Episode 804 - Amanda Peet / W. Kamau Bell
Guest:Lock the gates!
Marc:All right, let's do this.
Marc:How are you?
Marc:What the fuckers?
Marc:What the fuck buddies?
Marc:What the fucking ears?
Marc:What the fuckadelics?
Marc:What's happening?
Marc:I'm Mark Marin.
Marc:This is my podcast.
Marc:WTF.
Marc:It's an institution.
Marc:I just added that like a tag.
Marc:It's an institution.
Marc:My podcast.
Marc:WTF.
Marc:It's an institution.
Marc:I don't know what it is that's been going on a while.
Marc:Man, 800 episodes just a couple of episodes ago.
Marc:2009.
Marc:I can't believe it.
Marc:Big show today.
Marc:Big show.
Marc:It's actually, it's almost a doubleheader, I would say.
Marc:I have W. Kamau Bell on, and he came in to sort of talk about his new book, but it ended up being a nice long interview about a lot of relevant stuff.
Marc:And, you know, he's been on before, so we usually do the short promo interviews if people want to stop by that are friends of the show.
Marc:But it just ended up being good, so it's almost a full interview.
Marc:And after that, Amanda Peet is here from her new project, Brockmire.
Marc:And I always liked Amanda Peet.
Marc:I always liked her when she was mean in things.
Marc:And then she did that funny thing with the Duplasses.
Marc:What was that called again?
Marc:Togetherness it was called.
Marc:I just remembered that with the help of hitting stop and Googling it and going to her Wikipedia page.
Marc:I don't do Facebook hardly at all.
Marc:I pulled away from Twitter because I think it infringes...
Marc:and annihilates our capacity to process as opposed to just react either anonymously or with a silly name or with a series of numbers or a combination of them no process you gotta process you gotta source you gotta weigh and balance and think things through don't just like ah
Marc:Here's some stuff.
Marc:Oh, God, fuck it.
Marc:Here, take a little of this.
Marc:Oh, no, bad.
Marc:Here's some of that.
Marc:Oh, that's good.
Marc:Those reactions aren't necessarily bad reactions, but let them sink in.
Marc:Where did it come from?
Marc:Why are you feeling the way you are?
Marc:What does it mean?
Marc:And how does it help you or others?
Marc:There is an interesting question.
Marc:How about that one?
Marc:How does it help me or others?
Marc:Maybe both at the same time.
Marc:Huh?
Marc:How does it?
Marc:Before I forget, there are some tickets for some of my shows coming up.
Marc:I'm in Portland, Oregon at the Aladdin tomorrow and Saturday.
Marc:We added a second show Saturday.
Marc:There are a few tickets left on April 27th at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee.
Marc:There are a few tickets left at the Orpheum in Madison, Wisconsin.
Marc:I believe there are a few tickets left.
Marc:That's on April 28th.
Marc:April 29th, two shows at the Pantages.
Marc:I'll be shooting a Netflix special that I think I'm ready for.
Marc:I'm pretty sure.
Marc:I'm not as freaked out as I usually am, which I don't know if that's good.
Marc:I have a full beard for a thing, but now it's going to be also for my special, I guess.
Marc:And my hair is really long, and I've gotten to that point where I'm afraid to cut it because I don't know if it'll look stupid or not, and the woman that cuts my hair is working on a movie.
Marc:So I'm going to be hairy and pretty ready for my Netflix taping in Minneapolis.
Marc:The Merriam Theater in Philly on May 27th and the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C.
Marc:on May 13th.
Marc:And also, folks, listen to me.
Marc:Listen to me.
Marc:This is general.
Marc:This is a general advice.
Marc:When you go to buy tickets to an event, don't just Google the name of the person or the thing you want to see and tickets because you will be taken immediately to a scalper site.
Marc:Go to the venue site and get linked through the appropriate ticket sale mechanism.
Marc:I get a lot of emails from people saying to me like, hey, man, two thousand dollars for tickets to your show in Portland's a little crazy.
Marc:And I'm like, what the fuck are you talking about?
Marc:Go to the venue site.
Marc:Get the appropriate link for tickets.
Marc:Don't be duped by scalpers and think that that's what I'm pricing my shows at.
Marc:Come on, man.
Marc:I'm a 30 to 40 dollar ticket, folks.
Marc:All right.
Marc:And I try to keep it that way.
Marc:OK, you know, when I talk about like my tour or whatever, my day to day or, you know, the process of our country slowly swirling down a sewer grate.
Marc:uh you know on some days depends the level of panic but but it makes me realize like you know when i say it's my last tour or whatever i think what i might need is a little time off a little time to have a life other than just touring and doing this you know how many times and i don't do it very often i mean what what have i been doing lately uh
Marc:Well, we went out to dinner with another couple the other night for the second time in three years.
Marc:I just work and work and work and it becomes very small.
Marc:I need to get out.
Marc:I need to I need to do some adventuring or at the very least some just some fun stuff, something.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:Need a break.
Marc:Is that wrong?
Marc:These are luxury problems, whatever.
Marc:I got new boots and I'm good.
Marc:Seriously, I am fucking good.
Marc:And I'm back in the boots because I love Jules Weather from Vancouver.
Marc:What I told you about them, they fucking rushed them and they sent them and they put so much love and attention into these fucking Chelsea boots they sent me.
Marc:Like you get a box of fresh boots with that fresh weather smell and they send it with a little shoe horn
Marc:and some boot cream, and I took them out of the box, and I'm like, oh my God, do I want to have them mounted, or do I want to put them on my feet?
Marc:And they measured my feet precisely, and they were into making these boots, and they sent them, and holy shit, they're so good.
Marc:They're so good, and I don't deserve it.
Marc:I don't deserve this treatment, but I'll take it.
Marc:I would have bought the boots, but I'll take them.
Marc:I don't guess I should sleep in them, which I did last night.
Marc:But, you know, that's the nature of new boots.
Marc:Sometimes it's the little things on your feet that make life good.
Marc:So W. Kamau Bell is somebody that I've known a long time and that I knew in San Francisco when he was just a youngster doing the comedy at the beginning of things.
Marc:I was an oldster enjoying his his work.
Marc:And his friendship.
Marc:And we've had a, you know, we don't talk to each other a lot.
Marc:But after talking to him today, I realized that we're kind of important to each other.
Marc:And it made me happy.
Marc:He's got a new book coming out, The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell.
Marc:That's actually out on the 2nd of May.
Marc:His Emmy-nominated CNN show, United Shades of America, is launching its second season on April 30th.
Marc:And he and Hari Kondabolu, who I haven't talked to in a while, just relaunched their popular podcast, Politically Reactive.
Marc:And he's here.
Marc:He stopped by and it was great to see him.
Marc:And I like to I like to talk about, you know, real stuff, stuff that requires engagement, processing, thoughtful interaction, challenge, that kind of stuff.
Marc:Human stuff that talking about things that impact all our lives.
Marc:Things that seem to be tricky for some people to talk about.
Marc:I'm always happy to have those conversations and this ended up being one of them.
Marc:So this is me and Kamau Bell talking.
Guest:So, Kamau, it's been a while.
Guest:It has been a while.
Guest:Last time I was here, I was super... I had just gone through a hard thing, and so when I came here, I was not... A hard thing?
Marc:I don't remember.
Marc:Oh, that's right.
Marc:Was it the show?
Guest:The show hadn't been canceled, but I had just had a meeting with FX.
Guest:It wasn't looking good.
Guest:Yeah, with FX, where it was like, I thought we were going to... It was between the first and the second season, and I went to FX.
Guest:I thought we were going to celebrate the success of the first season, but it was to indict me for the lack of...
Guest:Things for the like there was like a really like it was like I called myself into the principal's office.
Guest:So I showed up here like.
Marc:Well, the thing is, is like, you know, I felt bad about it that that show didn't find its footing and that you were having a hard time finding your footing.
Marc:And I was hoping the best.
Guest:I could tell you are like I get you had a feeling of like, good luck with that.
Marc:Well, yeah, but no, it's a hard thing to be given a big opportunity and to honor yourself, but not quite find your footing in that particular format.
Marc:And I knew you just had a kid, and I knew you were a good guy and a smart guy, and your heart was in the right place.
Marc:And for about an hour, I felt bad, and I was...
Guest:Yeah, no, it was clear.
Guest:I was like, I thought I sort of had this idea.
Guest:I'm going to LA.
Guest:I'll meet with FX.
Guest:I'll go do Mark's show.
Guest:It's going to be.
Guest:And I was like, oh, it's really about how it's not working out.
Marc:But what did shift outside of just the immediate responsibility of having kids, you know, not sleeping on the floor and eating cat food?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:I mean...
Guest:I think the failure of Totally Biased really sort of challenged me because I thought when that got canceled, I was like, I think my career might be over.
Guest:I legitimately thought it's done.
Guest:And then sort of trying to figure out if we were going to stay in New York.
Guest:The big shift was like moving back to the Bay Area and sort of choosing to go, okay, whatever career I'm going to have in show business, I'm going to have to do it from the Bay Area because I'm not moving to LA.
Guest:I can't live in New York.
Guest:My wife was pregnant with our second kid.
Guest:We're not doing this here.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So it was like making a choice to sort of really choose my family and my life over showbiz and letting showbiz fit around that.
Marc:And then, like, how did the current show evolve?
Marc:I mean, like, how long of a time was it?
Marc:Because, like, I also was in the position of, you know, people would project personality onto you.
Marc:Like, you know, what they do is they'd hedge you in.
Marc:It's like, oh, you're the edgy black guy.
Marc:You're the smart black guy.
Marc:With me, it's like, he's the cranky, angry Jew.
Marc:But really, what they didn't know is sort of like, I'm not making a choice about this.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:This is not a persona.
Guest:No, when I'm at CNN, it's funny to be around the anchors.
Guest:Like, they are playing characters, a lot of them.
Guest:And they have a persona.
Guest:Broadcasters.
Guest:Yeah, broadcasters.
Guest:And I mean, they do it well.
Guest:Like, some of them are very natural at it.
Guest:But it's funny to be like, I don't really have that.
Guest:I'm still trying to figure out what my character is when I sit in those places.
Marc:Well, that's the thing is like and I think what happened with the new show is that you you are able to by engaging with other people and and, you know, and getting out in the world like people like you and I and I will draw that comparison because, you know, my success came from conversations is that, you know, that's what we're about.
Marc:You know, we're you know, we're funny comics.
Marc:But, you know, as thinkers and as people that make sense of things, if we're engaging, it's better for everybody.
Guest:buddy that's true i don't yes i should not be looking into a camera telling you about the news as i learned and i'll and i'll never be doing that again uh yeah for me it was like the show came out of i was after the totally biased got canceled i was you know i thought my career was over it but then my manager and agent were like people want to take some meetings with you and they were all sort of news outlets which i was surprised by and cnn had been pitched an idea for a show at that point called black man white america yeah uh for a black guy going around america to white places that seems like a sort of uh separatist to
Guest:title well yeah it is it is and I was like I would is it the 1990s am I on MTV so I was like I don't want to do that so I said I would want to go to lots of places other white places but the pilot was really what brought it home was the pilot was with the Ku Klux Klan which for the United Shades of America yeah for United Shades of America like we changed it they changed the title United Shades of America and we shot the pilot and I sort of was like okay I'm gonna move back to Berkeley I'm gonna go and I had another choice to get a job like a sort of a day job yeah ish thing and I was like but it would have kept me in New York and I was like okay
Guest:even though that would have paid more at the moment, I have to go all in on this pilot because I would be able to live in the Bay Area.
Guest:So I did.
Guest:And it worked out.
Guest:Yeah, I mean, it has worked out far better than anything else in my career.
Guest:And it feels like a thing that if second season goes, I think we'll be here for a minute.
Guest:And do you find that you're getting an audience?
Guest:We are getting an audience.
Guest:I have the youngest audience on CNN, which is 67.
Guest:No, I'm just kidding.
