"Amy Poehler"

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Speaker 1 Do you know that this year,

Speaker 1 we're coming up on five years. I know, isn't that a matter of right? So, then how many episodes is that? We've been doing one.

Speaker 1 We're going to be 250 episodes, and I don't know. And 25 is the silver, 50 is the gold.
Is there anything for 250? Is that triple silver? It's

Speaker 1 what is it? What is it? Centennial? Wasn't it? Wait, guys,

Speaker 1 this is our 250th episode. Also known as Duicento Chim Cuantecimo.
Bravo, Bravo.

Speaker 1 Welcome, guys. So nice to be here.
Oh, you came from the back of the theater. Yeah, I came.
I finally made it my way to the front. Nice to see you guys.
Look at you guys.

Speaker 1 Anyway, hey, listen, do you mind if I drop some beats on you? That'd be okay.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 Let me tell you something about. Just close your eyes.
Okay.

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 imagine, imagine Italian Riviera. 1982.
White Ferrari Mondial.

Speaker 1 Puff, puff,

Speaker 1 screaming down all the trata.

Speaker 1 You have a cinzano with ice.

Speaker 1 Okay, now you're feeling the vibe, huh?

Speaker 1 Listen, let me ask you something.

Speaker 1 When you're making a podcast,

Speaker 1 everybody wants to know what's that old fashioned recipe.

Speaker 1 But one thing, one favorite,

Speaker 1 speedato. What I'm trying to say is

Speaker 1 smile,

Speaker 1 huh?

Speaker 1 I love you.

Speaker 1 If you want to do one thing in this year, get smallest to fifty.

Speaker 1 Shawnee, have you been? It's been a minute.

Speaker 1 My nephew and his girlfriend and three friends are visiting in town this weekend, which is super fun. Wait, are we going to see them tonight? No,

Speaker 1 I know. I think it's too many people.
Right. You're not going to go.
Am I going to see you tonight? No.

Speaker 1 What?

Speaker 1 I know. It's going to be bad.
But, you know, but I don't get to see my nephew and everybody.

Speaker 1 I feel bad. We saw them last night, right?

Speaker 1 Why don't you come over here afterwards? That'll happen. Oh, yeah, that'll happen.
Hey, yeah, Jason, why don't you come over there afterwards?

Speaker 1 Right around 8:30 or something, drive across the city and spend another two hours.

Speaker 1 This will happen for sure.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 But last night, I took him to Koi, right? Last night? Sure, yeah. And I was

Speaker 1 your favorite seafood restaurant. It was so good.
And I was walking back to the car, and there was a pothole that I thought was just like a surface

Speaker 1 puddle. And it was a massive pothole.
And I completely twisted my ankle. It was so fucking painful.
Look at that.

Speaker 1 Is it all swollen? Yeah, let's see.

Speaker 1 I can't see it. It's huge.
No, I can see that.

Speaker 1 This is going to heal fast, right? Like I freaked out last night. Probably not.
It'll probably heal the wrong way and you'll be club.

Speaker 1 Do you know the term club foot? Deadfoot.

Speaker 1 Well, but fortunately, it's not going to take anything away from your life. Usually it means that you can't be playing basketball or doing all the jogging and all that.

Speaker 1 Luckily, you don't do any of it. Yeah, this is true.
Is that what you're getting at, Jason? Yeah, you'll still be able to shuffle into Chin Chin for lunch and koi for dinner. Shuffle.

Speaker 1 What if you go to the doctor and you're like, will this affect my ability to watch TV all day?

Speaker 1 Well, no, I just prop it up on the couch. That's what I've been doing.
Will I still be able to chop celery into my egg salad? No, tuna salad.

Speaker 1 will i have to cut will i have to cut my sloppy joe intake

Speaker 1 you know what though here's the deal they went to the tar pits you know the la brea tar pits near the museum they being your your nephew my nephew and girlfriend and their friends isn't still a tourist attraction here it is they've never been and they bought crickets they bought a bag of crickets and they ate them sour cream and onion crickets and they pulled them out what does that have to do with the what okay go ahead because they're saying the dinosaurs used to eat crickets back in the tar pit days why do they sell that?

Speaker 1 No, no, no, no. They sell them in the gift shop.
They sell them in the gift shop. Why? I have no idea.
In the museum? Yes. And they pulled me, you want one?

Speaker 1 I'm like, no, I'm not going to eat a cricket. Oh, God.
Why?

Speaker 1 The last time I heard crickets was Goodnight Oscar. It was right after the curtain went down.

Speaker 1 But that's a.

Speaker 1 Look at him. He's on Fire Day.
He's on Fire Day.

Speaker 1 Who would do the worst at some sort of like outdoor survivor type of show where you got to do

Speaker 1 stuff like that? I'd laugh. No, but I think I wouldn't,

Speaker 1 I think I might do even worse. Well, you would call your lawyer and say, Am I obligated to eat this?

Speaker 1 Imagine if we took the word obligation out of your vocabulary. You weren't allowed to use obligation.
Yeah, I need

Speaker 1 new shtick. I'm sick of my own fucking voice.
I'm going to be silent today. We love your voice.

Speaker 1 I miss both you guys a lot. I am going to say something.

Speaker 1 I'm still in New York.

Speaker 1 I've been in New York and I've been with lots of friends and lots of people and with obviously with Bradley, but I really miss you guys a lot. I know, likewise.

Speaker 1 I'm so jealous. I can't see him.
Anyway, here we go. Speaking of can't wait to see people.
I can't wait for you to see our guest today. Oh, great.

Speaker 1 This person is someone we all have a segue. Thank you.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 She's someone we all know well. So much so that I'm not sure what I can say about her that won't give it away.
But she's a prolific comedian.

Speaker 1 She's an author, superhero producer, really great director. She played Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz when she was 10.
And more recently, I think she played Alphaba in the movie Wicked. I don't know.

Speaker 1 A Boston, she didn't. A Boston native.
Her summer job was working at an ice cream parlor where she'd sing How to Poller with Kazoos. Today she's a comedic force in Hollywood.

Speaker 1 Hilarious colleague and the world's favorite cool mom to Regina George. It's our ridiculously funny friend, Amy Poehler.

Speaker 1 No way. Wait, truly?

Speaker 1 I don't know why.

Speaker 1 Well, well, well.

Speaker 1 Wait a second. Holy shit.
Well, well, well.

Speaker 1 Wait a second. First of all, how many levels am I? I know.

Speaker 1 Of course, my first question is, did you know about this? And of course. No.

Speaker 2 Not a glimpse of recognition on Will's face when he said all of those things.

Speaker 1 There's no way that I thought, well, I knew that you worked at Brigham's, but I didn't in Boston.

Speaker 2 Chadwick's Will.

Speaker 1 I worked at Chad's Chadwick. No.
Sorry.

Speaker 2 Unbelievable.

Speaker 1 But we went to Brigham's with your dad, and he asked the people if they let them. You can finish, Amy.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Wait, Amy,

Speaker 1 did you have to, because of kids' stuff, did you have to say, oh, I can't, or whatever, or some schedule stuff and lie or something?

Speaker 2 You know what? It was really easy to hide it. Nobody was asking if I was doing that.

Speaker 1 Do you think Archie and Abel, do you think Archie and Abel would have been able to keep the secret?

Speaker 2 Did you not tell me? Well, I think one of them knew.

Speaker 2 One of them knew. One of them saw

Speaker 2 our youngest saw my schedule on the kitchen table and said, you're doing smartless? Oh, wow. Does dad know? No way.

Speaker 2 No, don't say anything.

Speaker 1 I love it. Kept the secret.
It's so cool. Way.
And also, Amy and I were texting last night about something else. Zero.
That's

Speaker 1 unbelievable. Yes.

Speaker 1 Amy, I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to introduce you without them knowing.

Speaker 2 I'm so honored to be your guest, Sean, of all three.

Speaker 1 Likewise.

Speaker 1 First of all, I've asked her to do it and she said no. And then she said yes to her.

