Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade - SNL History w/ Jason Reitman

Episode Date: December 25, 2024

All things Saturday Night with director Jason Reitman. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dana, get ready for Las Vegas style action at Bet MGM, the king of online casinos. Enjoy casino games at your fingertips with the same Vegas strip excitement MGM is famous for when you play classics like MGM Grand Millions or popular games like Blackjack, Baccarat, and Roulette. I love it with our ever-growing library of digital slot games, a large selection of online table games, and signature Bet MGM service, there is no better way to bring the excitement and ambience of Las Vegas home to you than with Bet MGM Casino. Yeah, listen, I go to Vegas all the time and you want that feel, dude. And you can download the Bet MGM Casino app today.

Bet MGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. Betmgm.com for Ts and Cs, 19 and older, to wager on only. Please play responsibly. Yeah, if you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement

with iGaming Ontario. Airbnb is a sponsor, Dana, and I know a lot of people are using them, a lot of people, they love Airbnb. By the way, you can get big, you can get small. It's not just one thing. It's just people saying, hey, what do you want? We'll find it.

Short, tall, wanna have a big kitchen, little kitchen, whatever you want. Fireplace. You want a fireplace, you want a space that is private, like you, David, probably would want private or you know, the main thing about them is they have a lot of locations and if you can't find the hotel you want, Airbnb is your choice. Listen, hotels are fine. Just Airbnb has got a little more space,

a little more privacy, you know, a sharper location than a hotel. You might want to go a little closer to this, closer to that. And my hotel this weekend, when I was on the road, people were knocking on, I felt was my door. I kept looking at the keyhole. It's the door next to me, but there's a lot of hubbub and commotion that you won't get at an Airbnb, you know? Yeah.

The noise was so loud in the hallway with keys jangling and people come, I thought for sure they're coming into my room. I was skipping. We clean now? She keys jangling and people come. I thought for sure they're coming into my room. I literally. How's it going? How's it going? We clean now? No, no, no. I always tell them when I leave, I go,

hey, I'm leaving. You can go in. They're like, am I supposed to be excited about this sickening operation? I go out every morning. I find the one who's assigned to my room and we make a plan. We make a plan together. What we're gonna do is I'm gonna go in and then I'm gonna take a room and we make a plan. We make a plan together.

What we're gonna do is I'm gonna go in and then I'm gonna take a walk and then you go in, right? Yes. Airbnb, it's tailored for you, perfect accommodations when you're traveling with friends, family, you're on your own. Listen, think about it for your next adventure. You won't regret it.

You make the switch, you can always go back, but think you're gonna stick around the old Airbnb. You make the switch, you can always go back, but think you're going to stick around the old Airbnb. Jason Reitman, Dana. Jason Reitman, who is a, I would say a friend of mine and a smart guy, a director, writer, just did this SNL movie, which sort of fell in our lap because it's right up our alley. What do you mean by that? I don't understand.

Well, you used to be on SNL and- 1947. No, yeah, it was, so we got a advanced copy of the movie or so we could watch it at home because we were running around. And it was very, very interesting having been in 8H for seven years. And they made a set that looked like,

I thought they were filming in 8H. Yeah, and they made a set that looked like, I thought they were filming in 8H. Yeah, me too. It was so accurate. Yeah, he did a great job with that staircases, the actually hallway, the page desk, that whole and then when we went back to the show or I did recently, I just saw that again. I was like, God, it was exactly right. He's done some great stuff.

That movie is very interesting worth the watch and then he's done Ghostbusters, Juno, which was a smash up in the air with George Clooney, I think maybe Andrew Kendrick. Um, and so he just high quality. I worked on something with him once, or at least we talked about something and loved to get involved with this guy. He's just a smart, good guy to hit your wagon to. And, and you know, it was interesting because of his resume and all the stuff he's done very

successful, but just never lost his fascination for this live wacky, crazy idea of a TV show that the Lord Michaels invented basically, you know, going on live at 1130 under rehearsed under everything, you know, like Lauren's famous quote, the show does not go on because it's ready. It's because it's 1130. So Jason has a fascination with it and he tried to capture the spirit of that first show, the crazy chaotic spirit. And so we talk all about that. We break it down David.

We break it into little microscopic pieces. So here he is, Jason Reitman. David, are you still around the corner from me? No, I actually moved from that mansion to another one. Oh, okay. Oh, okay. No, you live in the nice area and I, listen, I've hit the skids. I was going to email you about this.

So, Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, I moved about a mile away. It's not great. Okay. It's not like, okay. You should, you should crowdsource something. I think, I think people would spend money on seeing you in a nice place.

See Dana doesn't care. It's David's world. We just live in it. I'll just say it. I know it's a hackney cliche. So how are you today, Jason? Here's the most trite thing I could say to you. Are you looking forward to the holidays? I am. That's a good question. Are you? Actually, I mean, I'm in that place where the movie's out and there's nothing left to do with it and now I have to like think of something else to do.

Okay, the good news is I saw it last night. I was mesmerized by it and I thought, oh, thank God, I love it. By the way, this is the scariest fucking podcast I could go on because I haven't done anything yet with two SNLers. I'm on with two legends, two real deal who know the fucking show. So I'm like, I'm not trying to shine you on. I'm genuinely intimidated by this. I've never seen a movie like this where I was so, you know, it was so familiar and I got goosebumps at times. I was got emotional at times. So I was realizing that David and I are in a different lane where we're experientially it's so familiar,

it's different, but it's and you really captured it though. The chaos of it, it still is just chaotic as fuck. So here's the common thing that I keep on hearing back from anyone who worked at SNL. I mean, crew cast, anything. The stairwell, the stairwell between the eighth and ninth floor. And we literally, we got that down to like the exact details, like the handrail, everything. Where anyone who's ever worked there has smoked in there, cried in there, broken up with their boyfriend in there. Because there there, broken up with their boyfriend in there,

because there's no privacy at SNL. And every time there's a character would walk in the stairwell, they say they would fuck him up. There's a co-ed bathroom now, you know, and just one small bathroom for everybody and it's down the hall, yeah. Where is it down by Lauren's office?

No, the other way it's on 8H, but just around the corner. Oh yeah. But yeah, your point. Yeah. There's no real privacy. And, um, sometimes in the stairwell, you'll see a writer that you've been wanting to see for a sec and then you'll have a little powwow right there in the stairwell. Some writing happens there as well.

Was that in the movie, Jason? You know what, Jason, I will tell you just to bore everyone on 8-H, when you go down toward the elevators, you can take a left and there's a men's room, but it's bigger. You know, it's got a couple. I would go into the stall, close it in my suit or whatever for weekend update and just go over, go over during the commercial and then run back because I had to get one minute of silence because everyone's grabbing you and there's noise and there's music and there's crowds and there's other cast so you go I just have to focus.

You don't want to get out there and look at the cards and go oh my god I don't know this as well as I thought I did or something you know same thing with sketches so you go over there and cram and then come out and go, okay, more distractions. But they did. I do the same thing while I'm directing. You need a second. Yeah, because if you're a director, everyone is reaching out to you at any given moment

and everyone has a question. They're looking at you and they're always trying to measure whether this is the time to ask you a question and they can't do that when you're in the bathroom. So I use my few bathroom breaks during the day as the moment to like, I pull out the sides and I go, what the hell am I making here? And you forget to go to the bathroom because I go, wait, why did I come in here? I just came in to study.