Guest:But I draw on an audience on CNN who isn't normally watching CNN, and I think it's great for me.
Guest:Oh, they love that.
Guest:It's great for me to be at CNN because I'm not really competing against other shows.
Guest:There's not a bunch of shows there.
Guest:It's me, Bourdain, Lisa Ling.
Guest:There's like a handful of people.
Marc:Well, I find that...
Marc:What you're doing is field work, but also the sort of town hall format is an appropriate use of media and necessary.
Marc:Because what I was going to tell you in the kitchen, because I try to wrap my brain around this, that the polarization now is so extreme.
Marc:That, you know, people you and I know who may or may who are our co-workers and friends who we've known, you know, all our lives or or known a long time are Republicans or think differently than us.
Marc:You know, there's even in those kind of dynamics.
Marc:There's a reluctance to talk about it, a hostility that wasn't there before, and an empowered narrow-mindedness that I don't think is necessarily the real spirit of those people.
Guest:No, I think Trump has brought something out of a lot of people, if we can name names.
Guest:And, you know, there are there are comics that I knew that I'm I guess I'm friends with.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:I still I don't know where it's like you see it is really about a lot of times the social media stuff you see from people.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Like that's you're that guy.
Guest:You're saying that.
Guest:But we've had conversations, you know, so it's really brought a side out of people and emboldened some people who I think had some ideas that they weren't sharing before.
Marc:The other.
Marc:a group of people that I think we're talking about in terms of people we know, there are a tremendous amount of people that even given the situation today are relatively detached from day to day political goings on.
Marc:That once the election is over, they're like, all right, well, that's done.
Marc:My guy won.
Marc:And they're living their lives and checking into the news.
Marc:And whether it's propaganda news or not propaganda news, it goes on both sides.
Marc:But the other side has a very strong propaganda presence.
Guest:Yes, yes, yes.
Marc:But but, you know, those are, you know, I think mostly the people we're talking about and some of this stuff outside of the your life trajectory in the book that, you know, is your mission in life is how to bring people together and how do we, you know, transcend these awkward moments into proactive moments.
Marc:Yeah, and how do we not think that... I mean, the book is called The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell.
Guest:Yes, yes, yes.
Marc:So what was the incentive?
Marc:As a framework for that, when you started writing the book, where does that go back to for you?
Guest:For me, learning that the feeling of... On some level, as an only child who moved around the country a lot, who was like...
Guest:a tall black dude who didn't know how to play basketball I felt awkward all my life like I've always felt a little bit like outs who didn't listen to hip-hop who didn't you know I felt awkward as a sense you didn't play along I didn't I just I just didn't I didn't even know I was supposed to play along I thought I was the only child in my bedroom watching late night comedy like I was like this is what we do right this is what black people do they stay up late and watch Saturday Night Live and so I've always felt awkward and I think we're taught to sort of run away from that feeling and I think there's nothing more profound than sitting in awkwardness and moving through it
Guest:Thank God.
Guest:It's my life journey.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:Again, learning from the best.
Guest:And so for me, the book is about moments in my life where moving through that awkwardness has led me to what I think to better decisions and to sort of go and not to just sit and go, I guess this is just what it is.
Guest:I mean, even the conversation with you in the book is about me going like, there's a version of me that would have been like, I guess I just stay where I'm at with this thing, even though it doesn't feel right.
Guest:And it was awkward to call you because I was like, I don't even know if I know him like this.
Guest:Of course you do.
Guest:Yeah, well, I appreciate that.
Guest:And you answered and we talked, and that's what I talk about in the book.
Guest:Like, moving through that moment of, like, instead of just going, I don't know him like that, and this thing is probably going to work out better, got me to a better place in my life and career.
Marc:Well, yeah, but that awkwardness is weird because, you know, I have it too, but I track it to...
Marc:You know, it's also the... I don't know what your relationship with your father was.
Marc:I imagine it's in the book.
Marc:But, you know, the detachment emotionally... Yeah.
Marc:What, you know, really set me... It made me uncomfortable because it disabled my ability to really have a complete sense of self.
Marc:So with that craving and with that need, you know, my need to connect to relieve that awkwardness and to almost at different times in my life to almost become different people...
Marc:or to use other people to define me, that evolved into what I do in a good way.
Marc:But for a lot of time, looking back on it, I don't have a lot of regrets, but I was not in the best place.
Guest:Well, for me, I think that... Actually, my dad was like, when are you going to send me the book?
Guest:I'm like, maybe never.
Guest:I talk about my dad in good ways in the book, but there's also some painful stuff.
Guest:This is the hard part about writing some things that are memoir-ish, is that you go...
Guest:this is not my story to tell, but I need to tell a version of it, so I have to figure out which version I'm going to tell.
Marc:There's that moment where you're like, well, this is my life as well, and I felt like I was pretty realistic.
Marc:I think some of it might have been unnecessary, but I refuse to admit that it was spiteful.
Guest:Well, I was trying to avoid the unnecessary part because I think we're in a different relationship with our dads at this point.
Guest:I have two kids.
Guest:I want my kids to know my dad.
Guest:Me and my dad actually have a better relationship now.
Guest:Our relationship gets better the older I get.
Guest:A lot of the book is about how I didn't grow up with my dad around, but he was in my life.
Guest:So I was constantly in a search for surrogate fathers, too.
Guest:That's it.
Guest:Well, that's it.
Guest:And a lot of them came through comedy and through other media sources.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, that's weird in comedy.
Marc:You get the surrogate father, you get the sort of kindred spirit, and then you get the sort of trying relationship with the crowd.
Guest:Yes, exactly.
Guest:It's all covered.
Guest:It's all covered.
Guest:Yeah, you get to reenact your family dysfunction through your career every night on stage.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:Two shows Friday, two shows Saturday.
Marc:Drag people through it.
Guest:Yeah, and so for me, I think that's the part about the book that's hard is when I talk about how I felt like there was times when my dad wasn't there for me or didn't really understand me.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And on some level, like I said, the older I get, the better it gets.
Guest:And also having kids will help smooth over a lot of the sins.
Guest:So if my dad doesn't like the book, I'll just take my kids out there for a vacation.
Marc:So as you evolve through the childhood thing, what is the journey as Kamau, the adult, with children, a public profile that is provocative and not confrontational but proactive,
Marc:I mean, what did you find going through your life?
Marc:How did your agenda reveal itself?
Guest:I mean, for me, a lot of it, a lot of the book, Chris Rock used to say I would rep the Bay Area harder than rappers rep Brooklyn.
Guest:The Bay Area is a big thing for me.
Guest:That's why I think I moved back there.
Guest:Through the Bay Area, not even the Bay Area comedy scene, but people I met in the Bay Area, people helped broaden my perspective.
Guest:And there's a section in the book where I talk about one of my best friends.
Guest:It was built for that.
Marc:That's why the Bay Area was invented.
Guest:I don't know if it's doing that anymore.
Guest:anymore but i think it was certainly that's what it was there for and i think the bear has to fight to get that back and i talk about that in the book too that you know for me it was like sort of finding yourself in rooms where you're like what is that person doing who is that what i don't uh and then sort of sitting in there and sort of talking to people that helped broaden my perspective in a way and also helped me lead my down the path of like okay i'm not gonna i'm not gonna make it in show business by going to the punchline and doing seven minutes every sunday night right like
Guest:And I'm not going to make it by moving to LA.
Guest:I just knew that wasn't going to happen in New York.
Guest:So for me, it was like the freedom to sort of pursue my own path.
Guest:And then, therefore, when Totally Bias got canceled, there was a gut check.
Guest:I got a kid and a kid on the way.
Guest:I'm living in an apartment that costs $7,000 a month.
Guest:Like, you know, like I don't know how to I don't know how to do this, but I guess I should stay in New York.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Really sort of going like trusting that like that what I had learned in the Bears, if I pursued my own path, it was going to work out to some level.
Guest:I didn't know what was going to work out, but really trusting that what I had learned in the Bears, like, no, just do your own thing.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Do your own thing.
Marc:And then you went back to, well, you know, the history of that place intellectually and on a civil rights, the big thinkers of social justice, you know, there was the environment from even before the 60s.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know, was a sort of like embracing weirdness and controversy and progress.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, and I moved there because I've read books about the Bayer from a comedy scene perspective, but that's where a lot of comics went to find their voice, or a lot of comics sort of opened up.
Guest:That's why I went there.
Guest:Yeah, I talk about that too, the idea that whether it's like, that's where Lady Bruce gets arrested, that's where there's Robin, there's like- Well, I think there was like, the one thing that I- Richard Pryor in Berkeley.
Marc:Right, when he went through his thing.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Yeah, he went through his thing.
Marc:Started doing experimental theater.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:And now with the Panthers.
Marc:Exactly.
Marc:Exactly.
Marc:So the one thing I knew is that it was very, it was not confined to punchlines.
Marc:There was this sort of like, take it out there.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:Push it.
Guest:Take it out there.
Guest:But I think it's probably only gotten back to that now.
Guest:When I got there in 97, things had sort of, the boom had died.
Guest:There weren't a lot of, the alt rooms weren't really there.
Guest:And it really was like, it's funny, we would sit in the back of the punchline on a Sunday night and be like, what makes this different than, you know, like, you know.
Guest:Like Dayton, Ohio on some nights, you know what I mean?
Guest:And so I think that now the Bayer, I think, has come back around.
Guest:But for me, it was like I had to leave the clubs to sort of find that thing you talked about, is like take it out there.
Marc:Yeah, well, I mean, I saw that show, the first one-man show.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:I saw it in Oakland.
Guest:Yes, that's right.
Guest:The border, but yes.
Guest:Right, and I think your mom was there.
Guest:Yeah, that's right.
Guest:I met your mom.
Guest:Yeah, no, that was a very big night for me when you came out.
Guest:I was like, I got to do this thing.
Guest:It was great.
Guest:I mean, like I said, I don't know.
Guest:We haven't talked about this a lot, but I've been a fan of yours since way before I knew you.
Marc:Well, I think we're very similar in our approach to stand up and to thinking in a lot of ways.
Marc:You know, the journey has been to find ourselves, not to get away from it.
Guest:Yes, yeah, absolutely.
Guest:I think that on some level, I was like, if I find myself but I'm not funny, well, that's just going to be what it is.
Marc:Well, yeah, believe me, I'm in my garage.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Marc:It sort of came to that, sort of like, I got more to offer than me wrestling over jarring jokes and poetic turns of phrase.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:And this is where I found it.
Marc:And I did a couple one-man shows.
Marc:But the problem is that you're always sort of judging yourself against the success of other ones.
Marc:And then you realize, well, those ones are like, it's too cute.
Marc:Because the thing about awkward moments is people like you and I is that it's always going to be awkward.
Marc:Yes, yes.
Marc:Just the fact that we're painfully trying to be present because whether we know it or not, that was our journey.
Marc:So what I say in general is that I'm not everyone's idea of a night out.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I've always respected that, too.
Marc:I'm just not for everybody.
Marc:And it took me a while to get there.
Marc:But generally, the people that succeed in a big way are most people's idea of entertainment.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I write in the book about that.
Guest:Like, it's weird to me that me and Kevin Hart have the same job description.
Guest:And he's great.
Guest:But it's just like that we're sort of like both this thing called comedians.
Marc:Well, yeah, and that's like, that is the sort of strange difference is that I don't know that I ever set out to be an entertainer.
Marc:I think that I saw stand-up as some, you know, kind of like, it was like, you could do whatever you want up there as long as you learn what your territory is and who you are up there.
Marc:And it was somehow the platform to find my truth.
Marc:Mm-hmm.
Marc:As a creative person, what am I going to do?
Marc:Am I going to write poetry?
Marc:Am I going to take pictures?
Marc:Am I going to make a painting?
Marc:Am I going to write a movie?
Marc:No, because that stuff takes time.
Marc:And it involves lots of other people.
Guest:Yeah, and you've got to work for months.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:And you don't get immediate response.
