Ego Nwodim

Speaker 1 Give it up for Chicago.

Speaker 2 Sebastian Maniscalco's new stand-up special, It Ain't Right, is coming to Hulu on November 21st.

Speaker 1 30 years ago, Jeff Bezos, complete nerd. Bezos now ripped to shreds on his super yacht, and the boxes keep

Speaker 1 coming.

Speaker 2 Sebastian Maniscalco, It Ain't Right, premieres November 21st, streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.

Speaker 4 You know, when it gets colder, I always fall in the same trap. Heavy meals, too much takeout.
And suddenly I'm like, why do my jeans hate me?

Speaker 1 I know.

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Your future self will thank you.

Speaker 5 Yes. Thank you for not feeding me the leftover lasagna for the 12th time.

Speaker 4 You go ahead, start this off. Who's our guest?

Speaker 1 Ego Wodem.

Speaker 4 And she is a lovely young lady on SNL. I think six years in.

Speaker 4 Really great chat with her. And we, this is the deepest dive we've done on one sketch.

Speaker 4 Lisa from Temecula, which was a sketch that was renamed, which I thought was very interesting.

Speaker 4 that they you know you you name a sketch it's like it reminds me of the pina colada song dana it was called it was called escape but everyone said hey i like the piña colada song so they changed the name so this was uh she's so articulate and fun and and a self-starter and just had a lot of really

Speaker 4 interesting things to say about snl and about being there and what it's like

Speaker 5 Yeah, this was the most, she takes you on a ride that we've done before with other guests, but there's these emotional tipping points and she talks about just how the whole arc of being on Saturday Night Live as a cast member

Speaker 5 is just, it's can be topsy-turvy. The sketch is cut or it's in or this, the host dropped out or whatever it is.
And she really is very honest. She's very, very talkative.

Speaker 5 And we do orientate the episode. like David, right? David said,

Speaker 5 Lisa from Temecula, a character she played in a restaurant scene with Pedro Pascal, I think, and did a steak night. And it was physical and it was funny.

Speaker 5 And she said it just reorientated the way the writers would look at her and really the audience. She killed so hard, hit every beat perfect.
It's just one of those classic sketches.

Speaker 4 And it's like having, it's honestly like having a hit movie come out. And then you're like a good actor and then someone has a hit movie.
And then now they're getting the good scripts.

Speaker 4 It's just the way Shobiz is. So she does a sketch that blows up,

Speaker 4 on, goes a little bit viral, and then suddenly they're like, you know what? She'd be good in this.

Speaker 4 And that just, it really like woke her up and gave her new energy for being on a show that's just a tough beating.

Speaker 5 Yeah. And because there's a larger cast, even if you've been on six years, there still is this dance with the audience where they discover you and they see you on something.
Oh, they like that.

Speaker 5 And then maybe you're not in.

Speaker 5 things that give you that platform. And then I like that.
And I like that.

Speaker 4 And it's showing a different angle that you have. You're like, oh, she can play that also.
Oh, let's make her play that.

Speaker 5 Yeah. And then it builds on itself.
And then the best place you can get to is where the audience just sort of is already ready to laugh.

Speaker 5 Like with Keenan Thompson, they're just ready to laugh with Keenan. He hits every line.
But I think that she's still,

Speaker 5 you know, I just say, I think she's kind of popping. I'm just, you know, there's a subtlety of confidence where you're like, say, you're 70% confident or 80%.

Speaker 5 And if you can get to 90, 95, it's a whole other thing. The audience senses it.
Then everybody's having fun. And that's where she's at.

Speaker 5 And so, and she's

Speaker 5 really an affectionate person. She hugs everybody.

Speaker 3 She's very sweet. Yep.

Speaker 4 She looks like a lot of fun. And I know you're doing the show with her now, which is great to be around everybody that's been on the show.

Speaker 4 So here she is.

Speaker 5 Hey, go.

Speaker 1 Wow. Hi.

Speaker 4 I know you know Dana.

Speaker 6 I do know Dana.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. We know each other.

Speaker 6 We know each other.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 6 We get each other.

Speaker 1 I always get my hug when we do those fake good nights.

Speaker 6 Oh, yes. I get real hugs that fake good nights and it throws

Speaker 1 you real, but the first one's fake and we have to act like we're crushed. Oh, yes.

Speaker 6 Yeah. Oh, that's true.
I'm disrespectful. I thought about this the other day.

Speaker 6 I was like, I think it's kind of rude, maybe, that I wear my, as we call them, behind the scenes comfies for dress rehearsal good nights.

Speaker 6 I don't even attempt to make the audience feel like they are at the real show.

Speaker 1 I've gone out there with a bald cap.

Speaker 1 I think I've, yeah, I think I've gone out there as Biden. I don't know.
I mean, it's just practice. They're a practice audience.
We're practicing.

Speaker 1 Look, if you can't get the main ticket at 1130, we can't help you.

Speaker 1 Listen, I count the good nights as a sketch.

Speaker 4 I used to.

Speaker 6 Really?

Speaker 1 You give good nights.

Speaker 4 He's skilled. He said, I was in a couple of things.
I was an update. I was in good nights.

Speaker 1 Give us your good night wave to the crowd, David.

Speaker 1 Let's see it.

Speaker 4 I go like this. I'd never go to the front because we'd make fun of each other for trying to be too thirsty.

Speaker 6 Okay.

Speaker 4 And then if you hug the host first, they'd make fun of you or we would make fun of each other. So I go, Farley, get up there.
You know, you're going to hug him in five seconds.

Speaker 4 I said, at least wait till he gets all the lines out. Like, good night, everyone.
Thanks to

Speaker 5 Foo Fighters.

Speaker 4 And then

Speaker 4 we would like go as far back as we could.

Speaker 6 Wait, were people jumping the gun at times trying to hug the host before they said all their thank yous?

Speaker 1 I mean, other than Chris, I don't know.

Speaker 4 It was funny because.

Speaker 4 uh you know they liked certain cast members but they would there was certain ones you knew you might know in your head without saying some sort of worm up to that front row to get on camera you know it's not like but what's your tactic

Speaker 6 say the names i i'm gonna drop names i'm gonna be dropping tea this is gonna be kind of the club she

Speaker 6 um cat williams interview style where i'm gonna burn it all down and burn it down

Speaker 1 would cat williams say that

Speaker 6 let me think about this i know it's hard to hard to you have to get warmed up you do have to do see me put my hands on my legs and go okay hold on let me find it let me find it i haven't listened to him in some time now

Speaker 6 David, David, David, Spade, and Dana Carvey. I'm trying to tell you something in there.
Something.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's kind of nasally. Yeah, it's yeah, it's very cool.

Speaker 4 So they don't tell you. I told him when I golf with him, I've only met him once and we golfed.
And I go, last time they made us, they made me play from the pro tees. He goes,

Speaker 4 you're David Spade.

Speaker 1 They don't tell you to do nothing.

Speaker 5 You tell them.

Speaker 6 That's kind of something. Good.
That's a good thing. It is something.

Speaker 4 He's got a

Speaker 4 very unique.

Speaker 6 It's very good. It's a beautiful voice, beautiful voice.

Speaker 1 His first special that I saw, I put it up there with anything I've ever seen in my life.

Speaker 6 He's pretty, he's pretty incredible. Also, to have made that interview, I was reflecting on that interview as recently as yesterday because I got the,

Speaker 6 I won't say dreaded email, the email about which episode would you like to submit for a contention for this award nomination?

Speaker 6 And I was like, and so I was looking through, I kind of arbitrarily picked, but I thought about that sketch I got to do.

Speaker 6 And I thought about that moment where he did that interview and helped the podcast blow up. I'm not going to be able to do that for you here today.

Speaker 6 But David, it is nice to meet you formally because I have

Speaker 6 if only we could hug on stage behind a

Speaker 1 host.

Speaker 4 I would run up to you because I have no shame anymore. Back then, shame.

Speaker 1 Yeah. No shame.

Speaker 6 Well, yeah. Also, you got it.
People, some people are not in any sketches. Was this a thing back in the day? Not in any sketches because that's just the way the cookie crumbled.

Speaker 6 And then you're at good nights.

Speaker 1 It's it

Speaker 1 happened.

Speaker 3 Not in my life.

Speaker 4 I would used to go and think it would really turn the show on its lid.

Speaker 4 Like if Lauren finds out, because they'd walk around knock on the door, good nights, good nights, like Marcy Klein, our talent person. And then I go, I'm not going.

Speaker 4 As like, I'm standing up against this establishment.

Speaker 4 And then I thought Lauren would be tossing and turning in his sleep or couldn't have fun at the party because of that.

Speaker 1 Absolutely unbothered.

