Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade - Tim Meadows RETURNS: Sandler Text Chains & Farley Memories

Episode Date: March 5, 2026

Tim Meadows is back with the guys to talk about the movie that unexpectedly revived his career — Mean Girls — and his new CBS series DMV, where he stars alongside fellow SNL alum Molly Kearney. He also spills on the absurd Adam Sandler group text chains and reflects on working with the late, great Chris Farley. Nostalgia, chaos, and classic Meadows — all in one episode. 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

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And then he goes, thanks. I don't need anybody else's. My next thing, I want to be on a show like Wings. Remember that show? Yeah. But it was on NBC. It was on for like maybe seven, eight years. Nobody ever watched it.

Guess what, David? Tim Meadows came for a second helping of the magic of fly on the walls. Double dipping? A return guest. Back by popular demand. I love Tim Meadows. Yeah. You know, we don't have that many people return, which we need more because we got video now.

And we have somethings. We forgot to ask these people and go over. But we talked a lot. We had a lot of laughs at Tim. What a good dude. He's actually doing a half-hour single-camera show, which he's incredible. And I watched an episode. DMV about a Department of Motor Vehicles.

It's on CBS and Paramount Plus. So we just want to make sure you're aware of that with our friend Tim Meadows. And by the way, during this particular episode, we had a little technical issue. So we stripped from one thing called. stream yard i know for your nerds take notes and we go to zoom so it might not be quite as crisp but we'll still both look incredible and our hair will look great don't adjust your cameras at home it's doing fine but uh yeah yeah tim here he is great guy a lot of laughs uh from the old school yeah we're laughing me tim meadows did the show start without me yeah yeah we were killing you're doing great

oh thanks you're killing it man hmm I'm trying a haircut, so I'm wearing this. What are you? You hide in your hair? You hate your haircut? Well, I was a little, I just not used to it right now. So I'm just going with the hat. Are you all right with that?

That's fine with me. We can all do hats if you want. No, Timmy, in full disclosure, I brought a hat to wear. And then I thought, this isn't that bad. I'm going to just rough it. No, you look good. Thank you, buddy. Let's all do hats.

No, I'm scared. Let's see what you got. You got a cool one loaded. Oh, yeah, he knew. No, my hair is, oh, fuck up, man. I haven't combed or cut my hair in about, I don't know, maybe a month or four weeks or something like that. Okay, have you been out of that room in the last month?

Timmy, you ever do. Where you're going to wear your heads at, man? Do you ever do a movie? And they go, we can figure out that gray. We can figure that out. And you go, what does that mean? They go, we can take care of it. And you go, what are we taking care of?

You go, no, it's just, do you want it? They've said that to me. Yeah. Have you ever bought cookie? I kind of sod and pepper. Yeah, you know, it looks, it looks cool. It looks cool. You're doing whatever you do.

Yeah, it's always worked for Timmy in a jealous, quiet rage as I speak. well thank you david yeah i do i do remember when they used to ask me to put gray in my hair oh i like that better yeah now they asked me to take it out can you just shave that out timmy i've told this before but i'm going to tell you that i read a movie uh about a married guy and his wife and they said it's pretty funny and then anyway all these he's hijinks, but she's got a crazy father-in-law, and I read it. And I read the whole thing.

I go, it's pretty funny. It's not that funny of a part, but who would be the father-in-law? They go, you? I go, oh, oh, wait, I'm not the kid getting married. They're like, that guy's like 35. Wait a second. I swear to God, I go, wait, am I reading these movies about these? What the fuck?

So horrifying. I go, I'll read it again. I didn't even pay attention. I'll read it again. Yeah. I don't know if you've seen Landman, but Sam Elliott's on. that show. And I read for that part.

But Sam got it. That's where I met. That's how old you are? Yeah, he's exactly 100, I think. Well, first of all, I can't believe that you had to read for a show. Yeah, Danny. He's doing a lot of cold reads. I don't know.

I mean, I missed out. I didn't do bench warmers. I didn't avoid benchwarmers. I read for you. your part in Mean Girls. I read for the principal. Oh, I'm glad you didn't get it. His arm wasn't broken, though. Yeah, but that, yeah, that movie, like, saved my career for,

I was worried for a little bit to Mean Girls. God damn, Mean Girls has a spin-off. Oh, from Ladies Man to, you went into No Man's Land, and then you got into, yeah. Yes, I went from Ladies Man, which was like number four at the box office. Nobody was happy with that. And I did a Richard show, which was on NBC and got canceled after eight episodes. And then after that I was on a fucking life raft in Atlantic Ocean. I saw that show.

