
Guest:For some reason.
Marc:That's interesting.
Guest:Melody, it clicks in and you're like, yeah.
Guest:Intonation, you're like, all right.
Marc:That's sort of like I'm not like a big lyric guy.
Marc:Like, you know, I'm always looking for the turn in the music.
Marc:You know, like if there's a hook to the music, if the melody has a sort of like, oh, like there's a chord progression.
Marc:And I'm like, I love that.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:What's the guy saying?
Marc:I don't fucking know.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:He sounds good, too.
Marc:But it's all just musical to me.
Marc:Okay, so you graduate high school, and you're in Pennsylvania, and when did you decide?
Marc:What was the first decision?
Marc:What were you going to do?
Guest:Yeah, I kind of went around.
Guest:My brother works with my dad, and my mom- Your dad's a graphic designer?
Guest:Yeah, he's like an environmental graphic designer.
Guest:What does that mean?
Guest:He goes into spaces like a hospital, for instance, and everyone's getting fucking lost in the hospital.
Guest:And so now he does a lot of wayfinding.
Guest:So it's like how you... Someone walks in the hospital and they have to read all the signs.
Marc:And they're bleeding.
Guest:And they're bleeding.
Guest:Or if you walk in and someone is in the... How people get around spaces and then the signage.
Guest:And so also designing of the signage.
Guest:So that's it.
Guest:But then they also do restaurants.
Guest:that's very specific it's an interesting niche yeah yeah and so everyone in my family was artists so my mom is kind was growing up was a potter she had like a wheel oh she did so your mom was there getting frustrated at clay winging off a wheel she would do she would do craft shows building that thing up yeah actually she she had a wheel for a very brief time because she didn't she ended up just doing it like by hand yeah yeah yeah and so that was the fuck the wheel day uh-huh
Guest:No hacking on that day either.
Guest:Yeah, she swapped the wheel for like a kiln.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:It was like, nah.
Marc:No hacking segment.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Mom is getting rid of the wheel.
Guest:Did you have a kiln?
Guest:She did for a while.
Marc:Oh my God.
Marc:Those are energy eaters.
Guest:That's like, you know.
Guest:Jesus.
Guest:It was, that was very brief too.
Guest:And then.
Guest:Or was it standalone?
Guest:I guess.
Guest:It was not a big thing.
Guest:It was like a small thing.
Guest:And then she, we got like, I think she sold it.
Guest:And then she ended up going to this place, Wayne Art Center, that she could just do it there.
Guest:I was like, why are we doing this?
Guest:But she would do craft shows on the weekend.
Guest:So my family was like very...
Guest:It was all art, it was all visual art.
Guest:I was always drawing.
Guest:And so my brother went to art school in Philly, and so when I was gonna go to college, I was obsessed with SNL, and I did kind of perform in high school, but I couldn't sing, so I couldn't do any of the plays.
Marc:So what did you kind of perform?
Marc:Did people know you were performing?
Guest:Yeah, I literally, my main thing was I would do, I would impersonate Mike Myers doing Coffee Talk.
Guest:Like that was my thing.
Guest:I would just like do that.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:It's a guaranteed laugher.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And I would do my own thing.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:But people knew I was into comedy, but that didn't ever seem like a thing.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like I didn't grow up with anyone.
Guest:Like maybe even because you're in New York, that was like maybe a thing you could do.
Marc:Right.
Guest:It's interesting when you enter the industry when you're like, oh, a lot of people's parents did whatever.
Guest:Just that thing of like, do you have an in or do you not have an in?
Guest:Do you have an in even mentally?
Guest:Yeah, like I was at you to do this as a job.
Marc:Were you encouraged in a way?
Marc:I know what you're saying.
Guest:Just like, do you think that this could be a job?
Marc:Right.
Marc:I think more people think they can now.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:I don't think when when I was when I started that it was still sort of like, what are you doing?
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And your parents are sort of like concerned because when you're like, I'm going to be a stand up comedian, they're just sort of a life of disappointment and failure.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Can't you find something that we can at least not worry about?
Marc:But now, because of places like UCB and stuff, there's an industry preceding the industry.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Like there's a past.
Marc:Yes, a school.
Guest:Exactly, and like YouTube too.
Guest:I mean, even 10 years ago when we were starting, it's different than now.
Guest:Vine, Vine stars.
Marc:I know, yeah.
Marc:I look at them occasionally when someone goes, it's not even a generational thing.
Guest:No, I mean, whatever, we're all different ages here and it's like, we are like, Jesus, it comes up quick, man.
Guest:It comes up quick.
Guest:It was a very fast transition.
Marc:But, yeah, I mean the transition of technology and access.
Marc:But the weird thing is, and like you guys probably know and kind of maybe feel it in a less resentful way than I do, but there are people that kind of have that attention and viral traction that really don't have the goods to follow through into something.
Totally.
Marc:And, like, it seems to me that you guys have that persistence and the talent and the creativity to do that.
Marc:But there's a lot of people that, like a Vine star, it's like, all right, so who are they and where are they now?
Marc:Oh, they're still on Vine.
Guest:Totally.
Guest:And, like, there's – that's, like, a cool thing about, like, the world, I guess.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:That quality and focus – Still means something.
Guest:Yes, absolutely.
Guest:And sincerity and –
Marc:but also being able to do the fucking job when it's a job.
Marc:Getting viral traction is like... I mean, unless you're a YouTube personality, which I have my own opinion of, but I can't really... I'm not negative about it because they seem to...
Marc:the very nature of their popularity is usually because they're not fundamentally talented.
Marc:They seem like, you know, people like that kids are like, no, they're just like us, you know.
Guest:Totally, totally.
