Inside Conan: An Important Hollywood Podcast - Ian Roberts Revisits His Baby’s Late Night Debut

Episode Date: February 25, 2022

Ian Roberts (Uprights Citizen Brigade, Arrested Development) joins writers Mike Sweeney and Jessie Gaskell to discuss injuring himself during a Late Night sketch, working with the legendary Nipsey Russell, his daughter’s performance as a baby in a Conan bit, and the early days of the Uprights Citizen Brigade.Plus, Matthew Chauncey joins us to discuss writing the new Team Coco Audible Original series “Self Center.”Got a question for Inside Conan? Call our voicemail: [phone] and e-mail us at [e-mail]

And now, it's time for Inside Conan, an important Hollywood podcast. Hello and welcome to Inside Conan, Unimportant Hollywood Podcast. Ta-da! I was trying to do trailer voice for that. It's a good voice. That's as good as it gets. Oh, that was pretty good. Man, it would suck me right in.

I have to listen to this. They're saying it's important. Mike Sweeney. Yeah, and Jesse Gaskell. Jesse I.E., in case you're spelling it home. That's right. We were writers on The Conan Show, and ostensibly, I think this... We were once, so long ago.

This podcast is supposed to be about behind the scenes of Conan, and we're kind of looking at his career arc on television, starting in the late night world of 93. Yeah. Through to kind of the present. He continues to have a career. It's true. Despite our best efforts. But you know, enough about him. Speaking of the present, you are still working on a movie.

I'm somewhere else. Yes. You're at a new location. I haven't talked to you in a while. I'm in witness protection. They keep moving me around. It does seem that way. Yeah.

I just have to give you a great amount of kudos. I always hated that word, kudos. But when they're warranted, the word must be used. You deserve kudos. Because can I say, it's really late where you are right now. That's how far, you're far away. It is. It's so late that it's tomorrow. Oh my God. That's how far you're far away. It is. It's so late that it's tomorrow.

Oh my God. That's how late it is. Okay. You're in one time zone or you're in one day and I'm in a different day. Oh, wow. I'm talking to the future. And we're somehow recording this podcast on different days. That's a mind bender.

Time is a flat circle. And you finished what I'm guessing is a grueling day. What time did you start? What time do you start your day? This morning I started it at, or I was picked up at 930. Oh. And then. I thought it was like 6am. Yeah, you know. Well, you know, it was still, it was still a 14 hourhour day. No, that's a horribly long day. Last night, it was the same yesterday, and for dinner I had chips and wine. Wow. And then I went to bed.

That sounds fantastic. And it wasn't one of the worst dinners I've had. Well, yes, and we should say you're doing punch-up on a movie. I'm doing punch-up on a movie. Right. And I'm on set, and a lot of the time i'm just watching a screen and then kind of talking to the actors in between takes and being like that was great hard to beat that you guys nailed it yeah thank god because i don't have any new lines for this scene because i got nothing

but then occasionally there will be like an emergency and then we have to come up with stuff but i mean honestly i've been I also send jokes the night before. Oh, that's smart. Yeah. So, and I've been getting a fair number in at least what's being shot. That's fantastic. That's great. But then they have to edit the movie and who knows what'll end up in the movie.

Right, you never know. You never know what combo of things works. Yeah. But I bet you're going to have a super high percentage. I mean, they wouldn't shoot him if they didn't like the lines. Oh, yeah. No, I mean...

Time is money. I'm mostly just thinking, well, it's going to end up being too long and then a lot of stuff will get cut out. Like, have you added lines that actually have changed trajectories of scenes? No, I'm serious. Or are they...

No. Okay. Generally, I'm not even, I think, encouraged to pitch anything that's gonna... Right. If it's a small prop or something, that's fine. Okay. But if it's gonna have ramifications, like no butterfly effect stuff, where if I pitch this thing here in act one, then act three, it better pay off.

Okay. The Chekhov's gun. Yes. No, I've been trying to mostly just pitch kind of really like superfluous lines. No, but kind of lines in the moment that keep the ball up in the air. Yeah, throwaways that are like, hey, we weren't planning on a laugh here, but now we've got one. Fantastic. Ideally, yeah.