I'm on life wrap. Well, the thing is, if you're in a shitty show or a shitty movie, all of a sudden they think that you produced it, wrote it, directed it. He did the score. You get a little stink on you. I've done it. I got out of lost and found jail. That took four years of being on Just Shoot Me to get another swing. I was in movie jail for a while.

Yeah. You didn't have to. When they told you about Just Shoot Me, was that the easiest pitch for you to say yes to? It's like, a model magazine. Yes. No, it was leaving S&L and you would get probably one shot at maybe doing the Jeff Richard's show. was on us and they said you could do that or you could do join an ensemble that was already

picked up and i said oh i'd rather go be the fifth wheel on a show that might work and uh that it still wasn't guaranteed but it was it just wound up being better yeah it's so fun watching it because i see it now occasionally and i'll sit and watch a whole episode uh because i worked with george also on the Goldbirds. Oh, right. So it's so cool. I mean, it's just weird, I mean, watching it now because he was like my age, I think. Playing like this super old guy.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you know, George Siegel. Life is kind of fast, isn't it? That's so, that's so true because Wendy Malick, who we all have a crush on, and she's so smart and funny on, just shoot me. And I always thought she was about 40, and I think she was 55, on the show. I was like, why? I don't even know anyone, 55.

And I was like, she's so together and so great looking. And I said, I've seen her recently. She's exactly the same. She's just sharp, fast, funny. That's someone you hire and you get 100% of what you want. Yeah. It's always fun.

I don't know. Like, I've been in the position now, like where I work with people, including both of you, but like, when you work with somebody that really impresses you, and you just go like, holy cow, that person is amazing. You know, like I worked, I did this show during the 50th anniversary, actually, on Broadway. And in this show was Lynn Manuel Miranda.

Yep. And David Cross and Annabelle. I got the other woman's name. I'll look it up. But they were great. And it was just like watching those guys like, do the play show every night was just like oh my god these are real broadway actors you know i got to like really try to like oh you were in it with them and you had you see you get to see every night

the process everything how they nail it and you go yes exactly and i hadn't done something like that since second city where but we wrote that stuff you know but this was like we were doing i'm trying to find the like play bill from it now i'm just looking at my room i usually have my my i usually have my I brought waist up right in front of me. You know, behind you, it looks like Lauren's office with the lineup for the show. The show is five hours long.

We're going to present 6,000 sketches. It's all a matter of numbers. That's our new tactic. I don't think I've seen many plays to me, but I think Chris Rock was saying that he goes, it's hard. I go, could you picture,

so you memorize the whole, script I don't know because I don't do that on sitcoms and stuff even movies it's a scene a day and even that's hard for me and so you memorize something goes but you get it down by blocking and by running it and then it just starts coming to you and yeah and you go some nights then it just gets boring yeah yeah yeah yeah keep it alive yeah and that's where like going you know from doing stand-up whatever is like you learn how you know you figure you know oh I got this has got to be fresh I got to make this yeah like it's just happening and we're all in this moment right now.

But yeah, just being around so long now, it's so I really do. And I love watching other people work now. Like before, I used to be more competitive of like, I want to be as good as that person, or I want to, like, hold my share of the thing. But now when I'm approaching with people, I just, like, I really enjoy watching other actors now,

which is kind of weird because I know there's a, been to change. It's some growing up. Yeah, for sure. I would be jealous and fucking angry. Like, why is that fucker so good? Well, we came out of a tough situation where everyone around us is good at SNL.

We got fucking Dane over there. And we got- Yeah, exactly. Mike and Chris and everybody. And so you're there. Conan's funny and he's a writer. And everywhere you turn, Odin Kirk is a writer and he's funnier than me. I'm like, God damn.

And Lauren's kind of funny when he talks. He doesn't talk much when he does. you go he's fun yeah yeah so then you get out and you get places where you go oh i'm suddenly realizing both someone's good or someone is bringing nothing yeah yeah yeah i've seen people like cold reads where they go you're like oh man because you can tell it a table read even though it's just kind of thrown together you can spot some game yeah but yeah it is weird super weird to see somebody that you thought was good, but actually they have to work at it. They have their own method and then they get good.