I was like, oh yeah. But I will say, go ahead, Dave. Yeah, go ahead. Well, just that Lorne Michaels in the movie and in real life is just, yeah, he's that person you want to get a moment with. And so when Kamala Harris was on the soundstage, Michael's in the movie and in real life is just, yeah, he's that person you want to get a moment with. And so when Kamala Harris was on the soundstage, which was such an intense thing with all the Secret Service and all the energy around that moment a couple of weeks ago, they ran it

and everyone was so, there was a tension because Secret Service and army men were there, you know, flak jacket, helmet and night goggles, machine guns. Right. And I came out of the makeup room on eight and I saw them lined up like six or eight on both sides, holding machine guns. I said, can I go? Yeah, you can go. And I'm in the Biden outfit and I literally saluted them. Not as a joke. It was just like kind of nervous energy. But we just thought, a cast member, I thought, well, we should kind of laugh a little bit while they rehearsed this because everyone was dead quiet because it got laughs, you know. And I said to them, I don't know

if we should ask Lorne. I'm going to ask him. But Lorne was so deep into the whole thing. He didn't want to hear any notes at that moment, right? Cause he had a lot, a lot of stuff to think about. That was an intense night. So you really, I think you did a really good job capturing Lauren's obsession with the show, you know, basically, especially then. Yeah. But still now I'm not knowing what it was and not, you know, well, I, I

thought, you know, you could have, uh, I had no idea what to expect. Um, and there's not a lot of just like set shot. It really moves, which is an understatement. There's tons of throwaway lines and there's laughs all the way through, but they're so run over, uh, you gotta pay attention and there's just, it's just all movement, there's no like real static, not that many static shots. I did love Willem Dafoe and Lauren in an elevator.

Just to side, just a side two shot. I like that sometimes when directors don't not waste time, but going for like this shot, there's just so typical over, over, close up, close up, close up, back and forth. I like things playing like you have to just pay attention because that's, you're like really watching people talk and you can understand it. You don't need to be close up of them, close up of them. So that I liked and I liked just seeing every cast member played and who's playing them and sort of forgetting it and just thinking it's the real Chevy, it's the real everybody. Very cool though, very cool. Thanks. I didn't know 90% of that, you know, that first show, it all takes place

if people don't know what is it the hour and a half before the show. How obsessed were you both with SNL before you auditioned? Finally a question for us, thank you. When I look at it now, like I met Lorne in 86. So he'd done five years, he had his sabbatical and came back, but it still seemed like it was a hundred years in my mind because of my college years watching the original Saturday Night Live.

And so it was still like this monumental thing to actually try to get on. And I auditioned a couple of times. I auditioned once at the Comedy Store, a cattle call with comedians doing five minutes with no MC. And I followed Sam Kenison. No way.

At midnight in Kenison Prime. I died a thousand deaths. Wasn't that special? Well, I was gonna show you as a director, you must, it's difficult, but you landed it. You're doing actors or comic actors, improvising, doing comedy for film. To try to get it integrated so it feels really poppy.

But there were some ones that I really noticed that just like felt real, felt spontaneous. That was all just you yelling at them or just one camera. I'll tell you how we made it and how we even got into this in the first place. Look, I grew up obsessed with SNL and I also grew up around some of those actors because my dad was actually directing some of them.

But when I was a kid and I would watch it, every once in a while, there would be these bumpers where you would see the crew for a second. A sketch would end, the camera would pull back, and sometimes you would even hear the director from the control room and it would be like, this actor go here, this actor go here, and you'd see the crew and you'd see them moving a set.

And the moment that happened, I went, I wanna know who the fuck those people are. I wanna know, how is go here, this actor go here, and you see the crew and you see them moving a set. And the moment that happened, I went, I want to know who the fuck those people are. Like, I want to, how is this thing being made? Because I was obsessed with the concept that on Tuesday, you start with nothing. And by Saturday, you have a finished show. And when I right after I directed Juno, my agent asked me, what do you want to do next? And I told him, I said, look, I had two dreams as a kid. One was to one was to to direct movies and the other was to be a writer for Saturday Night Live. And, uh, I said, you ask Lauren, if there's any chance he'd let me come and write even for like a week. And Lauren was really kind and he said, yeah, yeah, you can come to space camp. And so I went, I spent one week there. It was one of the

greatest weeks of my life. And I think it was coming off of that. I thought, all right, I want to, I want to make a movie. It's not, it's not as much like a celebration of the comedy, but like a celebration of how this show is actually made and the fact that it came so close to not ever existing. Yeah, yes, it is. I'm doing it now to sort of a guest, I suppose, doing Biden and stuff. And yeah, you just you still you can't prepare for it. You can't I'm going to do a lot of stand up or whatever. You can't really prepare for it

because it's changing every second. They throw you out there. You're kind of like there's the cards you're trying to be loose, trying not to push, trying to land it. So it's, it's, it's, it's intense. It's just still really intense. Well, I mean, that's actually, I was really curious because when I was, when I've been watching you do this recently, I would go, I wonder if you feel like you're falling back into how comfortable you were back in the day. Does it feel like day one for you or does it even feel further out of reach? Because it's something you used to feel comfortable doing and now you have to jump

jump right in with a new cast, new set of writers? Um that's that's a good question. I'm actually podcasting on my side. I'm on your podcast. No, but uh that I'm I'm it if to me it's always solving the puzzle in the moment if it's my character like what is the musicality or rhythms I have to hit? What are the chops? What are the To me, it's always solving the puzzle in the moment. If it's my character, what is the musicality or rhythms I have to hit? What are the chops? The first time I went out there, it felt familiar, but it still was,

right as they're going to push you out, you're going to enter a scene, there still is, okay, I'm not on camera to 10 million people, I'll be on it in a second. Right. I've got this little moment. Don't push. Have fun. So I fell into it pretty quickly, but I still have, I'm not completely where I was when I stepped off in 93. That was another level because you're doing four or five sketches a show. You know, did you guys ever get to point where, oh, I can't even imagine.

Like you have to go an hour waiting for your one moment week. You know, I'm Dana's waiting. Like if you come back to host, it's the opposite. You're in, yeah. I think the first time I hosted I was in 13. I've never been in more than three sketches. I think when I was on the show or maybe. But Dana was always packed in a lot, but I was sort of used sparingly,

and so 13 overwhelmed me, and now Dana's waiting for one. So all we can, and it's maybe one paragraph, you go, Jesus, I gotta nail, there's no second take. If that show, I always say, if it had second takes, it would be so much better, because if you could just pick from one, because sometimes you walk into a sketch, and you're like, like on a scene in a movie, sometimes you go,

you know what, can I come in again? You know, I just, I'm not in the right space. I came in a little early. And on those, you just go in and go, oh fuck, it's not going right. And we just, this is the one. Let me ask you, so would you rather kill it or rehearsal, kill it dress and know, oh my God,

somehow I have to replicate how well that worked. I don't know exactly why the magic happened, or would you rather hit it at like 70% at dress and go, oh, I know exactly how to take it to 100 now? Definitely the second one, 70%. It's a horrible feeling when it goes just perfect at dress. Cause you know, like, this is never gonna be that good again.

