Episode 734 - Kristen Wiig
Marc:Lock the gate!
Marc:All right, let's do this.
Marc:How are you, what the fuckers?
Marc:What the fuck buddies?
Marc:What the fuck billies?
Marc:What the fuck aristas?
Marc:What the fucking avians?
Marc:What's happening?
Marc:I'm Mark, and this is my show.
Marc:This is WTFPod.com.
Marc:I appreciate you listening.
Marc:Today on the show...
Marc:Kristen Wiig is here in a rare long form interview.
Marc:I was thrilled to meet her.
Marc:I was a little nervous.
Marc:I kind of fly by the seat of my pants sometimes and I only have the assumptions I can make about a person based on whatever anyone else can get.
Marc:I don't know these people.
Marc:I know their work.
Marc:I know whatever information is out there, but I don't know.
Marc:And I'm always almost ninety nine point nine percent pleasantly surprised by somebody when they show up.
Marc:Let me let me get a little business out of the way.
Marc:If I could, I will be in Phoenix.
Marc:Saturday night for two shows.
Marc:We brought that in, man.
Marc:I think it was Thursday, Friday, Saturday originally.
Marc:We brought it in.
Marc:Big room, doing two.
Marc:I think that room seats like 500 people.
Marc:It's stand-up live.
Marc:I'll be there for two shows this Saturday.
Marc:That's the 20th.
Marc:Go to wtfpod.com slash tour.
Marc:I have a lot of other dates coming up.
Marc:Some things might change.
Marc:I have to be honest with you.
Marc:I'll tease that a little bit.
Marc:There might be some exciting news for me.
Marc:Maybe not for you in the short term, but for me in the long term, I believe I will let you know.
Marc:Don't freak out yet.
Marc:Don't know freaking out.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Also, the Carnegie Hall show in New York City on November 4th for the New York Comedy Festival.
Marc:Selling good.
Marc:tickets are flying off of the the the rollers they're flying out of the printer whatever they do they're flying off the they're not flying off the shelves but um I would get them if I were you if you are in New York or you're planning on going to New York for that show at Carnegie Hall on November 4th you can go to carnegiehall.org or you can go um for the Carnegie Hall site or you can go to the New York Comedy Festival uh what is that
Marc:nycomedyfestival.com to get tickets to that.
Marc:Very excited.
Marc:Going to be working out some of that stuff this Saturday in Phoenix.
Marc:I've also got a show coming up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a benefit that I've done before for the Endorphin Power Company.
Marc:It's a rehab, halfway house type of facility.
Marc:I'm doing that September 3rd.
Marc:You can go to...
Marc:wtfpod.com slash tour.
Marc:That's my hometown.
Marc:Going to be there for a few days.
Marc:Looking forward to that.
Marc:Also, I'd like to read an email, if I could, from a listener, if I could.
Marc:Because it touched me.
Marc:You know, I don't do a lot of political commentary on here, though I am a bit worked up at times.
Marc:And usually when I do do it, it's poetically impulsive.
Marc:And some of you may have heard my comments before the Roseanne Barr episode.
Marc:a somewhat aggressively honestly empathetic criticism and understanding of what could make a trump supporter and i got this email subject line compliments politics and boomer hey mark
Marc:Long time listener and fan, I caught your podcast monologue on the Roseanne episode.
Marc:I used to be that guy who would vote for Donald Trump.
Marc:That was something, man.
Marc:I don't think anyone has really captured that feeling, that emotion quite so well.
Marc:For reference, I'm from eastern Kentucky.
Marc:I'm specifically from Hazard, Kentucky.
Marc:Voted the saddest city in the United States in several polls.
Marc:The prescription pill addiction, the hate, the racism, it just spills out of people here.
Marc:They literally hate themselves.
Marc:You brought that shit to life, man.
Marc:It was painful to hear what my family has experienced so clearly and out of the context of my history.
Marc:I just wanted to thank you for that.
Marc:That was fucking profound.
Marc:I've since moved away and remade who I am out of the confines of pill addiction and white powder, but that shit casts a shadow over you for the rest of your life.
Marc:P.S.
Marc:Glad you and Eric Andre made up.
Marc:That was some heartwarming shit.
Marc:Boomer lives.
Marc:That's from Jonathan.
Marc:Thank you, man.
Marc:I I'm always amazed when people get out, they change their life, they clear their minds, but they still have that that darkness inside that never goes away because you're connected to it somehow.
Marc:It's your place of origin.
Marc:Oh, after years and years of mild OCD, it finally paid off.
Marc:I'm proud to report that I I left the house.
Marc:I freaked out.
Marc:Came back to my house, checked the burners.
Marc:One of them was on.
Marc:Thank you.
Marc:One of the burners was on.
Marc:I won.
Marc:It finally, you know, you do something, you commit, you go for years and years, you know, almost insane, repeating the same behavior, expecting different results.
Marc:Insanity.
Marc:But nope, burner was on.
Marc:There's nothing on the burner.
Marc:Probably wouldn't have burned down the house or nothing, but it was on.
Marc:And I feel vindicated.
Marc:Thank you, OCD.
Marc:You had my back on that one.
Marc:I don't know about the other thousand, two thousand times, however many.
Marc:But that time you were there for me and we shut that burner off, didn't we?
Marc:And we left the house.
Marc:I'm talking directly to my OCD right now.
Marc:And we left the house.
Marc:And we got out, and there was a moment there where I'm like, do I need to check them again?
Marc:That was there, but I didn't because I just turned one off.
Marc:I knew that.
Marc:That'll stop you from going back a second time, knowing that you turned one off.
Marc:I'm not suggesting you leave one on just to stop you from going back more than once, but I don't know.
Marc:You get the gist.
Marc:I was down in San Diego last week.
Marc:I went down to San Diego for a couple days to the La Jolla area.
Marc:I went down there with my...
Marc:my girlfriend i you know it's like i'm not apprehensive about calling her that but i mean i'm 52 years old and there's no better word than girlfriend i went down there with the painter sarah kane we went down to the uh to the museum of contemporary art of san diego at la jolla and uh she had a piece in a curated show from their collection and
Marc:And I saw a bunch of art.
Marc:But really what you see down there outside of the beautiful beaches is sea lions and seals.
Marc:Not just a few, not just 20, not just 30, but hundreds of fucking sea lions.
Marc:And they don't give a fuck that you're there.
Marc:You can walk right up to them.
Marc:You can sit next to them.
Marc:You can take pictures of them.
Marc:People are swimming with them.
Marc:They're just cohabitating with humans.
Marc:And the first day you're like, wow, this is fucking insane, man.
Marc:Look at all these pelicans and sea lions and seals.
Marc:They're all over the place.
Marc:This is insane.
Marc:This is amazing.
Marc:This is amazing.
Marc:And then, you know, you look at them later that day.
Marc:You're like, wow, they're still there.
Marc:They just kind of hang out here and sleep.
Marc:And then the next day you realize like, oh, they're not, they're sleeping and they're shitting and there's like, they're stinky.
Marc:And then you just, it starts to wear on you a little bit.
Marc:You're like, what was so amazing to see that many animals that you never see like that, that just let you come right up to them.
Marc:It just becomes this sort of like,
Marc:frightening and intense thing where you're like there's so many and they're just they're just shitting all over the beach but then you think like but this is their beach and we're really the visitors here but then you're like yeah but there's a lot of them and it's weird i'm not suggesting that they need to go somewhere else but the fascination sort of slowly disintegrated into a mild disgust that uh
Marc:The wild is the wild.
Marc:And we are not that.
Marc:And it's nice to be around it for a couple of days.
Marc:But it gets a little intense, man.
Marc:A lot of bird shit.
Marc:A lot of seal shit.
Marc:A lot of sea lion shit.
Marc:A lot of sea lions.
Marc:A lot of disgusting...
Marc:fluids and sliminess but they're so fucking cute that that's the thing that's that's how you look at it that's that's what overrides it it's like it's amazing that they're there it's amazing nature's amazing they're so fucking cute rolling around in their own poop stinking everything up you know spreading bacteria and stuff but they're so cute
Marc:Here's the deal.
Marc:Had a lovely conversation with Kristen Wiig.
Marc:We talked for a long time because I wanted to make sure we talked thoroughly because I like her.
Marc:She's like, seriously, one of the funniest people live right now.
Marc:I don't think anybody will fight me on that.
Marc:She does a voice in the new Seth Rogen movie.
Marc:Seth and Evan and I think Jonah, they all put it, sausage party.
Marc:I watched it.
Marc:I didn't think I would watch it.
Marc:I thought, like, how could this be good?
Marc:And I watched the entire thing.
Marc:It was compelling.
Marc:It was funny.
Marc:It was fun to hear the voices.
Marc:You know, everybody was good.
Marc:And I'll be honest with you.
Marc:I don't want to be a spoiler, but a lot of cartoon characters fuck at the end.
Marc:And, you know, that's my soft spot.
Marc:fucking cartoon characters animation that fucks i don't know i guess it's just growing up with our crumb s clay wilson if you get uh if you get cartoons talking dirty and fucking i'm in i'm in all right listen kristen wig's done a lot of things we're going to talk about some of them so this is me and kristen wig
Marc:You don't do much of this stuff.
Guest:No, I don't.
Marc:So I'm happy you're here.
Guest:I'm happy to be here.
Marc:I've never met you before.
Marc:I just got one sick call.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:That was exciting for me.
Guest:Was it?
Marc:Because I don't know you and you're you.
Marc:And it was one of those classic calls.
Marc:I just can't make it because like literally like you sounded horrible.
Guest:I did.
Marc:And I felt terrible for you.
Guest:When I get sick, I get it in my chest.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Every time.
Marc:You do?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So I apologize that I missed.
Guest:But here I am.
Marc:No, I'm excited about it.
Marc:That was for a different movie even.
Marc:yes it was it was for the ghostbusters movie do you live here i do i live here and then i have a place on the east coast on the east coast that's vague in in on the water in the east coast okay on the water on the east i don't want to secret see so that leaves us a whole coastline yeah so is it above like virginia yes oh it's up oh yeah up there yeah like a beach house i'm from the northeast i know where where exactly
Guest:Uh, well, I was born in Canandaigua.
Marc:Canandaigua?
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Uh, which is a Finger Lake town.
Marc:Really?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And in, it's like upstate New York?
Guest:Upstate New York, yeah.
Marc:A little scary sometimes up there, right?
Guest:I mean, I guess if you walk through the woods and topless.
Marc:But you know.
Guest:Um, screaming.
Guest:Here I am.
Guest:I'm dizzy.
Guest:Um, I don't know.
Guest:I never found it scary when I lived there, but I guess.
Marc:But were you in the woods?
Yeah.
Guest:No.
Guest:We lived on the lake.
Marc:Oh, really?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:We lived a block away from the lake.
Guest:My dad owned a marina on the lake.
Marc:He ran the boat racket?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Rented boats?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It was like a marina.
Guest:Fancy word for gas station for boats.
Marc:So did you grow up in boats?
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, I did.
Guest:And then after that, he worked for another boating company.
Marc:So he was a boat guy.
Guest:He's a boat guy.
Marc:And when you were a little kid, you could start a boat?
Guest:Yeah, I went to sailing camp.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Could you pull it off now?
Marc:Like if someone put you on a sailboat?
Guest:Yeah, I just went not too long ago.
