Melissa Villaseñor

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Speaker 2 Our guest today is Melissa

Speaker 2 Villa Senor.

Speaker 2 Melissa Villa Senor.

Speaker 2 And she's a delightful person, cast member on Saturday Night Live for six years,

Speaker 2 incredibly versatile actress and comedian, a brilliant impressionist. And what she does some for us is really fun.

Speaker 1 Probably the best Owen Wilson. We always extract it.
Oh, yeah, Owen Wilson. That's right.

Speaker 2 Yeah, she does.

Speaker 2 And we really talk about her time on the show and sort of the fun of being on Saturday Night Live, the stress of being on Saturday Night Live, just her journey, her adventure in that amazing

Speaker 2 and sometimes frustrating 8H17 floor. You know, we've talked all about Saturday Night Live being a challenge emotionally for

Speaker 2 being live on television, so forth and so on.

Speaker 2 It's a great conversation.

Speaker 1 She's a stand-up also. I see her at the improv here and there.

Speaker 1 I followed her the other night, and she does a great job, and she talks about her life, and she does a few impressions, whatever. It's all good.
So, I think you're going to have a nice time with her.

Speaker 2 Yeah. And one other little bonus to wait for is she actually has an incredible singing voice.
And

Speaker 2 she does different celebrities singing and herself. I mean, she's quite a talented

Speaker 2 young woman. So

Speaker 2 I would stay tuned for this, folks.

Speaker 1 She reminds me of me a little little bit. Triple threat.

Speaker 2 Triple.

Speaker 2 What are your three?

Speaker 2 One, funny.

Speaker 1 Annoying.

Speaker 2 Two, annoying and funny.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 I have a knack for interrupting people.

Speaker 2 I know, I got some good ones in today.

Speaker 2 Can you sing, kid?

Speaker 1 I really cannot.

Speaker 2 Can you dance?

Speaker 1 I demo barely one threat. I'm not even a threat.

Speaker 1 But here, let's show them Melissa. Here we go.
Here's Melissa.

Speaker 1 I tell her.

Speaker 1 So fucking funny. Now we can ask Melissa.

Speaker 1 I did tell about this once again.

Speaker 1 Oh. Hey.

Speaker 1 Whoa. Can you see this?

Speaker 7 What's up, Dana and David?

Speaker 1 Good to see you. We were just laughing so hard at something David said made me laugh so hard.

Speaker 1 It it was a casual throwaway david we were laughing melissa at the agents and managers this this happens in all of showbiz where they're the important ones because they're like yeah you need to be friends with me because i tell the puppets what to do and we are all the puppets that's the thing it's like all of our companies

Speaker 1 that were clients of got got bought

Speaker 1 post-pandemic got bought by other companies and they got an influx of massive amounts of cash but the assets i.e. the puppets, I tell what to do.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I go, do I get a piece of that? They go, unfortunately, no.

Speaker 1 Did I get a crumb? Yeah, give me a fucking crumb. I'm the one on the road, 88.
I'm so hungry. Oh, my God.

Speaker 1 Right?

Speaker 1 How are you? I mean, golly.

Speaker 7 You know, I feel good.

Speaker 1 Yeah. You look good.
Thanks.

Speaker 1 Have you been getting tan or something? Or are you just... Well, I wonder.

Speaker 7 Yeah, I am getting tan, but I wonder if my lighting is, it's not good.

Speaker 1 No, it looks good. You look good.

Speaker 1 All right. Oh, I

Speaker 1 won't.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 7 I just, you know,

Speaker 1 I'm not a.

Speaker 7 I know we have to use ring lights, but I don't like them. They give me a headache.

Speaker 1 Yeah, me too. Well, but you have a light, right?

Speaker 1 I mean, you're near a window. Yeah, I am.
You look like you got a window going. Window is the best.

Speaker 7 I can open up the blinds more. No, you're fine.
You want me to try that?

Speaker 1 No, you look fantastic. All right.

Speaker 7 But how are you guys?

Speaker 2 How are we?

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Happy that we see you.

Speaker 7 All right. That's very nice.

Speaker 7 When I found out you wanted me on this, I was like, this is so nice of you.

Speaker 2 This is really what are you crazy?

Speaker 2 I mean, six-year cast member. Do you have any people?

Speaker 2 120 episodes?

Speaker 7 That's pretty good, huh?

Speaker 1 Of Crush. I think that's what I did.
That's exactly what I did. Oh, whoa.
Yeah.

Speaker 7 I mean, you know,

Speaker 7 I tried my best.

Speaker 1 I felt like it was.

Speaker 1 They all feel.

Speaker 2 It's all a beating.

Speaker 1 Everyone's like, I fucking got out.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 7 I felt like if I were more equipped for that or just a little stronger, maybe I could have kept going.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 I'm a little wimp. Fuck, six years is like 200 years on that show.

Speaker 2 It's an emotionally violent sport, a show business, and then SNL is the game of thrones of it.

Speaker 7 That's that's true.

Speaker 2 And when it's flowing and it seems good and you're bonding with the writers and you have a sketch, you get a hold of it and you land it. It's like the greatest in the world.

Speaker 2 But then there's all these times where you just walk off stage.

Speaker 1 And there's everything else.

Speaker 2 You have audience members you wave to and they look down.

Speaker 1 You're like, even you know I bombed?

Speaker 7 Or even like, I thought it was painful when you would have guests visit, come in town and you're not in the episode at all. You're just staring at them in your dressing room.
You're like,

Speaker 7 Yeah, they're like, You having fun? And I'm just sitting there looking at them. Yeah.

Speaker 1 They go, No, it's fine. Our favorite people are on.
And you're like, Oh,

Speaker 2 that's that's the worst passive-aggressive compliment or question, you know, when you're not in the show that much. Did you have fun? I mean, were you having fun?

Speaker 2 Or when you have a bad set, a stand-up, and all your relatives are there. Uh, you look like you're having fun.
You know, look, I know it sucked.

Speaker 1 I know.

Speaker 7 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 But, man,

Speaker 1 so much.

Speaker 1 It's hard to prep for it. It's hard to say, this is what you want to do.
You get a fucking huge break, and there's no real way to be ready. People go, it's hard.
You go, that's too vague. Sorry.

Speaker 1 I will figure out how hard it is in 18 different ways when I'm trying to get $200 and quarters on a Sunday to do my laundry and I got to walk up 18 flights of stairs and it's my one day off and I have no ideas for Tom Hanks on Monday.

Speaker 2 I know.

Speaker 2 I was lucky. I was the last six-person cast in essence.
You know, it was just me, Phil, and John.

Speaker 1 Oh, last six-person total.

Speaker 2 Cast. Yeah.

Speaker 2 And then by the early 90s, when the interlopers, the youngsters, the bad boys of comedy, Sandler, Spade, Brock, all the rest, Tim Meadows, then we started to have an expansive cast.

Speaker 2 Like we had a junior varsity cast that was going to take over. But when I got on, that was the last time.
It was just me, Phil, and John as feature male players. What the dreams?

Speaker 2 Jan Hooks, Nora, and Victoria Jackson. Let me tell you more about my utopian experience there.

Speaker 1 Melissa was like, I was cast memor.

Speaker 1 How many were on that?

Speaker 1 When you said V.

Speaker 1 I was counting.

Speaker 1 There's so many.

Speaker 2 I was counting your 2016.

Speaker 2 Mikey Day, Alex Moffat, Pete Davidson, Leslie Jones, Estonie Strong, Keenan, who's always there. He's great.
Vanessa was there that last year. Beck Bennett, A.D.

Speaker 2 Bryant, Kate McGinnon, Kyle Mooney, and yourself. I probably missed, but that's about 14, I guess.
I don't know.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 7 Yeah, that sounds right.

Speaker 1 Too many. We had 22, I think, Dana.
Because we also had like Frank and

Speaker 1 some people around the orbit that would jump in and a Whitney Brown and Tom Davis they could jump in and write themselves in so a lot of people wrote themselves in and uh and then there was a lot of feature players I stayed feature for too long probably two three years and uh I was the last guy to get pulled up to the bigs

Speaker 2 so embarrassing so so humiliating before we go too far down how hard the show is I just want to insert I want to insert this for a minute uh obviously I'm looking at stuff online online and look at yourself.

Speaker 2 Obviously, the Lady Gaga thing I was playing on my computer, she does it at update.

Speaker 2 Melissa, that's your name, right? Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 1 That's right.