It's more than horrible, it's sickening. Also, you wanna be good enough at addressed to where you get on the show because you don't want to save too much because then it gets cut and you're like, oh fuck, I really laid down on that. But you know, some of these sketches, you know we're going to get on. There's some that just kill, but you're like, oh my God, I just hope it does table read kill, rehearsal with the crew, and then dress, and then air. And it's hard to keep it going every single one

and have it work. And for me, it's like, I try to tell myself, it's not literal, the cue cards are just suggestions. Because when you get out there and you have this part you have to do, you can kinda just sort of rush just slightly and not really connect with the audience. It's sort of a

ballsy move to take a moment or extend your way to beat just a little bit because that keeps it alive and the audience senses it when you're having fun and surprising yourself. Do you get to have fun now when you're doing it Dana because I have to imagine first time around when you're a cast member and you're, you have no idea what the sky is. Like you don't know yet that you're going to have success in films. You don't know yet all the other things are going to happen that you're going to be like an all-timer.

So that's always going in the back of your head of like, oh, like, is this going to work or not? I'm wanting for both of you like to go back now. Does it feel like I am who I am now? I can go out and have fun. Or is it just as high pressure? I need to get a win. I need to crush it. I would say it's both. It's a little bit I'm playing with house money. I understand that. In the beginning, I didn't know I was with Phil Hartman, the Phil Hartman or the Jan Hooks. We didn't know where it was going. By 93, it was feeling pretty good. But now

it's still the thing. If I'm doing Biden, I'm trying to get the language and sort of ride the wave if it comes to me. If I'm doing, no joke, I'm not getting around here, my eyes get big, and I hold that, then it's still kind of the same process. So both things are true. Playing with house money, no one way down the other side of it. It's kind of like you would say to Steven Spielberg, is it any better now? Or is it any easier now? He's still just trying to solve problems. Is that what directors do?

How often, David, how often do you miss it? Uh, you know, everything is so different than SNL that I liked. Uh, I liked it cause I had a good fun batch people and I, I'm glad I kind of stayed close with them, but I don't miss as much cause it was, it just, I just remember sort of the hard parts and I also remember the great parts, you know, you forget, it's like surgery, you're like happy after, but during it you go, God, it was tough, but I'm just happy it, it happened and I got six great years out of it. And then it got me on something else.

And I then trying to stay afloat is the next big challenge, you know, cause you could do your own show and it doesn't work. And then suddenly all your heat's gone and you're not doing anything. And it just, it's tough. It's hard not to fall off a cliff after. How often are you talking to current cast members about that? How often do they reach out and go, hey, it's all going well, I'm on the show,

I feel confident, I'm getting on every week, what happens from here? Yeah, I think Dana gets it more because they ask him about impressions and what to expect and these kinds of things. But when we have him on the show- I'm with people that are really young. Yeah, and right now he's with people that are really young that are, some haven't even been on a sketch yet.

They're just like, what am I doing here? Because there's so many casts. It's very, very frustrating for sure. I'm sure I feel for them sometimes. 50 years in, you know, you got 200 cast members before you or whatever. When I was on it, it was really, it was the original, which is probably the best, or whatever the best means, or the most potent. And then of course, Eddie's years in Piscopo, and then the Billy Crystal year, then the Stranger. So it seems young in its history when I was there now.

But... Finding the perfect gift is hard, but sending a pressie? Well, that's easy. With a wide range of gift cards, there's a Pressy for everyone and every occasion. Digital gift cards that arrive instantly or can be scheduled for arrival when you want via SMS or email. Pressy, bringing the world's best brands to inboxes across Canada. Anytime, anywhere. Search P-R-E-double-Z-double-E to shop now. I was going to ask you, like, because what's interesting to me is,

okay, now we got to cast these people, you know? Yeah. And I wonder when was it down to like three people or was it instant? Like the gentleman, you know, it's hard for me to connect the names. Like a gentleman who plays Dan Aykroyd. Yeah, yeah.

Landed so well, they all did really. I mean, I was laughing. Oh, that's Billy Crystal. Yeah, that's kind of the thing. I was laughing the whole time. You know, so, I mean, look, a few things are happening. I mean, one, I'm approaching this as a movie and I'm thinking about this'm approaching this as a movie

and I'm thinking about this as, this is a movie specifically about the 90 minutes leading up to the first episode. So the movie, like a concept from there, the original concept was always, the movie starts at 10 PM with Lorne Michaels out on 50th street looking for Andy Kaufman. The movie's gonna end last line in the movie, 1130, live from New York on Saturday night.

So in knowing that, it's not about how do we tell the whole history of SNL, it's not, oh, how do we recapture Chevy Chase? It's going, okay, who is Dan Aykroyd at 11 PM? How vulnerable is he? How scared is he? How confident is he? On the first show, where is he right in this moment in time?

Right before the world changes. There's a moment where SNL doesn't exist and then there's a moment where it does exist. It's like a, it's a shuttle launch. It's like, it's the first walk on the moon. Um, where is everyone's heart at? Where is Lorne Michaels when he's actually vulnerable or maybe the last time before he becomes as confident as he is. And what is this strange group of people? Some that worked, some that didn't. I mean, geniuses like Jim Henson that have like, you know, it's not going to

click. It's not going to work are in the same room as people who are literally just. They like, I always said, this is, this is a shuttle launch. Like that's what we're watching. So with, so with Dan Aykroyd, it becomes a question of, you know, not can you do Basimatic, but rather can you capture his energy and his verbosity is in his intelligence and his vulnerability? And Dylan O'Brien, who, you know, Dylan O'Brien is like a heartthrob.

Dylan O'Brien was, you know, in like Maze Runner and Teen Wolf and like, you know, I don't think people think of him as a comedian, but understood that Ackroyd's on the spectrum and understood how Ackroyd spoke. And also understood Ackroyd's sex appeal, which I think no one else did. No other actor came in and understood that

like Ackroyd could get it, like women loved him. And that's an important part of who he was. And so- It's all good looking and charming and funny. And talented. And so smart and kind of willing to play both ends of the spectrum of comedy of being like uber confident but also weird. So we interviewed every living person who was in the building

October 11th 1975. So not only the cast, not only the writers, but costumers, production design, members of Billy Preston's band. We interviewed Howard Shore, we interviewed Paul Schaeffer. There was NBC pages we literally got ahold of who could just give us a taste of like, what was it like, how were people acting, how confident or unconfident were people. And that's what leads to the casting, not can you nail the Chevy Chase fall,

or can you nail Gilder Radner doing Rosanna Dan. Or you hear a random story that actually did happen and no one knows about it, just some page tells you, oh, I don't know if you know this, but over by the elevators, then you're like, oh, we should put that in, it's great texture, it's just something that did happen, it's weird. Absolutely.

You're much more interested in those details. And then because you're moving the camera through this hole, there's always, you know, everyone has to be good because, you know, you gotta know when the camera's hitting you for the movie, not the show. But you know, when you're going through the hallways and you go into makeup, then you pan in,

you're going to the host dressing room, then George Carlin walks past and you're like trying to catch people going, oh my God, this is sort of the chaos of it all. It's hard to be a... The idea was to drop you in it. Like we wanted the audience to feel not like they were being presented a movie, but rather,

I just remember the first time I was there, it just felt like, holy shit, I'm here and everyone's moving past me. And as people, I recognize people I don't recognize and being at SNL, no one sits down. Like you're not allowed to sit down. It's just constant movement. And that's what I wanted the audience to feel is like layers of action.

And so we tried to give 30 different characters, actual arcs, but sometimes they're the foreground, sometimes the background, but literally every actor works every single day. There's no trailers. You're just there. And we rebuilt the entirety of 8H, uh, eighth floor, ninth floor, it's all one 360 set. That looks great. Looks exactly. It looks great. I thought it was real. And we rebuilt the entirety of 8H, eighth floor, ninth floor, it's all one, three, sixty-seven. It looked great. It looked exactly.