Marc:really yeah did by yourself no no no i like the small boats like sailing big boats is kind of uh scary right yeah it's scary i like just a little like sunfishes or sailfish you can do that by yourself right yeah you can do that by yourself and you just go out with this and you can manage it that's impressive well is it yeah it's an amazing skill did you ever think i love it yeah yeah i do it's relaxing oh yeah being out on the water and do you do it in the ocean
Guest:I do it like Martha's Vineyard and ponds.
Marc:But ocean's scary, right?
Guest:Yeah, I'm not into that.
Marc:Right?
Marc:In general?
Guest:Yeah, there's sharks and stuff.
Guest:No, that makes me sweaty.
Guest:I don't like that.
Guest:I like lakes and ponds where I know nothing.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Nothing too bad can go wrong.
Marc:I don't like not being able to see the bottom of water.
Guest:Me neither.
Marc:It's horrible.
Guest:No, even in like swimming pools.
Marc:I know.
Marc:At night, not going to happen.
Guest:In swimming pools at night, no.
Marc:I'm not going in.
Guest:I'm the same way.
Guest:I've never met anyone.
Guest:I'm so afraid of being in a pool.
Guest:But you see one movie where like something comes out of the drain and you're like, it can happen.
Guest:I can't.
Guest:It's all connected.
Marc:It is.
Marc:It is.
Marc:I can't look at water without picturing something beyond massive.
Marc:I know.
Marc:Coming out of it.
Guest:I know.
Guest:I just went water skiing and I fell.
Guest:And so I was waiting for the boat to come around and I'm just by myself.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And I just imagined.
Marc:Bad things.
Marc:Creatures.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Not even a shark.
Marc:Not real creatures.
Guest:Made up creatures.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Me too.
Marc:Like I was down in La Jolla and just, but mine are always like so big and
Marc:Like as big as a building.
Marc:Oh.
Marc:Coming out.
Marc:The little ones scare me too, but I have this horrible fantasy that there's something much larger than we've ever... But if it's that big and it eats you, you'd probably be alive in the stomach for a while.
Marc:Sure.
Guest:Which might...
Marc:There might be other people there.
Guest:There might be other people.
Guest:That might be the future.
Marc:If it's that big.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:You don't know what's going on in there.
Marc:That's the gift.
Marc:That might be the salvation.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So you're upstate New York.
Marc:You're a little girl on boats.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And your father's running.
Marc:There's men around hanging out at the marina.
Marc:Guys, like boat guys.
Guest:I guess.
Marc:I'm just trying to picture.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That wasn't lascivious in any way.
Marc:I'm just trying to picture the universe of you walking into your dad's shop.
Marc:And they're like, oh, there's Joe.
Marc:Oh.
Guest:Well, I was very young.
Guest:I think we moved from there when I was three.
Marc:So you didn't know Joe at the marina?
Guest:No.
Guest:Joe is long since gone.
Guest:No, but then we moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and he worked for Trojan Yacht, which is a boat company.
Marc:Is that fancy?
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:I don't know if they're still around.
Marc:What did he do for them?
Guest:He was in sales.
Marc:Selling yachts.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, he had an office and stuff.
Marc:What'd your mom do?
Marc:What was your mom?
Marc:She was a boat wife.
Guest:She would just dance in the kitchen.
Guest:She's done a lot of different things.
Guest:Maybe that's where I get it from.
Guest:She was...
Marc:The characters?
Guest:No, I just mean like wanting to do different things and moving on from things quickly.
Guest:She was an interior decorator for a little while.
Guest:She worked in a jewelry store for a long time.
Guest:She worked for Special Olympics for a long time.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Is she funny?
Guest:Like in a mom way.
Marc:Like, yeah.
Guest:Like, I don't think she's going to, you know, grab the mic anytime soon.
Marc:She's not witty?
Guest:No.
Guest:Did your gum just fall out?
Marc:That was my nicotine lozenge.
Marc:I'm so glad that was my tooth.
Marc:That would have been bad.
Marc:I got to go.
Marc:I'm bleeding.
Marc:That's never happened yet.
Guest:They just keep falling out one by one.
Guest:I don't know what's happening.
Guest:This is so embarrassing.
Marc:I'm so sorry.
Guest:That's okay.
Guest:It is tooth colored, though.
Guest:If it ever falls out again, you have to let people know it's gum.
Marc:Right.
Marc:It's a lozenge.
Guest:Okay, it's a lozenge.
Marc:No, and that'd be sad if I just insisted on continuing, but I was whispering really bad.
Guest:And it was your tooth, and you put it back in.
Marc:It happens.
Marc:They said they fixed it.
Marc:Oh, man.
Marc:It's funny.
Marc:It is funny.
Marc:So she's funny in a mom's way.
Marc:Now, do you have siblings?
Guest:I'm just trying to... I have a brother.
Marc:How's he doing?
Guest:I have an older brother.
Guest:Older?
Guest:Yes.
Guest:He's actually mentally handicapped.
Guest:So in some ways, I refer to him as my younger brother because he's not able to live by himself.
Marc:And did you... That must be... I guess not...
Marc:I guess it must be difficult, but there must be a sensitivity to that.
Marc:It must have been challenging growing up like that.
Guest:Yeah, I think you go through different phases of it.
Guest:When you're really young, you don't know that anything's wrong.
Guest:And then you're a kid, and then you go through the like, get out of my room.
Guest:And then...
Guest:You know, we've always been very, very close and he's the sweetest person.
Guest:I mean, he is like, and what I meant by younger brother is he does have a mentality of like a six, seven year old.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But he's the most positive.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He's a walking lesson for me.
Marc:It's like because he stays in that place.
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, and he's not affected by certain things.
Guest:He's very like, I'm hungry, so I'm going to eat.
Guest:Or I want to watch TV.
Guest:And it's very... He doesn't think about how he looks or is perceived or anything.
Guest:It's interesting to watch sometimes.
Marc:Does he feel... Have you had to be protective of him in your life?
Guest:Yeah, when you're younger, you definitely have to.
Guest:For sure, yeah.
Guest:Because...
Guest:the neighborhood yeah right but he was very horrible kids very well liked in my neighborhood does he watch your movies some of them he doesn't quite understand because i you know we're a sitcom generation so we grew up yeah he thinks those families are real are real and they live in like he thinks the tanners from full house live in san francisco and they just live in this big house and they're still there so i think when i got into the
Guest:Business, I think.
Guest:There was a little, like, wait, what?
Guest:Like, he knows of actors, but he thinks everyone lives in Hollywood.
Marc:Right.
Guest:All together.
Marc:Right.
Marc:In different homes that there's cameras in all the time.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Marc:So he's wrestling with the possibility of that illusion shattering because of your job, in a way.
Guest:Well, he knows...
Guest:He knows about actors, but he also thinks the characters are real people.
Marc:Sure.
Guest:So with me, it's easy because he knows me, but yeah.
Marc:Does he say like, you know, you were a different person, like it was funny what you did as that person, or does he just see you as you usually?
Guest:I think he just...
Guest:sees me as me yeah but i mean like i remember one time we were picking something up at the drugstore and we were paying for something and he was just like he said to the lady behind the counter he's like she was in bridesmaids like really loud i was like okay i was like that's okay like oh cool so she is proud and he knew proud it's really surprised you he's the sweetest on earth
Marc:So both your folks are still around?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:That's nice.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Mine too.
Guest:Great.
Marc:I'm starting to say it with a good tone, because sometimes I'm like, yeah, they're still plugging along.
Guest:Yeah, parents.
Marc:All right, so you go to Lancaster.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And are you a problem child?
Guest:Did you read that I was?
Marc:No.
Marc:There's not a lot out there on you.
Marc:There's some.
Guest:I know, because I don't talk about myself.
Marc:You're not even on the social networking platforms.
Guest:No.
Marc:Good for you.
Guest:I'd like to use this opportunity to say, if anyone's following me, you're not following me.
Marc:That is not the real Kristen Wiig.
Guest:That's not me.
Marc:Does that piss you off?
Guest:it did in the beginning because you freaked out like who's pretending to be it's never like what it is or even like a tabloid story it's just knowing that people believe it right is the part that's that's frustrating because people think they really are following me and the people who are saying they're me sometimes they're saying really right dumb wrong things and don't you wonder who the fuck does that
Guest:No, I don't care.
Marc:Oh, good.
Marc:You have pretty good control of your mental environment.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You don't sit there and go like, oh, that's the key to life.
Guest:It is.
Guest:Control over your mental environment.
Guest:I like that.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Did you always have it?
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:No, I mean, I don't know.
Guest:It's a hard question to answer.
Marc:Well, yeah, we obviously were more expanded when we were younger.
Marc:Yeah, of course not.
Marc:It's a fucking disaster being young and confused.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So you're, no, I didn't read you were a problem kid, but like in Pennsylvania, I can't picture Lancaster.
Marc:Is it dark?
Guest:No, it was very, it's like Amish town.
Guest:It's beautiful, actually.
Guest:It's changed a lot now, but it was riding bikes by cornfields.
Marc:And you see wagon people.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Otherwise known as wagon people.
Yeah.
Marc:I just made that up.
Marc:I don't know why.
Guest:I've never heard that.
Marc:I don't think it existed before just now.
Marc:But you know what I'm talking about.
Guest:I do.
Guest:Amish.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But I don't mean it as a slang thing.
Marc:No, I know you don't.
Guest:Aren't there Mennonites here?
Guest:But they would wear, I mean, they would ride in wagons.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And they seem nice.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Did you go buy their jellies?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Sure.
Guest:Sure.
Marc:They're around.
Guest:They do keep to themselves.
Guest:It's not like.
Marc:No, I know.
Marc:I know.
Guest:It's like Orthodox Jews.
Guest:They have their own.
Marc:Less frightening.
Yeah.
Marc:I can say that because I'm, you know, one of them.
Marc:A Jew.
Marc:No, I see them in Philadelphia.
Marc:You go to the market.
Guest:The farmer's market, yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:The farmer's market or what's that one downtown?
Guest:Oh, yes.
Guest:What's it called?
Guest:Something Street Market, right?
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:And they got the good sandwiches.
Guest:Oh, it's so good.
Guest:The Knicks roast pork sandwiches.
Marc:But there's one whole area that's the Amish people making pancakes.
Guest:Pretzels.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Baked goods, like donuts right there in front of you.
Marc:You see him pour the sugar on it.
Marc:How fucking, sorry.
Guest:How great is that?
Marc:There's nothing better than that, really, if you think about it.
Marc:Because I'm at an age now where I'm trying to figure out what the point of everything is.
Marc:And when you break it right down, eating like a fresh donut, why can't it all be like that?
Guest:It can be.
Marc:Really?
Guest:How do you feel after you eat the donut?
Marc:That's not, if you keep eating, I'm saying if you could keep eating them without whatever reflection.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But that's part of it.
Guest:That's why.
Marc:I'm having a fantasy.
Marc:I'm not, this is not real.
Guest:Oh, I thought you were really trying to figure out.
Marc:To support eating donuts constantly.
Guest:I thought you were trying to get to like the meaning of love.
Marc:I am.
Marc:Do you have it?
Marc:I don't feel great about eating donuts after.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Well, then there's something to that.
Marc:Sure.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:I should limit my donut intake.
Guest:You have to think of things, the consequences of things.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Right.
Guest:How am I going to feel?
Guest:That's how I make my decisions.
Guest:How am I going to feel after I hang up the phone and say yes?
Guest:Or if I say no, how am I going to feel?
Marc:You think that while it's happening?