Guest:Exactly.
Marc:I can write a thing down right now and go up tonight and go like, I did it.
Guest:Yeah, I worked today.
Marc:I put it as a good I got one joke out of this I mean I feel this I feel the same way that like I'm doing a lot of things now where I'm like the book and even the book that I wrote required a lot of people like an editor and a literary at this age though like I found at some point I was sort of like this is all right I like working with people and especially people I respect and you know when you get into bigger ensembles but either as an actor or as a you know in a production capacity you're like this is awesome
Guest:Well, I think that's a key thing, people you respect.
Guest:In the book I talk about this, part of the problem with Totally Bias was that there were ghosts in the machine and people that I was like, we're not doing the same thing.
Guest:And even with the first season of United Shades, we changed a lot of the production staff because I was like, these people aren't doing the thing I want.
Guest:So I've learned now that if I can't, I have to be prepared to walk away if it's not the right situation.
Marc:Right, you get to a certain point where you gotta say no, and if you do it properly, there'll be feelings hurt, but it's the nature of the game.
Guest:I mean, I remember, sometimes I feel like you have to, like I said to my wife one time, oh, I have to make a phone call.
Guest:I have to have a diva tantrum.
Guest:Like, I have to choose to have a tantrum right now for this person to hear me because they haven't heard me in their way.
Guest:Like, I have to sort of like, all right, here we go.
Guest:Like, in a way that I'm like, I don't want to do it this way when you aren't hearing me talk to you directly.
Marc:It's much more, it's better, but less, the results are worse when it's just, you know, it happens all of a sudden.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Yes.
Guest:It's good when you can use it like a chess move.
Guest:Let me pull my queen out.
Guest:Instead of just like, I can't control my feelings.
Guest:Yeah, losing your shit on set.
Guest:It's okay to let the other person think that's happening if you know, no, I'm under control here.
Guest:Right, right.
Guest:I can pull back anytime.
Marc:So now in doing Totally Biased and then now this new show, which I think is part of the same arc.
Marc:I think you've always been trying to do the same thing.
Marc:And then now all of a sudden having a family.
Marc:now how how has that affected your thoughts uh you know about you know humanity culture race i mean what because that's a big deal and i don't have that experience and you're in a biracial situation i mean i'm in a an interracial situation and uh yeah i think that's how you say when it's relationship oh no your kids are biracial well we call them mixed race now that's the new term
Guest:So I'm an old man?
Marc:I'm always here to teach you the new term.
Marc:It's mixed race.
Marc:Am I an old man?
Marc:Did I say something bad?
Guest:No, you just did like the thing where it's like colored instead of Negro.
Guest:No, I did not.
Guest:No, I'm saying like 1960, like when it was like, no, we're Negro now.
Guest:So it's mixed race.
Guest:It's mixed race for people who are.
Marc:And people who are.
Guest:Because it sort of requires you could be more than just biracial.
Guest:It is more inclusive.
Guest:We're all mixed race.
Guest:Okay, be careful.
Guest:Slow down, sir.
Guest:Slow down.
Guest:Don't get ahead of me.
Guest:This is the problem with white guys.
Guest:All right.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:No.
Guest:So my daughters are mixed race.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know, and I think the big thing is teaching them what like my oldest daughter, who's five and a half at some point, like we always books is a big way to do it.
Guest:Like you always have books that are just books, kids books.
Guest:And you have books that are about mixed race families, which thankfully we can buy books about now.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then learning that my daughter knows she's black.
Guest:She knows she's half mom and half dad, but she knows that that makes her black.
Guest:We had to explain the political implications of that or why that is, but she knows that she is a black person.
Guest:She is white and black, but she knows that means she's black because that's how America works.
Guest:My daughter at one point, we were talking about skin colors.
Guest:She was like three years old.
Guest:She looked at me and she goes, dad's chocolate colored, I'm peanut butter colored, and mama's oatmeal colored is what she said.
Guest:and how did mom feel about that that's not a good no nobody likes oatmeal that's not she wasn't real excited about it and i can let my daughter grow up thinking she's peanut butter yeah but then i'm also she's going to be in a really bad situation at some point no i'm not black i'm peanut butter that's not whether black or white people that's not going to work out for you so i think there's a thing about what you define yourself as and how the world sees you as a person of color it's important to know how the world sees you because it's literally it's about survival at some point
Marc:yeah you can't be surprised when a cop pulls you over don't you know that my dad is technically that i'm only half right that's not i'm not gonna not gonna play but she's but because she's mixed race i say she's black and mixed race she's both those things right yeah so in in in terms of your evolution as a as a human how how has that affected the way you interact with other people
Marc:What do you mean?
Marc:In terms of the conversations you have.
Marc:I mean, I guess it's, you know, that those things intellectually you always knew.
Marc:But I mean, in terms of like having to acknowledge that, you know, the quality of life or the struggles or obstacles that people are going to come in contact with, that you have these young kids who are mixed race, that they have been, there are some things that are going to happen.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And because of that.
Guest:Yeah.
Yeah.
Marc:So when you have conversations with people who are, you know, and that's the fucked up thing is that, you know, most white people and I would imagine some black people, you know, given that situation are always going to be like, well, you know, you did it to yourself.
Guest:Yes, I've heard that.
Guest:Like, yes, I've heard anything, any problem I have is because I'm married to a white woman.
Guest:Yeah, like, well, that's what you get from marrying a white girl.
Guest:From black people.
Guest:Yeah, from black people.
Guest:Yeah, absolutely.
Guest:That's more of a black way of saying it.
Guest:Right, right, right.
Guest:Yeah, that's more about like, married that white girl.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And how do you respond to that?
Guest:It's funny.
Guest:Once you have kids, it really becomes easier to let a lot of shit go like that.
Guest:Like, I'm just like...
Guest:First of all, you're dead to me now.
Guest:I don't deal with this as a topic of discussion.
Guest:I'm not going to engage with you about my family.
Guest:Having kids, it's like once you know there's three people that I need to be concerned with whether or not they live on a daily basis.
Guest:And so people, they're trying to bait me when they say that.
Guest:And I'm just like, yeah, that's what I get for marrying a white girl.
Guest:I'm not going to engage with you in that discussion because it's ridiculous.
Marc:Well, yeah, because then you can go, let's just talk about your wife for a second.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:How's that going?
Guest:Yeah, I don't know.
Guest:I don't understand.
Guest:When people do that, it's a way of going, oh, don't talk to you again?
Guest:Okay, I got it.
Marc:Yeah, as opposed to just sort of like, yeah, being married's hard.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:Having kids is hard.
Guest:Yeah, having two kids, five and two, is so hard.
Guest:I don't have time to take on extra hardships that are- Yeah, pressure from the community.
Guest:And I've gotten it in the Bay Area, because there are, even though the Bay Area is so open and blah, blah, blah, there's people there who, especially a black guy who ostensibly is talking about race and racism a lot, go, well, how are you going to talk about all that and be married to a white woman?
Guest:Because I'm a person?
Guest:Because I'm a human and that's how this works?
Marc:Love is a funny thing.
Guest:Yeah, love is a funny thing.
Guest:And I don't feel any need to explain why.
Guest:I think you could get to a really, why are you attracted to this person?
Guest:But I don't expect anybody else to do that.
Guest:I don't expect anybody, yeah, good luck, you know?
Guest:Color lines are fucked up.
Guest:They are, but I don't feel bad about the fact that I'm black.
Marc:I'm not like, I wish I was white.
Marc:No, no, no, but I mean, but that there is a place in the heart and in the mind where you can transcend color lines.
Marc:And that is ultimately the goal, right?
Marc:On some level, in terms of being humane and human, that at some point, it should not be the difference.
Guest:I mean, I guess I think I get the word transcend is one of those words I think is a problem, too, because, like, for example, when Prince died.
Marc:Is there another word?
Guest:We can figure it out.
Guest:Maybe we'll invent it today.
Guest:OK, but like because when Prince died, people like he transcended race.
Guest:I was like, why are you taking that away from him?
Guest:He was a black dude.
Guest:Like why?
Guest:We don't like and I tweeted.
Guest:Nobody said David Bowie transcended race.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:Like I think that like there's a thing about like wanting to move beyond that.
Marc:They should just say he was a black guy that everyone likes.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:And that's what they're saying.
Guest:That black guy was all right with everybody.
Guest:Can't argue with that black guy.
Guest:And I think that's what we want to talk about.
Guest:These are differences that exist.
Guest:I'm happy with the fact that I am who I am.
Guest:I want to be able to talk about it.
Guest:And I certainly don't like the liberal perspective of like, as a black man, no, don't diminish yourself.
Guest:Don't call yourself black.
Guest:Can't just be a human.
Guest:No, we're not there yet.
Guest:And I don't know that we want to get there.
Marc:yeah well yeah well that's that's sort of my question because there it wasn't a question but like you know I'm I'm sort of like being uh uh sort of uh very mindful of my words so my my with my where where my my dubious sense of race may be misunderstood but um I know one of my jobs is black friend I'm okay with that no but I don't I honestly don't think of it that way but I like to have these conversations because I don't have them and you can't have two white guys speculating with
Marc:I mean, we do that all the time on cable news, but yes, yes.
Marc:About race.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:But the weird thing is that not unlike any...
Marc:ethnic group hang on as i sat up straighter in my chair hold on wait a second that there there is a lot about you know cultural black identity that that is beautiful in the same way with jewish or or you know in the way that the the gay community defined themselves in in the 60s and 70s that it's it was important to
Marc:for the strength of the people involved to have a cultural identity.
Marc:And that should be respected.
Marc:And it is different.
Marc:And there's nothing wrong with that.
Guest:No, I would imagine there's times when you realize that you're speaking as a Jewish person versus when you're speaking as Mark.
Guest:I try to hide it all the time, but people see it no matter what.
Guest:That's pretty, yeah.
Guest:You're not doing a good job at all.
Guest:But there's also probably times you feel like you're speaking as a white guy, that you get to sort of, that there's a sort of, whereas the thing was with people of color, we're often sort of just the color.
Guest:Like you get to sort of go, or maybe most of the time you just think of yourself as Mark, but as a person of color.
Guest:I think the thing that I've learned in the book is like, writing the book down, putting some words, is like, I have to be very careful about when I'm talking for myself when I'm talking for black people.
Guest:Because one thing I learned from the first season of the show is
Marc:One thing you learn from talking for black people is that they don't know.
Guest:Black people don't often like, yeah.
Guest:Like I would say, I would make really stupid jokes about, well, black people, we all like salt.
Guest:And there'd be black people like, why you gotta say we all like?
Guest:Now, I can argue the fact that, well, you know, high blood pressure.
Guest:But I was like, yeah, you're right.
Guest:I should make that joke about I like salt.
Guest:I think that it's easy for me to fall into those tropes too.
Guest:So the second season, I think I did a lot of better job of owning what was me and what I think specifically was my trope.
Marc:It's interesting because those tropes, it's sort of the weird thing about...
Marc:community stereotyping within the community where that, you know, then it's funny.
Marc:But, you know, but then, you know, and that's an old thing.
Guest:I think if I'd done it on BET, there might be a different reaction.
Guest:Right.
Marc:But now it's sort of like, why you got to tell them our secrets?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Or why you got to, why you got to make white people once again, think we're monolithic.
Marc:Yeah, well, I used to have that horrible problem with, like, Jackie Mason and these things sort of like, you know, when he'd do jokes like, you know, all Jews just want to sit down.
Marc:It's like, what are you talking about?
Marc:That doesn't even make sense.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:And it gets to the point, like, I mean, I think Bernie Mac is one of the greatest of all time.
Guest:And I remember he had a joke that was like, when white people go to break, they leave and come back.
Guest:When black people go to break, we take a break.
Guest:And that was, I mean, first of all, it's hilarious the way he said it.
Guest:I was like, well, we got to be taking a break.
Guest:Like, you know, like, I was like...
Guest:I come back in 15 minutes.