Speaker 2 It's so transcendently brilliant that my wife couldn't see. She just thought, so then I was talking to Spade and Walkie Talkie.
She goes, so that wasn't Lady Gaga?

Speaker 2 But also, it was a very funny take on Lady Gaga, the way you did it and the way you move your shoulders, the whole thing.

Speaker 1 So that

Speaker 2 j-lo with the hoops earring sketch you know just beam with her was hysterical the kid genius character riley like he literally looked eight years old it was kind of an amazing i know you have a very youthful face but it was like kind of like you were what is that one about well i that writing night that week i remember watching there you know ellen degenerous on her show she would have these like genius kids go on and

Speaker 7 they they just really bugged me. And then their parents are in the crowd like, yeah, this is great.
And

Speaker 7 I was like, that could be fun if there's, if I played like a, one of those kid geniuses, but it just not that smart, just very polite, you know? So that was like

Speaker 7 the angle. And then I, but I had Heidi play the mom that was like pressuring me to really show off and be smart.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that one was fun. That was a fun one.
And what did the voice, what did you use for that voice?

Speaker 2 You also, the clothes were great in the hair. It just really shrunk you down.

Speaker 1 It made me look like.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 7 I know where the planets are. I felt like it was, I can't remember, man.

Speaker 1 I can't remember that.

Speaker 2 I totally understand that.

Speaker 1 But you try to throw yourself remembering.

Speaker 2 You're like, hey, you did this impression.

Speaker 1 You're like, I haven't done it for 20 years.

Speaker 2 Just give me a second. No, no, do it now, man.

Speaker 1 I can't. I can't access it.

Speaker 1 Does he sound like, it sounds like the guy that goes, well, who's that little redhead kid? That goes, apparently.

Speaker 1 Remember, he was on Ellen. He goes, I was at the carnival and apparently they don't let kids on.
And apparently, I've never been on TV before. And apparently.
Remember that kid? Right.

Speaker 7 And it's just like that's the word he knew. And everyone, yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah, he really beat the fuck out of it.

Speaker 1 And then he went on the show because he took the mic from the lady and he's like eight years old. He's like, a chubby kid with red hair greased over.

Speaker 1 And he kept going, and then apparently they didn't want me to go in the tilter world right away because I eat too much food. And then, and everything he said was funny.

Speaker 1 And then they brought him and they go, Can the apparently guy come on the show? And then he came in. That was his monitor, the apparently guy.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 That's a good catchphrase. That kid's got some instincts.

Speaker 1 Yeah, he was killing it. I actually liked him.
I actually opened for him. Whoa.

Speaker 1 Yeah, he said that.

Speaker 2 Weren't you kind of a boy genius? Weren't you a chess prodigy?

Speaker 1 Oh, let's just, I don't want to. I know I was.
That's yeah, well, I was smart. Yeah, I was smart for a while.
And then it all went to shit.

Speaker 1 It went to shit freshman year. I remember that almost time and day.

Speaker 2 When you started discovering girls, you suddenly agree.

Speaker 1 It was also, it was girls, but it was also all our schools merged. And I was known for math and reading because I'd leave class to go down to

Speaker 1 two grades down to go do math and reading with this Vietnamese kid.

Speaker 2 So I was like, Will you teach other kids?

Speaker 1 No, I would go to take, like in second grade, I'd walk down to fourth grade. Oh, oh, oh, oh, and then, and then come back and go, what's been going on here, guys?

Speaker 1 I was a little tied up with fractions.

Speaker 1 You'll learn about them in the future. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And so by the time I get to high school, everyone's like, oh, there's the nerd from math class. And then my brother was cool.

Speaker 1 And then everyone's like, oh, you're his brother. And then not just girls, just people were talking to me.
And I was like, oh. And then I would skip class just because someone was talking to me.

Speaker 1 I'm like, they go, there's the bell. I go, I don't have to be anywhere.

Speaker 1 And then I just started started losing grades because I'm like, oh, I just want a social life where people are friendly to me instead of just treating me like this weirdo outcast.

Speaker 1 And so then I got dumb and plummeted so fast.

Speaker 2 Melissa, were your high school years delightful? Yeah. Where do you put them?

Speaker 7 You know,

Speaker 7 I think they were, they were all right.

Speaker 1 You know,

Speaker 1 where were you?

Speaker 7 I went to, I mean, I was called a survivor. I went to an all-girls school in Alhambra, California, called Ramona Convent,

Speaker 7 7th or 12th grade.

Speaker 1 Whoa.

Speaker 2 Wow. Did any adult ever get busted during those times or was

Speaker 1 it dying?

Speaker 1 I hear comments.

Speaker 7 No, I know.

Speaker 7 I didn't know any different, but I felt like it.

Speaker 7 I felt like it messed me up just, yeah, with guides and social life because I didn't know, you know, it was really awkward, but I did discover comedy then.

Speaker 7 So I was like watching you guys obsessed with SNL and I was already working on impressions. And

Speaker 7 yeah, I started comedy at 15 at the Laugh Factory Comedy Camp. And I was like, this is what I'm going to do.
I didn't even care about, I didn't go to prom. I was like, I'm over this.

Speaker 7 I know what I'm going to do.

Speaker 2 I mean, people ask me this, like, when you're probably eight or nine, you probably started to throw your voice around a little bit. And what was the first one that you got?

Speaker 2 You know, that's what they ask me sometimes. What's the first? What's one of the ones you remember? Put it that way.

Speaker 1 I think of your early repertoire.

Speaker 7 Like when I was 12, I started doing like the singing impressions of all the pop girls, Brittany, Shakita, Christina.

Speaker 7 That was kind of where I started with the singing impressions. And then I watched a lot of you, Dana, and worked on all of I learned your impressions

Speaker 1 from the show.

Speaker 2 Good. I love to pass it along.
Anyone can say, not gotta do it.

Speaker 1 I mean, that's not

Speaker 1 it.

Speaker 2 You know, what I was going to say, which is interesting to me, is that, like, say you do an impression of your seventh grade PE teacher,

Speaker 2 and then you go to a comedy club, that can be your, it's a, now it's called a character, but it's an impression of your PE coach.

Speaker 2 Then, if the PE coach somehow gets famous, it's the exact same voice, but now you're doing an impression. So the line between character and impression sort of blurs sometimes.

Speaker 2 Like I just did my brother Brad for Garth, and it was an impression of him kind of exaggerated. So, yeah, I don't know.
Um,

Speaker 2 I'm sorry, my mind's kind of spinning because you have so much talent. I don't, we don't have that much time, right? Did anyone teach you how to sing?

Speaker 1 Just sing the fact that you can sing is a big plus, sing as other people, but you can just sing.

Speaker 2 You have an album out. You have to, yeah.
I mean, you can just when did you learn you could just sing? Because that's a I can't sing. I could, yeah.

Speaker 1 I don't know.

Speaker 7 I felt like I did choir and stuff. And I, oh, I remember being a little kid and seeing people sing up there like in church.
And I was like, yeah, I could do that.

Speaker 7 I've heard myself sing. I could do that.

Speaker 7 But I didn't have any proper training.

Speaker 7 I just liked it. And at first I thought I was like, oh, I'm going to be a singer.
But then I realized, oh, comedy's better. I could do impressions of, you know, and make people laugh.

Speaker 1 Like, that was just another level.

Speaker 7 But

Speaker 7 I do enjoy just singing, you know, cover songs. And right now, I'm trying to work on a bolero cover album of like Spanish classics songs with my friend's band.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Of course, you are.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 As soon as it does go.

Speaker 2 I love Spanish singing.

Speaker 1 You know, Linda Ronstadt, Linda Ronstadt, who I used to love, I still do.

Speaker 1 I remember when she

Speaker 1 went to see her concert and she did one half of the concert with Spanish songs, right? Yeah.

Speaker 7 She's cool. Yeah, she had that album songs for her father and all the mariachi songs.
But that's what I'm hoping to do, you know?

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. Well, she's so top.
You will do it.

Speaker 2 You're already famous.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 And you're so talented. I think it's pretty much a no-brainer.
It's like your friends.

Speaker 1 You got that one. Thanks.

Speaker 2 You got that one. I just want to fill in this gap a little bit.
So you're singing like Britney Spears. So you're like a little miracle.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 7 All you people look at me like I'm a little girl. That was like the first one.
And then I go back to my speaking voice. You're like, oh, man.

Speaker 1 Oh, no.