Speaker 4 No one noticed.

Speaker 6 Oh, oh, David wasn't a good night.

Speaker 1 So, okay, well, that's too bad for him. Okay,

Speaker 1 time. We got another Lauren Impression.
Yeah, he meant to get the Lauren impression. The audience to know that we've done four shows together.
So we've had four musical guests and four hosts.

Speaker 1 So who's your favorite and who do you want to trash?

Speaker 1 Yeah, burn it down.

Speaker 6 Burn it down. The year is.

Speaker 4 A new podcast called Burn It Down is a good idea.

Speaker 6 Maybe I start hosting that one. I have all the hosts have been absolutely lovely this season.
I will say this: stand out to me. No, I know, honestly.

Speaker 1 Stand out.

Speaker 6 Honestly, fuck off to me for real. But stand out.
What I will say is stand out to me because I feel like we were having a mutual love fest between the two of us, Ariana Grande.

Speaker 6 We were having a, I love you, you love me. We're a happy family vibe going on between us.

Speaker 6 And so I'm going to go, yeah, just unreal, could do anything, and then was really kind because you know, sometimes people aren't kind, we've learned right.

Speaker 6 But she was kind, talented, all the things you wanted to be, had range, was down to play. And I always say the hosts who are

Speaker 6 before having range, that's great, and I love that. And of course, that's helpful.
I think being willing to play and look stupid and kind of just go with the flow and see where this thing takes you.

Speaker 6 That's

Speaker 1 when I saw her walk down the hallway in 8-H with that castrati

Speaker 1 on. I said, Okay, that's gonna custom

Speaker 1 the little hat and

Speaker 1 you know, but yeah, she was gay, and her range is unbelievable. And so, she probably looked at you and said, Gee, it's I'm looking into a mirror.

Speaker 6 Oh, well, that is very kind, Dana. Dana wants extra hugs, and I'm gonna

Speaker 1 Lisa from Temecula. Maybe your most badass

Speaker 1 performance.

Speaker 6 Thank you. That was fun, man.
That was

Speaker 6 okay. And I've said this before, but you guys will understand this having been cast members at the show.

Speaker 6 When we got to do that sketch, like I've told the story that I go, I go, you know, it killed at table. And I didn't even know that it,

Speaker 6 I don't even know that what happened at table could have been defined as killing.

Speaker 6 I feel like I unlocked a level of experience there, just in general, even if I was just watching that happen at table, because.

Speaker 6 The writers had a real steak delivered to me at Table Read.

Speaker 1 Oh, okay. All right.

Speaker 6 So yes, they had a real steak delivered to me.

Speaker 6 Amon from props came and slid a steak to me right before he read that sketch mikey day said this before says every time he's looking at over my shoulder at my phone which i say why is mikey doing that but that's a different conversation mikey goes every time i look at your phone you are not so scrolling social media you're looking at menus and like all you care about is food this is a true this is a true thing i'm either planning my my my near future meal or my distant future meals that's what i spend most of my time on my phone doing and so when he he saw across the table, and he has this whole thing about me being a divo, he does a bit with me.

Speaker 6 And he across the table sees a steak get delivered to me in the middle of table read. And he's like, okay, she's getting out of control.

Speaker 4 He doesn't know what's going on. He has no idea.

Speaker 1 Listeners, let me just insert what it is in case they haven't heard it. And I want to hear more, but basically,

Speaker 1 you're a pretty big personality at a restaurant and you get, and it's just going along. It's funny, you're doing funny stuff, which you can talk about.

Speaker 1 And then you start cutting this steak and it keeps escalating into madness where the table is shaking and everyone's just trying to hold it together. So that's the fact that you did it at the, at the,

Speaker 1 you really helped. So going back to table read is great with Peter Peter with Peter Pascal.
Yeah.

Speaker 6 With Peter Pascal, here's my thing, too, is I would normally, when the writers, I'll tell you how that sketch came to be too, is

Speaker 6 it's written by Alex English, Gary Richardson, and Michael Che. The way that sketch came to be is from Alex English's mind.

Speaker 6 Apparently his cousin was at the holiday Christmas, I think, eating a steak, and she was kind of shaking the table. She had gotten a well-done steak.
That's the thing.

Speaker 6 Lisa from Tamaca likes her steaks extra, extra, extra well-done. So it's basically a hockey book.

Speaker 6 And so she, so it's based on his cousin, but the week before they had done a sketch, Gary Richardson, Alex English, and they were like, you're in our sketch, you're in our sketch. And we're friends.

Speaker 6 And we get to table read. So on writing night, they're like, you're in our sketch.
And I'm like, cool, that's an an extra piece at table. I get to read.
And we, okay, we got that.

Speaker 6 I get there and my line is, ooh, I love, I love it. And that's the one out of a 12-page sketch.

Speaker 1 And I was like, and we're friends.

Speaker 6 So I, I gave them so much shit about that. I was like, at the after party that week, I go, ooh, I love it.
And I go, you really.

Speaker 6 You really going to come knock on my door and tell me how I'm in your sketch that we're reading tomorrow. And the line is, ooh, I love it.

Speaker 6 And that line could have been cut, by the way. And I remember when I read it at table the previous week, I was like, this is going to get cut once they, it was a pre-tape.

Speaker 6 I was like, this is not a necessary line. It doesn't help establish anything.
They kept it in. And so I gave them shit.
I mean, I gave them so much shit about it.

Speaker 6 I was like, and I got a full face of makeup on on a Friday to say, ooh, I love it. And then Alex so kindly was like, okay, I have something for you.
I have something. And it was Lisa from Temecula.

Speaker 6 Of course, we didn't know it would be this. But normally I would have said to the writers, and this is my problem.
I would have been like, yeah, but where does it go from there?

Speaker 6 Like, so she orders a well-done steak, the table's shaking, and like, and sort of then what? But I was hands-off approach on this one.

Speaker 4 Because you wasted all your bitching the week before.

Speaker 6 Yes, exactly. You understand.
I was like, I think, I think I'm out of bitching coins. Genuinely, I'm like, I'm out of bitching coins.
So I'm going to have to just go. Thank you.
We'll see.

Speaker 6 So I got to table. They have the steak delivered to me.

Speaker 6 I'm, and then

Speaker 6 the table read, Dana, you've seen the most recent one. It's now happening in 8H as opposed to on the 17th floor.

Speaker 6 Yeah.

Speaker 6 yeah and it's like far less intimate in a way and this table is way bigger than it was when it was on the 17th floor so i'm like is this going to shake this table is this gonna is this at table read going to be reliant on my ability to shake this current gigantic table yeah but just this yeah it's gigantic but just the sight of it it it worked somehow and i couldn't This is where I say I didn't, I wouldn't have known in real time this was defined as killing because I couldn't get through the sketch at table read.

Speaker 6 I was really struggling. It was making me laugh in the middle of it.
And I was like, I can't read this. And this is so fun and silly.

Speaker 6 And so I didn't even think on Wednesday when they picked the sketches that it even really stood a chance. I wasn't worried in one way or the other.

Speaker 6 I was like, well, that was fucking fun, but I didn't think. it was going to get picked.
And then it got picked. And then Lauren asked us to rename it because it was just birthday dinner originally.

Speaker 6 And then,

Speaker 6 yes, wait, who has a thought?

Speaker 1 Maybe

Speaker 1 Mermi Din Steak or something. Susan from Modesto.
Maybe from Hamptons.

Speaker 1 Lila from San Diego.

Speaker 1 Those writers are so brilliant.

Speaker 4 Does he want it to name something more about the steaks so they know what the fuck sketch is?

Speaker 6 No, I think he wanted it. He was like, he suspected.
So on Friday, he calls me into his office and I'm thinking, and I'm feeling a little anxious about this sketch all week.

Speaker 6 And people are like, it's really funny. And for me, also, I will say, I don't know how you guys feel about this.
If something kills at table, baby, in my opinion, that's kiss of death.

Speaker 6 It's going to, it's going to play to, it's going to play to literal silence. It's going to play to silence the dresser.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 6 And so. I was like, I don't even know how this thing is actually going to work.
I didn't think about the monkey boys,

Speaker 6 their hand in it and how the writers had planned to produce the sketch.

Speaker 6 So I was like, this is a lot like i'm pretty strong but i don't know if i'm going to be able to shake a table sufficiently for this sketch and then i realized it wasn't on me totally but lauren called us into called me and another the writers into his office on friday and i was like okay this meeting is for sure him telling us like this was fun all week to pretend we were under two push but

Speaker 6 i because i was like i don't know how this works but he was calling to be like you're gonna want to name this woman something more memorable and i was like i don't know i quite the opposite of what i thought he was calling us in to talk about i he was sort of like people are going to want to see this character again and then i'm like well now this feels like a different kind of pressure and alex and gary came up with lisa from temecula I don't know how, where, why.