Call it punch up. Yeah, exactly. I'm not punching down. When you're pitching lines on the set, the worst is, I remember people who would be on Conan, like in sketches sometimes, like celebrity cameo people would pitch ideas. Oh, yeah. Lines like you wouldn't want to do it james lipton oh he's oh did he yeah that's funny because he seems so serious yes and he'd be like what what i think it would be funny if i did that and be like oh yeah that's great you know we could do that and he'd be like oh you're never going to use my ideas. Oh. Like he knew, he could tell just by that candy ass, like, yeah, that sounds great.

Let's. I mean, he's been around a lot of actors. Yes. He knows when they're lying. Yeah, exactly. Right to his face. Well, that sounds great that you can send lines in the night before.

Yeah. I mean, it's stressful the night before, obviously, but. Well, yeah, especially when I get done at this time and I'm like, oh man. But also for them to read them. Yes. It's not like this high pressure of like, we're waiting to shoot the,

like they can actually. Process it. Chew it over and go, oh yeah, this is, yeah. So that sounds much, a much healthier way to do it. I agree. I know, I like that. I mean, that's better for the way I work too, because. Yeah. So that sounds a much healthier way to do it. I agree. I know. I like that. I mean, that's better for the way I work too. Yeah. And I'll suggest things on the floor when I haven't been asked, if I just come up with something that I see in the scene. But when I'm asked for something, it's like suddenly,

you know, and everyone turns to you and then just like every word I've ever known completely goes out of my brain. I can't even imagine. Like I would just, I would panic. I would just, I always have this other voice in my head that comes and goes, oh, you're blowing it. You're blowing it. Yeah, exactly.

I knew you'd blow it. This is when everyone realizes you're a fraud. That's right. You knew it when you were 10, this was going to happen and it's happening. Somehow you made it this far, but that was a mistake. That's right. That was luck. There can't be anyone who enjoys that. I'm just like you. I like to go away ideally and try to have time alone to try to choose something over, you know, and- Just sit in a dark cave. Yeah. Ugh. Ugh. Everyone looking at you. Ugh. I know.

What a nightmare. But luckily it's so traumatic that i think my brain blocks it out a little bit afterwards right right it's like well i'm not even sure that happened plus you know you have the reward of you know wine and chips yes coming up for dinner just waiting for that has to get you through it. Back in the room. Well, and I have to say, because I've been doing clues about where I am. Yes. I mean, I think that the time difference is a clue. That seems like a big clue to me. So that seems like enough for this week,

and I'll save some things. But I will say that I got a Dorito knockoff. This was the chip I was eating. It was a Dorito knockoff, and the flavor was burrito. Okay. It was like clearly meant to evoke the essence of Doritos. Right. But Doritos doesn't have a burrito flavor. Not in the United States. So that's a hint. It is a hint. Yes. Oh, two hints. You're eating burrito chips after midnight. Where is Jesse?

I would be doing that at home, but for the record. Of course, we didn't say what time it is where I am. It could be 11 p.m. That's true. And you're in Detroit. Well, a clue to where I am. You're going to give a clue, okay. I've been giving clues. The nearest Scientology center to where I am right now has brunch open to the public on Sundays. Oh, wow. Have you ever been to that?

I have. My wife and I went. Oh, man. With a friend of ours who was going to write a book about Scientology. That was his excuse. And no, he really was. Was it Leah Remini? He's a really great writer. He's written a lot of books. And we were checking it out and it was terrifying. I thought we were going to get snatched.

But they wanted nothing to do with us. I think they want young blood. They do. They want people who can sign a many thousand year contract. Exactly. But I tried to wander around the building afterwards, but they shut me down. Have you ever been to the Museum of Psychiatry? I think that's their museum. Oh, is that a Scientology museum? Because I know they hate psychiatry.

They do, in fact. I mean, I went early on in my Hollywood career. Sure. They make you sign in as a guest, and I put a fake name because I was terrified. But then you go through this, the museum, which is just the history of psychiatry. Right. And then they connect psychiatry somehow to American slavery, World War II, and the Holocaust. Okay.

And then also 9-11. Wow. So somehow psychiatrists are involved in all of those. That's quite a through line. Yes. Psychiatrists. Psychiatrists, yeah. And then you emerge and there's some really awful, these graphic, like,

it's like you're looking at paintings of like souls being tortured. Wait, were the souls being tortured? Were they like being tortured by therapists? Like for 40 minutes? Yes, by psychiatrists, yes. And like the devil's going to, our time is up. I'm sorry, we'll have to, how could psychiatry?

