Episode 997 - Andrea Savage
Marc:all right let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fuckists how's that one it doesn't matter what the fucking ears what's happening i'm mark maron this is my podcast welcome to it it's called wtf most of you know that but i do know
Marc:That we've got some new folks.
Marc:It's odd.
Marc:I think I will remain a discoverable thing for my entire life.
Marc:I mean, that's just the nature of the game now.
Marc:But I hope you enjoy that Simpsons episode.
Marc:I don't know if I've really talked to you since then, have I?
Marc:Because last week's shows were pre-recorded and it was on last Sunday.
Marc:So no.
Marc:I watched it.
Marc:I was pretty excited about it.
Marc:I thought it was funny.
Marc:I thought I came off like I am, which is good.
Marc:It was an exciting thing to be part of.
Marc:But my point is, is that a lot of people watch that and they're like, is this a real thing?
Marc:Is this a real guy?
Marc:Should I know about this guy?
Marc:And welcome to you if this is like your second or third time listening to the show.
Marc:Also, seems like the Mandy Moore episode was very popular and there might be some new people from that.
Marc:Welcome to you and welcome to people that just randomly came here and this is your first time.
Marc:I hope it works out for you.
Marc:Let me try to explain what I do here.
Marc:I will have a guest on a little later.
Marc:That guest today is Andrea Savage.
Marc:Her show, I'm sorry, is brutally funny.
Marc:She's great.
Marc:I love her.
Marc:I think she's hilarious.
Marc:And I had not I didn't know anything about her.
Marc:I knew we ran in similar circles.
Marc:She's been around the comedy world.
Marc:She's done a lot of very funny stuff on a lot of different shows.
Marc:But I watched all of the I'm sorry.
Marc:And it's a lot.
Marc:She operates at an intensity.
Marc:Her funny comes at an intensity that is definitely... Yeah, hey, right in your face there.
Marc:And it's good.
Marc:I told her that.
Marc:I hope it didn't come off as insulting.
Marc:So we'll be talking to her in a few.
Marc:That show is on... Where is it on?
Marc:It's on True TV Wednesday nights.
Marc:And it actually does it at 10 p.m.
Marc:Eastern.
Marc:The season finale airs March 6th.
Marc:And I was about to say when I interrupted myself, which to you new people...
Marc:Occasionally, I will interrupt conversations that I'm having in order to say what I want to say in the conversation.
Marc:So prepare yourself for that.
Marc:It seems like some people new to the show and even some people who've been around a while seem to think that that is some sort of liability on behalf of the interviewer.
Marc:But don't look at me as an interviewer.
Marc:We're having a conversation here and that's how I talk.
Marc:OK, not a rationalization, just a reality.
Marc:But I like that.
Marc:I'm sorry is episodic in the old school way where you got to wait a week to see the next one.
Marc:It's good.
Marc:It's good to have that week.
Marc:This binge watching thing is going to exhaust everybody and no one's going to be able to keep up with anything.
Marc:And no matter what the whole model, I think, is flawed, to be quite honest with you.
Marc:Like binge watching is like when you make shows like I'm about to finish up shooting on glow and they're going to drop off 10 of those babies whenever they drop them.
Marc:And most people will watch them one after the other in a day or two days.
Marc:And then it's done.
Marc:Then you got to wait a year.
Marc:For almost all shows that drop at once, you got to wait a year for new ones.
Marc:Right when you're about to forget they even existed.
Marc:Hey, remember this?
Marc:But it's sort of, I like the old timey way where it's like you look forward to the day it drops and you kind of make an event out of it or you make a point to watch it when it comes out.
Marc:You don't have to do that with anything really, but it's nice to have the time and that also closes the gap between when you watched it and when the new ones are going to come.
Marc:It's sort of like when you spend all day cooking Thanksgiving dinner and people just plow through it in 45 minutes or a half hour.
Marc:It's like, okay, it's over.
Marc:See you next year.
Marc:That's not a great analogy, really, because you can't really do Thanksgiving dinner piece by piece every week.
Marc:You can't like, all right, here's the potatoes.
Marc:It's going to be great next week when we do the stuffing.
Marc:Then the week after that, we'll do the Brussels sprouts or sweet potatoes.
Marc:I haven't decided, so that's exciting.
Marc:And then week seven, we'll get the turkey going.
Marc:Yeah, not a great analogy, but you know what I'm saying.
Marc:So listen.
Marc:Don't forget to send any questions that you have for our thousandth episode.
Marc:Anything you want to know about past episodes, past guests, things from my life, things from life in general.
Marc:Send your questions and comments or things you want me to know to WTF pod at Gmail dot com and put one thousandth episode question in the subject.
Marc:Also, speaking of doing a show for 10 years.
Marc:Yeah, our buddy Kevin Pollack has been doing his show for that long.
Marc:And this Saturday, March 2nd, he'll be taping his final episode of the Kevin Pollack chat show.
Marc:It's a Dynasty Typewriter theater.
Marc:That's the same place I've been doing my recent shows in town.
Marc:And his guests are Jim Jeffries and Pamela Adlon.
Marc:That's this Saturday, March 2nd at 4 p.m.
Marc:Go to DynastyTypewriter.com.
Marc:For ticket info.
Marc:And congratulations Kevin Pollack.
Marc:Good job and great job on Mrs. Maisel.
Marc:And I love you.
Marc:I love you Jew.
Marc:From one Jew to another.
Marc:That's the only requirement that really.
Marc:Most of being a Jew is relatively negotiable in terms of commitment.
Marc:But you do have to say you're a Jew at least three times a week.
Marc:To somebody.
Marc:Or just to the air.
Marc:I'm a Jew.
Marc:Just walking down the street.
Marc:That you have to do.
Marc:It's important to identify.
Marc:So I have to sort of shift here into some brutal, brutal news.
Marc:So, look, you know, I've been doing comedy a long time and I'm at an age now.
Marc:Obviously, it happens at every age and sometimes it happens prematurely and sometimes it happens in a horrible way.
Marc:But, you know, death happens.
Marc:And a real singular, unique, funny man died last Thursday.
Marc:I believe it was Thursday morning, maybe Wednesday night.
Marc:Brody Stevens, who is a fixture on the comedy scene, certainly here in Los Angeles.
Marc:And everybody kind of knows Brody.
Marc:He was really a unique and energetic and just he just it was a force of nature, man.
Marc:And he was always around.
Marc:I can remember Brody for, I don't know, at least 15, 20 years.
Marc:I can't remember the first time I met him.
Marc:But at the Comedy Store, he was always there.
Marc:He did a later spot every night.
Marc:And he sort of had his own world and his own intensity.
Marc:And there was nobody really like Brody Stevens.
Marc:And he is no longer with us.
Marc:It was a tragic thing.
Marc:He committed suicide.
Marc:He fought a very public and aggressive battle with depression.
Marc:He talked about it.
Marc:He made people with depression know they weren't alone.
Marc:He shared his struggles with depression in the rawest of ways.
Marc:And last week, he lost that fight.
Marc:And he's definitely going to be missed.
Marc:And it's just, it's heartbreaking.
Marc:I was at the store, comedy store, on Saturday night.
Marc:You know, two days after the news broke.
Marc:And it was just, it's like the place is now missing a fundamental part of its engine.
Marc:You know?
Marc:It was just, you know, Brody was always around and he was always emanating.
Marc:Positive energy!
Marc:yeah he was something else man rest in peace brody and thank you for everything that you gave the world and thank you for helping people with the same struggle as you um know they weren't alone and know you aren't alone and know that you know you don't necessarily have to make the choice that brody made but people make that choice it's horrible it's sad it happens and he's going to be missed he was loved
Marc:And unfortunately, I never did a long form interview with Brody.
Marc:We had a short one we did years ago on a live podcast, but but I don't think it really represents him.
Marc:I feel like if you don't know who I'm talking about and you want to see a truly unique individual, just like there's nobody like him.
Marc:There's plenty of output out there from Brody.
Marc:His last special, I believe it was his last one, was live from the main room at the Comedy Store, and he had some other specials, and he's done a lot of stuff with Zach Galifianakis, and he did a lot of Periscope stuff.
Marc:He did a lot of stuff on Twitter.
Marc:He did everything.
Marc:Brody did everything.
Marc:The last I remember, I remember he had a gig over at Midnight, the show that Hardwick hosted.
Marc:He was the audience warm-up.
Marc:He was great at that.
Marc:And I just I saw him the Wednesday before he passed.
Marc:And there is a a very painful but very revealing and honest periscope.
Marc:His last periscope piece that that people have been watching is about 45 minutes of him really talking about the struggle.
Marc:and it's just uh it's it's a heartbreaking thing and again you know he was loved he will be missed he was a an integral i think is the word part of the comedy community jesus man if you you know if you're fighting that thing do everything you can to get help you know it's it's hard it's hard man
Marc:you know, with the, trying to find the right medicines, deciding whether you should be on medicine, staying on the medicine, you know, doing therapy, doing everything, man, you know, it's just Brody was a real example of just really like day to day in the trenches with depression, but please get help, please.
Marc:And the thing about depression and people who struggle with it, you know, I grew up with that, you know, my father did.
Marc:And,
Marc:It's heavy, man.
Marc:There's people I miss.
Marc:There's definitely people I miss from my world that are no longer with us.
Marc:And a lot of people think like, well, like, man, it seems like a lot of people are dying all of a sudden.
Marc:It's like, no.
Marc:A lot of people die every day.
Marc:Let's pull it around.
Marc:I'll tell you one thing that didn't happen.
Marc:Buster Kitten did not die.
Marc:Buster Kitten lives.
Marc:Buster Kitten is almost... Actually, I'm going to say it, but, you know, knock on wood, is back to fucking normal, folks.
Marc:Yeah, I got him home, and...
Marc:I was giving him IVs every day, just sitting with him, holding him.
Marc:He was very affectionate when he got out of the hospital.
Marc:He's vulnerable and sweet and more affectionate than I'd ever seen him.
Marc:And it was so sweet, this little crazy kitten that I have that had renal failure for reasons we don't know.
Marc:It didn't look good.
Marc:Kidneys is a bad thing.
Marc:But I brought him in because he was pukey.
Marc:And it turned out he was in the middle of renal failure and about to die.
Marc:And I got him in the hospital.
Marc:We got him on antibiotics.
Marc:We got him on fluids.
Marc:Wasn't looking good.
Marc:The kidneys were inflamed.
Marc:There was fluid in there from the ultrasound.
Marc:We saw them.
Marc:Not a lot of hope in the vet's voice.
Marc:And then the next day, his numbers were good, better.
Marc:And they said, take him home, give him an IV every day, give him the new kidney food, and then check back in in 10 days or a week and a half.
Marc:So he started out so sweet and vulnerable.
Marc:And then as he got his strength, he got a little more crazy.