Speaker 2 No, but the dichotomy is crazy. I don't have a voice.
Spain,

Speaker 1 Spain has a voice.

Speaker 2 You want to have a neutral voice that you can throw around. Your natural voice is like this.

Speaker 1 Yeah, you know.

Speaker 2 But was that your, I mean, did kids, were kids amazed like in seventh grade and stuff?

Speaker 1 Yeah. Oh, my God.
Okay. Yeah.
I mean, it's like a magic trip.

Speaker 7 I was really amazed. Yeah.
It was cool. And then, you know, I mean,

Speaker 7 I'm sure you've heard their, but like, yeah, the Christina.

Speaker 7 Oh, that's, that sounded a little bad.

Speaker 1 But that's great.

Speaker 2 Wait a minute. I love that you're doing this.
I didn't want to ask you to do voice.

Speaker 7 I want to tell it like in a story like that. I think it's great.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Talk through it, like how you got that.

Speaker 2 You just listened to her and it just hit you or did you, did you get, did you get, were you not so good, and then you got better, or with the Christina impression, or did it just kind of hit you after your song?

Speaker 7 I think it's just like I listened to it so much, and then you start practicing, and you're like, Oh, I couldn't get, I could do this.

Speaker 1 But isn't she known as already a great singer anyway? And then you're so now you're doing an impression of you can sing, but you have to actually be great.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I guess so. You know what I mean? Like, she's so like people can't even sing like her.
So, you can sing like her, so you must be able to sing pretty well. Come on over

Speaker 1 come on over baby oh yeah

Speaker 2 see that see i i no no that's uh you

Speaker 2 optimistic you organically are singing from your diaphragm or whatever because most people try to sing it's all throat catch well i do that you know that was a little i felt like i felt a little pushed there

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Speaker 7 I know, sorry, my thoughts are are all over the place because I also want to learn about your stories too.

Speaker 1 Because you guys are

Speaker 7 just like, this is, I'm a little starstruck, too.

Speaker 1 Well, yeah.

Speaker 2 We met each other in the clubs a few times, and you were on a comedy competition show, weren't you?

Speaker 7 First impressions.

Speaker 1 You're sure. First impressions.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 7 And I got to say, that was such a beautiful year because I did that show with you. And I was like, oh,

Speaker 7 this is so magical. And then I did my first pilot for Barry, Bill Hayter's show.
I was the waitress at that.

Speaker 7 And I was like, oh, this is magical. Like all this, just people from SNL are entering my life.
And then that was the summary I got the show. It was just so cool how that was all the same.

Speaker 1 It was so beautiful.

Speaker 2 Well, it's fun. And I mean, I don't know if you go to clubs and you meet a younger version of yourself that maybe gets a few impressions or is a good stand-up and you want to give them props.

Speaker 2 You're still, I mean, there's an organic competitiveness

Speaker 2 with comedians or clowns, you want to call us.

Speaker 2 You know, I always say the reason that class clown is singular is because if there were two class clowns, one class clown would kill the other clown for the attention.

Speaker 2 Yeah, but off my cheeks, you're a Saturday Night Live vet. You kicked ass on the show.
You have all this talent.

Speaker 2 So when it means something to somebody who's like 23 or 4 coming up and you co-signing them and going, going, you know, you've got it. Just keep going.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Whatever you say.
Oh, yeah. You know, it's nice.
Yeah.

Speaker 7 I feel like it feels nice to do that for, like, pay attention to, yeah.

Speaker 1 Try to help. Because you see Dana, I see Dana.
And then when I get on the show, I don't know that Dana is worried about sketches or this or what.

Speaker 1 And then I'm like, oh, there's more going on in his head other than he's a star. I remember seeing John Lovitz.
And then when I went to the show, I told Dana that John was sad.

Speaker 1 And I'm like, what do you, I mean, in my head, I I go, you're on the best show in the world. And he goes, I'm only in two things this week.
And I go,

Speaker 1 who cares? Who would even notice? Like, when you're on, I'm like, I'm like, oh, he's funny. I have no idea how many sketches people are in.
And then I said,

Speaker 1 I just see you as like a star. That's really makes me laugh, like Dana.
And then when I got there, I'm like, fuck, I'm all. And I immediately go, I just fell for it.
And I already know the playbook.

Speaker 1 You're not supposed to think this way. And then after two read-throughs, I'm like, I'm not even in the show.
And then I started going, oh my God, I'm turning into this. I can't help it.

Speaker 1 It's it because it gets hard. I know, and you try to talk yourself off the ledge.

Speaker 2 But your highlight reel is pretty, pretty extensive.

Speaker 7 You know, if you ever go online and check yourself out, you know, well, I know there is that one, I think it's what is it, the We Are Me Too or something.

Speaker 7 Someone put a compilation of clips, and I'll and I look at it and I'm like, Yeah, that's right. Okay,

Speaker 1 okay,

Speaker 1 yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah, you're scoring there, you're scoring there, you're scoring there.

Speaker 1 I saw you do Gwen Stefani on Kelly Clocks.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 And she was right next to you.

Speaker 7 I did it for her.

Speaker 1 I was like, that's, that was crazy. Isn't it scary? Right now.
Wait a minute. She was right next to you.
Three feet.

Speaker 2 And you're doing Gwen with Gwen.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 7 I told her, yeah, this old bit I had of like when I'm in my car and no doubt comes on the radio, I get into my Gwen impression, which is a dangerous impression to do behind the wheel, you know, because it's a lot of.

Speaker 7 Yeah.

Speaker 7 For a long time,

Speaker 1 I was in love with you,

Speaker 1 beep, beep.

Speaker 1 Yeah, she liked it.

Speaker 7 And that was, that was pretty cool.

Speaker 1 Shy saw on that, and I was like, oh my God, she's going to do it right in front of her. First of all, Gwen is stunning.
Gwen is super talented and a sweetheart. Seems I've briefly met her.

Speaker 2 I like that she keeps her hair platinum blonde and then wears bright red lipsticks.

Speaker 1 She's great all the time. She's a very potent look.
She was a great sport about it.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 And she loved it. And she was was sitting right there.
And

Speaker 1 what a blast, but definitely ups the nerves. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 7 Yeah, because I feel like I've done my impression for J-Lo. That was frightening because that's J-Lo is another one, you know.
You're like, what?

Speaker 7 And I think she was like, no, no, baby. I don't, I don't think so.

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 2 See, I love it when I love it when just that. Yeah, yeah.
You know, like, I don't even know where I've heard J-Lo. I mean, I've seen her in interviews, but it's like so perfectly encapsulates.

Speaker 2 And that's the fun of little shit. It's like

Speaker 2 there is, there is,

Speaker 1 you, her.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 So just a sidebar. What do you, what do you think? Affleck, are they? I mean, I wish them all the best.
It's Jennifer Lopez. Bennett.

Speaker 2 Do you want to go on and see if you can trend by having an opinion about it?

Speaker 1 Oh, I think.

Speaker 7 I'm all for it, you know? But that.

Speaker 2 Me too. I wish everyone the best.

Speaker 7 That special is pretty funny. I thought it was a stand-up special by the billboards of J-Lo.

Speaker 1 What was it called?

Speaker 7 Yeah, what was it called?

Speaker 2 My time now.

Speaker 7 This is me now.

Speaker 1 This is me now.

Speaker 7 Everyone's like, I kind of like doing like dramatic J-Lo, you know, like, no, you can't.

Speaker 7 Like the movie Enough When She Fights Back.

Speaker 1 I saw enough.

Speaker 1 Every movie I see, I think that's happening. Yeah, because there's another one like called Still Enough.
I've Had Enough, Almost Enough.

Speaker 1 Because every poster I say, I go, She has another movie out and she's on Instagram. She looks, and there's no hate.
It's like, she looks beautiful every day, but give us 24 hours.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 7 I mean, that's, that's a little, that's how I feel. I'm like, let's go away and let us miss you.

Speaker 1 That's what Lauren told me.

Speaker 1 They can't miss you if you don't go away. I was like, oh, that was like a big life lesson about showbiz.

Speaker 1 and uh

Speaker 2 he brings out on it like a 10 commandments tablet

Speaker 2 it's number three they can't miss you if you won't go away he has a venn diagram here's where you are here's where people want to see you in your head yeah but the continuum of the personality okay flat wisdom wisdom alert potentially observation alert yeah we're all have some range of drive just even to have gotten on saturday night and then there's drive and there's super drive and then there's certain people And again, to your point, it's not hate and it's not even a criticism.