Guest:But I think that some of that stuff, it's the nature of comedy.
Marc:It's the nature of comedy, but also it does reinforce things for white people in this particular situation.
Guest:And Bernie Mac was doing it all the things of comedy.
Marc:And because of that, I'd like to make it known that you came early today.
Marc:I did come early today.
Guest:I was very early today, yes.
Guest:I do think some of my job is to actually physically bust stereotypes.
Guest:What I hear all the time is like, oh, you were so much nicer than I expected.
Guest:Yeah, because I'm a 6'4", 250-pound black guy.
Guest:I get part of my job to be like...
Guest:hey, everybody, how's it going, man?
Guest:You know, to sort of like let people, part of my job on the show, especially when we go to like, you know, the white privilege conference with Richard Spencer or Appalachia, it's just sort of be a different, what they think of black, I know what they're black guys in their head and to sort of actively not be that black guy so we can have a real conversation.
Marc:Right, right.
Marc:So all they can leave, if they have any hate in them at that time, the moment you finish your conversation is the worst it could be like, he's a smart one.
Marc:Exactly.
Yeah.
Guest:And I mean, that means that I can't walk in in a bad mood.
Guest:Like, I can't walk in.
Guest:And this is where you don't get to be a person.
Guest:I can't walk in like, I'm having a little bit of bad news because I'm like, is black people always in a bad mood?
Guest:Anger.
Guest:What?
Guest:Is it us?
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:Mad at the white man?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Well, that's a given.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:But so what do you want people to walk away with?
Marc:I mean, what's the journey?
Marc:Where did it land?
Guest:I think, I mean, it's funny that this book was sort of pitched and written, started to be worked on before the election happened.
Guest:But I think that one thing the election has proven, and it's because it's not about the right, it's about America is in desperate need of confronting its history of oppression and hatred.
Guest:And there's no, like, Donald Trump is just the pimple that rises to the surface.
Marc:Well, now it's like, if anything, that I've been starting to realize lately is that, well, it's all out in the open now.
Yeah.
Guest:But for some people, it's still not out in the open.
Guest:They still sort of want it to be okay.
Guest:They're still like, well, it'll probably.
Guest:I have friends who are like, well, he's as bad as any Republican president.
Guest:It's just the same sort of playbook.
Guest:And my thing is, we have to stop wanting to settle into okay and actually have the conversation.
Guest:And a lot of that is with white people.
Guest:We've talked about this the last time I was on here, that white people were shocked by the election.
Guest:A lot of white people on the left.
Guest:It was like, stop being shocked and start getting engaged in the conversation.
Marc:Well, yeah.
Marc:I mean, well, that's it because I've been doing this bit on stage when people are like, how did this happen?
Marc:And you go like, what have you been doing for the last eight years?
Marc:Working on me.
Marc:That's hilarious.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:That's exactly the thing.
Guest:We, you know, it's the bubble that we hear about.
Guest:And I think that this has popped the bubble, but I don't want people to sort of, people want to construct their own bubble again quickly.
Guest:Like they just want it to be okay.
Marc:Well, I think that was one of the downfalls of Obama is, was there was sort of like, we did it.
Guest:Yeah, we did it.
Guest:We got one in.
Guest:Yeah, no, I haven't worked on the bit yet, but I was writing a bit about the idea of if you were able to tell Obama on the first day he was in office, like, just so you know, the next president is Donald Trump.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:feel like he would have changed the entire way he was president like I feel like if he had known that that was coming that he sort of thought I think he sort of really had a lot of he really trusted America in a way that proved to be I think wrong and that he just thought well I'm going to do so much good work I will just hand the baton to the next person but like I do like you know every other day have have some hope for the country I mean it you know it has you know what they say sort of sardonically you know about getting woke and
Marc:you know you know we're woke we're woke we're hashtag woke yeah and now you know we got hashtag stay woke now we have to try not to you know go to sleep out of sadness and depression and frustration or exhaustion out of just like i was woke all day long yesterday it was horrible i had to turn off my
Guest:My computer.
Guest:I've been woke since January 20th.
Guest:I don't know how I need to get some sleep.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I think that's the biggest thing is not being exhausted by the nonsense.
Guest:It's not sort of getting caught up in the daily.
Guest:I sort of stopped paying attention to all the news alerts on my phone at some point because most of this is nonsense.
Guest:You have to really make sure you focus on the things that actually mean something and actually are about real things.
Guest:I mean, it's fun.
Guest:It's really fun.
Guest:Is that the word?
Guest:I'm saying it's fun to get caught up in like Sean Spicer nonsense.
Guest:But it's not necessarily.
Guest:I thought you'd get all terrifying.
Guest:I mean.
Guest:Like I said, a lot of this goes back to being a dad.
Guest:I definitely look at my kids like, okay, that's sort of the motivation and also the scary thing.
Guest:It's got to be better than this for them.
Guest:I can't pass the baton, good luck.
Guest:Trump's still president, even though you're 20.
Marc:You know what I didn't realize fully?
Marc:The first two months of this presidency, I was like, I got to get out.
Marc:And it's a childish reaction.
Marc:But understandable.
Marc:Right.
Marc:It's a traumatic event, fight or flight.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But you realize how big the country is.
Marc:But also, the one thing I didn't really realize was just how terrified and angry and completely disoriented a large number of people were with the Obama presidency.
Marc:Like that on a day-to-day basis, they were like, I can't believe this is happening.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And it's hard to be empathetic and to see it as the backlash coming from that place, but there were a lot of people.
Marc:I don't think they're a majority, but there were a lot of people that were like,
Marc:For whatever reason.
Guest:It's more than many people in this country expected.
Guest:But for some of us, it's like, yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, you know, you know, I mean, it's a testament to Obama that he got through it, not lived through it, but actually got through it.
Guest:I mean, the fact that he had to spend like several months, like a lot of time in his presidency was spent talking about whether or not he was born in this country.
Guest:Like, that's crazy.
Guest:And I think a lot of people sort of let that stuff go, but I'm like, every person I know is like, that's an indicator of what's going on in this country.
Guest:That that wasn't a fringe issue.
Guest:That bubbled up to the halls of Congress and the halls of the Senate, whether or not this guy's born here.
Guest:And for me, it's like the... That's why I feel like the...
Guest:Biggest group affected.
Guest:It's like white women were like, but I thought we were all in the same.
Guest:You know, I thought, you know, woke white women, like my wife.
Guest:And then like white people, white people of all genders who were like, I had no idea it was this bad.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I feel like those are the people that we need to keep awake because those people are like, I'd really like to just start working on me again.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:And I think there was something with it that my sense of the black community in reaction to this is sort of like, yeah, we knew that this was.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:And like, let's just see how it plays out.
Marc:Let's not get too loud yet.
Guest:Well, I think the thing that I hear that a lot of the people I talk to, like I'm friendly with Alicia Garza, who's one of the founders of Black Lives Matter, and she regularly talks about the fact we can't judge these people who just woke up today.
Guest:We have to invite them in.
Guest:It's really easy to be like, oh, now you're woke?
Marc:oh now you want to go now you like to march yeah oh now you want to go to dc we've been going to dc for a long time but i think that's always been the way it's been at these junctures that i i don't think that you know in the 50s you know that you know there was just a a torrent uh you know just like a never-ending wave of white people going down south to march no like i i do think there was plenty of people uh you know who were you know good-hearted that were like i don't know it looks pretty bad on tv
Guest:Well, no, I think that's true, but I think the thing we have to do, and I think Martin Luther King did a good job of this, and not that I'm trying to use him the way everybody uses him, but the idea of, like, you have to just invite them in and work on their faults later.
Guest:Like, you can't go, before we let you join the movement, I think there's a lot of this right now, you have to do these things, or we need you to do these things.
Guest:It's like, no, no, come in here, come into the room, we all need to build the coalition, and we'll fix you later.
Marc:We suspended the black test.
Guest:we suspended the woke test because it's a lot of different groups need to suspend we had to suspend the woke test and sort of do on the job training of wokeness oh I'm very happy for you and congrats on the book and I hope the show keeps going and always like to see you man yeah and again Mark thank you for being a guiding force and also I can look in your face and tell how I'm doing so it feels like I'm doing okay today you are man and keep it up thank you
Marc:That was nice to see Kamau.
Marc:As I mentioned, the book is called Awkward Thoughts.
Marc:The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell and his show is United Shades of America.
Marc:The podcast is politically reactive.
Marc:A lot of stuff going on.
Marc:So that was good.
Marc:That was fun.
Marc:It was engaging.
Marc:And I learned things.
Marc:And I said some things almost wrong.
Marc:How is that not a great time?
Marc:It's okay to be wrong.
Marc:Tolerance is important.
Marc:Tolerance is important.
Marc:Tolerance is important.
Marc:Amanda Peet,
Marc:Is somebody who I've, you know, I like her and I like her acting and I've liked, you know, I have a weird sort of the things I've seen of hers that where I've really remembered her have always been these smaller parts where she's, you know, not so nice.
Marc:But but man, she was so funny in togetherness and and this new show, Brockmire sounds great.
Marc:And I was just happy to talk to her and meet her.
Marc:I always felt like we would get along.
Marc:And I believe we did.
Marc:I feel like I was trying to entertain her during this interview.
Marc:And I think I might have achieved that.
Marc:But you decide.
Marc:Amanda Peet.
Marc:Charming.
Marc:Good actress, sharp.
Marc:I enjoy talking to her.
Marc:She's currently on the new show Brockmire, which airs Wednesday nights on IFC.
Marc:We had Hank Azaria in here a little bit ago to talk about it.
Marc:So this is me and Amanda Peet.
Marc:So the baby's out.
Guest:Yes, the baby's out.
Guest:This is a big dress.
Guest:It's what we call a schmata.
Marc:Yeah, I know what a schmata is.
Guest:Yeah, okay, good.
Marc:Yeah, I think I have a schmata salesman in my family back there somewhere.
Guest:Back there?
Marc:Yeah, I think my mother's boyfriend.
Marc:In the shtetl?
Marc:No, just the Woolery side, New York-y.
Guest:Oh, okay.
Marc:My mother's boyfriend still is in fabric.
Marc:He's like in his 70s, he sells fabric.
Marc:It's very vague.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Fabric.
Marc:So where do you come from?
Guest:New York City.
Marc:Really?
Marc:The whole time?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Well, what do you mean the whole time?
Marc:I mean, you're like, you're a New Yorker, born and bred kind of deal?
Guest:Born and bred, except for that my dad took a job in London when I was seven.
Guest:So I lived in England for four years.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:1979 to 19.
Guest:How old were you?
Guest:Seven to 11.
Marc:Yeah, so you remember it?
Guest:Yes.
Marc:And what did your dad do?
Guest:He was a lawyer, corporate lawyer.
Marc:So you weren't too engaged with it and he was just a lawyer that did things?
Guest:Yeah, I sure wasn't too engaged in corporate law.
Guest:I still don't understand what he does.
Marc:But he's still around, that's good.
Guest:Yeah, he's still around.
Marc:And your mom?
Guest:And my mom is still around.
Marc:And what did she do?
Guest:She was a social worker.
Marc:That seems important.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Were you engaged in that?
Marc:Did you find that impressive?
Guest:Well, yeah, because she would come home and say, like, you know, a boy peed my name on the wall.
Marc:Uh-huh.
Guest:You know, at the Jewish Board of Children and Family Services.
Guest:So I was like, tell me more.
Guest:Who's that boy?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I was like, oh, good idea.
Guest:Let me take some notes.
Marc:How do you do that?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Boys are so lucky.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Do you have siblings?
Guest:I have an older sister.
Marc:What does she do?
Guest:She's a doctor.
Marc:Oh, stable.
Marc:Good.
Guest:Well, I'll tell you this.
Guest:I'm a little bit of a hypochondriac.
Marc:I am, too.
Marc:I've gotten over it, though, a bit.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So it's good to have the sister.
Yeah.