Marc:And then towards the end of me giving him the IV, he's eating more than he ever has.
Marc:And he's like put on the weight back.
Marc:He put the weight back on.
Marc:And now he's this crazy fucking asshole self again.
Marc:He's beating up on the old guys.
Marc:LaFonda and Monkey had a brief reprieve.
Marc:But it's funny.
Marc:It's funny with cats.
Marc:You know, when Buster wasn't around, the old guys, they're both about 15, right?
Marc:We're definitely relaxing.
Marc:And now, you know, when Buster came back, I kept him quarantined for a few days so I could administer the food and inject him.
Marc:And then I let him out and then it took him a while.
Marc:But because I put him aside for a few days, you know, he didn't smell like the vet's office.
Marc:So there was none of that.
Marc:Who the fuck is this?
Marc:They both knew who he was and they both knew the trouble was back.
Marc:But it's weird.
Marc:LaFonda does not love it.
Marc:She's an old lady and she doesn't like being beat up on.
Marc:And Monkey, you would think doesn't love it, but it's weird because Monkey, he always, he can't beat Buster and Buster always plays too rough.
Marc:And he's always like, you know, it's always a little crazy.
Marc:But, you know, you start to look like, you know, oh, Monkey kind of likes getting beat up by Buster.
Marc:There's that moment where they're like, well, you still going to beat me up, pal?
Marc:Come on, I'm still here to play.
Marc:I'll keep trying to play with you, but I'm an old man.
Marc:But let's come on.
Marc:Let's do it.
Marc:Let's take a spin.
Marc:Let's go.
Marc:So however much they missed him, I think they're pretty happy to have him back.
Marc:So that's some good news.
Marc:And I'll keep you abreast of that.
Marc:Andrea Savage is here.
Marc:And I got to be honest, man, I didn't you never know what to expect.
Marc:And I tend to especially if I don't know somebody personally or, you know, I've only seen them here and there.
Marc:Like I watched all the shows and I really got a kick out of it.
Marc:It's a sweet show.
Marc:It's very funny.
Marc:It's nice and crass.
Marc:Her personality is, you know, just sort of like, you know, aggressively funny.
Marc:And it's great.
Marc:It's a unique show.
Marc:It's called I'm Sorry.
Marc:It's on True TV.
Marc:It's on Wednesday nights at 10 p.m.
Marc:Eastern.
Marc:The season finale airs March 6th, but you can watch them all when you get a chance.
Marc:And this is me talking to.
Marc:Did I call her aggressively funny?
Marc:Is that that's not meant to be bad.
Marc:This is me and Andrea Savage.
Yeah.
Marc:So what were you saying about me meeting you?
Marc:Because I had this weird feeling and I don't think I thought like, why don't I?
Marc:Why haven't I really seen her do stand up?
Marc:How do I not know her?
Marc:We're not.
Marc:I'm not that much.
Marc:Well, I'm older.
Marc:I'm not going to tip anything.
Marc:But I mean, like, it feels like we were in some more circles.
Guest:We should have known each other probably more than we did.
Guest:And I think that's weird, too, because I'm like, we know a lot of the same people.
Marc:Right.
Guest:You were definitely ahead of, you know, you were older.
Guest:But you, I, we met actually quite a few times.
Guest:I knew that.
Guest:In like the early 2000s, but you wouldn't remember.
Guest:And I am not someone who is scared of people.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You scared, you seemed like an angry person.
Guest:Like I was somewhat scared of you.
Guest:You were married to my friend.
Mishnah.
Guest:And so Misha and I were friends.
Guest:Oh, and so she and I did.
Guest:I know she and I did started kind of stand up around the same time.
Guest:You did.
Guest:And we would perform sometimes the improv together and this and that.
Guest:And you would come and you just say, hi.
Guest:And I was just like, who is this mean?
Guest:You just I was just kind of a little scared.
Guest:what did what was she telling you she seemed happy by the way we weren't super close like i wasn't as close where she'd be like this guy yeah yeah what am i doing what am i doing get me out exactly read this at home can i stay do you have a safe space i can stay yeah that was later yeah yeah so i think this was i was trying to think when i was driving over here i was like when was that and i think it was around 2004 oh okay 2002 to 2004 is that around the time
Marc:Sure, that's when I moved out here and that's when we moved out here.
Marc:We were not married yet.
Guest:Yeah, I don't think you were dating.
Marc:No, we were living together.
Marc:So she moved out here with me.
Marc:So that was 2002 and we were living together.
Marc:And you were part of that group.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So that was like, who was in that?
Marc:There was who started out at that time.
Marc:Cause I know like, I feel like, um, like Ornie Adams and people like, yeah, I didn't really know Ornie.
Marc:You were in the alt crew.
Guest:I was kind of in the alt crew.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So, um, like Natasha Leggero, Chelsea Handler and I, we all kind of started at the same time.
Marc:Right.
Guest:Um, and then they kind of kept doing standup and I kind of went more acting.
Marc:What happened with your standup?
Guest:I honestly, I started working and couldn't work all day and ride all day and then go out at night.
Marc:Well, let's go back.
Guest:All right.
Marc:Because I don't know you.
Guest:You don't.
Marc:And I've watched the show.
Marc:Because when you were supposed to come on, I knew about the show.
Marc:But it's hard to watch things because you don't know what to watch.
Marc:There's too much.
Marc:There is.
Guest:Thank you for watching it.
Marc:And I knew you were a funny person, and I saw you on Veep, and I think you're funny on that, and I've seen you in other things, I think you're funny.
Marc:So I watched the show, and I binged it, as they say.
Guest:Okay, great.
Marc:And you're a lot.
Marc:You're a lot to binge.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I think you need a little space.
Marc:I think it's smart.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:I mean, I feel like that's... I can't understand why I was a little scared of you and off-put.
Guest:I can't imagine what that was.
Guest:No, no, no, but I think... By the way, I get it.
Marc:I think it's interesting that you're on a network that actually drops them weekly, which is a way to watch things.
Marc:Because when you do watch things one after the other, I just did it with Escape from Dannemora, which is a different experience.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:But I felt... Yeah.
But I...
Marc:But I felt dirty and awful.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Because I watched them all back to back.
Marc:And when you're watching you back to back, you sort of get into your thing.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Although it's interesting.
Guest:I think as a comedian, it's hard for me to watch a lot of comedy.
Marc:Like back to back.
Marc:I think you're very funny.
Marc:I liked it.
Guest:But I get like, okay, that's a lot.
Marc:You're an intense person.
Marc:You come in hot.
Yeah.
Marc:Like all the time, even when you walked into my house, I was like, wow, this is really how this this is how she is.
Guest:But you know what?
Guest:Yes and no, because I will say it's weird to drive across the city.
Guest:And then be like, oh, I'm going to this guy's house I don't know.
Guest:And we've really never met.
Guest:We don't know anything in common.
Guest:And then we're going to have this.
Guest:We have a lot in common.
Guest:Well, we do have.
Guest:Actually, we have a lot in common.
Guest:But we don't know each other.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Whatever.
Guest:And it is like, I was like, what a strange thing.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so I do feel like when you walk.
Guest:I felt like when I walked in, you have to sort of.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:Otherwise, it's like, oh, hello.
Guest:I'm standing in your house.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Can I use your bathroom?
Guest:So it was.
Marc:You could.
Marc:Did you need to go to the bathroom?
Marc:No.
Marc:Oh, okay.
Guest:I didn't.
Marc:Because you have one.
Guest:I don't have to go to the bathroom very often.
Marc:Never?
Marc:No, never.
Guest:No, I have a big bladder.
Marc:Really?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, always have.
Marc:And you can hold, are you one of those people that like if you have to pee like right when you go to sleep that you can hold it all night?
Guest:All night long.
Marc:Oh.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:My girlfriend's like that.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I don't understand that at all.
Marc:I'm a man.
Marc:I have to pee at least two or three times in the night.
Marc:In the night.
Guest:Luckily, my husband does not do that.
Marc:How old is he?
Guest:He's 40.
Guest:Oh, it's coming.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:All right.
Guest:All right.
Guest:It's fair.
Guest:I had a girlfriend, not a romantic girlfriend, but a close friend, who when she would come visit LA, she'd come stay at my house and I had a one bedroom, whatever.
Guest:And so she...
Guest:share the bed with me, and she would go to the bathroom six times a night.
Guest:Really?
Guest:To the point where before we went to bed, I'd make her go to the bathroom like a child.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then I put a limit.
Guest:I was like, I can't have you getting up six times.
Guest:Because I was like, you don't have, there's no way biologically you actually have to get up that often.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's just in your head.
Guest:So I give you three times, and then past that, you don't get up.
Marc:Does this end in a horrible way, like she had a bladder infection?
Marc:No.
Marc:Now she's no longer with us because she had a...
Guest:By the way, would be a great story, but no.
Marc:Do you know her still?
Marc:Of course, yeah.
Guest:Your friends?
Guest:Very close friend.
Guest:Oh.
Guest:Actually, on my show, Alison Tolman plays a version of her on my show.
Marc:Which ones?
Marc:Alison Tolman from Fargo.
Guest:She plays one of my best friends who's getting divorced.
Marc:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:I don't know everyone's name.
Guest:Yeah, she's fantastic.
Marc:I'm not as in the loop as I should be.
Guest:it's you're very busy and it's but like a lot of people know a lot of people some people can hold it all in their brain i can't hold it all in my brain right i really can't i've noticed a big difference and i think part of it is just being so busy for the past two and a half years and inundated with information voluntarily inundated with all this stuff
Guest:I've noticed that my short term just sort of like recollection of names is going.
Guest:Yeah, it's not great.
Marc:My short term of everything is going.
Marc:I can't remember.
Marc:Like things that happened a week ago seem like it was the last year.
Marc:I know.
Marc:Does that happen to you?
Marc:Yes.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:It's crazy.
Marc:You're like, when did we do that?
Marc:It was like three days ago.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Guest:Part of me finds that comforting because I feel like time isn't rushing so fast.
Marc:Yeah, it's just trickling by.
Guest:It's just trickling by because sometimes I'll sit there and I go, oh my God, it's 2019.
Guest:I started season two in 2017.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:What am I doing in this day?
Marc:That's when you shot.
Marc:Well, that's when I started writing.
Marc:Oh, okay.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I know.
Marc:It takes so long for things to go on.
Guest:Especially this kind of show.
Marc:That's why it's so good that you're doing it...
Marc:Like you're dropping them week to week.
Marc:So now people can't like you put all that work.
Marc:It's like cooking an amazing meal.
Marc:And then like you eat compulsively.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Eat too fast and it's gone.
Guest:It's gone.
Marc:Like this way, at least people have to take 10 weeks and then they only have to wait like nine or 10 months.
Marc:More.
Marc:The people have to wait literally a year or more.