Guest:I think before I have to make a decision, I think that, yeah.
Marc:How do you usually do?
Guest:Pretty good.
Guest:Yeah?
Guest:I mean, I think if you... Oh, it's so gross.
Guest:What?
Guest:Just go with your gut.
Marc:Man, you can trust your gut?
Guest:Yeah, you have to.
Guest:It's all you have.
Marc:My gut has made some shitty decisions out of neediness and desperation.
God.
Guest:Or you could argue there's no such thing as shitty decisions, that you needed to go through that horrible relationship or turn down that street.
Marc:That's right.
Marc:As wife goes on, I realize that you really have no choice but to think that way.
Guest:Yeah, what else are you going to do?
Marc:Just beat the shit out of yourself.
Marc:That's the option.
Marc:Yeah, how much do you have invested in that?
Marc:All right, so there you are.
Marc:You're not an actress.
Marc:You're a child in Lancaster.
Mm-hmm.
Marc:And when do you start thinking like, maybe I'm gonna be hilarious.
Guest:Well, I never thought that.
Guest:I mean, I don't know.
Guest:I think it's a normal thing to perform in front of the mirror and pretend you're on stage when you're in the shower and use the curtain as the curtain for the stage.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:That's not great.
Marc:Did you have people over for that?
Guest:Yeah, like friends.
Guest:Oh, yeah?
Marc:You put on a show?
Guest:Yeah, but a couple people here and there.
Guest:It wasn't like I invited the whole town.
Marc:No flyers.
Guest:No, no flyers.
Guest:But I was always fascinated with it, but I think every kid is, so I don't know.
Guest:It just seemed like a different world, like when you would look at those magazines.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:What did they have back then?
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Teeny Bop pages.
Guest:Teen Beat.
Guest:Teen Beat.
Guest:Not Teeny Bop pages.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, they just look like people from another...
Guest:L.A.
Guest:was far away.
Guest:There was no way to get there.
Guest:It was like there was a wall around it.
Guest:I didn't know what it was, and I was fascinated by it.
Guest:You were.
Guest:In love with, you know.
Marc:Who?
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:Jason Bateman.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Ricky Schroeder, Kirk Cameron.
Marc:Oh.
Marc:Jason Bateman.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Marc:He's an interesting fella.
Guest:I love him.
Guest:I've worked with him a few times.
Guest:And the first time I worked with him, I was like, I don't want to tell you how much I know about you.
Marc:From those magazines?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I watched two of your movies in a row.
Guest:Which one's?
Marc:The good ones.
Guest:The only two good ones.
Marc:No.
Marc:I watched Skeleton Twins and Welcome to Me.
Guest:Oh, cool.
Marc:Which I liked.
Guest:Thank you.
Marc:A lot.
Guest:Thank you.
Marc:I cried at both of those movies.
Guest:Those are two very special movies.
Marc:They're special movies.
Marc:You should be proud of them.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Thank you.
Guest:I am.
Marc:Thank you.
Marc:Good work.
Guest:Thanks.
Marc:I actually watched the Sausage Festival.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Sausage Party.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I've seen Bridesmaids and I've seen a lot of your movies here and there.
Marc:And then you pop up in movies like Martian, right?
Marc:What was that deal like?
Guest:It was so fun.
Marc:I think it's a pretty funny movie.
Guest:Matt is so funny in that movie.
Marc:He's astounding as an actor, really.
Guest:He's one of our greatest.
Marc:There's no doubt.
Guest:Yeah, and the nicest.
Marc:Is he?
Guest:Yes.
Marc:He seems like a decent person.
Guest:He's just great.
Marc:He's such a pro.
Marc:His range is, every time I see him, I'm like...
Marc:this guy's the best he's and he's so when he gets to do comedic stuff i just i want more yeah yeah in anything you like seeing him the oceans movie so good how many times did you did you see uh the behind the candelabra yes oh my god i can't not watch that movie you can't not watch it if it's not like it was on i kept watching it i'd just pick it up wherever it came on who are you talking to mumbles
Marc:they were both so they were both so good together it was so oh and that shot at the end when he's in bed and he's sick and they made him look so skinny yeah and he just gives him a ring oh yeah yeah so what happens you you go to high school and are you confused just about life
Guest:yeah where do you have i my i moved from lancaster to to rochester new york in eighth grade yeah because my parents split up and my mom was from rochester and i did a bunch because my grandma lives there and she moved back there and uh they thought it was a good idea for me to go there because i was hanging out with some you know
Marc:Bad people?
Marc:Kids.
Marc:Really?
Guest:Yeah, I love it.
Marc:How old were you?
Guest:14?
Guest:Yeah, let's see.
Guest:Well, beginning of eighth grade.
Guest:How old are you?
Marc:I don't know.
Guest:I don't either.
Marc:You getting in trouble, though?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Like with what?
Marc:Dudes?
Guest:No, just like... Booze?
Guest:Yeah, not so much booze then, but sneaking out, like cops, like prank phone calls, vandalizing.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:What kind of vandalizing?
Marc:Eggs?
Eggs?
Guest:Eggs, like breaking things.
Guest:Sure, yeah.
Guest:I think it was because we were all sort of like this gang of kids.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Her parents were divorced.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:We sort of like found family in each other.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:And we're just kind of like, I don't know.
Guest:Fuck it.
Guest:Yeah, a little.
Marc:Let's do it.
Marc:Tear it up.
Guest:I think so.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I know what you're talking about.
Guest:Didn't care about school.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I think, you know, I was like mad.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Let's teach the world a lesson.
Guest:It wasn't so much like that.
Guest:But just, like, it'd be fun.
Guest:And, like, you'd get away with stuff.
Guest:And, like, sneaking out was, like, my favorite thing to do.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:It's exciting.
Guest:To jump out of, like, the window, climb down the roof, get in the tree.
Guest:And your friends are sort of like, come on.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And the moon is out.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:What should we do?
Guest:It's all quiet.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Did you steal cars?
Guest:No, I wasn't that bad.
Marc:Did you drive, though?
Marc:Eighth grade, you didn't take your mom's car enough and do any of the driving, underage driving?
Marc:That's exciting.
Guest:No, not so much.
Marc:Just ran around?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, with a bag of stuff?
Guest:Yeah, like older kids and like, you know, starting with like the drinking and the smoking cigarettes.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Did you smoke cigarettes?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:For a long time?
Guest:I mean, on and off.
Guest:Like I started when I was young.
Marc:Yeah, 14 for me.
Guest:Yeah, on and off around that time.
Marc:Right.
Guest:And then high school, just like you did because everybody did.
Guest:How great were they?
Guest:And then college and then on and off.
Guest:But I'm not a smoker anymore.
Marc:Not anymore.
Marc:Was it a struggle?
Marc:Did it just go away?
Guest:No, it wasn't.
Marc:I still do the nicotine.
Guest:Yeah, I really believe if you don't want to quit smoking, you're not going to.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You're like, I have to.
Guest:It's really hard.
Guest:I think you really have to say, I don't like it.
Marc:And also it gets to the point where you're just stupid.
Marc:You get to a certain age where you're like, this is dumb.
Guest:Yeah, like what are you doing?
Guest:You're not winning.
Marc:You're not getting nothing from it.
Marc:And you just keep doing it.
Marc:And you wake up and your lungs hurt.
Guest:But I love doing it.
Guest:Oh, it's so good.
Guest:Holding it, the lighting it.
Guest:I mean, come on.
Guest:There's some great, it's why it's so addictive, yeah.
Marc:It's so good.
Guest:So fun.
Guest:But it's not good.
Marc:All right, so you go to Rochester.
Guest:Go to Rochester, yeah.
Guest:Loved high school.
Marc:Yeah?
Guest:Yeah, I loved it.
Marc:Were you performing?
Marc:Plays?
Guest:No.
Marc:Nothing.
Guest:I didn't do... I mean, I think I was a munchkin in The Wizard of Oz.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Like the largest munchkin?
Guest:No, I was like... I stood in the background, basically.
Guest:It was like a high school production.
Guest:It was like the kids who didn't get the part got to be in The Munchkins.
Guest:That's why they do Wizard of Oz.
Marc:They had no idea what your capabilities were.
Guest:But I didn't really try.
Guest:My mom is an artist, and I had always... What kind?
Guest:She does a lot of pen and ink, and now she does painting.
Guest:Really?
Guest:A lot of pencil drawing.
Guest:So I really got into that, and I was really into art in high school.
Guest:Visual art?
Guest:Yeah, and I was going to do that in college.
Guest:I majored in it.
Marc:In college?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Painting?
Yeah.
Guest:Drawing.
Marc:Oh, yeah?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Do you still draw?
Guest:I do.
Guest:Yeah, I do.
Marc:That's nice.
Guest:Yeah, not as much as I, I don't want to say should, but as much as I'd like to.
Marc:Yeah, pressure yourself to get that drawing done.
Guest:Yeah, then they're really good.
Marc:Then you have fun.
Guest:You spend a lot of time.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:What do you do, like pictures of people?
Guest:Oh.
Guest:Well, I used to do, yeah, very realistic.
Marc:Oh, yeah?
Guest:So it takes time.
Guest:A lot of times from like photos and stuff.
Guest:And I wouldn't get up until I finished it.
Guest:Like I couldn't do it and then come back later.
Guest:I would just sit for seven hours and do it.
Guest:And then I found myself not doing it as much because I knew, because I'm so hard on myself.
Guest:And like if it didn't look exactly like it, I'd get like frustrated.
Guest:So then I just started doing like weird geometric things.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Like mathematical reading about math and art.
Guest:And I got into that phase for a little bit.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Just to take the pressure off of capturing someone's nose.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it's very meditative and you can just sit with like a graph.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:You know.
Marc:And you did a lot of those.
Guest:Yeah, I do that a lot.
Marc:Is there going to be a show of your work?
Guest:I have always wanted to do that.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:I wonder if I would do it maybe under like a different name or something.
Marc:How much do you have at all?
Guest:Yeah, I have a lot of ideas for things, for like the more linear stuff, but the actual drawing drawings, I have a few, yeah.
Marc:What's a few?
Marc:Like are we talking like Speed Freak level?
Guest:No.
Marc:Like hundreds?
Guest:No, no.
Guest:The last one I really liked I gave away, and then I draw for friends sometimes as like a gift.
Guest:Oh.
Guest:You know?
Marc:Small ones?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:That's nice.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So you're going to be an artist of some kind.
Guest:Or like an art teacher is kind of what I thought.
Marc:Huh.
Guest:Because I was like, how do you make money if you're just an artist?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Maybe I just teach.
Marc:I date a painter.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:It's a tough world.
Guest:It's hard.
Marc:She's good, though.
Marc:She's doing all right.
Guest:That's good.
Marc:Big paintings.
Guest:Oh, that's great.
Marc:Yeah, it's a whole different world.
Marc:It's very exciting to be with somebody in a whole different world.
Guest:Isn't it great?
Marc:No talking about show business.
Yeah.
Marc:but they end up talking about it a little bit anyway a little but she's like completely detached from it but it's interesting when you see somebody that has a talent that you just don't know where it comes from it's like what what is that that's like that's so great it's yeah it's awe it's just you just go over to the studio and you're like what what's going on where did that come from did i have anything to do with that
Guest:is that me it is me she did one a very chaotic one of me so when did the art dream shift when did it die didn't die you still do no it didn't die um i think you actually went to college for i did yeah um i went to a very small school um in virginia for a year and then didn't uh jive with that why what happened
Guest:Just not the place for me.