Thank you. It looks great. I thought it was real. I'm like, oh, they must have built this, but there's so much shit they'd have to put in here. Like those makeup rooms and the wardrobe and everything and all the things in the walls. And I'm just like, God damn. Because it was like in real time, one time you moved and I go, they're on that side. Okay. Oh, they're coming by where we used to put catering along the wall. Oh, they're coming back. So it was real in that respect,

like it didn't even matter, I guess, but it does. If someone knew it, they go, cause I would see like Herb Sargent was still there with us. He lays out check. Oh, I didn't realize that Herb was there when you guys were there. Certainly, yeah. We took his office.

Yeah, he was the update, update writer. He was in charge of update. Yeah, and he was like, off, off, off, off, off, kind of grousy, but after about a year, he moved out of that office and me and Farley moved in. Oh yeah, and then Sandler and Rock took the back part. It's like a small, two little offices

with the door between them, but you have to go through ours. So that was four of us crammed where he had all these papers and shit, just doing the painting and newspapers. But I saw him, I think I told Dana before this, I saw Audrey Pertt-Dickman I was working with, because she was there with me.

She was there, no kidding. Yeah, right? And I was like, oh my God, was she there from the beginning? Because you can see, was Joe Dixio in that? Was probably Ben Roy. Yes, Joe Dixio is day one. In fact is great. Ackroyd, so we were finishing up this last Ghostbusters movie

that I produced with Ackroyd and I showed him the model of the whole set. And I, you know, I interviewed Ackroyd a bunch of times. And finally I was like, Hey, can you give me an impersonation of Joe Dixio for the actor who's going to play him? And Ackroyd just like, just jumps right in it. Doh, man, it's, and he like, hey, can you give me an impersonation of Joe Dixie for the actor who's going to play him? And after just like, just jumps right in that do man, it's an E like just starts doing the whole thing. And then I was like, what about Davey? How about Davey Wilson? Can you give me Davey?

I was Davey Wilson and he starts doing like Davey Wilson and like, I think it's gonna work. What you want to put what you wear. Yeah. You want to use. I don't know. Yeah. How about that between dress I don't know. Yeah. How about that between dress and air meeting, Davey Wilson's got a script out right next to Lorne's desk, and it's that binder script that says, starting alive in a circle.

And he's like this, and he goes, well, we're going to have to jump, we're going to have to put Gap Girls right after. And he's like, I don't think we can get camera. I don't think we can do it, Lorne. And he would laugh and smile and yell at it. Come on, Davey. He's like, why are you asking too much here? But I didn't know Davey was there from the beginning.

How stupid am I? Well, I think there's something about Lauren's, I'm not sure, part of it is loyalty. And you guys know this better than I do, but someone told me once, Lauren has the same routine every day because he thinks if he did it differently, tomorrow morning he wouldn't wake up Lauren Michaels. And I thought that was really interestingly said.

And when I, the first time I went to SNL, I was probably a teenager and just as an audience member and I remember the fear I felt, and I couldn't even understand why. I'm like, I'm just sitting in the audience. Why am I scared? But then I started checking with other audience members and everyone felt the same thing. We were all scared as I started to count down.

But then I went years later to write for a week and I got to wander around and it started to hit me. I was like, oh, nothing's changed. And the more people we would interview, nothing, physically, nothing changes. The turnover of people, I mean, there was people that we were interviewing that had literally been with the show since pretty much the beginning, like, like our department people had worked back from like, at least like episode two or three. So I think there's a consistency that there's a recipe that Lauren seems to believe in.

And I think it's the reason why every other sketch show that's been popular comes down to the few people that were at the core of the cast. And yet there's something about the DNA of the show that allows brilliant people to come in and out of it. Writers, actors, musicians, like anything, but the recipe remains. I think that Lorne Michaels never wavered. You know, there was, it should be an hour. It should be pre-taped.

We should change the theme. We got to get rid of that song. We don't need the end, you know, for years and multiple administrations of overlords. He has stood the test of time. He really does believe in it. And these are the off label things that I don't know you would know. But basically, when you take unknown people and you put them on a show, which right now there's unknown people who just got on Saturday Night Live. It's a de facto reality show. You're watching them grow and get confident or not. So I believe, or putting a football player, Joe Montana is going to host a live 90 minute sketch show doing con.

So there's a reality element to it. So it's so compelling. And then the band plays and they break big bands. And I got to see Roar Bison and Neil Young standing there. So then you have those moments. So I think you're right. It's the DNA of it and Lorne never wavered. Right now, because I'm watching your movie and then I'm just flashing back to last week

when Lorne would suddenly appear at 8H and you could tell he's uncomfortable, the way the rehearsal is going, he's trying to think how to fix it, what should we change. So it's an extraordinary thing that it's a 50 year and going, going, going. It blows my mind. Yeah. I think people like, Jason, you're right about when, I like when they pull the camera back and they go to commercial and they start ripping down a set and you're like, the set's that small? Or, you know, anything, you just look, it's more you're learning. You're like, oh, it's right there in the front or, oh, the set's that small? Or you know, anything, you just look, it's more you're learning. You're like, oh, it's right there in the front or oh, that set was over in the corner

and they all get up and sprint out. And that part is very cool to watch. What about you? It's funny, so I grew up on sets and I grew up just wanting to be on the trucks. Like I wanted to be one of the crew. I wanted to be one of the dudes. I loved that they would say off-color jokes and I just wanted to be on the trucks. Like I wanted to be one of the crew, I wanted to be one of the dudes, I loved that they would say off-color jokes and I just wanted to hang.

When I watched SNL, I got a very early feeling that there is a brilliant ensemble in front of the camera. We're all aware of that. But there must be a brilliant ensemble behind the camera that's performing some chaotic ballet that allows this to show to exist. When I got to see it in person, the camera that's performing some sort of chaotic ballet that allows this to show to exist. And when I got to see it in person, I just, I couldn't fathom how you write all night Tuesday, you do the table read Wednesday, and then in the middle of the night on Wednesday,

there's already someone painting a wall, hemming a dress, creating a wig, and then it goes right up to the last second. And it's the most thrilling thing I've ever been present for. And that's what I wanted. I wanted an audience to experience, like, because it's very easy for people at home to go like, I'm going to turn around at 1130 and see what they do. And then after be like, I did a good job, they did a bad job or like whatever. And it is an extraordinary piece of choreography in front

and behind the camera to pull off that show. And they are constantly bending the boundaries of what can be done on live television. And that started literally with the first episode. And I think there are two things you captured really well. One is to your point about the crew. By the time the read through, you got some laughs there and maybe you're not blocking Thursday, but you're blocking Friday and you're just kind of, you're kind of going by the crew and the crew is often just casually kind of right. Yeah, they're America. You're running the lines and they're either there's silence or there's five or ten teamsters or just regular people laughing and it gives you a little

boost, you know? And the other thing was watching the film, I want to give it away for the people who are going to watch it. You can't give it away because it's tactile. It's experience. You actually can't give this movie away. I already told everyone what the last line of the movie is and that's kind of the beauty of it.