Marc:If they binge it, they're fucked for a year.
Marc:You're just like you're.
Guest:I know.
Marc:Do you remember how great it was to watch The Sopranos every week?
Guest:I didn't.
Marc:How about Breaking Bad?
Marc:Do you watch anything that was weekly where you'd look forward to it?
Guest:Yes, of course.
Marc:Like Sunday night?
Guest:Yes, Sunday night.
Guest:Here we go.
Guest:Oh my God.
Guest:Yes, of course.
Marc:How good was that?
Guest:Well, that's sort of what my show is, but I will say it's on true TV, which is a little harder for people to find.
Guest:And then it finally went on Netflix in the fall.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And that's where... That opened it up.
Guest:That's where everyone started watching it.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So... And people like it?
Guest:And people seem to like it.
Guest:Yeah, I had a show on IFC.
Guest:Yeah, I have really nice fans.
Guest:I know.
Marc:And it went on to Netflix.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And still a few people watch it.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:But they like it.
Marc:The few people that locked in.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Well, great.
Marc:It's not about me.
Marc:I'm happy you're successful.
Yeah.
Guest:You're doing fine.
Marc:I'm doing good.
Guest:Yeah, you're doing good.
Guest:So where'd you come from?
Guest:I'm from LA.
Marc:Really?
Guest:Yeah, born and raised.
Marc:Where?
Marc:Like what part?
Guest:Born in like Santa Monica and then mostly grew up in the valley.
Marc:In the valley?
Marc:Like how far out?
Guest:Like far out, Woodland Hills.
Marc:Oh, okay.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:That's fancy?
Guest:Uh, no, not super, no, not super fancy.
Guest:Um, but not terrible.
Guest:I mean, I didn't, I grew up pretty, my, my childhood and background is not like exciting and angsty.
Guest:Parents got divorced when I was two.
Marc:Oh, see.
Guest:So that's where it, yeah, that's where, there it is.
Guest:There we go.
Guest:Just get right into it.
Guest:I do.
Guest:I have four brothers.
Guest:Four?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I have one older brother from the same parents and then I have three younger brothers cause both my parents got remarried.
Marc:Oh.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Are they in show business?
Guest:Your parents?
Guest:Nobody in my entire- Siblings?
Guest:Literally, not one person.
Guest:All my family lives in LA.
Guest:And by the way, my husband is one of five as well.
Guest:And also grew up in LA.
Guest:And his family's not in the entertainment business.
Guest:Is he in show business?
Guest:He is.
Guest:What's he do?
Guest:He's an agent.
Marc:Really?
Guest:Mm-hmm.
Guest:But- Where?
Guest:He's like a lovely, nice person.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:See, now let's talk about this a minute.
Guest:And I've known him since high school.
Guest:Side note.
Guest:We haven't been together since high school, but I've known him since I was 15.
Marc:So he's a California kid too?
Guest:He is, yeah.
Guest:He's from the Valley.
Marc:Well, I have found that, and I don't want to knock that part of the business.
Guest:By the way?
Marc:We need him.
Guest:You need him.
Guest:But also, there's some not great things.
Guest:Well, there's not good people on everything.
Marc:But I have this weird thing where like I don't like I've dealt with agents a bit throughout my life and executives and whatnot.
Marc:I was.
Marc:No, I was relatively unrepresented for like a decade or so.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But every time I meet them, like, I don't know if it's a projection or what, but they seem to be missing some part of their personality.
Marc:I'm not saying this about your husband.
Marc:Like, I guess it's because you're dealing with all when you're dealing with talent.
Marc:And let's say you represent 10 people.
Marc:You have to lie to them.
Marc:You have to mislead them.
Marc:You have to make them feel like everything's about to happen or that they tried their best when really you might not be doing anything.
Marc:And that must be a difficult thing to do.
Guest:You know what?
Guest:I also think, well, yeah, I mean, that makes it sound terrible and that they're all psychopaths.
Guest:They're not?
Guest:They're not.
Guest:Well, because I came in with a lot of attitude because we knew each other in high school and then I knew that he had gone off and done that.
Guest:We didn't re-meet until our early 30s.
Guest:And I was like, oh, and he works at a big agency.
Guest:And I was like,
Guest:he's got to be the fucking worst yeah and i was like he'd reached out whatever and wanted to get together and i was like oh fuck that like i was like he's got to be worst of the jewish guy yeah big jew yeah big big yeah um i don't know huge jew huge so jewy i mean so no but he's a jew yeah um but um and then i met him are you jew
Guest:Should be, but wasn't raised, but am.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Mostly Jew?
Guest:Mostly Jew.
Guest:A little Greek and mostly Jew.
Marc:That's a good combo.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So you kind of like you bring the shitty Jewish food up to the middle, meets the Greek food.
Guest:Meets the Greek food.
Guest:It's good.
Guest:Then you make great hummus.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But yeah.
Guest:So, and then we met and I was like, oh, he seems nice.
Guest:But I was like, re-met.
Guest:And I was very skeptical for a while.
Guest:I was like, where's the fake...
Guest:Right.
Guest:Shitty.
Marc:Where's the sociopathic necessity?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like lying and just sort of this like schmoozy play or whatever.
Guest:Not there.
Guest:But he's sort of known for being like the nicest agent.
Guest:So he's.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I don't really.
Guest:He's not awful.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I still it's still sort of a mystery, you know, how it all works on their end.
Guest:You know what?
Guest:It's interesting because I feel like now I know a little how the sausage is made.
Guest:You do?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Oh, let's talk because I'm not going to interview a fucking agent.
Marc:See, that tone was wrong.
Marc:I'm not going to interview anyone from that part of the business because it doesn't necessarily interest me as much other than an investigation.
Guest:I actually think if you knew someone who was an agent who was not one of those weird, you actually would be like, wow, that's really interesting.
Marc:But aren't a lot of them odd?
Guest:let's let's let's be diplomatic yeah aren't aren't a lot of them i don't even know if i i i to be honest like i would say odd is like am i making it all up no i don't think you're making it all up i would say odd i'd i'd rather they were odd because i feel like that's a little more interesting sometimes i find that i just am like who are you right yeah like right i don't even know what your personality is that's it yes that's it yeah
Guest:Yeah, it's just sort of this bland where you're like, I don't know what's real and what's not.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Well, sort of, that's what I mean.
Marc:They're missing a part of their personality.
Guest:But then now, because I'm around a lot of them, I'm like, and he's always been like, you're so mean, like, you're always so judgmental, whatever.
Guest:And I've now know quite a few great ones.
Guest:And now I will say with my agents, I was with an agency for like 12 years.
Guest:And then I left a couple years ago.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Which actually is a funny story of the final straw of why I left.
Guest:What is that?
Guest:I think I'll actually appreciate this.
Guest:I don't know if I've ever told this anywhere.
Guest:What?
Guest:So I was working quite a bit, but it was all like people I knew and this and that.
Guest:And I think I was on Beep and I don't know.
Guest:Already?
Guest:So it's recently?
Guest:Yeah, this was like two years ago.
Guest:And my show had been picked up.
Guest:I was about to start season one.
Guest:And it was like, I hadn't heard from my agents in a long time.
Guest:And I was like, how come...
Guest:I don't ever get sent on auditions through them.
Guest:And I actually really liked my agents as people over there and they were really great.
Guest:And but it was like something's wrong.
Guest:I feel like you were just like, oh, well, she just does her.
Guest:She creates her own stuff so we don't have to worry about whatever.
Marc:That's what they're dying for to happen.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:And then they can take credit for it.
Guest:Yeah, kind of.
Guest:I don't even know if it's as nefarious as that.
Guest:I think sometimes people have too many clients.
Marc:Are you saying I'm seeing evil where there's just mundanity?
Guest:Yeah, I think so.
Guest:I think you're giving too much credit.
Marc:It's the Hannah Arendt book, The Banality of Evil.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, I think you're honestly giving it way too much.
Guest:Whatever.
Guest:So I'd been like, well, maybe it's my reel.
Guest:Maybe I need to update my reel.
Guest:So I had done some stuff.
Guest:And I had this movie that Alison Brie was in Sleeping With Other People.
Guest:And Jason Mansoukas and I are a couple in it.
Guest:We have whatever.
Guest:And we have these funny improv scenes.
Guest:He's a sweet guy.
Guest:He's a great guy.
Guest:Good friend of mine.
Guest:And we work together a lot.
Guest:He's on your show.
Marc:He's on my show.
Marc:Like every episode.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:He's on half of them the first season.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And we've done whatever.
Guest:And we're good friends.
Marc:No eggs for Jason.
Guest:No eggs.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:I've been out to eat with that.
Guest:Trust me.
Guest:It's a whole fucking thing.
Marc:I know.
Marc:I talked to him.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:No.
Marc:It's terrifying.
Guest:By the way.
Marc:He's terrified of eggs because it could kill him.
Guest:He carries an EpiPen.
Guest:Like, it's no joke.
Guest:It could kill him.
Guest:He's also the biggest hypochondriac in the world, germaphobe, whatever.
Guest:And I love him, but I'm sure it's all connected because he could die at any moment.
Marc:Just from an egg.
Guest:Just from lick an egg.
Guest:Of course, like...
Guest:Because comedians, you know, you want to, like, fuck with people, but you always have that thing of, like, what if I hit an egg in there?
Guest:But, like, you never do it.
Guest:But it's always like that, like, just to see.
Guest:But also, like, is it real?
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:Like, a little bit of, like...
Marc:How could someone be that allergic?
Guest:Maybe you grew out of it.
Guest:Is this just sort of, you know, this is like some soothing mechanism of yours?
Marc:The prank gone wrong.
Marc:Oh, shit, it is real.
Marc:Call 911.
Marc:Exactly.
Guest:I'll make sure the EpiPen's close and stab him with it.
Guest:So, okay.
Guest:So, anyway.
Guest:You're making a reel.
Guest:So, I'm making a reel.
Guest:And I was like, I'd love to get the scenes from sleeping with other people.
Guest:It's really funny stuff of me and Minsoukas.
Guest:So, they get the scenes and it
Guest:was sort of like annoying for them to get this like they didn't do it when I got them and whatever and then I was supposed to take a meeting there and I had just at the agency I just come back from shooting episodes and blah blah blah and was going to take a meeting there at like 3 o'clock and at 1 o'clock I was like let me look at what the updated reel is and I looked at the scenes for sleeping with other people and there was a scene with me and then a scene with me and then a scene of Amanda Peet and
Guest:And then a scene of me.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So there was a scene of a different actress on my reel.
Marc:Right.
Guest:Which led me to have some questions of whether or not they were aware that I was a different person from Amanda Peay.
Guest:Like, clearly who had ever done that?
Yeah.
Guest:She's also in the movie.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So I don't know if they thought I was playing two different characters.
Guest:Right.