Speaker 6 I used to live in LA. So I'm like, I'm familiar with Temecula, but what an obscure.

Speaker 4 It kind of means nothing. It just sounds good, though.

Speaker 1 I like it.

Speaker 6 Yes, yes. And then we panicked because somebody told me, they're like, well, what a random fucking name.

Speaker 6 So then on Saturday morning, morning, we were like going through other names and shout out to Gary Richardson being like, no, I think we just keep at Lisa from Temecula.

Speaker 6 It's kind of, it's kind of nothing.

Speaker 1 Let's keep it that. Yeah.

Speaker 6 So it was very fun, but at dress, guys, what I say, at dress, oh,

Speaker 6 it does not do well. Somebody.

Speaker 1 Really? Nope.

Speaker 6 And all week, people in the hair department be going, I don't laugh at anything. And honestly, with sound off watching the monitor in the hair room, we're dying.
And I go, It's too much pressure.

Speaker 6 I don't want the compliments. In fact, at a certain point, I'm like, it's all, it's all kiss of death, kiss of death, a bad omen.

Speaker 6 People building it up, too much pressure. Lauren wants to get it.

Speaker 4 Get in your head. This is the best catch in history.

Speaker 1 No, that's really good to mention that on this podcast because that hasn't been talked about. Like, you're going to crush.
Please don't say that. Please do not say that.

Speaker 6 We had one this week on the show. Um, with

Speaker 6 can I, we had one this week with, um, gosh, my, as soon as we go on hiatus, thank you. My brain erases what happened every day.

Speaker 1 I know, because you expunge it, you just like let it

Speaker 1 get to let go of it.

Speaker 6 But you see, it's just short-circuited there. Anyway, Michael Keaton, that killed at table, absolutely destroyed.

Speaker 6 Um, and not, and there are weeks where things are like that was really good at table, and that was really fun. And there's moments where I'm using the word killed.

Speaker 6 So, something killed at table with Keaton and then

Speaker 6 got to dress rehearsal.

Speaker 1 And I go, oh, it's crazy.

Speaker 6 It's really not working the same. And it went from like top of show to kind of

Speaker 6 down there, got down there, more, a more regular slot, if you will,

Speaker 6 rivaling 10 to one, not quite.

Speaker 1 But anyway,

Speaker 6 I am,

Speaker 6 we do this at dress rehearsal. It feels like a lot of pressure.
The table's not shaking because somebody told the monkey boy to not shake it as much. And we did the run through, right? Dry run.

Speaker 6 And I was like, great, this feels a little chaotic, but kind of fun. I think it'll all come together.
And then it just, the shaking dissipated. And there's really no.

Speaker 1 When you say monkey boy, how do you mean that? And there's someone under the table.

Speaker 6 There's someone on their table. And I don't know what their official, like the monkey boy productions, they do the puppets.

Speaker 1 Okay, I just wanted to say that. You thought it was a slur?

Speaker 6 You were a slur.

Speaker 1 People might think it's an actual monkey boy or something.

Speaker 1 A simian.

Speaker 4 So is that a company that deals with this stuff?

Speaker 1 And there's the special effect and that's yes.

Speaker 6 Special effects, them puppeteering I feel like I know them most for their puppet their puppet right puppetry um they built me a mask in this forerun to do a jigsaw kind of sketch and like like a welder situation like yeah they're incredible but someone told our guy not to shake the table as much it's not communicated to me sabotage it kind of you know that's the one thing that could hurt that sketch the one thing or

Speaker 6 stupid but one of the other yeah it's one of the s's and so i'm like and so it's not shaking there's no sketch it's like a woman has ordered a well done extra well comedy yeah there's no comedy it's like i'm trying to and then also plot twist that threw me for a loop is for the first time from table read to now we've done it table read we've done blocking we've done saturday daytime run-through um for the first time at dress and no one tells me in advance which normally they would have would have been appropriate too it's a t-bone steak i can't even like pantomime sawing a T-bone steak that's extra, extra well done.

Speaker 1 You can't even, I was like,

Speaker 6 who's the idea to put a big bone in the middle?

Speaker 1 Changed it. Well, don't change anything.

Speaker 6 Don't change a thing. And so it's not going well.
There's this moment where I'm just like, well, motherfuckers.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 Mr.

Speaker 6 Pedro Pascal, whose praises I'll sing till I'm blue in the face, and I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 We'll get tired of it.

Speaker 1 Great show and a very likable, great actor.

Speaker 6 Great actor, down to play, down to look like a fool, down to look stupid, like a dumbass. And also didn't try to curate his own show.

Speaker 6 That's the other thing, like to be very clear that when a host is trying to curate their own show, he just gave himself up to that.

Speaker 6 Truly, and I think this about that episode, by the way, unrelated to Lease from Tameka, glad I got that off in that episode.

Speaker 6 When I reflect back on that episode and I was talking to Mikey Day about this,

Speaker 6 I was like, there are so many sketches in that episode that could have been the one. There was like real real stiff competition on that.

Speaker 1 There's a Mario Brothers one that was beautiful tape.

Speaker 6 There was Marcelo's Protective Mom sketch that was an absolute hit. So

Speaker 6 I haven't seen an episode like quite like that one in some time, just where it's like, there are multiple sketches in here.

Speaker 1 It could have been the first sketch.

Speaker 6 Could have been the one. Yeah.
And so

Speaker 6 anyway, Pedro is like, I think, I don't want to speak for him, but I get the sense is thrown by like, whoa, we all had high expectations for this sketch. And boy, is this like bombing right now?

Speaker 6 And he starts looking for the, I guess, it's throwing him. And he's like, now,

Speaker 6 I'm trying to, how do I articulate this? Like, trying to see a cue card. And, but he's making it obvious.
Like, remember, we're still in the scene, but now he's making it obvious.

Speaker 6 He's like kind of looking over and up and trying to see a cue card. And absolutely in character, unscripted, because it's bombing at this point.
So who fucking cares? I go in character.

Speaker 6 And I go, and what are you looking at? And then that's the biggest laugh at dress rehearsal is me going and what are you looking at and calling him out for like

Speaker 6 absolutely off cards that's funny and then we wrap up and um at the beat I don't know where I catch him oh at good nights at dress the fake good nights and I go the table wasn't shaking and there was a t-bone steak and he's like what the fuck and mind you he's pretty straight man in that sketch so the jokes aren't really his it's not really about him

Speaker 6 and a lot of hosts would have used that opportunity to be like see to get out of it. To get out of it, because they probably, a lot of hosts wouldn't have wanted to do it in the first place.

Speaker 1 And then yeah, I'm just a puppet in this.

Speaker 4 They aren't the score machine.

Speaker 1 Nothing for me to do.

Speaker 6 And so I was like, that would have been a perfect out. They wouldn't have fought him on it because it did bomb.
And it would have been like a nice heartbreak to Dishme.

Speaker 6 And they, he actually went in there and fought for it. And he was like, they didn't give her, they gave her a T-bone steak.
The table didn't have shake.

Speaker 1 I wanted to do that.

Speaker 4 You need someone in that goddamn room because no one's in the room.

Speaker 1 You're not allowed to do it.

Speaker 6 It's you need someone in the room. And having someone in the room, I've had every iteration of an experience at this show.
I feel. I was saying this to Heidi recently.

Speaker 6 I'm like, every version of it being the baby no one gives a fuck about having a writer who was not only really funny, but also in the room.

Speaker 6 I've had that writer go away and now have nobody in the room and feel like, oh, okay, I guess we're starting from scratch again. Like, and having someone in the room, nothing like it.
Really, nothing.

Speaker 1 Marianne, Game of Thrones, creating alliances who are in the room.

Speaker 5 Hey, David, when it comes to gifting, you know, I've learned there are two types of presents.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 5 The ones that get returned and the ones that instantly become a favorite. Do you agree?

Speaker 4 Yeah, that's Jenny Bird jewelry definitely falls in the second category.

Speaker 4 These designs, as you know, are very modern. They're timeless.
always feel special.

Speaker 5 Oh, well, isn't that special?

Speaker 4 That makes them my secret weapon when I want to give a gift that really, you know, lands. That's why Jenny Bird makes it easy.
The packaging is beautiful.

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Speaker 3 Hey, everybody, it's me, Bill Maher. If you're not watching or at least listening to Club Random, you're really missing something good and something unique.

Speaker 3 Because I don't think we look or sound like any other podcast, and that's by design.

Speaker 3 My life's quest has been to do some kind of show that captured the level of intimacy and the lack of artifice you would see if you saw me off camera talking to a friend.