Marc:But how did you, we'll get, we should get to that through how you guys started.
Marc:So you're dicking around, you're drawing things and doing Mike Myers.
Guest:So I went to Mike Myers.
Guest:yeah that's it i was just dicking around abby dicking around no but i went i didn't go to comedy i went to art school right because i was like i can i'm good at this this is like immediate yeah and i was like what am i gonna fucking be an actor like that's not that doesn't i don't know anyone that has ever done that right so it wasn't like i know everyone around me that does art like my family is so i was like i'm that's not an easy career either though no that is possibly more impossible exactly
Guest:So I went to school in Baltimore, this school called MICA, Maryland Institute College of Art.
Guest:And most of my work is drawing and painting.
Guest:But then they were starting their video department.
Guest:Oh, shit.
Guest:And they were starting.
Guest:Oh, shit.
Guest:And I was like, oh, shit.
Guest:That dick found a pussy, you know?
Guest:That dick found its pussy.
Guest:Even if it's a boy pussy putting it out there.
Marc:Yeah, sure.
Yeah.
Guest:So I started doing videos, but it was so funny.
Guest:My video work at Micah was just me doing characters.
Guest:Also, what year did you graduate?
Guest:2006.
Guest:It's like YouTube was invented in 2005.
Guest:Didn't even know it.
Guest:I didn't do anything on YouTube.
Guest:But I just did these characters, and they would be projected on gallery walls next to paintings, and it was very serious.
Marc:Oh, really?
Guest:And it was like...
Guest:Because that's a conceptual art.
Marc:Yeah, I was like- That whole, that's the school of thought you're in.
Marc:I was like a performance artist.
Marc:Right, right.
Marc:And then I was like- What were the characters?
Guest:They were, I thought they were really funny and a lot of them were improvised and I edited them and I saw, like one was like really emotional.
Guest:I saw someone getting mugged.
Guest:Baltimore was extremely dangerous.
Guest:Rough, yeah.
Guest:And I saw someone getting- I watched The Wire.
Guest:I'm not even kidding.
Guest:I lived in a neighborhood, a really nice neighborhood, but it was next to the worst neighborhood and there's no one out in Baltimore.
Guest:So it was very... I would sprint home from class.
Guest:I saw someone getting mugged outside my apartment.
Guest:Heard it.
Guest:Look outside the window and this woman was getting dragged by her messenger bag.
Guest:And I was the one calling the cops and I look and there's all these other people looking out their window.
Guest:It was so fucked up.
Guest:So one of the characters was...
Guest:I shot a character like immediately after and it was like very intense.
Guest:I'd have to watch it again.
Guest:But were you the one calling the cops or were you the one getting... I called the cops because I was like, if I don't call, I'm going to think... No, it was just sort of like using that emotion.
Guest:And so my junior year, I sort of realized, I was like, I want to be a fucking actor.
Guest:What am I doing?
Guest:And so I moved to New York to go to the Atlantic Theater Conservatory.
Marc:Mamet's place?
Marc:Mamet and Macy's?
Guest:And so I went.
Marc:You learned how to talk directly?
Guest:I went for a week.
Guest:And I hated it.
Guest:I was like, what am I fucking doing?
Guest:I had a breakdown.
Guest:There's a subway station that every time I go past it, I was like.
Marc:It's a weird system, that system, right?
Guest:It was so stifling.
Guest:I couldn't react.
Guest:It was like, well, what are they really saying?
Guest:Analyze every word.
Guest:And that was so not, that's just so not how I work.
Marc:It just gutted all the emotion out of it.
Guest:I was like, I can't even talk.
Marc:What about that subway stop, though?
Guest:So I had this breakdown on 15th and 8th Avenue where I was like, I'm quitting.
Guest:I gotta quit.
Guest:I called my dad and I was like, I'm quitting this thing I moved here for.
Guest:Like I had to quit or I would lose my deposit.
Guest:And my roommate at the time, who is like my roommate on our show.
Guest:The fat guy?
Guest:No, the girl who you never see.
Guest:She was like, I think you should check out this place at Red Citizens Brigade.
Guest:Like your video work really feels like that.
Guest:And I had never heard of it.
Marc:Right.
Guest:I was so like SNL.
Marc:It was 2006?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I just didn't know like the old comedy scene.
Marc:Was that the old one?
Marc:The one that was on 20, the one with the weird sort of seats?
Marc:No, it was the new one.
Marc:It was the basement?
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:I think it was pretty new.
Marc:Yeah, right at the beginning.
Guest:And I went by myself and just like once, I don't even know what show I saw and I was like, this is it.
Marc:Right.
Guest:This is it.
Guest:And I quit and then I just started there and that got a dumb day job.
Marc:Oh, thank God for that fucking roommate.
Marc:This is it.
Marc:You were like, if it wasn't for that girl... I wrote her an email and I was like, thank you for... Where's she at?
Marc:She's at the Atlantic.
Guest:We don't... It didn't end great with us.
Marc:But that tidbit of information.
Guest:She changed like... I honestly don't think about... None of my friends are in comedy.
Guest:I mean, all my friends are in comedy now, but no one.
Marc:What would have happened if you didn't get that tidbit of information?
Marc:You would have like went home crying and just sort of like gotten a job, probably your dad's office or something for a while.
Guest:Well, I'm an illustrator, too, so I think maybe I would have done that.
Guest:I was trying to be an actor still, but it was such a direct correlation between me being so like, fuck this, because I wanted to be a dramatic actor.
Guest:I went to Mamet, and I was like, fuck, what am I doing?
Guest:And that was such a clear turn.
Guest:Like I took a total different turn.
Marc:Because comedy is a portal into all of that.
Marc:Because like in any given sketch or scene, you can be the dramatic one.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:All right.