Guest:It was really small and I was really, you know, having fun.
Guest:I was having fun.
Guest:Boozing it up.
Guest:Yeah, you know, doing all that stuff.
Guest:And so after that, I was like, I need to take time and like figure out like who I am.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know, I was 20, 20, 21.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So you went one year of college and you're like, I got to take a break.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Figure this shit out.
Guest:So then I went to Mexico for three months.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:By yourself?
Guest:I went with a group of people.
Guest:It was like, it was through Knowles.
Guest:Do you know what that is?
Guest:It's like outward bound.
Marc:Oh, really?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Were you sentenced to it?
Guest:No.
Marc:No.
Guest:I wasn't.
Marc:It wasn't like sort of like, she's a problem.
Guest:No.
Guest:No.
Guest:A friend of mine did it.
Guest:She did like a two week.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I think she went to Patagonia for two weeks.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And...
Guest:And I just wanted... I don't know.
Guest:Why do we make these decisions?
Guest:At the time, you know where you're supposed to go.
Marc:Were you climbing mountains?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, we hiked and sailed and kayaked.
Marc:I always picture swinging from a rope somewhere.
Marc:No, there's no... No rope bridges?
Guest:No.
Guest:It wasn't like a... I'll get your shit together trip.
Guest:No, it was just like live outside and learn how to be in nature.
Marc:Did you take ayahuasca?
Guest:No, I don't even know if that was around.
Guest:I mean, I'm sure it's been around for, what, 7,000 years.
Marc:It's been around a long time, but it's gotten popular now with a certain class of person.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:No, we didn't mess with that.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Creative sort of like middle-aged people are now seeing it as a practical therapy for blasting your brain out and then deciding that you feel better about things.
Yeah.
Guest:Hey, if it works.
Marc:You haven't tried it?
Guest:I haven't.
Guest:I don't know what would open up if I did that.
Marc:Are you afraid?
Guest:I think I would be a little afraid that something would like shift in me and change and I would never be the same person in a bad way.
Marc:But it's weird because you seem to take a lot of kind of strange, vulnerable risks in characters that you do in your performing.
Marc:Like there's some part of your approach to doing what you do that makes me go like, oh, it's so open and I'm squirmy.
Marc:Do you feel that when you're doing it?
Guest:I think when projects come around and there's something in there that is going to be scary or like challenging, I like that.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Because I don't.
Guest:I don't find joy in repeating myself.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Even characters?
Guest:It depends.
Guest:I mean, like SNL for me, it was, you know, if you had a character that, you know, they wanted you to do again.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it's scary because, of course, you're like, okay, well, I want it to be just as good.
Guest:And the intro of a person is always the most exciting for me.
Guest:And then just topping it but not making it the same sketch was such a challenge.
Guest:But I liked that.
Guest:But you also know when it's time.
Marc:You do.
Guest:To hang up the...
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Wig.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:After that, you know, you can only repeat it when it becomes sort of a sort of exercise in, you know, catchphrases or something.
Guest:You want to leave it on a high note.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:We did so many characters, but we're not there yet.
Marc:We're in Mexico.
Guest:We're in Mexico.
Guest:So you come back from Mexico.
Guest:Come back to Mexico.
Guest:A changed woman.
Guest:Changed woman.
Guest:No.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then I just took classes at home at, like, local community college in art.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And then... No inkling of being a hilarious actress.
Guest:No.
Guest:Nothing.
Huh.
Guest:No.
Guest:And then I went to the University of Arizona...
Marc:I know that place.
Guest:Is that in Tucson?
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Because I was dating someone that was like, let's go there.
Guest:And I was like, okay.
Guest:Because I wanted to go out west.
Guest:I wanted to go to California.
Guest:But we broke up and I went anyway.
Guest:Oh, before?
Guest:I was like, I'm going.
Guest:But I went for like summer school in like one semester.
Guest:And I was like, I don't think.
Marc:Too big?
Yeah.
Guest:I wasn't, I was supposed to be there.
Guest:It was a good art program in a way.
Guest:Some parts of it I didn't love, but I just felt like I wasn't, you know how it is when you go somewhere and you're like, I'm not supposed to be here.
Guest:But when you know, it was a very fast decision because I took an acting class
Guest:Because it was part of the, the major was like studio art, that's what it was called, which was like three separate, you could kind of pick like drawing.
Marc:So it was like an elective thing, like you could try it.
Guest:Well, studio art was your major, but then you'd have to pick like, you want drawing, sculpture, performance art, which were the three that I took.
Guest:And I had to take, it was either like acting 101 or something else, and I was...
Guest:I was hesitant to take it because I'm not a performer in my head.
Guest:I hated speaking in front of the class.
Guest:I would miss it if I could.
Guest:I failed classes.
Guest:Terrified?
Guest:Yeah, just terrified.
Guest:Terrified.
Guest:And I still have this a little bit.
Guest:When I'm myself and have to speak in front of a group, I am not...
Guest:I haven't honed that skill.
Guest:I'm not great at it.
Guest:When I'm in the shower and I'm having a conversation, like if I pretend I'm with people, I'm fine.
Guest:But I get...
Guest:I get in my head when I'm telling a story in front of people.
Guest:Like, where is the story going?
Guest:What are they looking at?
Guest:Is my mouth crooked?
Guest:What am I saying?
Guest:How do I end this?
Guest:I get in my head a little bit.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And I've just never been in the spotlight.
Guest:I just never liked it.
Marc:Shy and terrified.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Not socially.
Guest:Socially, I wasn't shy.
Marc:Were you popular socially?
Guest:Um...
Guest:I guess.
Guest:I mean, that's always weird to say.
Marc:No, but wait, like, were you a leader person?
Guest:I wasn't a leader.
Marc:But were you, like, arty?
Guest:I was arty on the side, you know, in the art classes.
Guest:So you had the secret friends?
Guest:But then I would take, yeah, exactly.
Guest:kind of but not in like a not in like a breakfast club kind of way but like um yeah I just had different you know upstate New York was very like sort of preppy people would go to the yacht club or like the country club or like they would go down to the lake and those were like that's what I did and um
Marc:So you kind of just went along with it.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But then in art school.
Guest:But then I would go home and listen to New Order and The Smiths.
Marc:You were a closet goth girl?
Guest:Yeah, I got into it more after high school.
Guest:I kind of embraced my, it wasn't goth so much, but not conforming to fashion and coloring my hair and piercing things.
Marc:Radical.
Marc:What'd you pierce?
Guest:Well, I pierced my nose and a few in my ear and my belly button and my tongue.
Marc:You did all of that?
Guest:Yes.
Marc:And they're all gone now?
Guest:They're all gone.
Guest:I have a little one up here at the top of my ear.
Guest:Actually, I got that one in New York when I was on SNL.
Marc:Oh, so that was a more recent piercing.
Guest:That's a more recent one.
Marc:No, never throw the tongue post in?
Guest:No, that closes up after like an hour.
Guest:It's like an alien.
Marc:So you're all pierced up but no tats?
Guest:No, I had tats.
Guest:Yeah, I've got three.
Guest:And one of them I'm in the process of removing.
Guest:And that's the one I got at that time.
Marc:Oh, yeah?
Marc:Where is it?
Guest:It's so ugly.
Guest:Where do you think?
Guest:It's just.
Marc:On your lower back?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, it's not lower lower back.
Guest:I try to say it's not a tramp stamp.
Guest:I'm like, it's higher than a tramp stamp.
Guest:It's a little higher.
Uh-huh.
Marc:Is that the last remaining one?
Guest:No, then I have a tiny little X right here.
Guest:And then I've got like a little script on my ribs.
Marc:A script?
Marc:Like words.
Marc:What do you got there?
Guest:I don't want to say it.
Marc:Why?
Guest:Because, I don't know.
Marc:Private?
Marc:Just between you and whoever sees that part of your body?
Guest:It's like, hey there, this is my skin.
Guest:That's what it says?
Guest:No.
Guest:But in beautiful old English.
Guest:So it looks like it's a poem.
Guest:That's the big secret.
Guest:What are you looking at?
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Yeah, so.
Guest:You can keep that to yourself.
Guest:I'm getting the back one removed.
Marc:What was it?
Guest:It was, well, I might as well just say what it was.
Guest:It's so embarrassing.
Guest:It's on its way out.
Guest:The first, first it was a little like kind of black sort of sun with a little Leo thing in the middle.
Guest:And I'm not into astrology.
Marc:But you're a Leo.
Guest:But I'm a Leo.
Guest:So I thought, and my friend was getting one.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Is what happened.
Guest:So I was like, yeah, cool.
Guest:I'll get, I'll get that.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And then I moved to LA and I was like, I don't want to do, I don't want this anymore.
Guest:I'm going to change it.
Guest:I'm going to make it into an OM symbol.
Yeah.
Marc:Oh, yeah, the Aum.
Guest:So it was an Aum because then I got really into like meditation.
Guest:I went to India and I was into that whole thing.
Guest:And then I added vines on the side.
Marc:Vines on the side of the Aum.
Marc:So this is a growing thing.
Marc:It was a malignant tattoo.
Guest:And now it's bigger.
Marc:Yeah, it just keeps getting bigger.
Guest:And then I was almost going to cover it up a few years ago.
Guest:And I was like, no, it needs to.
Guest:I don't want this on my body.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:When I'm older, it's like, oh, no.
Marc:So they're taking it off now.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Skin grafts.
Guest:It's not fun.
Marc:All right.
Marc:There you go.
Marc:So I guess you do have one or two regrets.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But you never know.
Guest:I may meet someone really interesting when I go to get it the next session to get it removed.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:All right.
Marc:So you're being Artie.
Marc:You're listening to the Smiths.
Marc:You're getting tattoos.
Marc:You got a lot of piercings.
Marc:And now you take this acting class.
Guest:Yeah, take the acting class.
Marc:Because I feel like now we're at the moment.
Guest:Now we're done, right?
Marc:No.
Marc:This is all going to cut down to like eight minutes.
Guest:You're just gonna cut to the... No, I don't.
Guest:Me saying drugs.
Guest:Oh, yeah, so I took the class, and I really liked it, and my teacher was very encouraging.
Guest:He was just like, have you ever thought of doing this?
Guest:Maybe you should, and I was like, no, I've never thought of it.
Guest:I mean, in my sleep, sometimes I imagine that I'm in the movies or something, but everybody does sometimes.
Yeah.
Guest:Um, so I was there, I was finishing up, and...
Guest:I got a job that I didn't want, and I just had one of those moments where I was like, what am I doing?
Marc:What job?
Guest:I got a job at a plastic surgeon's office to do computer, like Photoshop basically, on people's faces to do like the after, like after they had the surgery.
Marc:What they would look like?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Which I didn't really have quite the experience for that.
Guest:I mean, I'd studied some of that in school, but, like, I didn't.
Marc:What the fuck was that about?
Marc:Like, why that job?
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:Was it satisfying somehow?
Guest:It was, like, paid well, I guess.
Marc:But you didn't get off on it?
Marc:Like, you know, like, this is exciting.
Guest:No, I never started it.
Guest:I got the job.
Marc:Oh.
Guest:I found out I got the job, and then I was in my friend's apartment.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I was staying there.
Guest:It's like one of those things when after you say yes to something that you don't want to say yes to, you get hot and sweaty and panicked.
Guest:And you're like, what did I just commit to?