Speaker 2 It's oxygen to them.

Speaker 2 More and more and more. And it makes you very wealthy.

Speaker 2 I mean, you're kind of an extroverted introvert or an introverted extrovert, you think? I mean, I've listened to some of your interviews or a little bit shyer than some other comedians.

Speaker 7 Yeah, I think I'm pretty introvert.

Speaker 7 I have trouble, even at the show, I had trouble kind of speaking up when there's just so much going on. I'm like, I get so overwhelmed.
I don't know where to fit. And then I'd rather just hide away.

Speaker 7 I don't know how to get in, you know.

Speaker 2 So like the writer's room and Pete Davidson's coming in. Everyone's laughing and yeah.

Speaker 1 You know, like

Speaker 2 a big, and then you just go back to your kids.

Speaker 7 Yeah.

Speaker 7 But I, you know, the second season when Stephen Castu joined the writers,

Speaker 7 he's still there too. And he, his mind, he's such a hilarious, silly guy.

Speaker 7 And I was like, like oh now this is what i'm talking about and we got our office together and we wrote the dying miss gomez sketch where i'm the old lady singing nickelback as my last words um yes can we get a little of that yeah yeah

Speaker 1 i never made it as a wise man i couldn't cut it as a poor man still

Speaker 1 unless her she's dying now is this she's on her deathbed and she sounds like

Speaker 7 yeah that was my it was a stand-up bit of mine and that's that's what i want to say at the last words and the family's like what the heck

Speaker 2 here's here's mine i love this the silliness and the simplicity of that

Speaker 1 dana here's my nickelback guy on the uh yeah

Speaker 1 look at this photograph wait actually give me those pills first i don't feel good i'm dizzy

Speaker 1 that's i'm trying to make those my last words but then i get scared and i got to take my pills

Speaker 1 I could have done it as a man.

Speaker 2 I want to say, I'm going to try to become more of a spiritual person.

Speaker 1 People pretend to hate Nickelback, but they do, they rock it out. Oh, they do.
Yeah.

Speaker 7 Same with Creed. I love all of those guys.

Speaker 1 I feel like they'll wind up. With eyes wide open.

Speaker 1 Just that song alone. Oh, yeah, that's Creed.

Speaker 2 That's such a catchy anthem.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Do you ever do that?

Speaker 2 Do you take me

Speaker 1 to a place where blind man?

Speaker 1 Blind man See? That's a high.

Speaker 1 That's fucking high.

Speaker 2 That's high.

Speaker 1 I've never been that high.

Speaker 1 I got to get a space. You got to get high, high, high.

Speaker 2 So I want to ask you a question, a technical question.

Speaker 2 We can bingbong. When you do a singing impression of someone, then you have to inhabit the way they create that sound.
Like you hold your mouth.

Speaker 2 And so you kind of know how they get to those notes in a way, right?

Speaker 7 Yeah, I guess so. I think you're like, you know, even going back to Gwen, it's like she's making a little face the whole time.
And I think that does help the impression.

Speaker 1 And she kind of constricts her throat a little bit, yeah, squeaky, kind of

Speaker 1 even do that because her voice was so unique. When I saw her in doing just a girl, I'm like,

Speaker 1 um, just a girl in the world, and I'm like, and that's all, but she can also kind of blast it out, but in that same kind of high pitch, I was like, God damn, I don't know nothing about music.

Speaker 1 And I thought, holy shit, plus, she was so adorable. I saw her at KWAC Weenie Roast

Speaker 1 with corn.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 I said, I like how you, you, oh, this is a worst compliment. I go, I like how you sing, but also you ham it up out there.
My friend goes, Why are you filling with that? I go, I don't know. Ham it up?

Speaker 1 Ham it up? Because she kind of jumps around. You know what I mean? She jumps around.

Speaker 2 She's an international pop star with great physical moves is hamming it up.

Speaker 2 I know it was wrong.

Speaker 1 And she's like, Yeah, I like how you ham up your cornea act. I'm like, Thank you.

Speaker 1 I thought it was a compliment.

Speaker 1 No, I swear to God, I said it. We walked away.
My buddy goes, well, that went Southquick. I go, well, I don't know what I said.
And he goes, oh, everyone else does. You said, ham it up.

Speaker 2 And I'm like, did her face drop?

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 1 it was right after I'm just a girl was a hit. It was the weenie roast where it's just like, she was newer.
They were an Orange County band, and it was down in Orange County.

Speaker 2 And you're famous at this point.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I thought I was a big fucking deal. And I'm like, hey, like, I thought I was Clive Davis.
You know, I was like,

Speaker 1 walking around like anyone gave a fat fuck what i said and i'm like corn thumbs up they're like ooh thanks

Speaker 1 just got the midas touch from this whoever this guy is

Speaker 1 is that a is that a joe dirt cap behind you david oh that old thing yeah oh i try to get it out of frame heather throw that in the garbage notice yeah this is a set it's called a uh it's called boring podcast background and it's just at a local god dana is is that a 10 out of 10.

Speaker 2 for a a day, you get to do a podcast from this room. It's so nondescript, it doesn't really exist.

Speaker 2 It just doesn't.

Speaker 1 But someone might come through that door.

Speaker 2 I like the tension of a door that anyone could come through that door.

Speaker 1 Dana's is, he said, give me Jeff Bezos

Speaker 1 first six months of Amazon office look.

Speaker 1 Just nothing. Just a door, a desk.

Speaker 2 I thought Jeff Bezos, you know, because I follow him, you know, he's on either side.

Speaker 2 He's on a boat off the coast of Sardinia most of his life. And I thought he was peak jacked about a month ago.
I go, God, he's so jacked. If he gets more jacked, he's going to explode.
Really?

Speaker 2 Guess what? He just got more jacked. He got jacked

Speaker 1 a little bit more.

Speaker 1 Yeah. How?

Speaker 2 And she got bigger lips. I thought she can't do more lip filling.
It's impossible.

Speaker 1 Everything's going bigger on that boat. Everything is getting large.
You know, the high school medical center on that boat. So she can get plastic surgery.
She can get get whatever she wants.

Speaker 7 I get nervous surgery.

Speaker 1 I saw a pommel horse on top where the helicopter usually is, and Bezos's like, douche, douche, douche. I'm like, oh, my God, he's going to go in the Olympics.

Speaker 2 Yeah, he's doing the 200 free.

Speaker 2 And Jeff Bezos, surprisingly, in third place today at the Olympics.

Speaker 2 All right. White male rage update.
Sorry. This was an, I'm just throwing out more of her

Speaker 2 classic bits. It was, it was.

Speaker 7 Dude, that was, that was all Bulla.

Speaker 1 He wrote that. That's all right.
Bulla, Bola's a great writer. Isn't he amazing?

Speaker 7 That was so much fun. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Dan, Dan Bulla, quiet Dan Bola with his good, good ideas.

Speaker 2 I, I thought he was so quiet and unassuming. I didn't even, I thought he was just Sandler's piano player.

Speaker 1 I didn't even know that he wrote all this stuff, you know. But we know what was that one.
Tell me.

Speaker 7 It was when the Oscars, I think it was all white males winning, right? And then

Speaker 7 he came up with this really good jingle. It was like, white male rage, white male rage.
And I dressed in like a gold outfit. I think Steven also helped on that one too.

Speaker 7 Yeah. And it just was a, it was just so catchy.

Speaker 1 It's like, yeah, white male rage, white male rage.

Speaker 7 Joaquin Phoenix, white male rage.

Speaker 2 Oh, what was it?

Speaker 1 Was it because they weren't, white men weren't winning enough at the Oscars or something?

Speaker 7 It was, I think, because it was all the characters in every movie. It was everyone had rage.

Speaker 1 I think that was. The Joker.
The Joker time.

Speaker 1 The Joker is always in a bad movie.

Speaker 7 I think it was the Mafia movie, too, that

Speaker 7 De Niro, that long.

Speaker 1 Remember? Oh, the Irishman.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 White male rage. White male rage.

Speaker 2 Well, does anyone think that maybe Joachim, who is brilliant, I mean, the first guy to smear the lipstick? Because I've seen all the jokers all the way back to the 60s.

Speaker 1 All the way back.

Speaker 2 Cool, nice, tight lipstick. Nice.

Speaker 2 Heath Ledger, God rest his soul, genius, comes out, smears it.

Speaker 1 First one.

Speaker 2 And Joaquin smears. Will we ever have a full, beautiful lipstick joker?

