RE-RELEASE - Jason Sudeikis

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sometimes, do you ever keep a running list in your head or, you know, on your phone and your notes app of things you want to buy?

You're just waiting for the right time.

Absolutely.

Okay.

Who does?

Yeah, I've done that.

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I love that.

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Here we go, Dana.

We got a re-release of Ted Lasso himself.

Jason Sudaikis.

Sudaikis.

Great dude.

Good-looking dude.

Dude that was a lot of fun.

Came in, sat with us.

We covered a lot.

We talked to him for fucking ever.

We got every SNL thing in there.

We got a lot of his big movies in there.

And then toward the end, we unpack the magic of Ted Lasso, which has a new season coming out.

So it's a nice time to kind of revisit Jason because he's.

I think it's his 50th birthday also.

Yeah, he's got it made.

And yeah, we went over Weir the Millers and Hall Pass, just stuff that we'd seen.

We wanted to kind of have a few questions about.

Yeah.

And also,

obviously, Ted Lasso, obviously getting into all the SNL stuff and all his buddies on there, that his run of there had a lot of great people.

Yeah, a very hot time on the show.

And

he talked about his love of pinball machines.

There's a lot of personal inside info.

So it was one of our longest podcasts in person.

And so I thought I really enjoyed it.

Yeah.

He'll like it too.

Here he is.

We won't take it any longer.

Yeah, he has an elevator.

It's time you learned.

He only gets paid scale plus a million.

So you did Joe Biden in the early days.

That was

him 2012.

Yeah.

Where he's kind of a Wayne 08.

I mean,

I did him in the

I mean,

the first time I did him was like when some Christmas episode of maybe 2007 or something like that.

And I forgot.

And then when Obama picked Biden as his running mate, Fred Armiston texted me saying, congrats.

I was like, well, for what?

He goes, Biden.

I go, I played Biden.

He goes, yeah, I played SpongeBob SquarePants.

Yeah, it was a Halloween sketch.

And I was like, oh, right.

I was like, I guess that means I'm not sure.

Oh, you had it.

You already had it locked in.

I did unintentionally, yeah.

I mean, and then, and then I got to do it and be, you know, who was the magician that went on after the Beatles on Ed Sullivan?

Basically, I did, I lived that existence playing Joe Biden in the vice presidential debates against Tina Faye's, Sarah Palin.

Exactly.

They're conservative, right?

They look alike, they sound alike, it'll blow your mind.

Yeah, and just everybody was clamoring for it, and she crushed it.

And yeah, I had, you know, fun runs written by Jim Downey and Seth, but everybody was like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, there we go.

Here we go.

Yeah, you talked about it.

He was full sunglass Corvette guy.

He was at alpha at that point compared to, you know, he's older now.

So it was a different take on it.

Paternal, very, very grand paternal.

That's all I got.

It's kind of close.

I don't know.

Good lord.

So we have Jim Downey.

Kansas' own.

Yep.

Kansas'

own.

Now you play basketball.

The only thing I ask, I'll ask this first.

Could you touch the rim?

I could.

Could you dunk a baseball?

I could dunk a baseball, yes.

I've probably dunked a basketball 10 times in my life.

Shut up.

Never during a game with a referee.

I was just talking about this yesterday.

Any witnesses?

There's basketball going on right now.

You know, a lot of basketball.

So I'm just

dunking on everyone's mind.

Two or six one?

Six, one.

What's your wingspan?

Oh, probably 6'1.

Nothing spectacular.

So you had a pretty good vertical to get a basketball.

It was also adrenaline.

I also had a lot of of friends that could jump, and so it was a little bit of peer pressure that way, too, where it's just, come on, just shut up and do it.

But I do remember if I dunked 10 times, six of them, six of those times were one day after playing basketball, like in between junior, senior year, you know, no, no, sophomore, junior year, like during summer.

That's unreal, dude.

My dad put up a nine-foot hoop and it fucked all the kids because we were awesome on the nine-foot thing.

And then we go to high school.

What the hell?

Yeah, what are they doing?

Airball after airball.

Yeah, exactly.

I can get the net.

I can dunk on the net.

Nine-foot is awesome.

It's less of a big deal now.

I feel like shooting threes off the dribble is what it's all about now because of Steph Curry and whatnot.

But back in, yeah, back when I was playing, dunking was the biggest deal in the world.

I mean, that's the, I was the test market for those strength shoes, you know, that they, you know, created.

Oh, really?

That would kind of create.

Yeah, I mean, I had a pair for the legit reason.

I would jump rope in them all the time.

A lot of time spent on that.

But yeah.

You know, when they do it now,

they go up past half court.

It's like one step, two step, shoot it.

And you go, Jesus, how do you guard?

You don't even know what's happening.

He changed everything.

It's just one, two, boom.

And you go, and then they make it 90% of the time.

Yeah, him, Caitlin Clark on the

women's college, you know, circuit, too.

I mean, it's all over the place, all over the world.

Yeah, just shooting.

You play Sandler?

Adam and I have played, I think we may have played once or twice, but not not enough to have a scouting report.

I hear he's good.

I know.

He gets into it.

He's competitive, too.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

What are you doing?

It's all funny games till the game starts.

Yeah.

Like, get open.

I go, you don't talk to me like that.

Jesus, happy Gilmore.

I'm not.

You just check the call sheet.

I go, all right.

You are not triggering financing out here, buddy.

We are all the same.

No, I

but

no,

he's played in a game with my buddy Sam Jones that I've played in a few times and buddy Brad Morris.

But yeah, I haven't played

maybe once or twice.

I mean, probably the best, the most fun I'd had playing in the, was, was hearing the stories of Gary Shanling's game, then getting invited to go play in that with Sarah Silver.

Oh, you did?

Yeah, and before he passed.

And then, and then a huge thing was when, when Gary was like, hey, you can come without Sarah if you want.

Oh, that's a big deal.

Like a lovely sort of, because I'd read about that game forever.

Like, oh, yeah.

Gary Shannon's house.

Yeah, absolutely.

Sarah, you, I mean, who were the Reagan?

Oh, my gosh.

I mean, McKay was there.

Jimmy Miller.

Jimmy was there a couple times.

Even when I went to the city, I used to go in the early, not early, early days, but there was a run there when I went and I was no good, and I sort of got pushed in the background.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Just not the emails I needed.

Are you monuggsy bogues out there?

I was like,

you know, distraction, whatever they call it.

Yeah, I just want you out there on the side.

Just like, you know, we need a new guy.

We need five to keep it even.

You go out there and run around circles.

Or a Spud Webb.

I would have been a Spud Webb.

No, I got out of that quickly.

I was, yeah, I was D basketball in high school, and our center was literally 5'3.

He controlled the paint.

That was when they had D basketball.

Five foot tall, 91 pounds as a freshman.

What about you?

Were you always a bearded stud in high school?

Were you a lady?

No, no, it was a beard of acne like any of us, right?

I don't think I could grow a beard until about an hour before I got here.

How'd you get rid of the acne?

Because I had it bad too, and I bought all the products.

And then once I said, fuck it, I'm not going to put anything on it.

And then within two months, it went away.

Isn't that something?

Did you do that?

It was a little bit bit like it just kind of went away.

Like a lot of things that have affected me or have fallen on me as almost maybe psychosomatic things, whether it be

patches and growing

a beard or back pain.

Like so much of it, I think, is, yeah, where you're at mentally.

And there's so much attention put on that.

And my mom, bless her heart, was always really more worried about it than I was.

Because I'm not looking at my face all day.

You know, we're looking out our eyes.

And so she was really adamant.

Yes,

she had me going through all this stuff, going to like a dermatologist.

And I think it did exacerbate the problem.

And I put Stridex Medicaid pads.

And every time I, and I realized later, it took me about a year to go, it's just making it worse.

Yeah, it just worse.

Stridex fucking dries you out.

And I didn't know it as a kid.

And then the oil comes gushing in.

Yeah.

And then, you know what's going to happen.

Exactly.

Yeah.

But I have a handful of, you know, playing, you know,

pseudo-dermatologists, you know, scars from trying to like get rid of things, you know, preemptively versus just just learning the patience of just like letting it be.

How the mind controls everything,

just not get laid this year.

Let's just ride it out.

Take it easy.

Were you in high school?

Were you like captain of the team or were you kind of a funny guy with your friends?

Or what was your lane?

Funny guy.

I was the point guard, so like kind of a de facto captain in the sense that you're coming down.

Varsity starter?

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

Starting junior year.

As a junior.

Yeah.

Okay, so you were good.

I was decent, decent, yeah, yeah,

for my area and

my skill level.

Yeah,

I wasn't too shabby.

But

yeah, I mean, I definitely, I mean, a lot of what we do on Ted Lasso is my experience of what it's like in locker rooms, you know, people joking around.

We were a very fun group of guys.

I have very thoughtful friends, guys that I'm still very close with and friends with to this day.

And we just, yeah, we joked around a lot, much to the chagrin, I think, of our, you know, our, you know, very athletic-minded alpha

head coach coach who was lovely and playful as well, but more playful when we were listening and winning.

We had the same situation with a cross-country track distance running coach, blood, gut, and hair, real ex-marine, all that stuff.

So, were you kind of the funny guy on the team?

Because I was with a lot of guys who had great sense of humor, and I think I kind of developed as a comedian in high school sports running.

Oh, 100%.

Because they would laugh at everything I said.

Yeah.

And also,

like,

I always grew up around and gravitated gravitated towards funny people.

Like, I had funny friends, and they were funny in different ways.

So, like, my friend Chris was more of like, oh, what if this happened?

And then another guy is like more like wordplay.

And then another guy is like a guy you do character voices with.

Another guy is the guy that we would do fake radio shows with.

Or then when I got a video camera in sixth grade, the guy that you'd make fake talk shows with, you know, and, you know, doing both of your guys' stuff, you know, being like an SNL, you know, fanatic at that point, especially before you start going out on weekends, you know, on Saturdays and having a friend that can drive.

Like, you know, we did, I did that all the time with all these different groups.

And then my sisters did singing and dancing at like a

place called Miller Marley.

And so I was around all those type of like more overt theater folks, you know, the people that wanted to do musicals, that did, you know, summer stock, you know, in Kansas City.

And Kansas doesn't have a big comedy scene, right?

It's just more, it was a theater improv situation.

It had, it, theater,

yeah, I mean, they had stand-up clubs.

I mean, I assume you all did like Stanfords and Suns and all that clubs.

And coming through there.

I know I saw Dennis Miller do

stand-up

right before my senior year.

Me and my dad went to go see him in KC of the Stanford and Sons.

Yeah.

Brilliant.

But yeah, I mean, my focus was mostly mom taking us to go see touring companies, going to see my sisters do stuff during the summer.

And then there was a place called Comedy Sports that was like sketch, or mostly, no, all improv, kind of like Who's Lines anyway?

You know, like short form games.

It's hard, actually.

I just love that.

And it is hard.

And if that's what you'd learn doing, you know, like just constantly jumping through hoops, people setting you up to fail.

Like the audience then's all part baked into it.

You develop it.

You have to think so fast.

Improv is so fucking hard.

And stand-up is hard, but it's at least you can get a head start, you know, and think about it.

Yeah, because now when you're in high school, there's a point where you go, I actually think I could maybe do this as a living.

I didn't really think that when I was doing stand-up, I just did it one day and just said, I'll never do this for a living.

I just want to try it.

Yeah.

No, for, it wasn't until moving to Chicago that I think, I want to do this for a living.

At that point, I moved after I stopped playing basketball in college and stuff.

Like, I was just like, okay,

quit doing that, started doing comedy sports, working in a grocery store, living in my parents' basement.

And then I was like, I'm going to move to Chicago.

I'm going to move to Chicago.

You know, my folks are from there.

My grandmother lived up there.

I lived with her.

My uncle George and Aunt Bernadette had done Second City.

You know, George Went, I think, I assume that you're George.

Do you have a place to land?

I'd a place to reach for a while.

George Went.

George Went is your

son.

Move my son down.

It's weird.

It's a genetic name.

I'll talk you through it.

It makes sense

in front of an iPad to explain things visually.

But yeah, like that was when I made the decision.

Like, oh, I want to try this.

All the rest of it was just about having fun.

It was just wanting to do something that I saw and having the opportunity to do it.

I assume it's the same.

Did you have stage fright?

Or were you pretty comfortable at the bench?

No,

stage fright, no.

I'd get antsy.

I'd get excited.

You know, I try to explain what anxious is to like my kids.

I say it's excited plus nervous.

So I was definitely anxious, but I think there is something about having an athlete's mentality towards it all.

And it's something I still say today and something, again, we've used on the Ted Lasso

show, that there's no defense in the arts.

There's nobody trying to actively, for the most part, when you're doing it, stop you from doing it.

Yeah, just

your own apathy, your cynicism, your ego,

your baggage.

I tell my sins there's no getting your feelings hurt in show business.

It's like no crying in baseball.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's a monolith.

It's not against you.

It's not stacked against you.

It's just a thing.

Yeah.

And there's how are you going to respond to it?

It was made to make you feel better.

I just want to insert this because I've always been noticed your voice.

And did you get some voiceover offers early in Chicago?

No.

With your voice?

Never, never.

Never knew me.

He seems like you have a very good voice.

He just noticed I was sexy a minute ago.

Hey, look, I have a wifey morning voice.

It is very sexy, but no, no, no.

It might be deeper right now just because of, you know,

Ford most creamy short for like, yeah, like Arnett has a GMC.

Arnett's got a card.

I could never.

Yeah, I did.

I did a voiceover thing for Applebee's like a few years

ago,

which was nice because they're headquartered back home and stuff.