Guest:And I had that moment where I was like, what am I doing?
Guest:I live in Tucson.
Guest:I'm by myself.
Guest:I don't want to do this for a living.
Guest:What am I doing?
Guest:And so I...
Guest:I remember this so specifically.
Guest:I went into the bathroom, and this is true if you're ever trying to decide something.
Guest:If you look in the mirror and ask yourself a question, you can't lie.
Guest:I went in the bathroom and I looked in the mirror and I was like, okay, what do you want to do?
Guest:And it just came out, I want to move to LA and I want to try acting.
Guest:This is such a weird story, but I guess I'll just tell it.
Guest:So I was a little shocked that that came out.
Guest:And I was like, okay, I've never been to L.A.
Guest:My roommate lives there, but that's the only connection that I have.
Guest:I don't have any experience.
Guest:I don't even know where to go or how do you get into acting.
Marc:Yeah, it's daunting.
Guest:And so I got in my car and I went to this bookstore.
Guest:And because I like to go to bookstores, like clear my head and look at pictures and read.
Guest:And there was a sign that was like psychic Mike or whatever.
Guest:I think his name was Mike the psychic or whatever.
Guest:And it was like a dollar a minute.
Marc:That's trustable.
Marc:Mike the psychic.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I think at this point, I don't think I'd ever seen a psychic before.
Marc:Anyway, something you did more of.
Guest:I did it a few times, but it's not something that I do.
Guest:I'm not into it.
Marc:Psychic Mike.
Guest:Psychic Mike.
Guest:And I was like, all right, I'll do 10 minutes or $10.
Guest:So I went in and I sat with this guy.
Guest:Because it was just one of those things where I was like, all right, well, this is happening.
Guest:And I felt so wandering and lost a little bit.
Guest:I didn't know what I wanted to do.
Guest:So I went and saw him.
Guest:And he was like, do you have a piece of jewelry I can hold?
Guest:And I was like, sure.
Guest:And I took a ring off.
Guest:And he was holding it.
Guest:You didn't take your tongue post out?
Guest:No, I didn't.
Guest:So he was holding my ring.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And he looked at me and he was like, what are you doing in Tucson?
Guest:He's like, you don't want to be here.
Guest:He's like, why aren't you in L.A.?
Guest:You should have been there like years ago.
Guest:It was so weird.
Guest:And I was like, okay.
Guest:What else?
Guest:Mike.
Guest:And I've never had an experience like that or since.
Guest:And I was like, and he's like, have you thought about going?
Guest:And I was like, yeah.
Guest:I don't know if he was just reading my mind.
Guest:I don't know what it was, but it was a very...
Guest:profound moment for me because i was like yeah i don't know whatever happened to him um so i went home and i called my roommate in la and i was like i'm coming to la tomorrow um but that was quick but i'm not telling my parents and i'm dropping out of school can i come stay with you and she was like yeah sure so i packed up all my shit that day
Guest:The next day, I went to the vet because I had to get drugs for my cat so I could drug her and have her in the car.
Guest:Drove to LA, got lost, went to that diner on Sunset, I think it's called Duke's or something?
Marc:Duke's, yeah.
Guest:And I felt weird because I'm close with my parents and I talk to them often, especially when you're awake.
Guest:Oh, you're being bad.
Guest:And I didn't tell them that I was there or anything.
Guest:And as far as they knew, I was still in Arizona just like studying art and just like,
Guest:Living in Tucson.
Guest:And I was like, okay, what do I do?
Guest:Like, how do I tell my parents?
Guest:And my friend's mom was like, why don't you sign up for like a class or something and tell them like, you know, I'm in this class, like I'm doing something or I got in, whatever.
Guest:So I went to like Lee Strasberg or something.
Guest:And like had my interview in quotes.
Guest:And then...
Guest:started taking classes there and i called my parents i called my mom and she was very supportive she was a little worried yeah how i was gonna like support myself right all that stuff but she was like i think because she knew i was not really happy my dad was more like what the fuck are you doing yeah
Guest:Like, what are you doing?
Guest:And like, do you know?
Guest:And you get a lot of like, do you know how hard it is to make it in that business and the numbers and the, which comes from love.
Marc:They're concerned, but they were letting you go to art school.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But if I had a child that did that, I would, I would be, I would be concerned.
Marc:That's usually the only reason they're freaked out.
Guest:But when you're in your twenties, you take that as them not being supportive and get angry.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I just, I got a job at this place in Beverly Hills called the Hollywood hot dog company.
Guest:nice it was like a cute little restaurant where they sold like gourmet hot dogs it was like in beverly hills did you have to wear an outfit no but i do remember the rumor starting back in rochester that i like lost it a little bit and moved to la because a psychic told me to and i have a hot dog stand nice that was the rumor and i was like it's a restaurant
Marc:It's a very... It's sort of like an interesting yet harmless rumor.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:It's not like, man, she's fucked up.
Guest:I'm like, I didn't go because this... It was a lot of explaining.
Marc:All right, so there you are at the hot dog place doing some method work at the Lee Strasberg Institute.
Guest:And I just started...
Guest:working little odd jobs in LA and didn't have an agent.
Guest:I wouldn't say I gave up, but once I moved there I was like, oh, this city is full of people who have experience and take classes and have headshots and have agents and know people and I knew nobody.
Marc:Depressing in a way.
Guest:Yeah, so I just worked and I got a job at Anthropologie on the promenade.
Marc:That's nice.
Guest:And I just, like, worked there for a while.
Guest:My best friend in Arizona ended up moving here.
Guest:Introduced me to these guys.
Guest:I ended up doing, like, interior painting for, like, in people's homes.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:Marbling?
Guest:Like, stencil stuff.
Guest:Marbling, stenciling.
Guest:So basically, like, it could be wallpaper, but these people had a lot of money, so they wanted it painted.
Marc:And you had art experience.
Guest:So I got to do that.
Guest:And the reason I'm telling that story is because Richard, the guy I'm still friends with,
Guest:He one day was like, I just saw a show at the Groundlings.
Guest:Have you ever heard of it?
Guest:And I was like, no.
Guest:And he said, I thought of you the whole time.
Guest:You have to go check it out.
Guest:It's improv.
Guest:And I had no idea what improv was or anything.
Guest:I knew what sketch comedy was because I was a huge SNL fan.
Marc:You were as a kid.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Who was your favorite performers?
Guest:Phil Hartman was like my absolute favorite.
Marc:You loved SNL.
Guest:I did, yeah.
Marc:Never thought you'd be on it.
Guest:No, I don't think anyone ever does.
Guest:I think that's why it's so... It's such a crazy experience.
Guest:It seems like such an unattainable goal.
Marc:So he tells you about the Groundlings.
Guest:Yeah, and I go see a show and...
Guest:It was like the opposite of Arizona.
Guest:It was like when you know you're in the right place.
Guest:I was like, oh, I was supposed to find this theater.
Guest:I've never done improv in my life, but I want to do it.
Guest:And it didn't seem like...
Guest:It didn't seem as intimidating to me as acting.
Guest:Because with acting, you have the script.
Guest:In some way, there's a right and a wrong way to do it.
Guest:There's a critique involved.
Guest:Either you're good or you're not.
Guest:I felt like I didn't have experience.
Guest:So I was insecure in my acting abilities.
Guest:And improv was like, so you just make up stuff?
Guest:And you can be different characters?
Guest:And I...
Guest:I started taking classes there.
Guest:I auditioned for an improv group separate from there and got in and started doing shows.
Guest:And I just, I loved it so much.
Guest:And I would just work during the day at like restaurants.
Guest:It was probably the best, besides my SNL years, it was the best five, six years of my life.
Marc:Who was on the show that you first saw?
Marc:Anybody?
Marc:Anybody?
Guest:uh you mean when he went to the groundlings that first time oh yeah i remember jennifer coolidge um uh holly mandel brian palermo mike hitchcock i think mike mcdonald was there um patrick bristow i knew and then i started going more when it was like the will forte mia rudolph um i just missed will ferrell and that whole group there um
Guest:So many people.
Guest:And it was like my life.
Guest:I loved it.
Guest:And you get such a family away from home.
Guest:And you get so close to each other because you're all scared and taking risks in front of each other and writing and putting things up that you write for the first time.
Marc:It's a group.
Marc:So how many years did you take classes?
Guest:God, I can't remember.
Guest:I did like the first three levels and then I took a little time off.
Guest:To go to India?
Guest:Yeah, that's when I went to India.
Guest:So I'm like, what am I doing with my life?
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:After three years of Groundlings?
Guest:Yeah, because you had to wait in between some of the levels.
Guest:It could be like a year and a half.
Marc:Really?
Guest:Yeah, so that's when a lot of people do other shows or write stuff.
Marc:And you just hit the wall spiritually?
Guest:Yeah, I was trying to figure out all that stuff.
Marc:And how did you do it?
Guest:Well, we never really figure it out.
Guest:Yeah, I went to India for three months.
Marc:Just out of nowhere?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Why were you compelled?
Guest:I was learning a lot about different religions.
Guest:I became obsessed with reading about the origins of religions.
Marc:You were God shopping?
Guest:I wasn't looking for a new one.
Guest:I was wondering why.
Marc:Did you have one in place?
Guest:Well, I grew up in a Christian.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Like my parents were Christian and Episcopalian.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So I just was like, okay, I'm Christian.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then I got to the age, I guess, where I was like, well...
Guest:when people ask me what I am, like, why do I say that?
Guest:What does that mean?
Guest:And if someone said, why are you Christian?
Guest:I wouldn't know what to say.
Guest:So I just got, I don't know, I think there's that age in your 20s when you start reading about, like, stuff like that.
Marc:I just drank, did blow, smoked a lot of weed.
Guest:Yeah, I smoked a lot of weed and drank and was like, who am I?
Guest:But it was partly because I was feeling, I was wondering if acting was a selfish thing.
Guest:career because it felt that way to me because i wasn't sure about the other side of it and i was putting all my time into it and putting on these shows and i just didn't know if i should be like giving back somehow or like volunteering or doing something else with my life you grew up with that idea of charity i don't know i think it came when i started
Guest:acting was the first thing that I put everything into and I knew it's what I was supposed to be doing.
Guest:And so I think whenever you commit to something so hard, the moment you do it, you step back and you're like, all right, well, do I?
Guest:What are the pros?
Guest:What are the cons?
Guest:I'm sure it's like that with relationships and with a lot of things instead of just like, I think it's rare to like dive in and then just be like, I'm good.
Marc:But selfish is sort of specific.
Guest:Maybe selfish was the wrong word.
Marc:I don't know if it is because I wrote down before I got out here after watching a lot of your work that I wrote down self-centered characters.
Guest:Really?
Guest:That's interesting.
Marc:It is interesting.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Definitely welcome to me for sure.
Guest:And skeleton twins.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Bridesmaids.
Marc:A little bit.
Guest:A little bit.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Some of the SNL characters that you created.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:I never had thought about it before how character work really involves its own.
Marc:In order for a character to be defined, especially in a comedic sense, there's a lot of self-involvement to them.
Right.
Guest:Totally, because they are always unaware that they're the character in the room.
Guest:An SNL character never goes, oh, wait, everyone's looking at me because I'm wearing a weird jacket.
Guest:They just kind of say, I'm here, this is who I am, I'm going to talk this way and deal with it, and that's what's funny.
Marc:Self-involved, yeah.
Guest:In that you're watching this person.
Marc:Right.