Yeah. I loved the buildup, watching the buildup to the tension. Is it going to go on? Are they going to show a Carson rerun? I just love that. I love the Johnny Carson phone call. Whether it's real or not, I don't know. But at the last second, they're either going to go to Carson

or go to what now has gone for 50 years. So you built that so beautifully. I was right in the moment, even though I knew what the answer was gonna be, I was like, god damn, are they gonna put Carson on? I'm riding that train emotionally. So every single person is so invested on the show and the cast and crew to something

that doesn't really matter yet. It's nothing. It's also, everyone's pretty defeated in a weird way because most people are saying, this is some dumb thing we're gonna do in two weeks, we're gonna look for another job. And so you couldn't say to someone, now when you're working on the show, you go,

well, at least we have a job, at least this is picked up, at least there's a different vibe. But then it's like, why are we working this hard for this shit? And I love seeing the board of how many, I love when Billy Crystal caught the board. And he's like, holy shit, what do you, I mean, you can just the board. And he's like, holy shit. What do you, I mean, you can just eyeball it

and say that's a three hour show. Just for the audience, the board today is where the sketches go up and they're honed down. There might be 10 or 12 of them. In Jason's movie, there's a board in the hallway on 8H, not up in Lauren's office, with like 50 sketches. Three musical acts, a magic show. They're like, wait, who the fuck is getting cut?

Cause you know who's getting cut before you go in, but you're like, oh wait, that guy was it. And they all treat Jim Henson like shit, which is funny. He's such a genius. And everyone's like, get the puppet guy out of my way. And then, you know, and then so cool. They stop putting them in compromising positions. You know, they would bend big bird over, you know, Ben Big Bird over, you

know, Elma or whatever. Yeah, that was funny. One thing I wanted to ask you is like the, you know, when you're watching it and so they're there right now, they don't know they're on Saturday Night Live. Like I did 10 years later. They know it's late. They're getting paid. They were, they obviously they were found by's late, they're getting paid, they were obviously they were

found by each other and they're smoking weed and rabble rousers and they were sort of more aggressive than people would be now in a way. They'd be more devorential because it wasn't a hit show and they knew Lorne. Lorne was younger than Chevy Chase. He was a contemporary up here. So you captured that too. I mean, how much of that vibe was part of your thinking? Rebellious thing, especially, especially Belushi. I think it was Rosie Schuster who told us that what it felt like every night was that feeling if you broke into your high school, that if you broke into your high school over the weekend or overnight and you're just running around and like you own the place.

And that was echoed by everyone we talked to, that during the day Rockefeller Center is an office building with people in suits. And then all of a sudden it's Thursday and it's two in the morning and Ackroyd, Ackroyd somehow stole a set of keys and had literally a key to every door in the morning and acroid acroids somehow stole a set of keys and had literally a key to every door in the building and it would just go and like just in the middle of the night you'd go find fun places to go fun find places to

smoke out he had found this one shaft on the eighth floor that if you open it he could like exhale into it and and that was his way of smoking. But what I love is actually the idea that they were a bunch of kids and how young they were. That Ackroyd was 23 and Lorraine was 21 and Belushi was 26 and they were genuinely kids. And I asked Ackroyd, what were you thinking right before you went on? And he said, I was thinking, I still haveckroyd, it's like, you know, what were you gonna, what were you thinking right before you went on? And he said, you know, I was thinking, I still have a snowplow up in Toronto, so I had a job waiting for me. He still likes that stuff. He's still a very real dude like that. I mean, oh my God, he'd rather talk about ghosts and things and paranormal. He lights up with...

By the way, tell me about it. But, um. When those guys come by the show, Jason, when I was there, it'd come by like, I interviewed Ackward for Spin Magazine or something. They would be like a collab. But first of all, couldn't be more generous and sweet heart. He's Canadian. But it's such a legendary thing when you're on the show and someone that used to be on that you'd watch

comes through the hallways and he comes in the office. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. This one, this is old Herb Sargent, you know. You know, don't be in a hurry to leave the show. All rights are fair enough, sir. He has an extraordinary memory and he can, and he, and everything's right on top for him. And that was an interesting thing between people. But some people didn't remember anything or they, they clearly would, you know, had made up 50% fabricated their history. Accra has an exceptional memory and will hold to it.

But it's weird because now we've shown the movie to them. You know, like all these folks like that we interviewed have now watched the movie and watch themselves. I sat in a screening with like Billy Crystal revis revisiting the worst night of his life. Oh wow, wow, wow. What was that like? Yeah, I'll just ask that. I mean, what's interesting is,

so Billy obviously gets cut on opening night and Billy Crystal's had as bad a successful career as a human being can have. And he talks about that night like it happened yesterday. He gets deeply emotional. It still stings, it has to sting. Wow, wow, wow. Yeah, I mean, so we were looking for a script

from opening night. We kept on asking everyone, everyone we interviewed, because there was stuff, there was like a sketch that got cut that we always wanted to read, and we just wanna know what it looked like. Nobody had it, not Lorne, not anybody. Finally we asked Billy, hey, is there any chance you have a script from opening night?

And he goes, I think I could find it an hour later. I found it. So we go to his house. He pulls out the script and he starts leafing through it. And then he just goes. There. That's where I was supposed to be deeply emotional. I will kill me.

So we scan the script and anytime someone has a script in the movie it's Billy's script. Like a physical, like the physical script, like anytime a character is like going for pages on scene, like in our movie that's Billy's script that we actually, that we scanned. And he went back three years later and then had this killer year with Christopher Gesson, you look marvelous and all that stuff, you know. Yeah, but still that moment. Don't wait! Opening an account is quick and easy. Switch to Quest Wealth Portfolios today and keep more of your money. Conditions apply. I am so dreading groceries this week. Why? You can skip it.

Oh, what, just like that? Just like that. How about dinner with my third cousin? Skip it. Prince Fluffy's favorite treats? Skippable. Midnight snacks? Skip.

My neighbor's nightly saxophone practices? Er, nope. You're on your own there. Could have skipped it. Should have skipped it. Skip to the good part and get groceries, meals, and more delivered right to your door on skip. Did he ask to see the movie or did you ask if you could show it to him? So this is what happens. So I've done two movies about real people and this is what inevitably happens.

Like you interview the original person. All they want to know is who's going to play them and if they're attractive and how tall they are. And then, and then they watch the movie and they just can't, they can't figure it out. Like there's just silence after they're just freaked out by it. They're freaked out by watching themselves. It's emotional. They're thrown back in time. Yeah, Billy was really into it. Lorraine loved it. Garrett loved it.

I think for Garrett, it really was. I think Lamorne did an extraordinary job as him and really brought some energy to it. I did too. He really kind of sounded like him. I was like, yeah. He was on this podcast and is very memorable. It's one of our favorite guests. I mean, he's amazing. I ran him three days ago with that thing I was like, yeah. He was on this podcast and is very memorable.

It's one of our favorite. I mean, he's amazing. I ran him three days ago at that thing and he was sitting there, oh, this guy, he was super, super sweet still. You know, I do impressions of people and I do kind of have empathy for the, in terms of you with these actors

and watching people play them, it is like, is that, is that how people see me? You know, it's a little vulnerable. Is that the way? Am I missing the way the world sees me? Yeah. So for this movie- I thought Lorne wasn't very pushed.