How did that sound?

Did you put on a voice voice?

It was a great conversation tomorrow.

Applebee's.

Hey, I feel like a pot pie.

All the spaghetti you can eat.

Tired of blooming onions?

Then come to Applebee.

Send your breadsticks.

Fish sticks.

But I knew I remember, you know, and there was a big teacher, a big influence in my life.

She comes up all the time, but this woman, Sally Shipley, who taught speech and debate, had one of her students, she also taught radio TV, and one of her students was like, oh, we should do this thing.

You know, you should get to do the voiceover is Jason Sadekis.

He has a nice voice.

And I was like, I do?

Yeah,

I didn't know anything about that.

I mean, I don't have a voice.

I don't have a face either.

I say this.

You barely tell me.

I'm like an invisible person, but you can put stuff on me or give me a voice.

The silver screen.

You're just what you are.

I'm just invisible.

I'm a totally neutral person.

Whoever you want to be.

Yeah.

You can put a nose on me or whatever.

Give me an accent.

It's a blessing and a curse, isn't it?

I don't know.

I'm so tempted to talk about Ted Lasso.

Do not.

They told us, do not.

Oh, for real.

I figure.

Oh, they said 45 minutes in.

He doesn't want to promote Ted Lasso.

It says right.

You only want some

working at Banana Republic.

Great, perfect.

And we want to spend spend an hour on it.

And he's an insane pinball person.

Have you been to the pinball place in Vegas?

The pinball museum off the strip, though?

The fucking monster right by the water.

It's unreal.

Yeah, it really is.

They write pinball big enough.

You know where it is.

And I went in.

Yeah.

Bing, bing, bung, bong, mong, bing, bing, bong, bing.

Free game.

It goes like a

pregame.

But I did it.

I went through there and got all the effects.

Because we used to meet kids.

So, no, I went in there.

I felt weird because I'm like, it's mostly adults.

I go, who's weirder?

You know, I'm in here.

But I played Galaxia.

Yes.

Asteroids.

boop boop boop asteroids you don't find them everywhere dana no you don't go to pinches

no i did guys i'm from the 50s i mean we had a pinball machine at the at the lake it was like

back then it was gambling it was bad news don't put your quarters well guppy would the guy who ran the

where's guppy mercantile and

lake ronan montana he was he was the king of that pinball machine out in the deck and there were goats and we'd challenge him and talk

anyway i fell in love with it yeah after like well after the fact throughout, it's always been there because growing up, you know, I was born in 75, so arcades were big as a kid and dad taking us to go those things.

And I would play, you know, like, you know, Dick Doug or any of the other games, Tron, whatnot.

And then he'd always go over to these pinball machines.

And that was the first time I saw a dude like.

you know, cradle the ball where it wasn't just luck.

It wasn't, he wasn't just slapping it up there.

I was kind of like, oh, then kind of got away from it.

Then one of the fellows that owns and created this theater called Boom Chicago in Amsterdam is a big pinball, you know, fanatic and knows a lot about the history and

just how the games are made and the designers.

And he had one and kind of taught me.

And Brendan Hunt, who plays Coach Beard on Palasso, taught us kind of the, you know, the more nuanced versions of that.

And then 10 years went by and then I bumped into one again.

And whenever, like, especially when you're with someone and you go do films and you're spoken for it, like to go out on the town can be like laborious, especially as you, as you, like, people knew me from SNL.

So me and my friend Chip, who I work with, we would go find a place.

I found an app that was just like

a pinball.

Yeah, where you found out where the pinball machines were.

And it's so great because it

gives you a reason to go out, give you a focus on something.

It's not just having a beer.

Like, you know, we're not like

to give you something to focus on.

And also, as people maybe started to join us, you could kind of just include them.

It was always, we'd always rent a pinball machine too, wherever we were shooting a movie, just to kind of learn it and give ourselves a single movie.

It's like a Sandler movie.

Actually, yeah, it feels like

we watched a little

bit of TG-13 on Netflix here, boys.

Okay.

Jerry's Deli in the Valley was a big place to hang out.

I think it's still there, but maybe it's not.

Jerry's sold.

Yeah, but they had, so that was the old days of like Sandler, Drake Saylor, Schneider.

They had pinball in there, Funhouse, a game called Funhouse.

I love that game.

And we would

just hours.

Because there's nothing with stand-ups in the day.

Yeah.

Board off our ass, go bomb at night, come back in.

It's practical.

It's physical.

It's a quarter.

It's not that bad.

You get 10 bucks

if you can ride it out.

And if a good game, yeah, if you have a good game, it lasts 15 minutes, and then you're sort of competing against folks.

Oh, you hate when someone's got going down.

Yeah, I'll come by.

And then you do, you hear that knock.

That's a good one.

It's very close to what it is.

So you lived above a Burger King.

Yes, yes.

So this is when is the

first place.

Burger King's corner.

It must have been in New York.

It was absolutely in New York on 46th Street between 5th and 6th.

It was the first place I, it was the only place I looked at.

I moved in.

They had me at the Paramount.

Supposed to be two weeks.

I ended up.

For SNL?

Yes.

That's what I did too.

I go, really?

Something's wrong with my room.

It's two feet by three feet.

I went down to the front desk and they go, so you got a king suite?

I go, no.

This is my whole room.

And I had no fucking idea what was happening.

I had to sleep in the fetal position.

It was so small.

But literally, you couldn't stretch out?

Oh, no, you could absolutely touch the wall either side.

But this was at the Paramount.

This was the room that the hotel that they got in the room.

Well, they don't count on you bringing a suitcase.

No.

Because when you go in, they go, you can go in or the suitcase can't go in.

You both can't go in.

It's honestly, there's a stand.

It sits on your bed.

That's funny.

But I was there, yeah.

I was supposed to be there two weeks.

I ended up extending it like six somehow

and went to an internet cafe, looked up a place on Craigslist.

My sister, Kristen, had already lived there for a few years, so I had her come to the, you know, look at the place.

And I could see the 30 Rock out the back, out the blinds, because that was why I was here.

I figured I was going to get let go within at least whatever the writers killed minimum.

It's burned in all of us.

I know.

Just we all sound like fire me.

Just why would they hire you as a writer?

Did they see you perform, but then also liked your writing and said, let's just try and be a little bit more like that.

That was the impression I get.

I never asked.

But that was the impression I got.

I mean, it was a little bit like, like, I would have said, like, you know, I was kidding about, you know, Sandler wanting you around the game.

You always hear that Lauren, like, he just wants funny people around.

So even though I auditioned for it, and I auditioned the year after

Tracy had left and

it was the year Keenan got hired, a fellow named Finesse Mitchell.

And yeah,

I had a decent audition.

I had one piece in there where I play a senator

who offends

black people.

And then when he goes to apologize to them, he then offends Jewish people and then he offends

2003.

Exactly.

It was based on Rick Santorum.

He compared homosexuality to bestiality and then in his apology, just doubled down on it.

It was like, what is going on?

And so I did that, but it was non-partisan.

And so they liked the writing of that because it was taken.

I like

behind it.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Steve Higgins was more vocal about why I got hired.

Maybe you could give it to someone else.

Steve Higgins was the champion for it.

Yeah, him and Tina.

And Tina, who I knew, her and her husband from my second city days.

And so, yeah, so then it was just a matter of going out there.

I go into that building, walk upstairs.

I was like, Chris, how is this?

She goes, it's nice.

Like, it's clean.

Like, I go, and I don't have a good sense of smell,

any sense of smell.

So, like, I was like, does it smell like burgers?

And she goes, you can kind of smell the fries, but but it's gone by this floor because it was like, I think, like, three or four floors walk up.

And the reason why it was on top of a Burger King is because a fellow named Lou, our landlord, owned, was a

franchise guy, and he built these things right on top of it.

I still thought we were doing SNL, but so SNL smells a little like Tater King.

I always go to purpose, just to keep it.

So, you know,

if I pick you up,

just come down.

What was your

castle members?

Like, Lauren Michaels is this enigmatic.

Of course.

We've been doing Lauren, if you haven't noticed.

Mine's a little soft.

And his is like,

please.

Everybody does it.

But your relation with him, how did it evolve?

Was it, were you standoffish at first?

No, he was always

really like, like,

nice to me.

I think he wanted me to get out of my own way while on his watch, you know, a little bit.

Like, I would say that,

you know, the part of him that, that, that hires people because he sees something in them or someone that he sees something in, says that, you know, you should go after this person's got something.

Like,

I think he's seen all of us or our archetypes like a dozen times over at this point.

So he kind of is like, okay, I'm going to give you, I'm going to give you Billy Murray advice.

You know,

attach you to someone.

I mean, I don't know.

I've never asked him, but that's what it felt like a little bit, like, because he was auditioning, you know, who to, you know,

you know, like,

but he was always supportive.

Like, he was, and he was always someone I felt I could go up and

speak to.

I remember that after that first audition, you know, talking to Horatio and Maya Rudolph.

Horatio, I knew from Second City, Maya, who I just met, but it was lovely.

I went down to go downstairs and go, they're not going to laugh.

No one's going to do anything.

Like, don't worry about it.

And I went down and did it.

And after I got done with my studio audition, the first one, Lauren came over and shook my hand.

And I did not know what to make of it.

Would not know what to make it.

Like, where it doesn't,

yeah, I still don't know what to make of it.

He came over and shook your hand.

He stood up, walked over.

Now, I don't, now I walked forward and I was told that no one's going to laugh.

People did laugh a little bit.

It was only like five people.

And then he's not going to say anything.

And then he got up and did the opposite of that.

I was like, I didn't go upstairs and try to make sense of it.

I probably haven't really spoken much about it because it didn't, I was like, now I don't know if I didn't, I then walk out, go back to my dressing room, which was, you know, Daryl Hammond's dressing room, I believe, at the time.

And

he may have just walked out behind me and gone to the John.

You know what I mean?

So I don't know.

Can you give me a piggyback ride?

But it is interesting He will cast it sort of like almost like a sitcom in a way.

You know, you'll be Bill Murray and

Bill Hayter will be sort of

like a drink.

So will you like a philotype or no?

No, I don't know if I was.

I feel like he wanted me to be.

The thing that really helped, like, sort of pushed me over the edge, because I wrote for those first two seasons, was

like I wrote when

you came back to host once, and I was on the cast when you came back to Host once.

But in those first two years,

there was a sketch sketch that we did when Tom Brady hosted, and I basically did this, the same dancing that I do in that what up at that sketch.

The exact same thing.

We wanted to talk about that.

But I did that dancing because Beck was performing that week and he had a guy that was doing the dancing

off to the side.

And so I just made the choice to do this.

And then it made a bunch of people laugh.

And I remember Tina telling me that during during dress rehearsal when that sketch was going on, he kind of looked at the screen and he goes, Dan Aykroyd.

Dan Aykroyd.

And then

we had the show Saturday.

The sketch made it on, as did the other sketch that me and my buddy Joe Kelly wrote for our man Tom Brady.

And then two weeks went by, and during that break, they hired him into the cast.

So it was kind of like.

Well, it's such a specific dance, and it always makes you laugh.

Even if I watch it again, and I'm laughing every time because it's so specific, and you're playing it so earnest and so clueless.

So, and what's up with that?

You can't take your eyes off you.

And Keenan talked about how much you made that sketch, you know.

I mean, that's very sweet of him.

I would argue.

Because you didn't have a line.

It's got a bicycle thing, and then you would do the sign.

The running man is hard to do, and you look so stupid in your wig.

And also, I think in the Ted Lasso clip where they say it looks like you're in the middle of all the guys, and then you don't fit like the first show.

So it's a hilarious

specific.

What's up with that?

It's just funny, anyway.

It's just funny.

And it was such a joy.

I mean, what were the, like, when people ask me my favorite sketches from there, that one is always top three.

And not necessarily because of the effort I put into it or the way people respond to it, which is always lovely, but just it was the one that we did, my generation, where when they'd start to build the set, people would start to get hyped.

And then it found that spot after update.

So they'd tear away the update thing, then they'd start putting up that.

And the people in the city.

I know that we were all

in some weird

costumes.

And you'd always have like Robert De Niro there or somebody like, you know, like some weird cameo, you know, Bill dressed as Lindsey Buckingham.

We knew exactly where it was going to go.

We're just slotting in all these things.

And it was great to get a cameo.

It's great when people, even casts, want to be in it or a host comes in and says, I want to be in that.

Yeah.

That's the best.

And so for people who don't know, what's up with that?

Keenan was a game show, show, a talk show host.

And he never got to asking anyone any questions.

It was these long musical interviews and

background singers and they

weren't going to be able to do it.

And then you dancing.

And also athletically, did you get out?

I mean, mean, you did it for a long time.

That would work a time.

It was more of a magic trick.

I would do it for a little bit of time, and then

I'd jump in to frame.

Like, that was the thing that, I mean, the thing I always look at is I've been doing that dancing since I was like on basketball teams, like from the early 90s.

That's just watching YoM TV raps with Fat5 Freddy and Kid and Play and House Party and all those movies.

And yet it was the same thing I made my 15-year-old friends laugh.

The things that I like delighted in were like me learning the edge of frame and how to make it look like I'm dropping in off of something or taking a long exit like roundabout thing, doing like a Sherman Helmsley

walk off, you know,

and then

just trying to tickle like Keen and trying to make him laugh and just milk up as much screen time as possible just to make like Kenny Among in the booth laugh.

And you were doing it different on air.

You were surprised.

You try to switch up little things and yeah, we had a good spry group of people, my generation, that at some point realized that we if we make the boss laugh by making each other laugh, he'll

in a sketch that's funny with the sound off, like there's no real joke.