The irony is that therapists are the ones being tortured by us oh my god i feel so bad i want to let my therapist go i started like a catch and release oh my god i do want to ask him where i i rate like compared to all his other clients. Like, you know, does he look forward to me? How crazy am I? Yeah. How crazy am I? How boring am I?

My first therapist I went to, all she liked to talk about was why I was late every week. And I'd be like, well, this is, we're never going to proceed here because I'm always going to be late. Can't we just? That just seems like small fish to fry too it's like yeah people can usually she'd take calls from her kids during she'd be like i have to take this and then she'd be like turning around going i told you

i told you not to go there i told you to stay home so i'm already late So taking that call is not helping. Well, hey, on that note. Yeah. Let's give our listeners a little bit of therapy. Oh, yeah. For their ears. Yes. With this interview.

We've got a great guest. We do. It's the great Ian Roberts. Very funny guy. He's hilarious. He is like the rock of Gibraltar. I always think of him as he's just a funny, stoic, steady presence at all times.

Yes. He's really funny at being stoic. He just has such a great, he's great at playing a guy who wants nothing to do with me. He could be my therapist. But yeah, you know, you probably already know Ian Roberts as the co-founder of the legendary upright citizens brigade.

He's also appeared in many favorite comedy films and TV shows. You probably already know Ian Roberts as the co-founder of the legendary Upright Citizens Brigade. He's also appeared in many favorite comedy films and TV shows. But he was also a concept fixture at Late Night. Right. You knew we were getting to the Conan connection somehow. Yes. He performed in many sketches. Yes, starting in the mid-90s along with the other three founding members of the UCB. So, Amy Poehler, Matt Walsh,

Matt Besser, they all were in heavy rotation on late nights. So, it was great to catch up with their old friend, Mr. Ian Roberts. That's right. And stick around afterwards for a chat with Matthew Chauncey, writer and the creator of Team Coco's new scripted audio series, Self-Center. Here's Ian Roberts. Well, Ian, we wanted to have you on. I mean, we would love to talk to you about a lot of aspects of your career, but you are one of the people who kind of has been with the Conan enterprise

through all the iterations of the show. So we're doing a retrospective of Conan's late night career. And, you know, there aren't that many people that were there kind of in the early years and also maintained a relationship with the show for the entire span of it. Yeah, much more the New York days. I was really involved because I didn't have any job. All right, I'll appear on your show. Actually, it was great. Everyone used to joke about how it was like what you imagined as a kid Hollywood would be.

People walking around in silly costumes, you know. Right. Because you'd have gladiators and Abraham Lincoln and, you know, someone in Victorian dress or whatever the hell. Astronauts. Right. All in the same hallway at the same time. Yeah. Well, do you remember how, what was the first sketch that you ever did for Late Night?

You know, I think it might've been something to do with baseball, but for sure, at least the second, if this wasn't the first, was running around a track with Nipsey Russell. I did a lot of stuff with Nipsey Russell over those years. Nipsey Russell was a pretty frequent guest. And one of us was in a manatee costume. I think all of us except for Nipsey were in crazy costumes and sweating our asses off running around a track. And Nipsey Russell, who wasn't young, I think he was in his seventies. He was running around the track. Nipsey gave me one of my, I've only heard it from him, but I thought it was a clever adage about Hollywood. He said, let me tell you about Hollywood, Hollywood. They have one type

writer and 1000 copy machines. So that was his way of saying that there were very few innovators and a lot of people just did whatever they thought was sold. He was predicting Spider-Man reboots. Right. Nipsey was great. We used him a lot in sketches and he'd stop into the wardrobe and they'd say, you know, do you want us to dress you? He goes, nope, I have all my own outfits. He goes, I have doubles of all my outfits. There's no pockets in any of them because that way I can deduct them as an expense and they can't come after me and say, oh no, those aren't just for showbiz. So if you have pockets, you can't write it off. That was the thought back then. I like that old Hollywood stuff.

I know I've heard this about the old stand-ups. If you talked to them before the show, you would talk to them in their underwear. This wasn't about any kind of write-off thing, but it was that these were their show pants. And you wanted to go out looking sharp. So you only put your show pants on the moment before you walked out. So if you would talk to the old school comics before the show, they were probably in their underwear with their garters holding up their socks, you know, talking to you. Right. Wow. That's great.

So their pleats wouldn't give out. Or maybe they had a different agenda with you. You were the only strapping man. You were the only one who saw them that way. That's what they told me. And I was wondering why I never picked up the cue. But one thing I remember about Nipsey is that he told us about he got his start, started making good money because of late night TV way back in the day. And he said there was the Jack Parr show, you know, the Tonight Show with Jack Parr.