I liked it. He wasn't like, no, you know, they didn't, you guys didn't do that. It was very kind of thrown away because he's a little Canadian, you know, he's a little, he's got something, you know, that's a little unique to Lorne. And back then it was a little softer. So I did like the guy that played him. I thought he did a great job. He's the kid who played, you know, Gabriel Lavelle played Spielberg in the Fableman's. So he's now played two of the most iconic Jews of all time. And I think there's something about Gabriel where he has this look in his eyes where if he has a vision,

you know somehow he's gonna accomplish it. And I don't think that's saying you could teach somebody. I think he just has that. That tracks so beautifully throughout the whole film. He was wonderful. Where's Waldo of the film, the Lorne character. Like, oh, what is he thinking right now? And you know, non-verbal

acting is just a skill set that some people have. I think Michael Keaton's, you know, naturally gifted at it and Gabriel, he is too. No lines, just looking at a board and thinking, you know, you really wrote it with him, that character, I think. For each character at the end of the day, I tried to identify just one thing as far as the casting. So, you know, with Chevy, it was an ego that needs to be humbled. You know, with Belushi, it's a guy who thinks that somehow going on to television will be the end of his life. You know, uh, for Gilda, it's obviously the overwhelming empathy, you know, uh,

for, uh, Garrett, it was, uh, who am I? Like what's my identity, who the hell? And by getting out of that one idea, instead of it being an impersonation, it became, all right, this is the one thing. This is the one thing you want in this film. And it just gave him a sign of a chase. Did Belushi really, I mean,

I heard Belushi didn't like the bees, that's true, right? But did he really have a problem with that he's sort of a bigger actor than this show? I wouldn't think that of him. I would think he's just a goofball. This is what I understood is one, you know, he wouldn't sign his contract and he went missing on opening night. And he definitely had animosity with Chayefi. And I think the reason was really clear. You know, what was brilliant about that first show is that no one looked like anyone on television the Belushi didn't look like someone who should be on television you know Gilda

did not look like someone who should be on television and Chevy did and I did yeah I think what upset Belushi was that when you look at who Belushi was on stage at Second City and in the National Lampoon show, he was a star and he had found a place where he could 100% be himself and people would respect his genius. And now he was going to be on television and Belushi knew Chevy's going to be a star and the network kind of identified that from moment one and Chevy knew it. And Chevy was like, this is where I'm gonna get my win. That's why we have his line in the movie where he's like,

oh, is this an ensemble? So I think that's evolution of mine. It was revealed obviously later on, I guess people it was obvious in the beginning that you're at home base in 8H. That means you're in the center of the studio. You really can play to the audience and the camera. It's the perfect position to be in where Chevy was. And then you're going right to the audience

and you can drop little ad libs in. You can break that character a bit, stuff like that. So, and then, you know, obviously he broke so hard. I was just going to ask you quickly about two subsidiary characters that people wouldn't be household names, Michael O'Donoghue and Rosie Schuster, who helped me put together Church Chat. So I was interested how, what a big part of that year she was as Lauren's wife, their relationship with Shakey or something. At that point.

I fell in love with Rosie as everyone does. All I'd been hearing was that everyone falls in love with Rosie and then Gil and I, Gil's my writing partner. We got on the phone with Rosie and I think, you know, we wanted to fight after, you know, after the call, we just felt so head over heels for her. And she was so funny. She was easily the, uh, of all the heavyweights we spoke to, she was easily

the funniest person we spoke to who like just consistently made us laugh and said things out of nowhere, they were highly original. And I think really interesting about us about her was that, look, I mean, look, this cast is in, right, this group of writers and cast are challenging all these social mores and the way that they're doing television, the way they do comedy. And, but also for Lauren and Rosie, who their marriage is coming apart, they're seeing other people, they're still married to each other, they're working with each other, that they were taking this 1970s nuanced look at love where it's like she's fucking Danny, they're still

married, but they respect the fact that they make each other better and that's all that counts. Like they make each other funnier, they make a better show together, they support each other, they understand each other. You know, it gives a shit and Lauren didn't give a shit. That was really clear in speaking to everybody. That was that, yeah, the hippies day or whatever, the new kind of looking at everything basically days, including comedy. And I think that's what's so cool about that moment is you have a young people who are going, we don't have to do it the same way that anyone else has done it before. And like, that's kind of what the movie is about. It's about the moment where one generation just

rips television out of the hands of another because they say, your time is done. Like that's why we have Milton Berle in the movie. Like Milton Berle is there representing an entire generation of old TV that this group goes, no, I'm sorry, we're done with you. That was a brilliant, because I read it, it wasn't exactly true.

was a brilliant, because I read it, it wasn't exactly true. Jake K Simmons as Milton Berle is magnificent. The character's hilarious. Well, Milton exposing himself is true. He may not have exposed himself to Chevy, but he exposed himself to a bunch of other people. I think he wanted that out there. So he was constantly exposing himself to people. It's hysterical.

I mean, so the first person we heard about was Zwei Bell and he had exposed himself to Zwei Bell in someone's dressing room. And then the more we talked to people, the more people I would find out, you know, even Jeff Ross, Jeff Ross came to our premiere and after he goes, oh yeah, yeah, Milton showed me his dick. I didn't get May 2, I got May 22.

That's how big it was. Yeah, Milton showed me his dick. I didn't get May 2, I got May 22. That's how big it was. Well, I mean, to have him in there, and also I wasn't quite sure, I may have lost track of it. I love when Spade doesn't like a joke. He's like, oh no, I'm gonna let you know how much I don't like that joke.

No, I like that the guys with the big dicks wanna show everybody, That's so funny. My friend used to accidentally send his huge dick picture to girls and go, Oh my God, sorry, not for you. No, that's okay. Well, I just think of hydraulics. I mean, there was a prosthesis in your show and it's like extrapolating where, how does that really get to a place of excitement?

It seems like it's just too much weight. It's very funny. This is a very naturalistic movie. We shot on 16 millimeter. We tried to do everything old school. There's only two visual effects in the film and one of them was retouching Milton's penis to make sure that the skin color and shine matched JK's skin. Only in the movies. As far as Rosie Schuster being there in 86 and being assigned to me, I had a church lady character for my stand-up to develop it. I didn't know she was his ex-wife, and I noticed that she would always call him dear in meetings. Yes, dear. Oh, dear. I know. She called him dear. She was good in the movie. Oh, well, Rachel Sennett is-

That actress is great. She's off the charts. I don't know of another actor who's had as strong a debut. When you think about her first three films, you know, Shiva Baby, Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, and Bottoms, I mean, it just lights out good. And she's a killer. Yeah, she was charming. Yeah, she seemed just in the pocket totally natural and Michael Adani who you brought up earlier obviously

yeah is one of the reasons why the show is genius from day one is is that again I think it's this other thing about Lauren is his understanding that a show could hold the tone of Jim Henson and kind of the delight of like a comedian like Zoya Bell with the dark nastiness of O'Donohue and knew that somehow this is a show that's gonna occupy enough space where all these voices can live together. And Tommy Dew is the guy who played O'Donohue

and that's a really tricky role. I think that's one of those things where from the outside, you don't see how hard it is to be able to say that kind of nasty shit and still be a likable character. And there's very few actors, like Billy Bob Thornton was a guy who would like, you could literally say anything and you still like the guy. And it's such a tricky thing to do.

Yeah. Interesting. Well, Lorne is very clever about that. I don't really know how his brain works, but it's, it's at a high level of really absorbing. I was, the thing I say as I came back at the young field, but Lauren's an AI who's downloaded the show. So it's generous. So he can blink stuff. He can look at something and kind of go, well, if they're supposed to be older, we have to make them older or whatever. There's the essence of things very quickly. We'll figure out what's wrong, what might be better.