Once the melee starts and the party and the dancing and all the stuff, you can just, the audience can really just laugh.

Oh, it's crack because they're not listening for any, you know,

which is another one

I wanted to bring up that you did with Keenan was the scared straight.

Yeah.

And he gave you kudos too as his partner in crime, you know, going, hey, hey, come on.

I mean, that thing is

really

classic.

So fun because we'd always get, you know, the host would have something fun to do.

But then, you know, Bill and Andy were in there and Bobby Moynihan is who I picture for the third, for the third.

And just and Keenan, when you get Bill and Andy cooking and laughing and then Bobby too, Bobby's so funny.

And then, yeah, Keenan would come in there just hollering at

whoever.

I'm trying to, I mean, I like hollering.

And were you writing

on the show with four other people at that time?

Did you come up with this with Keenan or

that was probably him, I'm guessing, Brian Tucker, maybe, maybe somebody else,

Rob Klein, potentially.

But no,

a lot of times I was just, you know, like

those two instances were just, I was merely a muse.

And who did you connect with as a writer?

Did you have someone you wrote with more regularly or would come to you with stuff?

Yeah, well, I mean, those first two years,

I really felt imposter syndrome of like as a writer only because I had only recently discovered like what I did what I like writing for myself but but again that virtue of having funny friends it was like

one of those things and there are two there are two you know sort of

commandments if you will or like a piece of advice that that

that Tina gave one one was like

you know don't write anything that you feel like you can do yourself

you know, because it'll drive you crazy, especially if you're, if you, if you did audition for the show and now, and I did it once and she was 100% right.

I wrote a Dr.

Phil thing for Jeff Richards

like later in my first season because I just wasn't getting anything on.

So I was like, Well, I'll write something that I know.

And Jeff and I worked on it really well.

And

it didn't go super great at the read-through.

And I remember being unnaturally upset, like where it's just like, that's where you mean you knew how to play it.

Yes, but that's my thing.

Yeah, but when you when you give it, when you hand it over,

it's like

I'm okay.

I was okay doing that, but but but I but I

it's like people weren't hot on Jeff at that point in that room.

And he was doing it well.

It just didn't get over that hump.

That Wednesday night.

It is good.

Yeah.

God, I think when they hire you as a writer, I think, Dana, it's like a little scammed.

First of all, it's a little cheaper.

It makes you work harder.

Yeah, sure.

I didn't want to be a writer.

I didn't know how to be a writer.

I was in Arizona.

I just barely had 25 minutes of stand-up.

And Rob Schneider and I got the call together and he goes, hey, it's great news.

We're hired as a writer, performers.

And I go, no, he goes, no, that's great.

That's what Chevy Chase or someone was.

I go, I don't know how to fucking write.

And I don't know how to write for other people.

I barely knew how to write for myself.

So you get in there and they would say, you know, write for Dane or write for Mike Myers, write for whoever.

And I'm like, it's so hard.

And also, I barely have ideas myself.

And then you give them away and it kills you inside.

I know.

And it's, and for me,

what eventually happened was I did start, I started pairing up with like Fred.

Fred and I hit it off.

And, you know, Fred's just a lovely, fun guy.

And

what I couldn't do was make up something for these guys, like on a blank page at that point.

But what I could do is listen to what they did, do bad impressions of it, let my brain click into that and help with rewrites.

Like the rewrite table was, I loved it.

I still love it.

I'd sit at any show's rewrite table.

That's my

show because your ego's out of the way and you're just like, oh, how about you?

To get one line in to get anything in.

And you feel like you're in the game.

You're like, if I can compete, just be

even with these guys in the mix.

Absolutely.

That I'm not taking up space here, that I do belong here.

I have worth being here.

They haven't wasted their time.

They're not rolling their eyes.

I told Dana this when he was there, I think, when I,

there's a sketch I used to play receptionist.

I wanted to do it.

I hadn't been on much, and I was sort of teetering on every summer.

They'd go, I don't know if we're going to keep them, you know, and I'm like, God damn, you know, how can I work any harder?

Maybe I'm just not good enough.

And then that one, I got on, and then David Bowie was musical guest.

So I said, ask him if he wants to be at the end, and I won't know who he is.

And then he said, yes.

And then he wanted to call me and then he asked if he could be my part and switch and i said no and it was so hard but i go i have nothing i mean i and it and i'm it made me think what you said about you just want to get on so even like one of your good sketches you might just give to someone that you brought in yeah just to get on a stay yeah and then worry about it later like okay i gave one away but i don't even know if that one was any good you just go I want to do it.

And he's like, oh, yeah, okay.

And I was like, oh, my God.

And I have to, I get to talk to David Bowie.

And then I get to go sideways with him right away.

Where he's like, yeah, okay, go fuck yourself.

Good luck with your shit.

I had that.

I had

to angle on that with Robin Williams, who I adored and was a really good friend.

But he really wanted to do church chat.

And this is in the early days.

This was my golden ticket, and I was very careful.

And I thought if Robin got so excited, it would be like, oh, look, no tits, you know, that kind of stuff.

I was just afraid of it.

And he even called me Saturday morning

at like 10 a.m.

To be in it to

be in it.

To be like, yes, I would really like to play.

you know, and it was heartbreaking, but you know, we got past that.

It wasn't, but it was, in those days, if your, your thing was very precious.

You, you know, I wanted to keep it

quasi-real in a sense.

Yeah, yeah.

So, but, you know, it happened.

And that's not like, quote unquote, sell out, like by giving it to the, over to the show.

I mean, again, I'm using this, you know, metaphorically.

It's not selling out.

Well, that was a lucky thing because the cast, I had Phil and Jan and people in it, and it was a lucky thing I didn't know.

Home base, and then have the cast come and go and the host.

So Lauren loved it.

Yeah.

Because I didn't have to score.

Did you come in with characters?

Not really.

No, I did.

I did like, no, not really.

Did you write them down?

I mean, was that a message?

Yeah, I did like three characters and like seven impressions that first audition.

And it was mostly that senator sketch that I mentioned.

And from what I heard, like, like when you get to that point, like, how the heck did I get here?

You know, like in three years, once you sort of know you're there.

How did that make it, whatever you did?

You mean?

Yeah, yeah.

Exactly.

And it was as much my like the banter in between, like dealing like whether the piece played well or didn't.

But I was

dubbed

being funny.

So they just wanted me at the table.

Because it did feel weird getting, you know, being like an actor.

I mean, I called my manager over at Brillstein, Jeff, and I was just like, maybe I fucked up.

I think I should just stay the acting.

No, you're in Shobiz now.

I'm in Showbiz.

And he would say, you know, you, Sandler, Chevy Chase, Tina, you know, obviously at that point, like, I'll start as writers.

It's like, you know, and I'd do sketches, you know, hand questions and anything.

It was, it was great.

I mean, you know, and yet it, it really took

that relationship with Lauren.

And to

the one thing that I learned there that I feel like I would encourage folks to do is like, go talk to a person that can, that can, as, as, as, if you can, if you have the opportunity to find audience with the person that can actually change the situation, do that versus talking to everyone to the left and right of that.

Yeah, that's it.

You know, and, and, and, and Lauren was always open to that with, with me.

Um, and, you know, I think that

when did when did two A-holes come in?

Because that was one of fairly early on.

That was Chris and I's first season.

You know, Chris, you know, yeah, so that really you popped when you saw that.

Yeah, I mean, that was this magic Christmas episode that Jack Black hosted.

Neil Young was the musical guest.

We had our new sort of generation was, you know, pretty intact there.

Like, I had come in at the end, last three episodes of the season prior.

Bill and Andy got hired over the summer, and then Kristen got hired about like five, six weeks into the season.

And then Fred, a little later.

Well, Fred had already been there.

Fred and Forte had already been there.

Maya had already been there.

So that was

a very fertile time on SNL.

Yeah.

The cast was.

But that specific episode was that they did Lazy Sunday, the digital, the Lonely Island guys.

We did two A-holes.

Will Forte did the spelling beast sketch that he had submitted probably six times in the couple years,

which was a Groundlings trunk piece that he had that just everybody loved.

Just it never got over the hump.

But Jack Black,

who was the host of my very first episode as a writer that I got a piece on, like he was just like this lucky charm for

me specifically, but I, but I feel for a lot of folks because he would just, he was one of those hosts that would just support the piece.

Like, in A-Holes, he is straight up just a straight man.

And that was Chris and I.

We were writing together every single week, and we were just tired, and we're just chewing gum and just started talking like that.

Hey, babe, hey, babe.

And, you know, and just how do we make this guy's life a nightmare?

How would you describe that to people who are listening?

It may not have seen it.

It's like two cocky young people

self-involved.

Yeah, two self-involved people making a business transaction as difficult

as possible for the person trying to help.

And you had a rhythm of, oh, babe.

Yeah.

There was a few things.

Yeah, it was kind of like, yeah, it was like chewing gum.

Yeah.

Hey, babe, what are you doing?

What do you want to do?

Yeah.

We want to go to hard works.

And then Kristen was just like this kind of like

rapid, like almost like a Paris Hilden type, but

just vocal fry.

And just, yeah, I want to go in there.

I'm tired.

Sometimes sometimes at three in the morning you go is this even funny but 100 you're just like are we delirious it's fucking funny but also it's you two which is already you're halfway there because people want you to you know at that point I mean maybe you weren't even that still emerging yeah I think yeah I mean she was off to the races because Chris had so many have so many good characters I mean the groundlings folks like blew always consistently blew doors off of us second city folks you know did they really yeah I think like in in regards to characters you know what I mean like like I mean I mean that's what I I love about the, the,

I'd say that, you know, Farrell and McKay are like bird and magic, like, just like platonic soulmates that were like the Hatfields and McCoy's who then came together with these two sensibilities of these two amazing sketch, you know, American like comedy theaters.

And then, boom, like, you know, we're off to the races once they decide to like just, you know,

we had more stand-ups back when we were in the middle of the day.

You did, yeah.

A lot of us were stand-ups.

Didn't have real theater up in San Francisco.

There's no ground liens.

I would have been in it in a second.

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i wonder what it's like to be in the groundlings today right you know because it's obviously such a feeder system and all and now the Hall of Fame

with Love It's and Phil and go on.

You know, must be very nerve-wracking because if you get in that and you're in the main company, people,

you have a chance, you know, I would assume so, but I think it's like, especially being out here, because that was one thing about Second City in Chicago is that you weren't, it was just about trying to do that well, like navigate like that.

You wanted to be a good improviser, you wanted to be a good writer, you wanted to be a good actor, but like, but you know, you wanted people to, you know, do a good job for the piece, but it wasn't, you weren't thinking beyond like the building you were in in a lot of places, you know,

because I think it's, because it's in Chicago, even though it has that same, you know, alumni, you know, plus, what, 20 more years?

You're kind of famous just doing it in Second City, right?

I mean, that's a pretty big deal already.

Yeah, and you're getting paid for it, which I don't know if I don't think Groundlings gets paid.

I don't know what if things have changed over the past few years, but can we talk about a few more of your really cool sketches you were in?

I mean, the commitment.

May I watch the, I don't know if David's hopping, but the potato chip with Will Forte and the way you play, that you both played it with such full-on sincerity and drama.

And then when you started to break, I just thought, no wonder he's so good at Ted Lazar.

Like, you see the seeds of it.

It's comedy.

But I really felt bad for the way you played it.

First, you were super defiant.

You didn't need the potato chip.

It's a complete theater of the absurd.

Oh, absolutely.

With such commitment.

And Will Forte is a freak that way.

And then the way you

decided to give it up and then the way you saw it.

I mean, you must have known that was, because that's such a weird sketch that it must, people who like it must really mention it to you.

Oh, 100%.

That's one of those sketches I'd be curious to know from both of you.

What's the one that people can come up to you and you know, like, oh, we would have been friends as kids.

If you like, if you like that, then we were, then we're like friends for life.

You know, people say, what up with that?

That's great.

People dress up like that character for Halloween.

Yeah.

But I would say potato chip and Maine Justice would have been.

Maine justice isn't.

Those two are two that if people come up to me and go, I love potato chip.

I'm just instantly have a soul connection with that person.

Do you have one like that?

Skinheads from Maine.

Which I love.

We both have a Maine sketch.

Let's see.

On the variety show with Colbert, it was just a flight of fancy of a Petrich farm kind of voice being a skinhead.

You know, the weather's the only thing that the Jews don't control.

You know, it was that level of.

That's funny.

And he would then clem.

He goes, I hate stick for beating Spaniards.

And so it was Skinheads from Maine.

So people at an airport come up, hey, man, our friends and I always mention that.

Because we're skinheads.

Exactly.

Yeah.

They're dressing as well.

They're repping us.

What about you, David?

It would be bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

No, we did Buh-bye twice.

The second one bumped miserably.

It's a very catchy catch.

It's a catchy one, yeah.

That's only twice.

That's when we did.

And then we went away for, well, I went to Los Angeles.

the next day

and this flight attendant said it.

And then from then on, I probably honestly heard maybe every day of my life for about 10 years.

Because when you go off a plane, if they say anything like that, your head goes to your sketch.

Absolutely.

Yeah, and then like an automatic thing to say.

And then they were told not to say that anymore.

And then they show the sketch because my friend's wife worked for America and they show them and say, This is what they think of us.

So we have to change our own.

I'm like, geez, we've ruined everything.

We say good morrow.

Now we say good morrow.

We say, get fucked, get fucked, get fucked.

I mean, they still hate you, whatever they're saying.

Sorry about the labor.

Sorry about the label.

Sorry,

no, it is.