Guest:Well, she's basically gotten to the point where she's like, if you fucking call me one more time, I'm going to blow a gasket.
Marc:Really?
Guest:She got to that point like 20 years ago.
Guest:But I'm a hypochondriac.
Guest:I had a terrible stomach flu.
Guest:I was barfing for about 12 hours straight.
Marc:Yeah, recently?
Guest:It was like in the last couple of years and I called her eventually and was like, I can't, I can't, I think there's something very wrong.
Guest:And she was like, I can assure you there's nothing very wrong.
Guest:You're just, you know, freaking out.
Guest:And they talk a lot about like public health and how we go to the emergency room too much and how rich white people, you know, go to the doctor too much.
Guest:And so I got in a taxi and I went to Cedars to the emergency room and I didn't tell her because she was like, just, you just have to wait it out.
Guest:And, but I am a quitter.
Guest:and so i i got in a taxi and i went and the young doctor came in the room and said and she looked down at the paper and said are you amanda pete and i was like oh yeah really really lady i'm fucking shitting and barfing my brains out and you want like what an autograph you want to talk about which your favorite movie and she was like your sister was my teacher i was a resident and i was like don't tell her i'm here
Guest:That switch quick.
Guest:I was like, you really have to promise me you're not going to tell her I'm here because she'll be so angry at me.
Guest:So, yeah.
Marc:I don't like that waiting it out shit.
Marc:I've learned to do it.
Marc:My father was a doctor and I had a long history of being a hypochondriac.
Marc:I don't know how to...
Marc:track it all the time but i i try to weigh things out i've gotten better at that with the blemishes and whatnot yeah things that seem suspect in the mouth or on the skin like if i bite if i bite the inside my mouth you know i don't automatically have to think hey that's mouth cancer right if i'm just poking around in my mouth for no reason which i pulled back from but but i'm able to go like i might have bitten my cheek so let's just see if that goes away
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Needless to say, though.
Guest:How did you get better at it?
Marc:I tell a long story about what happened.
Marc:It was an embarrassing urologist episode.
Marc:But despite that, I did go to the doctor yesterday in somewhat of a panic.
Marc:I find that it gets worse when I'm freaked out about other things.
Guest:Was it, like, just Trump, like, general anxiety?
Marc:Well, that's going on.
Marc:But, like, I had a skin thing right here.
Marc:And I had shaved my neck.
Marc:I'm really... This has really turned out to be my interview.
Marc:You know, I'm just growing this beard out for a roll.
Marc:And...
Marc:But then the next day, not really putting it together, I saw this mole here that was all fucked up.
Marc:It didn't look good and it kinda had purple around it.
Marc:I'm like, oh my God, finally the bad thing has happened.
Marc:I have melanoma.
Marc:So I called up, thank God I have good health coverage.
Marc:I went in.
Marc:And as time went on, I realized I might have hit it with the buzz razor and it was just a skin tag and it looked worse than it was.
Marc:But yeah, so it was nothing.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But she burned off a few other skin tags.
Marc:Oh.
Marc:It's good stuff.
Marc:We talked about barfing and shitting.
Marc:I thought maybe I'd kind of ante up with the skin tags.
Marc:I'm really glad you did.
Marc:But that aside, let's talk about the Manhattan that Amanda P. grew up in.
Yeah.
Guest:What do you want to know?
Marc:Well, I mean, you're like a real New York woman.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So, now both your folks Jewish?
Guest:No, my dad is about as Jewish as...
Marc:Not.
Guest:I don't know where I was going with that.
Marc:Almost a thing happened.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And my mom is, you know, really, really, really German Jew.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Which, what does that mean to you, German Jew?
Guest:They had a Christmas tree.
Marc:I had a couple Christmas trees, but I know what you're saying.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But your dad, not Jewish at all.
Guest:Well, this was in the 50s, you know.
Guest:No, my dad is not Jewish at all.
Guest:He's an atheist.
Guest:And so we didn't grow up with my family.
Guest:With religion?
Guest:No.
No.
Guest:but you did grow up like you know in the city like in the city 11th and 5th yeah uh i was born in new york hospital and uh i went to manhattan friends quaker school on 16th street i lived right there did you like literally right there at 16th and third oh 16th and third in the corner building yeah i love that building with the doorman yeah yeah it's the greatest building ever
Marc:It's a weirdo building, man.
Guest:Is it weird?
Marc:Yeah, because it was this old pre-war kind of like deco building.
Marc:Yeah, it's beautiful.
Marc:Yeah, it's a great building.
Guest:I bet you regret that you're not in that building.
Guest:Well, I had not... I mean, this is great, but... No, I know.
Marc:I had an opportunity to buy, but I had no idea how to buy things.
Marc:I didn't have that much money.
Marc:But...
Marc:I just couldn't understand how it could cost that much money when they started selling them.
Marc:Because it was like a rent control and there were some freaks that live in that building, man.
Marc:Like there were some like real old school New York weirdos.
Marc:The thing you would have had to do is buy two, break a wall down to make, because those were small units.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, it's all small in New York unless you're like a kajillionaire.
Marc:So what is that school down there?
Guest:It's a Quaker school.
Marc:But it's just a good school, though.
Marc:You weren't there because you were a Quaker.
Guest:I think my mom thought it was... In the 80s, it was kind of a hippie school.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And that's when you went?
Guest:That's when I went.
Guest:And my sister went to Fieldston because she was a really good athlete and she was a tomboy.
Guest:And I was supposed to be the artsy one, so I went to Friends.
Guest:Now I think it's like a really fancy school.
Guest:But back in the day, it was...
Marc:Well, I just know it was like, what is it?
Marc:First through sixth?
Guest:No, it's all the way.
Guest:K through 12.
Marc:No kidding.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, I just know it was like a private kind of, not a Montessori school, but like a good school.
Marc:Like, you know, celebrity kids went there and stuff.
Guest:Yeah, but it wasn't like that back in the day.
Guest:I swear to God.
Marc:Well, what were you doing?
Marc:Finger painting?
Guest:Yeah, paper mache.
Guest:My husband makes fun of my grammar.
Guest:He's like, what did you learn there?
Guest:Anything?
Yeah.
Marc:You went all the way through?
Guest:I went all the way through.
Marc:You were in that little place from 1st through 12th?
Guest:Well, except for when I was in London, but yes.
Guest:Starting in kindergarten all the way through 12th grade, that was my place where I went.
Marc:Were you one of a small bunch of people that stayed the full run?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They took pictures of us, you know, as seniors.
Guest:They matched the kindergarten with the... Really?
Marc:How many really made it through?
Guest:Like there were like five of us.
Marc:Right.
Marc:That stayed the whole time.
Marc:Do you know those people now?
Marc:No.
Marc:Really?
Marc:No?
Marc:Didn't you even touch with anybody?
Guest:No.
Marc:What are you, a monster?
Guest:Yes.
Guest:No, I just wasn't that close with those particular people.
Marc:Well, you're preoccupied.
Marc:I mean, you've got things.
Marc:Don't you have like five, nine, ten kids?
Marc:How many kids do you have?
Guest:Five, nine, ten kids.
Guest:Three.
Guest:That's a lot.
Guest:It is.
Guest:It's insane.
Marc:Why did you decide on three?
Three.
Guest:Well, because we thought it would be cute because the second one was so easy.
Guest:She was so goddamn easy and such an angel.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And she lured us into this weird state where we were like, three so cute.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And it is, but she was exceptionally easy.
Marc:That kid.
Guest:That kid.
Marc:So you had another one.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Oh, she convinced you to have a third one?
Guest:No, she just by her angelic.
Marc:Oh, you thought like, wow, we really struck gold.
Guest:Why don't we just have another one of these?
Guest:Let's have another angel.
Marc:This is fantastic.
Marc:And what was the first one doing?
Guest:She's fantastic in her own way, but she's not as easy.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And what was the third one?
Guest:He's in between the two of them.
Guest:And it's a boy.
Guest:So we were lucky because we had two girls and then we got a boy.
Marc:You got the boy.
Marc:And that kid is only like two now, right?
Guest:Yeah, he's two.
Marc:How's that going, the two thing?
Marc:I don't have children, so I'm just trying to act like I know what I'm talking about.
Guest:Yeah, sometimes I feel the same as you probably, where I act like I know what I'm talking about.
Guest:You know, like when I'm in a parent...
Guest:Like teacher night, not as much a parent teacher conference, but like one of those parent back to school nights where you go with all the parents.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And especially now that Frankie's older, if they start talking about math or something, I just glaze over.
Marc:Do you change the subject to paper mache?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:exactly when i was in school yeah we did a lot of crafts well i do get right i get insecure and so i just try to look normal and act parental and normal but really inside i'm just like a big loser who like couldn't make it past i don't think i even took algebra really so bad at math i was bad at algebra but i often think about that oh do you why because like i wonder one of your true regrets
Marc:No, but there's a few.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:I wish I was more interested in chess.
Guest:Well, these are just not too late.
Marc:No, it is.
Guest:No, it isn't.
Marc:No, it is.
Guest:No, it isn't.
Marc:I'm not going to put the time in.
Guest:Why do you have to be the best?
Guest:Why can't you just enjoy chess?
Guest:It'll put you in a flow state, which is very good for... You sound like a chess player.
Guest:No, I mean, I'm not a chess player.
Marc:But a flow state.
Marc:What's that?
Marc:Where you just kind of lock in?
Guest:A flow state is good for neurotic people who think too much because... I do guitar.
Guest:Okay, so there you go.
Marc:All right, I do that.
Guest:It could be like another thing like that that you do.
Marc:Yeah, sometimes I'll cook some things.
Guest:Me too.
Marc:Cooking is a good... I like to keep the dirty dishes out of the sink type of deal.
Marc:That kind of thing.
Marc:Organizing.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Right now, the garage is bordering on sad to me.
Marc:It needs to be dealt with.
Marc:I have this dream of just getting rid of fucking everything.
Guest:Don't do it.
Guest:Because this is very special.
Marc:I know.
Marc:I know.
Marc:Maybe I'll just tear the house down and just have this.
Marc:Have like a weird vacant lot with pipes sticking up in the garage.
Marc:No.
Marc:All right.
Marc:So let's go back.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:We got math.
Guest:Faking it.
Guest:I don't know.
Marc:Well, yeah.
Marc:Well, that's what I always wonder about.
Marc:How would I parent if the kids are like, can you help me with your homework?
Marc:Not a chance.
Guest:I learned nothing.
Guest:So if I see... She'll say, mommy, mommy.
Guest:And if I see that it's math...
Guest:I will walk over and then quickly pretend something distracted me.
Marc:That should help the kid.
Guest:And that I'm really busy.
Marc:Yeah, right.
Marc:So she's just on her own.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Sorry.
Marc:I don't know what.
Guest:Or I'll make it into like, you know, like I'll take a stance about it.
Guest:Like I'll see that it's math and not something I can help her with.
Guest:And I'll say, don't you think you need to try a little harder on your own?
Guest:You know, I make it about her being overly dependent on, you know, getting my approval when really it's because I'm fucking terrified that I have no idea what she's fucking talking about.
Guest:Long division.
Guest:When's the last time you did long division?
Marc:That's what the squid in the line?
Guest:The thing in the thing.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And apparently they do it differently now.
Guest:I had to call my sister.
Guest:I was like in the corner calling her as if it was like, no, it's not about a sickness.
Marc:It's about division.
Yeah.
Guest:The two things I call her about.
Marc:Math and illness.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:How do you carry the one and the remainder thing or thing or they don't do it like we used to do it.
Guest:What the fuck?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And she's just like, wow.
Marc:But that's what she says.
Guest:i mean it's in a loving way but yeah but don't have you ever sort of like tried to re-engage like it's in the book with long division well the kids got the book right so it's got to be explained in there i'm gonna be really honest with you right now because i just feel like it yeah it's too hard i'm telling you she her level of math just became too hard what grade fourth grade
Guest:okay you can't talk you're feeling all sorry for me as if you're in a different boat i don't have kids that's not the point i'm never called upon like that's not the point the point is is you're thinking it's silly that i can't do fourth grade math but probably you not it's not necessarily you know what i was trying to do is be empathetic with the sad moment okay
Marc:You made this admission.