Speaker 2 Well, I wanted to wait until you had done 250 episodes to see if this thing was real.

Speaker 1 Wait, I know we've been trying to get you on for so long, and it's so hard.

Speaker 2 I usually give something five years before I try it.

Speaker 1 Sure. Sure.

Speaker 1 Wait, Will, how many times have you asked her to do it? A couple times. I asked you to do it on tour, I think, right, AIM?

Speaker 2 Yeah, I think so, yeah. But, you know,

Speaker 2 it just had to, I just was waiting, I was waiting for my buddy Sean to give me the go-ahead.

Speaker 1 Here I am. Here I am.
I gave her the green light, and she showed up. Yes.
Like a race car. Hang on one second.
Hang on. Amanda, get over here.
What?

Speaker 1 But wait, Sean, did you think for a second, like, wait, should I? Is this cool? Like, should did you ask Bennett or Rob to like kind of float it by will to see if you can?

Speaker 1 Yeah, no, I mean, Amy's been on my own.

Speaker 2 What are you guys talking about? Why do you have to float anything past anybody?

Speaker 1 Well, we kind of do that every once in a while. Guys,

Speaker 2 nice, by the way, great welcome. Nice to see you all.

Speaker 1 I mean, Jesus, you're all talking about how weird it is that I'm here.

Speaker 2 Hi, I'm your guest.

Speaker 1 Nice to see you. How you are.

Speaker 1 Good lord.

Speaker 1 You can't take over our podcast. You can't.

Speaker 2 No, it's the only way to talk on this podcast is to completely take it over.

Speaker 1 I believe you.

Speaker 1 Believe me.

Speaker 2 It's unbearable if the guest doesn't because

Speaker 2 you make us sit and listen to you in the beginning anyway.

Speaker 1 And it's torturous. It's torturous.

Speaker 2 It's unbelievable.

Speaker 1 What do you think about that?

Speaker 2 And every single time I hear you guys talk about how much you miss each other. And am I wrong that you talk to each other every week?

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 We don't get to see each other. We don't get to see each other.
First of all, slow down. I'm outraged like five outrages ago.
Okay.

Speaker 1 This is so great. Wait, but for Tracy,

Speaker 1 just so just to really air, right, for my sister.

Speaker 2 Of course.

Speaker 1 You guys were married and now you're not and it's been years and years. Everything's going swimmingly.
What a great way to put it.

Speaker 1 Anyway, let me be the first to say welcome to Smart.

Speaker 1 Thank you. Thank you.

Speaker 2 We're 17 minutes in, but thank you for that.

Speaker 1 Amen.

Speaker 2 And great crickets joke, by the way, Will. That was a really good question.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 Thank you.

Speaker 2 Very, very smart.

Speaker 1 Very sharp.

Speaker 1 Thank you.

Speaker 1 Jason, are you okay with your mic? Yeah, I'm having a real mic issue this morning.

Speaker 1 Is it bad for you guys? Is this bad for me? No, it sounds great. Okay, good.

Speaker 2 It sounds fine. Now,

Speaker 1 so,

Speaker 1 Amy, Will, how did you guys first meet?

Speaker 1 Yeah, we're going to get into it. No, you're definitely not.
First start to fracture. No, you're definitely not.
You're definitely not.

Speaker 1 Amy, can I tell this story about that you and I were talking about

Speaker 1 Sederis the other day?

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah, that's a good, yeah, that's a very funny story.

Speaker 1 So, and I think I maybe told it once, but before, because great, great Amy Sederis thing. So, Amy Sederis, who's working with us on the film, I was hanging out with her the other day, and she

Speaker 1 years ago,

Speaker 1 Amy Poehler and Amy Sedaris would often get mixed up for each other because they're both comedians and they're both sort of blonde and kind of, you know,

Speaker 1 cute and funny and talented.

Speaker 1 So, they'd get mixed.

Speaker 1 And I've been with Poehler a million times where people like will

Speaker 1 say to me, they'd go, I'm such a fan of your brother. And you're like, oh, he's a lawyer.
Thank you. He'll really appreciate me.

Speaker 1 So I guess it happened to Sederis too. And one time, like 20 years ago, I read this article in a magazine where Sederis says, people come up to me all the time and say, oh my God, I love you.

Speaker 1 so great. And I'm such a, you know, I just love you and Will.
And Sedera says in the interview, and I usually say to them, like, yeah, Will and I are having a lot of sexual problems,

Speaker 1 which is so funny. Yeah, it's really funny.
Oh, look at Bless. He's really having an issue.

Speaker 2 Bayon's really having, it's so fascinating that he's having microphone.

Speaker 1 Will, Sean, tell her what it's like when I have technical issues. He's not good.
I'm going to slam the laptop in a second. We had

Speaker 1 to close it. We hear it.

Speaker 1 Amy, we had McConaughey on once and he was trying to get, and he was in the blind, and Jason was having issues, and it took 20 minutes and he got so mad and he was like fuck and he started freaking out and McConaughey starts laughing with his camera covered and Jason goes oh it's really funny is it

Speaker 1 who's laughing who's laughing that's not helpful and he slammed it and I slammed my laughter

Speaker 2 it was not all right all right all right is what you should not laugh

Speaker 1 So Amy, how did you start in comedy? Yeah.

Speaker 1 Oh, believe me, we're getting into that. We're getting into that.

Speaker 2 Oh, Lord, you you guys with your questions. They're so good.
First of all, your questions are always so good.

Speaker 1 Right? So thought out.

Speaker 1 We're up for a, as you would call it.

Speaker 1 We're up for, as you would call it, a peebody.

Speaker 1 Yeah, peabody.

Speaker 1 Wait, Amy, how was, can we talk about it?

Speaker 1 How was the, was SNL 50 fun? Because that show was so funny.

Speaker 2 Oh, man, it was so fun. It was kind of

Speaker 2 out of body. Like, it was kind of too, it was, it was almost too big, like celeb fatigue almost.

Speaker 2 almost yeah um but it was uh so fun and i think it was a big success yeah it was a great show i started thinking about all the suvs that must have been choking out midtown like how you want me to give you a you want me to give you a scoop you want me to give you a smartlist scoop like a yeah making news um uh breaking news uh people had to share dressing rooms and i shared mine with meryl street oh how cool okay is she a dirty bathroom girl does she fancy the top off the toothpaste?

Speaker 2 Well, SNL, you don't have your own bathroom. You have like a, you know, it is a straight up, everyone uses like a hall bathroom.
You don't have your own bathroom and your own dressing room at SNL.

Speaker 1 Do people still smoke back there?

Speaker 2 No, I don't see anybody smoking. Just smoke.
Maybe vaping, but I, but, but, yeah. But yeah, maybe you could.
If you just did it, I bet no one would stop you.

Speaker 1 Was she a good dressing room partner?

Speaker 2 The loveliest. We were kind of two ships, but I took a picture of the door because it was nice to have my,

Speaker 1 love that sketch she did. I know, so funny.

Speaker 2 Her and Kate, oh, Kate is so.

Speaker 1 I mean, could she have hiked those jeans up higher? I mean, it was

Speaker 1 just tough.

Speaker 2 Just tough. But it was fun.
It was so fun. It felt like a high school reunion.
Everybody regressed a little bit back into their old roles.

Speaker 1 Isn't that fun?

Speaker 2 And it was fun. It was, you know,

Speaker 2 I can't believe I was there, to be very honest. Like, it was.

Speaker 1 You and Tina were great in your view. Yeah, you and Tina Fee.
I loved it. That was a great bit.
That was so good. Thanks for Tracy Tina Fey.
So, listen, Amy, when you're thinking

Speaker 1 about it, I got it, bro. Sean, you treat Tracy like she's getting dumber.

Speaker 1 I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
I'm kidding. Wait, tell a little bit.
Wait, just you guys, and then you and Maya did Bronx Beat, which is an all-time favorite. Hilarious.
Can you tell every

Speaker 1 these guys probably don't know where Bronx Beat came from, the origin story of it?