Speaker 1 Kylie Jane lipstick.

Speaker 2 We'll always denote crazy.

Speaker 1 I'm a crazy joker.

Speaker 2 Look at my smeared lipstick if you got any doubts about it.

Speaker 1 Yeah. If you watch a poster, you go, that guy's crazy.

Speaker 2 I don't know why I went into that camera.

Speaker 1 Yeah, look at the lips.

Speaker 1 Let's win. I'm crazy.

Speaker 2 I want to get you in prosthetics in a film doing something because of your camellias

Speaker 2 personality.

Speaker 1 Wouldn't you love to do something like that? Yeah.

Speaker 1 I would love that. I think that would be great.
Were you on there with Sarah Sherman? She's a hilarious weirdo. Yeah.
She was outshirt, right?

Speaker 2 Or did you overlap with Sarah?

Speaker 7 Just that last

Speaker 7 my last season. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Oh, you were?

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 7 Yeah.

Speaker 2 She's a quirky kick in the pants.

Speaker 1 Oh, man. That's a great summary.

Speaker 1 So good. She's on tour right now, and I see videos from it, and I go, Sarah, are you okay? I'm flying out there.

Speaker 2 She's a kick in the pants.

Speaker 1 It's not straight stand-up. It's a super function.
Way more interesting than my show. I'll give you that much.
Yeah.

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Speaker 2 So, okay, just say one word. We'll play this game.
Yeah, let's play this one.

Speaker 2 And we know a lot of these. Mikey Day.

Speaker 7 A brilliant mind. That's

Speaker 7 a good question.

Speaker 1 You can go a whole sentence. You can do a sentence.

Speaker 2 I was going to. I thought he was very sweet.

Speaker 7 Yeah, he's really sweet. And he's...
He's so cool how

Speaker 7 he makes everyone score and win. He's such a great writer.

Speaker 2 he's so good and he wrote the dirty talk sketches for me him and streeter i don't know if you saw dirty talk donald donald glover yeah you did one with him aziz yeah that was that was fun that was a funny funny take where glover was trying david pay attention i'm down

Speaker 2 was trying to get sexy with with uh melissa in bed

Speaker 2 and then um

Speaker 7 you just didn't get it or something yeah yeah it was like talk dirty to me or now it's like yeah you make no money. Or like, you're, yeah.

Speaker 1 All right, dad.

Speaker 7 Don't call me dad. It was just like, I kept getting it all wrong.
It was really fun.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that was a fun one. Childish Gambino or Donald Glover.

Speaker 2 I don't know why dirty talk. I did a bit of this one with my stand-up.
Just the rhythm of it, always when people stand up to, I did it like, what are you going to do? Huh?

Speaker 1 Huh?

Speaker 2 You like that?

Speaker 2 Where did that come from?

Speaker 2 What are you going to do? You're going to get it.

Speaker 1 It's kind of aggressive. Yeah, that's fun.

Speaker 2 Let's form our

Speaker 1 sketch. And I'm like, no, these are rhetorical.
Don't answer.

Speaker 1 What are you going to do? Do you like that? And she goes, yes. I go, I said, don't answer.
These are rhetorical.

Speaker 1 And that's how I ruin it.

Speaker 2 It's that math, that chest genius guy comes out in the worst possible time.

Speaker 1 Me, spelling me.

Speaker 2 Did you cecily strong?

Speaker 1 Was she there?

Speaker 1 Cecily.

Speaker 2 Yeah, she was, you guys did some stuff together.

Speaker 1 So talented.

Speaker 7 And I love doing singing bits with her, too. She's such a great singer, too.

Speaker 1 Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 No, yes, but there's only one, Melissa.

Speaker 1 Sorry,

Speaker 1 you do sing great. I see.

Speaker 2 There's a new sheriff in town. She has a microphone.
Run away, pitchless singer.

Speaker 1 Pitchless. I don't know.
I made that. Yeah, I like that.
Pitchless.

Speaker 1 You call me a bitch.

Speaker 1 Who's nicer?

Speaker 2 A.D.

Speaker 1 Bryant or Vanessa Bayer? Oh,

Speaker 2 you both sweet.

Speaker 1 That's an answer.

Speaker 2 Who's nicer?

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 2 Who could beat up, who could win in a fist fight? Pete Davidson or Leslie Jones?

Speaker 1 Leslie.

Speaker 2 Leslie, I know.

Speaker 2 We had Leslie on. She was so.

Speaker 1 She almost beat you up, Dana.

Speaker 7 Oh, my God.

Speaker 1 The best.

Speaker 2 She beat me up through the Zoom. I actually was brutal.

Speaker 1 What about owen wilson hey give us a little bit of owen you have a little one handy yeah yeah i'm right here yeah it's it's great to be here i i feel like a fly on the wall most of my days

Speaker 2 most of my days see the interesting thing about melissa is is like you form your mouth to like how his mouth goes you get the sound yeah you make you make a you visually make a your little yeah are you the same dana like or and david too i know you do impressions oh yeah But

Speaker 7 do you like to see their face on your face? Does that happen?

Speaker 7 For me, that's how I feel.

Speaker 2 I guess so. I mean, yeah.
I don't know.

Speaker 2 I've never really practiced in the mirror much.

Speaker 2 I just sort of like, but if you take on the persona, like when I was doing Carson, I just automatically. you know, I didn't have to look in the mirror.
It just was.

Speaker 7 Oh, yeah. So you could feel it.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Just

Speaker 1 I picture them in my head, their face, and what they're doing. And I just try to talk like them and get it close to what that is.

Speaker 1 But my face is probably doing what I think they're doing just naturally.

Speaker 1 Yeah. That's what happened.
I think that's what happens to everybody. I did Owen once.
I don't even do Owen that well, but when I hosted,

Speaker 1 they assigned me Owen. So it was more of a funny look.
And

Speaker 1 I love Owen. We just had Luke on this, and Luke sounds a lot like Owen.

Speaker 1 It's almost just a different tone, but it's that same cadence and it's kind of slowly talking. Yeah, yeah.
Maybe enunciating. Right, Dana? It was kind of like that.

Speaker 2 Luke was a little bit. Yeah, I mean, I

Speaker 2 actually

Speaker 2 coincidentally had dinner with Owen, once with Lauren Michaels, and then once with Kevin Nealon, and it came up in conversation, and he didn't like when people did him.

Speaker 2 And so I said, I said, okay, I won't do you.

Speaker 7 you know yeah i i remember he hosted and i i asked him if we could do the Owen Impression together. And he was like, I feel like it's done.
You know, I feel like people, it's over.

Speaker 1 He didn't want to. I like Sad Owen.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 It's over. You know, I got a couple of things.

Speaker 2 I saw you doing on one of the clips I was watching,

Speaker 2 doing like sort of quick impressions. Maybe it was part of the TED talk.
I'm not sure, but you were doing just like, here's this person doing this. And I always love that technique.
I do it too.

Speaker 7 It's just fun, like, yeah, like a quick one, you know, like Kristen Wigg skydiving. Um, I changed my mind.

Speaker 7 I'm I'm scared. I'm scared.

Speaker 1 Um

Speaker 1 who would do Kristen Wigg's great, even though she's that's yeah,

Speaker 1 yeah.

Speaker 7 Oh, I remember having a bit.

Speaker 7 It's like Sandra Bullock if she knocked over a bunch of dominoes that were lined up in the room. And she just hits it and goes, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 1 And that's it.

Speaker 7 I guess

Speaker 7 she always has a little breakdown like that in movies.

Speaker 1 It's funny because you got to picture, like, Kristen Wick, which Kristen Wick, because she does impressions, she plays different characters. So, what's the one that makes sense that resonates?

Speaker 1 And that one did resonate with me.

Speaker 2 The announcement of the premise is funny to me.

Speaker 2 Like, in other words, you saying this person doing this person is already funny. Like, this is the

Speaker 2 you ever have bits in your act that get a laugh that you feel it doesn't deserve that big a laugh?

Speaker 2 You're like, I do John Travolta, John Travolta, going way back, John Travolta as a 15th century astronomer. So already it's like, what?

Speaker 2 And he's like, you know, you know, I don't know. I think the earth could be round or some shit.

Speaker 2 And the laugh is so much bigger. It's like kind of quasi-bad comedy and sometimes the passive comedy.