And he said that that meant so much back then and he said nowadays you know it's it's just so many people get on but it was a big deal right and if you got on and he said i can't remember all the specifics but he said how his money went up each time he went on the show he went on one time and he went from nothing to making i can't remember what it was but it seemed great but you know he's a 50 bucks. Then I went on a second time, two 50. Then I was making thousands of dollars. Then I was headlining in Vegas and it took four times going on Jack Parr. And he also told me how he started doing, um, sort of stand up like his rhyming stuff. He was a tap dancer and that was his patter between tap dancing. And someone said, you know what? You should do the patter and forget about the tap dancing.

Oh, that's great. Wow. The tap dancing. Don't worry about it. It's not that funny. Yeah. Well, he also, I remember once Michael Gordon Rose sketch for him did really well. And so, you know, we're like, okay, let's do the Nipsey Russell bit again. I think maybe we had him reading poetry or something that we wrote. He comes back two weeks later and he's looking through the script and he's like, it's the same damn sketch. Yeah. Yes, of course.

The copy machine. Well, Nipsey, there are some changes to it. We do five shows a week, Nipsey. Right, Nipsey. I was just going to say, I think that bit you did was for the 1996 Olympics. Oh, wow. That bit with the sacrifice?

No, this bit you mentioned. So, running the track? Running around the track. Oh, yeah? I think that was like some, you know, like, oh, we can't show Olympic footage, but. Okay. So, here's. The one thing that's pretty memorable is that there was a manatee in it.

So, it can't have been too many sketches with manatee costumes. No. Although once they make it, it's easier to just keep using it to get your money's worth. I don't know if you remember. There was a bit that went on forever because there was so much money spent on it. Right. The wussy wagon. Right.

I mean, yes. I've done that 10 times. You were in the wussy wagon. Yeah, I was one of the guys in the wussy wagon. Okay, right. Right, right, right. I don't even, it just was a bright red wagon. I don't think you need to explain it.

Okay. I don't know. Well, first, what it was, there was a big pro wrestler. A big giant pro wrestler would pull this big red wagon with a bunch of guys in suits with briefcases going, I don't want to go. And we'd just complain and won. It was the wussy wagon. And I think how the, um, the red wagon came into being was because there was a toy expo that used to happen in New York. And I think as some sort of connection to the to this big toy expo, you guys did a bit where you made this giant Red Rider wagon. And after you spent so much money on this ridiculous truck-sized

wagon, it was going to be used. So we amortized the big Red Rider wagon. Yeah, that was the genesis of a lot of sketches. Those gigs were the best because you just like, you kept, you're like, absolutely. You were so happy that you were one of the wussies because you kept on getting the gig. Oh yeah. I remember bits like that, that were already,

we were already doing a lot of times when something else would crater in rehearsal, it'd be like, well, we could do the wussy wagon. So like, would you get calls at like two in the afternoon to be there by three? I think a lot of my calls were like that. I didn't know that that meant that things were falling apart. But I think, yeah, I think a lot of times it was the same day. You know, can you come in? And sadly, my success was such that absolutely I could come in any day you called me.

Well, that was part of it. Like sometimes it was the proximity to the studio. Yeah. If you were on the right subway line. Like a lot of times we'd call Abe Vigoda. Oh, yeah. Abe Vigoda. I remember him.

Because Abe lived in the Upper West Side. And it's like, well, Nipsey lives in Queens. So that's going to be an extra. And the show's in an hour. So we might have to go with a pagoda on this do you remember the bit trying to find um i think it was grady from sanford and son right yes i think i might have been there the day that you found him and there was like a a giant grady sign that went off with fireworks. Yes. I'm never positive.