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah. The story of that is there's an amazing

Speaker 2 hair,

Speaker 2 the head of the hair department, jodi mancuso is from the bronx and she has that accent and she would just work with us in the hair makeup room and um we just started talking like her so there's a real jodi so when we do the show we always go into the hair room and just have jodi get you on be like our vocal dialect coach yeah get us there did you have you ever thought about bringing her in on the sketch yeah but you know It's funny that we, you know, we brought Donna, the dresser,

Speaker 2 on for that moment.

Speaker 2 and those the crew like they're so you know real professionals like don't care about being on camera right yeah yeah like a really actual good professional could give a shit if they're like an if they're acting except for Wally

Speaker 1 Wally loves it Wally does love it Wally loves it yeah Wally the key

Speaker 2 the stage manager But I said professional I said professional

Speaker 1 But Amy being back doing that 50th like that like you said it's like a reunion I think I asked you a long long long time ago when you departed the show and you decided to leave that I was like, won't you miss like that?

Speaker 1 I thought you were kicked off. Sorry, I had a different.

Speaker 1 I was asked to leave.

Speaker 2 I was making people uncomfortable.

Speaker 1 That's why.

Speaker 1 You were given the opportunity to retire.

Speaker 2 Well, I had a very gentle HR meeting where a man in a suit

Speaker 2 put me on an elevator severance style. And I don't remember what happened since.

Speaker 1 Do they have an HR on the show? Because if so, that's got to be a really high-trafficked office.

Speaker 2 Well, they do. They do have an HR and they do, like all of the shows that we've all worked on, you know,

Speaker 2 I mean, do you remember? And do we still have to go through the, you know, all that training every time, which is very good to do? Good job.

Speaker 2 But yeah, it is, I, I believe, um, I believe that they do that still and should. Yeah.
It's probably a very different environment than I was there 20 plus years ago for all of us.

Speaker 1 But, but when you like, there's, you're one of the all-time greats to ever, you know, be on SNL. And it is true.
It's true. I mean, everybody's great, but there's breakouts.

Speaker 1 Oh, somebody should have a bunch of people.

Speaker 1 What about the after party? Was there a good, there must have been a very robust after party for you.

Speaker 2 Yep, robust after party at the Plaza Hotel.

Speaker 1 Whoa. Was there an after-after with the little load?

Speaker 2 There may have been. I didn't, I didn't hang that long.
I, I, you know, I, I love bedtime.

Speaker 2 I used to be a vampire and now I love bedtime. I think about bedtime all day.
Yes.

Speaker 1 Do they still do the little like the little sort of the size of like a

Speaker 1 fortune and a cookie? The hand a little address for the after-after party? Is that still something that's done?

Speaker 2 I feel like like one of the things that was different is, you know, things are texted and emailed. And, you know, I didn't have any of that when I was there wildly.

Speaker 2 We didn't even have phones that we carried around on the floor. I mean, maybe we did occasionally, but we would kind of leave them in the dressing room.
But now, everything is texted.

Speaker 2 So, I imagine maybe it's a text now.

Speaker 2 Maybe it's a Snapchat or some kind of YouTube channel people subscribe to.

Speaker 2 Maybe it's probably a podcast that tells you what where the after action is.

Speaker 1 Speaking of pods, you've got a new pod on, Amy. Oh, my God.

Speaker 2 Thank you so much for that.

Speaker 1 Yes, tell us about your new pod. Oh, that's why she's here.

Speaker 1 Yes, that's right. What's it called?

Speaker 1 And where can we find it? Good Good Hang with Amy Poehler.

Speaker 2 It's called Good Hang, and it's on Spotify.

Speaker 2 Can't wait. And I'm very excited.
It's been really fun. We've been recording and getting ready for our launch.
I don't know when this show is going to come on, when this one drops.

Speaker 2 How far ahead are you guys?

Speaker 1 July of 2026.

Speaker 2 Okay, July 2026. So it's been going for about a year, and it's been good.

Speaker 1 This is a good bump. This will be a good bump.

Speaker 1 We'll be right back.

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Speaker 1 The show is always a good time, but it's the guests who truly take things up a notch.

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Speaker 1 And now back to the show.

Speaker 1 But wait, but Amy,

Speaker 1 I was going to ask you if you ever wanted to do Sketch Comedy again, because going back to what I was saying before, you're one of the all-time greats, and

Speaker 1 it's hard to find people that can do what you do and Kristen Wigg does and Maya and Tina and all these, you know, really breakout people can do.

Speaker 1 And so, but every time I see you do it, I'm like, ooh, I just wish you would go, like, do more sketch. I mean, because I'm going to go back to the show.
But go back.

Speaker 2 Like, what do you mean? Like, do a sketch show?

Speaker 1 That's a lot of work. I know, but so you're like, ooh, nap time, bedtime.

Speaker 2 It just, it just feels like.

Speaker 2 I know what you mean, Sean. I love doing it.
I just don't know if I could get back launch back into an actual full-time sketch show. It's so much work.

Speaker 2 And creating the material, generating material is so

Speaker 2 is so time-consuming, but I love it.

Speaker 1 As a fan, I think I speak for a lot of people. I'm like, oh, when did we see you? And everybody together.

Speaker 1 Well, we're not really taking questions from fans right now, but

Speaker 1 hey, Amy, do you

Speaker 1 really still do like ASCAT? There's no version of that anymore.

Speaker 2 No improvis. But, you know, Tina and I have been on tour.
We've been,

Speaker 2 we've done our show a bunch of cities last year. We're going back out again in March, April, and May for, you know.

Speaker 2 you're in orlando do you have some dates you want to talk about yeah we have orlando we have detroit we have chicago boston um we're playing red rocks wow no red rocks yeah yeah that's cool is it is it written or is it improvised yeah so it's improv it's it's it's written it's a uh a like a long uh variety show we have special guests come in and we do um

Speaker 2 we kind of go through the history of our 30-year friendship. But there's a section in it that where we talk about Chicago and how we met.
And so we improvise there, which is really fun.

Speaker 1 Yes, I want to talk about that because I did Second City 2 and you did too.

Speaker 1 Yeah. And I never performed on the main stage, but you.
Same.

Speaker 1 Oh, wow. So

Speaker 1 people think you're probably from Chicago all the time, but you're from Boston. Yeah.

Speaker 2 People think I'm from the Midwest a lot because also with Parks and Rec, their head goes to Indiana. So they think I'm like a Chicago home.

Speaker 1 Would you consider yourself like a Boston homegirl?

Speaker 2 I mean, I'm definitely a homie.

Speaker 1 How is Bill Paul?

Speaker 1 Tell us how Bill Paul is. Let's talk about Bill Paul.
Can we talk about Bill for a minute?

Speaker 2 Oh, God, he'd love it.

Speaker 2 He'd like us to talk for an hour.

Speaker 1 He would. So this is the reason I got Chadwick's and Brigham mixed up.
I just want to tell this story if I could. We can always cut it, Abe, by the way.
Which is... We don't cut anything on this.

Speaker 1 We went to.

Speaker 2 I can tell. There's no editing.

Speaker 1 This is a bit

Speaker 1 baggy. We go to Brigham's, which is an ice cream store in the mall in Burlington, Mass, which is where Amy's from with her mom and dad.
Well, with her dad. And there's this girl.

Speaker 1 She's like, I don't know, 17 working there as her afternoon weekend job, scooping ice cream.

Speaker 1 This is when Amy's first on SNL. And her dad goes, like, you know, 25 years, he goes, goes to the girl who's kind of silent.
And he goes, you like your job?

Speaker 1 And she goes, she's like scooping ice cream. She's like, yeah, I guess so.
And he goes, you know who really likes her job?

Speaker 1 My daughter.

Speaker 1 He teed himself up, huh? He was so good. That's great.

Speaker 1 But he's so proud.

Speaker 1 He's so proud.

Speaker 2 And he will get on the elevator with people and he'll say, do you like TV and movies?