Speaker 7 I think it's true, though, because you don't want to overthink it. I get caught in that loop of overthinking bits.
And I'm like, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 7 the dumber the better yeah and and for me too i have more fun like i can use go ahead oh no no no i i had this bit i like when it does personally connect to me a little bit so there is some grounding but i was yeah this new bit of it's again it's dumb but it makes me laugh it's like um

Speaker 7 because i do vocal warm-ups before my shows because i sing a lot and there was a couple weeks ago i was on the green room and i was practicing i was getting high up there you know i was

Speaker 7 oh,

Speaker 7 and I was getting high, and I got so high that I farted.

Speaker 7 And other comics around, I was like, oh, damn, I could never just be a hot for one moment, you know. And I thought, if that, that, if I was like, do other singers go through this?

Speaker 7 You know, does Ariana get up there just, oh,

Speaker 7 and people, and she, and people are like, oh, damn, Ari, was that you?

Speaker 7 Yeah, I guess I'm a dangerous woman. You know? Yeah.

Speaker 2 I did a variation of that.

Speaker 2 The idea is that someone is at the peak of their ego and power, and they're really doing fantastic. And then the chair is pulled out.
Yeah. Yeah.
I did a kids' movie called Ambassador Disguise.

Speaker 1 I received it.

Speaker 2 They said

Speaker 2 you have to have a fart joke. So I came up with

Speaker 2 that thing. A big, big, big laugh.

Speaker 1 What was it?

Speaker 2 Walk us through it. Whenever the bad guy would laugh and he'd be with someone, he'd be like, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Speaker 2 And then there would be 10 seconds of silence.

Speaker 1 Just that.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 2 it was all about the silence. Yeah, the planet is working.

Speaker 2 So I came up with a fart joke that made me laugh because I said, you need a fart joke? Don't really have one.

Speaker 7 That's great.

Speaker 1 I like that one. I love that.

Speaker 2 Pull that one. And now it's yours.
You can say, you can use it this way. You know, I was on a podcast with Dana Carvey and David Spade, and they were talking about fart chokes.

Speaker 2 This is after you do this one. And you used to do this one.
Bad guy. So you just lean on it as a friend because it's not part of my act, but now you can use it if you want as a tag.

Speaker 1 Thanks. Thanks.

Speaker 2 Do you want to try it out?

Speaker 7 Yeah, I'll try it out.

Speaker 1 Thanks. Take it out to

Speaker 1 do it on Bowen Yang's podcast.

Speaker 2 Do it on Bowen.

Speaker 1 Was he there when you were there?

Speaker 1 Oh, my God. Yeah.
That's a fat cast.

Speaker 2 And 2022. And then you,

Speaker 2 by the way, you did SNL during the pandemic, which

Speaker 1 and then was that the beginning of the end?

Speaker 7 Yeah, that was challenging. But there was one that I had.

Speaker 7 Because remember the video game, I don't know if you play games, but Animal Crossing was a big game during the pandemic.

Speaker 7 And so i was playing i've been a long time fan of that game and um mikey day and i made a sketch where we're playing online our characters in my town and everyone wants me to die from covet in the game and he like did such a good job with that's the thing he's just so good at the timing and the the jokes and I owe a lot of thanks to him for helping me so much.

Speaker 1 Especially during that time.

Speaker 7 I didn't come from sketch writing. So, and

Speaker 7 you guys, you were standing?

Speaker 2 I was just the first time I did a sketch

Speaker 2 on a stage like that was at Saturday Night Live.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 2 same with David, all stand-ups. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 7 So that's where it was always

Speaker 7 such a struggle to write. I was like, I don't know how.
It's hard to write. Eventually I learned by observing and

Speaker 7 how other people do. But it's like people like Heidi that came from, like she, she arrived there and just wrote three in one night.
I was like, but she came from that training from ground.

Speaker 1 It was just really, yeah,

Speaker 2 and they come in with a lot of sketches that they did in the past.

Speaker 1 Yeah, they got

Speaker 2 literally ready for television.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Do you have to work on it? Cheating. No, I had it from this.
What about Miley Cyrus? Have you ever seen her sing in real life?

Speaker 1 Like, have you seen her somewhere?

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 7 I think at

Speaker 7 I think at the show, she.

Speaker 1 Oh, is she on? I love. She's so good.
Oh, yeah. She really is.
Oh, man. I got a wrecking ball.

Speaker 2 Didn't she wasn't she on a wrecking ball at one point or something?

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah,

Speaker 1 that was a big one.

Speaker 7 I'm coming like a wrecking ball.

Speaker 1 That one, yeah, yeah. What about when she did, uh, you won't know this one, but she did like a prayer.
I saw her live in one of her concerts, like a stadium concert. And it was better than Madonna's.

Speaker 1 There I said it.

Speaker 1 Yeah, there I said it. She was good.
And I like Madonna's like a prayer. It's great, but but I think I just, she had a cowboy hat on, Miley, and she came out like a Young Guns duster.

Speaker 1 And she fucking wails on every line. I'm like, I would black out.

Speaker 1 I was like, whoa.

Speaker 1 Yeah, she's good.

Speaker 1 I'm going to do her. I'll do impressions.
I'll do her. Yeah, do it, dude.
Yeah, I will. I mean, my impressions were about one a year.
But the problem with SNL is you just get assigned stuff.

Speaker 1 And they go, you read a sketch and read-through, and you're like, in three pages, I have to do, you know, Alec Baldwin.

Speaker 7 You're like I do and they're like oh yeah the writers assign you stuff Melissa like that I mean because that is weird to go it would happen yeah for sure it would happen I think my favorite moment of this happening was um so Merbin Sandler hosted and uh there was a Sandler family reunion sketch

Speaker 7 and the and at the table read I wasn't originally in it which is like why'd you write me in this I you know but they had they were like hey the the writers were like hey can you read as waterboy on behalf of kristen wig because she's gonna play water boy so i was like yeah sure i'll read it and i did it so good at table because i'm like that's my favorite you know and uh lauren was like yeah maybe keep melissa as water boy and i was like

Speaker 7 so so do you just have you did you work on that at all or you just had it no i had it because i've always loved waterboy yeah

Speaker 2 sorry that's my dog that's my dog if you're yeah sandler's uh kind of whatever that rhythm he does with the characters that are not too smart,

Speaker 1 does the same with his movie. Yeah,

Speaker 7 I saw a movie where you played someone that looked just like me there.

Speaker 7 I saw it behind a big old screen. I said, hey, that's me up there now.

Speaker 1 No wonder it made 300 million. What'd they do with KW? Did they kick her some other impression?

Speaker 7 She played the mom character, I think, from his

Speaker 7 CDs or something back in like they're gonna make fun of you.

Speaker 1 They're all gonna laugh at you.

Speaker 7 Yeah, they're all going to laugh at you. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 I should show her that video.

Speaker 7 Yeah, that was so funny.

Speaker 1 They're all going to laugh at you. Was that the album up on the wall?

Speaker 2 That's an album they're going to laugh at the Sandler boy, or they're just all going to laugh.

Speaker 1 It's actually from,

Speaker 1 I think it was borrowed from Carrie, the movie Carrie, where she was going to go to school. And they go, they're all going to laugh at you.
And

Speaker 1 he did it as a sketch with Smigel.

Speaker 1 And he kept saying, they're all going to laugh at you. And we were all cracking up at the table because it was so just kept saying it over and over.
I don't want to laugh at you.

Speaker 1 And then he had an album called that. And then we did,

Speaker 1 I have a poster of all of us on recording one of the albums.

Speaker 1 We just did little bit parts, but definitely the fun of Sandler's being on those albums when albums were doing something and they would go gold or something. You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 You go, holy shit, he's got an album.

Speaker 1 One more thing.

Speaker 1 Yeah. It's great.

Speaker 2 Would you ever, I don't think you'd want to do this, but

Speaker 2 interesting that you could do a show in Vegas. I'm not saying you should do it, but Danny Gantz

Speaker 2 was

Speaker 1 in the hands of all people. I know.

Speaker 2 It's like you go on, you have the orchestra, you're funny. Right.

Speaker 1 You do stand-ups.

Speaker 2 You pretty much can do every major pop star, which people love seeing.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 I don't know. I'm just saying if you ever were bored and wanted to just go out and live in Vegas for a year, you know,

Speaker 1 it would work.

Speaker 7 Totally be down.

Speaker 1 You'd do really go in introducing Gwen Stefani, and then you do Gwen Stefani, then you do some of your stand-up, and then you go into another song.