Marc:So let's go now to your journey to New York.
Marc:What happened?
Marc:So you're a drummer.
Marc:You got a cool brother.
Marc:You're writing sketches.
Marc:You're doing musical stuff.
Marc:Your version of dicking around.
Marc:And what was the white light moment?
Guest:Elliot goes to NYU and I'm like okay I'll go there too and it's like not for acting just like to like go and be in the city and he's like Elliot shows me Stella you remember when they were making videos and shit Stella over when it was down in the basement at the Time Cafe yeah but I for me I mean that's actually that's who I was going into the city to see was Stella for example like when I could get into their shows
Marc:That was a big room in the basement, and they had Blue playing the music, and then they'd have the comics on.
Guest:Yeah, and I more just saw them like... Whatever, just like... Did you grow up with the state, or was that after you... No, yeah, I did, but I didn't... I was... Really young?
Guest:A little young for it, but whatever.
Guest:I liked it.
Guest:I watched it later.
Guest:All right.
Guest:But...
Guest:Stella videos was, to me, I was like, oh, that was like, oh, it's not just SNL.
Guest:And then Elliot was like, there's this theater, Upright Citizens Brigade.
Guest:We should take classes when you're here, when you're in the city.
Guest:And what year is that?
Guest:2000 early 2000s post 9-11 though yeah like 2003 or something you're like what 19 in 2003 i'm like uh 16 if i can do math and then i'm like okay in two years i'll like graduate and i'll come to the city and we'll do that but like to my parents i'm like i'm gonna be a psychologist you know what i mean so like that was the goal which like
Guest:in college between comedy my own therapy and nervous breakdowns and psych classes it was like a truly a cohesive education it like all was right you know it was like real nervous breakdowns or just panic attacks
Marc:I mean, her breakdown was like a career shifting, like, you know, dream breaking business.
Guest:Like, yeah.
Guest:Like anxiety, depression, like little mania, like, you know, standard stuff.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Standard Jew shit.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Standard Jew shit.
Guest:Um, so I was like, just college was like my job and comedy.
Marc:Where'd you go to college?
Marc:NYU.
Marc:So you were there for, you went the whole run?
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You gotta finish.
Guest:I had to get a degree, and my parents, I don't know, they just wanted that, and I gave that to them, and they got me to the city, so I was fulfilling their thing and fulfilling my thing.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And then, yeah, so I started taking classes in college.
Guest:With your brother?
Guest:Yeah, with my brother, but also like we were doing, we produced shows together.
Guest:At UCB?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:We had this one show that was awesome, high school talent show.
Guest:And it was just sketches and people, it was just like a variety show.
Guest:People would come and do their sketches.
Guest:But, you know, we also were like finding our own voices and...
Guest:I did some stand-up, and we were just running around the city.
Guest:That particular time when you're seeing shows every night, doing shows every night, it was so fun.
Guest:It was my college.
Marc:By that time, comedy had detached itself entirely from mainstream comedy clubs.
Marc:That was the alternative scene in New York.
Marc:There was still the cellar in stand-up, but that was not the world.
Guest:It was like Rafifi.
Marc:Right.
Marc:With Eugene and Tisdale.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:I never went to those big comedy clubs.
Marc:No, no, of course.
Marc:Yeah, I know.
Marc:There's a whole generation that it took me a long time to accept it.
Guest:Comics was a weird thing, though.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:I saw you at Comics.
Guest:I saw you at Comics and at Ochi's, too.
Marc:Was it a good night?
Guest:That was like the underground thing.
Marc:Remember me at comics?
Marc:Like sometimes I remember, that could go either way, but they were integrating alternative acts into the shows at comics trying to make that thing work.
Guest:We got into comedy when like.
Marc:I like that you didn't answer whether I was good or no, but that's okay.
Guest:Well, okay, so you were really good.
Guest:You blew me away.
Guest:You were really fucking honest, but you had just gotten divorced.
Guest:Yeah, it was a good time.
Guest:I was like, holy shit.
Guest:Comedy is honesty and tragedy.
Guest:And it was amazing.
Guest:Oh, good.
Guest:I'm glad to help.
Guest:But it wasn't like, ha, ha, ha, ha.
Guest:It was like, whoa.
Marc:It was amazing.
Marc:It was.
Marc:I don't get a lot of the ha, ha.
Guest:That's something I rarely hear.
Marc:It was amazing.
Marc:Thank you.
Guest:But we got into comedy when it started being like alt and awkward.
Guest:Weirdly, we started at the exact same time, but not.
Marc:Knowing each other?
Guest:Yeah, we started like the fall of 2006.
Marc:Doing stand-up, are you talking, or just working?
Guest:Taking classes, and then performing, forming teams.
Guest:Alana did more stand-up, and I would do stand-up as a version of me.
Guest:Contextualized stand-up, almost like your videos.
Marc:Oh, so you did a character, kind of.
Marc:In a way, yeah.
Guest:It was like me, but like a version, yeah.
Marc:You needed the character.
Guest:Yeah, a little bit.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So, what are, because I've talked to a few people.
Marc:I mean, I've had Polar in here and Besser and some of the original UCB people.
Marc:And I've had people who went through the UCB program and through the Growlings program.
Marc:But like UCB now is like the...
Marc:the training ground for comedy in a lot of ways.
Marc:So what is the environment there?
Marc:Because I miss it.
Marc:I go do stand-up shows sometimes, but I don't have a sense of, and I know I've talked about this with people, but I don't remember.
Marc:So tell me again, what is it that you, because you sign up for classes, and it's primarily improv, right?
Marc:And then you just stay there until you meet people.
Marc:It's sketch.
Guest:Oh, you can take sketch, too.