Speaker 2 That's his question. Like, as anyone else.

Speaker 1 And you're on the elevator with him?

Speaker 1 We played golf with these guys years ago.

Speaker 1 And Bill and I were playing with some random dudes. And he gets back in the cart.
He looks at me and he goes, well, I told him.

Speaker 1 I can't help it.

Speaker 1 He's so proud, though, in the best, best way. Both are parents.

Speaker 2 My parents are like Boston

Speaker 2 strong, very proud.

Speaker 2 Retired teachers.

Speaker 2 Yeah, they watched every SNL. They came to every early improv show I ever did live.
They like had a big watch party for me when our show launched in 1998 on Comedy Central, UCD.

Speaker 2 They just are very, very big fans.

Speaker 1 And they are, they're the definition of supportive parents. Like, if you're not sure what you do, were they the ones that were that were the first funnies in your family for you?

Speaker 1 Like, is that where you got your family?

Speaker 2 I think, like, well, I throw this back out to you guys because I think that you have probably have families like this too. You know, you have to kind of keep up.

Speaker 2 Like for me, teasing is a love language. If I like you, I can tease you.
And manners are kind of for people you don't know or you don't like.

Speaker 2 So like the idea that you could bust each other was a, was a way in which to sharpen your skills. And so we would.
We would tease each other. There was a lot of laughs at the table.

Speaker 2 Like it's very like Boston Irish.

Speaker 2 And some families I learned as I went to college and like are not that, which is always so shocking to me when families are, families don't get to like poke each other. It's like, oh, okay,

Speaker 2 this is a different set of rules.

Speaker 1 And you would, you would often accuse, well, first of all, I would say when you say sitting around the table, let's be honest, it's sitting around the kitchen.

Speaker 2 Well, let's be honest, it's sitting around the TV.

Speaker 2 It was sitting around the TV.

Speaker 1 But also, you would accuse me of playing too hard that Jason and I would play too hard.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Well, you guys, you guys.

Speaker 1 So it was this deep love. The love was too deep.

Speaker 2 you know how they call things a love tap you guys are a love shove that's what you guys say you love i love

Speaker 1 that but so it depends on the mood you know but but i i agree with you like people like you can meet people and it there is that thing of like if i'm not teasing you yeah

Speaker 1 all the time right distance then i'm not really interested yeah right in a way yeah i mean but it but some people have a higher and lower tolerance like you know you have to just be a little gentle But as far as your, I read too, Amy, that you say that you were parentified at a young age, meaning that, like, you became your parents because your parents were so young when they had you.

Speaker 2 Yeah, my parents were young. And don't you feel that way? Like, I don't know,

Speaker 1 I don't know,

Speaker 2 but don't you feel, and this might be just our generation too. I just feel like we felt very old really fast.

Speaker 2 Like, we felt we had freedom, which gave us a sense of, you know, agency. And then we had jobs really early.
And we didn't, we just, it just felt like we grew up fast.

Speaker 2 I don't know if that's a generational thing, but yeah.

Speaker 1 Well, Jason, the thing about Jason,

Speaker 1 I'm not joking, was out working when he was, sweet little JB was working when he was seven. Nine.

Speaker 1 So cute.

Speaker 2 Like with a little briefcase and

Speaker 1 a little security number. And a small mustache.
Yeah. So you guys, so you both, what I'm interested in and Amy, your background and your parents being school teachers and

Speaker 1 learning kind of from that like what did you take from them for Archie and Abel and Will what did you take from your parents for Archie and Abel and how do you do that together

Speaker 1 let me try to bundle that for you Amy do you parent like your parents at all

Speaker 1 by the way look at you

Speaker 1 oh yeah no I've been working on it I've been working with a tutor and you've been working on bundling yeah bundling is sort of a gathering term that he suggested I use internally but now I'm spreading it yeah

Speaker 2 That actually, you could sell a whole bunch of like a series of tapes.

Speaker 2 Just talking about bundling other people's questions.

Speaker 1 Let me bundle that for you.

Speaker 2 You could be so successful talking about bundling. If you jumped on a mini trampoline and did a cold dip at the same time, you'd be a bundle king.
Bundle king.

Speaker 2 I think parenting is a constant, ever-changing thing, right? It's like somebody said this to me once that I always loved, which was:

Speaker 2 parenting is like a series of short stories.

Speaker 2 So a short story starts and you think, I don't know how this story is going to go. I don't know the characters.
I don't even know what's going to happen.

Speaker 2 And then you're in the middle of the short story and you think, man, I never want this to end. I love this.
I love this. I got it.
I'm in the groove. I know what I'm doing.

Speaker 2 And then the short story is over and you think, oh no, there's no way the next one could be better. It's just like a series of

Speaker 2 your kid is changing so much much and the world is changing so much and you have to stay kind of flexible, pliable, learn from your mistakes.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I think the difference for me is

Speaker 1 from my own parents is I have to try really hard. Amy, you're really good at this and you helped me do this in concert with you

Speaker 1 to try to be, to remember to listen.

Speaker 1 to what they're saying and and to not try to impose what I think they, you know, you need this, you need that, but to actually sit and listen to what your kid is trying to say, like, you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 Encourage them to, as much as they can, to speak and to

Speaker 1 really hear, and it's not, I don't come by it naturally because I, that's not how I was raised.

Speaker 2 Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I, I, I, I'm the same. I, it doesn't always feel natural.
Your instinct is to want to give them advice

Speaker 2 or tell them what to be aware of or afraid of or share your own personal stuff. Like that's so instinctual, of course, because we want the best for our kids.

Speaker 2 And I remember reading somewhere that when your kid tells you something, you just repeat it back to them like you're doing a headline of a news story. It actually works really well with people too.

Speaker 2 I bet it happens on this podcast too. They say, oh, I had a bad, I had a bad day in math.
And then you go, you had a bad day in math. That's all you say.
Period.

Speaker 1 I mean, I'm usually thinking about what the bit is. Like, you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 But no, but you're right. You're right.
And the other day, again, we were talking about something with one of our kids. And I said, Amy and I were talking on the phone.

Speaker 1 And I said, oh, I identify with that. And I think that my own experience, and you said to me, you're like, they don't really want to hear about your experience.

Speaker 1 They want you to listen to theirs.

Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah. And we all, this happens, don't you feel like this happens as adults too, when someone talks about like, well, when I used to, you're just like, oh, boy.

Speaker 2 You know, even in your 50s, it still happens where someone talks about, well, I, you know, in the business I used to be in, we would be able, and you're like, well, that's not the way it is anymore, old man.

Speaker 1 Right, right, right.

Speaker 2 That's not that, you don't understand.

Speaker 1 Like, yeah, Jason, you must get old man a lot, right?

Speaker 1 A lot more recently. It's pretty shocking.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I find that it's, you, you've,

Speaker 1 I'm constantly battling like, how much should I be like leading this parenting thing or how much should I be reacting to this parenting thing?

Speaker 1 In other words, like, should I be waiting to see what they need me to parent them at? or should I initiate sort of parenting

Speaker 1 based on nothing they're actually showing me? In other words, like, should I wait to see until how they react to a certain situation and then talk to them about that? Boy, this could use a bundle.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah, we could bundle this.
Are we still rolling bundle?

Speaker 2 But I think what you're trying to say, yes.

Speaker 1 Amy, tell us. Let's bundle.
Let's bundle.

Speaker 1 Amy, try to guess what he's trying to say.

Speaker 2 I think the bundle here is how can I be best of service to my kids

Speaker 1 when they're teens? Yeah, that's the bundle.

Speaker 2 But you know, I read something, and by read something, I mean I saw it on TikTok.

Speaker 2 Supposedly, when you're teen, when your kids become teens, you go from producer to consultant.

Speaker 1 That's the difference.

Speaker 2 You're no longer producing their lives. You're there for them to consult.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 2 you have to kind of let them start producing their own lives, which is not easy.