They get good by the time you shoot. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. That's respectable. You're on, is DMV, which is your show on CBS, is DMV that's shot? It's not a sitcom. It's a multi-com.

It is a sitcom. It is a sitcom? No, yes, a single-cam. Single-cam. Oh, single-cam. single cam sitcom i'm from the old school of what four cams and where was this school well cbs radford which has gone bankrupt tim what's happening cbs radford dana is where we shot just shoot me and did you know that tim tim is frozen or maybe we're frozen tim's choking in his one oh heather

all about the grooms, dude. Spring always makes me want to hit refresh on my routines, my energy, and just how I'm taking care of myself. But the truth is, if my wellness plan feels complicated, I blow it off, I won't stick with it. That's right. That's why Grooons, that's been an easy solution. Yeah.

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Should we talk about DMV and then we can go back to reminiscing? Oh, that's what I was asking you. DMV is your show. Yes. You were saying it's a sitcom, but it's single camera, which is confusing to me

because I haven't done one. Oh. It's like a film kind of. Yeah, it's shot like a movie. movie though right a little yeah you shot like a movie and i feel like i'm talking about grandma right now yeah this is how it works grandma so what happens he's never heard of single camera on my tv yes and then we shoot it to your house in the airwaves and when you watch it and something seems kind of different you find yourself laughing right you know david but no it is it's a single camera right tell us about

it well we shoot it's um We shoot it in Montreal. It's about these people that work at the DMV. And it's created by Dana Klein, and it's based on like a short story about some employees who are super unhappy working at a DMV. That could be every employee. I've had horrible times at DMV.

I think it's a great idea for a show. Yeah. No, it is. It's like I had to go to DMV recently, too, And like, because I had to renew my license and, and do my plates because they had a new car. But they, uh, the people in the DMV watched the show and they knew, you know, they were like, she, when this woman, one woman goes, we're not that bad, are we? And I was like, no, you know, we're just exaggerating it.

Sure. You know, make the comedic effect. Yeah, we make you all look horrible, just for our own enjoyment. minute. It's so true though. What is your character in it? My character is his name is Greg and he's a very unhappy former teacher who works to the DMV and he's just he's a driving instructor and this is another role where I'm the oldest guy on the show. Oh really? Yeah and so like there's old jokes. They make jokes about me being dead and sleeping and work and yeah it's and i'm just like wait i do yoga every day i'm very healthy i feel like

yeah younger than i look i think i don't know you look pretty young yeah you look good i think you look young if you if you don't want to go snowy on the chin then you know i'm carding you but if you're going to go snow downtown yeah yeah you know i can't help you that bro what does that mean help um i think scruff that's white what snowy downtown means what snowy downtown means Well, I don't know about that part. That was not intended for this podcast. Yeah, that was a little confusing. Yeah, I don't know.

That got a little... I'm still salt and pepper everywhere, basically. Okay. Adds everywhere. Welcome to TMI, the show that tells you things you kind of don't want to know. How much salt and how much pepper. We'll be right back. My fucking salt is taking over the pepper.

That's the problem. It's a fucking... coup. Also, DMV is really three letters everyone knows. That's good for a show. Like immediately, I know what it is. Immediately, I know it's kind of a funny area because there should have been a show at this point about it because everyone talks about it and everyone complains about it. And so you're all set up. Yeah. And it is also, it's based in North Hollywood. So that's our, that's our, you know, like our grounds and stuff, you know. Yeah, not where you work from.

If they're treating you like the senior citizen and stuff, I mean, are they allowing Tim Meadows to fully inform what you're doing on the show? Like, hey, guys, maybe I should say this or I'm going to do this. And I'm like, you can't question him. He's Tim Meadows. Fuck. He knew Chris Farley. Shut up.

Well, actually, it's a combination. Yeah. I mean, it's also a job. I have to say they've been very, they listen to what I think about the, you know, the writing and my character stuff. I know. It's not always the case, yeah.

Exactly. It's not. And I go into jobs sort of knowing that like, oh, I'm not, they know, they just want me to learn my lines and do the, you know, for sure. Not because it's you, just because in general, if people at home don't know, it's kind of you're hired and you're hired hand. And then if by chance,

they let you add lib or say, let's do another one and, you know, do whatever you want. That's a gift. So they don't have to do that. Yeah. And when they ever tell me, do whatever you want, I do that take just a gibberish. I just, I just do it exactly the same. And they go, oh, that was fun. Okay.