Marc:Yeah, writing and acting sketch.
Guest:And the main track is like, take the classes 101 through,
Guest:401?
Guest:It's a little different now.
Guest:And then you audition until you get on a Harold or a Maude team.
Guest:There's this track.
Guest:It's like a mini college.
Guest:And I also have to say, it has grown exponentially since we started, too.
Guest:I don't really know the temperature there, but...
Guest:It's like a school.
Guest:It's like walking into a small college.
Guest:It's nuts.
Guest:I feel like it's probably similar to when you were doing stand-up and you meet this community.
Guest:It's almost like you're paying to meet a community.
Guest:And to be involved in this community rather than you're doing stand-up and you're just meeting them from going to shows.
Guest:This was like...
Guest:You're going every week to train, but you are training, and you're learning these principles, but also you have a theater that feels like a home base for you.
Guest:You can go every night, and then you can go to other offshoot shows.
Guest:Thank God.
Guest:I didn't know anyone in New York, and all of a sudden you have this- The whole world.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:The difference is it's collaboration.
Marc:With stand-ups, yeah, we have a community, but we're all sort of like-
Marc:Well, yeah, we're kind of rogues.
Guest:Bidding each other.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Doing bits until somebody wins.
Marc:Busting balls.
Marc:Well, not even wins, but you sort of like, you know, that's what that guy's doing.
Marc:I get it.
Marc:I'm not into it.
Marc:But there was never a sense of like, hey, you know, we should all get together and, you know, and put a thing together.
Guest:The thing I like about stand-up, though, is like, because improvisers do bits, too, but I like in stand-up when you're just like leaning against the wall.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And you're like in the shadows and somebody's performing and then you like...
Guest:Talk about the darkest shit as succinctly as possible of what's going on.
Guest:That I like.
Guest:That is very real about stand-up.
Marc:We're very good at leveling everything.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:There's a cynicism to it.
Marc:But after years of talking to people in here, I've grown to really appreciate and surrender some of my old guy stand-up warrior bullshit about do's and how comedy really works.
Marc:Because...
Marc:Having done a TV show and actually having the opportunity to collaborate on a radio show too, I love it, but I would never have thought to do it as a stand-up.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:There's an isolation to stand-up.
Marc:I think it's amazing that when you go to someplace like UCB and you do all these things, you're learning how to write, direct, produce, perform innately.
Marc:Because you all are sort of like, well, I got an idea.
Marc:Let's execute the idea.
Marc:You know, will you do this?
Marc:Will you do that?
Marc:So it's an amazing thing.
Guest:It's interesting too.
Guest:It's like you want to be, it is amazing, but also creating that space is amazing.
Guest:Like what you've done with your podcast.
Guest:Like you've created this space and brought like the podcast to like a new world.
Guest:level where like polar I mean the original you see before like I'll never know what literally building that alt community in New York feels like they brought that like Chicago thing to New York they created like some alternative to SNL there's like one thing to be like in the channel and to like really appreciate the path someone's like carved but then also you kind of have to and then honestly like us with the web series the original four I like that
Marc:Is that how they're referred to?
Guest:The UCB4, yeah.
Marc:But the interesting thing about them is when they came around at first, they were just a group.
Marc:And then they started doing things on their own.
Marc:And then they opened the first theater.
Marc:And I don't know what their intention was in terms of building an empire.
Marc:But they built their own space.
Marc:And then I think the school came later.
Marc:But they needed a place to work.
Marc:And then the attention came to the original four.
Marc:And then it became a showcase for people.
Marc:And then it just blew up.
Marc:But they were just, you know, like you, they were just sort of like, we're in the city.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Well, weirdly, we were like, it was so inspiring to us.
Guest:So we started doing Broad City Web Series because we could not get on these Herald teams or mod teams.
Guest:Like, we could not...
Guest:Improvisation was not your thing.
Marc:We were like three, four years in.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:We were like doing, we thought we were doing really, we had been on an improv team for two years with like a bunch of dudes.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Performing at like under St.
Guest:Mark's in different theaters.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And could not get, we were like, fuck, this is like the way.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:We can't get on.
Marc:You wouldn't, you couldn't get on the Herald team?
Guest:No.
Guest:Or Mod, which is the sketch team.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:We were just like, fuck, what are, and we're struggling with like commercials.
Marc:Really, you guys were not making the cut.
Guest:No.
Guest:Correct.
Guest:And so actually inspired in,
Guest:Because we couldn't get on, we created the thing.
Guest:Because we were like, you know what?
Guest:Fuck this.
Guest:We're funny.
Guest:We're going to do this.
Guest:But also, that's what they did.
Marc:I love that you're driven by spite.
Guest:It was like... Spite, spite, spite.
Guest:No, but also, it was also inspired by them.
Guest:And also, it wasn't the UCB4 being like, you can't get on the team.
Guest:It was like other people.
Guest:No, no, of course.
Guest:They're far removed from that.
Guest:They were looking for their own spot, too.
Guest:And that's why they created their thing.
Guest:So we were like...
Marc:Let's just do it.
Guest:We're just gonna do our thing.
Guest:Our friendship on this team and just hanging out, we were like, there's something here.
Guest:This banter is funny and just started making these videos.
Guest:Because we were gonna do characters or we just wanted to make something that wasn't gonna just disappear after the moment you fucking say it.
Guest:But then that turn of being like, imagine if it was about us.
Guest:We were like, what?
Marc:Well, that's very sort of like, you know, first person, experiential, honest, you know, the things that you're talking about that you gravitated towards.
Marc:Right.
Marc:So what were the, how'd you shoot the web series?
Marc:Who had the camera?
Guest:There was this thing, it might still exist, called the Improv Resource Center.