Speaker 1 Perfect use of the bundling concept. Yes, right.
And

Speaker 1 I've also heard that,

Speaker 1 you know, part of, like, I've heard you love therapy as much as I love therapy. I can talk about it all day long.
I love it. I love going to therapy.
And being able to do that. You go to therapy?

Speaker 1 Yeah. Are you sick?

Speaker 1 And I'm always trying to make her laugh. And she's like, hey, let's get back on topic.

Speaker 2 She's so lucky to have you. You're so funny.

Speaker 1 Thanks, Anthony. You're the funniest.
You're the funniest. No, you're the funniest.

Speaker 1 And so, but you, I've heard, which means I saw it on TikTok, that you identify as someone who's a natural like fixer or you want to get into action and problem solve because that's kind of how I am a little bit.

Speaker 1 But as you've gotten older, that you've taught yourself how to pause and feel feelings and stuff like that. And how

Speaker 1 you got a lot of quotes out there. I do my research.
I do my research.

Speaker 1 You're already talking out loud. You're really living out loud.

Speaker 2 I sent Sean a bunch of needlepoint pillows with a bunch of stuff on it and

Speaker 2 took credit for it.

Speaker 1 He's like,

Speaker 1 I'll just regurgitate a whole conversation you had on your phone that I I overheard.

Speaker 1 No, that how has that like shaped you today? Because I also read

Speaker 1 that you,

Speaker 1 the best work that you've ever done is the work where you feel most present.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I think improv was really helpful with that. Like you had to stay super present just to be, I mean, I imagine you guys feel that with this podcast too, right? Like you're actually where you are.

Speaker 2 Yeah. As opposed to being ahead or behind, which is really hard.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I'm still searching for that, still every day trying to stay in the present moment. It's not easy for me like to not, you know, jump ahead.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Will you talk to me about that? Cause I've always been told that like it was best to just stay in the present, but like my brain tells me. I know.

Speaker 2 But you go in there and your brain is like,

Speaker 1 I got plans, you know, and like,

Speaker 1 yeah, I've got plans. I've got, I've got a desire for the way I want this meeting to go or this.

Speaker 1 I struggle with that too.

Speaker 2 I I know.

Speaker 1 Oh, JB, that's so sweet. It's true.
You do. You do go on.

Speaker 1 But what are you supposed to do with that?

Speaker 1 Wait, what is that? Is that me inhaling a bomb?

Speaker 1 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Yeah.

Speaker 2 It's just

Speaker 2 a little

Speaker 2 plan flies by like a bird. Like,

Speaker 1 so am I just supposed to react to things and not drive anything?

Speaker 2 I don't know. It's a great question, actually.
I don't know because I'm struggling with that all the time. How much can I be prepared? Because that calms me down.
Preparation calms me down.

Speaker 2 But, you know, life, you cannot control. You cannot control things in life.
I mean,

Speaker 2 it's just like you have to let go.

Speaker 1 Do you know what's a perfect example of that, JB? Today, when I just told you, I sprained my foot really bad last night. It was so painful.
I can't even describe it.

Speaker 1 And I woke and my old me would have been like, oh my my God, I got to cancel this. I can't do this.

Speaker 1 And I'm like,

Speaker 1 this is what it is right now. And I surrender to it.
And I go, if I can't do this and I have to cancel that and I can't show up for, then that's what it is. I think

Speaker 1 it used to make me really depressed. I think there is that.
That is one of the benefits I've been saying recently. I've been saying in therapy

Speaker 1 that, no, no plus. I've been saying that.
Oh, wait, Will, you're going.

Speaker 2 That's great. And you are 54.

Speaker 1 54. Okay.
Very good.

Speaker 1 And what I've noticed at 54 is, and especially in the last six months, that

Speaker 1 it just kind of occurred to me. I'm like, oh, I'm doing a much better job of this is what the situation is.

Speaker 1 And I'm realizing it in real time. And I'm not really in a panic about the outcome.
I'm just accepting it for what it is. And I said this to you the other day, like I got this, this notion of like,

Speaker 1 Feelings are going to come. Feelings aren't going to kill you.
Your feelings aren't going to kill you.

Speaker 1 That's That's a big one. And it really, and I went, oh, yeah.
And I can let it, I can let it, I can feel it and then I can let it go. And I can recognize,

Speaker 1 I think I used to, you know, you'd freak out and then you'd think about it later. And now I can, in real time, go, oh, this is where I am.

Speaker 1 In a much better way than I, for me anyway, that I've ever been able to do. And I think that that's the benefit of being older, having experience, et cetera.

Speaker 2 I find my 50s to be my favorite decade by far. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah. By far.
Oh, really? Yeah. That's the way till you get to your 60s.
It's pretty cool.

Speaker 1 I'm having a great time. No.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 2 What if you guys find out you see Jason's license one of these days and find out he's 62?

Speaker 1 I thought about that the other day. No, Willie, I like what you said about like not being attached to the outcome.
Maybe that's a good hack for me.

Speaker 1 It's like, it's okay to be prepared, but don't be like stuck on it has to end this year. Yeah, again, it's a new concept for me.

Speaker 1 I've just been kind of going through it, and it's and it's very freeing.

Speaker 2 Well, like, Jason, for example, your mic hasn't been working this whole time, and the audio hasn't recorded, and you should be fine with that. Like, just let that go.
It's going to be great.

Speaker 2 It's a great episode, and just let go of the outcome of that.

Speaker 1 Amy, any funny stuff happened on stage before with people, any funny stories?

Speaker 1 No, come on. Wait, Amy, why? Why, why is 50 the best decade?

Speaker 2 I feel like I finally have a better sense of who I am. Kind of what we've been talking about, I have

Speaker 2 some of my priorities are, you know, like I just feel like there's a, I'm a little kinder to myself.

Speaker 2 I definitely care less about how I'm perceived by other people as long as I feel like my side of the street is clean. Yeah, yeah, nice.
And I have a lot of wise people.

Speaker 2 younger and older than me. Like I'm in this sandwich of experience.
So I learn a lot from people who are younger than me and I learn a lot from people that are older than me and knock on wood.

Speaker 2 I still feel healthy. Like being in your 50s, you're like the youngest old person you know.
You're the youngest of the old people. Is that right?

Speaker 2 You're the freshman of old people.

Speaker 1 That's really true.

Speaker 2 And so we'll never be this young again

Speaker 2 in our 50s because,

Speaker 2 you know, I'm looking to people in their 60s and 70s to seeing like how they're living life, how they're doing it, how they're keeping healthy.

Speaker 2 And then I still feel connected to people in their 20s and 30s. Like it doesn't feel so far away.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I'm on medication to reverse the aging process. Ooh, what are you doing? I'll text you.
I'll send it in the chat. I'll send it in.

Speaker 2 You know, that guy who does all those crazy things to like stay and supervise.

Speaker 1 Oh, that's right. Oh my God.
Remember,

Speaker 1 did you watch that?

Speaker 1 Oh, my God. That's wild.
Wait, Amy, remember, remember when you used to come over and we would watch Intervention?

Speaker 2 Oh, my God.

Speaker 2 Yes,

Speaker 1 we would airplay all the instruments in the opening theme.

Speaker 2 Great theme, Intervention.

Speaker 1 What a great show. I know that show made me so uneasy.

Speaker 2 i i i wanted to tell the story or for you tell the story about remember the time that you told your friend that the um tv was voice activated oh my gosh yeah it's such an have you told that story i don't remember oh god

Speaker 2 can i try to tell it yeah

Speaker 2 it was it sean was with a bunch of friends right yeah and

Speaker 2 yeah go ahead sean no no i i i was just gonna help you out And you guys were really

Speaker 1 we would get stoned after

Speaker 1 an episode, after taping an episode of Will and Grace. And we would go, we went back to his house one night.
Will and Grace. That's the show you were on.
That's it.

Speaker 1 That is it.

Speaker 2 And you couldn't think of it.

Speaker 1 Talk about it. You're never going to get through it.
This guy.