Guest:And that's very interesting that you pointed that out.
Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, I don't because I, you know, the way I think about things and, you know, knowing you were coming over and knowing that, you know, I knew certain stuff that you've done and then kind of like having to fill my head with you because that's the way I do it.
Marc:And then to sort of like go about my day and clean my litter box and sort of think about Kristen Wiig.
Marc:and think about the characters because I'm a relatively self-centered person.
Marc:And I have a great deal of more empathy for people who are sort of pathologically self-centered because I connect with them.
Marc:But so it's interesting to me that your apprehension was selfishness in a way.
Guest:Yeah, and I don't...
Guest:I mean, that's a whole other question of like, yeah, like where characters come from and do you find things in yourself or do you notice, are you hyper aware of those traits in other people because you don't have them or is it a combination of, I don't really know what it is.
Marc:You don't.
Guest:No, I don't know.
Marc:Well, when you come back from India, after you've done your soul searching, and you've traveled the country, and you've seen all of the colors, and it's exciting, what did you come back with?
Guest:Well, the trip was long, and it was hard, and traveling through India by yourself as a female is difficult.
Guest:And this was, what, I don't know, a long time ago.
Guest:And I definitely knew that it's...
Guest:you realize it's a big world and there are people who don't have things that we take for granted.
Guest:Whatever you do, it's all about intention.
Guest:And that if you're going to be
Guest:There's nothing wrong with being an actor.
Guest:There's nothing selfish about it.
Guest:If I'm on SNL, I could look at it as like, oh, but I'm making people laugh.
Guest:And isn't that a gift for someone?
Guest:And I think, I do think everything's about intention.
Marc:So you reconciled it.
Guest:Yeah, but I needed to because I didn't want to just put it in the back of my brain and ignore it and just say like, okay, well, I'm getting jobs, so...
Marc:Right, you didn't want to be just ambitious.
Guest:I wanted to know why I was doing what I was doing.
Guest:Sure, right.
Guest:And for it to feel right.
Guest:And meaningful.
Guest:Because it was such a commitment.
Guest:And like, it's everything.
Guest:And I wasn't doing anything else.
Guest:I wasn't like, I didn't finish school.
Marc:But the joy of it and the creativity of it.
Guest:I loved it.
Marc:And the community of it wasn't enough for you to know.
Marc:It wasn't just some sort of...
Marc:job you were gunning for?
Guest:It was at the time because that sort of felt like the elementary school part of it.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And then in the growlings you sort of feel like as you're working more and then maybe you get an agent and you start auditioning.
Guest:You're in like high school.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then like...
Guest:Then when you sort of graduate, you're like, okay, well, what job am I going to get?
Guest:Like, how am I going to take what I learned and do what I want to do?
Guest:Because I do what I do because I like it.
Guest:And I'm not, it's not about like, I mean, I don't know.
Guest:It sounds so weird to be like, it's not about the money.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:but it was really not for me.
Guest:I'm glad that I get paid to do what I do, but I always say when I'm on my deathbed, I'm not gonna be thinking about the movies I did or my IMDb page.
Guest:It's not gonna be about that.
Guest:It's gonna be about the people around me and the life that I lived and how did I do.
Guest:Because I think happiness is sort of underrated nowadays as a goal.
Marc:I like okayness.
Marc:Happiness comes and goes.
Guest:It does.
Guest:But it's nice when you get it.
Marc:If you can acknowledge it.
Marc:Oh, it's happening.
Marc:Look, I'm right here.
Guest:I think you do.
Guest:I think you do.
Marc:I'm getting better at it.
Marc:It's very uncomfortable for me.
Guest:To be happy?
Yeah.
Marc:Then what happens?
Guest:That's what I suffer from.
Guest:That's exactly what it is.
Guest:When things are great is when I'm the most nervous.
Guest:It's like the rug being pulled out from under me syndrome or whatever you call it.
Marc:Can't stay at this level.
Guest:I, that's me.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:More in relationships than in career.
Marc:Right.
Guest:Um, because career just changes so much and it's so like, this is always a new challenge in a way.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And you can, you can start your day over anytime.
Marc:And with relationships, the challenge is how am I going to stay in this?
Guest:No, for me, it's that like once I'm happy, I'm like, okay, this is when I worry that it's going to go away because it's great.
Marc:Does that happen?
Guest:No, I mean, relationships end, sure.
Guest:I think that just comes from...
Guest:I don't know.
Marc:You can't track it?
Marc:Divorce related?
Guest:I think it's divorce related.
Guest:I think if you think your life is great and something horrible happens out of the blue, you get, you're like, oh, okay, I need eyes on the back of my head and the side and the top and underneath.
Guest:Or that was a lie.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And you're like, okay, so if things are great.
Guest:then the next thing's gonna come, but I'm much better at it now.
Guest:I'm much more of like.
Marc:We're grown ups, you get grown up.
Guest:Yeah, and I heard that saying I was telling someone, I forget who said it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:if you constantly worry that the worst thing is gonna happen and then it does, you've lived it twice.
Guest:Which is good because I've, yeah, I've said in the past like two years, I've had the shift in that where I'm much more zen about stuff and like,
Marc:I think we do that, the sort of negative fantasizing to protect ourselves from disappointment and rejection.
Marc:If you imagine the worst thing, anything above that, it's sort of like, yeah, that wasn't so horrible.
Marc:But why do you got to put yourself through that?
Guest:And we, I think we associate worry with self-care, you know?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like if you worry, or if you worry about someone else, it's that you care about them.
Guest:But really it's,
Guest:It's not.
Marc:It's not.
Marc:It's just like, how is it going to affect you?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it stops the flow of things, I guess.
Marc:Well, yeah, it gets you out of yourself in a weird way.
Marc:It's like using a bunch of other stuff just to make yourself feel better in some weird way.
Marc:Like worry is like this.
Marc:It's just impotent.
Marc:You know, this attempt at control of things.
Marc:It's nothing.
Marc:I mean, it can be useful.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:If you're concerned about something, there's action to be taken.
Marc:But if you're just sitting there going, I wonder if my cat's happy.
Guest:But it's filling something else.
Guest:Because if you ask yourself, okay, if I didn't worry, what would I feel?
Guest:Then you get into the real shit.
Marc:Yeah, exactly.
Marc:You're avoiding something else.
Marc:Yeah, I got some work to do.
Guest:Yeah, I'll do.
Marc:I'm very impressed that you challenged yourself on that level to to sort of like wonder whether or not you were you were being a well-rounded and decent person in light of being consumed with this drive to do this thing.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I think that's a it's a nice, mature kind of sensitive and thoughtful thing to do.
Guest:Well, I think you have to ask yourself, like, why you do stuff?
Guest:Because we know what we like and what we want to do.
Guest:And for me, and this business is so up and down.
Guest:It's crazy.
Guest:You do have to remind yourself why you're in it a lot.
Guest:And I do...
Guest:love the acting part of it and the writing part of it and the performing with other people and playing off other people I love it yeah because you're in it and it's alive and it's like exciting yeah but it's stressful it's stressful yeah even even acting like I just shot something not too long ago and I was like so nervous because I'm always nervous on the first day yeah and I was like why do I put myself through this every time like I'm fucking nervous why do I do this why aren't I just home and then your head goes and then you do it and it's fine you're like okay
Marc:Well, where is it coming from?
Marc:Like, I'm going to disappoint them.
Marc:I'm not going to do it right.
Marc:Or like, I don't know how to do this.
Marc:What is the fear?
Guest:I don't know how to do this.
Marc:Right.
Guest:Yeah, it's all of it.
Guest:Like, it's not going to be what they want.
Guest:Right, right.
Guest:Or I'm not going to challenge myself.
Guest:Or I'm going to fall back on the things I normally do.
Guest:And I'm not going to take risks.
Guest:I mean, you could.
Marc:Have you ever had that happen, though?
Marc:Where you show up to do something and it's not right.
Marc:And you have to.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, for sure.
Marc:Make adjustments.
Guest:Oh, all the time.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I rarely leave a set going, well, I nailed that.
Guest:What's next?
Marc:Which is good because I. But do you rely on yourself or have people come up to you and said that, yeah, you're not.
Guest:and hitting it?
Guest:You know, it's like when you do the show, it's like you feel... There's always like a gauge, you know, and you feel like, okay, I'm in the groove.
Guest:Right.
Guest:I'm having an off day.
Marc:Right.
Guest:And sometimes you just have to let it be.
Marc:Yeah, you just have to let it be.
Guest:And you don't know.
Guest:And sometimes that's the thing that's on screen.
Guest:And then maybe people say you suck or that wasn't good.
Marc:A lot of times they don't know.
Guest:Or they don't know.
Guest:But you think they know.
Guest:You think everybody knows.
Marc:And you got to just keep your mouth shut, right?
Guest:And you just have to say you thought it was fine.
Yeah.
Guest:Nope, I don't need another take.
Guest:That was good.
Marc:But you do know like, and I don't have as much certainly experience as you outside of like standup, but in acting where like I felt myself getting better and you definitely know in a scene when something beats out right.
Guest:Yeah, you know.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:You know.
Marc:And like, you know, it took me a long time because like I'm not the type of comedian that you are to know what I could do physically to make something funny.
Marc:Like I had to be very aware of it and then ease into it and let it happen.
Marc:And I imagine that's what you got in the years of improv-ing.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:That, you know, the whole thing just becomes, you know, one sort of, you're very connected to the funniness in your fingers.
Guest:Yeah, but it's still fleeting.
Guest:I mean, it's not something I think you discover and you hold on to.
Marc:So how did SNL happen?
Guest:I was at the Groundlings and I was in the main company.
Guest:I think I was only in there for like a couple months.
Marc:So you knew that SNL was a possibility because that happens at the Groundlings.
Marc:So at this point, you must know that you're going to be seen for it.
Guest:As far as them coming to see the show, yes, you knew that would happen.
Guest:My manager made my demo reel and sent it to the show.
Guest:And Lindsay Shookus, who still works at SNL, who I owe my career to, and who I just saw last night, she saw my tape and I had my audition.
Guest:They flew me out to New York.
Marc:What characters are on the tape?
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:Well, I auditioned twice, so I'm trying to remember the first time.
Guest:Target Lady was on there.
Marc:So that's an old one.
Marc:That's a Groundlings character?
Guest:That's a Groundlings one.
Guest:Aunt Linda, she was like a movie critic on Update.
Guest:She was on there.
Guest:People that you never saw on the show.
Guest:A few impressions.
Guest:I just tried to like...
Guest:And show my range of voice.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I think a lot.
Guest:So I tried to do like different accents.
Marc:That was the first reel.
Guest:That was the first audition.
Marc:Okay.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So they flew me to New York.
Guest:Never been more nervous in my life.
Marc:Sure.
Guest:Because I don't do stand up.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But you know how to be in front of a crowd now.
Yeah.
Guest:I do, but that talking to the audience thing is something I didn't do a lot.
Guest:If I was in character, I could monologue for 20 minutes.
Guest:But because I was... Improvise.
Guest:Yes, exactly.
Guest:Because I didn't know...
Guest:I didn't know if it was funny.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:You know, with stand-up, if you have a thing that works and then you go do it somewhere else, you kind of know.
Guest:I didn't know because these were just little kind of like bits from scenes or I'd write new things for the characters because it was just a little taste of it.
Marc:But you put them up.
Guest:Yeah, but it was in the context of the scene and I had the costume.
Guest:And this was like a lady who worked at Target.