Marc:Oh, really?
Guest:Which was like an old beta site.
Guest:Yeah, like this.
Guest:That black with the green.
Guest:And it was, you could post a few, I'm doing a short film I'm casting, or I'm looking for an improv coach.
Guest:So it was a board.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Mm-hmm.
Guest:mostly UCB kids, and we found this, there's video services.
Guest:And I was like, oh, there's this, our friend Rob is looking to do this.
Guest:So Rob, for the first season, directed most of the episodes.
Guest:Of the web series.
Marc:Of the web series.
Marc:Of the web series.
Marc:How long were they?
Guest:I think 10 of 18.
Marc:So there were 18 total?
Guest:Oh, maybe he did 10 of 18.
Marc:There were 18 total in the web series, and how long were the bits?
Guest:Three to five minutes?
Marc:So they were singular sketches.
Guest:It was like ideas that we, like this, I have the notebook that when we first met, and like I remember one of our first thoughts was like when we were meeting we just wanted to get bacon, egg, and cheeses.
Guest:Best meal, that's our death meal.
Guest:And they wouldn't make them after 11.
Guest:Like we couldn't find a place.
Guest:The sandwich?
Guest:Eggs.
Guest:Just bacon, eggs, and cheese.
Guest:And a New York City deli.
Guest:I mean, they still have these stupid rules as though it's like liquor after noon on Sundays.
Marc:Breakfast ends at 11?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Except on weekends.
Guest:And we were like, what?
Guest:All the eggs explode at 11.01?
Guest:It was like, just conversations like that.
Guest:Make me fucking eggs.
Guest:Right, right, right.
Guest:And we're like, let's just, we'll do like every sketch will be a thing like that.
Guest:And we started like writing shit down and like, we didn't realize that we were creating a world.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But then later after two years of making 35 videos, it was like, shit, like we're, these are all slices of a world of a larger world.
Marc:And where did some of the themes of the Comedy Central show sort of start to happen?
Marc:Like, you know, Bed Bath & Beyond, Oprah Winfrey, you know, your sort of control freakness, your sort of like, you know, like adventurousness and somewhat inspired, what would you call it?
Marc:Stonerness.
Guest:I mean, all based on... I just like it.
Guest:I just like what you're saying.
Guest:I dig what you're laying down, man.
Guest:All those things are based on some sort of seed of one of us.
Guest:My mom worked at Bed Bath & Beyond when I was a kid.
Guest:And so she was friends with all the workers there.
Guest:But I didn't have handshakes with them, but I was like...
Marc:But you knew the world.
Guest:But my roommate, like my other roommate, my mom would send me these coupons.
Marc:Right.
Guest:So I had an envelope of like 50 Bed Bath & Beyond coupons because I couldn't afford to buy shit.
Guest:But I was like, when I can, I will go and buy all the shit I want.
Guest:And I came home from work one day and he was like, so I got rid of your coupons.
Guest:They all expired.
Guest:And I was like...
Guest:They don't expire.
Guest:They don't fucking expire.
Guest:And so we had this Google Doc from when we had made the web series that was this elaborate spreadsheet of conversations, moments, anything that we thought was funny, we would add in this Google Doc that we shared.
Guest:And so...
Marc:So if you're out in your world doing other things, you just kind of post it on, then you'd sit and go through it.
Guest:Yeah, and it's just like, what can't you let go of?
Guest:What keeps cracking you up?
Guest:So who can we give that?
Guest:So my roommate's boyfriend on the show, of course, is gonna throw away the envelope of coupons because he doesn't know the fucking thing.
Guest:And also Hannibal had been in the web series.
Guest:And we kind of pitched the show with him in mind, with Gemberling in mind.
Marc:He's the roommate?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And then all those, oh yeah, John Gemberling plays Bevers.
Guest:But these cells of a spreadsheet started connecting to characters and the world started coming together.
Guest:Also, even just talking to Amy about it, I remember this conversation.
Marc:When did that start to happen?
Guest:Amy was in our finale web series of the web series where we were trying to get.
Marc:But when did you get like, I know you were at the school and you were having issues integrating into these groups.
Marc:But when did Amy Poehler say like reckon with you?
Marc:When did she be like, what are you guys up to?
Marc:How did that happen?
Guest:Didn't.
Guest:We just asked her to be in the finale of the web series.
Guest:We just got in touch with her.
Guest:And it was like, she's never going to say yes to being in it.
Guest:She's not going to be in it.
Marc:How did you get in touch?
Marc:I mean, what did you say?
Guest:Generationally, our teacher had been her student.
Guest:And our teacher, we asked him to, a teacher of ours, a teacher.
Guest:Yeah, who, which one?
Guest:Will Hines.
Guest:And he was gonna direct a webisode and like pulled out last minute and we took our shit so fucking seriously.
Guest:And we were so upset and he was like, he was like, oof, I fucking owe you one.
Guest:And then when it came to it, we were like, hey dog.
Guest:Remember that ting?
Guest:So do you think she'd ever be into it?
Guest:You know, we were like gentle about it.
Guest:We had written a pilot.
Guest:We were like, we're gonna go out and pitch this as a show.
Guest:This was like spring of 2011.
Guest:We were like, we wrote a pilot.
Guest:We're gonna end the web series.
Guest:We're gonna end it with like a bang.
Guest:And that's when we reached out to Amy just to be in the finale of the web series.
Guest:And then we were gonna go that summer out here, try and pitch it.
Guest:But then when we met her, it was like it clicked so hard.
Guest:We had this huge body of work.
Guest:We had the pilot ready.
Guest:She asked about, you guys ever think about this for TV?
Marc:So you weren't even on her radar really until you asked her to be on it.