Speaker 2 You do Jennifer Lopez, you come out as Melissa, and you do five minutes about you. And like on your TED Talk, it was really funny how you just worked it all full circle.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it was 12 minutes long, and at the end, it was kind of poignant, you know.

Speaker 1 Just

Speaker 1 all right, so it's done deal. That vulnerable.

Speaker 1 Tell Vegas, we're doing it.

Speaker 1 Hello, Vegas.

Speaker 7 Hey, can I do my show, please?

Speaker 1 Can I do it?

Speaker 2 Your favorite one to do is Dolly, right?

Speaker 7 Dolly, yeah, I do like Dolly.

Speaker 2 Because it posit positivity. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 7 That was a bit I had on my in the TED talk, too.

Speaker 7 It's such a good voice because my voice sounds sarcastic. I don't believe me when I say positive affirmations.

Speaker 1 When I go,

Speaker 1 I'm smart, yeah.

Speaker 7 But dear and darling, I'm so smart. I'm lovable.
I am capable.

Speaker 1 I will always

Speaker 1 love me.

Speaker 7 Yeah, that was, that was, and that was the, that update was the same format as the gaga one where it's me just admiring them, loving them so much that I dress like them and that nice like balance of being myself, but also doing the impression and singing.

Speaker 7 And I was like, that was, I loved doing those. That was so fun.

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Speaker 1 You know, I heard, I don't remember going to tie it forever, but I heard Gaga

Speaker 1 on a show, maybe it was Stern, and she was doing Edge of Glory. I didn't really know the song.
And I was like, goddamn, she's good. Because she was just doing it with nothing.

Speaker 1 She's like, I'm on the edge.

Speaker 1 And I was like, in my car going, oh, shit.

Speaker 1 Is that, that's a good. That's not the one you do, though, right?

Speaker 7 Uh, the Gaga update was like, I did the shallow because that movie

Speaker 1 was so big.

Speaker 2 It's a funny song in a way.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Because of the shaha hallow in the shah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 That rhythm.

Speaker 2 You know.

Speaker 1 Have you seen the video of her doing it read-through

Speaker 1 at a Starsborn read-through?

Speaker 1 Wait. She's doing it with the whole cast is doing read-through.

Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 7 I did see that.

Speaker 1 She's by Bradley Cooper, and he, she sings it. And everyone's like, Holy shit!

Speaker 7 Whoa, the chemistry!

Speaker 2 How I did a cheesy stand-up bit about that because I had frequently, Mike Myers was at the Oscars that year, wanted me to come. He was, he was there for Bohemian Rhapsody.

Speaker 2 So I was in the third row with my wife, and I saw, you know, Gaga

Speaker 2 and Bradley Cooper up there. And you, there was no lighting on the piano, but I had a view to what was going on, where who was reaching for what in the shallows? yeah

Speaker 2 i had you going but the truth of the story i did have a view and i thought they were you know lovers just for my blink i know it's pretty yeah so you you um just quickly not to um

Speaker 2 you said that you had panic attacks so we've had on the show bill hayter

Speaker 2 Well, I was surprised, just said really intense panic attacks, like crazy. I said, even the last season, it could seem like he was just so loose.

Speaker 2 But so did we all battled mental health issues in a sense of just the pressure of the show and stuff.

Speaker 2 And then you wrote a book about it, basically.

Speaker 1 Which is a book. Whoops, I'm awesome.

Speaker 7 I do a lot of drawings on the side, and they're

Speaker 7 funny and also heartfelt. So I put them together in a book about

Speaker 7 how do you get to that silly side of yourself when you get so serious or so caught up in it. And so i separate you know um

Speaker 7 but yeah i think i i was just too much in my head i was like i i think i i just remember there was one one time at a table read like the break and i was i couldn't i don't i don't remember how i got there but it was i was kind of running through the halls like panicking and i couldn't catch my breath and

Speaker 7 I was like, and people were like, whoa, are you? And I couldn't, I don't know. I didn't know where I was or something.
It too much.

Speaker 7 I think I, I don't know how that felt.

Speaker 2 What seat? What season was that?

Speaker 7 How long ago? That was the last season. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah. And it was still kind of like, you know, because even anyone, even if you were able to manage it, you still,

Speaker 2 there is some sense of relief when you walk away, even though there's nostalgia and this is, this is now behind me. Because,

Speaker 2 you know, with Lauren, he would just, and, you know, he was like the coach. And, you know, do you have any new characters or are you just going to stick with the church lady?

Speaker 2 You know, how he, how it gives you a little nudge. So you feel like I would worry about the show.
Like, are we doing well? But David passed out pretty much every other rethrill.

Speaker 1 Just completely passed out.

Speaker 1 I pretend I was passed out because I wasn't in sketches. So I go.
I couldn't be in any way because I'm asleep.

Speaker 1 So I just lay down on the table.

Speaker 2 No, that was just low blood sugar.

Speaker 1 No, I did have that problem, but I was so stressed out of my fucking gourd. I couldn't see straight.
But also, my hair got brown. I only had white blonde hair my whole life.

Speaker 1 And I've never been anywhere where it wasn't sunny. Whoa.
And I'm like, and you know, New York's sunny 10 minutes a day when it's noon and it comes through the buildings. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And it's and it's noon you're just inside and it's shadowy again. So I'm like getting like no sun in my body, no vitamin D, no one's drinking water, no one's eating healthy.
It's all pasta and pizza.

Speaker 1 It's all popcorn in Lauren's office. That was the main thing.

Speaker 7 He has the best popcorn.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 7 The best.

Speaker 1 Everything else messing out. The best.
We have good popcorn.

Speaker 2 Lauren has the best water.

Speaker 2 My socks. You get them in

Speaker 1 an earthquake. That would be my safe room.
I got to climb into Lauren's office.

Speaker 2 The whole movie would be me getting to Lauren's office to get like life lifesavers the titanium shell shall we have no blast through it no cast members um no fees would you like some sushi do you want a hand roll yeah press the button but how did you like that you know bill hayer talked to it you talked to it so now that when you are away from it are you better are you i do feel i feel great yeah yeah and i but i also want to still keep working on i'm a people pleaser are you guys as comedian I have such a,

Speaker 7 I want to be as strong as these other comedians and performers where it's like you get, you just push through and still stay true to yourself. I think I, I, I,

Speaker 1 well,

Speaker 2 I had the need to please disease, or it's still a naturally organic thing for me, but I, I had two personalities. The other side of me was really competitive.

Speaker 2 So one time I was in this club and, you know, there's sort of these alpha comics. They're not necessarily funny, but they scare the audience into getting laughs, like just really loud, hulking.

Speaker 1 Fuck, you know, fucking fucking blue.

Speaker 1 Look at this fucking guy in the front row. And everyone's like, huh? Yeah.

Speaker 2 They were kind of laughing at me.

Speaker 1 Yeah, look at this fucking guy. What are you going to go?

Speaker 1 Who are you going to fuck?

Speaker 1 Right, right, right.

Speaker 2 So those guys were kind of giving me, you know, because I had little boys paid haircut and I look 12, you know, and they were kind of

Speaker 2 give me a little soft, just a little bit of shit, you know, like not T, you know, kind of laughing at me a a little bit. So I said, Okay, okay, I'm going to get multiple standing ovations.

Speaker 2 So I always love it when I come off the stage. And I, and I, the guy was really cocky and kind of giving me attitude.
I see the fear in their eyes. Their eyes get real big.

Speaker 2 That's what I live for when I, when I just hurt their very being. So I have a passive aggressive people, please.

Speaker 2 But on the show, the people I hooked up with on a regular basis, I don't mean sexually, but I had Mike Myers was my partner. And so

Speaker 2 I played Garth. I love doing Garth.
I love that, like Tom Hanks said, sometimes it's great to be the guy next to the guy. And then Hans and Franz was with

Speaker 1 Kevin Nealon, my good friend.

Speaker 2 And then Phil Hartman with Johnny Carson. And so.

Speaker 2 And there, there was no competition.

Speaker 1 It's just totally all of the scores. Well, everyone's scoring.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 So how would you, how would it manifest yourself if you wanted to be more strident in the green room or where would it, because you're just, you just go, you're the headliner, you go on the club.

Speaker 2 And I mean, how would that, how would that

Speaker 1 like now?

Speaker 2 What would it look like right now if you what are you? I don't see what you're trying to become. I mean, more aggressive in the green room or with comedians?

Speaker 7 No, I think I just

Speaker 7 it's less competitive. Yeah.
And I, I, I find the people I love working with that feature for me and we learn bits on the road.