Do you feel. Do you have a brand in a way, Tim? I mean, do you feel that, oh, let's get Tim metals for this? you know, either playing off-kilter characters or a little bit angry or just sort of asymmetrical, like The Peacemaker with Blindness, which has a cult following that character. Doesn't it?

It kind of blew up. Yeah. It's been weird. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, I kind of feel like it sort of goes back and forth between like people casting me, like James Gunn casting me, because he said he couldn't find the actor to do that part.

And then he said, like, he wanted me, but he didn't know if he could get me or whatever. And that character was like, is written, like it's a unlikable guy that they wanted a likable actor to play, you know. And so I've had that before where it's like, this is unlikable, but we think you can do it. Like I played the cannibal, child killing cannibal on Brooklyn Nine. What's unlikable about that?

Yeah, go ahead. It's so horrible. Profession. But they, you know, Sandberg, when they called me to do that, he was like, yeah, we need somebody that's really likable. We just thought, like, you know, everybody likes you. And so it'll be a really, no, people won't hate the character, you know. They'll give you a gimmie on that.

Give you a Mulligan on the cannibalizing children. He's fun at parties. That's a rule you only want to do once, though. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Then you get typecast. That's funny because, you know, the sitcom, like I think you called a sitcom, but going back to grandma here,

I was thinking about doing a sitcom or thinking about ideas for them, and I think, God, are they doing regular for camera? Have you even heard of that? Are they not doing those? Have you not heard that? I haven't done one of those, I swear in probably 15 years.

Jesus. Okay, we'll say five. I'll say 20 years, David. Okay, we'll say three years. Okay. So. No, but I haven't. Like, everyone I've done is, and I think even when I've done,

like I did the Bill Ingvar show, which was TBS, and we did that for like two or three years. And that was done in front of a live audience. I personally don't like doing it. I hate those shows. The live audience is hard. Yes. Where you work all week learning in the show

and then you do it for the audience on Friday or whatever. And I just found it not. It never felt satisfying, like comedically or creatively. I don't know. Well, the problem is some of the youth prisoners in the audience, if they don't, that are bust in, if they don't laugh, they change the whole script for them. And you're like, we all like this all week.

Let's play for the people at home. That is a hard part. Now you get a hot crowd. It's fun. It's something different. It's exciting. I think how I met your mother was a hybrid. So they'd have a crowd on a few days.

And then they'd shoot single camera on a few days. So I guess sitcom really mean situation comedy. So your DMB can be that because that's what that is. But I think it's just probably all single camera now. Can I make an option? about I think that you're able to like in a real situation you're playing you can play deadpan you can say the craziest to the crazy shit and you don't push it at all and I think that people see you and they're already kind of laughing even if it's sort of serious yeah they know something

funny will come out signal I'm being funny now it's very very cool uh thank you Dana it's one of your skill sets well mean girls is kind of like that you're just trying to keep the peas or something It's just funny the situations you get overwhelmed and shit. Yeah. Mean girls, that's like one of the first times I went into an acting role thinking like, you know, okay, I'm going to think about this character and I'm going to like, and I just thought that after I read the script, I thought this guy is either go, this is going to be his last year working as a principal or he's going to commit suicide.

And so that's what I played like the whole time. I was like, this guy hates being here. But Tina's character. was sort of like his bright light because he was in love with her but he didn't know how to say it or whatever yeah yeah that character was like teen another hilarious one to be in there with so there was a mean girl's sequel and then a musical and then a coloring book monetization shit oh by the way i get nothing from the coloring book by the way Heather I was just saying that the uh when you

you were on the not grown-ups tour whatever it was called that that tour sandler's tour where we were here on the text chain uh-huh because she's on it too and she's like remember tim was couldn't get off the text chain i thought that was strange it would be two in the morning and i'd be like we're going for stakes like waking up like what is this you guys being like you know oh the phone's bringing it's like yeah we're boise and tim's trying to sleep and it's like who wants scallop potato everyone put in your order it's like ding ding ding yeah yeah and he's like

how the fuck do I get off this texting we're like is this Tim I took myself off and then somebody put me back on yeah yeah yeah it's so funny because there's about 20 people on it and you're like it's all day it's going off like where's my bags

it's just insanity and then and if you you can know because Dana we jump on for a few days and jump off and you're realizing I don't know how to get off this thing and it's just blowing my battery up. And also it's also very funny too and you sort of don't