Speaker 3 No one else in the room, plenty of pot and booze, and nothing planned. This is a show where I get high talking to someone I'm interested in to get to know and to laugh with.

Speaker 3 It's not an interview, it's wild. And I'm having a ball, and the guests are having a ball, and you will too.

Speaker 3 So please follow Club Random with Bill Maher and see new episodes every Monday on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 4 For the viewers, Dana, let's have her say what the room is and who's in it.

Speaker 6 Okay.

Speaker 6 So the room is the deciding room.

Speaker 6 The room, I think, convenes multiple times throughout the week, but most important or seemingly significant for us as cast and for writers is the room after Table Read.

Speaker 6 So after we've read our 40 sketches on Wednesday, the room convenes. It is Lorne, Steve Higgins, Eric Kenward.
I think Caroline Maroney is in there. Erin Doyle is in there.

Speaker 6 Rebecca Schwartz. I'm not sure who else, but other people from the talent department, I believe, but those are the decision makers.
Head writers are also in there. I left them out.

Speaker 1 That's a lot.

Speaker 6 Streeter, Allison Gates, Kent Sublet.

Speaker 6 And that's what that room looks like. So you do the math on that.
So that's who's in there. Okay.

Speaker 6 And then that room convenes again throughout the week to check in with the host. I think they have a meeting with the host on Friday.
Less pressing to all of us, but that's a yeah.

Speaker 6 How are you friends? What do you like?

Speaker 1 What do you not like? Oh, you're confused about your role in that one. Okay.

Speaker 6 Oh, and a host being like, I find it fascinating. I want to be in that room one time, specifically the Friday room.
I want to be in the Friday room because I want to know, I want to hear hosts.

Speaker 6 They start not always sometimes try to manipulate the system a little. And like, if they're not scoring, that's their opportunity to say, I don't know what I'm doing in that one.

Speaker 6 I just don't, I don't know what I'm doing. Or I can't wrap my head around this very straightforward character.

Speaker 1 I can't feel this very straightforward.

Speaker 6 I'm just having a hard time understanding. I'm confused.

Speaker 1 So I'm just setting up them to kill or Friday night at like 11 or 12 or whatever.

Speaker 6 Exactly. So we've at that point blocked all the sketches pretty much.
They're waiting on the pre-tapes. They know what they hate.

Speaker 6 Exactly. And they start to plant those seeds.
You kind of see it reflected in the run.

Speaker 1 Death.

Speaker 6 The seeds of death. That is how you kill it.
That's how you begin to kill a sketch.

Speaker 4 Poison pill.

Speaker 6 Oh, that's good. It's a poison pill.

Speaker 1 Create doubt. Just create doubt.

Speaker 6 Yeah, they create the little doubt. And then you get the rundown.

Speaker 6 We, as cast, the writers, everyone gets the rundown, which is to say, this is what our run-through, the dry run on Saturday, is going to look like. This is what dress rehearsal looks like.

Speaker 1 And you say, it's very long.

Speaker 6 We get to work at like 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, and the show wraps up.

Speaker 4 No one realizes that's the earliest day you're having.

Speaker 6 Yes, actually, truly, which is insane. And so, only rival by pre-tape day, Friday, where we sometimes are like, I'm getting picked up at 6 a.m.

Speaker 6 But

Speaker 6 the dress rehearsal rundown, if you will, on the left side of that document says who's doing update, which feels like a very secretive thing all week.

Speaker 4 And that's when they pick who's doing update?

Speaker 6 That's when we all skip to see when it becomes like, and this is who's doing update. So it's happening, whispers behind you.

Speaker 6 You don't know people if you're close are going, did you, have you heard about your update?

Speaker 6 Are you, oh, do we know who's doing, but it's all very like secret but then when that rundown comes out at 11 30 p.m on friday or midnight saturday you go oh that's who's doing update and oh so

Speaker 6 then on that side on that left side when you see the order of the sketches in this dress rehearsal show you go uh yes at the friday meeting the host has planted a seed of doubt that sketch went from fourth of the night to now second to last of the night yes exactly kind of loving these hosts i love the deviousness i like a host and they're going i mean i don't know what's funny.

Speaker 4 To me, it's not hilarious, but I trust you guys.

Speaker 1 Like, and he has used it right now

Speaker 1 with a little notepad. Oh, yeah.
Instead of a sweater.

Speaker 6 And mind you, the assistant and them and the publicists have already had their conversation off to the side being like, everything's a side chat.

Speaker 4 It's so crazy.

Speaker 6 Everything's a side chat. It's so crazy.
But so then,

Speaker 6 yeah, it's, but when things, when you can sense that a host has done that too, then that just creates a sort of like, well, that sucks. Because also, you want to like,

Speaker 6 you're like on Tuesday when you go to talk to a host about the idea you have for the week or the ideas you have. And oftentimes I'm a pretty direct person.

Speaker 6 So I'm like, you can literally say you hate it. You're not going to offend me.
You can tell me, like, I really don't want to do that.

Speaker 6 I'm, if come Wednesday, even if it kills at table, I'm going to, in that meeting, veto it. So don't do, I don't want to do it.

Speaker 4 Don't waste my time, basically.

Speaker 6 Don't waste my time because I have other ideas.

Speaker 1 I don't want to write it. And it's cool.
Yeah. Yes.
It takes hours.

Speaker 6 It takes hours And it's disheartening when it does kill and it doesn't go. And it turns out because you didn't.

Speaker 6 So please just be honest with me because I'll write something else that we can both be excited about.

Speaker 6 But it's what I adore about Pedro is because he did take that opportunity in that Saturday meeting.

Speaker 6 That meeting we talk about happens again Saturday after dress rehearsal. Right.
So now the

Speaker 1 big important thing. That's the most intense time.
Picking the show.

Speaker 4 It's like 10:45 or they basically hack a half hour out of dress so you're in the show all week and then by 11 p.m you're suddenly not in the show so what happened with lisa from tech well lisa he went in that room and he fought for it and said in that meeting he wanted to do it.

Speaker 6 In that meeting, that there was, they gave me a T-bogue steak, which WTF, and then that the table wasn't shaking. Who, where, why did that happen?

Speaker 6 When did that decision get made? And also, if that, if that was a note that was communicated to the monkey boy, not a slur, the company, right?

Speaker 6 If that was a, if that was a note communicated to them, why no one told me, why no one communicated it to all of us, or why we didn't do a like quick little, like, hey, it's going to come to this hallway right now.

Speaker 6 It's not going to be on the set, but like, let me show you how much I'll be shaking it at this point. And then we'll ramp up to this.
Right.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 6 I appreciate it because most hosts, I feel now that I've been there long enough, many of them, and I want to say most, since I'm going to say most, would have been like, yeah, see, it didn't work.

Speaker 6 And I'm not doing anything.

Speaker 4 We have to cut stuff anyway.

Speaker 6 Yeah, we have to. And maybe another time.
Man, bummer, that's so fun. Yeah.

Speaker 4 Let you bitch about it later and be like, no, but and they're like, oh, do it next week then.

Speaker 6 Yes. And then next week, they don't, we don't actually do it because it's like, well, I forgot.
We forgot. We told you you could do it next week.

Speaker 1 So air quote forgot. But.

Speaker 6 um he fought for it but what's interesting is on that week i'll say this there's a sketch i do the following show i believe where travis kelcey hosts he either hosts immediately after pedro we go on a hiatus after pedro and then i think travis kelce's the following host um

Speaker 7 um

Speaker 6 and he

Speaker 6 he he ended up acting in this sketch but this was the this is how the night panned out i had a sketch the same week as lisa from demecula with james austin johnson a prince love him he's an incredible performer inspired by michael mcdonald and patty la bell i'm obsessed with michael McDonald, and we got to

Speaker 1 the great voices of all time. Oh my gosh, what a leaves is crazy.
Oh gosh. Well,

Speaker 6 I listen to Michael McDonald relatively regularly, but

Speaker 6 I feel like someone told me, and it maybe was Kyle Mooney. Maybe this is wrong.

Speaker 1 And I felt sorry for Mooney.

Speaker 6 We love Kyle. Yawn, if you yawn while you're singing, that's your Michael McDonald impression.
And it's pretty effective.

Speaker 1 Okay, okay.

Speaker 1 Well, it sounds insane.

Speaker 6 Oh, beautiful, beautiful Doomy Brother.

Speaker 4 So, who's Travis Kelsey?

Speaker 6 So, Travis Kelsey is a football player. He is boyfriend.

Speaker 4 Who's he in the sketch?

Speaker 1 I was going to say you know

Speaker 4 who's Taylor Swift again?