Speaker 1 A story that long will never make it on here. Go ahead.
No, no, go ahead. No, tell it.
It's good. It's really good.
Just bundle it.

Speaker 2 All right, well, bundle it.

Speaker 1 Bundle itself. I'll try to bundle it.
Okay, here we go. So we would go back after his house.
We would get stoned.

Speaker 1 We'd just hang out and talk about the night and whatever after we tape an episode of Will and Grace. So we go to his house.
It was a brand new house.

Speaker 1 And he has a brand new house and he has a brand new media system. This massive screen in this screening room.
And I'm high out of my mind. I can't even see straight.

Speaker 1 And he's trying, he goes, I just got the DVD of Castaway. We should watch it where the plane grows down because the effects are so cool, right? I'm like, yeah, let's put it on and watch it.

Speaker 1 So he walks all the way to the front of the screening room and I'm way in the back. And I start to giggle.
He's like, what's so funny? I'm like, nothing. And he can't get it to play.

Speaker 1 And I go, is that a Sony? And he goes, yeah.

Speaker 1 And I go, well, they're, those are the new ones. You don't even know what you have.
You're so rich, right? They're voice activated. And he goes, what? And I go, those are voice activated new screens.

Speaker 1 Like, you have to speak the name of the movie into the DVD player.

Speaker 1 And he goes, you're making that up. That's not even true.
I go, Those are the new screens. You have to speak the name of the movie.
And he totally bought it. And he goes really close into the dv

Speaker 1 player and he goes castaway

Speaker 1 and he looks at the screen and it didn't come up and the second time

Speaker 1 cast away

Speaker 2 and i couldn't me and meredith walker we and meredith walker say castaway into our remote control a lot the way a lot and into our dvd castaway castaway meredith let's say hi to meredith hi to you hi meredith

Speaker 1 are you guys still working together It's a friend of all of ours, Meredith Walker. Is she still in Austin?

Speaker 2 Yep, living in Austin.

Speaker 1 Hey, oh, she's so great. I love her.
We love Meredith. We love, love, love.

Speaker 2 Yeah, we say castaway quite a bit.

Speaker 1 Oh, that's

Speaker 2 telling someone something is voice activated when it isn't.

Speaker 1 I don't like a prank.

Speaker 2 I'm not a prank person at all.

Speaker 1 You might know it for me. Anybody be used.

Speaker 2 That is a harmless, funny fact.

Speaker 1 That's harmless.

Speaker 1 We'll be back.

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Speaker 1 All right, back to the show.

Speaker 1 Okay, so wait.

Speaker 1 Sean, do you have any questions for Amy? Your guests?

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 1 I mean, no, no, this is minute 46. I don't think we've had a legit one yet.
I know. I've asked her a couple ones.
Really? Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And do we really need to i mean no it's a conversation yeah it's wait wait i i do want to i do want to get into you touched on it before talk a little bit about um when you were in chicago aim and how you knew yeah your experience

Speaker 1 second city who was in that when you were on the tour you toured with second city and improv uh improv olympic chicago all that stuff and then how you how that moved to new york and ucb and all that stuff i'll just well bundle it i mean it is i'll bundle it because it is important as a storyteller to discuss my craft you you will get kicked off this podcast if you slam your lights.

Speaker 2 I love telling a story, and I love crafting a story, and I love my story craft to be about telling craft.

Speaker 1 So,

Speaker 1 the only thing we like on this podcast more than independent film is talking about independent film. Go ahead, Egan.

Speaker 2 Started out in Chicago and arrived at Second City in 93. And the seniors to my freshman were on the main stage of Chicago: Amy Sederis, Steve Corell, Stephen Colbert.
Amazing.

Speaker 2 Mike Myers and Chris Farley had just left to go to like stardom in at SNL. I rented Chris Farley's old apartment.

Speaker 1 In Chicago?

Speaker 2 In Chicago. I didn't know I was renting it, but you know.

Speaker 1 In the Hancock building?

Speaker 2 No, it was another earlier one. Yeah.
You know, back then in the 20s, when we were in our 20s and we moved every year, like remember moving every year? Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 Yes, that's true.

Speaker 2 And I think the apartment was probably like $3.90 a month. Yeah.
And hard to make that rent.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Yeah.
And then, yeah, studied and met Tina there very early on and met Rachel Dratch, who I was the understudy for at Second City. And it was just, the place was lousy with talent.

Speaker 2 Everyone was so great. And

Speaker 2 then moved with, and then

Speaker 2 UCB, Matt Besser, Matt Walsh, Ian Roberts, Ali Faranaki.

Speaker 1 All those great guys. Yes, yes, yes.

Speaker 2 Adam McKay, all those guys. Neil Flynn, they were all part of a big improv group called The Family that we would go and watch, and they were incredible.
And then they also had UCB.

Speaker 2 I joined in 93, and then in 96, which is not that much time now that I think about it, it was only three years, but we left and moved to New York, drove to the city, did a show, and just started.

Speaker 2 Well, at the time it was,

Speaker 2 and

Speaker 2 Will, I don't want this to be uncomfortable for you, but I was dating Matt Matt Besser at the time.

Speaker 1 I knew it. I fucking knew it.

Speaker 1 No, no, truly, I knew it.

Speaker 1 But here's the thing. Here's a funny story, and Amy knows this.
So, 96, and she knows how good I am with dates in this.

Speaker 2 Yeah, you're very good.

Speaker 1 96, they come and they do

Speaker 1 UCB. So, it's Amy, Walsh, Besser, and Ian.
And

Speaker 1 they do their show Bucket of Truth, which was an amazing show. It was so funny.
It was a sketch show that improv and sketch, et cetera. And they're doing it downstairs at the West Bank on 42nd Street.

Speaker 1 And Peter Principato, the beloved Peter Principado, who we all love,

Speaker 2 my first agent. First agent.
William Morris.

Speaker 1 And Peter Principato, and he was my agent at the time. And he said to me, hey, I've just signed

Speaker 1 this new comedy group. You've got to go see them.
They're performing at the West Bank. So I went with Duff.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 Amy, I was dating Missy at the time. I don't know if I told you.
Oh, Touch.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 we go, the three of us, to the West Bank, knowing nothing, go downstairs that little stage and watch them do Bucket of Truth. And we're blown away.
We go. You had not yet met Amy.
Not yet met.

Speaker 1 We watch the show. We're blown away.
We go for a drink after. We're talking about it.
We talked about it for a few days because nobody was doing what they were doing.

Speaker 1 And we were like, God, that was so funny. And it was so inventive.
And it was so cool. And blah, blah, blah.
And so that is January of 1996. And just like, what the fuck? Continue.
Sorry, Abe.

Speaker 2 Yeah, then we were there just slogging away. And like Will said, and we remember this too, right? Like people had to come see you live.
They had to go actually see you. We didn't have any, like,

Speaker 2 now you can really deep dive on someone really fast on the, on the internet, but we didn't have that. So you had to like go see people live.

Speaker 1 What was that first space you guys had when you started?

Speaker 2 We had a Solo Arts was the name of a, yeah, was like the walk-up theater where we would improvise there and stuff.

Speaker 2 So we just kind of, you know, slogged for a while in New York and handed out flyers in Washington Square Park. And everyone, I was a waitress and

Speaker 2 just thinking like, okay, you know, and then I, and then I started getting some bits on Conan because of Andy Richter. And that's where I got like my SAG card.

Speaker 2 That's where I got my, you know, I got paid like an under five.

Speaker 1 And now you're in the building though, right? Like, was it, could you like taste the possibility of SNL perhaps? Did you allow yourself to start to dream that?

Speaker 2 That's such a good question. I think you're right.
I didn't really put that together, but but you're right. Like walking in a 30 rock, you are, I always feel like with jobs and stuff, like

Speaker 2 Chicago felt like where I was getting my training, but New York and Los Angeles, someone's like, you know, when you're having like a pickup game of basketball and someone's just standing around and you're like, hey, come play.

Speaker 2 Like, come on.

Speaker 1 Don't say sure.