I sort of don't want it to end even though you know everybody's back to their lives. We had another good one going after Sandler's thing in DC. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. The Mark Twain. Mark Twain Awards and that one had like Stiller and Conan

on it. Oh yeah. And that was really fun too. And then at a certain point it was like okay we got to all move on with our lives or whatever dude every time swartson put something on i've hit a thumbs down immediately it's so fucking humiliating i'm looking for a ha ha ha's on that thing yeah same i'm thirsty man i want so fucking is this a thing do you guys ever done it you do ha ha ha no matter what the person is saying even if it's serious information just keep going ha ha ha i mean what is the schick of group texting things that because it is kind of becomes a little

competitive, doesn't it in a weird way? It's horrible. And then you're like exhausted from trying to keep up. I mean. Yeah. It gets mean too. It does. It gets mean.

But like in a good hearty way, like things you wouldn't say to somebody's face, you sort of put it in the text. It's funny. Yeah. And also Sandler just insults everybody's, which is funny. Which is fine. Yeah. Sometimes they'll say tough crowd for you guys.

no if dana if mine sit there and get stale i i pop a ha ha on it and then no one really knows where it came from they're like oh i guess that was funny and then i'm like that was me i'm trying to get it going you press send and then you see someone doing your idea better than you just wrote you know oh yeah you're like oh shit and you can't take it back and then you're sitting out there like i don't know it's very stressful that's the that's your next show text change after dmv's seven-year-of-run, Tim Meadows in text chain. It could be called group chat or text chain, and it's like a horror movie. But remember you had COVID, and they called it Frovid?

You called it Frovid because you had an Afro on. You sent a picture of an Afro. I got Frovid. My hair got so long. It's been ridiculous. I remember Norm, God rest his soul. on that text chain one time he goes, hey guys, I'm doing my book and I need somebody to,

I need you guys to, if you be willing to write a blur for my book. And then Sandler goes, yeah, I'll do it. And then he goes, thanks. I don't need anybody else's. Out of 20 people. Yeah, he just wanted Adam. Yeah, it's hysterical.

I got Adam. That's good. Hey, I'm good. Yeah, that's all right. That's all right. I like By the way In

To change gears When he does The Farley song He says last time he saw him Was it Timmy Meadow's wedding Is that he said Wedding party? Yeah

Yeah Is that the last time you saw Chris too? No The last time I saw him I think was when he hosted Oh you were there I was there Yeah

But I kind of felt like I saw him again In Chicago go. Because hosting was toward the end, very close. Yeah, yeah, it was very close. But yeah, I think that was the last time I sort of saw. But I know we talked after that, though, for sure. We had like a deep one.

You know, I was almost going to go off for that hosting, but I thought it was getting to the point where it was sort of spinning out a bit. And I think you probably knew when you were there like, oh, you'd even talk to him a lot. It's just like it got on his own worlds, it sort of. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, you could, when he was out there, there was just that look in his eyes and there was just this wildness to him. Kind of like, yeah.

Yeah. And also kind of like asking you to forgive him to at the same time. You know, he wanted your pity, but he also knew, because he knew, you know, I will, yeah, he just knew I was mad at him that week and I was not. I wasn't happy with them. And then we just tried to have fun on the show, you know, because he does what he would like to do, which is try to make you laugh on camera. Sure.

So we ended up having fun, but it wasn't, you know, it wasn't the kind of fun that, like, it wasn't lasting because it was just in hindsight really sad. It was worrying. Yes. So I saw when I would see old sketches from that one, Like he's on a worst idea ever.

Put him on a spin cycle or something. Yeah, yeah. It was a Matt Foley, I think. Oh, yeah. Trying to yell those lines while he's trying to just so too much energy, too much. Yeah, it was crazy. And there was another scene that we did it. And it was like almost like the big baby businessman.

But he was a big baby. He was like, you know, him, but he was in diaper and whatever. it was like a, you know, like a Mori-Povic show or whatever. And I was the doctor who was describing his problems and stuff. And so he was all over me on that sketch and just like, you know, talking me and pushing me and stuff. Especially on air, I'm sure he's trying to like cover your mouth and not let you talk. Yeah.