Speaker 1 It's more fun, right?

Speaker 7 And even just, yeah, just the friends that

Speaker 7 help me be a better person and performer. That's how I want to just play and create stuff, you know?

Speaker 2 Yeah, because at the end of the day, right now, it's you on the stage with your audience. Everything else.

Speaker 1 Background.

Speaker 7 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Also, you know you're going on because... At SNL, you might have weeks you're not going on.

Speaker 1 So if you can go to a stand-up set, you're like, at least I'm getting 15 minutes or an hour where I get to do it. So that's fun.
You get to write for it. You get to have a beginning, middle, end.

Speaker 1 And that's tough at SNL. You're not in anything or you have two lines here.
And you're like, I feel like I'm getting behind. You know, it's all the same weird feelings.
Yeah.

Speaker 7 I've been doing this.

Speaker 7 It makes a lot of sense for me, but I've been doing it. And you're welcome to do a set if you like, but I do a morning show now at 10 a.m.
at a little theater in Altadena.

Speaker 7 It's called Fresh Coffee, Fresh bits and everyone just does new bits and i bring coffee for the crowd wow that's a great idea just get up have coffee and then it makes it makes so much sense i told taylor thompson the other day i was like it it makes and she was like yeah that makes perfect sense because you're a good person

Speaker 7 Because in comedy clubs, she was like, yeah, comedians are horrible humans.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Well, we're not great.

Speaker 7 No, no, you guys are great. I'm not saying that.

Speaker 1 No, I know what you're saying. No.

Speaker 1 No,

Speaker 2 I never hung out. I mean, there were people who really hung out, and the comedians would hang out and go plays and do this.
And I'd have a few friends and stuff.

Speaker 2 I wasn't antisocial, but I never really liked to be around like 15 comics hanging out. Maybe one or two.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 2 you, is this true? Like, you have fans and they call themselves Melissa Monsters.

Speaker 7 Little Melissa Monster. Yeah, that was after the Gaga update.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 7 yeah, I think I've just been leaning more into the place where it's kind of

Speaker 7 a little kinder and a little, and

Speaker 7 I feel like my comedy, it's that, it's that. You know, I don't feel, I feel like I, when I go like after really tough comics, like you were saying, that have, like, I, I, I don't know how to,

Speaker 7 but I'm trying to, yeah, I know I'm a good performer, and I have, but I just have a lot of, and it's, it's nice. I try to make sure it's joyful for myself too.

Speaker 2 I think that's the operative word,

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 And you have a lot of, well, this sounds militaristic, but you have a lot of weapons. I mean, the way you can throw your voice around instantly.

Speaker 2 And, you know, monologists, you know, jokesmiths, you know, they don't get to do, like, if I start to get into a rhythm as Johnny Carson or something, I'll go 10 minutes or, you know, I don't care.

Speaker 2 Do you have any jokes? No, I'm just riding the wave. But, you know, joke people and writers, I have so much respect for them.
They need to have,

Speaker 2 like Dave Ettell needs to have three or four punchlines a minute. So his special was 35 minutes and it was fantastic.
But boy, he had to set up punch in brilliant turns.

Speaker 2 You know, but people like you, you're a performer. You're out there.
You're fluid.

Speaker 1 You're

Speaker 1 not.

Speaker 7 And I, and yeah, writing like punchlines and stuff.

Speaker 7 That's what's hard for me.

Speaker 7 But I try to meet with, like, I actually do write with Nealon and he helps me a lot with those, just those quick little oh he's great yeah he's god damn he's so fast and I'm like where how come I didn't see that you know

Speaker 1 he's one of the best that can do it yeah he's the best at a guy come out like okay we're gonna get started here in a minute you know he's got the mic up really high and he's moving really slow and then all right we're pretty much halfway done okay you know he has daddy's fight i came out on lights out and he's sitting there he's the panel you know he's on the panel and after three update jokes he goes david um what do you think you're gonna wear tonight?

Speaker 2 I go, I think I'm just gonna go with this.

Speaker 1 He goes, Oh, okay, keep going.

Speaker 1 Yeah, he's got a thousand million of those things, yeah. Just these throwaway nothing things,

Speaker 1 yeah.

Speaker 1 All right, good, okay, good,

Speaker 1 you know, kind of we love, we love Kevin, but yeah, it's good.

Speaker 2 You and him are a potent pair, but it's great, you know, when you're around friends and they're comedians, and um, you can tag each other's stuff, or hey, you could maybe do that, or you know, when you're just out to dinner with a few of them and stuff.

Speaker 2 So, yeah, Neil and he's also just a very nice person,

Speaker 2 you know. But you can be a nice person and still win in show business, case in point, yeah, yeah.
But, um,

Speaker 2 we all have doubts. Let's see, passive, aggressive, and a people pleaser.
Well, my, did you go to therapy? Because I was in therapy for five years about

Speaker 2 people pleasing. Oh, yeah.
She's she's

Speaker 2 she said I was a people pleaser, And I said, God, that's a great observation.

Speaker 1 Don't see sacrifice. I got it.
That's good.

Speaker 1 Is that your closer?

Speaker 2 She said you have ADD. She said you have ADD.
I go, look, a butterfly. I got to tie my shoe.
What'd you say?

Speaker 1 Oh, boy.

Speaker 2 She said I was passive-aggressive. I said, well, you've known me for a couple of weeks.
I've known me for 60 years, but you're probably right.

Speaker 2 Anyone, is this on?

Speaker 1 Turn into a chunk, Melissa. No, I know.

Speaker 7 I know.

Speaker 7 See, now I think I got distracted because,

Speaker 7 David, where are you?

Speaker 1 I'm in a cell.

Speaker 1 This

Speaker 1 is

Speaker 7 no, I'm just looking at the skateboards, and then there's like little nails on the wall. Were you hanging something there before?

Speaker 1 Yes. Good on God, Colombo.
This is dark green, but it looks light green. And we're having a problem with that.
And then people at home can turn off the show now.

Speaker 1 But also, I had, you know, what was up there? It was that picture. Well, anyway, I had a picture up there, but it reflected too much.
And then it was a big thing.

Speaker 1 And then I said, why not just more me and less background goofiness?

Speaker 2 So, well, if you move your laptop down, will you be more centered in the frame or Greg Cross?

Speaker 1 Well, I go like this. There's Bruce Lee, of course, on a skateboard.

Speaker 2 Because Melissa has a really nice, tight frame.

Speaker 1 Well, she knows what she's doing. I'm new at this.

Speaker 2 Sorry about the scruff.

Speaker 1 200 shows in.

Speaker 2 Don't be jealous.

Speaker 1 It's for the ladies.

Speaker 1 I look blurry too. Everything's gone wrong on my end.
I'm going to jump off.

Speaker 1 Melissa, thank you. It was great talking.
Thank you guys.

Speaker 2 Congratulations on your six years on SNO, honestly.

Speaker 1 Only on that. Congratulations on your six years.

Speaker 2 Well, and then the rest of your life.

Speaker 1 I see Melissa at the improv sometimes, and I followed her last time. Yeah.
Remember? See, this shit's happening out there, Dana. I love it.
We're out there fist bumping.

Speaker 2 It's great trying to catch the wind of

Speaker 2 the arts

Speaker 2 in essence, is that you're always trying to write your best bit, have your best show, and that never ends. And that's why you can't ever climb comedy mountain and get to the very top.

Speaker 2 So it's this elusive, cool thing. And you seem to be on that journey, ladies and gentlemen.

Speaker 2 But you know, just trying to find, here's my skill set, here's who I am, and I can go anywhere I want with my audience.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 2 thing positive to end with, David, or are you going to go out cranky?

Speaker 1 No, she's tired.

Speaker 1 I'm cranky, yes.

Speaker 1 I'm getting in here with the interior decorator. We're going to move the nails.

Speaker 7 You need to make sure you eat.

Speaker 1 I'm going to move the nails around and put them in different spots.

Speaker 7 No, I didn't mean to. It looks fine.
You could keep it.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 That skateboard says Jack Spade. That was my brother's company.

Speaker 1 Okay, well, I'll write you an email with the rest of this. You guys, thank you so much.

Speaker 2 Enjoy this so much. Thank you, Melissa.

Speaker 7 Thank you, guys. Thank you.

Speaker 1 Have a good day.

Speaker 7 Bye.

Speaker 1 Hola.

Speaker 1 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 1 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.