It bought me some street cred with

sometimes they come by and like in the southwest and they give you like a thimble of water.

And then they come by and they go, hey, and they wink and they give me like a two-gallon jug.

And I go, oh my God.

And then the person's next to me, can I get another water?

I'm like, I'm waterlogged.

I've had too much.

I'm holding it like a baby.

And they're like, get fucked.

I have too much water.

What do you mean?

Get fucked.

I know.

They get mad at me.

No, what about this main justice guy?

That's another really.

Yeah.

I mean, it's the same character.

You know, really,

which is a good one.

but it's such a fun.

How do you describe that sort of character?

I mean, he's like got a little goatee.

He's like Colonel Sanders or something.

Yeah, like what's funny, and this is one of those things that I love, like one of the lessons, like Shobiz lessons that

it can almost extend into life lessons at SNL, is the potato chip sketch was done when I was going through a divorce.

I was like, you know, like not sleeping well, like being pulled every which way.

John Solomon and Will Forte, who were writing buddies, went to UCLA together, et cetera, and created all this stuff since Last Man on Earth and Macruber and whatnot.

They write potato chip.

And the reason they write that thing is because I had done a sketch a few weeks earlier.

The first time we did,

went up with that actually, when Gerard Butler hosted, and I had just seen Cool Hand Luke.

And I was kind of like, oh, it'd be funny to do a Cool Hand Luke sketch,

but Cool Hand Luke tries to get out of eating the eggs by just kind of like, you know, are these free-range eggs?

It's like he says, I bet I can eat 50 eggs.

And then I wrote myself as like the George Candy part.

So I'm doing all that.

Oh, boss, here, come on now.

You know, doing all that.

And it did well, but it didn't get picked.

So, so you, you, and that's the beauty of like Wednesdays is like that's when you write one for them, one for you, and you do something.

And then your friends, you know, like hear things or your coworkers hear things, oh, Jason could do this voice.

And so then they write potato chip and write me in that, in that voice.

Yeah.

And so that, and so it comes from that.

And so they're just rot from this really crazy suit of place, which is literally just me doing a bad George Kennedy from Kulana.

So the loud, bombastic, cocky, high-energy.

It's fun to do in that studio.

Yeah, and just picturing an outfit, you know, whatever.

You know, again, one of those great things that I think, Kristen is such a perfect example, that the ground these folks had.

Like, they could see these characters that could just be transferred on the television

with wigs and just like the slight, like just a couple, you know, props and wardrobe, and boom, they're, you know, off they went.

So then with Maine Justice, there was an idea that I had had first year for Horatio Sands, and it was more like, Texas Justice.

And then it just like, then we just added some layer of absurdity to it we just make it main and i mean i've told this story before but like lauren and seth like hated it because there's no logic whatsoever it's not really a main accent yeah it's not main it makes them like why are they talking like this what's going on yeah why are you talking about you know crawd ads up in maine you know and not lobster all this stuff yeah and and and myself and mike o'brien who was my office mate and a good friend we wrote together a lot uh and i'm trying to think who else was in there oh i think rob klein as well uh who's a harvard kid you know like, so like, you know, super clever and

silly.

Um, we were just like, you, what are you talking about?

What was the logic behind Toons is the driving cat?

You made us this way.

You, like, it's your fault.

Yeah, so, like, I blame you, dad.

So, that's why, like, two-thirds of that sketch, we just go through the list, like, we're, we're like Bobby Wayhan's character.

It's like, what the hell is going on?

So, and then I just go through just the exposition, like, oh, maybe this happened after Hurricane Katrina.

Maybe it is a timehole war, you know, like a, like, whatever.

It's just this weird.

The story of of where does this guy.

And then we just push on through.

But yeah, that's one of those ones that you just, you know, I think it was probably from

the one, yeah, the Kulan Luke, but then also being a fan of Harry Connick Jr.

like in like in when New Orleans folks would, you know,

get real, real comfy and just start talking.

Real cookie.

Yeah.

Did you, when you just Kool-Aid Luke, what were the things that blew your mind as a kid, like with movies or TV and stuff?

Oh, yeah.

They inspired you?

Was it Kulan Luke one of them?

I mean, the first one that comes to mind is Beverly Hill's Cop.

Seeing Beverly Hills Cop in the theater.

Yeah.

All of it.

Yeah.

Do you guys have to pay for the rights for that?

Well, no, then we just laid out on them.

We could do six notes.

Exactly.

You could do six notes and then we're like, fucked.

I'm going to go for the repeat.

Marcy, get Tina.

Jason.

Anyway.

But that was a big one.

I mean, SNL was huge.

That was certainly.

When were you in high school?

When was SNL?

Yeah, 1994.

It was like 94.

Oh, that was a weird thing.

I know.

I know, yeah.

But I would say

up until sophomore year, until my friend Matt Bale got his driver's license.

Somehow you got a car and then you're in the middle of the day.

And then you're out every Saturday night?

What were you doing each Saturday night?

You're on 11.30.

Bowling.

I probably didn't do too much.

I don't know.

Let's go, Casey.

We're at 10:30, 10.30 in Casey.

You guys are right.

Oh, we were on 10.30.

Yeah, super.

Yeah.

Damn.

Arizona, it's like on 9.30.

Do you want me to do any of my sketches you may have missed?

No, I got to ask them about

movies.

Everything's on peacock.

Do they have to name the network?

It's a swear

peacock.

You can't really put on an art piece on peacock.

We're the millers, horrible bosses.

Stop me if you're in any of these.

I'm in young.

Horrible.

Horrible bosses.

Yeah, we were told by who were you told by?

You're up to you.

You do whatever you want.

About the age group of, you know, when you're a certain age.

I know.

I love looking at the ones, like Dick Fuel crime scene.

Well, I thought that guy was fucking

too.

I thought that was so bad character.

Dick Fuel.

It's just me doing a bad stallone, but also like with Vin Diesel.

I'm doing Vin Diesel.

So you've got a really good bald cap on,

like a super short crew cut.

Yeah.

And you're coming in.

What was this?

Yeah, he's supposed to take a hit from Jeremy Renner.

You're just supposed to take a shit.

Yeah, he's just a stunt guy.

And he just flinches every time.

Yeah.

And he fights back.

It's so silly.

It's so like.

But yeah, I did that for the MTV Movie Awards when I hosted it.

You can look at this if you want.

It's just

okay.

So,

Crime Scene is one of my favorites.

We did that with Charlie Day.

That was another great one.

But that's written by Joe Kelly, who's one of the co-creators, one of my dear friends,

who co-created Ted Lasso.

That was a scene that he wrote for a sketch show after he didn't get asked back.

He had a killer year at SNL, didn't come back, went on to go do great work at How I Met Your Mother, a handful of other sitcoms.

He co-created Detroiters, et cetera.

That was a scene that I saw him do in the sketch show.

It was all about cops and magicians.

So he does this thing, and I'm like, this is a humding.

Like, I just love the writing of it.

It's so clever.

And so, like, it reminded me of like in that space of like the audition sketch from like Mr.

Show or, you know, the dead parrot sketch, you know, Monty Python.

You know, like one of those, like, where it's just like, the writing is just super clever.

And those are two of the all-time great skills.

Right.

And just very quickly, it was like he's kind of doing a sort of a quasi-Colombo, investigating a murder.

Yep.

And then he doesn't relate to anything you mentioned.

No, not baseball.

He doesn't know what baseball is.

He doesn't know what World War II is.

He changed me.

I never watched television yet.

And so, yeah, he's just like this cop who's just kind of a TV sniper.

Very Monty Python.

Very, I mean, 100%.

And so then when Charlie hosted, I asked Joe if we could, you know, if we could do it.

He's like, absolutely.

Charlie and I were doing it.

I was going to play the part Charlie was playing.

And then Charlie was like, what if we switched?

I was like, yeah, let's do that.

Because Charlie and I had done Horrible Bosses 1 and 2.

I'd been on, it's always sunny.

I think he's as smart and lovely and funny as they come.

He's funny.

And so I was just like, and trust his instinct and his gut like crazy.

And I was just like, yeah, let's do that.

And that sketch, I love the pieces.

And it's just one of those things that similar to like doing the George C.

Scott or sorry, George Kennedy voice.

It's like, just because you do it like there and it dies, like doesn't mean it's dead.

Just because it dies doesn't mean it's dead.

Like it can come back around and find some other place or inspire

some other thing that then finds the right host and the right timing right home same thing with cowbill until walking came in yeah yeah because didn't they do it a few times they did it and it just never landed someone said they did it as the host who was we talking to they said they did it and they said it didn't work it didn't work and then they got a fever

so you just think crazy i mean you can't it's one of the greatest rhythms

thing and then will who can lower his iq which we said in like five seconds so cowbill he does this thing with his eyes where he's really stupid he's so committed so the two together, it's a magic sketch.

But this one I watched, and God damn, that was funny.

Yeah, that's Joe Kelly and Charlie Day, and me just trying to get in where I fit in.

Damn.

Jane Dane, I want to ask about Horrible Bosses.

Well, we should because people on our staff were everyone.

I saw it.

I love Horrible Boss.

Well, no, I saw the Horrible Bosses too.

And also The Millers.

That one was another smash.

And you have Anison in both of them.

Yeah, she's in all three.

What is she like?

I've seen all these movies.

Wait, she's in them?

Yeah, exactly.

I remember one thing.

You go to her parties and you don't have to know.

He cares about her as a person.

You're going to get disappointed.

I started thinking, did she need coaxing to be super dirty?

And I think that was the Horrible Bosses one.

Yeah.

Or

is she just ready to just break it out?

Would she play a stripper?

She's very funny than both.

Yeah, she's.

I didn't get the impression she needed to be coaxed into it at all.

So she reads Horrible Bosses where she's filthy.

You know that one, Dana?

She's fucking shit.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

She's brain crotches.

Yeah.

She talks dirty.

And after not too far from friends after that, right?

It was pretty.

At least she was like America's sweetheart.

2013, we did it.

Or no, that was like 2010.

Yeah.

So she,

same year as growing up, she remember that.

Throwing a wig on, you know, putting a wig on, too.

I mean, that was definitely her being, you know,

I would assume her having fun with the assumption that people make.

Yeah.

I mean, it was kind of, you know, the second one, I really liked the second one.

It was like our homage.

I mean, I think the world, like I said, of Charlie and of Jason Bateman and of their partners, like it's such a fun group to roll with and do even press together.

And we, golly,

if I could like have one thing, one do-over, I would have put out that Horrible Bosses 2 movie maybe more in the summer because they did it.

Warner Brothers and New Line released it, from what I understand, as like counter-programming for

Thanksgiving.

And it was like, you know, because that's usually we put out Oscar movies and like family movies.

And it's like, it's like, and they just, I think they miscalculated,

you know, people wanting to go see a movie with their grandparents where Rachel from Friends is wearing a cockring like around her, around her neck.

Like

she's riding a sibian from the shit.

Somebody somewhere had that idea in a room.

And everyone's, yes.

Let's do that.

Plenty of those sappy dog movies will go with a cockring around the neck.

I'd love to be on the side.

You know, they're just like doing a scene.

They're like, one more.

Jennifer, maybe say, yeah, eat your pussy.

Okay, rolling.

And she's like, wait, what am I doing?

Just to get to yell out, bark out, alternative jokes.

Everybody.

Yeah, that's how all those movies work, though.

They just run in jokes.

That's the fun ones when you do comedies.

I love funny people.

I wanted us to keep doing it almost like the March Brothers.

The next movie we were going to do was like a prison break movie.

Like just keep doing genres, but it has the three,

these three goofy, like middle-aged dudes and just gone through it.

When it works like what's your attitude?

I mean, I hear people say this a lot.

Like they don't make comedies like that anymore or like Tropic thunder or you know just it feels like we're in a different place with comedy films like those are yeah like all balls out funny r-rated comedies yeah i guess they're out there i don't know i'm gonna shut in yeah i don't know i did watch all of ted last time i think sometimes they from the top you get down like i i don't know if i do that you can do it but you know it starts to you start to lose jokes even in specials it never will

kind of stand-up they they start cutting stuff they start saying

yeah and you're like oh because it used to be just say whatever and live or die by if you're going to get in trouble, it's you.

Yeah.

And now they blame Netflix or Amazon, and that's, that makes them nervous.

So it's just hard to get out, do whatever you want.

Podcasts, we're not really dirty.

Dana's filthy, but we're not really dirty.

Loves working blue.

So you can't.

So, but this is one of the last places, if you want, you can sort of say whatever you want.

There's not really a boss.

Yeah.

And we have editing capabilities.

So if you said, kill all, whatever.

We're going to take 90% of this out.

We'll have to be more.

We're going to start.

We're going to start.

Dude, I did one.

This is our best warm-up.

I told Dana, I did one the other day, and I was doing my fucking gross bits ahoy.

I was like, Ba, Ba, Ba, Bits, Ba, Bits.

I walked in, coming in hot in about five minutes, and they go, that's great.

All right, let's roll tape.

And I go, you're fucking joking.

And then they're like, we're here with David.

So I go, you guys, it was rolling.

Everyone was fun.

Always rolling productions.

You want to shoot the rehearsal.

Hit the rip button and let her rip.

We covered George Wen.

We did a little bit.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We did a little bit of Wenny.

We did a Hall Pass.

I did do Hall Pass.

With Owen Wilson.

Hey,

I think we should go there.

I knew a guy who had a real hall pass with his wife.

Like, literally.

And who was it?

I don't know if he ever paid it off, but it was like they both married as virgins together, and she said,

you got one.

So when this movie came out, I go, damn, they made a movie about that.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

So you didn't see a ton.