Not let you do your lines. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was a fun part. But when I saw him, you could just see because you. you know him so well, like, you see in one second when he comes out, you're like, oh, no, oh, no. Like, and what's he going to do?

And the problem is everyone else hypes it up. Like, if you're not, if to the casual person that hangs out, like, even when he was in rehab, like if we're walking down to Columbus and you walk by an outdoor place, like, hey, guys, come have a drink with us. And he's like, all right. And he climbs over the fence. I're like, no, no, no. Because even if he's in rehab, they want to be the ones to drink with him.

Yeah. I remember at being a dinner, and I think it was the weekend. I got married. It was me and Sandler, like at the steakhouse with Farley, and they kept sending drinks over. And at one point, we told the waiter, don't bring any more alcohol. If somebody orders a drink for them, just bring a ginger ale or Coke or something and just lightly tap it with some alcohol and give it to them or just give it to us, you know. But the waiter goes, I can't.

can't people keep making me bring it, you know? And so that was the problem. Like, the thing is that people didn't have to deal with him. You know what I mean? Yeah. You didn't have to, you didn't have to be with him when he was wasted. After that, it's you and Adam. Yeah.

Yes, trying to get him to like calm down or to not, you know. To his apartment. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. But, yeah, it was a hard. It was a hard part. And just, yeah, during that point, it was almost like,

I don't know what to do. You know, I threatened to, like, not be friends and to lose my communication with them, but that didn't, you know. Yeah, that's the part people don't understand when they think, oh, would you guys argue at times? I'm like, well, if you don't know the real situation, you don't know the levels of it goes in so many waves of,

like, you care about someone so much that you do fight because you run out of weapons to say, will you lose me? Will you help if you know that we're going to be going? You know, but nothing really works. Yeah, yeah. And so you see him on the show and you go, oh, my God, I can see it. I see it.

Yeah. But, no, do it. I do, I'm missing, you know, of course, you know, you know what it is. I was in Chicago and doing a gig two weeks ago, and my hotel was right across and at Hancock, and I was like, oh, my God, is that where it is right there? Because I don't go to Chicago that much. You guys are all from there, but I was like, oh, it's. such a weird vibe to just see it and I walk by it. I'm like, ah, what's called the Hancock building?

Hancock building, yeah. Anyway, anyway, we keep going. But on a positive note, it's like I was talking to someone the other day about just, you know, where is the next Chris Farley? And the alchemy of Chris Farley, as you know, the likability, all of it, you know, the physicality and everything, just, boy, really hard. And I think we interviewed. someone was going to try to play Chris Farley in a movie or is there a Chris Farley Hauser yeah and that's that's a tall order for anybody because he's kind of I mean we have data now it's been a while and he's yeah he was and is yeah where's the next familiarity at this point never seen a force like that and you see that the one I mean the Foley guy I mean it's just it's a tornado I don't

even know what it is. It's so, it's so fantastic what he's doing. When we did Matt Foley at Second City, when Farley left to go to SNL, we still had the sketch in our running order

and like other actors who filled in from Farley, tried to do it and could not do it. They could not do it. And I saw, you know, it's a guy named Mitch Ross and Ian Gomez. This other actor who's pretty well.

But Ian tried everything. He came in as like a guy in a fucking bow tie in a suit. And he did, I wrote a speech and it's called, Go for it. And he tried to do Farley. And nobody could do that character. And we just took it out of the show, even though it killed every night when Farley was doing it. Yeah. It was hard.

You wonder like that's the part that's the funniest. I mean, I'm in one of those sketches or I'm in a couple. I'm just watching him like the audience, so there's not much going on, and then you set up something, he goes, is that Bill Shakespeare? I can't see too good.

If he just kept pulling up his pants and adjusting them, just that. That's enough. I mean, he gets down like he's a lineman or something doing a Super Bowl, and there's so many moves, subtle moves within his broadness. There's a lot of little tricky things.

I like when Phil Hartman kept getting written different, ways to bring him out. And he's very casual. We hired a motivational speaker. He's down in the basement eating coffee beans for the last 40 minutes. You had to explain some reason why he shot out of a fucking canon. I'm just hearing Phil's voice right now because Phil was all so, so great at playing the regular straight guy with a little bit of satire.