And you see him, I've been there many times when the show is a little flat and, and I can tell he's a little wounded, but going to go onto the next one. And then when it goes well, he's just a little lighter, but it's an intense life to do what he's done and is still doing it and is going to keep doing it after the 50th. What? Newsflash. I was about to, you just dropped that like it was nothing. I'm curious with both of you, do you remember early moments where you understood why Lauren picked you? Like, did it ever become clear as like, oh, this is what he saw in me, and this is why he knew I was special. David, I'll let you go first. You know, I wasn't a big

character guy. I just did stand-up, and I think he liked the way it was written, even though I wasn't even a headliner. And when I got there, I was a little over my head, more than a normal over your head, because I wasn't writing sketches for characters and I wasn't doing crazy stuff. And that wasn't something that was on my even radar. It was so high above me that from Arizona, I couldn't think, oh, one day I should be on SNL.

It didn't even cross my mind. I was saying I should be like a manager at Benningans. That was like the ceiling. And so when you get to, you get at the highest place and you're the lowest level, it was hard. And I was always feeling about getting fired and getting, when obviously I was having some troubles, especially the first couple of years, but when we had Lauren on, he goes, and by the way, David, you were never in danger of getting fired. And I was like, it's just weird to hear him say that because that's all

you're thinking for six years. And just have him say it out loud because it was, uh, it was a little rocky road, but got through it, but shit. I was just like, Oh, I don't know what he saw. Maybe this didn't look like everyone, you know, you just, you don't know what. I wasn't a huge jumping off the page guy, but he did say also during the podcast, I always, I always knew you were funny. Which is high praise from the guy who's saying that. It's nice to hear just that simply.

That always knew you were saying. Follow up question. Yeah. Is there a person who makes you more nervous when you answer the phone and then someone goes, I have Lorne Michaels for you. Oh, sick. Is there any person who would actually make you more nervous or is that the person who would make you

the most nervous hearing, oh, he's on the other line? It definitely is something that you might avoid calling back. Especially if you're there, if you're there and you're part of it, it's the ultimate boss going, oh my God, the Godfather's calling. Or when Farley was getting- Even to this day though, I'm saying even to this day- Oh yeah, I? I feel like Lauren's emotional interface, I'm just making up these words. I'm just more used to it this time around. So I kind of want to give him a hug and

tell him a joke and be silly. But for years when I was on the show, you know, because Lauren had this thing walking down the hallway, still with the show, you know, that kind of stuff. And you're still here. He was intimidating. I mean, he had told somebody recently or that he had to create sort of a wall between himself and the cast or else they would have eaten, eaten him alive. Right. You know, so yeah, he's an intimidating character.

But you know, if you go to the Yankee game, you know, he's kind of, I mean, yeah, he's, he's, he's an eclectic personality. There's sort of the elusive Lauren and area diet, Lauren, and then there's the guy who wants to get a hot dog and go to the game. So also that stuff, you're not as fearful now because it's, you did it. And so now I just like to see Lauren and laugh with them and try to make them laugh and goof around as much as, as much as possible. But you feel like he's so observant and so smart

that he can just see right through you, right. And he kind of knows where you're going wrong. Never leave a hit, you know. He always has these lessons, never leave a hit. What happened to me was so unusual and bizarre and just happened since that I had done the Churchley character in my act, but I was doing 70 minutes of stand-up and it was just a few minutes of it. So then decided to make it into a talk show with Rosie Schuster,

and then it just scored huge and it was an accident. I didn't know it was great that it was a talk show on home base. I didn't know it was great that my character's funny and also Phil Hartman and Sigourney Weaver could come on and be funny. And I had Jan Hooks and Phil Hartman scoring. So I figured out at some point, that's what Lauren loves. It's a sketch that at Home Base, a reoccurring character with a catchphrase, and then guests can come on and be funny as well.

Right. Yeah. And so, and then I did Chopped Broccoli, that show and a few as well. Right. Yeah. And so, and then I did Chopped Broccoli, that show and a few other things. So I didn't have groundlings up in San Francisco. So I just was a sketch player doing standup. And in the small rooms that would work and the bigger rooms would be harder. So I didn't really know I was a sketch player.

But when I got on there, I figured out, well, this is where I belong, you know, doing characters and sketch, but I was trying to do it as a stand-up. So, that was a freakitude to have that right up front. You've always wanted to be part of something bigger than yourself. You live for experience and lead by example. You want the most out of life and realize what you're looking for is already in you.

This is for you. The Canadian Armed Forces, a message from the Government of Canada. Bumble knows it's hard to start conversations. Hey, no, too basic. Hi there. Bumble knows it's hard to start conversations. Hey. No, too basic. Hi there. Still no. What about hello, handsome? Ugh, who knew you could give yourself the ick?

That's why Bumble is changing how you start conversations. You can now make the first move or not. With opening moves, you simply choose a question to be automatically sent to your matches. Then sit back and let your matches start the chat. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. Is there anyone these days that you fight for to laugh more than Lauren? Like, is there a person that you want that you try to make laugh more than Lauren. So that you feel the win more when they laugh more than Lauren. No, my first show back doing these little sets of shows,

I was reading Biden in the read through and I didn't really have it but it was kind of coming onto me this Biden non sequitur thing. And guess what? And by the way, in fact, the matter is, and so I was throwing it in, it wasn't in the little draft of the script. I'm just throwing it in and I saw Lauren's shoulders

going up and down because that made this really in the corner of my eye. And so that was, that was a big, when the shoulders go, you know, yeah. The read through laugh of Lauren is unreal. Like when you're on the show and everything matters and you're at read through and you wrote a sketch and it's your lines and you're saying it and then you see him just buy into the sketch and start cracking up or slap the tail. You're like, holy shit. Oh my God.

This is crazy. The week I was there, I wrote three sketches. That's a lot. No, no, no, no. They didn't make it. I did for the table. That's a lot of writing though. You know, it's hard to do.

Oh yeah, but I've been like, I've been wanting to do this for decades and this is my one chance. Like, trust me, I they didn't make it. I did for the table. It's a lot of writing though, you know, it's hard to do. Oh yeah, but I've been like, I've been wanting to do this for decades and this is my one chance. Like, trust me, I had stuff in the office. So I just, I made so many rookie mistakes, not realizing, oh fuck, like, that's never gonna work at the table reading. He's gonna be reading the, all the stage directions

and there's multiple locations. Why did I do that? It's just all these things. Too many sets. Oh yeah, I made that mistake. God, I wanted so many do-overs. I got a sketch on, but oh my God. Who was your host that week?

Ashton Kutcher was the host, Narls Barkley was the musical guest, and now you know exactly when it took place. Sure, it's great then. Well, how fun. At your point, Lauren is like a coach, and you were a high jumper, right, in high school. How the hell do you know that?

Who slipped you that weird piece of paper? I was, and it must be you. I just at least had a perfunctory look at your Wikipedia page. I assume we would mostly talk about this, but I love track and field. And I remember Dick Fosbury and stuff like that. But, uh, Lauren is like a coach that you want to please.

And I had a button down coach when I was in high school, very not, not big with the praise. You'd have to just go fantastic. But Lauren, he would just give you a little, if you dismantled the room, like really scored, he might walk by him and he would just tap your shoulder and give a little pat. Yeah. And kind of nod his head.