Guest:In the movie.
Guest:I don't know what was happening.
Marc:So there's like just a chunk of Amanda Peet on your reel.
Guest:In the middle of my reel.
Marc:With none of you.
Guest:And it had... No.
Guest:Correct.
Guest:I'm not in that scene.
Guest:It was like a scene that I'm in and then a scene that I'm not involved in at all.
Marc:So they just...
Guest:Within the middle of my reel.
Guest:And so I also was like, well, how long has this been going?
Guest:Because it had been like four months since that reel had been supposedly available.
Marc:Right.
Marc:So they're just sending you out as Amanda Peet on the reel.
Guest:Or clearly you're not sending me out because wouldn't someone have been like, um.
Marc:It's not the same person.
Guest:That's not the same person.
Yeah.
Guest:And so at that point, I was like, I think that's the that's the last straw.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But also, you know, whatever it was.
Guest:It makes me laugh because it's just but it's also like this wasn't that this was like three years ago and I've worked a long time like.
Guest:Okay, I guess we don't have to be in every scene on our reel, by the way.
Guest:Why do we have to be in every scene on our reel?
Guest:You're right.
Guest:You know what?
Guest:I'm just realizing that maybe I was... Being selfish.
Guest:Being selfish.
Guest:Put Amanda on.
Guest:She's lovely.
Guest:I don't know her.
Marc:She's good.
Guest:But she's so talented.
Guest:Yeah, she is.
Guest:Her scene was good.
Marc:Yeah, I hope she got work off your reel.
Guest:By the way, I think she must have.
Marc:Got some work.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, that leads to the way...
Guest:I don't even know why I went off on that tangent.
Marc:That's a funny story.
Marc:Oh, agents.
Guest:Oh, I'm married to an agent.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Because we're talking about agents.
Marc:Well, but that's the thing.
Marc:I don't think I was represented.
Marc:I was in that situation before things turned around for me where my manager, and you start to realize how this works, that you're really just this, you're either a function, either they can sell you or they can't.
Marc:And if they can't, you're just kind of like, oh, yeah, that guy.
Marc:Yeah, we got him too.
Yeah.
Marc:So, so what happens is, is like I was unrepresented every few years.
Marc:My manager would ask an agent to do him a favor and send me out a couple of times to make it feel like pocket.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And then they just, nothing would happen.
Marc:And I, and I, I'd have these calls where I'm like, do I have an agent?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And then it got to here's how my relationship, 20 year relationship with my manager ended.
Marc:I brought the early episodes of the podcast in, which is starting to sort of pick up.
Marc:You know, we were at the cutting, you know, the cusp of something.
Marc:And I played him and he I go to meet him about it.
Marc:He goes, I don't get it.
Marc:He goes, he says, where's the WTF?
Marc:What?
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Like, he had somehow played, like, this must mean this or that.
Marc:Well, two is, we're okay now, but I fired him.
Guest:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Because he tried to pawn me off onto the assistant, which is the worst.
Marc:That is the worst moment.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:Mm-hmm.
Marc:There was this moment where he's like, because I had shit on the assistant.
Marc:I had a big fight with him because he lied to my face.
Marc:I caught him in a lie, and he just doubled down on the lie.
Marc:And I'm like, dude, dude, you're beat.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Right?
Marc:And after that happened, my manager, after we make up, he goes, go apologize to Josh.
Marc:They're all Josh.
Marc:That was one of the funniest.
Marc:Greg Proof said he was at the Montreal Comedy Festival.
Marc:He says, I'm in a room surrounded by Josh's and Barry's.
Guest:Oh, I so wish my husband's name was Josh.
Marc:What is it?
Guest:Jeremy.
Marc:Close.
Marc:But yeah, whatever.
Marc:So that was that.
Marc:But we're okay now.
Marc:Everything's fine.
Marc:I'm now with an agent who's sort of an old-timer guy.
Marc:He's been around a while.
Marc:I don't know exactly who all my covering people are, but I know that he's... I talk to him and he calls me.
Guest:As my husband always says, he goes, literally, all you need is one person.
Guest:You don't need a thousand people.
Guest:If you have one person who is paying attention and passionate and whatever, that's really all.
Marc:It's a weird part of the business.
Guest:It is a weird part.
Marc:Because I had, I had another agent recently that I left and she was great and she was committed, but she was like not, you know, if the top people don't dig you, then you're going to be fighting against people in your own agency.
Marc:It's like, I don't, I don't even want to think about it.
Marc:But my question is this.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Because you're on the inside.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You're fucking one.
Marc:Sometimes, occasionally.
Marc:It hasn't been a while, right?
Marc:You have a kid.
Guest:No, no.
Guest:It's all right.
Marc:Okay.
Guest:My show is based on a lot of real stuff.
Marc:Mostly real stuff.
Marc:Well, that guy's such a great guy.
Guest:Oh, Tom.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, he's fantastic.
Marc:Your husband's that great a guy?
Guest:Honestly, I call him St.
Guest:Jeremiah.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:He's the greatest guy in the whole fucking world.
Guest:Everyone loves my fucking husband.
Guest:Which I, as I talk about in season one, I have...
Guest:I think probably going back to my parents divorce and all this stuff I do have a legitimate I always thought I'd be divorced and I sort of always imagined that would be great and I don't know why but I'm married to this like lovely person yeah is like right like well I'm happily married so how am I supposed to get divorced but I've always imagined I was going to be so now what so it's on you to fuck it up
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And I'm not, you know, I mean, I'm sure I am in some capacity, but anyway.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:So what's your question?
Marc:Okay.
Marc:Um, is that like you're working and you're doing well and you're obviously something they can market when, when, when, what happens that happened to you when, when that happens where they, they just, it's just, they don't give a shit.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:It's like, what are they giving a shit about?
Marc:I,
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:Is it like the book business where they've got one or two people that are making millions of dollars and that all the effort goes into managing and making sure those people are all right?
Marc:I just don't know.
Marc:Are they just sitting around packaging things, whatever that means?
Marc:I think.
Guest:I assume it's just them wrapping up presents.
Guest:To give each other?
Marc:Or ordering gift baskets for people?
Guest:Or give packets, and they package them up, and then they send them out to different people around town.
Marc:I just don't know what the day-to-day is.
Guest:Well, I mean, I know what my husband's day-to-day is, but it's- Phone calls?
Guest:Phone calls a lot.
Guest:He represents bigger people.
Marc:Don't even talk to me about that number.
Marc:Call me back.
Guest:No, that's what the Joshes do.
Marc:Oh, that's the Joshes.
Marc:That's a Josh job, not a Jeremy job.
Marc:But they were such an essential part of the business and some of them have so much power.
Marc:And it's just like I haven't quite wrapped my brain around how it all works, but it's so vast.
Guest:It is.
Guest:Also, the other thing I realized, because people are always like, oh, your husband, you know, he represents these big people.
Guest:Does he help you?
Guest:I'm like, no, he's he's literally in a different career than I am.
Guest:We do not cross.
Marc:I know.
Marc:What is that about?
Marc:Because like I was with a huge management agency and he represented everybody, the biggest people in comedy.
Marc:I'm like, can you just get me like a one line apart where I just walk on in the thing?
Marc:You guys produce it.
Marc:You represent all the actors in it.
Marc:And some of them are my friends.
Marc:Is there any way?
Guest:Can I tell you, it sounds like maybe he didn't think you were great.
Marc:I think what... Honestly?
Guest:Like, I mean... I think he did.
Marc:I think what it comes down to is I don't know what to do with him.
Marc:See, they try to box you.
Guest:I would say, but I think that is something interesting because I would say until you started...
Guest:I'm saying your past, what, decade?
Marc:Right, because, like, in 2004, you were scared of me.
Marc:People had to be less scared of me because they just sort of assumed, like, he's got an edge, and then they realized, like, he's very inconsistent.
Marc:He's not always funny, and he's scaring ladies.
Marc:So maybe... So maybe we don't know what to do with that.
Marc:Yeah, we'll wait it out.
Guest:But don't you think, like, in a certain way, like, you had to figure out what to do with it the most?
Guest:Sure, I had to get... And then guide it.
Marc:Well, yeah, well, you...
Marc:early on and i guess maybe this happened to you you're driven by a certain amount of spite and entitlement like you have talent you may not have a handle on it but you're like why the fuck is that person getting that why why didn't i go in for that why can't you send me in for that if that person got i don't know if i'm projecting but yeah i don't know i mean yes of course there is that natural um but you might not have been ready is my point is that like i had a lot of opportunities that in retrospect i wasn't ready for but i i got yeah and
Marc:And there was no way they could move forward, really, because I wasn't, you know, I wasn't grounded.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And I didn't know what I really did.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I think that, you know, I think also I'm you know, I did stand up for a very short period of time, so I can't even call myself like a former stand up.
Guest:I came in more through acting and that.
Marc:But what is it?
Marc:Because you seem like a like a relatively healthy person.
Guest:I think I am mentally.
Guest:And yeah, I think I am.
Guest:I'm a pretty normal for doing what I do, like normal person who has a pretty normal life.
Marc:So your parents get divorced.
Guest:My parents get divorced.
Marc:But you you it didn't devastate you because you were too young.
Guest:So I don't remember.
Marc:And your mother, who were you living with?
Guest:My mom.
Guest:My mom had full custody.
Guest:She met my stepdad.
Guest:Full custody.
Marc:What the hell did your dad do?
Guest:He wasn't interested.
Guest:He had visitation.
Guest:I mean, back then, it was like you just weren't interested.
Marc:I didn't grow up super... You go over there for the weekend.
Guest:Go there one weekend every month, two months.
Marc:Are they both still around?
Guest:Mm-hmm.
Marc:And you have a relationship with both of them?
Guest:I do, yeah.
Guest:My dad and I have had, you know, I wouldn't say a father dot, like what you'd think of.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:You kind of grew up together?
Marc:He was around the corner kind of thing?
Guest:No, he lived in Orange County.
Guest:Like, it was kind of an hour and a half away.
Guest:We'd meet at Union Station downtown.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And they'd do the drop-off.
Marc:Uh-huh.
Guest:And my stepmom...
Marc:So you have experience with Union Station.
Marc:That was part of your childhood.
Guest:That was part of my childhood is driving to Union Station, not going inside, but doing the exchange in the parking lot.
Guest:Like we wouldn't take the train.
Guest:It was just sort of halfway between our houses.
Marc:Oh, really?
Guest:And then my dad.
Marc:Drive downtown to beautiful old Union Station.
Guest:To beautiful old Union Station.
Guest:And my stepmom, who actually is no longer my stepmom, but was my stepmom for many years.
Guest:She is still alive, but they have gotten divorced.
Guest:Never wanted to meet my mom.
Guest:And so never met my mom in 30 years.
Guest:And so she would get dropped off around the corner.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And then my dad would come pick us up and then go pick her up.