Well, he's that over, you know. I also, I was telling Odin Kirk not too long ago that I did. I had seen that sketch. We did it in SNL, I mean, the Second City for a year. Saw it on, you know, on Saturday Live. And I, the thing that I always, made me laugh, but I always missed,

with that he had, the speech was entitled, go for it. And that just made me laugh. And he actually had a speech and it was, had a title. Go for it. That's how old Kirk. I was like,

I've seen it for years. It just hit me one day that that was how funny that was, you know. Could other comedians have done the van down by the river, but not trying to do him? Like if Lovitz did it, you'll end up in a van down by the river, but it doesn't have the same little bit. I guess it's just there all for us to. It's tough to do Matt Foliage. You know, your work with Molly on DMV, she was on SNL, right? Yes, she was on Estina.

Yeah, because she's good. I mean, Lauren, I remember said she gives me waves of colors of Chris when she's out there. Which is a fucking high, high, high compliment, obviously. So it must be good to have her on the show. It is. And I have to say that I definitely get that what Lauren is saying, definitely. And she does, the thing I love about Molly, and I don't mean to say, is that they, really

approach the lines differently every time we do a take. Yeah. Yeah, they never do the same thing. And I've told Molly to like, don't let anybody tell you, don't let anybody

clamp you down. Like always do the crazy ideas that you have because she's so different from everybody that I, that I just, I want to see, I want to, I'm a fan. You know, I'm a fan. Yeah, it makes it fun to watch.

And you have to have something that's fun to watch because everyone can read the lines, but you're like, they, they don't even know until they see it. So if you throw in a take on the last one and you do something interesting, the smart people go, well, let's put that and we need something to hook people in. Like, we want to watch Molly and go, oh, I know something different will be happening here. Or, you know, that's what slowly it takes, you know. The enemy of comedy sometimes is being stale. And that's why we all tried to like hold something for the air show.

And when you're doing a take and a show like that and you're going to do something new, then you are discovering it in real time. And there's a magic to that. Yes. Glad that she's getting to do that. They are getting to do that. Yes. And I feel like you ask me like my thing, what I do.

And I think that's part of what I do is like when I get. get a job and they say, you know, I save my improv and my ideas for when they're like comfortable with what we already got. Yeah. And then I'll do things, but I don't, like, I used to ask, but I don't ask anymore. I just do it now. Like, you know, I just go, forget it. Because either they're going to take it or they're not going to take it. And I, not just to my own horn, but I know I'm good. And I'm also a writer. so I know, I kind of know what I'm doing. I would say so. And people at home don't know that people at home,

that when you, you're always, the other pressure to be an actor is they're always in a hurry. So they're always trying to make the day. So it's not really like a playground. We're like, we can be here all day doing whatever you want, unless it's some big budget. But most things you do, especially like on TV or like one, two, three takes, moving on. And it's hard to say, can we do one more? And everyone's like, what?

Like, we got to go. We got the lighting. And then you go, just real quick. So it's easier to not do it. Yes. And so you try to get it in. And then you get and just go, I got to get something in here that's somewhat different or memorable. Because repetition kills us comedians.

Like, same thing, verbatim over and over. You just start going, uh. Yeah, because you do. Like, you lose the spontaneity. And it's easier, like, we're doing stand-up. or whatever because it's your ideas and your words and stuff you know but like when it's somebody else's and you got to try to make it spontaneous like you know 10 times in a row and you don't have a lot of faith in it anyway sure yeah you know it can it can be a little bit difficult

you know what i mean i think stand up really teaches rhythm and the musicality of things and Sometimes you'll get something from a writer. And it's a pretty good joke. But in your head, you're going, oh, there's just two extra words here. Or that little pause is kind of intuitive from so much stand up and getting the immediate laugh. You're like, oh, what we need to do is just cut that. Yeah. It's hard to have to do it and try to save theirs without correcting.