Marc:It's a vulnerable place.
Marc:I'm happy that I was here for you to decide to come out and say something so truthful and sad.
Marc:I was trying to make this a safe space, Amanda.
Guest:Wait, can I just tell you one thing that has compounded the whole thing?
Guest:It's that they told me some time ago, maybe a year ago, maybe a little more, that Frankie was quite good at math.
Guest:And in the parent-teacher conference, I started laughing and saying, well, she doesn't get it from me because, you know, my husband wasn't there.
Guest:He was away shooting somewhere.
Guest:And...
Guest:And I was like, I hated math.
Guest:And they said, don't tell her that because it's important because you're a girl and she's a girl and you don't want to go around saying you don't like math because we need more STEM girls and stuff.
Guest:STEM girls?
Guest:Yeah, you know, STEM science something.
Guest:STEM cell?
Guest:No, it's not STEM cell.
Guest:Can you look it up?
Marc:STEM?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:what what stem it's is it plant stuff it's to do with women in science and math and technology and i don't know exactly how each letter what okay so it stands for something yes okay okay all right stem education coalition is that what it is yeah science technology engineering mathematics god thank you that's so deeply satisfying isn't it yeah i feel better i do too
Marc:So, all right, but still going back to, like, I do have this idea that, like, if I just got myself an algebra textbook, I could take another crack at it.
Guest:Yeah, you're smoking crack.
Marc:But do you think it's because we're not capable or just because we glaze over?
Marc:I mean, it's a lack of discipline.
Marc:What is it?
Marc:I think it's both.
Marc:Uh-huh.
Guest:I mean, speaking for myself, I can't speak for you.
Guest:I definitely think that as soon as I see the number and the numbers in the hundreds and then the long division for me and that number's a big number, I go blank.
Guest:It's just sort of like, time for a nap.
Marc:What bearing does this have on my life?
Guest:No, but it's not, it's not a thing of like, that's not important enough.
Guest:It's just, you're too dumb.
Guest:You're not going to get in there.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:You're not going to be able to get in there.
Guest:So just, just.
Marc:See, I believe that like, I'd rather go along.
Marc:I'd rather go with this sort of like, well, I could probably do it if I applied myself, but I'm not going to.
Marc:Like I, you know, I'm certainly smart enough to handle long division, but I don't know.
Marc:I don't need to now.
Marc:What do you think of that?
Guest:I'm into that.
Guest:I like that.
Guest:And I'm going to try that on.
Marc:No, don't do it with your kid.
Guest:Oh.
Marc:No.
Marc:What about tutors and things?
Guest:For me?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I did.
Marc:You need a math tutor.
Guest:I had a history tutor recently.
Marc:Recently you had a history tutor?
Marc:Do you not have the internet at your house?
No.
Guest:Yeah, but that's not... You had a history tutor?
Marc:Oh, for a role?
Guest:No.
Marc:For what?
Marc:Just like you're like, well, you woke up one day and you're like, I don't know enough about... Yeah.
Marc:Really?
Guest:For real.
Marc:So you hired a history tutor?
Guest:That's correct.
Marc:To learn...
Guest:Well, first I was going to start with World War I, Ottoman Empire, how everything was divvied up.
Guest:But then I realized, boy, I know fucking nothing about before that.
Guest:So we ended up going way back to like Mesopotamia and stuff and, you know, the Fertile Crescent and all that.
Guest:None of which I really remembered.
Guest:So that went on for a little while.
Marc:How long?
Marc:Like a weekly meeting?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You took notes?
Marc:Were there quizzes?
Guest:No, that's a good thing.
Guest:And I didn't have to write an essay.
Guest:What is better than that?
Guest:It's like, it almost felt, it really felt almost like not fair.
Marc:Right.
Marc:So did you get caught up?
Guest:No, I don't remember anything.
Marc:Again, second time around.
Marc:That's correct.
Marc:Recently.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Nothing stuck.
Guest:Not really.
Marc:But, all right.
Guest:I remember thinking it was interesting, you know.
Marc:At the time, sure, it's going in.
Guest:At the time it was interesting, yeah.
Guest:Like, oh yeah, this is great.
Guest:And now I look back at my notes.
Guest:First of all, I can't read them because they're illegible.
Marc:You're taking notes with your history.
Marc:Right.
Marc:So nothing has changed for you since school.
Guest:Well, I get to say that I was interested enough to hire a tutor on a podcast with you.
Marc:What were you doing in school?
Marc:Were you just being a mean girl or were you having fun?
Guest:That's quite an assumption.
Marc:That's got a vibe.
Guest:Oh my God, that's horrible.
Marc:Tell me I'm wrong.
Guest:You are wrong.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Yeah, I was just busy being mean, so I didn't concentrate.
Marc:What were you doing?
Guest:Daydreaming.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Well, there's no reason to get defensive.
Guest:No, I'm not.
Guest:I swear I'm not.
Marc:I've seen you play relatively emotionally shut down people that were kind of mean and a little detached.
Marc:And, you know, maybe I made assumptions.
Guest:I hope I'm not mean.
Guest:And in school, I just was, you know, I just probably, I probably had ADHD, but they didn't have it back then.
Marc:No.
Guest:They just called people like me, just people who were like, give her some paper mache.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Or they were like motivational problems.
Marc:unmotivated yes yeah yeah so where were your parents guiding you through this your mother the social worker your father the corporate lawyer you're floundering in paper mache and no no guidance no oh yeah tutors were tutors were lined up oh really
Guest:Tests were taken.
Guest:Nothing can help.
Guest:Psychological tests.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:In seventh grade, she was in analytic training at IPTAR in New York City.
Guest:So she was in the whole 80s psychoanalysis movement.
Guest:Right.
Marc:Let's figure these kids out.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So in fact, when I went to a shrink when I was 13, he was an analyst.
Guest:He was like, you're a very good candidate for psychoanalysis.
Yeah.
Marc:At 13?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And what happened in that meeting?
Guest:I went into psychoanalysis.
Marc:At 13?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:How'd that work out?
Guest:Well, I mean, it was both good and bad.
Marc:Well, I mean, everything was pretty fresh.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:How was your childhood?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:It's still going on.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Isn't it odd that we were, I mean, I remember going to one because I was having trouble in school and they brought me to the first kid therapist and he just brought me into a room with a table and there was just millions of board games.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And toys and stuff.
Marc:Right.
Marc:You want to play?
Marc:And I'm like, not really.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And then they brought me to the more kind of a more sort of open approach therapist, which was sort of like, let's just talk, man.
Marc:What's up?
Marc:You know, not the kind of like, I'm going to evaluate you.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And that guy was how you do this board game.
Marc:Right.
Marc:No, that guy was good.
Marc:There was group and, you know, I fell in love with a, you know, suicidally depressed girl.
Marc:No.
Guest:Well, that's, you know, I mean, it's romantic.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I was young, you know, and, you know, sensitive.
Guest:Did you save her?
Marc:No.
No.
Guest:Because we can't.
Marc:I just learned that two years ago.
Guest:Oh, yes.
Marc:That one took a while.
Guest:Yeah, that's a tough one.
Marc:Really?
Marc:You've been through that?
Guest:No.
Guest:How long have you been married?
Guest:Just over 10 years.
Guest:I just had my tenure.
Marc:Oh, wow.
Guest:But I saved him.
Marc:You did?
Marc:No.
Marc:He's still in trouble?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:What does he do?
Guest:My husband is a writer.
Marc:For movies and television?
Guest:He does both.
Guest:He's a novelist and then he runs a TV show.
Marc:Which one?
Guest:It's called Game of Thrones.
Marc:It's a big show.
Guest:It is.
Marc:People enjoy it.
Guest:They do.
Marc:It seems very complicated.
Marc:He must be very busy.
Guest:He is busy.
Marc:I can't even, to me, that's like math.
Marc:Like to approach games and throws right now, people are like, you haven't watched it.
Marc:I'm like, I don't even know.
Marc:I can't start at the beginning.
Marc:Be like the rest of my life at this point.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I hear you.
Marc:That's a good gig.
Marc:Are they making more?
Marc:Does it end ever?
Guest:We have asked that question many times.
Guest:Does it ever end?
Guest:This coming season we're going to shoot in August, September.
Guest:That will be the last season.
Marc:Are you in it?
Marc:No.
Marc:Then why are you saying we?
Guest:Because I hold down the fort while he goes to do it.
Marc:Okay.
Guest:With the kids and all.
Marc:you're like okay that's boring let's move on no it's not boring I just I don't like you know I wish I knew more about Guardians of Thrones but I'm more interested in you and figuring out how the hell everything makes one of you in the universe oh come on now I just I'm interested in you know how you evolved into this actress person so you just fucked off from K to 12 well I didn't fuck off I tried really hard and I went to Columbia well you must have done alright then yeah
Marc:So what happens?
Marc:When do you find your passion?
Guest:Well, when I was growing up, my mom, I did a little acting class in the basement of a church in England while my sister was playing baseball with my cousins.
Guest:She was a tomboy.
Guest:I think I mentioned that.
Guest:And I took this little acting class where we would all pretend to be a sausage or I love you, baby, but I just can't smile.
Yeah.
Marc:Go through the exercises?
Guest:Yeah, they were like weird just exercises.
Guest:It was very good for someone like me.
Guest:And then when I got home to New York, I went to HB Studio on Bank Street where Uta Hagen was teaching.
Marc:This is before college?
Guest:This is before college.
Guest:I took the teenage class there on Sundays, every Sunday for two hours.
Marc:With Uta Hagen?
Guest:No, with one of her protege.
Guest:And then junior year at Columbia, I auditioned for Uta Hagen.
Guest:And I studied with her for four and a half years.
Guest:And then I got very serious because people had headshots.
Guest:And I was like, what's a headshot?
Guest:Holy shit.
Marc:So you were just learning how to do it.
Marc:You weren't looking at the career element.
Marc:You were becoming an actor.
Guest:Yeah, but I was starting, once I was in Uta's class, that's when I started thinking, wow, maybe this could be what I want to do.
Guest:Not just like a side thing on Sundays.
Marc:I don't know that.
Marc:I think I've talked to maybe one or two people that maybe took with her a little bit, but you studied with her a lot.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And you were good because you're a good actress.
Marc:So you had a relationship with Uta Hagen.
Yeah.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:She was a method practitioner?
Guest:She has this book called Respect for Acting.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And then she wrote Challenge for the Actor, and she puts you through, as you go through her courses, you go through these exercises that she kind of made up that are...
Marc:What does she come from?
Marc:Who does she come from?
Marc:She's not a group theater person?
Guest:No.
Marc:She's like her own thing.
Guest:She's her own thing.
Marc:So what do you learn?
Marc:So you're going on Sundays and you're with her protege, but you're young.
Marc:So what do you learn?
Marc:What are these different...
Guest:So that was an improv class.
Guest:So I wasn't doing Uta's exercises in that class.
Guest:I was just doing improvs every Sunday with other kids who were teenagers.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And you liked it though.
Guest:Weirdos.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But not necessarily comedy improvs.
Marc:Like everyone talks improv now.
Marc:The place to go is always comedy, but it's not.
Guest:It never occurred to me to think about comedy versus drama until like five years ago.
Guest:I mean, it just never occurred to me.
Guest:It just doesn't.
Guest:It's better if I don't think about that.
Marc:Right.
Guest:For everyone involved.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But now you're becoming a funny person.
Marc:You're sort of, I don't know if anyone's told you that, but you're evolving into a funny person.
Marc:And I don't think that was the original intention.
Guest:Well, the first movie I did, my break, the movie that was my break was The Whole Nine Yards.
Marc:But that wasn't the first movie you did.