Marc:Oh, so it was weird.
Guest:So it was weird.
Guest:And my dad, yeah, my dad is an interesting guy.
Guest:Like I'm still, he's an orthodontist in Orange County.
Marc:Nice.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I have a lot of teeth people in my family.
Guest:We're people of teeth.
Guest:And my brother's a dentist.
Guest:My mom was a dental hygienist.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:A periodontist.
Guest:We're, you know.
Guest:Teeth people.
Guest:We're teeth people.
Marc:Where do you stand on floss?
Guest:Pro.
Marc:Yeah, good.
Guest:Very pro.
Marc:Me too.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Compulsively.
Guest:Are people against floss?
Marc:I read one article.
Guest:I was like, I didn't know this was like a...
Guest:I didn't know this was a brewing.
Marc:So I have a, this woman who trains me, you know, she finds things on the internet.
Marc:Cause I've lost, like my gums are kind of fucked.
Marc:Cause I've, it's a long story.
Guest:I'd love to hear every, well, actually I'm kidding.
Marc:Well, my bites off and.
Guest:Do you ever see in gums?
Marc:I do.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But cause my bites off and because of a bad, a bad decision I made early on with a toothbrush.
Guest:What was that?
Guest:What does that mean?
Well,
Marc:I remember like I had to track it because I've had these on my gums.
Marc:I want them to be healthy.
Marc:But like one time when I was younger, I decided that, you know, to really brush thoroughly, you had to make your gums bleed.
Guest:Oh, Jesus.
Marc:So I just brushed.
Guest:Until your gums bled every night?
Marc:A few times until, you know, and then, yeah, I was misguided.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And then I had braces and they took them off.
Marc:They didn't work because my bite's off.
Marc:And then they wanted to.
Guest:Well, have you been wearing a retainer since?
Guest:Have you been maintaining your bite?
Marc:No, what I'm saying is I had braces for two years and they straightened my teeth and I had retainers.
Marc:But the dentist, the orthodontist said basically, well, we have to reset your jaw in order for this to really work out because my jaw is off.
Marc:So they would have had to break my jaw, realign it.
Marc:and uh you should have come to the savages oh yeah fuck yeah you should have come to this i was in new mexico there was no way to know but then there was one orthodontist who we went in about my jaw and he showed us pictures of like rondo hatton and acromegalia people that say i might be my bones might be growing like it was terrible it was like they showed me your face i mean i'm looking at your face right now it doesn't look weird
Marc:No, I know.
Marc:I have a jaw, but I'm just telling you about my teeth and my gums.
Marc:I thought you said dentist.
Guest:I know, but I feel like now people would probably know what to do.
Marc:Yeah, but I'm not going to have my jaw reset at this point in time.
Marc:got good tea i see i mean they don't line up but they don't line up but they're straight and they're nice the braces work but the bite's off and that's why i can only my teeth only meet in like two places and it's hard to chew i've lost my i've lost my headphones i'm not asking for advice but that oh but the article yeah there was some floss uh there was an idea that floss didn't do anything i don't believe that
Guest:No, I mean, that's a ridiculous argument.
Marc:Terrible.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So, okay.
Marc:Yeah, so.
Marc:A lot of dentists.
Guest:Yeah, a lot of dentists.
Marc:And your stepmom is waiting around the corner.
Guest:So my stepmom's waiting around the corner.
Guest:My mom met my stepdad three weeks after my dad left.
Guest:Oh, so you had a. And then I think my dad, six months later, he had like an early midlife crisis.
Guest:It was the 70s, like mid-70s, you know, mid to late 70s.
Guest:And was like, wait a minute, why did I have kids so young?
Guest:I want to go on ski vacations and, you know.
Guest:So the Martin Mull character... The Martin Mull character is a very... Very... Yeah?
Guest:It's all... Yeah, yeah.
Guest:It's all... All those stories are real.
Marc:Not a volatile person, but still sort of emotionally shitty.
Guest:Yeah, and I think Martin... You know, again, my dad isn't like a shitty person or whatever, but like...
Guest:A little focused on himself.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:Right.
Guest:It was a different time.
Guest:I would say Martin is a very adorable version.
Guest:But my dad in the past eight years went through this thing where he got divorced again and just started a party.
Marc:A second time?
Marc:Or the third time?
Marc:How many times?
Guest:This is the second time.
Guest:So he had it in the mid-70s and then again in his 70s.
Marc:So he's in his 70s and he's starting to party?
Guest:It's waning right now, but he started partying.
Marc:Really?
Guest:Like clubbing.
Marc:In his 70s.
Guest:And drugs.
Guest:So that's real in the show.
Guest:He had everyone over for a family barbecue.
Guest:And I had no idea.
Guest:This is a true story.
Guest:This is a true story.
Guest:And he had a sensual photography wall that has just been taken down recently.
Guest:And yeah.
Marc:So that's all true.
Marc:Wow.
Marc:So.
Guest:But it's so weird because I feel like the most season one is mostly all, you know, my stories and true stories.
Guest:And season two, it starts to blend more with my writers and stuff.
Guest:But I feel like I had like the most normal childhood in so many ways.
Guest:But now looking back, I'm like, well, maybe not.
Marc:Well, it's weird with selfish parents because I had them too.
Marc:I really get the distinct feeling that my parents are more people I grew up with than parents.
Marc:I would never go to either of them with an emotional problem.
Marc:I got to call my mommy.
Marc:Never.
Guest:I have a fantastic mom who was the least selfish person.
Guest:What's the woman who plays your mom in the show?
Guest:Kathy Baker.
Guest:She's so funny.
Guest:She's so good.
Guest:Yeah, she's great.
Guest:And that is very much my mother.
Guest:Oh, that's great.
Guest:Yeah, very much my mother.
Guest:And I have a great mom.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So basically, I mean, I grew up kind of just like going, all right, I got my mom.
Marc:And she's still married to the stepfather?
Guest:No, he passed away.
Marc:Oh, sorry.
Guest:He passed away.
Guest:But she's married to Leon from the show, whom she feeds in bed.
Marc:That's true.
Marc:Leon.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:She just randomly one day was like, oh, I got to get home.
Guest:The actual guy in the show?
Guest:No.
Marc:Oh, okay.
Guest:No, no, no.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:She's got to get home too.
Guest:She's got to get home.
Guest:And she was like, sorry, I got to leave by three o'clock because I got to feed Leon.
Guest:I was like, you mean like make dinner?
Guest:She was like, well.
Guest:He likes to eat in bed.
Guest:I was like, what are you saying?
Guest:And I was like, I need you to walk me through every detail of what you're talking about.
Guest:What is Leon wearing?
Guest:Right.
Guest:What are you serving?
Guest:Right.
Guest:Is it just on the comforter?
Guest:Are you pulling up a towel?
Guest:She was like, well, we have white towels at the bottom of the bed.
Guest:I was like, do they get washed and why are they white?
Marc:And he's not bedridden.
Guest:No.
Guest:He comes home from work.
Yeah.
Guest:She tells me he takes his pants off and then he's in his tighty whities and T-shirt, gets in bed, watches TV, and my mom serves like a three-course meal.
Guest:And she was like, I don't know why you make this sound so weird.
Guest:I was like, I don't know how else to make this sound.
Guest:It's the weirdest thing I've ever heard.
Guest:Then she goes, I'm from a different generation.
Marc:The generation that just feeds there perfectly.
Guest:Yeah, the generation of slaves.
Guest:I don't know what.
Guest:I love when she says it.
Guest:I'm always like, what generation is this that you're referring to?
Guest:Like, we're the generation of just fucking crazy people.
Marc:It is kind of.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:The 70s.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But your dad's OK.
Marc:He's leveled off.
Guest:My dad is leveled off a little bit.
Marc:What was the confrontation, though, once you found out he was on ecstasy?
Guest:I didn't know.
Guest:He didn't tell me.
Guest:He told my cousin, who then was like, hey, your dad's on ecstasy.
Guest:And I was like, this was when my daughter was little and we would go there and there was like edibles everywhere and all the stuff.
Guest:And I was like, don't eat chocolate at Grampy's house.
Guest:I was like, ask before you eat anything.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I was just like, what is happening?
Guest:And my husband and I had a thing where we don't stay after dark.
Guest:I was like, once the sun goes down, we get out.
Marc:It might get weird.
Guest:It got weird.
Guest:There was just a lot of stuff going on.
Guest:We were like, we're just not.
Guest:And then we'd get sort of heckled for not partying enough.
Marc:From old people?
Guest:Mostly my dad.
Guest:And it was like, we're not interested in driving to Orange County and partying.
Marc:Doing X and hanging out.
Guest:What is happening?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So but he's an interesting guy.
Marc:You know, it sounds like you got a pretty good sense of humor about it.
Marc:I mean, isn't it upsetting on some level?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I would say that's probably the most complicated relationship of my life.
Marc:But the infantile father.
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, just, you know, but he's fascinating and really interesting and really smart.
Guest:But also, like, it just didn't seem like he was that interested in having he had more kids later.
Guest:But like my older brother and I think he loves us.
Guest:But like it wasn't it never felt we didn't have a room there.
Guest:It never felt particularly.
Marc:How many do you have other than you?
Guest:Two.
Marc:How are they?
Guest:they're great yeah they're great but they have a different relationship with him in a lot of ways but they're awesome and but they still have to deal with him they still have to deal with yeah yeah you know yeah um but yeah but your mom was grounded and he had one good one and yeah i had a i had a good one in my pocket so do you are you doing funny stuff in theater and stuff in high school yeah
Guest:Musical theater.
Guest:I'm not.
Guest:I didn't come up like going, oh, I listen to cool comedy albums.
Guest:I like Oklahoma and like.
Marc:You sing?
Guest:The Music Man.
Guest:I did.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I don't sing anymore.
Guest:I just haven't sung.
Guest:It's not great.
Guest:But yeah, I feel like I was a decent singer, but I just forced my way into being a singer.
Marc:But it seems like you could do a musical now.
Guest:Like what?
Marc:But I mean, it seems like that's an option you should have, like maybe do a Broadway show.
Yeah.
Guest:I'd love to do a Broadway show, but I don't.
Marc:You seem like there's part of you that has a musical personality.
Guest:Thank you.
Marc:I think maybe even if you did an episode of I'm Sorry that's musical.
Marc:Like just singing the whole time.
Marc:I'm pitching now.
Guest:I know.
Guest:I know.
Marc:Not good?
Marc:You're just going to let that go?
Marc:Can you put it up on the whiteboard?
Guest:I'll put it on the whiteboard.
Guest:We'll see.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:I don't have anything left in me if we do season three.
Guest:So I'll put that on the whiteboard.
Marc:Musical episode.
Guest:Musical episode.
Guest:Great.
Guest:I'll call Rachel Bloom, who's fantastic.