These memories are all cloudy, but no. Wow. We are really, we're really going back. Yeah. So Grady was this character in Sanford and son and Sanford and son had been off the air for years. And,

but I guess it's on and reruns obviously forever, but one of the writers, Greg Cohen, who is really great writer pitched, like, let's create this whole mystery that Grady's missing and no one knows where he is because no one's heard or seen, you know, Red Fox was still around and these other people from the show, but not this Grady guy. So it was a regular bit we did

for two months. And then we finally, you know. Exhausted it. Yeah. We exhausted it. Grady reached out to us or we reached out to him and we found him and flew him in and you were there the day he came out. Oh, so you were there for the reunion. I'm pretty sure. Yes. Because I have definitely have a memory of it, of this insane blowout for finding Grady. Yes, I know. Well, Ian, do you remember how you initially were cast in things? I mean, you know, how did the casting director find you? Was it through performing? Well, you know, there got to be this real pipeline to the UCB because tons of people from UCB would get cast on Conan because Cecilia Pleva, who had been the casting person for the Upright Citizens

Brigade TV show, the first season, came over and started doing casting at Conan. And then we had started up our school and theater since she had been working with us. And so she knew us and she would just first stop shopping was call UCB as the artistic director. Hey, we're looking for this type of person, this type of person. So yeah, there were a lot of people who got cast because of that connection.

It just got so many performers from there for pre-tapes and sketches. And then Besser and Walsh were friends of Andy's from Chicago. So when we came to town, they started being on the show right away. And I didn't really know Andy from back in Chicago. So it took a little longer for me to get on. Yeah. You and Amy started appearing early as well. Yeah.

Yeah. The all four of us would be like, that's really how we made our money when we first came to New York. Cause nobody, I think Amy used to waitress, but Walsh, Besser and I, I was living at my parents in New Jersey at the beginning and Walsh was living on couches, I think. And then Amy and Besser had a basement apartment where, you know, the basement apartments in New York, that's where all the garbage is kept. Yeah. And so just rats swarmed outside their apartment in the garbage cans.

And they were in a studio with a gigantic dog, Suki, I think was the dog's name. The dog was huge. And they're in a studio apartment. So you kind of had the best situation out of everybody living with your parents. Yeah. Mine was pretty good. I mean, it's kind of interesting to go back and live with your parents in your early thirties. You're like, because no matter what you fall into these same patterns, you know, where they're treating you like the last time you were there,

which for me was 17 years old. And it's like, Oh my God. Yeah. But no, they were, it was great. And we used to use my parents because we were doing, you know, before we got the TV show, we were always performing somewhere in town. And my parents were the best plants in the world because it seemed impossible that anybody would know people my parents' age, you know, so no one ever thought that they were connected to us and we would stick them in the audience and use them as plants. Oh, that's great. Yeah.

And people would just be shocked. My dad played some agent where we got a young girl to sit with him and he played some super agent or super producer one time and everyone bought it and thought, oh my God, I can't believe they're going after this guy. Can I tell you, my mom got to be on TV as a result of it. She got to be the Viva Variety guys, saw my mom do these plant bits on occasion. And then they got this show called Viva Variety. And they said, would your mom do a plant bit on our show?

Oh, wow. She would love to. And God bless them. I know they did this to make my mom's day. They sent a car out to New Jersey to pick her up. So she got picked up in a town car and she was just. Oh, that's great. She couldn't.

She was like this. They have been so wonderful to me. And they picked me up in a car. They're so professional. Yeah. That's great. Did she alert all the neighbors about like yeah you might want to be outside around 3 p.m when this car comes and gets me you know my daughter uh as a

baby was on conan a few times oh really oh wow yeah did a did a baby rogaine bit where they squirted some water um her head because she looked like a boy so both times i believe she was boys because she had uh like the ben franklin fringe oh right on top and so so she worked well for the bald bit and then the other one was conan taking his nephew to a strip club and so josie was in conan's arms and there was some stripper grinding in front of her oh yeah but those are fun because they're on vhs tape somewhere you know and sure i've got my oh yeah my little has she seen them now that at some time she did probably not any you know probably saw them when she was five or something so hey you were on tv when you were a little baby Well, Ian, do you remember if you started having certain writers that would cast you in things or were there? Because it seemed like once things caught fire for you, you were getting a lot of calls.

Well, we knew everybody because we did an improv show, ASCAP, and Brian McCann used to do it and Brian Stack used to do it. Oh, great. Yeah, they were both Conan writers. We knew it was all of them. They all used us, wanted us, but, you know, thought we'd be funny. I would get cast like for intimidating roles a lot of the time. Yeah, I noticed that. My first ever speaking one was one that you guys liked it enough that you redid the bit.