Guest:When she said yes to be in the web series, she was like, I would love to.
Guest:I've seen it.
Guest:I would love to.
Marc:And we had died.
Guest:We were like, this is fucking crazy.
Marc:We never met her.
Guest:We just saw her.
Marc:Where did you learn that?
Marc:I guess you learned that.
Marc:Do you learn that at UCB that you can write a pilot and go try and sell it in Los Angeles?
Marc:Where did you get that information?
Guest:We had a manager who was...
Marc:Who was that?
Guest:Her name was Sam Safer.
Guest:She was extremely good at motivating us to do shit.
Guest:Encouraging and crystallizing.
Marc:Still with her?
Guest:No.
Marc:So Amy did the last episode and then she was like, what are we doing?
Guest:You know Amy.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Guest:So, you know, she's like, you guys think about this for TV?
Guest:And we're like, we're thinking about it at Rotopilot.
Guest:And you know that little, like, that little lip thing?
Guest:So she's like, thinking about it, doing on it.
Guest:And then we, like, met up after.
Guest:And we had done the, like, edited the episode so fast because we used to have these parties to premiere, like, just premiere parties.
Guest:Two of them.
Guest:I mean, we had, like...
Guest:out of wherever the agency to be like, that was a season we say, you know, and now this is a season we're telling you.
Guest:So we like made these parties where we, uh, have, um, Sarah Schaefer, Hannibal, John Friedman, who were in the, they were, they were in this season.
Guest:So come do standup.
Guest:We'll show, you know, whatever.
Marc:The web series.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Chris Shaw was in the episode.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then for that finale, we were like, we sent Amy the video and we were like, that her, her webisode.
Guest:And we were like, it, it,
Guest:People went nuts.
Guest:Everybody fucking loved it.
Guest:And if we're planning on selling this, we have a pilot.
Guest:If you would ever be available and interested in being attached to produce it, we would love to work with you.
Guest:And we were like, no way, but we have to ask.
Guest:She was doing Parks, The Mighty B. She had just had Abel, her second kid.
Guest:I mean, we didn't think that she was going to do it at all.
Guest:But she did.
Guest:And then she was like, I would love to.
Guest:Let's set a meeting.
Guest:And we were like...
Guest:What the fuck?
Guest:I called Alana and she was like, you were in the middle of nowhere.
Guest:Alana, we had worked at the same job this whole year that Alana on the show works at.
Guest:It was like a Groupon kind of company.
Guest:And Alana quit her job.
Guest:No, you quit when Amy was going to be in the web series.
Marc:Right.
Guest:There was something I knew.
Guest:I mean, I gave them six weeks notice.
Guest:I was really scared.
Guest:And I wanted to save my money.
Guest:But I told you I'm a good girl.
Marc:It was crazy.
Guest:But I was like, I knew it was cumulative.
Marc:It's interesting.
Marc:It's a weird, that moment where you're like, I'm going to be in show business for reals.
Marc:It's a weird moment.
Marc:Because you're taught, even if you have supportive and good parents, they instill this basic sort of need for security.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:They were still like, what are you doing?
Marc:Right.
Marc:Who's Amy Poehler?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They were like, this is exciting, but are you making money on this?
Guest:Even still, yeah.
Guest:Even still, it's like, could have still had that job during...
Marc:Sure, they never let it go.
Marc:Just because they don't... If you're not Seinfeld, they don't get it.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:No one knows.
Marc:I talk to my friends.
Marc:They don't watch.
Marc:It's not for them.
Marc:Right.
Guest:But our parents actually got on board during the web series because it was just like...
Guest:We were also working.
Guest:We had jobs.
Guest:But it was just good, and there was something palpably building there.
Guest:And then with Amy, then they flipped and got it.
Guest:And then so we came out here when we had planned to, but now Amy was in the room with us.
Guest:It was a very different thing.
Marc:With the pilot.
Marc:But when you did those parties or those showcases for the web series, was that primarily an industry type of showcase or just a party?
Marc:No.
Guest:It was just all our friends.
Marc:But did the industry come?
Marc:Nobody.
Marc:So there was no buzz on it.
Guest:So it's not like in LA.
Guest:We tried though.
Marc:No, they come, they come.
Guest:For the web series, we had like list.
Guest:Remember my phone?
Guest:You know how I have everyone's phone numbers?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So when we were doing the web series, we tried to like reach out to people.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And a friend of mine was a casting director for like the Food Network.
Guest:And she was like, I have this list.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so on my phone now, I have like everyone.
Guest:Uh-huh.
Guest:Because I downloaded it, and everyone's phone number.
Guest:In Hollywood.
Guest:We work with Becky now, Dave Becky, but Abby had his number 25 years ago.
Guest:But I didn't know who he was.
Guest:Because she downloaded at least fucking contacts.
Guest:So we tried to invite press.
Guest:We were like, Dave Becky's number.
Marc:From years ago.
Marc:You've been with him a few years?
Guest:No, we're not with him.
Guest:We just know him because of Amy.
Marc:Because you're a free art person.
Guest:No, we don't have a manager.
Guest:We don't have a manager.
Guest:No, like he just produces because of Amy.
Marc:That's what Becky's job is now.
Marc:He gets his name on things.
Guest:Yes, yes, yes.
Guest:He has like one of those fucking like the thing that you brand a cat with.
Guest:Becky has that and he puts it like on the card.
Marc:But you've hung out with him.
Marc:He's an excitable guy.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:He gets like, you guys, hey, what music do you like?
Marc:I know.
Marc:How's my hair?
Guest:I see Thomas Hayden Church when I think of him.
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:But he's a little more amped up than Thomas Hayden.
Marc:Becky's like an excitable puppy sometimes.