Guest:She's great.
Guest:We'll get her people.
Marc:and we'll do it why not i guess that's what that's the problem now you can't even do that because there's one show that does that well and it's unique and if you did that you're like no it's just a rachel bloom bloom thing yeah well yeah so you do musical musical theater i'm a i'm very academic i'm a really i really i feel that student yeah i feel um i went to an all-girls school here in la that's now co-ed
Marc:Which one?
Guest:Westlake, Harvard Westlake now.
Marc:And that was a Ivy League prep school in a way?
Guest:Kind of, yeah.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:So I did a lot of musical theater.
Guest:I think that's when I realized, like I knew I was starting to be funny.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But there weren't a lot of funny women.
Guest:Like it was not, there weren't a lot of girls at my school that were naturally super funny.
Guest:But my guy friends were funny.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And my boyfriends were funny.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:At school.
Yeah.
Guest:Outside of school, because it was all girl school.
Guest:But yeah.
Guest:But I was like, I would never be an actor.
Guest:I didn't even know being a comedian was a thing.
Guest:I didn't really know, I didn't know about comedy world.
Guest:I didn't know about improv groups.
Guest:I didn't know what the Groundlings was.
Guest:I didn't know any of that.
Guest:And then I went to Cornell, which didn't have anything like that then.
Marc:That's a big, that's a smart school.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Where's that, New York?
Guest:Upstate New York, Ithaca.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And what'd you study there?
Guest:I was pre-law.
Guest:I was a government major.
Guest:Yeah, with a minor in law.
Marc:So you understand everything.
Guest:I mean, this was a million years ago.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But you were a good student.
Marc:I was a good student, yeah.
Marc:So you left understanding government.
Guest:I did.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And so when you did Veep, you're like, I get it.
Guest:I get this.
Guest:I was like, first of all, wrong.
Guest:I just kept walking around this set just going up to people.
Guest:Okay, fine.
Guest:I guess if you're not trying to make this authentic.
Marc:What stopped you from pursuing law?
Yeah.
Guest:Well, because I was doing theater the whole time.
Marc:At Cornell.
Guest:At Cornell.
Guest:Just the theater department, but I wasn't in the theater department.
Guest:And it was one of those things where I didn't want to admit it to myself.
Guest:Like, I think I want to try to do this.
Guest:But coming from L.A., being an actor, I was like, that's the most sort of irresponsible, lamest thing to do.
Guest:It was not a cool thing in my world.
Marc:Right.
Guest:And.
Marc:That's what people came to this city to do.
Guest:I know.
Marc:And it was sort of sad somehow.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Or I just didn't even know anyone in it.
Guest:And it just was sort of like.
Marc:You didn't know anyone in it?
Guest:I know.
Guest:Isn't that weird?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I guess I knew like a little like I went to school with a couple people who were like actors who were like kid actors.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Who?
Guest:Like Tori Spelling went to my school.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And a couple other people.
Guest:And but like I didn't really know.
Guest:And anyway, so basically I just I did study abroad and I lived in Spain for nine months.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:You speak Spanish?
Guest:I do, yeah.
Guest:Yeah?
Marc:Do you use it now?
Guest:Not as much as I'd like, but yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I like speaking Spanish.
Marc:Yeah, I wish I knew another language.
Marc:You have a knack for it?
Marc:It's too late now.
Marc:It is too late.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Don't even try.
Marc:Even if I get the thing they advertise on TV, the babble or whatever.
Guest:I don't know what that is, but you're done.
Guest:Don't even try.
Marc:I'm not gonna.
No.
Guest:That's the worst attitude.
Marc:Don't even try.
Marc:I couldn't handle it in high school or college.
Guest:That's how I feel about an instrument.
Guest:I never learned an instrument.
Guest:I hate that.
Guest:I wish I could play an instrument.
Guest:See, I can do that.
Guest:I know.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:It's too late.
Marc:It's too late for me.
Marc:Yeah, it is.
Marc:Save myself.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:It depends what you expect out of it.
Marc:I mean, Spanish, you can't really hobby Spanish.
Guest:You've got to live somewhere, by the way.
Marc:But you got to talk to people with a guitar.
Marc:You can sit by yourself and play three chords shitty and still sing a song.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:You know, I can't just, you know, sit around, you know, I can, but that was pretty great.
Guest:Just keep doing that.
Guest:Keep going down that road.
Marc:habla no habla no no i think i mean i'll tell you what i'll try to pick up some spanish and you can pick up a guitar yeah all right and then we'll meet up in like six months and see where we are this again yeah by the way yeah look at this look at this it'll be two middle-aged people you earn a spanish song and i'll sing it
Guest:All right.
Guest:I'll learn De Calores.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:Do you know that song?
Marc:Sure.
Marc:De Calores, De Calores.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, I had to sing that in elementary school.
Guest:Yeah, we all did.
Marc:I grew up in New Mexico.
Guest:In New Mexico.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You don't fucking, yeah.
Marc:What?
Marc:You don't fucking what?
Guest:No Spanish?
Guest:New Mexico?
Marc:Yeah, I know it was surrounded by it, but I crapped out in junior high and high school.
Marc:I just I couldn't.
Marc:There was something about the tenses.
Marc:There's something about grammar that I barely have a handle on English.
Guest:I get it.
Guest:Like writing is easier than English, though.
Marc:It is.
Guest:Yeah, it's just more it's more straightforward.
Marc:It seemed like math to me, like to figure out grammar.
Guest:I liked math, though.
Guest:Yeah, I know.
Guest:I know.
Marc:I can't.
Guest:But you know, I could never, it took living in Spain to speak it, but I could understand it and that kind of stuff.
Guest:But then it took living in Spain and like drinking, like having some cocktails.
Guest:And then suddenly you would be fluent.
Marc:What part of Spain?
Guest:Sevilla, southern Spain, Seville.
Marc:Oh, yeah?
Marc:Did you drink that cider?
Guest:The Sherry?
Marc:Well, I was up briefly in San Sebastián.
Guest:Okay, yeah.
Marc:They just have this hard cider.
Guest:Oh, I don't think that... Spain is like one of those places, it's like if you're from the north, they hate you.
Marc:Oh, right.
Guest:It's the most... Every place hates every other place.
Marc:Yeah, but you had a nice time there?
Guest:I had a great time.
Guest:Love Spain.
Marc:And then you came back.
Guest:Then I came back and I was like, I'm going to be a comedian.
Guest:Well, no, I was going to be an actor.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Not a comedian at all.
Guest:It wasn't until I actually...
Guest:So I told my college counselor, I was like, well, I'm going to be an actor.
Guest:And literally, it was just like dead face.
Guest:They didn't even know.
Marc:At Cornell?
Guest:At Cornell.
Guest:And it was in the government department.
Guest:They were just like, what are you saying?
Guest:And then they were like, OK, well, after that, when do you think you're going to?
Guest:I mean, really, it was just like, what?
Guest:And I was like, I'll do this for like a year.
Guest:Yeah, when you fail.
Guest:Is that even a thing you fail?
Guest:Like, it was just literally like.
Guest:I don't even know what words you're saying, so I'm just going to pretend you haven't said them.
Guest:And then I got a job on a kid's show relatively early.
Marc:You came back out here?
Guest:I came back out here, moved into home.
Marc:And how did your mom and dad respond to you?
Guest:They were actually supportive.
Guest:I think they were like, she'll do it for a year.
Guest:It gives her like a little break.
Marc:They all hope it's a finish.
Guest:My dad was sending me law school and business school application deadlines for years and years and years.
Guest:And then I got on this show called Sweet Valley High.
Marc:That's a kid's show?
Guest:Yeah, it was like a tween show.
Guest:It was based on books from Sweet Valley High.
Guest:They were very popular, these girl twins.
Guest:Jessica and Cynthia Wakefield.
Guest:And I played Brazilian exchange student.
Marc:Really?
Guest:Renata Vargas.
Marc:So you had to do an accent?
Marc:Uh-huh.
Marc:Wow.
Marc:Well, that's not easy.
Guest:Well, except I was like, do you want an authentic Brazilian accent?
Guest:They were like, nah.
Yeah.
Guest:Do what you did in the audition.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Which was offensive and didn't sound.
Guest:Well, except it was like tea, but still.
Guest:And I would have I was from Brazil, but like I would talk about tacos and boroughs, but then also like Amazon rainforests.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then also have fruit on my head.
Marc:So you're a stereotype.
Marc:It was like catch all.
Marc:A general Latin ish.
Guest:I had a lot of, yeah, a lot of ruffles and a lot going on.
Marc:And you did a lot of these.
Guest:I did a season.
Guest:Yeah, I did a season.
Guest:That was our last season.
Guest:I did a season of that.
Guest:And then I was like, so here we go.
Marc:You're in the union.
Marc:You got health coverage.
Guest:I'm like, this is it.
Guest:Everyone's ready for me.
Guest:And then got like a couple guest stars.
Guest:And then, you know.
Guest:That was it?
Guest:I was like, well, I guess I'll waitress now.
Marc:Is that what you did?
Guest:Yeah, I did.
Guest:But I took this cold reading class with Chris Parnell.
Guest:And I met Chris Parnell there.
Guest:And he's the one who was like, you should audition for The Groundlings.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That's what started me kind of in the comedy world.
Guest:Long story to get to that.
Marc:Not really.
Marc:So you didn't have a lot of traction with the Sweet Valley High.
Guest:Renata Vargas didn't really take off.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:The way that we all thought she would.
Marc:So when you get to Groundlings, now are you living at home?
Guest:I was waitressing I had an apartment in West LA and where were you waitressing in Santa Monica yeah on Montana Avenue I waitressed at 17th Street Cafe I have no idea like Santa Monica is like another world to me I don't ever go to that area anymore but I used to live over there what part of the town you live in now
Guest:I live in the Hollywood Hills.
Marc:Oh.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I mean, why would you go to Santa Monica?
Guest:And in fact, if there's a meeting or something and it's after 10 or.
Marc:Me too.
Guest:I mean, if it's before 10 or after two, I just pass.
Marc:No way.
Marc:Me too.
Marc:I can't do it.
Marc:From here?
Marc:Are you fucking nuts?
Guest:By the way, from my house, it's not great either.
Marc:I mean, like, like that, cause a lot of those people, like I'll actually judge.
Marc:That's one of those agents, executive business things where it's like, they want, they, they want me to come in at four at four o'clock.
Marc:How, how unimportant am I that I can't, I can't get in the 11 to three range.
Guest:Well, three is already cutting.
Guest:You gotta go 11 to two.
Guest:If you're, if you're like really on their top, top choices, 11 to two.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And I'm like, this is not worth it.
Guest:You're like, I'm not 415, my friend.
Marc:It's clearly not worth it.
Marc:415 in Culver City.