Speaker 2 Your proximity to the, to the game. can be very helpful.
Like getting closer to the game, just being around. So that's what happened.

Speaker 2 When we moved to New York, we were just a little closer to the game. So we got asked to do things.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 you're doing bits on Conan, and

Speaker 1 you did Andy's sister, Richter's sister, and you started doing more.

Speaker 1 And all those guys were there who were writers, a lot of whom were performers from Chicago you knew, like McCann and Glazer, and all those guys.

Speaker 1 Brian Stack, one of the all-time greats, and like, and all those people, they're all there writing on Conan. And you guys are all kind of part of this.

Speaker 1 this group of people who are creating comedy, right?

Speaker 2 Yeah, my decision to move to to Chicago was probably the best decision for me in my career because it allowed me to meet all these people really fast who then went on to do things that I got to be a part of.

Speaker 2 Like they remembered me for things. They put me in small things.
They, you know, wrote things for me.

Speaker 2 And it was just this like concentrated feeling of comedy at the time that then everybody went to LA and New York. And, you know, and McKay was the head writer of SNL.
And then Tina got a job there.

Speaker 2 And we all just started. It was really, really really cool to,

Speaker 2 and I depended on the kindness of a lot of those people for a long time to have a job.

Speaker 1 Let me ask you like a tough question that I'll try to bundle here. Basic, it's basically after all of the accomplishment, you've just walked us through the whole beginning and everything.

Speaker 1 It just seems like you've done or maybe even far exceeded what you allowed yourself to dream of at that age when you were starting.

Speaker 1 What's left? What would you love to do in your next?

Speaker 1 Why do you still get out of bed, Amy?

Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean, like, you've just, you've, you've done it. You've like, you've had like this incredible career already, and you're still, as you said, a freshman.

Speaker 1 Like, where would you love, how would you like to use what you've done, the success you've had? Bond. Yeah, sorry.

Speaker 2 Go ahead. Well, I am, that's why I'm starting to wind down.
And this podcast is the beginning of that. Like, I'm just starting to wind down away from showbiz.
Hey, guys, I'm going to get a hit.

Speaker 1 Wait, truly? Fucking be cool. Just get cool.

Speaker 1 We're the number two most downloaded podcasts on the planet. So just.
I don't know her podcast she's talking about. Oh, yeah, that is a wind down.
You're right. That is a wind down.

Speaker 1 No, or are you talking about us?

Speaker 2 Well, you know what?

Speaker 2 It remains to be seen.

Speaker 1 It remains to be seen.

Speaker 2 No, no, I, I, I, but honestly, it is kind of why I'm excited to do a podcast because I'm actually, Jason, to genuinely answer your question, I am excited about what is the next thing.

Speaker 2 I like thinking about what is the next thing to do. Like, I like trying new things.
That's what keeps me feeling engaged in the world and in our like creative.

Speaker 2 So I'm very excited about this new podcast because I really like, I'm a huge fan of podcasts in general.

Speaker 1 I saw that.

Speaker 2 I listen to them all the time and they're really replaced a lot of like.

Speaker 2 media for me. And I'm into the idea of exploring it because I really like talking to people and I'm curious about people and I learn a lot about myself.
Yeah. And I like to have fun.

Speaker 2 Like I think what's happened in the space, especially for women, is that women are being asked to be like teachers and wise leaders and like a lot of, and they don't get to fuck around and

Speaker 2 do very little research like you guys. You know, like,

Speaker 1 yeah,

Speaker 2 you guys do not know who the guest is. You're the wildest con in the world.

Speaker 1 By the way, you could have bundled that insult.

Speaker 1 That would have been a lot nicer.

Speaker 1 But let me ask you a tough question. You know, Sean, shut up for one second.

Speaker 1 Amy, Amy, answer this question honestly.

Speaker 1 This is a tough one. This is a hot hitting, all right? All right.
And I know you're very serious for a comedian, so that's okay.

Speaker 1 Her mom used to say that to her when they get into arguments.

Speaker 2 When we get into a fight, she'd say, You're so serious for a comedian.

Speaker 1 So, wait, have you ever listened to Smartless?

Speaker 1 Of course I have. Okay, you haven't.
That's a little high. I've listened to Smartless.

Speaker 1 I did go up on that. So pretty high.

Speaker 1 My favorite episode is the one with the lady and the other one with the guy. I love the one with the guy.
Oh my god. Oh, I like the one with the bradley.

Speaker 1 But so, but in your answer to my unbundled question, we sort of gets into the area of there is a slight plan, but you still want to kind of stay in the present and not be too sort of strategic about what the next five, ten years are, right?

Speaker 1 So, like, how do you find the balance there?

Speaker 2 I guess it's just figuring out, it's just kind of figuring out what is feels challenging. I like a challenge.

Speaker 2 So I like mixing things up to feel challenging. And also, a big part of my 50s has been balancing my relationship to work in general

Speaker 2 and how do I make sure that there's real balance in my life. Like

Speaker 2 the last five, you guys were talking about being your pastor.

Speaker 1 It's not challenging, potentially, right? Exactly.

Speaker 2 Yes. Like basically, how to find ease and

Speaker 2 enjoy, you know, the past five years have been wild, wild.

Speaker 2 And, you know, what you guys do here, what I've been doing is just like trying to just genuinely laugh with my friends. It's been actually, you know, how I've been keeping sane.

Speaker 2 And so I want to just do whatever feels like that, which feels kind of fun and a little bit challenging. And so I'm always trying to figure it out.
I don't know. It's a long-winded answer.

Speaker 1 I don't know. No, but but it makes a makes total sense.
It's basically a combination of all the things. And you're able to combine now because you're older and smarter and wiser.

Speaker 1 And it doesn't have to be like, all go on career or, or all go on just like, no, fuck it. I don't want to do anything.

Speaker 1 We're actually able to merge both now, finally, at this age, I think.

Speaker 2 And women, women, I think, especially,

Speaker 2 have

Speaker 2 often a burden to really pay attention to what everybody is doing and feeling.

Speaker 2 And then if you have the luxury of turning it around and trying to figure out yourself, it's like that is what can be great about getting older.

Speaker 2 And women do really well, I think, when they like give themselves time.

Speaker 1 Let me speak to that. Let me speak about women.

Speaker 1 Yeah, let's talk about women.

Speaker 2 But we'll go ahead. Your thoughts on women?

Speaker 1 But, Ama, who is that person that you bounce stuff off of? Or when you get like.

Speaker 2 Oh, I would say all of my, all of the women in my life have been like really, really helpful mentors and teachers and friends and stuff.

Speaker 2 Like, you know, the women in my life that have been through it with me, I think, is really the biggest resource for me.

Speaker 2 You know, people who have kids and people who,

Speaker 2 you know, who understand what it's like to feel over, overwhelmed and stuff. And especially the past five years, which has just been a complete insane

Speaker 2 hit after hit of sci-fi nightmares

Speaker 1 such a dream of mine but what

Speaker 1 what's it like

Speaker 1 what's it like being for you and will being on the verge of being empty nesters it's not the verge but it's gonna it's gonna come sooner than later you think about that and like i do how that relates to what you're gonna do i know i know i haven't i haven't really but kind of in the short story metaphor i haven't i'm like i don't i don't feel like the story that i'm i'm there yet so i'm not quite yeah i don't know.

Speaker 2 I mean, it's, it feels so, it's, I don't even, I don't even know.

Speaker 1 It's like, I got one about to go to college.

Speaker 2 And it's how does it feel, Jason?

Speaker 1 It's bleak, you know, because there's just, it is, there, it's sort of, it's a mortality thing. It's like, it's, you know, we all kick, kick, kick it down the road.

Speaker 1 Well, but it's like, it's the concept of the end of something that

Speaker 1 is just something you is conveniently kind of pushed aside. And then it, then it's here.

Speaker 1 Can I say something about that that I've noticed?