Good idea.

I've been a hall pass for a couple people.

Have you?

Starting to get it, Dan?

Starting to get it.

That's my case.

I was in Vegas at the meet and greet, and they say that to Lovett's all the time.

Starting to get it?

Yours is

home.

Come on, get some.

Oh, yeah.

Should I do one a couple of those for them?

Yeah, go ahead.

I try to come up with the worst hacky redneck comedian.

So he's called Red Rednecky, the Redneck Comedian.

I met my sister only because mama took me down.

Come and get some.

Gotta be catchphrase.

I asked my mama once for dinner.

She said, roadkill.

I said, what kind?

She says, I gotta take a drive.

Come on, get some.

I like to come and get right.

It's in the jokes.

And you're like, oh, is that after the joke?

Come on, get some.

I got mine as right.

It's your cigar pull.

Like, you know, burns.

I'm trying to come up with a catchphrase.

Come on, get some.

I had to look it up.

I couldn't have been the first one to say, come on, get some.

I remember, who was the guy that would do Shucky Ducky, quack, quack?

It was on

Deaf Comedy.

Shucky Ducky.

He might have been called Shucky Ducky.

Oh, it might have been his name.

Yeah, Shucky Ducky.

I think Louisiana.

Well, there's millionaire influencers that just have a catchphrase.

I like hot salt.

They have a catch filter.

A meme and a coffee cup.

I don't know.

I'm not a grumpy old man.

I swear to God, I'm not.

I like with his movies.

I just say what movies he's in.

You were in Hall Pass?

Correct.

Yep.

Okay.

What else?

I was in most of it.

I did like Hall Pass.

Masterminds.

Masterminds, yeah.

Masterminds was that?

It's a cartoon one.

No, that was with Kristen Wigg and

Galfanaticus and Owen Wilson again.

I played a little

Hitman.

And showed up there for a couple weeks.

Hired Gun.

You know, you come in, you screw together your stuff.

And then you went back and hosted.

Was that kind of cool?

It was an SNO?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'd been asked prior, but the time it was

off.

And it was, I went back and played, you know,

Biden a couple times.

Oh, you did.

But at that point, I never, I hadn't had the chance to host.

And, you know, there's perfect timing.

Yeah, it was nice.

I mean, it's, it's a surreal experience.

The one thing that was different was it was post-COVID.

So, like, you know, the table read was, which I loved, you know, like Wednesday was like.

like a little theater show for everybody, you know, but

55 skits.

I just loved it.

And, and, um, just the marathon.

Like, It's just insane.

It's insane.

It's the BO in that room alone.

I mean, 100%.

Yeah.

And also, everyone there has seen the best of the best of the best.

Like at least a third of that room has been there from the get-go.

So they're just kind of like, okay, yeah, we've saw this.

We've seen this 100 times over.

But regardless of all that,

the opportunity.

for the first time ever, like, yeah, because during my time, there's between 45 and 55 sketches like when working there, the 10 years I was there, I'd probably on a good week be in

12 to 17 of those sketches.

So the most time you're watching, read and read through.

Yeah, read through and read through.

So then to show up and go back and to be in 95% of the sketches.

Cold read over 50 sketches over four hours.

Sickening.

I loved it.

I try to read them.

You know, you make little notes, you try to do it, and then just give it your own time.

There's no way you could do it all.

Are you a good reader?

I'm like a cold reader.

Some people are exceptional and then some people are good.

If you're okay with it, I am okay with it.

Yeah, I and it did make, and it's something I say to anybody that is currently working at SNL or ever did, like, or will, like, if you get really good at doing SNL, you go, you then need to find, you need to then leave, like, during the off weeks or the summers, go, go play with other people that don't do SNL, and

you'll feel like Daniel LaRusso, like the karate kid, where it's like, oh, I didn't know I learned how to do this.

You're faster

because you're in this all-star team.

You have to bunker mentality into your relationships.

It seems like you have a,

dovetail into Ted Delas.

You seem to have a lot of wisdom around SNL.

Like, what would you say to a cast member who just got hired and

you had 30 seconds with them?

Yeah.

Like,

I would say enjoy the process of creation and destruction on a weekly basis.

Just enjoy it.

Like, like, make shit, eat shit, et cetera.

Repeat.

Like, and don't judge yourself for when it sticks or what it doesn't.

Like, I've never said just because it dies doesn't mean it's dead.

I've never never said that before, but that makes total sense to me.

Oh, yeah.

And there's timing.

Where is the set in the studio?

Who are you following?

What sketch are you following?

And what's the vibe of that audience?

Sometimes I can just tell when I'm doing stand-up that there's a dead spot.

And I see an open micra coming up.

I go, no chance.

Five minutes ago, probably would have rode away.

Right now it's just dead.

So there's a lot of whimsy.

Yeah.

You know, Jerry Miner, who is a friend and was a guy that I looked up to, you know, when he was at Second City, when he was on one of the stages there, he came back to guest right, and I asked him the same question.

What would you, you know, if you had to do it all over again, his time there?

I think he was there for like maybe two, three seasons.

He was like, I had more fun.

The sooner you can make SNL your recess versus your school,

the better.

It's easier said than done.

It's so hard.

It's so hard.

And yet,

like if you're able to do that.

Well, I feel like it builds like you're, unless you're a savant, like certain people, just an immediate, but you're trying to fight nerves try not to try try not to be too funny get the card here's the guest look around land the laugh be there and then the audience eventually you land enough the audience kind of see is you can feel the vibe they're liking to see you and then you get more confident and they like you more and then i can see this happen with cecily strong we were watching her evolution on the show absolutely and you can't rush it but it's it's normal tried to expedite in a kind way he asked me to do the warm-up before the show like probably after my first or second year in the cast.

And I had, again, never done stand-up.

What would you do?

I would just do like

old school jokes.

Raise your hand if you've never been to a TV taping before.

All right, but another show with Hans, who's at a TV taping for the very first time.

A lot of the same people, you know,

stuff like that.

My son mentioned you yesterday because he was at that show.

And he goes, oh, we're going to interview him.

He goes, oh, man, he's a really good stand-up.

Oh, no, no, no.

Because that's all he saw you coming out.

I mean, that was Lauren just wanting the audience to have a better sense of who I was before sharpness goes.

Before you get out there, you know, and he would, and he would be, you know, Norm used to do it.

But like, Norm and Nelly would say, so I'm going to be in this sketch.

I'm going to come out.

When I come out, really, really let them have it.

Let them hear it.

You know,

please let them in.

Yeah, you know, it'd be great if you could stand up and apply.

Yeah.

Right?

That'd be better than anything.

Lauren's like, Norm, let them not like you ahead of time and then go do your update where they're going to hate you.

Don't you love when Norm, Lauren, you always uses the one name.

Chevy did it.

Danny did it.

Billy liked it.

There's only one Lauren.

Towards the end, there, like on Tuesdays, was the host dinners.

Did you guys have those?

Oh, yeah.

I loved them because it was a little bit like the part of me that wouldn't do homework and then would try to talk about current affairs or current events before we started talking about Beowulf.

I didn't read Beowulf, but I can talk about TWA.

You knew how to do a four-hour boozy dinner and then go back and write the show.

I did it to avoid writing when they go, we're trying to gather people you want to go spade and i'm like yeah i i loved it just to see lauren like get loose and and and i learned through repetition so hearing stories that he may have told before like it didn't bother me at all i just kind of like play his ed mcmahon or just like or just i was always like i loved when you came back to host you look i feel i felt I always had fun making Lorne like my straight man.

Like during pitch meeting on Mondays, I would, I would, I have, for years, since even Chicago, I still carry them like these little tiny notebooks.

And I'd just sit there with this little notebook and it would be like, all right, Jason, and I'd go, hey, Lauren, you still need,

you ran out of karaoke last night without paying you.

You owe me $100.

He's like, I'll get you.

Okay.

You said that, you know, like, whatever.

And then, and so then, you know, whomever, you know, Ludacris or Ben Affleck doesn't know what my relationship is with this guy who's an icon.

And it's just me, like, you know,

just

giving him guff.

But he always.

Like, we would always laugh about it because it was always like respectful.

It was never me like, you know, being a dick to him, but it's just, just kind of like acting like he was just one of the, one of the bros, one of the guys.

Yeah, yeah.

Hosting is scary.

One time I went back in home, so I got sick after during dress, and I had to lay down.

And Marcy, I don't know if you were there when Marcy claimed this, but she was, of course, dramatic anyway, and then freaking out, pounding on my door.

I was in that little dressing room off of 8H, the host and the music.

I wrote there.

So I was in there laying on the ground.

And I threw up.

And then it was mid-dress toward the end of dress.

And I missed two sketches.

And and I just went in and then they go so those got cut yeah the writers are like fucking awesome and then

awesome

it's already got a stink on it if we try to bring it back next week for Michael Keat

a little bit of bar flex yeah a little barley and then I I got up I mean hero is a strong word but I got up and I did the show but um no hero it was

people whispering Jordan I was fluke

I went out there and did a real C-plus episode I hosted twice I don't know if anyone was better if you can consider that.

I remember Adam was in my

monologue once, and then he water boy opened, and he had to fly back to L.A.

and I was, and Lauren goes, just do stand-up.

And I'm like, it's not that fucking, I never even go on anymore.

So I had to go do cold stand-up of like, dogs are funny.

Do you know he made me do?

Or he made me.

He asked me to do the warm-up for the fucking 40th anniversary.

Oh, he asked me to, because I, because I had done it for eight years.

That one that I was telling you.

And again, just straight up, just being goofy.

You know, I mean, Don Pardo would introduce me, and here's Jason today.

And I give it up for Don Pardo, the man, the myth, the legend, the only person in this building that was quoted in the Bible, you know, just doing old jokes like God said, let there be light.

He flipped the switch, you know, like the corniest, hackiest, whatever, but just having fun, right?

But the audience is and then all cast.

That 40.

That's what I said to him.

Like, he has Eric Kenworth, who was a buddy, producer on the show, was you know, writer guy that we work wrote together all the time.

I was like, what are you doing?

Like, like, Sarah Silliman's in the house.

You know, Chappelle, Spade.

I mean, I name-checked.

I was like, I was like, these guys would all kill.

Like, why me?

Just, would you just do it?

You know, and so I, so I do it.

And it fucked up is I eat so much shit.

I like, it's not, no one's listening.

It's like 10 minutes before it's live.

And you're looking out there.

And what I've said is like, it looked like the gatefold of like Sgt.

Peppers, the cover, where it's just everyone.

Every person was famous.

Every person was famous.

And then famous on top of talking to famous.

At some point, I was like, you know, said to Keith Richards, who was talking to Jack Nicholson, you know, Keith, Jack, I think if you guys sit down people will start to follow along

and it's just nothing

then next and I'm like so I'm not bummed I'm just laughing about it I look out in the crowd Galifanak is crying with laughter about how much shit I'm eating Warren then comes up to me says says

you know do you want me to like off mic do you want me to introduce you settle them down I was like yes please I go yeah man like that'll help and he starts to go up to the mic I go hold on let me introduce you I go ladies and gentlemen really quick let's give it up for the man none of us would be here without him the one and only, please put your hands together for Mr.

Dick Eversol.

And I do, and I make that joke.

And as I do that, Bill Murray walks right in front of me, looks up at me, and gives me a little thumbs up.

Like,

I was like, that's why you say yes to this gig.

I'll take that.

Bill Murray says, you know, everybody quiets down a little bit.

And then I got about 30 seconds to just say, hey, everybody, have fun tonight.

You know, like before they got loud again, before the real show started.

That was just mayhem.

I mean, I was in the dressing room.

I think I was just hanging out in the hallway or something.

Yeah.

My mouth gets dry just thinking about it.

Stargazing, here we turn into is like somebody, somebody's like, I got to meet Eddie Murphy that night.

I got like, it was like a to-do.

Chappelle asked me, where can I smoke a cigarette?

Yeah.

I wasn't sure.

Go to the stairway.

I don't think you can.

What about a vape?

He goes, I don't like them.

Yeah, well, all right.

I know.

But it was wild.

Bradley Cooper, can I get a picture with you?

Sure.

It's something else.

One night.

I know.

All right.

Let's talk about Ted Lasso.

Ted Lasso.

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Ted started as a video.

As a commercial, yeah, very well.

There was a guy with a beard and that, and then who made that call?

I mean, there you go.

Is it the same guy?

It is the same guy.

Yeah.

Coach.

I was watching this morning going.

Brendan.

I don't know if they brought him over.

No, no, your guy's chemistry and pattern.

Yeah, we're pals from way back when.

I'll just set the table, David.

Yeah.

So I hear about Ted Lasso.

Everyone's talking about Ted Lasso.

I'm watching stuff.

So eventually my wife and I get to Ted Lasso.

Like everyone else, we're like.

It's sort of mandatory at this point.

Yeah.

And then it became like, this is lightning in a bottle.

Yeah.

And you've heard everything.

And you actually you can talk to it, but you've heard from famous people, right?

That just had to tell you what they thought.

Can you

want to mention that or no?

Just famous people.

Well, I mean, the ones that stick out were like, you know, finding out that Brad Pitt liked the show, finding out that, you know, Frank Oz writing a lovely letter, you know,

at the Emmys last year, sitting next to, you know, Brian Cox and his wife, and,

you know, we were at a table with some of the succession folks, and then him being like, I love the show.

Like, just

if you get it, you're never millionaires.

You know, it's, it works on so many different levels.

It's very, the, the, uh, the pop culture pattern, how fast you all do it around the room.

Talking about Julie Andrews movies.

It's all thrown away.