Guest:You have seven other choices ahead of me.
Guest:There are already offers out.
Guest:And you're just waiting to read.
Guest:You're waiting for them to get back to you.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:No way.
Marc:No fucking way.
Marc:It's nice to be able not to do that.
Guest:I know, right?
Marc:And they think you're playing hard to get.
Marc:You're like, I just do not want to sit in traffic for an hour and a half on both sides.
Guest:Yeah, it's beyond.
Guest:I do think there's very few people now over there.
Guest:I feel like everyone has sort of gotten the clue and have moved over.
Guest:I feel like very rarely now is it.
Marc:Oh, that's right.
Marc:Oh, the offices are here or closer.
Guest:I feel like now everything's a little closer.
Guest:Right.
Marc:What was out there?
Marc:It was like Comedy Central was out there.
Guest:Comedy Central was out there.
Guest:HBO was out there.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:You know, I've been truly under a rock for two and a half years where I haven't seen the lead of the day.
Marc:Netflix is like right.
Marc:It's right by the 101 at sunset.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I've become like a shell of a human being.
Guest:Like I don't go anywhere.
Marc:No, we just get older and we're doing our job.
Marc:Whatever that job is.
Marc:Yeah, I'm just busy.
Guest:It's hard to do.
Guest:It's hard.
Guest:It's a lot of hours.
Marc:You go shoot where you shoot and then you do the thing.
Marc:So who's in the groundlings when you get there?
Guest:You just start taking classes?
Guest:Yeah, you got to take classes.
Guest:It's a hole to do.
Marc:No, I know.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:I got through it relatively quickly and then I was in the Sunday company where I was cut.
Guest:after a year of being a company.
Guest:But I was there with, in my sort of group, I was Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone, Wendy McClendon, Covey, and Steve Little, and a bunch of other amazing people you don't know.
Guest:And then...
Guest:Dax Shepard and Caitlin Olsen, who also cut.
Marc:Dax was a groundling?
Guest:Yeah, that's how Dax and I knew each other.
Guest:And we were both cut.
Guest:And so was Caitlin Olsen from It's Always Sunny, blonde, really funny, good friend of mine.
Guest:Cut.
Guest:We were all cut.
Guest:And it's actors voting on other actors.
Guest:It's a crazy system.
Guest:So you're out company.
Guest:You never made the literally.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then once you're out, it's like you've been in a cult for five years and then you're just like sprung back out in the world.
Guest:And you're like, who am I?
Guest:What about you've beaten me down?
Guest:Like you're literally like a shell of yourself.
Guest:And that's when I started doing stand up.
Marc:I have I have I have a yes.
Marc:And skill set.
Yeah.
Guest:That's all I've got.
Guest:But Groundlings was good because it taught me how to write.
Guest:Because it's like comedy boot camp.
Guest:When you do the Sunday Company, you have to write like five new sketches every Wednesday.
Guest:You have to have them do every Wednesday and then put them up on Sunday.
Guest:And it is comedy boot camp.
Guest:You can't wait for inspiration.
Guest:You can't wait for whatever.
Guest:You just got to churn that shit out.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:See, I'm terrible at it.
Marc:I can't stand writing.
Marc:I literally go into a nap paralysis.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But people who do it, do you like it?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I do.
Marc:See, it's good to like it.
Guest:I do.
Marc:Do you like sitting in a room in a writer's room with a whiteboard going like, oh, and you're on the second column?
Guest:We don't.
Guest:My writer's room isn't like a traditional writer's room.
Guest:We pitch.
Guest:I pitch a lot of stories.
Guest:Everyone pitches stories.
Guest:I hire people really for what they're like, sort of personality and like.
Guest:the way, you know, they think and what their life is.
Marc:But you're not improvising, are you?
Guest:We improvise.
Guest:I improvise a little bit.
Guest:It depends.
Guest:If it's me and Mansoukas, we're improvising.
Guest:But no, it's fully scripted and then we get to the, yeah, I mean, even with he, it's like moving the script.
Guest:No, it has, we do like an improv take usually for every scene.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But it's fully scripted.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:It feels like that.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So when, like, so you come out of Groundwings, is that when you decide, like, I'm going to do stand-up?
Guest:Yeah, it was like, well, I've got to do something.
Marc:So that's 2002-ish?
Guest:Yeah, I think that's 2002-ish.
Marc:And the alt scene is sort of happening.
Guest:The alt scene's happening.
Marc:So you can get on stage without having any experience whatsoever and be celebrated because you know people?
Guest:Well, I don't even know if I knew anyone, but I quickly got to know people.
Guest:I think being a woman was nice.
Guest:There weren't a lot of us.
Guest:So people would be like, well, we need that one woman.
Guest:So I got up.
Guest:At the M-Bar?
Guest:M-Bar, improv.
Guest:Probably got up faster than I would have other places.
Guest:Ackerman Show at the M-Bar?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:What was that called again?
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:Comedy Death Ray.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:So important.
Guest:By the way, do you remember how important it was?
Guest:It was like, I got to get on that Comedy Death Ray.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And then that room, I never liked the M-Bar.
Marc:And then when it moved over to UCB, it wasn't as important.
Marc:But when it was at M-Bar, it was sort of like a big deal.
Guest:It was a big deal.
Guest:Whenever I got a spot there, I felt like it was a big deal.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:It's so in my I don't give a shit anymore compartment.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I think after Groundlings and how crazy that place was, it made stand-up kind of like, well, this is easy.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:In that, not easy in that the craft is easy, but easy in like, I'm not being voted on by people.
Guest:It's all, you can contain it all yourself.
Guest:I don't need to put a wig on and a weird voice and a thing.
Guest:Right.
Marc:And what were you doing, jokes or stories or just you?
Guest:Kind of just me and where I was in my life, but not really storytelling, I mean jokes.
Guest:And I think I was able to fake being a stand-up in the beginning enough to be able to not be terrible.
Guest:And then slowly started to be able to actually be a stand-up as that went away.
Guest:But yeah, I mean, and it was a great group of people.
Guest:I started in Chris Hardwick, so he and I were together through that.
Guest:You dated Hardwick?
Guest:Those years, yeah.
Yeah.
Marc:I probably didn't like you then.
Guest:Yeah, you might not have.
Marc:Yeah, because I had a problem with him early on.
Guest:Oh, okay.
Marc:Because he surfaced in New York first as a stand-up back in the Luna days.
Guest:He did?
Marc:He did.
Guest:But he's always in L.A.
Marc:No, this was 2000 and... No, it was the mid-90s.
Marc:And it was literally when he just started doing it and I'm like, the guy from MTV, the host guy, and that stuck on me.
Guest:But why do you care?
Marc:I did care at that time.
Marc:I was very protective of the idea of stand-up and I just didn't buy him as a stand-up.
Marc:But then I got out here and it was all Hardwick-y.
Guest:So you were not a fan.
Marc:I had to reckon with Hardwick.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:That's so weird.
Guest:He's like the nicest.
Marc:I never bought it.
Marc:I'm like, well, there's a darkness here and I want it.
Guest:It's like with the agents.
Guest:You're like, oh.
Marc:Well, no, because like, you know what it was?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:After New York and whatever judgments I had about Chris then, I got out here and it was before he stopped drinking.
Guest:Well, he'll tell you.
Guest:You were with him then?
Guest:Well, yeah.
Guest:And I broke up.
Guest:I was like, we fought about it from the beginning.
Guest:And then when we broke up, he got sober.
Marc:Right, because he was doughy and sweaty.
Marc:Well, I don't know.
Marc:No, I mean, not fat, but he didn't look great.
Marc:And then I saw him at Zach Alphanakis' party once, and I'm like, dude, I can steer you in the right direction.
Marc:And not long after that, he locked in.
Marc:And he became this exercise junkie.
Guest:Work, work, work.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Right.
Marc:He a brand building maniac.
Marc:He just like he he kind of isolated himself and started reading, you know, Seth Godin books or something and became this like thing.
Marc:Then the nerdist evolved.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But you were you were done with him by then.
Guest:Yeah, but we're still good friends.
Guest:But yeah, so in that world, and then I did this show for Comedy Central called Dog Bites Man.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:And I became a writer-producer on that.
Marc:Was that Zach?
Guest:And that was with Zach and Matt Walsh and A.D.
Guest:Miles and myself, and we played this news team.
Marc:A.D.
Marc:lives over here.
Guest:Yeah, he did.
Marc:He trains at the same gym.
Marc:I see him well.
Guest:Oh, nice.
Marc:I'm watching him lose weight.
Marc:I haven't seen him lately.
Guest:By the way, I haven't seen him in like a decade.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:but when he moved back out here after Fallon, we were like, we got to get together.
Guest:And then we didn't.
Guest:And, but I love him.
Guest:He's awesome.
Guest:So it was the four of us.
Marc:Maybe you can stop by after this.
Guest:Great.
Guest:I'll just knock.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:What's up.
Guest:What's up.
Guest:It's been a, it's been a decade.
Marc:How are you?
Guest:By the way, he's the kind of person that like in 30 seconds, it would be like, we've seen each other.
Marc:Like, yeah, no, he's a good guy.
Guest:Um, and so that's, so then I, Dog bites man.
Guest:Dog bites man.
Guest:Um, and,
Guest:And so, yeah, I was doing stand up, but it's and it's the one thing that I wish I'd done longer.
Guest:I don't miss sketch.
Guest:I could never do another sketch for the rest of my life.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Thrilled.
Guest:I still like doing some improv.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:But stand up.
Guest:I really liked.
Guest:But I just.
Marc:You can do it.
Guest:No, I have a child and I work.
Marc:I mean, I understand.
Guest:I can't.
Guest:I can't go at that.
Marc:See, like, you know that about yourself.
Guest:Well, I've tried.
Guest:I literally, a couple years ago, I was like, I'm going to go back out and try to do some stuff.
Guest:I couldn't go out more than once a week.
Guest:And if you can only go out once a week, you can't get good.
Marc:No, right.
Marc:You can't.
Guest:You got to go five nights a week.
Guest:I can't work all fucking day and then go.
Guest:I just can't.
Marc:But you have downtime.
Guest:I have not had downtime for two and a half years.
Guest:This is legitimately the second day that I've had any downtime.
Marc:So today?
Guest:Since November.
Marc:But what happens?
Marc:Are you picked up already?
Marc:So you're writing already?
Marc:Are you waiting?
Marc:How's it work?
Guest:We just launched a second season, so we're talking.
Marc:Oh.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I need a little break.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But don't you have a few months?
Guest:I didn't from one to two.
Marc:Right.
Guest:So we'll see.
Marc:Because you're exec produced star and writer.
Guest:So I get that writer's room staffed and going.
Marc:How many you got?
Guest:Small.
Guest:It's Joey Slayman is my co-show runner and she's amazing.
Guest:And then we had three other writers.