Guest:But that was my... I know, right.
Marc:Right, with Bruce Willis and the other goofballs.
Guest:So then I couldn't get a drama after I did that.
Marc:Really?
Guest:Because then I was like, oh, she can't do drama.
Guest:She's just silly.
Guest:So the pendulum has gone... Back and forth a bit.
Marc:But you can do both.
Guest:Well, I like to think so, but you know...
Marc:But at some point, though, you have to, like, sometimes it's not bad to be funny because funny's harder and there's not that many funny people.
Marc:That's my belief.
Marc:I mean, a lot of people can fake their way through a drama.
Guest:This is true.
Marc:That's true.
Marc:You can't fake your way through a comedy unless someone really uses you properly.
Marc:Like, that idiot's not funny at all.
Marc:Put funny people around him and see what happens.
Marc:Oh, look, he's like a tree.
Marc:He's like a maypole for funny people.
Marc:So tell me about these exercises so I can understand.
Marc:I'd like to do a couple with you.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Okay, well, the better ones, the one that I think about a lot that is in Uta's book is talking on the phone.
Guest:Okay.
Okay.
Guest:And the reason she assigns it is only for you to get used to what we call the fourth wall.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So that you won't feel afraid to look out.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And yet you won't look out for reasons of wanting to be presentational.
Yeah.
Marc:Oh, to engage with the audience in that way.
Guest:Well, you want to be able to look out in case there's a part where you're like, look at those trees.
Marc:Right, right, right, right.
Marc:But not audience related.
Guest:Right.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:So what you do is she makes you go home and you rehearse talking on the phone to three different people.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And three different people have to be as different as possible.
Guest:Uh-huh.
Guest:And what you're supposed to learn to do is face out and not be afraid.
Guest:And then you're also supposed to learn how you change and your voice changes depending on who you're talking to.
Guest:So these were some of the funniest shit I have ever seen in theater.
Guest:People talking to their agent and then clicking over because it was in the time of call waiting.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:And talking to their mom.
Guest:So they'd be like...
Guest:No, I definitely am available for that.
Guest:Now, do I need to read the sides before I go?
Guest:I'm so sorry.
Guest:Can you hold on one second?
Guest:Hello?
Guest:Hi, Mom!
Guest:I know, because everyone's out!
Guest:I know.
Guest:Can you tell them one second?
Guest:Call you right back.
Guest:Call you right back.
Guest:Call you right back.
Guest:Like just psychotic people.
Guest:You just can't even believe people are this is how people really are.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Good people.
Guest:Right.
Guest:People who really got it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It was like, I mean, the best, the greatest theater ever.
Marc:Really?
Marc:That's an interesting exercise.
Marc:So you have to manufacture the other side of the conversation.
Guest:That's right.
Marc:Did you do a lot of theater then?
Marc:Were you like, is that where you started?
Marc:Would you say you started in theater?
Guest:Well, I tried.
Guest:I did a play in my junior year off-Broadway, and then I did a play at Jewish Rep and stuff, and then I was doing commercials and eventually got a Law & Order, which is sort of like the... That's the graduation?
Guest:That's the moment.
Marc:Here you go.
Marc:We've run out of people.
Marc:It's your turn.
Guest:Exactly.
Exactly.
Marc:New Blood.
Marc:Thank God.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:What'd you play?
Guest:I played a Patty Hearst character who was, you know, like a... Brainwashed?
Guest:Stockholm Syndrome type, yeah.
Marc:How'd that go?
Guest:It was good.
Guest:Yeah?
Marc:I thought it was... Was that your first role on TV?
Guest:That was the first role on TV.
Guest:I'm pretty sure, yeah.
Guest:And I did Seinfeld shortly after that.
Marc:What'd you play in Seinfeld?
Guest:He wasn't very nice to me, but maybe he was in a bad way.
Marc:Was that like the first season-ish?
Guest:No.
Guest:No, it was Seinfeld.
Marc:He wasn't very nice to you?
Guest:No.
Marc:I don't know him.
Guest:I don't know, but I was terrified because I have horrible stage fright.
Marc:Still?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:When you're dealing with a live audience?
Guest:Anything live.
Guest:Like if I'm going on, you know, like Dave Letterman, I had to take a Xanax sometimes.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, how did he handle you?
Guest:He was great to me.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:But I loved him too much.
Guest:And when you love someone too much, it's important to take his annex.
Marc:I did stand up on there like four times or five times, but I did one sit down talk.
Marc:And I was like, I was just looking at him going like, oh my God, he's right there.
Marc:That feeling of like, this is happening.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Xanax would have helped.
Marc:But then I would have spent my life on Xanax.
Guest:I'm tricky.
Marc:I can't do it.
Marc:I'm one of those people.
Marc:The one Xanax would be like, why not live life like this?
Guest:It's a good question.
Marc:Yeah, sure it is.
Guest:I've asked myself that question many, many times.
Marc:So you do the law and order.
Guest:So I did the law and order and then I sort of started working on things like Seinfeld and little things.
Guest:And then I started testing for things that were a little bit bigger.
Guest:And then eventually I read with Bruce Willis and he chose me.
Guest:Just complete anonymity.
Guest:I was just some girl and he was like, that's a girl I want.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:And I was no, I was doing like law and order and stuff.
Guest:So he basically just.
Marc:He's the guy that he, he's the one.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And you liked him.
Marc:He was nice.
Guest:We had a very good time.
Marc:Well, there's a lot of funny people in that, that thing.
Marc:People like that movie.
Marc:It's a goofy movie.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I try to tell them I'm not going to take my clothes off.
Guest:And they said, well, we're going to go to someone else then.
Guest:And I said, okay, how long do you want?
Guest:How much tits do you want?
Marc:And how much did they end up getting?
Guest:More than makes me comfortable now to think about.
Marc:But is that really... That happened in the audition, that question?
Guest:No, it happened after they gave me the offer.
Guest:They said, you know, let's start the deal.
Guest:You know, I didn't have a lawyer.
Guest:I didn't know.
Guest:I was just like, am I going to get paid for this?
Guest:Because that's fantastic.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like, I just...
Guest:And yeah, so they were like, you need a lawyer to figure out how long your tits are gonna be out.
Guest:So I hired a lawyer and you know.
Marc:Is there a guy who specializes in that?
Marc:Did you have to ask your dad?
Marc:Do you have any friends who deal with tit time?
Marc:Like on camera tit time?
Guest:yeah my dad no he's yeah that wasn't his forte but yeah maybe you had a buddy no i remember being like i need a lawyer to you know negotiate then i had to find an entertainment lawyer yeah and so but that was right after you got the part they yeah they dumped that on you it's like you're the one your boobs are up
Guest:yeah your boobs are up and i was like that is so sexist and if you really want me you want me for my performance what does it matter if and they were like no sorry and i was like wait wait wait wait wait okay how much tits where do you want my ass whatever you want tits and ass i i you know i haven't seen it a long time but i it's just not good i think there's a lot in there but but you've they made me go to a trainer
Marc:They did?
Marc:You mean they looked at your ass and said, maybe we ought to... Yeah.
Guest:And a tanning salon.
Marc:But was that for the character, though?
Guest:No.
Guest:Nice try.
Guest:But as it turned out, it was kind of a goofy character.
Guest:So I was kind of protected.
Guest:So I took my shirt off, but then she was so weird, the character I played, that it was kind of...
Marc:there was some protection in how quirky she was right and how um it wasn't completely sexualized no right it was weirdly i don't have a clear memory of the movie i understand probably i have one about as much as you have okay except you were in it but i mean if you were watching it like now you're saying i don't really know how much time i'm not sure either but i believe i've watched i'm comforted to know that you don't
Guest:that you don't know that well i mean i imagine if i googled i'd be pretty scared i'd be like you know this has been wonderful i'm gonna get out of your fucking creepy garage now now it's creepy no i was yet now it's creepy in the scenario that we're just discussing i'm not going there it's it's still a nice happy warm place okay and then so that you felt that was your break i did it was my break
Marc:How do you know that?
Marc:All of a sudden, you're like, who's that girl?
Guest:All of a sudden, studio executives wanted to have a general and things like that.
Guest:And then right away, I kind of went around the revolving door of Hollywood and sort of, I did Saving Silverman and then I couldn't get arrested for a while.
Marc:Yeah, I remember that movie.
Guest:Jason Biggs and the brilliant Steve Zahn and Jack Black.
Marc:They didn't give you anything to work with?
Guest:The mean girl, the bitchy.
Guest:You know what?
Marc:What?
Guest:I'm going to have to go back into psychoanalysis after this.
Marc:No, you're not.
Marc:You're not in it now?
Guest:No, I don't believe in it.
Marc:Oh, really?
Guest:I don't believe in psychoanalysis, really.
Marc:What's that based on?
Guest:my experience look at me didn't work yeah but you felt like you were sort of you were given short shrift in that movie like you didn't have a lot to work with or you just i'm not blaming anyone i'm just saying you can only be as good as the part and if you continue to play like you know
Guest:thin roles where you're just supposed to be, you know, I've talked about this, but if you're just supposed to be lovely or, you know, seductive, it just, people start to
Guest:wonder whether you're really an act whether you can really act they could be like oh you sound natural your voice doesn't sound like this yeah but you're but i have no idea what your capabilities are you're just like uh set dressing a prop in a way or just a generic an okay she's okay she's like she's yeah how do you can sound real and she doesn't look down the barrel great let's
Marc:We can use her for that little thing.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But see, like, but it's weird because, I mean, you did other movies, but, like, for me, Changing Lanes was a great performance.
Guest:Well, you're just very sweet, but thank you.
Marc:And in Suriana, another kind of detached, weird, great performance.
Marc:I seem to like you when you're kind of like, man, she's cold-blooded, that one.
Guest:Yeah, you do.
Marc:But then I watched all of Togetherness, and I was really waiting for that fucking relationship that you were in with Zizek.
Guest:We were going to go there.
Marc:I know you were.
Marc:You had to.
Marc:What's that guy's name, Zizek?
Guest:Steve Zizek.
Marc:this is this is yeah i love that guy i love that guy too and duplass and melanie melanie's been in here mark's been in here we wanted steve but i think he was too broken up about the series ending that i couldn't get him um and then like your character i wanted you i wanted that show to last because i needed to i needed that to happen with you and steve
Guest:Me too.
Marc:God damn it.
Guest:It was a heartbreak for me.
Guest:I felt like they really passed me the ball.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And they're like, go ahead and, you know, do your weird thing.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They were very, very trusting.
Guest:Those duplasses?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They're just like, roll the camera and go.
Guest:So I tried really hard to, they would even say, go off the rails.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So I tried really hard because I love them.
Guest:So I was nervous to, if I had kept it too tight, I feel like they would have been like.
Marc:Nah, you're not taking chances.
Marc:But wait, we didn't talk about that other thing, that huge.
Marc:Stem?
Marc:No, STEM we covered.
Marc:We got to the bottom of STEM.
Marc:No, no, it's important.
Marc:It's important that teacher was right.
Marc:But the Aaron Sorkin thing.
Guest:Oh, Aaron Sorkin, yeah.
Marc:Like that guy's notoriously intense.
Marc:I actually liked... Diplomatic word.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But you were in Studio 60 on the Sunset Shrip, which is like, that was going to be a huge show.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It was going to be, yeah.
Marc:I'm sorry.
Guest:It's okay.
Marc:What do you think went wrong with that?
Marc:Because I remember watching a couple of them.
Marc:What did D.L.
Marc:Hughley go on that?
Guest:D.L.
Marc:Hughley?
Marc:And it was about sort of based on like behind the scenes of SNL kind of deal.
Marc:And then SNL kind of made their own with 30 Rock.
Marc:Right?
Marc:Isn't that what happened?
Guest:I don't know why I'm not opening my mouth.
Guest:I think we were a little bloated with our own bloat.
Guest:All of us from top to bottom.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:Self-important.
Guest:Maybe.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Overly confident and.