Guest:And I'm like, okay, if they don't think this voice is funny, then I don't know where to go.
Yeah.
Guest:So I heard like it's five minutes, like no more than five, which I took as like at five minutes they were going to turn all the lights off and everyone was going to go home.
Guest:So I bought a stopwatch when I got to New York and I practiced and I tried to get it like exactly five minutes in my room.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:auditioned, it felt actually good.
Guest:In the studio.
Guest:Yeah, I felt good.
Guest:Lauren was there.
Marc:Seth, who was there?
Guest:Tina, Mike Shoemaker, Paula Pell, Marcy Klein, I can't remember who else was there.
Marc:Kind of a tough crowd.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And you can't really see because it's dark and like you're it's very, you know, it's SNL.
Guest:It's like you're walking into a huge church and giving a sermon to people that you don't that have never seen you before and have their arms crossed.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So I did that.
Guest:And then I never heard anything.
Guest:I heard like.
Guest:They did tell me I was going to meet with Lauren.
Guest:And I knew Forte and I knew Sudeikis.
Guest:And they were like, oh my God, if you're going to meet with Lauren, that's it.
Guest:He meets you and then that's the meeting when he tells you you're hired.
Guest:And then this is amazing.
Guest:So in my mind, I was like, okay, well, great.
Guest:I guess I'm getting the job.
Guest:And I go to meet with him and I'm sitting in his office and I'm nervous and he's talking about Chevy Chase or something.
Guest:And then he's like, you know, we don't have room for you right now.
Guest:And I was like...
Guest:Okay.
Guest:And he proceeded to talk and I didn't really like hear anything and I didn't want to cry.
Guest:And I was like, okay.
Guest:And I was talking to Lindsay about this last night.
Guest:She's like, I remember walking you downstairs and you were like, okay, well, thank you.
Guest:It's cool.
Guest:I got to meet him.
Guest:I got to see his office and stuff in his fish tank.
Guest:And thank you.
Guest:And then that was it.
Guest:Did you cry?
Marc:No.
Guest:I did cry.
Guest:Yeah, I cried, but it also felt like, okay, if that wasn't meant to be my path, like, it's great.
Guest:And then, like, I want to say a month and a half later, I got a call from them again saying, we want you to audition again.
Guest:And in my mind, I was like, oh, my God, I did everything I had in that five minutes.
Guest:Like, I don't have anything else.
Yeah.
Guest:And so they said, you know, if you have any more, like anything else, you can repeat some stuff, but new stuff would be great.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:And so I went out and then I auditioned again and I felt great about it.
Guest:And, you know, some of the people came in my room after and said it was great and funny.
Guest:And I was like, okay.
Guest:And then the season started.
Guest:I went back to LA and the season started and I was like, well...
Guest:I'm not on the show.
Guest:Because I'm watching it.
Guest:Because I'm watching it.
Guest:So I guess I didn't get it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then after the...
Guest:third show, they called me and they said, you're hired.
Guest:We want you to come out, just the fourth show, watch it.
Guest:And then you start that next week.
Guest:So I was like, I had to leave on like a Wednesday and it was like the weekend or something.
Guest:So I had to like pack up my life and I was like, okay, I'm on SNL.
Guest:It was, I've never been more nervous, intimidated,
Guest:I was scared.
Guest:I'd never lived in New York City before.
Guest:I'd been there for the audition and I was just like, where do I live?
Guest:How do I get around?
Guest:And it just kind of started.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Where did you live?
Guest:I called a friend of mine I went to high school with, and I said, where do I live?
Guest:I don't know the areas.
Guest:He's like, well, I've lived on the Upper West Side.
Guest:I was like, great.
Guest:I'll live there.
Guest:So I did.
Guest:I had a great little apartment, and then I moved downtown after I got to know the city.
Marc:And who was there?
Marc:Who did you walk into?
Guest:Oh, let's see.
Guest:Amy, Tina, Maya, Rachel Dratch, Chris Parnell, Forte.
Guest:But after that first year, a lot of people left.
Guest:Tina, Rachel, Maya, Horatio, Parnell.
Marc:So a whole new crew.
Marc:Now you're a veteran.
Guest:Yeah, you're forced to just like...
Guest:but you were working right away right i mean you were you were on you were doing bits you weren't like you know on the sidelines you know like yeah i mean it's it's it's such a weird uh there's no science to it i think no i mean you write sketches and hopefully you get them on i i got something on the first show yeah um that i wrote with uh jason yeah and uh
Guest:It just kind of started from there.
Marc:And you were like a worker, man.
Marc:I mean, you did a lot of shit.
Guest:I loved it.
Guest:Writing night was very daunting because you'd come in at 3 or 4 in the afternoon.
Guest:You'd leave at 5 in the morning.
Guest:And you'd know you'd have to have 3 or 4 things written that you would have to read in front of a large group of people.
Guest:And people were still figuring you out and deciding about you.
Marc:The writers.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And he didn't know.
Guest:I was like, okay, well, this worked at Groundlings.
Guest:I don't know if this is going to work.
Guest:You don't know if any of your stuff is going to work.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Working with improv and writing sketches at Groundlings is different than the machine of SNL.
Guest:Well, these are people that have never seen you before.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So if you start talking in a voice, they're either going to not laugh or think it's funny.
Guest:And you had to wait for the decision.
Guest:I mean, I enjoyed trying new things and it was I got stuff on.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Now, this is happening post my resolution with Lorne Michaels, so I don't have the same weird obsessive intensity around him that I did previous.
Marc:Oh, you did?
Marc:Yeah, it drained my listeners.
Marc:And then Lorne agreed to let me interview him.
Guest:Yes, I did hear that.
Guest:I haven't heard his show, but I heard he did do a show.
Marc:Yes, well, the whole first 20 minutes is me walking through that meeting and getting some closure around what I thought happened and what he thought happened.
Guest:And what really happened?
Guest:Do you feel better?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Good.
Marc:I feel better about him.
Guest:Good.
Marc:I don't know that I would have been right for the show or anything, but I did get a sense of him.
Marc:He's a guy who works at a building and he loves it.
Guest:He loves it.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:He breathes it.
Marc:No, it's amazing.
Marc:Magnetic.
Marc:It doesn't matter how much money or how powerful he is.
Marc:He's like there in it.
Guest:He just has to put on a good show every Saturday.
Guest:It's all he cares about.
Marc:He loves it.
Marc:And you love him?
Guest:I love him more than anything.
Guest:We have a very... He's like family to me.
Guest:I love him.
Marc:Do you talk to him frequently?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:We get together and have dinner and text and stuff.
Marc:Oh, yeah?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Oh, that's sweet.
Guest:Yeah, he's...
Marc:When you do movies and make choices, do you ask him for advice?
Guest:I mean, we talk about things when we see each other and whatever he gives me as far as advice I listen to.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But when you decide to do a movie that, because he's a big movie guy, right?
Marc:So when you choose to do a movie like Welcome to My World or something that seems more challenging...
Guest:I don't think he knew about that one.
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:Slip that by him?
Guest:I mean, we don't talk like before the project.
Marc:You don't say like, I'm having trouble making a decision or like, do you think this would not happen?
Marc:No, no.
Marc:He trusts you.
Guest:Yeah, I think.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I think with that's such a personal thing, like picking a.
Marc:movie to do you have to kind of only listen to those two movies like to me you know and i've seen some of the bigger movies and i've seen some of the movies that you've had smaller parts in but like these were big movies for you and they were odd movies and they're dark movies and you know i didn't like i didn't see either of them when they were out just because i don't do a lot and i don't go to a lot and you know i don't you know i love hater and i love you you know i i don't
Marc:I loved seeing Joanna Gleason.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:And Hater is just so good.
Marc:Hater's great.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:He's from another planet.
Guest:He is.
Guest:He's a genius.
Marc:Kind of is, right?
Guest:Yeah, I know he really legitimately is.
Marc:But he's a genius, but he's a decent guy genius.
Marc:He's not a genius.
Marc:You're sitting there going like, well, I don't know if I'd want to hang out with him.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Guest:He can kind of do anything, and he's like one of the best actors I've ever worked with.
Marc:Yeah, he's a worker.
Marc:Like, he'll work.
Marc:Like, you know, he's got a fucking...
Marc:discipline to him.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Right?
Guest:Because he cares about it.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But I imagine you do too.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, you have to.
Marc:Right.
Marc:To do characters that are big but not inhuman.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:There's a balance, right?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But so my point was that these movies for me, because I know they're dark movies, which are hard sell, but I love that Welcome to Me movie.
Guest:Thanks.
Marc:That's so out there, man.
Guest:It was really out there.
Marc:I mean, really out there.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:My friend Elliot wrote the script and it was just like one of the best things I'd ever read and-
Guest:you know there's something about reading a script and like getting a movie together you know this one had the director but you know getting financing and like casting it and scheduling and where we're shooting and it's so it's so hard but it's so when you were you involved in that were your producer yes oh yeah it's crazy
Guest:It's so hard.
Marc:Stay in budget and shit?
Guest:Oh, and there's just so many little things that can go wrong and do go wrong, and you just have to plug up the dam.
Marc:Did you shoot it in Palm Desert?
Guest:We shot a little bit there, but mostly in L.A.
Marc:The thing I liked about it was that there was moments here where I'm like, this would completely be an amazing public access show.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Or an infomercial.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And it became something... It was almost like beyond what sketch can do, but in the same world.
Marc:Does that make sense?
Marc:Totally.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, she's a...
Guest:character in a way, and like you were saying before, how we were describing characters as a person who's like the one that everyone's looking at in the room, that's definitely that character, partly because she wanted it to be that way.
Marc:It was part of her pathology.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:And like this idea that I was talking about, about these self-centered characters, and you thinking about that, where do you think that comes from?
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:I don't know if you could say all of them are.
Marc:I do... No, no, no.
Marc:But I'm just saying like Target Lady, Gilly.
Guest:I would say Target Lady's more like in her own world and that she's so happy to be working there and that all she cares about.
Guest:And...
Guest:Yes, occasionally she'll, like, run off and leave the person there.
Guest:But it's because it's, like, it's very joy-based.
Marc:Sure.
Guest:Like, she's just someone who's just, like, obsessed with being there.
Marc:Yeah, and I don't think it's a negative thing.
Guest:Yeah, no, no, no.
Guest:But, I mean, definitely, for sure.
Guest:And it's funny because the Aunt Linda character is based off someone that I knew.
Guest:And Penelope is based off someone that I knew.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:I think what it illustrates to me, and I don't want to interrupt you.
Guest:No, I don't have anything else.
Marc:Was even some of the impression, like, you know, some of the, the impersonations that you did reveal that about celebrity and public people in general.
Marc:I think that's some sort of bizarre gift that you have is that it's innate in you to find this, like this weird kind of self-contained, uh,
Marc:you know it's it's it's it's freakish but it's what's funny like whether it's like michelle bachman or any of them or the the woman with the the financial advisor what's her name uh oh suzy orman yeah like though all those people like when you play them liza obviously but like when you play them that the note that you find is that they're in their own fucking world and and that's what's hilarious in a way
Guest:Yeah, I feel like you almost have to make them in their own world.
Guest:Otherwise, the impression doesn't work.
Guest:Because to me, it's like it's such a fine line because I never want to approach things from like a making fun of someone.
Guest:Like from a mean.
Guest:Right.
Guest:I just never find that funny.
Guest:Even comedy with the other.
Guest:I just don't find it.