Marc:Who?
Guest:Christer Johnson, Elizabeth Lame, and Jeff Drake.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And a great writer's assistant, Christy McCann.
Marc:And Manzoukas doesn't write or anything?
Guest:He writes, but not on my show.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Oh.
Guest:But he writes in his life.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So going back, though, like what happened with because I like I was doing my minor amount of research.
Marc:I mean, you've obviously done a lot of bit things on a lot of different things, but you were actually cast in the pilot of Party Down.
Guest:Yeah, I did that right before I did Step Brothers.
Guest:And.
Guest:Then when it got picked up, I was eight months pregnant when they were going to be shooting.
Guest:That's very pregnant.
Guest:Very pregnant.
Guest:And I was playing the love interest.
Guest:So Lizzie Kaplan took, she took, who's a good friend of mine.
Guest:And so she ended up doing that role.
Marc:And she's on your show.
Guest:And she's on my show.
Guest:Yes, she's on.
Guest:I agree.
Guest:All my friends have come and like stepped up and Adam Scott.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Is on this season.
Marc:Yeah, it's a little disturbing.
Marc:He's probably the most disturbing part of the whole show.
Guest:Adam Scott?
Marc:In a way.
Guest:Of my show?
Marc:Well, yeah, because it's not creepy or weird, but it's just weird seeing... I guess maybe... Because of the scene?
Guest:Oh, got it, got it.
Guest:That's a real story, almost word for word.
Marc:The gynecologist scene?
Marc:It's very funny and just very...
Marc:I think he did a great job.
Guest:I love him.
Guest:He did a fantastic job.
Marc:But the detachment is like so wild.
Guest:Well, that's what was so insane.
Guest:I was like, are you literally you're like elbow deep and like the two of you are just chatting.
Marc:You and your husband knew each other.
Marc:I mean, the gyno and your husband went to camp and they realized it in the room.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:It was like, are you... And then he was like, oh my God, how's your sister?
Guest:And he was like, his sister was my first kiss.
Guest:And I was like, great.
Guest:It was so crazy.
Guest:And then what is not in the show is when I had to go for a follow-up for what I was there for, I had to go back like 10 days later for a follow-up and my husband was not there.
Guest:And it was just me and Dr. Goldberg.
Guest:And it was the most uncomfortable, fastest...
Guest:Both of us were just like, hello, hello.
Guest:And it was just like, and bye-bye, you're good.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, doctors are weird, the kind of intimacy that you're not supposed to have.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I don't know how, you know, because I grew up, my dad was a doctor.
Guest:Oh, right.
Marc:So, like, I'd always go to his friends if I had to get anything checked out.
Marc:And then you'd see him socially and be like, hey, yeah, we did the thing.
Marc:Yeah.
Yeah.
Marc:It's good.
Marc:It's good.
Marc:There's no problems.
Guest:No problems.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, you've seen things.
Marc:Yeah, they have.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:So are you doing movies?
Marc:Are you doing another movie now?
Guest:No, I legitimately have not been available to do anything.
Guest:I had a movie come out in last fall called Summer 03, but I shot that literally in the three weeks I had off between season one and season two.
Guest:Oh.
Guest:shove that in and then I literally wrapped post-production on season two two weeks ago and I've just been doing press and so now I'm like okay I need to take a little breath and well I'm glad we could do this I'm thrilled we could do this I am a fan of this and I listen to it all the time I'm not scary anymore no I know yeah I didn't think you would be no I know not now well now I know that you hated well I think you hated a lot of people
Marc:I don't know if it was hate.
Marc:I just didn't know why everyone seemed to be having an easier go at it than me.
Guest:Got it.
Marc:They weren't necessarily.
Guest:No.
Marc:And I certainly made it more difficult.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But my projection was like, it was basically like, that person seems to have their shit together.
Marc:Fuck them.
Marc:They can go fuck themselves.
Guest:By the way, that was the vibe I got.
Guest:It was like, that person seems to hate me for no reason.
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I don't know what to do with that.
Guest:So I'm just not going to really address.
Guest:I'm just going to not necessarily talk to them.
Marc:It's all insecurity and whatever.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:It's so far back.
Marc:So far back.
Marc:But the weird thing was, is when I got out here in 2002, I'd already been doing stand up for years.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And I had to reintegrate.
Marc:And just getting time on alternative shows was like the most important thing in the world.
Marc:And now it's like, I don't want to step foot in a place.
Marc:And that whole, it seems that whole scene has sort of now become just the mic scene in a way.
Marc:Is it?
Guest:I don't even know.
Guest:I'm nodding.
Marc:But like, even when Chris had Nerd Melt, it's like, I gotta go fucking, I gotta get on those fucking shows.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I was so.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And I didn't I didn't even love the audiences that much.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:They were the most homogenized bunch.
Marc:Those the whole alt comedy.
Guest:See, I like I have such good like I loved that time.
Guest:I liked that.
Guest:I liked audiences.
Guest:I like doing stand up then.
Guest:Well, no, I, but see, like you have, but I also wasn't like, I'm already established in another city.
Guest:Well, no, I got to come here.
Marc:But like, as a standup, I'm like this, I'm a rogue person.
Marc:Like, you know, this whole sort of like we're all going.
Marc:I'm like, I'm not going if you're all going.
Guest:I mean, I don't know why that's not so charming as you think it would be.
Guest:And it's just being like, fuck everyone.
Guest:I'm not going with you if you're all going there.
Marc:But it's just like I just don't know what everyone does.
Marc:Like I have one or two good friends and I can I can sort of sit in a group for a little while.
Guest:Now we don't have now.
Guest:It's all about shedding friends.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Or just struggling to maintain the couple you have.
Guest:The couple that you have and try to see those and get rid of the dead weight.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But you go to dinner things and stuff?
Guest:Again, and I feel like a broken record, I literally am like, do I have friends anymore?
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Guest:I've seen the ones who've come and done my show.
Marc:Right.
Guest:And then I see Joey, showrunner, and then I see my husband and my daughter.
Guest:Like, literally...
Marc:So you're keeping that relationship strong.
Guest:Keep it now and going for now.
Guest:Although, again, I feel like I'm meant to be a divorcee.
Guest:And I know people think I'm joking, but I feel like I crush it.
Marc:You covered it in the show where the detachment comes in.
Marc:But it's just odd because now I'm at this point where it's sort of like, I should be having people over the house.
Marc:I got a nice house.
Marc:I just moved as well.
Marc:What does it take to cook a dinner for four people?
Marc:And it's just sort of, it's like, but then I get to the next phase.
Marc:It's sort of like, well, what are we really going to do?
Guest:Are we going to- But by the way, well, by the way, I was about to say, you don't, but of course you don't.
Guest:I'm like, do you not like a game night?
Marc:What?
Guest:See, no.
Marc:What does that do?
Guest:A game night.
Marc:Like on your show?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like where your friends come over and you play games.
Marc:Like what?
Marc:Like what games?
Guest:Like running charades or by the way, I don't even know why.
Guest:Of course you don't do this.
Guest:But to me, like there's nothing better than getting like 12 people together and playing games, play celebrity, famous names in a hat.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:I'm all for it.
Guest:Like to me, that's the best thing.
Guest:Drink a couple glasses of wine, play, have a game night.
Yeah.
Guest:11 o'clock.
Marc:Snacks.
Guest:Bye-bye.
Marc:Snacks?
Guest:Of course.
Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Yeah, I don't.
Marc:Okay.
Guest:Listen, I'm going to learn guitar.
Guest:I'm going to learn guitar.
Guest:I'm going to have a game night.
Guest:We're going to do day colores.
Guest:You do a game night.
Guest:And what do you do?
Marc:We'll catch back.
Marc:What?
Guest:What is it that you do that I need to?
Guest:So I have game nights and have fun.
Marc:Oh, what is it that I do?
Guest:So I'll sit alone in a closet?
Guest:What do I do?
Marc:Not a closet.
Guest:Okay.
Marc:How are you at cooking?
Guest:Pretty good.
Guest:Haven't done a lot of it recently, but I enjoy cooking.
Guest:Pretty good.
Marc:I've been doing that.
Guest:What do you cook?
Marc:I'm going to cook this weekend.
Guest:Do you eat everything or you don't eat stuff?
Marc:No, I do, but I haven't been eating dairy really.
Marc:But no, I cook fish.
Marc:I'm good at fish.
Marc:I can cook.
Guest:Great.
Guest:I love that.
Marc:I can look at a recipe and do it.
Guest:I think a man that can cook is very nice.
Marc:I think the trick is if you can look at a recipe and see what's supposed to happen, you got a good shot at it.
Marc:If you're just in the moment with it, then you don't.
Guest:You see it as a bigger picture.
Marc:Yeah, I've been improvising a little bit with the cooking.
Guest:You improvise in the kitchen?
Marc:A little bit.
Marc:I listen to records.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:On vinyl.
Guest:I could sit in a room and listen to records.
Marc:I do that.
Marc:I've been reading some books lately.
Guest:I read a lot.
Marc:Trying to read a little more.
Guest:I read.
Marc:I like to... Oh, boy.
Marc:See, I hike.
Guest:Okay.
Marc:I hike up the mountain.
Guest:I can do a lot of these things.
Marc:All right.
Marc:We'll do some of those, and I'll try to have a game night.
Guest:You have a game night.
Guest:Honestly...
Marc:Why don't you just invite me to your game night?
Guest:I was going to say, please invite me to your game night.
Marc:I don't even know.
Guest:I'll help you.
Marc:I'm going to have Dave Anthony over for game night.
Guest:Do you know him?
Guest:Oh my God, that's a name I haven't thought.
Guest:Yeah, a million years ago.
Marc:Cranky Dave.
Guest:I don't even know him well enough.
Guest:He was sort of above me.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:So I was like, I knew who he was.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:He was on my show.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Well, so we have a homework.
Guest:So we have homework.
Marc:And the show's great.
Guest:Thank you.
Marc:And I'm glad we got everything covered.
Guest:Yeah, I'm glad that we worked it all out.
Marc:Thank you.
Guest:Thank you.
Marc:Right?
Marc:That was fun, right?
Marc:I think it was great.
Marc:I like the show.
Marc:I think she's hilarious.
Marc:Solid person.
Marc:That Andrea Savage.
Marc:Solid individual.
Marc:Don't forget to send us questions for the 1,000th episode.
Marc:Tell us what you want to know about the last 10 years of WTF.
Marc:Send your questions to WTFpod at Gmail and put 1,000th episode question in the subject line.
Marc:But also, you know, if you want, you got something to say, this might be the time.
Marc:Okay?
Marc:i'm gonna play a little guitar a little send off to a friend who was um not in the military but was no less a trooper for sure comedy trooper
guitar solo
Marc:Godspeed, Brody Stevens.
Marc:Rest in peace, man.