You didn't like the way it went the first time, apparently, and then brought me in. And I was supposed to be, I think, a college football player that was showing Conan how to throw a football through a tire. And then I had to chase Conan around. And then that became, I think there were multiple times where I would get angry at Conan and want to beat him up. I was, well, I was used in, um, you were a proxy for the writers. Exactly. You can really hit them. When you guys were starting the TBS show, you did this blimp promotion, right? And I was the blimp pilot. Yes. And I had this adversarial now on that one, Conan gave me a hard time was insulting me all the time in it and, and, um, belittling the

fact that i was a pilot of a blimp like oh yeah there's no a blimp moves at five miles an hour what's the skin anybody could drive and i would just be really angry at him but yeah no those were really funny yeah yeah they i when conan the show started tbis is like we're gonna get you a blimp we're gonna fly it everywhere and you know it's going all over the country so they wanted these promos to go with it yeah yeah those were really funny you were great was that something that you had already kind of taken on in just improvising with ucb was were you usually the authority figure? Authority figure, yeah. Not necessarily intimidating, but we would do Luna Lounge, was the big alternative open mic night in New York at the time.

And it was a place called, well, the Luna Lounge. It was called Eating It, and it was at Luna Lounge. So our bits would need to be presentational to play well there. I think we tried maybe once doing fourth wall bits, you know, like talking to each other. We're like, oh, no, this always has to be presentational and so i would often be i'd play this kind of straight guy who was trying to do something else and then i'd get bothered from the audience by the other ucb members interrupted yeah or or we'd all be on stage but i'd be trying to do something and they would undermine what i

did and so i'd be angry and annoyed. And yeah. Yeah. I watched a sketch you did on Kona or on late night where you were, it's exactly what you're describing, but it was the four of you and Amy had colorblindness and Besser is interrupting you because you're offending people with colorblindness and yeah and she's not she's mentally disabled and he misinterprets her right being mentally disabled being colorblind to that part and i get angrier and angrier at him because i'm like yeah yeah there's a lot more going on here the colorblindness but it was sort of you were like taking conan's role almost and it was a similar blueprint that we used to write for conan

a lot where it was like you were presenting it and the straight man and then you'd get interrupted by these nutty audience members yeah was that a sketch that you guys had written yeah or did somebody write that for you okay that makes sense yeah we were on a few times as us yeah i guess the upright citizens were great once he had a tv show right okay on comedy central i think we did this other one chef therapy on conan i think where we were helping amy deal with difficulty she was having at work and then somehow it gets in that one she was frustrated because we're all getting too wrapped up in the specifics of being the chef and the reality of what the chef would say. And I don't know. Wait. So how long was UCB in existence in Chicago then before you guys made

the move? I think about six years, I think. Wow. It's funny because we sort of came on the scene and people like, where are they? How the hell these guys were there everywhere. And it's like, well, we had been, you know, it seemed like it was really quick. it's like, well, we had been, you know, it seemed like it was really quick. It's like, well, yeah, with six years of background work in Chicago, and we just came in with a goal. We were just looking.

So we just wanted to be. You came in with a finished product. Yeah, people could see us anytime they wanted. That's true. You know, it really is good. I mean, Chicago is a giant town, obviously, but it is something when then you move to it like L.A. or New York and it does kind of blow people away. They're like, who are the you know, this polished group just land. Plus, there weren't a lot of improv groups in New York.

Right. No, there was plenty of sketch. It was all stand up. Yeah. I think people wouldn't believe that there was no improv in new york city but there what there wasn't it was just some stand-up clubs and then i'll turn an alternative club like luna lounge had just started like 92 or 3 i think i don't know but well that's something about the conan show it kind of some guy contacted me once and so there's

someone's writing a book about that time and how it was this, because the old comedy scene was a big deal, and we were introducing improv, and you guys had this place where you're doing this banana show that's kind of like the stuff. It was all, you know, I mean, what the hell does that mean? But you know what I mean. You kind of know it when you see it, or you know what everybody's talking about. Alternative comedy. Your parents aren't going to like it. So you guys were doing alternative comedy. And then this Luna Lounge just opened mic and then us introducing improv.

It was a really fun time. And the Conan show was kind of part of that. Yeah. You know, it gave a lot of those people that were doing their own sort of onstage versions of that stuff a place to go make a little cash doing similar stuff. You know? Yeah. We all knew each other. It was so funny.

Like, you'd kill time in the green room. It would just be everybody you saw around town was always hanging out, you know, doing that. Especially on a day like Staring Contest Day. It would just be everyone in the old comedy scene would just be hanging out together. And it's true. You mentioned this before you guys, you know, you had this improv school going and all these young improvers were going through UCB and our casting person did. It was literally like, I don't need to go anywhere else. It was like the one-stop shopping for the Conan show casting. And we started casting all these people.