Guest:For me, it's not ever what I wanted to do.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So the trick is finding that one thing or five things that make that person sort of recognizable.
Guest:Like what, how would you describe that person?
Guest:And then just taking it and turning it up to like 50.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know, like when I would do Kathy Lee.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:If I would like laugh like that, she doesn't do that.
Guest:Like she doesn't keel over and like do, like she's not that.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Right.
Guest:big, but I would just take something that she did and make it bigger.
Guest:And I think in doing that and taking something that a person does or says or how they act and making it bigger, you are making them the most important person in the room.
Guest:You are making them a character.
Marc:So how do you layer it up?
Marc:Do you get the voice first?
Guest:It depends.
Marc:Not with an original character, but with an impression.
Marc:Because I was obsessed with Kathie Lee for a long time.
Marc:In a way where I'd watch her and like it was so mainstream and so odd, but I used to love Regis and Kathy because I was home.
Marc:I was a comic and I would watch them because Regis was like this old school broadcaster and Kathy Lee was a lunatic.
Guest:But they were so funny together.
Guest:And watching their really old episodes, like, so funny.
Guest:But that was the thing.
Marc:They riffed.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Like, they were in real time riffing live.
Marc:And I'm like, who the fuck does that?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And they would just confidently do that.
Marc:You just watch Kathie Lee.
Marc:Like, I don't know how Cody turned out, but I was concerned.
Guest:for for years like why okay okay yeah but uh she just to me she was visibly mentally erratic i just found her very entertaining and very uh i'm fascinated by people that don't have a filter yeah and don't think about that stuff right so that's a personal fascination for you yes for sure because you're the opposite
Guest:Not in like a blanket like I care what people think because in many aspects of my career-wise, like I don't.
Guest:You can't.
Guest:You'll drive yourself crazy.
Guest:But I'm aware of, you know, like if I am doing an interview, either this or like in print, I can see the words I'm saying.
Guest:I'm very aware that everything I'm saying is anything I'm going to say like going to be controversial or is like am I going to have to worry about this?
Guest:Not filtering myself in a way where I'm not being true, but...
Guest:I have an awareness of my surroundings.
Marc:You're not a loose cannon who's out of control.
Guest:Exactly.
Marc:And you do have to be careful of that now.
Marc:And I imagine that's one of the reasons why you're not on any social media.
Guest:Yeah, I don't have any desire to be connected.
Marc:It's commendable.
Guest:Yeah, I just don't.
Marc:You can keep your life to yourself.
Guest:That's the goal.
Marc:Yeah?
Guest:Yeah, for as long as I can.
Marc:Well, you seem to be doing a good job.
Marc:And the Sausage movie I liked.
Guest:Sausage Party, thanks.
Marc:But I want to, before we go, I want to make sure I get some technique in here.
Marc:So, okay, walk me through building an impersonation.
Guest:It depends.
Guest:Like someone like Susie Orman, Paula Pell and I would write those in the beginning.
Guest:And I just had always wanted to do her because I find her so fascinating.
Guest:And she is a character.
Guest:I mean, just the way she...
Guest:talks and acts I mean I'm fascinated by her I think she's so brilliant and she also doesn't care like she does have that element like she doesn't care how she acts or talks or but not in like a loose canon way it's just how she is and that came from just like
Guest:I watched her a lot, so I just kind of got the voice.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then we just started writing about how she, like, saves money and, like, the jokes kind of went there.
Guest:Right, right, right.
Guest:And it just would, like, snowball.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But if I had to do, like, if someone said, okay, this week you're doing some political person.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And they're like, here's a tape.
Guest:I would put it in, but I wouldn't watch it.
Guest:I would just listen to it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So I would, like, close my eyes.
Guest:And then I would kind of, like, talk along with them and, like, try to get the voice right.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then I would watch it.
Guest:But that's where, like, sort of the exaggeration would come in.
Guest:Like, someone's eyes are a little like Nancy Pelosi.
Guest:She's kind of has, like, bigger eyes.
Guest:And, like, I'm going to open my eyes as wide as they can go to make it funny.
Guest:And you just have to find those little things and just exaggerate it without being an asshole.
Yeah.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:And then when original characters are presented to you in scripts as an actor and also characters that you create from nothing, it would seem to me that you're able to invest more of your own vulnerability into them.
Guest:Yeah, I mean, when you write – like, I wrote a lot of my stuff with two writers, James Anderson and Kent Sublette and Paul Appel, and characters would just come from us, like, messing around in the room or, like –
Guest:I just would start talking a certain way or like, hey, I saw this woman.
Guest:She did this or she talked like this.
Guest:I remember Gilly.
Guest:I was in Paula's room and I was like, I want to do a character that smiles like this.
Guest:I just smiled like that.
Guest:And we just came up with this devious child and how she would look.
Guest:And then we wrote the song in the beginning.
Marc:The dance is the best.
Guest:And it just came out of that.
Marc:That's crazy, that dance.
Guest:And some... Oh, the dance.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It was always different.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:It's hard.
Guest:They're all different.
Guest:They all come from different places.
Guest:Well, no, I like that.
Guest:Some of them come from real people.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:But I like that because I talked to Daniel Klaus, the comic graphic novelist.
Marc:I don't know what you would call him.
Marc:He's a brilliant guy.
Marc:And he deals with very sort of painful characters.
Marc:And he said that a lot of times he'll just see a person on the street and be like, just that moment.
Marc:of seeing that person would inspire him to build a life.
Marc:So I could see how you could take a smile and then just build a life backwards from it.
Guest:Yeah, because you just start talking.
Guest:And that was some exercises we would do at the groundings.
Guest:You'd just all be walking on the stage.
Guest:And you're like, all right, now walk with your hips forward.
Guest:And now swing your arms really high.
Guest:And now do something with your mouth kind of to the side.
Guest:Everyone come to the fourth wall.
Guest:And then you just start talking.
Guest:And all of a sudden, you're this person.
Guest:Oh, wow.
Guest:And you sort of develop, like, what kind of person stands like this?
Guest:Who am I?
Guest:Like, where do I work?
Guest:Right.
Guest:And then you just, it's such, to start with the physical aspect sometimes is a great way to come up with something.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So immediate, too, huh?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Now, when you do something like specifically Welcome to Me, where you have somebody who has a psychological problem and is, you know, the comedy, you're very good at balancing things
Marc:of keeping the comedy in, not, you know, intact through very painful characters.
Marc:like both of the like you know skeleton twins you know it's heavy yeah that's heavy movie but uh but but yeah it's it's very heavy but somehow it balances you know somehow like you know even at the end you know they i didn't know how it was gonna end i assumed you weren't gonna die spoiler alert years later
Marc:But the comedy still held, it wasn't like big laugh comedy, but the nature of the person was still something, I don't know how to explain it, not light, but you had control of it somehow.
Guest:Well, I think when playing someone that has, you know, a psychological behavioral disorder that people really suffer with, you have to be careful and you have to be respectful and you don't want to just say, okay, well, from what I know about this, she's going to act like this.
Guest:And so, you know, I talked a lot with the director about it because I didn't want to make fun of her.
Guest:About which one?
Guest:About the world?
Guest:About Welcome to Me.
Guest:Yeah, I didn't want to make fun.
Guest:I wanted people to be laughing with her, not so much at her.
Guest:And there's little things that would make us laugh that because she was the character, like when she was ordering food and she got really excited and she's like, I'm gonna order the shrimp.
Guest:Like for some reason, the producer and I always used to like laugh at that.
Guest:I don't know why because it was just like a dumb, she was so excited about ordering the shrimp.
Guest:And I felt like the comedy sort of vibe
Guest:if you could call it that, that sort of like seeps through is almost like accidental.
Marc:Right.
Marc:It's her excitement.
Marc:You were just playing, you know, you had built this character out.
Marc:Like even the moment, I thought one of the moments that was like really great was when you, because your character is incapable of empathy in a way.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Other than for animals.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Kind of.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But when you decide you have to apologize whether you can or not or whether you're comfortable with it or not, and when you're in front of Tim Ramos' door, you have the weird sort of forced smile and the awkwardness of trying to have an earnest apology and then to walk away from it.
Marc:I thought that was the beauty of that character.
Marc:Because that character, I think the risk is with certain characters that you've got to let them be kind of horrible.
Guest:right yeah you do yeah because some they find a way yeah and then you got to trust the material that it's not going to remain horrible yeah and i and and some people at the end of the movie maybe don't want to be around her and that's okay too and that's those i like those movies too that don't wrap everything up and everyone's great and forgiven and yeah you know
Marc:So let's close by talking about the challenge of being a hot dog role.
Guest:It's a bun, Mark.
Guest:I'm sorry.
Guest:No, I'm kidding.
Guest:That was one of the most fun, easy projects.
Guest:I mean, Seth and Evan and all those guys, they're just amazing.
Guest:they just purely come from what they think is funny.
Guest:And so much of like, you know, when you have a script for a comedy, it's so sometimes, most times, depending on the studio, is very overthought.
Guest:And, you know, you can write, you can overnote the comedy out of something really quickly.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And sometimes you just have to be like, this is funny.
Guest:You know, like when we read this at the table read, it got laughs.
Guest:Maybe we don't need to like dissect every little thing.
Guest:And with these guys, they're so good at writing a really great script.
Guest:with characters with arcs and like they get that story part down and they also just have so much fun and like they don't give a shit if it's funny it's funny like hey it'd be funny if this happened okay let's do that right and it it just goes to show that when you let artists do their thing and write it's like it works it's funny well yeah i thought like i thought there was no way i was gonna watch that movie
Marc:And I like those guys.
Marc:I've talked to them and I respect them and I think they're funny, but I'm like, I'm not an animation guy.
Marc:And I'm like, how the hell are you going to sustain a movie like this?
Marc:To me, it was almost like, this is just a fuck you to movies in general.
Marc:Yeah, like we just came up with this stoned idea and fuck you.
Marc:And then like it was like, wow, it was really compelling and funny and like moving and like everything was well thought out and all this stuff was beautifully done.
Marc:And then all the fucking at the end.
Marc:Like it was just because I love underground comics like old school, our crumb shit.
Marc:And just to see cartoon characters just fucking.
Marc:It's good.
Guest:You know?
Guest:Yeah, I love it.
Guest:There's not enough of that in the world.
Marc:No, there's not enough fucking cartoon characters.
Guest:No, there isn't.
Guest:Thanks for having me.
Guest:That's how we end it.
Marc:I'm good with that.
Guest:Thanks for having me.
Guest:For real.
Marc:It was fun.
Marc:You good?
Guest:Yeah, I'm great.
Marc:All right.
Guest:So let's turn some AC on.
Marc:Yeah.
Okay.
Marc:Good times.
Marc:Great talk.
Marc:Lovely person.
Marc:I enjoyed talking to Kristen.
Marc:That was a treat.
Marc:You want to talk to somebody for years and then it happens.
Marc:Did I mention that?
Marc:That I've been trying to talk to her for years while I have.
Marc:Go to WTFPod.com for all your WTFPod needs.
Marc:Buy a poster.
Marc:Get a t-shirt.
Marc:Check my tour dates.
Marc:Check who's been on the podcast if you're curious and wondering about somebody.
Marc:Alright?
Marc:I'm going to play some loud guitar with...
Marc:Yeah, it doesn't fucking matter, man.
Marc:Right?
Marc:Right?
Marc:This is what I do sometimes.
Marc:Boomer lives!