Guest:Yeah, it's cool to like not work with him because it's just like, I love you, dude.
Marc:Yeah, you can like him.
Guest:Yeah, it's funny though.
Guest:I can't picture him in New York.
Guest:He's such a like Kelly dude.
Marc:These guys, their job, it took me a long time to understand how show business works and that it's a business.
Marc:And he was pretty slick then.
Marc:I mean, he's loosened up now.
Marc:He was always into music.
Marc:That was always the thing.
Marc:And he was really good friends with a friend of mine who was a music manager.
Marc:And it almost seemed like that was what he was more interested in personally.
Marc:But he never got involved with it.
Marc:So he could still enjoy it.
Guest:He has the look.
Guest:He looks like he should be in music.
Marc:He loves music.
Marc:He's very rock and roll.
Marc:He's a real power pop guy.
Marc:But yeah, he looks slick.
Marc:He had shorter hair.
Marc:He used to quaff it back.
Marc:Oh, my goodness.
Marc:Like back before he earned the right to be casual at all times.
Marc:He had the suits.
Marc:He had everything.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:Becky was pretty slick.
Guest:Oh, man.
Marc:Mm-hmm.
Marc:And then he relaxed back to the state he always wanted to be in.
Marc:Right, right.
Marc:All right, so season three starts this Wednesday.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Ten episodes.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And you've been given the opportunity to work.
Marc:I look at the guest stars.
Marc:I know a lot of these people.
Marc:Seth Morris, I love.
Marc:I love Seth Morris.
Guest:Yeah, he's so funny.
Marc:Sedaris is great.
Marc:Dratch, great.
Marc:Matt Jones is great.
Marc:Janine's great.
Marc:I'm just going to read the list.
Marc:Armisen's great.
Marc:But Bob Balaban.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Holy fuck.
Marc:I mean, to me, it's like, I want to just meet that guy.
Guest:Well, Susie Essman and Bob Balaban are- Well, Susie's great.
Marc:I've known her a million years.
Guest:Susie, as Alana's mom, is, I think, should win some sort of- She should win- She should win awards all the time, Susie Essman.
Guest:But the fact that it's- I don't think there's ever been a better pairing of mother-daughter.
Guest:And we thought about it for years before.
Guest:It's insane.
Guest:We thought about it since the web series.
Marc:It's crazy.
Guest:That was crazy that that materialized, because we thought about her for years.
Marc:Because you watched her on Curb or you saw her do stand-up?
Guest:Yeah, and I'm just like, this bitch is me.
Guest:They just look alike.
Guest:It's just bizarre.
Guest:We're just like so alike.
Marc:Did you ever go see her do stand-up?
Guest:Yeah, she's fucking hysterical.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:She is hysterical.
Guest:And she's now like so, she's like over it, over stand-up.
Marc:I'm like, please.
Guest:She does it still.
Guest:You're taking a break.
Guest:Yeah, but she's like, she's like over it, but I think she'll-
Marc:Well, she's one of those people that had been around forever on the New York comedy scene.
Marc:When you're my generation, which I think I'm a little younger than her, maybe, but when you see people at that point in their career get a break like Kerber, all of a sudden the world gets to meet them, you're like, oh, that's so fucking great.
Guest:Yeah, totally.
Marc:But how was Bob?
Marc:Was he fun?
Guest:He's great.
Guest:He's gentle and...
Guest:so funny yeah and very much just like you know that person that you see yeah he's like funny and interesting he's very interesting like knows a lot of shit like wants to talk about a lot of stuff he's like great on a set he's a great actor he's like one of those people who oh yeah you know how like he's in fucking midnight cowboy because like our you know that he was like he was the guy that john that blows john voight in the bathroom in the theater no yeah
Guest:holy shit i gotta watch oh my god are you kidding yeah i saw that so long ago the guy who didn't have any money oh and he's like are you gonna hurt me my god oh that's bob i gotta watch that again that's yeah no for someone who's been in everything you know our show wow is not like big we don't have like a big production it's like bob's not they don't no one gets a trip there's no trailers there's nothing they work for scale
Guest:And they're like hanging with us while we're like resetting up.
Guest:But they like to work and they like to be part of something fun.
Guest:It just makes me like, oh, like they're, you get to see people, like someone like that.
Guest:He's been in fucking everything and he can just, he's fine with chilling with us.
Marc:But that's the amazing thing about, you know, having the opportunity to do your own show.
Marc:Because I didn't know that either.
Marc:And I've talked, before I did my show, I talked to a lot of people in here, a lot of actors and stuff.
Marc:But when you're actually casting, there's that moment where you're like, that guy would do it?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And yeah, of course, well, they're actors.
Marc:It's crazy, though.
Marc:They hold it to a different place in our mind because we see them in movies.
Marc:But ultimately, depending where they are with their career or what they're doing on a day-to-day basis, they're like, I'd like to work.
Guest:Right.
Marc:And this seems funny.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And they seem fun.
Marc:And they're just, that's their job.
Marc:I know.
Marc:It's just.
Marc:It's mind-blowing to me.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Because when we're casting, I'm like, I love that guy from all those movies.
Marc:We can just have him come in and read for this.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Or just cast him.
Marc:They're like, yeah, yeah, he'll work.
Marc:And I'm like, what?
Marc:Because they're like superheroes to you.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Right.
Marc:It's wild.
Guest:And they're like suddenly your play thing.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:And like willing to do what you say.
Marc:And you can see their genius and they bring to it everything that you want usually.
Marc:That's crazy.
Marc:I do want to say one thing or maybe a couple things.
Marc:Because when I first watched part of the show, when it first came out, I was like, I'm not sure I get this.
Marc:I know they're great, but I'm not sure I get it.