And that was like a huge, huge win, right David? If you kind of acknowledge. Oh, I think three years and I did one Hollywood Minute at read through and he goes, he turns the sketch, he goes, next sketch. And he goes, I think you found your voice. All right, we're gonna do Wayne's world. And I was like, and then two weeks later in the hallway,

he goes, maybe Hollywood Minute this week. I go, fuck, you're asking me to do a sketch? Oh my God. Fuck yeah. That must've been extraordinary. Oh man, I was like. That must've been. Goosebumps. By the way,

I was just talking about the rare gift to say cruel things and for people to love you for it. And it's like, you're literally one of the handful of human beings on earth who can do that and you can say these things and people love you for it. And like, you can't teach that. It's just like, it's just in the DNA. I'm not really a mean person. That's the funniest part of the whole thing is like, you just think of these

jokes and goes, oh, that'd be funny. But you're not like, I fucking hate these people. You just go. But isn't that the truth? Like when you think about the few people who do this, like if the few greats who are like, they know how to just cut you to the bone and be funny, most of those people are not mean people.

Like Don Rickles is not a mean person. Jeff Ross is not a mean person. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, Paul's. Yeah. Like the real assholes are not funny. They're just dicks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, Paul's... Yeah. Like, the real assholes are not funny. They're just dicks. Yeah, yeah, you're right.

Yeah. Yeah. It's because you always have to find the fine line where it's not too rough. And sometimes I would go too deep and caught myself a dress or something. I don't think they're going to buy that. That's... Well, when Chevy came on this podcast, I, you know, I'd seen him and I know, I knew enough of seeing him over the years.

He was very generous to me when I was at Lorne Michaels house before I got on the show, but I was out there and he loved my audition tape, saw something in me. But Chevy loves to say the thing you're not supposed to say. Yeah. To the extreme, where it can go wherever it wants to go.

I have an example for you. And I've known, I've known Chet my entire life. I grew up, you know, like with, with his kids and stuff and like. 20th Americans ever created. And so, so Chevy comes in to watch the movie and he's there with Janie and they watch the film and he's in the group and he comes up to me after and he pats me on the shoulder and goes, well, you should be embarrassed. What an exact chevy thing. You couldn't even write it better. Yeah. How funny. Well, he knows that's funny. Like, okay, that's the most, that's the roughest thing you could say to

a director in that moment. Right. Right up there., all right, you know, and I'm trying to balance it. I'm trying to balance it because like in my head, I know, all right, I'm getting a Chevy Chase moment that's 1000% only for me right now. And from a comedy point of view, that's really pure. And that's kind of, that's kind of cool. But also, I just spent like two years of my life recreating this moment so that, and trying to capture Chevy perfectly. And also even in the ego, find the humanity and give him a moment to be loved. No, none of that shit play. He's not talking about that stuff.

It's a, it's a funny thing to say, but then you got to look at the meter and go, what percentage was real? Was it all a joke or was there a little bit he's not happy, but you just don't know when he leaves and you go, ah, well, he saw it. I think the key, the key is if you can, when we, I just say yes to everything. He, at one point he goes, I had a way bigger career than you guys. And we both went, of course you did. If you go back in time, he says, you should be embarrassed. I'm completely humiliated.

And then the air goes out of the balloon. Then he's more like, hey, it wasn't that bad, you know. But you always say yes. Have you seen my cock? And he would go like this. Like, was it a hundred times? Yeah. And then he would go like that.

He went on video, which is horrible because everyone would, he was so funny with all his visual craziness. You know, Dana, we're gonna let, we have to wrap up with Jason, who's a fucking stud, but we can just mention his great other things he does. We won't go into him totally, but we just, just so people know.

The Junos, the Up in the Air was great. Is this when you do it at the end of the show? You're like, oh, by the way, the Up in the Air was great. Young Adult I Love. Is this when you do it at the end of the show? You're like, oh, by the way, this is who this guy was? No, we- Well, no, we're gonna introduce you, we separately. We're gonna introduce you and say all this, but yeah. But I want you to hear that I love Young Adult.

This went full Saturday Night Live. I thought it could have been about your high jumping in high school. Apparently, you're really good. It could have been how you frequent STK in Hollywood, but we didn't want to spend the whole time on that. That's in your Wikipedia also.

By the way, William Defoe too. Loved every minute of William Defoe as Dave Tibbett. I've never been to STK. That's kind of, that's exciting. Frequence Los Angeles takeout STK as does Channing Tatum. Did you really say that? References, swear. By the way, that's a really say that? References. Swear.

By the way, that's a really interesting way to do advertising. I never thought of that, but anyone can update a Wikipedia. You could just go to the most famous person you could think of. You could just slide in at your favorite restaurant. That's hysterical. So if you own a restaurant, you're just going to be like, and Beyonce, you know, loves the...

Always seen at Cheesecake Factory. The problem, which I've said before, is if people hear something, they have a hard time thinking it's utterly untrue. So on the Wikipedia page, it said I had a previous wife named Leah. It's probably still there. So people go, so you were married before Paula to a woman named Leah? No, no, it's all made up. Well, you must have known someone named Leah.

Nope. It's all made up. But you must have had someone before, you know, no, it's all made up. Well, you must have known someone named Leah. Nope, it's all made up. But you must have had someone before, you know, no, it's a 100% some nerd in their room and it's still there, you know, so. I did it to myself, Dan. I said I collected gerbils. We just put it in one time. And then it was such a mistake

because in the middle of heavy interviews, they're like, you know, my son has a gerbil. And I go, I don't give a fuck. And they're like, but don't you love you? And I went to that store. I go, what? I forget. I go, oh, right, right.

I got to get that out of that. It was like for one laugh. That's Richard Gere, remember the gerbil up the butt. And people will go, well, he must have had a least-picked gerbil. It wasn't the exact same rumor, but yeah. He must have sat on a gerbil. No, it's all made up. Oh, Dave.

No, but come on. Dave, this's all made up. Oh, Dave. No, but come on. Dave, this is not gonna turn out well. I know, right? I just did it again. Dana, thank you. Jason, you're stud, aside from everything else you've done. Nice hanging out.

I love talking about SNL like that. And what a fun movie to watch and just be thrown back into that crazy world. Did a great job. One last thing before we go, the Franken and Davis characters You know, it's great. So those two actors they did something I hadn't experienced before they auditioned together and That's what made it work smart

They already knew each other and so they just did the bit together and it was like, oh, I believe them as a duo and It was like why don't more actors do this? That was so smart. Now that Julia Child bit, did you see like, I don't know if you saw the movie, but at the beginning, there, you know, it's chaos and they show on the side. Nice, David. They show on the side, Frank and David, it's just one of the crazy things is one of the most memorable sketches of all time, Julia Child.

They just walk by, we got this thing we just want to do, it's blood and Lauren's like, sounds great. Moves on. And you're like, Oh my God, that's everyone knows. There's a lot of details. So for the, for a big SNL fan, which I'm presuming, like your listeners are way bigger fans than I am. Yeah. Uh, they like, like we have colon blow in there. Like there's all sorts of little details. If you start actually, if you start looking in the background and stuff, there's all kinds of fun stuff.

Colin Blow is such an idea. Oh Easter eggs, because Colin Blow was 10, 12 years later. I was there with Phil. God damn, what a great one. I have to watch it again. Yeah. Okay, thank you Jason. Obviously the Larmen.

What a stud. What a stud. I'll talk to you later. I enjoyed it. Bye. This has been a presentation of Odyssey. Please follow, subscribe, leave a like, a review, all this stuff, smash that button, whatever it is, wherever you get your podcasts.

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