Julie Andrews sent Brett Goldstein a very nice headshot

Oh, did she?

Her own appreciation for him.

So

another example.

Roy Kent guys, oh, these cocksuckers were going to kill him.

So it's like it, it's, it's, it's almost like Andy Griffith at times.

It's so earnest and sincere.

Yeah.

And then the likability factor of Ted Lasso, you know, the country bump doesn't know what he's doing.

He's smarter than everyone.

He has no ego.

When the guy tried to take you down, that actor would be Muhammad.

Muhammad.

And then you did your press conference and turned it.

So you do the NBC thing, and I watched it again, and you're a fish out of water.

So then you guys get in a room, they get the order.

And so when did you know, like, hey, holy shit, we got a real hook for this now?

Because you cast all these other characters.

Yeah.

How does that come together?

I mean, it's like.

You know, it starts and stops.

Like, because we did the first commercial in 2013.

The second one in 2014, we got to do it because the one in 2013 was well received.

Yeah, sort of well-received just by your friends.

They hear it.

Yeah, but we also hear it.

And

the football

Because it was made to bridge the gap between American football fans and

soccer fans.

And Brendan, who plays Coach Beard, and Joe, Kelly, who was one of the creators of the commercial, and we're all friends.

And we're kind of like Goldilocks.

I know nothing.

Joe knows a little bit about both, and Brendan knows a lot about both, but mostly more importantly, soccer.

And so we try to do that with the first commercial, and it hits like this weird Venn diagram of football fans like it, soccer fans like it, comedy folks like it, and the advertising

business people like it.

And so we get to do a second one.

They don't want to give us the same budget, meaning they don't want to fly us out to the UK.

That's okay.

All right.

We'll make the commercial about how Ted got hired and fired in three days and loved, fell in love with soccer, fell in love with the UK.

And so that's where like all the enthusiasm and like, like,

like, like, not the eagolessness that, you know, to a lot of degrees, you know, came out.

So then in 2015, Joe and Brennan and I meet in Brooklyn.

My partner at the time was like, you know, what do you, you guys all really enjoyed doing that?

You should do so.

I was like, yeah, but what?

So we sit out for a week and we're like, is it another commercial?

Is it a movie?

Is it this?

And we sort of modeled it after the British office, you know, six episodes, one season, six episodes, second season, then like an hour and a half special for the third season.

And we just, we just, just all these story ideas and characters just dumped out of us in, if that was a week, we worked on three projects that week.

I'd say four out of those seven days, like were just dedicated.

And we just filled up these pages.

Then it goes away for a couple of years.

We have Olivia and I have kids.

Joe.

A couple years.

A couple of years.

Yeah, we didn't do anything with it because we, because kids,

Joe and three other buddies created a show called Detroiters with Tim Robinson and Sam Richardson and our buddy Zach Cannon.

And that was on Comedy Central.

So that was taking all of Joe's focus.

I was doing like little things with like forte and movies here and there.

And then Bill Lawrence approaches me about doing a project.

We talk about that.

That doesn't quite, you know,

we don't end up doing that, but he's like, if you have any ideas, and and I have like this stack of like 50 pages, like a,

you know, first draft, rough draft of a pilot, but then all these different breakdowns of episodes and ideas and whatnot.

And, you know, why don't you take a look at this?

I sent it to him.

You gave it to Bill.

Yeah, give it to Bill.

And so that's, so to answer your question, it's when someone that knows that much about television looks at it and goes, oh, there's something here.

Oh, yeah, you know, you guys could do, you guys could do this.

It's probably 90% there with that.

To a certain degree, yeah.

I mean, a lot of it, but not that Bill's influence wasn't immense and super duper helpful and really was the gas that got this sort of pre, like this old july showrunners are big big in this town like huge they they almost are more important than the idea or the stars yeah yeah no it's it's it's and he provided all that so so he he really you know got us moving and i and i look back through the text recently kind of remind myself of like our own origin story and it really took you know a good calendar year for just you know the business he had other things going on we had other things going on you know and and you know navigating the deals with and i mean it was you're talking about nbc owned the rights warner brothers is where bill's deal was a show for Apple.

And that was once Apple came on because we pitched it to everyone, but Apple was the only one to say, we'll take it.

We'll take a shot at it.

And then, you know, then all the deal making after that.

Once

again, other places, you went in with a pitch and they said no thank you.

Yeah, Netflix passed, you know, Amazon passed.

I mean, it makes like I get it.

Like, because he well, until you see it.

Yeah, no one believes it until you see it.

But you did have proof of concept.

All you need is warned.

But the commercials are pretty broad, and I understood that.

Right, yeah, all that can't sustain.

And yet, we tried, we did do our darndest darndest to pitch the tone of what it was, and yet, yeah, nobody was, nobody was buying, and I don't begrudge anybody, really.

No, no,

Tim Cook, yeah, but yeah,

Timmy Cook.

How did you write the British characters, though?

Like, this the woman who plays Rebecca

is so good.

I mean, all the British people are so good.

How did you put yourself in how they would react to the Americans?

Because they're so well written, too.

A little bit was good fortune of Brennan, Joe, and I all getting to work in Europe, you know, even though we did theater, you know, for varying degrees, like Brennan for like off and on for five years, Joe off and on for like two, three years, me off and on for a year.

Like, we're just writing archetypes, you know, and just of like the American, you know, whatever spirit,

you know, and the assumptions being made.

And we'd made jokes about all those stereotypes and assumptions while at Boom Chicago, you know, taking the piss out of ourselves.

So we kind of had that to a certain degree.

And

I mean, Brits are like, you know, in a fun way, you know

one other thing we learned that i feel like i learned when doing stuff at boom chicago is how we're that we're more similar than than we than we like to think regardless of flag or or or you know age or or race gender all the all those things those those complicated amazing things that make the human jambalaya like at the end of the day you know we we like salt we like sweet we like you know yeah we're like you know kissing yeah but but i mean even across everywhere.

So if there's an archetype of someone that is too positive,

I think any of us will assume like, oh, they're not, they're a nightmare or something bad's going to happen.

And you just sort of played against those things, you know, 75 years or however many years of sitcoms, you know, have us thinking that these things are supposed to go this way, these things are supposed to go that way.

And we just try to like twist them or just turn them just a little tiny bit.

Like nothing, again, nothing that we thought was.

So you don't see everything coming.

You know, some people are smart.

They think they see everything coming.

Sure.

And then you go, oh, it's a little not what you think.

Yeah, exactly.

And I remember feeling that way when watching the documentary about Mr.

Rogers being like, oh, boy, here comes the dark turn at minute 50.

And then it doesn't.

And then you're like, okay, they're going to wait until an hour and 10 minutes in.

Then it doesn't.

And you're just like, oh, he was just a decent man who was trying to make a difference in children's lives and also adults.

Oh, wow.

So there's people like that.

That's cool.

Yeah, right.

Yeah.

What do I do about it?

I mean, obviously, like Ted Lasso, the first season, there's a lot of failure

in the way.

And then just the fun of watching how he navigates it.

Yeah.

And how he encourages other people to do it.

Like for me,

the,

it also

reminded me of like Highway to Heaven or, you know, touched by an angel, like this idea of Landon.

You know, it's like, like, that this person would come in and, you know, sort of act this way, and people would be like, what the hell's going on here?

Right.

And it was like, you're right.

That's a good, yeah.

Just subconsciously, I didn't realize at the time, but a big thing was about his egolessness.

Like, if you don't.

No ego.

No ego.

If you don't put any, if you just play it without any of that, he's not trying to get over on people.

He's not trying to trick anybody.

And it's still 100% consistent, regardless of people thinking that

it's

different than that now than it was.

No, exactly.

I talked to someone the other day who went on some psychedelic trips with ayahuasca and or mushrooms or whatever.

And it was really all about getting rid of the ego.

Because once the ego goes away, then something has changed this person.

So it's interesting you mentioned that.

Ted has no ego.

Yeah, that book How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollen was a big influence on me.

And the times that I had done

mushrooms, you know, in my Amsterdam days.

I do.

Oh, the Amsterdam episode, I saw that a couple weeks ago.

That's

our high art.

Oh, yeah.

No, that's something you have to see.

That episode, you got to watch more than once.

Yeah.

There's a thank you.

But the whole show has so many levels to it.

It can be slapstick.

It can be funny and silly.

And then it can be very real.

It's like when you're playing darts, you, Ted.

Yeah, sure.

And you go, something about, I'm just curious.

Yeah, be curious, not judgmental, yeah.

Have people mention that to you?

A handful, yeah.

People have asked asked me to write that on their arms and they get a tattoo.

And it's not his, and I don't even know if it's Walt Whitman's.

I mean, we say it's Walt Whitman's because it's sort of apocryphally.

It sounds like it sounds like something.

Yeah, your character is casually always quoting

Robert Frost, but it's always thrown away.

Yeah.

You know?

Trying to be.

Yeah, like because he's not too

proud of himself than Powell.

Did you shepherd it like a sketch anyway?

I know you have your three other partners.

By the way, there is so many producer credits on the show.

It's amazing.

I don't even know.

I just watched the show show way among them.

I'm co-producer on it.

I don't know.

You're on it, Dave.

You might be.

You might be after the product.

You're a co-executive.

But you treat it like, so you're probably someone else is technically directing, but

you're just going to be an overriding creative force in it, just like Shepherding a sketch.

I mean, the way I can,

it's a little bit like it's a big old cookout.

Everybody brings a dish, and I just sort of help

put things on the plate.

But the sensibility has to stay wherever you want it to be.

Well, if you see, I'm sure if something sounds false, you can stay and say, I don't

feel.

Yeah, yeah, that's been afforded to me from the get-go here.

Do you, it's it's done now, right?

So you miss, you're gonna miss it, I'm sure.

I will, yeah.

I mean, we're still, you know, like, I still watch cuts for like, you know, music stuff or something like that.

Um, but for the most part, yeah, but all the editing's done, all the writing's done.

Uh, it's and and now, yeah, we have the final four episodes being rolled out and then you know, handful of press here and there, which is a joy to do because I get you all get along, actually.

In the editing bay, is what they call it.

So, it's sort of there's so many choices in there.

And so I would assume, coming from all those years of sketch comedy and other things, that you may have people that are on the same sensibility, but sometimes you'll know.

I assume you're going to know, well, we have to go to that reaction shot a little sooner to get to laugh.

Yes.

So there's all that mathematics in there.

And so this show is landing it so consistently.

That stuff's hard to do.

I always assume it's either a few people that are right on the same frequency or one person that says, guys, I think we should do it this way.

Yeah.

Which is a reason why it's so brilliant.

I mean, I think it's

just the best idea winning.

And yeah, there's a certain level of harmony in it.

And it is something that I learned in that same karate kid way that I was talking about with SNL, where,

you know,

by the time you were there and by the time you were there, 20, you know, 15 years later, all those same people were still there building those sets, making those props, building those wigs, you know, and they're all great at it.

They've done 10,000 hours times, you know, just our three generations, much less the two prior and the four cents or whatever.

And like,

I

was like, okay, I'm going to, my sketch got picked.

I'm going to go into that room with the heads of each department and just let them know what the sketch is about from my perspective without pontificating, without, without, you know, being condescending and just let these geniuses do whatever they want to do with it.

And then you just, we have done that with this show.

Like where you, and, and if you leave a little space for the people to create behind the camera and, and in the office and in marketing, whatever, to lean into this show.

the same the same space and and grace we want to afford the audience as well i think a lot of people get you know feel more ownership over that.

Yeah, they're good in their job, and you let them do their job.

And if you hire good people, I like to not worry about some things.

I like to kick at someone and say, you know what, you're doing way more than I do.

And you come in there and fight.

It's nothing like someone handing you something good.

And you get the red basically.

And I get the Robert Smigel was out for me and Bonnie and Terry Turner.

You know, in terms of, that's such a difficult word, art or whatever.

It seems like there was some, and you can talk to this or not, an autobiographical tinges in the third season.

Based on you, potentially, your private life

it was you can speak to that or not but i i couldn't help but notice and i thought it was so wonderfully done because i've been on the road at times with my sons and stuff like that yeah

i mean those are very poignant scenes thank you yeah the what's interesting is is that my

relationship to

my life i like i'm i'm i'm

It wasn't there from the very get-go, like even when the initial idea of doing a show, I was like, well, why would he go there?

Because a guy like my age would have, most likely, have a child, at least one child, and elite, and probably be in a relationship.

If he's not, there's some, there's must be a reason why.

And so that's why the pilot ends the way a pilot.

I mean, I like literally the second it was, it was thinking about it in the long form of a television show, I was like, I knew that that was the ending of the pilot, was going to be okay.

So, so none of that was autobiographical.

And then as life sort of marched on, the only thing that

in my life that helped inform the playing of things and maybe even

the notion of a story point when breaking the episodes was being a father.

And so what that's like to be away from your child because, you know, Otis and Daisy were, you know, the season two and season three were in London.

So I wasn't away from them, you know, with, you know, the way we split our time with our children.

It's a week on, week off.

So,

but I was always, you know, they don't do overtime in the UK.

So I was home.

I was able to be home for real?

Yeah, yeah.

So So I was like, they literally afford you the opportunity to make a living.

I know, right?

Yeah.

And so, so I didn't have to, but I, but to, you know, my, luckily, my, I've never had a parent take their own life.

So you just kind of like have to do the acting thing of like empathize with someone that has gone through that or has been forced to go through that based on the decisions.

And so, yeah, it's, it's,

I understand people conflating the two.

Oh, no, it's a good answer that it's not maybe people are reading in a bit.

It's a place to go anyway.

Yeah.

It's what would naturally

happen in these things.