Yeah, they were exactly the right actors to do it. Yeah. And it kind of helped if you knew how to improvise a little bit. Because, like I said, you get called the same day. And sometimes a bunch of... I remember Amy doing those things. Amy's Little Sister. Right.

Yeah. Andy's Little Sister. Andy's Little Sister. Amy's Little Sister. Andy's little sister. Right. Yeah. Andy's little sister. Andy's little sister. Amy's little sister. Andy's little sister. Yeah. Those were great. But I mean, that'd be a lot of dialogue and it'd be like, you know, day of, you know,

so it kind of helped if you weren't too thrown, like, I got to memorize this exactly, you know. Yeah. And it was live performing in front of an audience. And so that really did, you had to be comfortable with that. Yeah, especially that one. Some of them, I think we'd have cards if we could. Did we, I think?

Yes, there was credit cards for everything, yeah. But you couldn't with Amy's because it was back and forth. She was facing Conan and Andy on stage and she'd be in the audience. So she had to have those memorized. Right. Yeah. When we'd have a plant in the audience, there'd be cue cards and she'd be in the audience. So she had to have those memorized. Right. Yeah. When we'd have a plant in the audience, there'd be cue cards and you could always see the audience. Reading ahead.

Yeah. They're not even watching the sketch. You're just like reading all the lines ahead of time. They'd laugh a little early. Yeah. No, I mean, it was, for lack of a better word, there was a lot of synergy with Late Night and UCB. And it seems like that came out of just having similar sensibilities and yeah, people that maybe didn't fit in other places too.

Well, and there was a big, for us at least, this Chicago connection. Cause Tommy Blacha was from Chicago. He was a writer. And McCann and Brian McCann, and Andy.

Kevin Dorff. So, you know, there was, yeah, there was definitely a big connection between us and the show. Yeah, that's true. And you pointed out something that all of you had in common, which we'd notice over and over again, like the UCB people who are so comfortable in front of a live crowd, you'd be great in rehearsal, but then during the live show, even better. Whereas some people, like we'd hire actors who didn't do improv, they'd be great in rehearsal. And then all of a sudden, in front of the audience, they'd go up on their lines, they'd get super nervous. You just noticed a big difference in the level of performance. I once got injured.

Yes. Doing a Conan bit. Oh, I heard a rumor about this. Yeah. I remember that. I was like, I didn't even know whether to bring it up or not. But I remember that day that happened. That I got sent to the most magnificent plastic surgeon because it was on my face.

I got a cut. Right. Oh, my God. Like that long on my face. We were doing something where the bit was something, everything was made of rubber. Okay. So I had a,

I can't remember if I was hitting myself with it, but it was like, I remember for sure. I remember a big rubber pipe wrench and something about, I can't remember. Like it was a pre-tape you were shooting. A pre-tape. In the scene doc in a,

for like a satellite TV channel, or I'm not sure. It was a pre-tape you were shooting. A pre-tape. In the scene doc for like a satellite TV channel. I'm not sure what it was, though. Something about being able to hit yourself or something with heavy objects. Anyway, there was something that I was, I got out of hand. I was being too crazy. And I slipped and I fell on an upturned like school desk. Oh, no. And I hit, the leg hit me and split my face open and it's so funny because talk about sucking the air out of a room you know like oh

and you know how it is you're an adult it's like right i don't know what i'm gonna do cry yeah so uh but they were like and because that, somebody right away found out we're going to get this guy. And so they did, he did this thing where they, they stitch you underneath first, like, right. And then they stitch you on top. And then the guy had me put these silicone sheets on my face. So I have to stretch my skin and I can see a little white line. Oh, wow. But yeah, that But yeah, that was an exciting day. I was somewhere else and we were shooting something with Conan and he heard about it. And I think he was the one who was just like, oh my God, we've got to take care of Ian.

I mean, he was so upset about it. Yeah, that's pretty bad. I went to some guy that was like the guy. Right. And I argued with Conan. I'm like, look, these people are a dime a dozen. They're interchangeable. This guy's thought about his looks.

He plays Intimidate. You're helping him. You're giving him character. He could use a few scars. That was actually, I remember it was a Brian McCann bit because he was there for the pre-tape. Right. I remember he wrote it. Okay.