Speaker 1 She is a singer. She's girlfriend to Travis Kelsey.

Speaker 1 Great parts for them. Go ahead.

Speaker 6 So, Travis Kelsey ends up playing this thing that Pedro was. It was me and James Austin Johnson.
This sketch goes to air with Travis. But Pedro was in it originally.

Speaker 6 That's the week we happened to write it. And he plays a man named Sucre, a name I'm obsessed with from Prison Break, one of my favorite TV shows.

Speaker 6 There was a guy Sucre, yeah, which I believe means Spanish and

Speaker 6 Spanish means sugar in Spanish. It means sugar in Spanish.

Speaker 6 So anyway,

Speaker 6 they were up against each other in a sense. It kind of panned out that

Speaker 6 like because Pedro's episode was so, so, so strong, we're talking killer, killer, killer, sketch after killer.

Speaker 6 This sketch with him, I don't remember what it ultimately, family song, family meeting, family meeting is what it's called. It was Pedro, it was great.
It actually did really well at dress. Okay.

Speaker 6 And so after the meeting, the big meeting, the Saturday 10 o'clock meeting, PM meeting,

Speaker 6 that one is still in the show, as is Lisa from Temecula, but they're back to back, basically, like commercial break between them.

Speaker 6 And it's like, we always know you go into dress rehearsal with a longer show than you have time for, generally speaking. And so something's going to get cut for time on air.

Speaker 6 And sometimes that cut for time thing ends up on the internet on YouTube. And sometimes it's just like, no, that sketch is cut and you're going to have to try it again.

Speaker 6 It came down to.

Speaker 6 Family meeting and Lisa. And Family Meeting absolutely proved itself at dress rehearsal.
I was in it. I helped write it.
It's also something I loved and was passionate about.

Speaker 6 And Pedro was so great in it.

Speaker 6 And ultimately, Family Meeting got cut in favor of Lisa at the end of the show. But I remember I was sure Lisa wasn't going for how built up it had been all week and for how crappy it was at dress.

Speaker 6 And so Tom Broker comes up to me, my quick change.

Speaker 6 Costume, who is my close, you know, people are scared of Tom. And I find it fascinating because he's my closest, closest person.
He was there when I was there.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I had not seen him in years and then I was just pouring my heart out to him.

Speaker 1 Just

Speaker 1 seeing him and you start you're doing the dress. Just you're throwing back

Speaker 6 when you cast member too. I go, I don't know what it is.
Something about, I said, when I first got here, I feel like Dessanel, I was quite.

Speaker 6 I don't want to say KG is not the word. It's the first thing that comes to mind.
It's not the right word, but just for the sake of being concise.

Speaker 6 Cagey and like somehow I found myself talking a lot to Tom, though. And I I go, is it because I'm in a closet with you with all these clothes and something, but there's some intimacy about this.

Speaker 6 Yeah, he's, yeah. And I was like, I would, I would talk to him, though, and tell him basically everything.
But Tom comes up to me and goes, get dressed for Lisa.

Speaker 4 And I kind of, oh, is that how you found out?

Speaker 6 Yes, yes. And it was like right before we were about to do it.
And I mean, I had to get dressed in. 60 seconds because I was sure that wasn't going.

Speaker 6 And he goes, get dressed. And I,

Speaker 6 and this is just self-protective. Okay.
Cause at that point, I had been, I'd been heartbroken, if you will. And I was like, this is crazy to build up, to have that then go that way.

Speaker 6 And so much was out of my control. And it wasn't a matter of performance.
And I don't even know that I feel the audience got to see the sketch because all the technicalities.

Speaker 6 I feel like I'm not a big eye roller, but I like to say, and he and I are very close. I feel like I rolled my eyes and I go, really?

Speaker 1 Because I was so hurt.

Speaker 6 I was like, I can't believe. And I go, so what? It can be a throwaway sketch now

Speaker 1 in my mind.

Speaker 6 And I didn't say that part, but I think that's what was going on. I was like, at the end of the night, oh, okay, really?

Speaker 4 But you lost confidence in it.

Speaker 6 I lost confidence. Yeah.
And I was just, and that's what that little,

Speaker 6 we're so close. And he probably didn't even read it as attitude, but I try to stay generally positive.
I just remember going, really?

Speaker 6 And then going in the question.

Speaker 4 Did you almost want to do the one that worked?

Speaker 6 Damn it, David. That is such a good question because

Speaker 6 I think about it

Speaker 6 Everything would just be so different for me.

Speaker 6 It's wild to think that.

Speaker 1 They said you pick. Yeah.

Speaker 1 This thing went very viral.

Speaker 1 Millions, millions on YouTube.

Speaker 4 But if she got the pick, she might say, just, I just want one to work. Just give me.

Speaker 6 I just want one to work. We know that one worked and fuck it.
I don't know. I'm, and I'm kind of salty and pissed and hurt about this other thing.
And so fuck it.

Speaker 6 And to, I'm glad it wasn't up to me because I'm, yeah, I might have picked family meeting, which would mean a very different trajectory for me because I think Lisa from Temecula, not to be haughty at all, but one, I had so much fun doing it, but two, I think it's the moment people are like, oh, she's a really fun sketch performer.

Speaker 6 And then people who listen to me on comedy, bang, bang, that podcast, which is improv, Scott Ackerman, Scotty, Scotty Ox,

Speaker 6 know me to be insane. But I don't think up until Lisa, up until Lisa, everyone has just considered me this like very polished.
Listen, I like to look nice, guys, but I'm an insane person in real life.

Speaker 6 And I do comedy because I'm wild and kooky. And I might look like I'm put together.

Speaker 6 And in ways I am, but like my sense, my comedic sensibility, I think has like been largely reflected on comedy bang bang. And those fans, when Lisa from Temecula happened, go,

Speaker 6 that's the ego I know. who's been on this podcast for all these years.
That's where we've been waiting to see that on SNL.

Speaker 6 And so I'm glad it worked out how it did, because I think for the first time,

Speaker 6 a broader, the larger audience could say, oh, that's, that's her comedy. That's her.

Speaker 4 There's something to point to that. It's like when Debbie Downer happens, just there's some now and then that blow up.
And it's very hard to get something to kind of blow up. It's so hard.

Speaker 4 Even if it's a good sketch, it doesn't mean it. It's just sometimes they kind of hit.
You go, oh, people are coming up and asking me about this now.

Speaker 1 So something worth there. It's kind of, yeah, go ahead.
So unique.

Speaker 1 I just think you landed it so perfectly just watching it a couple hours ago.

Speaker 1 And you drove it so well. So, yeah, I could see that would be like a storm making moment because you were just

Speaker 1 on fire as a character landing line after line. He just wants but, or is it because we're black, or whatever you kept landing these lines.

Speaker 6 That was like beautiful. And also, and you know,

Speaker 6 that was my, I'm in my seventh, that was my fifth season, fourth season,

Speaker 6 and I think fifth, but

Speaker 6 I had been leading up to that. That was a Feb, that was February.

Speaker 1 The place is frustrating for all of us, no matter what time you think we're having the understatement of the fucking year. I call it emotionally violent.

Speaker 1 You know what?

Speaker 6 That's probably really accurate. That's accurate.
And it's really frustrating. And I think I'm a pretty strong person.

Speaker 6 And I don't actually look for the world, to be fair. I'm the youngest of four.
I was explaining this to someone. I'm the youngest of four.
My mom is a doctor.

Speaker 6 She would bring candy home that like pharmaceutical sales reps would bring the the doctors in the office which is maybe its own up thing that they're they bribe doctors that way but whatever i'm not here to comment on that but she would bring home candy or whatever like sweet treats the pharmacy pharmaceutical reps would bring and I was the last, I was always the, I got to pick last.

Speaker 6 Like, so my oldest brother would get his, his dibs first, because he's the oldest, then my sister, because she's second, then my brother ahead of me, and then me last.

Speaker 6 And we never changed the order for equity ever. And I was just like, Yeah, I'm the youngest and I'm going to get the last pick.

Speaker 6 So I don't, when Lauren talks, Lauren talks to me sometimes about the show being fair and how it's not fair.

Speaker 1 And I go, I am not

Speaker 6 fair. I'm like, I'm the last person looking for fair in here.
I don't think I grew up with the most fair. My life was.
I don't know that it was fair.

Speaker 4 You know, I go, I had that happen with my dad. And I came back from SNL and said, he said, why are you down about it? I go, I just, it doesn't seem like it's fair.

Speaker 4 And he goes, who told you it was going to be fair?

Speaker 1 I go,

Speaker 4 well,

Speaker 4 nobody, but shouldn't things just be fair? And he's like,

Speaker 4 I wouldn't guess that place would be that fair.