It's hard to explain. Like, I'm telling you this should be tighter. just by even this extra we don't need this extra sentence they're like no no we'll just do it that and i'm like i'm scared it'll be in there that and it looks stupid because Lauren is yeah it's hard we're the ones the bullets will be coming at you you know yeah we're the front line the writers can either be celebrating or got looking down like i never liked it yeah i fed him that bullshit i i always add the word is what did it call a chuffa or something yeah chuffa yeah it's just like no this is just chuffer this is meandering meaningless words that you put in here because you

need to get five pages in the scene yeah this will be the first thing cut yes in editing it'll be like we don't we don't need that some editor will be smart and go get forward forward don't need that don't that's a sentence we need that's what we need yeah get down to the bare bones but you're right it's sometimes it's just filler like the word of the day at least i've heard it a lot recently is slop it's made a comeback how was the show slop you know so many shows that are just slop but you know timmy i was doing my stand-up the other night sorry dana and no no like like what dana's saying is i was trying new stuff and i as i'm saying it i'm like i don't need that part i this is too wordy it's just i get to it and i go some of that's funny idea it's too long and then i we type it out

and then I circle it and go, I don't need this whole set. Okay, I just need this part. And then you can see it. So so many times of doing that helps because then you get on a set, but it's other people's words and they're precious with it, obviously. It's delicate to say, hey, some of this is kind of dog shit chuffa slop. Chuffa slop. We've got a new phrase.

Chuffa slop from Nabisco. Yeah, on the next podcast. I think Carson's only advice for stand-ups was get to the day. joke. Yeah. That's what they would say. Get to the joke because they tend to fall in love with stuff like that. I feel like we should do a little bit of promotion on your show, basically, because that's

probably why you're here. Yes. It's on CBS. It's you're on right now. What night? What time? It's Mondays, 8 o'clock. I think they moved us to.

They would they sit at 8.38 o'clock. We had a, they recently gave us a whole evening where they played DMV for like two hours, or something. But it's CBS. It's, I think we're taking a break and then we're coming back after the Olympics is over. How many episodes have you done so far? We did, we did 20. We shot 20.

And of how many have been released? That's a big order. Yeah, that's in modern times. CBS is probably the best spot to be. Yeah. I'm pretty. I feel like all those shows just do well. They just feel like they know what they're doing.

You know, I always, I always say I want to be on a show, my next thing, I want to be on a show like wings. Remember that show? Yeah. On the NBC, it was on NBC. It was on for like maybe seven, eight years. Nobody ever watched it. It's one of those you go, what was that about again? I think it was all filmed the fucking local airport.

Yeah, but it's like, I want, it was on for seven years. I have an anniversary episode this year. You know, it's just like, what? But no, those guys, they all have had great careers. years. If you look back, that show had a great cast. But I'm just like, I want one of those where like, no pressure. The network loves you, put you on. On autopilot, yeah. Yeah, it's great to be on a show that's a, it's a hit enough that you know, okay, season three's, we're going with all the episodes are stacked. We have our, so for this one, the idea is you're going to get to 22 and then, or stop at 20, air them all after the Super Bowl, and it'll go all the way to May. Okay. Yeah. And then we will hopefully get picked up for another season.

Yeah. But yeah, it's been busy. I don't know. You're always busy since SNL to me. You've always, you've got your, a lot of shows you've been on, a lot of movies. You've done a lot of grams. The wonder this is white. How many things you've been on?

Stress. Yeah. I don't know. Thanks. I was just going to say, I just have a thing about not working. working. I don't know about you, but you have to a certain point, I just go, okay, I got to, I should be doing something because I'm just. Yeah, of course. I like being creative. And also, stand up, you should tout your stand up right now. I mean, you have a website, you know, that people can go and look at all the dates you're doing and stuff. Yes, Tim Meadows comedy tour. There's dates online and on Instagram and stuff. And yeah, I'm going to do some shows with Colin, actually, in Chicago. Colin Quinn. Oh, good. Call, Colin. too. Great. Oh, yeah. Colin Quinn, one of the most looked up to comics. So fun. Fun to hang out

too. Yeah, he's great. Trying new stuff too. So he's going to make him watch my stuff. He'll help. He's good at that. Yeah. Well, thanks, Timmy. It's nice to see you. I love you guys. Hey, guys, if you're loving this podcast, which you are, be sure to click follow on your favorite podcast app. Give us review, five-star rating. or maybe even share an episode that you've loved with a friend. If you're watching this episode on YouTube, please subscribe. We're on video now. Fly on the Wall is presented by Odyssey, and executive produced by Danny Carvey and David Spade,

Heather Santoro, and Greg Holtzman, Maddie Sprung Kaiser, and Leah Reese Dennis of Odyssey. Our senior producer is Greg Holtzman, and the show is produced and edited by Phil Sweet Tech. Booking by Cultivated Entertainment. Special thanks to Patrick Fogarty, Evan Cox, Mora Curran,

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