Because so much of it for me is like, it's like, what happens when, you know,

if you haven't broken up with someone you haven't been broken up with, then

there's a whole bunch of music out there for you once you do.

There's a whole bunch of movies and TV too.

Whether you're on either side of that thing.

And boy, you think you like songs now.

They're going to get you through things and make you want to jump off a roof and think you can fly or the opposite.

It's a a compliment to your acting, too.

When you have that little soccer field, the Lego set,

you're missing your, you know, or just the little references to FaceTime, or my son's here right now, or there's where his flight is.

All that detail.

I mean, that's just also having friends that, you know, go through all these things.

And you just, yeah, just keeping, keeping those things in your head, heart, and soul, and letting them bang around there.

Then at some point, when they come out, they come out.

You know, I think about, I watch the,

it's not usually conscious.

Like, I watched the audio commentary for Godfather, uh, I think it was either one or two just recently.

And it was talking about how he made Godfather one, and then everybody loved it.

And he's like, Do Godfather two?

He's like, I don't have a Godfather two.

He's like, I don't, he goes, but I forget the line the studio head had from.

He's like, You found out the formula for Coca-Cola, and you won't make any more bottles.

Like, it's such a great line.

And he had this separately, he had this idea about a father and son story where you show the father and son contemporaneously when they're at the same age.

And then that

came down.

He remembered that, and that became Godfather too.

And so, like, these things going on in the world and life are one thing, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's their time to show up.

You know, Christopher Walken hasn't showed up to say the lines yet, you know.

And so, you're kind of

like, all right, well, here, here it is all at this time.

And so,

is it because one of our Lornisms that we remember is he said to me once,

you never leave a hit.

No.

So with Ted Lasso, is it?

Not for you, my bias.

Is it done now?

This story is done.

It sounds like such a political answer, but it's the truth.

It's like we only conceived what, you know, these, these three.

Then this thing became this big old thing.

I mean, how much content is the three seasons?

If you think of it as a movie.

Oh, gosh.

I mean, it's 10 episodes, 12 episodes, 12 episodes, but this season is probably twice as long as the first season.

The episodes are just

longer.

There's more

story.

It could go back to being an NBC promo.

Yeah, exactly.

You know what I think you could, though?

The natural Doppler effect.

This is some of Flight of Fan.

Sorry for interrupting.

I'm cross-talking.

Cross-talking.

Tarantino wrote a book after Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which I loved so much.

It feels like Ted Lasso, if there ain't going to be more television, that that character, people would want to hear.

Have you thought of that?

100%.

Yeah, we've thought about writing a novel about him.

Whether it's that,

whether it's

doing podcasts about the episodes to sort of offer those audio commentaries, which I was so lucky to grow up in a day and age of DVDs, just to sort of talk through things and the themes

and the people that have

expressed interest in the show and also explain the show in a much more

cerebral

way than I ever would have been able to explain it to anybody.

And even when they're off or wrong, it's still interesting.

But yeah, I mean, there's opportunities, I think, for spin-offs.

The way people have gravitated and cared for these characters and seen themselves or their friends or their family in these characters in these situations is,

we were hoping people would do that.

We didn't expect it to be.

When did you kind of go, holy shit, halfway through the first season?

Or when you won all the 18 Emmy nominations?

At some point, you went.

Even winning the Emmy, or even the nomination for the Emmys didn't,

I think, I don't know, man.

It, you know, it came out during quarantine, so we didn't know, you know, because I'm not too active online and less so then.

I just,

a guy would drive by the house when I'm taking out the garbage and honk, hey, I love the show.

Oh, right.

And it's a little bit the same way I felt SNL days.

You know, you walk around on Sunday and people be like, great show last night.

You're like, oh, right.

People watch.

There's someone's watching.

You know what I mean?

You can get a feel for what.

works and what doesn't sometimes just out in the real world.

Yeah.

Oh, 100%.

Yeah.

And it's, and it's usually great.

And then you're getting like slaughtered with it.

You go, oh, shit, something's then an Emmy nomination.

Yeah.

Then Apple probably tells you it's doing well.

And they might not say exactly how, but it's doing well.

That was a big difference.

That probably is from a business side of things, understanding that they have access to metrics and information that they don't share was it premiered on a Friday.

We had already started our writer's room for season two, like, you know, just kind of just in case, just in case.

Then Monday calls the heads of Apple call and say, hey, so we'd love to pick you up for a second season.

Then two weeks after that, we'd love to add, can you do two more episodes?

That

for a second?

And then two weeks after that, we'd love to get you for a third season.

And you're like, something has

to do.

But that anecdotal thing of walking around became more clear

because season two, we were in lockdown up there in London.

So

we started going to things later.

Yes, we were winning these awards, but then you feel like, oh, is that just inside the bottle or the bowl, the showbiz box?

And which is lovely and flattering and also a little something you keep or i don't know about you guys but i keep a little bit like well you don't want to make sure that you're gonna kill do season four it'll crush exactly yeah you don't you don't want to spook the muses and so by the by the time we're going back there to do this this past third season all of 2022 and getting to take you know the kids to like football matches and stuff and have people calling us coaches and being excited to see us and like that that I would say a little you know and hearing Brad Pitt loved it yeah exactly that's always nice yeah you can tell

come on no matter what you do Dana, like you've done it, we've done it.

You hear from the streets, like, I could tell you the top movies that they like, the top TV, because it's just in order.

You just hear this one the most, this one the most.

And they probably only really like probably 40 of my movies.

Like, really, really like them.

I like them all.

I want to ask you a question.

So this is, so you're.

Come on.

Why did I add that?

I don't know.

We have editing capability.

Get rid of anything I say.

This is what's curious to me is because I came off like a rocket.

I've never had anything because of this, 30 years later, I'm having a little bit of a moment in Hollywood.

Nothing that anyone would know about, but I'm getting more things coming at me.

So you come off SNL, you're doing all these movies, pandemicus, whatever, you do this, and now here you are.

You're the bell of the ball.

Hollywood loves you.

So now you're wiser, more mature.

What's coming at you?

Like movies, would you do a potato chip commercial if the price was right?

100% with Forte and Solomon.

Yeah, you got to dance with the ones that brought me out.

You know, I couldn't do it alone.

I mean, you know right now that you have this heat and that the audience loves you.

The world, you know, you're in this moment.

And so I just wondered how, because now it's happening a second time.

Here it is again.

Yeah, it doesn't feel like it from the inside.

Maybe that's my own just sort of like.

Are things coming at you, though?

To a degree, but like there's a little bit of a microphone.

Well, you can get things off the ground.

What do we do with it?

But with a TV show, it'd be probably scary to go go do one right away.

Like you said, let's

say a complete, you know, about face.

I mean, there's a few ideas out there.

Like, I was really, really wanted to do this

play on Broadway.

But just with family,

it's tough to, I'm still trying to navigate those real life things and also just

where my head, heart, and soul are at.

And

there's also a great desire to get a little bored.

Take your time.

I would say if anybody was advising, I would say just don't be in a hurry.

This thing is still, you know, it's still landing.

People are discovering it today.

Tell anyone who hasn't seen it, start.

Yeah, it's, it's, it's,

and I, and I believe, you know, I, I, I believe in that wholeheartedly.

I, I, I,

I, what I truly love is seeing the way

all these great people behind the scenes in front of the camera, the way that their lives have changed from it in a way that I was afforded an early glimpse of that with being hired by SNL.

You know,

that changes the way folks that maybe weren't supportive of a child taking a path in the arts.

Mine were, luckily, but it changes the game there where it's like, you know, my son, you know, isn't it?

It just works all.

Just anything on a,

especially if one of their first things is a hit.

Like

it's also scary because some people, like, we used to talk about when you go on friends and you're young actor and you're on friends and you don't, as much as you tell yourself, you don't know how hard it is after that.

Like it can't be like this all the time.

Even though everyone treats you like a certain way, on anything that does well, you look back.

It's always going to be ups and downs.

Yeah, it's kind of like what you bring to it.

Like I, like, I know we worked just as hard on, you know, on any of those movies that you, that you named as I did on this.

I was charged with more responsibility and being like, you know, like from the writing side, producing side, being the final tube for, you know, decision making and, you know, tone cop and whatnot,

that's all lovely.

But at the end of the day, what I'm putting out there and what I want to put out into the world is, and, and how I go about trying to do that, been doing that is, you know, from any of these sketches, you know, from the sketches that weren't on SNL that I did with, you know, all my buddies back in the day.

It's a coming from you, you say, or your very tight friends.

As long as that's coming from that area, then it's probably going to be good.

Unless it's, I don't know, if Quentin Tarantee or whoever your favorite director, Squin Saisy, but in lieu of anything else that's coming from you,

it feels authentic.

And all I've done is added to the people that I want to make laugh and be proud of what I'm doing and then how I'm going about doing it.

So it is those guys that I played basketball with, you know, those guys from my, you know, quote unquote

cross-country team.

But then I acquired everything from my, you know,

Days of Improv in Kansas City, Chicago, boom.

And so it's just like this, that same, that same gatefold, that same, you know, that I saw on the 40th.

Like I have that many people, you know, behind me.

And they're not looking over me, being like correcting my work or making me second guess.

They're just encouraging me.

And you just want to kind of be able to look back there metaphorically and be like, yeah, have them doing that nod of just like, yeah, do it.

Keep doing that.

Keep doing that.

You just want to be proud of you.

And you also want to feel getting to come through Sketch and Improv in a whole community like Chicago could have happened to

10 dozen of the people that I got to work with.

You know, just different times.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

Never got a total break.

Yeah.

Brilliant.

And you want to do right by them, too, because

it's, it's,

I don't know.

There's so much whimsy to this game, and it's there before the grace of God go I.

I mean, you have to stay humble and go,

I love Paul Newman for that.

He was my favorite celebrity.

Because

one, they would go, oh, you've raised 500 million from your spaghetti sauce.

He goes, I wish I'd kept the.

money.

He didn't want to be put on a pedestal.

And the other thing,

how'd you do it?

How'd you?

I could give you a thousand answers.

Just plain dumb luck.

So just those two things.

You asked about movies that were huge influence.

It's not a comedy by any means, but a big one that shows up in Ted Last all the time was Color of Money.

In 1960, between my age of nine and 11, I watched these movies that I'd go to theaters with my dad, things that are R-rated.

Movies are everything.

They change.

Everything.

The mental, excuse me, the male mentoring in that movie, like of

Color Money.

Carl Newman and Tom Cruise.

And Tom Cruise, after, you know, ladies and gentlemen, you know, Top Gunn, Tom, Tom Cruise, you know, well, after Risky Business and all the right moves and all that, but like now he's like a bona fide, like, and he's incredible.

He's, he's like, that's when you don't hear enough about Color of Money was a money.

Because Scorsese has so many good ones.

Color money.

I love that movie.

I was talking about that.

Ed Norton and I were, I saw him recently.

We were talking about that movie.

And I thought I was going to get laid into when he started talking about Scorsese because that guy knows the other guy's done the thing and forgotten more about movies than I'll ever know.

Yeah.

Like, and he brings up Color of Money.

I go, I was so ready to geek out.

That's my favorite Scorsese movie.

And a lot of it has to do with the way I saw it, but then also those performances.

I recommend people to see that movie.

And then, if you love it, then go back, watch The Hustler as like a prequel.

Jackie Gleason.

Is that Jackie Gleason and Paul Newman?

Yeah, where he plays Fast Eddie Felson, the same character.

Same guy that wrote the novel, Walter Tevis, who wrote both books.

I like Pool Hall movies.

I do like Rackham.

We were going to call this podcast Rackham.

It's going to say

a fine time to go rack'em.

There's having a transition with the sound of the balls.

Rack'em.

Because there's a mystique.

There's a mystique to people that can play the piano really well as adults that you've never seen play piano, that are really good at Jeopardy.

Yeah.

You know, and pool.

Like, if someone's good at pool,

especially if they didn't grow up with money, they didn't grow up with a table in there.

Like, how do you get good at pool?

The way they do the chalk and the way it goes perfectly on their hands.

The math of it, they make it look cool.

It's so complicated, Pool.

But, you know, the dramatic movies affected me in 2001.

It wasn't everything watching Jonathan Winters and stuff.

Those things, I wouldn't say, could I do that?

It was just like, just blew my mind.

Yeah.

As art, and the Beatles, of course, Pink Floyd.

Tom Hanks and Michael Keaton movies, like where they're just, where they're funny 15% of the movie, but it's like they're carrying this dramatic narrative.

Mr.

Mom

is incredible.

Mr.

Mom is finally a kisses, too.

I love it.

Mr.

Mom has just a magic as an actor.

Yeah.

You know,

I love that.

That was a movie my auntie.

i have a gung-ho poster that my aunt nancy gave me in my basement and that was but again michael keaton like was so he's great i mean him and tom hanks like they like like just they were these these modern versions

big yeah yeah tom hanks what'd you guys think of punchline

like i said i mean that was your word we knew someone who who trained himself barry solvol was a standard yeah yeah yeah who um they thought did a great idea i mean he did a great job yeah it's it's such an interesting like

having i guess one that we could talk about all together is like, you know, Studio 60.

Like, when they, when, when someone makes

a film or television show about your world, like, we're, we're very blessed to have a bunch of the football soccer community having, you know, taken us under their wing and embraced us in a way that, again, we weren't, you know, jockeying for, but the fact that we got it authentically and organically, like, really

high flow.

It floats our boat.

Yeah, we're very, very pleased about that.

It's hard to make a movie about stand-up, you know, and I think distance running, there's never been chariots of fire, not really difficult to capture that.