Speaker 1 I'm telling you that fair is one of the most loaded words in the English language. And I've heard people use it like it's not fair.
Even if

Speaker 1 they win the lottery, so to speak, it's just not fair. And your dad was prescient and wise.

Speaker 6 Yes, I think so. Absolutely.

Speaker 6 And I just had someone in the talent department two weeks ago told me, they said, my mom said I'd be having a better time here if I just accept it wasn't fair.

Speaker 1 They said you'd be having a better time.

Speaker 4 You're at the best place you can be in comedy and it's the fucking hardest. And you're like, why?

Speaker 4 This should be going better. That's what I always thought.
I'm like, God damn.

Speaker 6 It's so, but you know, you don't have a sense of it.

Speaker 6 Hiatus is really nice because you get to go out in the world and go, oh, someone more than recognizes me because that's whatever, but goes, oh, I love that thing you do. Or like, you're my favorite.

Speaker 6 Yeah.

Speaker 6 And you go, Okay, because you inside of it have no sense of whatever impact you're making, or more importantly, like if anything you're doing is even fucking register or translating into anything,

Speaker 6 you can truly cannot tell.

Speaker 4 You don't even leave the building most that

Speaker 1 we decide.

Speaker 6 I don't, people ask me, how do you like living in New York? And I go, I don't live in New York, I work in New York.

Speaker 1 I don't know,

Speaker 6 I don't know where I am. I go from my apartment to 30 Rock.

Speaker 1 I'm not outside for just 12, 14 hours at a time. No, I'm like, I don't know what, I don't know anything about New York.

Speaker 6 I know where 30 Rock is and the new eateries in the basement there, the Concourse. Like, I know that's my version of New York.
But I, that, that, that experience with Lisa was so

Speaker 6 affirming as a performer. I didn't know.
I certainly

Speaker 6 It's so crazy how the goalposts change for you too when you're a cast member there. My first season, it was like, can I get a sketch on?

Speaker 1 Cool.

Speaker 6 You don't even have a concept. So when that rundown comes out at midnight on Saturday morning or 1145 p.m.

Speaker 6 on Friday that we're talking about, you're not like, oh, mine's first of the night or it's last of the night. Oh, shit.

Speaker 6 Like you, everything I had described to you a little bit ago about the meeting and the host and

Speaker 6 it meant nothing to me my first season. I had no concept of it.
I just was like, I have a sketch in. Cool.

Speaker 6 And then as you spend more time there, you start to understand how the system works and what everything sort of means or represents, you're like, oh, well, then I want that.

Speaker 6 I want to have that version of it. And that's fucked.
And I just have to say.

Speaker 1 I love that word.

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Speaker 4 A sketch early in read-through I never knew was, you call it table, but my first week I handed one and it was fourth. And they were like, that's good.
I'm like, why why is that good?

Speaker 4 And they go, you don't want it at the very end. You don't want it.
Unless it's the very last sketch. Sometimes people wake up for that.

Speaker 4 But once you go, we used to do like an hour and a half, then have like a little break

Speaker 4 to wake people up. Then you do another hour and a half or so.
And that second half was just death. Those first 10 get the most attention.

Speaker 4 That when I was there, I don't know if it's the same thing, but that's something I never knew.

Speaker 6 It's true. It's when you, it's the same thing now.

Speaker 6 Another thing I didn't realize until like my third, fourth season where I was having a really good time and Anna Dresen and I were these like having the collaborative experience of our dreams.

Speaker 6 But a lot of our sketches would be, okay, you do the, they would read like the monologue and then the cold open, and then our sketch would be the next one up. But I felt.

Speaker 6 And that was like a few weeks in a row. And I go, pretty damn cool, pretty cool.

Speaker 6 But then when that stops happening, you're like, oh, no, but I want that again. That thing that I didn't even know was a thing.
Now I want that.

Speaker 6 And I feel its absence and I'm chasing that again for no reason. But I, I was telling someone last season, I go, I actually don't fuck with my sketch being too, too early.

Speaker 6 Let's get like three, four red before mine. I'm like, I don't want it to be the very first sketch proper.
Cause sometimes the host is not, though they've read their monologue, they're not warmed up.

Speaker 6 They're not quite understanding how it goes.

Speaker 6 And yes, you can have prepped them beforehand a little bit and have that little conversation with them about what your piece is and kind of what you're expecting and hoping them to do in their performance.

Speaker 6 But I'm like, I need, I want the host warmed up by the time we get to my sketch.

Speaker 1 And I do think it's just human nature to kind of, I say, eighth or ninth, and you follow a sketch that was pretty weak.

Speaker 1 You wouldn't want to follow a Chris Farley banger.

Speaker 6 Yeah.

Speaker 6 Here's my thing. I don't think I have a hot take on this.
Not weak, because I feel like it's going to be hard to make the chart. Yeah, the chart.

Speaker 6 It's going going to be hard to get them back going again.

Speaker 6 Granted, if you do get them going after really week one, you go, oh, this is probably going to make it to dress rehearsal because that really took us from zero to something.

Speaker 6 But I'm like, I want it to have done pretty well. Like just pretty well.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 6 Not a banger, not a banger before me, but just pretty well.

Speaker 1 You really have this show down. I mean, I'm, we've all interviewed a lot of people, but this has been,

Speaker 1 it's stuff I'm learning. Yeah.
Remembering again.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 6 I'm insane though and uh is the truth and i overthink i don't know if it's overthinking because it's just the way my brain works and i have tried i'm like i should sedate myself a little bit more but my brain is like clocking a thousand which is why i go am i the right person for this job or the exact wrong person because

Speaker 6 i wish i was just like a touch more ignorant like where I go back to that first year version of the cast member. It was just like, I just want to sketch on.
All I know is let's try to get a sketch on.

Speaker 6 And now no one has explained any of this shit to me, but I've slowly picked up on it myself over the years. I'm like, and this means that, and that's that.

Speaker 6 And I go, it's probably giving me a headache and breaking my heart more than it needs to be broken.

Speaker 4 You know, when you do something like the Lisa sketch, do you,

Speaker 4 and you've, you've seen, I'd been there, Dana's been there, when you see someone do something like that, but you haven't done it yet, it's sort of, it's sort of interesting to say, what is that like when it kind of blows up?

Speaker 4 And then you got in one. So it's like another another level of endorphins where you're like, oh, this is what it's like when something really hits.

Speaker 4 It's so fun, but no wonder everyone chases it because it's like, God, I want to do another one of these. There are all these animals that works like that on that level.

Speaker 6 Yeah. It was like drugs.
And I say there's so much that feels like drugs. There was a season I had.
So again, I'm in my seventh season.

Speaker 6 There's a season there where My expectation for what they would allow me to do at SNL, just being the seventh black woman in the history of the show, was pretty, I don't want to say low, but tempered.

Speaker 6 I think I'm a good performer. I think I'm a confident performer.

Speaker 6 I know my comedic voice,

Speaker 6 but I also know I was like stepping into an establishment with that history. And it's a machine of its own and I'm one person.
And so I was like, I have a, I've, my goal felt pretty limited there.

Speaker 6 And Then to have had these experiences, I'm like, yeah, you get the drugs in your system.

Speaker 6 So like when I said, I'm like my third season, I I feel like Kate was away shooting maybe Tiger King at the time and AD was away doing Shrill the final season.

Speaker 6 And I can't remember where Cecily was and they were letting me do every fucking thing. And I was having a ball.
And it was interesting because I didn't real, so we were also in COVID times then.

Speaker 6 So the world was still shut down, but we were back in studio, not the at-home episodes. Right.
And I remember getting really upset because I wanted to do this update that kept killing.

Speaker 6 And I kept going, it's me as myself talking about dating in

Speaker 6 dating, current, current dating. We don't have a dating representative and we still don't have a dating correspondent on the show.
And I want to talk about it. And that's my third season.

Speaker 6 So all these seasons ago, and it killed, right? I wrote it on my own, killed.

Speaker 6 They had someone else more junior to me do a thing that didn't kill that then went on to dress or maybe even made to air and didn't kill. Okay.
They're like, wait your turn.

Speaker 6 We're trying to give this person a shot. And I go, okay, not how it worked for me, but that's fine.

Speaker 6 Salute, right? That's fine.

Speaker 6 Then I go, okay, now this piece could live again. This feels topical.
Maybe it was like Valentine's Day. I don't know.
But I go, okay, I'm going to submit it again.

Speaker 6 Hard to do because they've already heard these jokes, this whole table read audience, right?

Speaker 6 But I go, one thing about me, guys, if I'm going to submit a resubmit a sketch, I want you to know, and writers who have to work with me on this, I'm sure detest me.