Marc:But like Aaron can write the shit out of things.
Guest:I agree.
Marc:Both for good and bad.
Marc:And it's a tricky bit of business as an actor to manage his writing.
Guest:I like him a lot.
Guest:Yeah me too.
Guest:And I find him to be.
Guest:It was my pleasure.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:To get those scene for scene.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:As a, you know, adult female actress, I don't, I would, if he said, I'm gonna do this thing, but I haven't written it yet, I'd say, where do you want me to sign?
Marc:Right.
Marc:Yeah, he's an incredibly talented guy.
Marc:So what's this new show?
Marc:I talked to Hank.
Guest:You did?
Marc:I did briefly.
Marc:I like him.
Guest:Yeah, me too.
Guest:He's fucking funny.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:He was doing some stuff that was really hard for me to behave when I was in frame.
Marc:In terms of not laugh?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:How many did you make?
Guest:We made, I think we made eight in like three days.
Marc:It's IFC, yeah.
Guest:We were.
Marc:I know, I had a show on IFC.
Guest:Yeah, I know.
Marc:Yeah, you're doing like 12-page days, 15-page days.
Guest:I'm pretty sure I wrote, there were times where I wrote some dialogue, you know, and taped it to something because I was like, I don't know which episode this is.
Guest:I don't know which scene this is.
Marc:Tricky.
Guest:Baseball jargon, me, no bueno.
Guest:No.
Guest:You know, high velo era, like all this baseball talk.
Guest:I mean, I, you know, no.
Guest:A little bit like Frankie's math homework.
Marc:But you got it though.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:it's weird, right?
Marc:When you have to do stack shows up and like you're going, that was the hardest thing for me as a novice actor was to really figure out where was I, the scene before this that we shot three days ago.
Marc:And then we shot that whole other show in between this one.
Marc:Like where, how do I, like, I don't think I quite got a handle on that.
Marc:So what now in terms of writing, are you going to write another thing?
Guest:I'm trying.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:It's really hard.
Marc:Do you write every day?
Yeah.
Guest:I was writing every day and then I thought I was ready to go out with this play that I'm writing.
Guest:And then David and Dan's friend, Craig Mazin, who's a writer, he wrote the Hangover movies.
Guest:He wrote Identity Theft.
Marc:You were in that, right?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He basically told me that it sucked.
Marc:Your play.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And that he'd be so mad if he heard me say this right now.
Guest:He didn't tell me it sucked, but he was like, you're...
Guest:You know what?
Guest:I'm going to tell you what he said.
Guest:He said, you're circling something really good here.
Marc:That's not you sucked.
Guest:Yeah, but it's so horrible.
Marc:No.
Guest:Whose fucking side are you on?
Marc:Amanda, I'm trying to.
Guest:You're on Craig Mason's side.
Marc:No, I'm trying to get you working again.
Marc:Thank you.
Marc:I want you to continue writing.
Marc:That's very sweet.
Marc:And I think what he's saying is that, you know, these things you can't, you know, like this is really good, but I think you can go a little deeper.
Yeah.
Guest:Doesn't it sometimes feel like, you know, you're at the, you know, sometimes I'm like, oh, I'm in a marathon.
Guest:I'm at the, I just passed the 22 mile mark.
Guest:And then someone's like, no, that was the 12 mile mark.
Guest:That was a 12 mile mark.
Marc:No, I know, I know the feeling, but I think this, it seems to me that for people like us in the ways that we are like that, you know, we just want to, you know, you know, we just want to be told we did a great job every time.
Marc:And and if if if there are people are like, it was OK, then it's sort of like, well, why should I do anything anymore?
Marc:Because like if you're sensitive and you're creative, like, you know, you can easily be derailed.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And if you can't find it within yourself, especially if like the thing about acting or the thing about like doing stand up is that you pretty much.
Guest:I don't understand how you people do it.
Marc:Well, I mean, but the point is, is that with acting, you sort of like, you know, you get a lot of tries, but if you're doing film, but but nonetheless, you sort of do it and then it's done.
Marc:Whereas, like, you know, writing, you know, in a vacuum where you don't know if it's going to make it to where you want to make it, you know, if it's going to sell or it's ever going to be on stage and it's all you and.
Marc:How can you trust yourself to, number one, know when it's done or good?
Marc:And then how can you trust other people when you want them to see it?
Marc:And then if you get one bad note, how can you not spin out completely?
Guest:Well, I'll tell you something.
Guest:My husband's a very good writer, and his partner, D.B.
Guest:Weiss, is also a very good writer.
Guest:And so I go through a series of drafts with them.
Guest:And then at a certain point, Craig Mazin, the evil...
Guest:Dick is the gatekeeper.
Guest:So before I go out into the world with something, I'll go to Craig Mazin because he's so brutal.
Marc:After you run it through the Game of Thrones machine?
LAUGHTER
Marc:You put it through the Game of Thrones mill and then you pull Mazin in.
Guest:And then we pull Mazin in.
Marc:And you tell him that like, well, you know, knights and things with swords have sanctioned this.
Marc:It's been coronated.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Marc:And you're going to go against.
Guest:He's like, you're really listening to those pussies?
Guest:Give it to me so I can tell it to you straight.
Marc:Well, also right that your husband's a little close.
Guest:Yeah, but he is really brutal, my husband.
Marc:Really?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:On you?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:About your creativity?
Guest:about my work you know brutal this is a lazy rewrite i don't believe this isn't you know whatever yeah i saw this coming 10 pages away i don't want to see it coming you know this feels like expository cut all of this is not funny but it's funny but it happened i don't care cut it he's like very yeah and and how does that play out in the home life
Guest:I like it because it makes me actually feel like he thinks I'm at the table.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So I actually weirdly, it's a really big weirdly, even when he's criticizing me, it's weirdly my ego is okay because I think I really do feel like he thinks I'm at the table and that's so exciting to me that I, yeah.
Marc:So when we get out of show business, what are we going to do?
Marc:What's your dream if you really don't have to do show business?
Guest:I, I'm just going to be a grandma.
Marc:Oh, so you can wait it out.
Guest:I'm just going to, and maybe I'll have another tutor.
Marc:Uh-huh.
Guest:How about you?
Marc:What am I going to do?
Marc:I'm just going to stop and find a place, you know, somewhere isolated or away.
Marc:Why?
Marc:Because I. Do you not like people?
Marc:No, I do.
Marc:I do.
Marc:But like, I just need some space.
Marc:Somehow or another, LA is becoming like New York became.
Marc:I'm feeling kind of fucking like there's too many people.
Marc:And it happened to me in New York primarily because of the subway, where there's literally people touching you every day.
Guest:Do you have germy things?
Marc:Nope.
Marc:No germy things.
Marc:But now when I get on the highway here, I'm like, fucking, there's no getting out of here.
Yeah.
Marc:You know, I'm just sort of like, this is fucking nuts.
Guest:What about... So what are you thinking?
Guest:Like Minneapolis?
Guest:Like a smaller city?
Guest:New Mexico.
Guest:New Mexico.
Marc:I want to believe that I can get like a nice, reasonable place with a little property and a little more space and just sit there and be like, I did it.
Marc:That's the plan.
Guest:But can you really... I don't know.
Guest:Okay.
Marc:What, can you?
Guest:I don't know.
Marc:Do you think about it?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But I think for people...
Guest:It might be like the tree falling in the forest thing.
Marc:Like, if you can't... What, if Maren falls down in his house in New Mexico, no one's there to hear or see it fall?
Guest:No, it's more like if you do something or say something funny, which you will.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Oh, then it's just me and my cats?
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Well, I mean, I don't know that I have to completely disappear.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:But I imagine that if I did for a year, I don't think... I'm not Dave Chappelle.
Marc:It's not going to be like, where's Marin?
Marc:When's that happening again?
Guest:It's definitely going to be like, where's Marin for a lot of people.
Marc:Right.
Guest:Including that psycho out there.
Marc:Right.
Marc:That you brought to my house.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I hope you're going to keep this part in the podcast because it didn't occur to me to bring him up, but...
Guest:Ethan, if you're listening later on, he works for David and Dan on Game of Thrones.
Marc:He's a Game of Thrones fan.
Guest:He invited him, he's like psychotically, you're it.
Marc:Okay, well... Which isn't to say, I don't think you're it, but I feel like his love for you kind of... I think I handled it all right.
Guest:Yeah, you did great.
Marc:I didn't let him in the house, though.
Marc:What would he be doing in there?
Guest:Looking at your shit.
Guest:Taking pictures.
Marc:That was a good call on my part.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:I feel like I should give him something.
Marc:I look around.
Marc:There's got to be something in here that I can give Ethan.
Marc:Right?
Guest:See what I do for you, Ethan?
Marc:Yeah, we're talking to him because you know he's going to listen.
Guest:Yeah, he probably could be right there.
Marc:Well, no, I understand what you're saying about getting out.
Marc:Now that we're talking about it, I'm thinking freely.
Marc:I don't think you're mean, by the way.
Marc:I threw that out there for you to say, like, no, which you did not, really, completely.
Guest:I can be a raging bitch.
Marc:Okay.
Guest:Just ask Ethan.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:The guy out on my deck.
Guest:This psycho stalker.
Marc:On my deck.
Guest:Who's pacing.
Marc:Well, you know, it's been great talking to you.
Guest:You too.
Guest:I had a blast here.
Marc:Did you really?
Guest:Yes.
Guest:All right.
Guest:I mean, I'm schvitzing in my schmata.
Marc:Are you really?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Is it hot?
Marc:It's not that hot.
Marc:I opened the thing up.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:That's usually a sign that we got to stop.
Marc:Okay.
Guest:I like you very much.
Marc:I like you too.
Marc:And I'm glad you're doing funny shows.
Marc:And I've liked your recent work.
Marc:And the two things that I'm obsessed with where you're kind of mean.
Yeah.
Marc:The one in Changing Lanes.
Marc:I want everyone to watch the movie.
Marc:I think it's the best recovery-oriented movie that I've ever seen.
Marc:Do you remember who wrote it?
Guest:It's going to be so awful that I don't because he's so great.
Guest:Hold on, hold on, hold on.
Guest:Oh, good, oh, good.
Marc:I'll let you be like, I'll let you hear.
Marc:It's Chap Taylor and Michael Tolkien.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Okay, so do you remember who wrote it?
Guest:Are you really doing this?
Guest:Because this part has to be in there that you were going to be so sweet that you were going to let me do that.
Marc:You're the best person ever.
Marc:Do you want to try and do it?
Guest:No, I want this whole thing to be in me.
Marc:Let's try it again.
Marc:Hold on.
Marc:Let's just see if you can act.
Guest:Oh, okay.
Marc:Do you remember who wrote it?
Guest:Chip Taylor and Tuckle Token.
Marc:Tuckle Token?
Guest:Take two.
Guest:What's his name?
Marc:Michael Tolkien.
Marc:He wrote The Player.
Marc:He's the greatest.
Marc:He's great, yeah.
Marc:My friends.
Marc:Let's try it again.
Marc:Do you remember who wrote it?
Guest:It was Michael Tolkien.
Marc:Oh, he's great.
Marc:He wrote The Player and some other ones that I liked.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So let's see if that guy is in my house.
Guest:Okay, let's go.
Guest:Let's go try it again.
Guest:Ethan.
Marc:All right, that was me and Amanda Peet having a nice time.
Marc:That was a nice time.
Marc:It was a nice afternoon we had.
Marc:Again, wtfpod.com slash tour for the tour dates.
Marc:Use those links, which take you to the appropriate ticket vendor.
Marc:And yeah, I'll see you out there.
Marc:Sorry, no guitar playing today.
Marc:Oh, it'll be okay.
Marc:It'll be okay.
Marc:No, don't get upset.
Marc:I'll play again.
Marc:Probably not Monday because I'll be recording.
Marc:You know what?
Marc:I'm going to go.
Marc:Boomer lives!
Boomer lives!
you