Marc:And then as I watch more, the thing that, you know, it's one of those movies, your shows, you do have to get the hang of it.
Marc:Like there's a groove to it that's specifically yours.
Marc:And it is a little generational for me, but it's comedy.
Marc:So like I had this problem with the Arrested Development too.
Marc:If you don't lock in and sort of like, it's like playing a record a few times.
Marc:Like once you get to...
Marc:In the middle of the first season, you're like, I get the groove.
Guest:I think especially with the pilot into the first season.
Marc:Right, right, right.
Marc:Also, as comedic performers and as something I experienced and I watched other comedic performers, you're not going to get comfortable.
Marc:You're just going to have to take the hit for a few episodes.
Marc:I mean, you know in your mind, like, this is going great, but it's going to get better.
Marc:There's nothing I can do to make that happen any faster other than get comfortable.
Marc:And the more you get comfortable, you're like, no, then you're like, it's golden.
Marc:But the one thing that I thought was amazing is that there's a lot of stuff about New York City.
Marc:And it's really a celebration of New York City as you guys live in it now.
Marc:And there's a lot of stuff that I remember from when I was living there.
Marc:And there's very specific things that somehow or another...
Marc:You know, you've managed to make new again, which is a great testament to the talent of you guys that I'm sitting there like, you know, watching that Washington Square drug bit.
Marc:And I'm like, I know where this is going.
Marc:I'm like, oh, I didn't go where I thought it was.
Marc:I thought you were going to get burned.
Marc:I just immediately thought like she's buying drugs in Washington Square.
Marc:We've all done that.
Marc:And you get home and you're like, this isn't pot.
Marc:But then it like, right.
Marc:Then it goes.
Guest:I didn't even know where you thought it was going to go.
Marc:I thought you were just going to get some bad weed and smoke it anyways.
Marc:And it was like a spice.
Marc:Or just garbage.
Guest:Gotcha.
Guest:Where it was just like a confusion.
Marc:My thought was like, she's going to insist on smoking it anyways and then try to figure out whether you guys are high or not.
Marc:And you just sit there and go, nope.
Marc:But that didn't happen.
Marc:But that just wrote a sketch.
Guest:That's so funny.
Marc:But then when he thought you were selling him, that was a funny turn.
Marc:And there's a lot of that stuff in there where I didn't know exactly how it was going to go.
Marc:And a lot of that comes from using such funny actors, too.
Guest:it's so cool to hear you say that what you just said about the show because you're such a like you're like such a prolific comedian so you watching it and not expecting what is about to happen is like yeah yeah totally god because i was also it's like that's the worst you can watch i know exactly what's gonna do and like i love that though it's like oh that's what you know that's what we hope even if it's a little thing you know but like the weird thing about me is like um
Marc:Like, it's very hard for me to sort of get sketch in general.
Marc:You know, like, if I watch SNL, I'm like, well, what just happened?
Marc:Like, there are these ways that, like, there might not be a joke there, but there's a repetition that becomes funny.
Marc:So, like, I have to contextualize things.
Marc:And a lot of it, you know, even when, you know, the Dog Walker episode and the male...
Marc:thing you know going to that place where it's just that lady like metaphorically and cinematically you know that that emotionally makes sense to me because there's that feeling in there there the idea if you had to ever go pick something up at fedex you know and you're you know in queens you had to go over there by the cemetery yeah it's insane it's like where is it's only during work hours it's insane yeah
Marc:but like all those things because and also because you're drawing from the energy and the possibilities of new york city you know it's it's it must be incredibly exciting to people like who don't have any experience of new york city that you're able to sort of you know and like it's funny because you watch your show and you're like i saw that block on louis show like there's this world of comedians operating with new york as a backdrop that's really a celebration in the city which i always like
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Thank you.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:I just want to say thank you for saying it because I was like, oh, the other thing I want to say that I think is great about the show is that like there's a lot of things that try to overcompensate with with, you know, what they're doing with, you know, with gender and ethnicity and sexuality.
Marc:And you guys come from a generation and are living in New York where that stuff doesn't even need to be addressed.
Marc:It just is.
Marc:Mm hmm.
Marc:And I think that's a great thing.
Marc:And I think that also there's something about, someone brought up that there's the, I don't know, I don't throw around the word feminist or anything else, but there's a sort of comfort to having young women voices that are confident and not afraid to be filthy and sweaty and shitty and farty.
Guest:Well, get ready for season three.
Guest:Because it's a lot of that.
Guest:It's fucking gross.
Guest:Starting right off the bat.
Marc:It's great.
Guest:Fucking gross, yeah.
Marc:But it's important because- We are so farty this season.
Guest:We watched the color of one of the episodes and we looked at each other like, what have we done?
Marc:But you're doing human shit.
Marc:But see, that honesty that we were talking about before, you know, somehow or another, like, you know, for years, for no reason other than cultural identification and sort of like imposed roles that just became what it is, that there was not that dialogue or that world of women that is that fucking, you know, just human and shitty.
Yeah.
Marc:It's good.
Marc:I'm glad you guys are human and shitty.
Marc:Thanks.
Marc:And farty.
Marc:Thanks.
Marc:Sweaty.
Marc:And putting things in your vaginas.
Guest:So sweaty.
Guest:So gnarly.
Guest:You are really talking about holes.
Guest:You're really describing the third season perfectly for us.
Marc:Well, good luck with it.
Marc:Thank you.
Marc:It was a pleasure talking to you.
Guest:This was such a pleasure.
Guest:Thank you for having us.
Guest:Pleasure and an honor.
Marc:that was fun I like them enjoy their show maybe I'll play some guitar let me get it set up
Marc:Boomer Lives!