Speaker 6 But I go, we're rewriting the whole thing. Every joke is brand new.

Speaker 1 Really? Oh, really? Oh, yes.

Speaker 6 I do not believe it. And so I'm not, let me be honest, I'm not resubmitting a ton because of that, because I go, unless we're going to be really rewriting it.

Speaker 6 And listen, if it makes it to dress, let's take it back to the original one. But we have to earn these laughs at table and make people go, oh, this is funny again.

Speaker 6 I have a story about a resubmit, a couple of them, but this is one. But that dating piece, I ended up rewriting, kept my like strongest two jokes, but I was like, great, I'll give you more.

Speaker 6 I'll give you more. I'll give you different jokes.
I really want to do this piece. I believe in this piece.
I believe people will enjoy this.

Speaker 6 It kills at table again, like kills harder the second time.

Speaker 6 And they don't, they, they aren't picking it, but I sense,

Speaker 6 because I also know how to, I can't, I have like a third eye. I'm like, people keep, I was shooting a pre-tape that was me centric in a me piece.
And they go,

Speaker 6 somebody was like, how's the tape going on a Friday? I go, no one's ever texted me about how pre-tape's going. I was like, hmm.
And then someone else was like, when are you back at 30 Rock?

Speaker 6 And I was like,

Speaker 6 they must have had a meeting about how we're not going to do that update. And they know I am going to speak up about it.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 6 I go, and everyone's doing a little temperature check before I get to 30 Rock. And I go,

Speaker 1 you really are perceptive. I am.
I have to say.

Speaker 6 I was like, there's a little, I was like, this is weird.

Speaker 6 How's the tape going? I was like, I've never, what's going on? So

Speaker 6 sure enough, they were not going to let me do the update. And they, sure enough, were doing a temperature check.
And it was like,

Speaker 6 because it was crass, it's very crass.

Speaker 6 And I guess.

Speaker 6 And it was sort of like,

Speaker 1 that's why.

Speaker 6 Yes, it was pretty crass. And it was like, if you do it as a character, but as ego, we don't want necessarily ego telling those jokes, but the character could tell those jokes and i go

Speaker 1 yes she is

Speaker 6 here's the thing yes she is if you this it's sort of like that comedy bang bang thing where i'm like that's a podcast

Speaker 6 I what I love about that podcast. And when I started doing it, it was before SNL and randomly because someone I know had to drop out and they recommended me.
And now it's a thing I do.

Speaker 6 No one knows what I look like. The first time I do that, I was at the first episode is like Sarah Silverman.
No one knows what I look like. They don't know if I'm put together or not.

Speaker 6 They don't know anything about me.

Speaker 1 They don't know me from Adam.

Speaker 6 I get to be as insane as I want and do the kind of characters that I enjoy doing.

Speaker 6 But similar to that update situation, I was like, as a character, maybe, but not, I'm not our ego telling jokes like that.

Speaker 4 And I'm like, did you switch it?

Speaker 6 No, I never did it because I was like, I never did it. And I, I, cause I was like, I don't really want,

Speaker 6 i don't i don't want to do it that way i don't want to do it as a character i don't even know what that character would be frankly if i'm honest and so i'm like i don't even know what that is but mikey and i had this like great sketch last season that we we wrote once it killed at table kill i won't say did really really well at table it's different energy than i played at the show and then the host pulled a sort of like, I don't know what I'm doing.

Speaker 6 So great.

Speaker 1 It goes away.

Speaker 6 And And so it made it to dress. And then it goes away, even though it did pretty well at dress.
And then we rewrote it. We resubmit it, right? They were like, you should bring it back.

Speaker 6 We love that character for you. And we resubmit it.
And I was like, I did that thing I do where I go, oh, honey, it's not only done well at table and played at table, it's gone to dress.

Speaker 6 We have to rewrite this sketch. It can still be the same, but every joke is going to be different.
My name is a different joke. Everything's different.

Speaker 6 And it killed harder the second time at Table Read.

Speaker 6 So this group of people have already seen it at table, seen it at dress, seen it at run-through, seen it at blocking, and it kills harder with this rewrite.

Speaker 6 And Steve Higgins, one of the producers of the show, comes up to me and Mikey and was like, I think that's the first time I've ever seen a rewrite be better at table.

Speaker 6 But that's my rule, though. I'm sort of like, I don't take anything for granted.
I don't think, I don't know that I'm,

Speaker 6 I think there are people, this is, is this right to say, hmm, whatever, that get like gratuitous laughs at table.

Speaker 6 like i do think there are people that get gratuitous laughs and i'm like i am there's favorites there are and

Speaker 6 i'm not assuming i'm one and so i'm like we have to rewrite if we are going to be resubmitting something let's not expect that people are going to go oh love that and i'm like

Speaker 4 eye rolls of people going there we go again is that what is that kind of

Speaker 6 it's because well no it's not even the eye roll yes the eye roll but i'm like they're not going to laugh they're not going to laugh they already heard it and even if they like me and are, in theory, rooting for me to

Speaker 6 any

Speaker 4 laugh twice. You're right.
It's hard to laugh. You can legitimately, naturally laugh twice.
You can, but it cannot do what it did. I don't, I don't think.

Speaker 4 And the host sees that, the new host, and goes, did that do that good?

Speaker 4 You know, because they're like, well, and then if they say it's a resubmit, they go, well, why didn't they want to do it?

Speaker 1 Uh-huh. Exactly.

Speaker 4 And so you don't want to have an ugly conversation.

Speaker 6 Exactly. And so I'm like, let's take nothing for granted.

Speaker 6 If we're having an opportunity to read it again, let's not assume the room's going to be kind and warm about it because they're rooting for us to get to do it again.

Speaker 6 Let's not assume the host is going to be someone they can convince to do something that did okay at table.

Speaker 6 And so I've had, when it's time to resubmit things, I do, I have had writers just kind of be like, this bitch wants to rewrite this sketch.

Speaker 6 This bitch wants to rewrite the fucking sketch. I'm like, well, we read it.
We read it.

Speaker 6 If it's something we haven't read, I'm like, yeah, let's just check. Let's do a casual casual check for the jokes, but I'm like, if we read it already, we got to rewrite it.
And so

Speaker 6 I,

Speaker 6 some have said, some who I remember my second season being like, do I need to like work harder? What's the deal taking a meeting with a producer?

Speaker 6 And they were like, no one here thinks you need to work harder.

Speaker 4 Well, that's showing you grinding. Because

Speaker 4 the fact you don't need to do that and sometimes it just buzzes through without big laughs, but they go, we're going to try it again.

Speaker 4 but you're actually trying to earn some more laughs from it is yeah

Speaker 1 yeah it's still the puzzle we all play with and it doesn't matter where you're at in your life or or career if you're a comedian how do you set up the exposition land the laugh have it be escalatory get out of that big laugh have it have performance have it have the going full circle just that table moving

Speaker 1 And I always say funny with the sound off, guy in a bar looks up and would laugh because it keeps getting to the point of ridiculousness.

Speaker 1 And no one at the table is going, what the fuck's with the steak? And getting up and walking away.

Speaker 4 Yeah. I mean, we don't say anything.

Speaker 1 And the tension of that is just allows you to laugh so hard. And of course, your character is the driving force of that sketch.
But anyway, so that's all you could do.

Speaker 1 If it's your first season, seven seasons, just try to solve the puzzle and just make it funnier and fuck.

Speaker 4 Tread water, Stayla.

Speaker 6 Yeah, it was really cool. That experience was so special because i had been like

Speaker 6 by that time in the season two just kind of honey i don't know what they want from me at this point because lauren does a thing too where he's like new move we've seen you do that before like so we want to see you do something different so you start to be like well this is my comedic voice right like

Speaker 6 this is my voice these are the kinds of people i think are funny and you're telling me like before he seasons in like something else and i'm like oh okay all right

Speaker 6 But it's funny because I don't think Lisa's some grand departure from what I've done previously, but there's this physicality to it. But

Speaker 6 yeah, it's

Speaker 6 that one was by that time in the season, I was sort of like, I don't, honey, I don't know what they want, and I'm at a loss.

Speaker 6 And so when I did, when Alex and Gary said they had this piece for me, I would have, like I said, normally been like, and where does it go from here? Let's actually talk this through.

Speaker 6 But I was like, if these

Speaker 6 dudes think they have a piece, great. I'm going to let them go off and write it because I write as well some too.

Speaker 6 And so I sometimes want to get in there and I'm like, listen, it's, I'm going to, this is their baby. But then once we got to, when was it? Like the cuz we're black.

Speaker 6 I've seen people go like, did you improvise that? I improvised it not on air and not at dress rehearsal. I think on Friday at blocking or something.