I think usually there is the meltdown and then the microphone

feeds back

and the comedian has a meltdown.

Which of course Tom Hanks is a brilliant actor, played it perfectly.

But I've never seen that.

Well, they also have locker rooms.

Where the comedian turns and then there's a squeak.

Wasn't there a locker room?

Yes, there was.

I mean, I think people

dressed up as like a nun or something.

It did it as well.

But it's hard to do it.

Like if someone, they talk about doing a dramatic show about a sketch show, you know, like Studio 60, like the when they did I love the pilot and then Studio 60, yeah, it's just tough, tough to capture that.

That was all I watched, yeah.

It is, it's very, it's, it is.

What are the movies you revisit now?

Pulp Fiction's a big one.

Like Pulp Fiction.

I think Die Hard.

It was Pearlie Quentin.

What did you say the second one?

Die Hard?

I think Die Hard.

Like my wife and I,

you know, we watch a lot of Redford, you know, all the President's Men.

We watch Three Days of Condor, which Cassie Sundance Kid, I showed to my sons six months ago.

Yeah,

this is awesome.

It's really fun.

You have all that ahead of you.

How old are your kids?

Otis is nine, Daisy's seven.

Yeah, so you're, is he asked for Save It Private Ryan yet?

No, yeah, yeah, no, no.

But I do show them.

I remember my dad taking me to see Beverly Hills Cop in the theater.

I saw that movie in the theaters with my dad, not supposed to, F-words all over the place,

nudity.

Never forget it.

And never forget it.

And it made me like, i wanted to be eddie murphy so bad so bad so bad i like you know and and more so than than like chevy chase and fletch i loved you know chevy chase but like but better but axel foley really like knocked my socks off in a way that still does when i when i rewrite and they're coming out with a new one right or is that i guess but you know we'll see what happens yeah but at least we got the i love animal animal house is my animal house my r-rated one they showed the girls

i know i know it's heavy duty and it was pretty great

i don't know

in the middle of the movie i go Savvy Boner.

It was so illicit and so nasty.

And Monty Python.

Monty Python was

pretty young.

Calker Orange.

Yeah.

That scared me.

Saw The Longest Day when I was seven in the theater.

She's a black and white World War II film.

Yeah.

Shouts to me about Einstein.

You know, the ships come up.

Sorry, his little broken German thing.

Did you see the Fabelmans?

The Spielberg one?

I haven't watched it yet.

I watched it on the plane, right?

What do you think?

I loved it.

Really?

Yeah.

It is Spielberg.

Spielberg telling, you know, an autobiographical history, but just his love of movies and having children that are falling, you know, in love with storytelling and getting to see their mom and dad do it.

And, and, and, um,

you know, so much I feel of, of, and I understand the laments of over nepotism, but so much of it is, is seeing someone do it and see them enjoying it or seeing the way people enjoy them.

You know, nothing that I've purchased or have been given on a plane will move Otis towards wanting to be, do what I do for a living more than him probably seeing people give me as many high fives as they do

when we go to a soccer.

When you're happy or anything, yeah.

When they're happy to see you, when people are happy to see you enjoy.

They're being polite and begin because of the themes of this show.

They're like, yeah, I mean, it's something that we, I mean, how often have we had the opportunity to put people that work in comedy to have people tell them, take them aside and be like,

I discovered this.

I watched this when I was going through this.

And it helped me.

That's the thing.

It's like if you were famous, I don't want to pick on porkies, but something like that, like a hard R, weirdo movie that everyone loved.

But with Lasso,

TL, TL, yeah, Teddy.

With Teddy, you,

you know, the people are going to be emotional about it because it touches everything.

Yeah, Hannah gets that a lot.

The woman who plays Rebecca, just the amount of women that come up to her and just like, you are playing me.

Yeah, she is a force of nature, obviously.

So a thing I was going to say earlier about

the writers, you know, we let all the Brits anglicize things.

Every now and then do we push back where it's just like car park versus parking lot or saying tie instead of draw.

And some of those things drive people crazy, and I understand that.

But that's just, you know, this is the phrase that I would always use just so folks in Kansas can get it.

So you're trying to get too much in the weeds of

the politics of

the music.

Yeah.

Because I think if your dominating emotion is confusion, then you're that much further away from either being happy or sad.

You talk like Ted Lasso sometimes.

Say that again.

Or vice versa.

If your dominant emotions are

like that,

you're that much further away from making an audience.

If the audience is

confused, then they don't know whether to laugh or cry at a given moment.

So you kind of try to give them breadcrumbs about it.

Maybe during tenants.

And that's nice.

Exactly.

Juno.

My dominant emotion was anger.

Juno Temple.

Yes, ma'am.

Just got to go through the list.

Well, no, I just, I like all these two actresses, especially are great.

Obviously, Brett Goldstein, just the way he stands all the time is

like a gunslinger.

Yeah,

he's just funny.

He's got a funny, funny voice.

I'm sure

someone's going to do him on SNL.

I know.

I'm surprised they haven't yet.

I'm really surprised.

He's such a funny character.

Yeah, but that's all him.

You know, it's fun to hear him talk about it because it's him doing Bill Sykes in his mind from Oliver.

He's just, you know, just trying to be Bill Sykes.

You know, just like, and so, yeah, when I'm doing like rewrites or where you're breaking stories, just like the same thing at the rewrite table at SNL, just doing bad impressions of all these like very specific, you know, authentic people.

I'm just, you know, talking like this with Rebecca and and Dora, like that.

And I'm doing bad, I can't do any of these accents.

Rebecca, you're just hearing them.

You're just hearing the rhythm and the cadence of it and, you know, trying to draw from what they're, you know, what you and then when did you decide?

I just

one more question.

One last question.

When did you decide

that you would

use

R-rated language?

Was that pretty early on?

Yeah.

Because you really use it.

You don't lean on it, but all of a sudden it's like, these fucking coke suckers, mostly from him.

Yeah.

But that's an interesting thing.

I 100% didn't want to use it myself.

I didn't want him to be.

You know, all those movies that you, you know, I sort of got...

And I mean, I was making these choices, you know, for the reasons I made them.

You know, the movies that I was doing and the characters I was playing, a lot of them were cads, you know, guys on the make, you know, like

trying to get

girls and whatnot.

Like Dick Fuel.

Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Like, he just wanted respect.

You know, he just wants respect and a paycheck and a good lunch.

But like,

but then, so I knew that lay on for me, I didn't want to be bawdy and I didn't want him to swear.

If he did, it was only, you know, I think he's done it once every season.

But everybody else, it's like, yeah, that's just the world, you know, as it is.

So we just wanted to.

It just works.

Yeah, Apple never fought it.

They didn't want us to use the C word.

So there was a monologue we had C words.

It was around in England more.

I mean, it's like, and that was the whole premise.

It was like, you know, we were even ready to beep it, you know, but it was May,

the woman who owns the bar uses it very casually and

in reference to

Ted when he the c word yeah and and and just ted and beard's reaction to whoa hey you know she's like what what's the big deal you know and just her going no you can use it in a bunch of different ways and she goes through a bunch of different ways you know what it reminds me a lot of like when we it ended up not being able to use it because apple was like nah we can you know we can't use a c word i was like all right um was you remember uh uh Schneider's stand-up bit from days gone by of the word dude dude yeah

it's that that that great that idea of

that oh yeah yeah that was a you're on that special too I think is that oh the young comedian yeah that thing got a lot of you're in a closet with a knife yeah dude yeah talented yeah rob has some rhythms

oh no war i mean come on didn't know it was b-y-o-t and say it on the check it hi rob

no that's my joke calm down

he's doing me at the u2 concert oh what is it bono's yelling No war.

No war.

I'm saying no more.

You're saying no more.

What are you saying?

War?

Sorry.

I don't know.

I didn't even know who the fuck is singing i'm supposed to read his list am i booging you am i booging me

didn't mean to boogie

that's a bad bottle when what's your brain candy when do you want to calm down what do you do take a walk do you watch a i do you watch the best of david spade or

still do i don't know just you don't you do now um i do um I mean, I'll play the last few years has been, pinball was one for, you know, a while, but those are tougher to move around, right?

So, so playing video games, like playing, you know, Fortnite with like friends and just, you know, turning my brain off and just focusing on that.

And then a thing that I got into over the last, like, I mean, I'd always been into it, but over the last, you know, six years basically,

was like magic, like just shuffling cards.

Like just, I just find it very meditative.

And a lot of times when in situations where I have to do as much, you know, listening and thinking as I do talking, I'll usually have a deck of cards on me because it'll keep me from pulling out my beard.

Or just practice shuffling.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Or just kind of like, you know, doing like little sleight of hand moves.

And I don't really perform magic for anyone i just i just i'll do it for like friends after a couple beers or like my kids if there's just like a deck laying around but i've never been one to be hey you want to see a trick

um

yeah

i don't know actually i haven't been relaxed in 30 years see i envy that i wish i could i i know before i before i die i know i will dedicate more time to like trying to play the piano i've done it throughout my life and then something to always but it's just that desire to want to run before i can even crawl.

Yeah.

It's so hard.

The piano is tough.

I have an electric piano too.

I'm just banging on it all the time, but I don't, you know.

But the guitar, if you get nylon strings, get a small guitar, just learn.

Because it doesn't rip up your fingers.

Yeah, before you get the calluses.

So you get a clear note, rather than it's all mushy.

Yeah.

Learn five chords, C, D, E minor, and then you can play 100 songs.

No, but it's really simple.

It's mostly the right hand.

Is Smoke on the Water still the go-to one, or is that too old?

That aged you so hard, Spain.

I don't even know what it is.

No, that's a deep purple, isn't it?

I'm young.

Don't act like you don't know what's smoke on the water.

Don't make me the old.

You probably know what it's about, too.

I'll get one.

I would do

come,

don't, you know, Nirvana.

Come.

Come, come, get some.

Come as you are.

I mean, I've always loved Nirvana.

I was right in the sweet spot.

Yeah.

Well, me too.

And I was older, but you still thought they were brand new.

I listened to them a ton before doing the season for one reason or another.

And I got, and Otis was

playing guitar.

Him and Daisy take these lessons, do this thing out here called Kid Row.

Oh, okay.

It's lovely.

It's like School of Rock, but they just call it Kirk.

When you're young, you learn so much better.

And I bought a, I'm left-handed.

Even though I don't play guitar, but I would play air guitar left-handed.

That's right.

Yeah, exactly.

Or Kirk Cobain.

So I bought a guitar and Otis and I took a lesson together.

He was already better than me, and I was slowing him down.

And I'm just like, even playing, Smells like Teen Spirit, so hard, so difficult.

And then, even if you play the simple version of it, like it hurt my fingers.

I couldn't, like, drums are a much more natural fit for me.

I have better limb separation.

You could also get a maple neck

strat and have them.

That's the bird.

Damn it, this is inside facebook.

It's a strat or caster.

The nylon strings was a mind-blower here because I was like, oh, yeah.

But you can hear also with very lightweight strings on an electric guitar.

You could play bar chords of that really simple.

It's still hard.

Yes.

It's like, it's like petty.

It's impossible.

Easy.

It's impossible.

Even people that don't, that just do it noodling around make it look so easy.

Well, next time we hang out,

I'll show you just a D chord and then a bar, just a bar, three notes.

Don't bring a pinball chord.

And then you'll be like, I'll tell you what.

We have a little farm up north, and I want a room with pinball machines in it.

It's worth at least a machine.

As a kid, they were huge.

I've not played it in a while.

And a pool table.

Jason Sudekis was our guest today, and he, in summation,

the left brain.

There you go.

Lived at Burger King.

He's one of Kansas's favorites.

He lives in the room.

He's got a very small room at the Paramount Hotel.

A small room.

We don't normally sum up.

His next thing is going to be something with low pressure.

He might remake The Godfather or something.

Yeah, yeah.

Our guest has been Jason Sudakis.

You were great.

Saturday car is murdered out, by the way.

Not bad, yeah.

Yeah, not bad.

I want it to look like a Batmobile.

It looks cool.

SNLR, all-star, movie star, and now a global live streaming star.

I don't know.

It's a good new one.

I said star three times.

It sounds like a nice resume.

I just

want to call the best.

And take your time and have fun.

And I'm one of those people that was really affected by this show and just love it.

Just really affects me.

I was affected by collapse.

By COVID, you worked on it.

We're going to work on you.

David's a work in progress.

No, I'm not look at I'm I took notes no one works hard thank you Justin and watching it Justin Thoreau has been our game

Billy Sedakis was here today who played

Ted Wert Lisa I think Bill Sedekis wasn't he like a baseball player if I remember Sudekis is that Greek or what's that Lithuanian Litha who Litho

Litha Lith yeah Lith Lithuanian Lithuanian but yeah I'm throwing this away Steven I want to hear your all pass story yeah

you didn't finish that.

No, I dated a girl in hall pass.

No, that's not your hall, but the girls that come up to you at the end of the day.

Oh, you dated.

He likes the other story better.

Oh,

in Vegas.

Yeah, the type of the girl that the girls that they go,

you're my hall pass.

You get the meet and greet.

And I go, first of all, they're all nervous and they hands drenched like a sham wow.

And then I go, and they go, I'm your hall pass.

You're my home pass.

I go, oh, and they go,

that's where I get, I go, go, no, I know what it is.

I'm a hard pass on my side.

You're a hard pass.

You're my hard pass.

Yeah, you're my hard pass.

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Fly on the Wall is presented by Odyssey, an executive produced by Danny Carvey and David Spade, Heather Santoro and Greg Holtzman, Maddie Sprung-Kaiser, and Leah Reese-Dennis of Odyssey.

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