Speaker 1 and this is uh jb this is i've learned from you something that and i mean this i mean this gently and i mean this sweetly which i i which is going to hurt no which is you've been jason's been so nervous and anxious about frannie going to college for a few years and he's talked about it and so i see him going through the pain for so long and this is an example of not living in the present so sometimes i think that you had a tough time enjoying the moment because you're just so you've been anticipating for years you've been putting that out and talking about it.

Speaker 1 I'm trying to separate myself from her so it doesn't hurt. Yeah, exactly.
Which is, by the way,

Speaker 1 which is so you. Like, remember you do that? Like, Jason's thing to not laugh when he's in a take is to think about people dying in a car crash.
I'm not kidding.

Speaker 1 And then he doesn't, and then he won't go up. Right? Well, we all know it.
We all do that. Yeah.

Speaker 2 We all know Jason is so sociopathic.

Speaker 1 No, he's a robot. But the thing is,

Speaker 1 but I see that in you, and I, and I, and I've said it to you before, I'm like, it's okay. Like, let that moment come when that moment comes and enjoy.
So I've been using it.

Speaker 1 I keep reminding myself, just enjoy it now. Enjoy it now.
It's not, again, not easy.

Speaker 1 It is not easy. No.
It's a great idea.

Speaker 2 Well, raise your hand if you think you're going to live to 100 and if you want to live to 100.

Speaker 2 That's me. Okay.
Three of us are raising our hands. Sean is not raising.
It's that ankle.

Speaker 1 Sean's like, I can't go on with that ankle.

Speaker 1 I can't. With this ankle, no way.
No, I think we got a shot. Your ankle was the last straw.
I think we got a shot. Yeah.
No, it's really.

Speaker 1 Didn't one of these really smart scientists lately say that the person that's going to live live to 120 or 150 or something is already born? Like, that's kind of common in this generation.

Speaker 1 Like, 100 is like the number of people. But what kind of life do you have at 120? Yeah, Sean, I hear you.

Speaker 2 Like, as long as it feels like a fruitful life. But, you know, imagine if you were like a little dude in a little, in a cute little suit.

Speaker 1 But they cut, they cut her.

Speaker 1 Like in the news, like the local news, they cut to like, Marjorie is 106 today, and we're going to, we visited her, and she can't talk or move.

Speaker 1 And they're like, Marjorie,

Speaker 2 what advice do you have for people to live this long?

Speaker 1 And she's like, make sure that.

Speaker 1 She's got

Speaker 1 cake falling out of her mouth every day every day.

Speaker 1 Please walk in. Mate, have a glass of wine and blow one.

Speaker 1 Exactly. I don't want to be that.
I don't want to be Marjorie. Remember Ernest Borgnine had that great, he had his great advice on how to live forever, which was to snap one off every day.

Speaker 1 And Amy, you know, and yeah, and you know where he lived?

Speaker 1 In Jason and Namanda's house. So I always reminded him to think about Ernest Borg9 walking around that house.
Throwing goo all over the place.

Speaker 2 He had borg nine lives, actually.

Speaker 1 Oh,

Speaker 1 nice. Very beautiful.

Speaker 1 Thanks, guys. Amy, I have one last comment before we let you go because we've had you for too long, and I want to thank you for your time.

Speaker 1 Thank you, Sean. I told you,

Speaker 1 and both you and Will.

Speaker 1 I love Archie and Abel so much,

Speaker 1 and I love Maple and Franny too. And both of everybody on this

Speaker 1 podcast right now

Speaker 1 have you guys have done such a phenomenal job with between your journey between you two your kids are just unbelievable great human beings

Speaker 1 and it's the greatest uh compliment you know because thanks so to you guys yeah I just love them and you guys they're incredible and I wanted to remind people to listen to Good Hang With You thank you it's on Spotify

Speaker 2 and I have great guests coming out Tina Faye is my first guest

Speaker 2 that's great yep because you know why give give America what they want.

Speaker 1 And then get Dax on there. Dax will give you some pointers.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 I can't wait. Yeah.
Any pointers, guys, now that you're five years in?

Speaker 1 You can tell we've learned nothing. Yeah, thanks.
I can tell. Zero.

Speaker 1 We're last people.

Speaker 2 I mean, if you guys can do it,

Speaker 1 it's true. Anybody can do it.
By the way, Amy, you won't be surprised that we haven't looked at comments forever. They'd always be like, their questions suck and they interrupt people all the time.

Speaker 1 And I'm like, yeah, of course we do. What are you talking about?

Speaker 2 If you guys have taught me anything and taught all individually and collectively taught me so much,

Speaker 2 it's don't overthink it.

Speaker 1 Don't overthink it.

Speaker 1 It's getting unbelievable. So glad you finally finally got you.
We love you guys.

Speaker 2 Thanks, guys. Thanks for having me on.
It was so fun.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 2 Glad it was a fun surprise.

Speaker 1 It was such a good surprise.

Speaker 1 I'm bringing the boys over. Okay.
Can't wait. Bye.
Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

Speaker 2 Bye, AIM. Thank you.
Yeah, you got it. My pleasure.

Speaker 1 So, well, that was fantastic to meet her. I've been such a fan of hers for, I don't know.

Speaker 1 Yeah. How funny.
I had no, you know what? When you were doing the intro, and of course I was like, and then she was like, oh, you didn't, I was like, it never occurred to me.

Speaker 1 You just thought it was coincidental that all, oh, well, you know, Amy did all those. How did you guess it, Jay? From what? Because you said

Speaker 1 a queen of Massachusetts or something like that. Oh, wow.
You knew that.

Speaker 1 Such a like, yeah. I love that you didn't know.
I told Amanda last week. Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Amanda could work for the government. She is very good about keeping a secret.
But the kids, Abel, Abel's here right now. He never said a word.
I love that. I lost him.
I'm going to go to your face.

Speaker 1 I'm going to go drag him out of his bed.

Speaker 1 That was rad. Listen, it's not to get weird, but

Speaker 1 I hope you're as proud as you should be, and she as well. I mean, like,

Speaker 1 that went beautifully. Like, the fact that you guys not only have raised these two kids so well, but that your relationship is so great and healthy.

Speaker 1 And like, that you could do a fucking one-hour podcast in front of millions of people and not have to fake anything. Like, it's just, you know, it's really cool.
It's really admirable.

Speaker 1 I know it took like full disclosure.

Speaker 1 like any couple that goes through the journey you've gone through, it took a while, but you're there now. Yeah.

Speaker 1 But, you know, we, I am really proud of it. And of course, it takes

Speaker 1 things take a minute because everybody's sort of adjusting to what it is. But I'm also

Speaker 1 very proud of certainly as parents what we've been able to do and and that

Speaker 1 you know is it has been really important to both of us

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 yeah I'm I'm really really lucky to have her as a partner in this way for us to to to parents how lucky Archie and Abel are too that you guys like worked out a brand new relationship that serves you both and them and it's uh and I would say that I probably you know

Speaker 1 there aren't many people I speak to more than I speak to her, which is weird because it, you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 But it's, it's, it's great. I feel really lucky.
And I do. Does Josh Shotland get jealous at all?

Speaker 1 He does, but but she is, she is somebody that I still run a lot of stuff by if I'm thinking who get jealous? If Josh is not available. He's my buddy Josh that, you know, that I face.
Oh, Josh.

Speaker 1 I didn't hear what you said. Yeah.
But I still like, she's the person I go like, hey, I'm thinking about doing this or hey, whether it's life or work.

Speaker 1 And I really i seek her counsel because it's important to me because because i trust her in that way you know yeah and she's a sharp cookie she's awesome she's awesome and um so what is the uh what did we what was the buy from the opening it was a bicentennial um oh yeah to hunt 250 episodes that's right

Speaker 1 so anyway so guys

Speaker 1 um

Speaker 1 that was uh unbelievable and uh enjoy the rest of your day um it's our 250th episode i can't believe what

Speaker 1 Yeah. You remember in 1976 here?

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah, United States. That was the 200th.
That was the

Speaker 1 bicep,

Speaker 1 everybody.

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