Speaker 6 I was like, I feel like she should say something right here.

Speaker 6 It's actually kind of funny if she says because we're black, given the only other black person here is punky and the person who's approached them is black.

Speaker 6 Um, uh, and then there were these moments that I was like, I think this needs a line here, or she should say this. So then it became collaborative on the back end, which was really cool.

Speaker 6 And I hadn't really had that experience yet, where it's like, yes, you wrote this for me, and it's such a gift.

Speaker 6 And now we both get to meld our minds at this stage of the process where it's okay, it's in the show, at least to dress. Let's try to like make it as good as we can.

Speaker 6 And here's my thoughts as the person performing. Maybe she says this as well.
Maybe she does this.

Speaker 6 In the real performance, I had a lot of joy because I did, I just had no expectations of it. So, too, when I think about like, if it had moved up in the night, right?

Speaker 6 If it had killed it dressing in its second of the night or something like that,

Speaker 6 how free of a performer would I have been in that regard? I did not expect to do the sketch. So when I hurried and put on my clothes to do that, you're like, what's this one again? Yes, legitimately.

Speaker 6 I was like, I've kind of started to block it out of my head and scrub it from my memory because it was such a flop.

Speaker 6 But then I put on the writers didn't even get to find me to tell me they like cut out a whole middle of the sketch. So there's a moment where I like pause.

Speaker 6 There's a moment of air, if you're really paying attention in it, and it's someone else was supposed to have a line in the original version, but in the like last minute, you guys are doing it and you need to cut out X number of pages.

Speaker 6 They cut out this whole chunk. And then I realized, like, okay, yeah, they never came to tell me if anything was cut out.
And I was like, I heard silence for a little longer than I wanted.

Speaker 6 And I was like, oh, and then I improvised, what, what? And then said my line. But

Speaker 6 I was free in that performance because I was like, I had no expectation at this point. When the steak fell, that was like, I didn't, they gave me the hardest steak they'd given yet.

Speaker 6 I genuinely couldn't cut through it and it fell. So then I was like, what do I do?

Speaker 6 I guess I'll pick it up with my fingers and suck on it because I know I have a line about how good it tastes, but I haven't been able to cut off a piece. So all these moments, the chair falls.

Speaker 6 And because Pedro's so warm and.

Speaker 6 just

Speaker 6 you feel connected to him. I was like, I think I can put my leg on and my foot on him.

Speaker 6 if it had been a host who was kind of off like standoffish i don't know that i would have felt comfortable doing that but um yeah all the pieces it's kind of magical and then you do want to replicate something like that right and have another lisa from the thing you're chasing yeah but she can't it doesn't work that way it doesn't work i didn't even see that one coming up was out of the blue yeah but that makes every week kind of fun because someone might write and if someone writes for you that's a gift too just someone huge

Speaker 1 if they seek you out after the sketch if there's time during the commercial break it's kind of nice if you collaborate with a writer and you're both kind of celebrating just for a second

Speaker 6 yeah it's really nice that's a that's a very sweet moment each time where you go oh my goodness we did and we did something together and it worked and then you hope but what's sick about it is that then you go all right tuesday writing night is a couple days away and you go to work on monday and kind of what you did on saturday means nothing i know it just

Speaker 1 tissue in a fireplace just

Speaker 1 what do you got this week?

Speaker 6 Literally. And you go, what about last week was so good?

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Speaker 1 God, we've learned so much about SNO. We do want to ask about your new podcast because

Speaker 1 it's out now this week.

Speaker 6 It's out. It's out.
There are several episodes. Thanks, Dad.

Speaker 6 It is out wherever people get their podcasts.

Speaker 6 I'm having, I was raised by a single mom. I don't have a relationship with my dad.

Speaker 6 As I say, I'm not gonna have one with him because turns out he died last summer guys so um which is okay and and dana's giving me thumbs up no i didn't do that

Speaker 4 was the funniest thing i've ever seen

Speaker 1 somehow there's a thumbs up

Speaker 1 like someone real just said i'm so sorry and then worst possible time

Speaker 1 my dad is dead and dana's emoji thumbs up 60 thumbs up came up and i was completely un

Speaker 6 we love a dead dad but no

Speaker 4 anyway

Speaker 1 so thanks Dad. So this is a podcast working through these issues.
Or it's what is it?

Speaker 6 It's not even, it's well, I basically invite guests to be my dad for the day, and I get to ask them questions I've always want to ask a dad.

Speaker 6 And so things like, how do I know if the guy I'm dating is the right one for me? What do I look out for when I'm buying a car?

Speaker 1 um

Speaker 6 tell me about invent like buying property what what's what's what are some tips you have in that regard and so they give me dad advice i get to hear about my guests as fathers themselves or parents themselves and i get to then hear what um their dads were like and so we have this lovely vulnerable fun conversation but it's it's it's light it's light it's vulnerable it's fun it's all the things i feel

Speaker 6 mikey's episode which is out in the world starts with him saying i didn't realize you didn't have a relationship with your dad and i'm like yeah i don't really seem like a girl who doesn't have a dad and so i'm trying to and and then he's like well what does that what does that mean to seem like a girl who doesn't have a dad and i go you know you know that's why you thought i had a dad and so it's fun we're having a good time

Speaker 6 we're having a good time yeah but it's adam pally is was on your show but you also do you're also in that show with mr throwback right yes mr throwback with adam pally steph curry um it's on peacock Aiden Myeri.

Speaker 6 Yeah, a bunch of really great people.

Speaker 4 David Casp who was

Speaker 4 a little bit. Yeah, he's cool.

Speaker 1 True angel.

Speaker 6 The creators are so fun, so funny.

Speaker 6 The Libman brothers, matthew and daniel it was a dream that was so much fun and that there was some improv on there very passionate about improv over here true nerd i've i'm introducing improv to the baltimore city school curriculum by way of my high school high school um spanish teacher and so i don't I mean, I love it too.

Speaker 1 And I don't, even a little bit of it, I don't think anything beats the performer discovering something new live in real time. And improv allows that.
So they're taking, it's popping in your head.

Speaker 1 I'm going to do it.

Speaker 4 It's a live trick when you see improv.

Speaker 1 It's like, that's what Brando did. He broke down the whole thing.
He didn't want to know the script. He put it in the ceiling or in an orange or he just did it at that moment just to get an orange.

Speaker 4 Was it Godfather?

Speaker 1 I can't remember.

Speaker 1 He had the script everywhere. I think he was feeling an orange.

Speaker 1 But that's.

Speaker 1 I love improv. And I think just a little bit of it when that sketches turn a little lively, something happens, or people are a little playful.
It kind of does all that.

Speaker 1 But it's like trying to catch the wind. That's what I say.
Always.

Speaker 1 You know,

Speaker 4 you're a blast to talk to. Thanks for talking to us guys.

Speaker 1 Davis,

Speaker 4 so smart and such inside baseball.

Speaker 1 No one has given us,

Speaker 1 we've had these great guests. You've been the most detailed about the emotional ride and the logistical ride of that show.
So pretty much.

Speaker 4 It's fun. It's like it's thrown back there.
I was thrown back.

Speaker 6 I wanted to, thank you both so much for having me on.

Speaker 6 I wanted to ask you so many questions about your time and now i'm gonna have to force you to get dinner with me or a drink and be my dad's guys i don't have a dad so um maybe i'll be your dad

Speaker 4 dana you know dana's answer to that thumbs up dead dad we love that

Speaker 1 yeah

Speaker 1 uh how do you know if the guy you're dating is the one is that yes yeah that's the first dinner question that's the first dinner question you can think on it and get back to me.

Speaker 1 But yeah, it turns out.

Speaker 4 Well, if I come visit Dana, I'll come visit you too.

Speaker 1 Sense of humor,

Speaker 1 kindness.

Speaker 6 Kindness. Kindness is key.

Speaker 1 Smart sense of humor and kindness.

Speaker 1 Okay. Definitely kindness.

Speaker 6 Smart sense of humor, kindness. I'm going to write it down.

Speaker 1 Thank you. I'm going to go write it down.
Thank you.

Speaker 4 And it's very nice to meet you.

Speaker 1 Great pleasure. Pleasure.
And I will see you soon. I'll put it down.

Speaker 4 Yeah, Dana will see you.

Speaker 1 Okay. See you soon.
Okay.

Speaker 4 Bye-bye.

Speaker 4 This has been a presentation of Odyssey. Please follow, subscribe, leave a like, a review, all the stuff.
Smash that button, whatever it is, wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 4 Fly in the Wall is executive and produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade, Jenna Weiss-Berman of Odyssey, and Heather Santoro. The show's lead producer is Greg Holtzman.