I hope he felt bad. So funny funny i can't remember what it was and i think because of that it may have never ended up of course on uh on tv oh no after a lot i think that sounds right there was blood all over the camera lens i had heard that you had gotten sliced somehow and so then i was watching some old sketches that you were in and there was one where you were wheeling a guy who is like captain five hooks i think was the name of the character and you were his orderly and i was like was that was that how it happened because there was it was a character that was like a captain hook but had more hooks and i thought that must have been it it's funny that the, the weird,

the things that stick in your head, one that sticks in my head is me dressed up as a Nazi. Right. And it was a satellite channel. And the satellite channel was about stacking things neatly. Right. Yes. And then I would go and I think like put a level on.

Julie Brister was in that one. Yeah. That was my, that was my, it was called stock and block and stock. Yeah. That was my bit. Yeah. It was called Stock and Blockin'. Stock, yes. And it actually originally, it wasn't a satellite TV channel. It was a bit called Foreign TV Imports.

Okay. So I had like that bit and I had a new reality show from Ireland called Outdrink the Robot. But Stock and Blockin', yes, I thought of you immediately. It was a game show where you had to stack things at the right angles. Yeah, I would just scream, nine! Right. Nothing, Stock and Block, I would have screamed at the person. And then you just start beating her, yeah.

Right. And then a German shepherd runs into the shot at the end, and people are always like, oh my God, that German shepherd at the end, that was incredible. And that was a total accident oh because we're shooting something else in the studio after we shot like we had five minutes to shoot that and um this dog was in the studio for this next bit and it just broke free it got excited a german man yelling at a woman and it ran it just ran into the shot on its own and we're like oh my god like that's an example of instinct a happy accident that makes something yeah a lot better i remember playing um skinheads with someone else this is i'm going through everything where i played a racist i guess yeah right, because we did a beat down. It was Tommy Blotcher

was in that one with me. And I can't remember who there were three of us. And then we, we kicked somebody and yeah, I'll tell you one bit. That's, that's part of my, my family. You know, you have these things that you say all the time. And so one, I was a sniper. It was behind the scenes. Sometimes we have a comedian on and their bit doesn't go, and we have to be prepared for this. And so I was a sniper and Brian McCann was playing a standup that was doing his bit and he was doing terrible standup. And I, his terrible standup made me laugh so hard. And he had a Bill Clinton joke. He goes, I love French fries. So I'm not too happy about this Bill Clinton because he's just about

the biggest French fry eater in the world. And then some of my family, for some reason, will say, just about the biggest French fry eater in the world. But that just really tickled me. Sometimes he just, it just, it was the best awful standup. And that's always stuck in my mind is a guy who thinks that, who think, who would think that was comedy. I'm not too happy about this Bill Clinton being president. The writers pitched a lot of bad standup and Conan was like, no, it's his argument was, it's just bad. And we were like, no, come on. I know.

Well, that's a real go-to. Right. I understand the general thing of being against it, but it can work. It's just like everything. It's like someone saying, you know, no one likes a period comedy. Until they do. Like Blazing Saddles, like Young Frankenstein. What are you talking about? Yeah.

You know, yeah, they can be really shitty and they have been. But yeah, because I know we'd often turn down bits about failure comedy. Right. The joke is doing comedy. It's like, especially if it's like, you know, it's a comedy. I mean, like on stage shows and people would want to have their bit like doing a failed comedy act. It's like, I think I need to be sure you can do a real comedy act before I can enjoy

you. Right, right. Fail it. You know, it's like, yeah, that's kind of easy. Oh, you know, there was another one. You were in a cold open for the 10th anniversary show of Late Night where you're just sitting there reading a newspaper and Conan's like, hey, it's my 10th anniversary. Yeah. Yeah. And then he starts picking up people, but you were there the whole time. So you had to be there for every shot because you're running through all of New York. Yeah. I have a funny, a funny story related to that. So we were filming all over New York and it was cold and you know, you know, his run and gun. And, but so they said, here, we're going to just, we talked to this guy in this coffee shop. You could go stay in there and keep warm.

So I sat there and then this guy was staring at me and I thought, that's weird. What's this guy staring at me? So I thought, well, I'm going to stare back at him. And then the guy came up and stood next to me. And I like and finally i left and then someone i said this is and i told the story and someone said dude you were in chelsea you got cruised and your way of dealing with crews was to eye lock the guy and then i was i was annoyed like now why is he standing next to me what is is going, why is this guy being strange? And then someone said, why am I going home with him? What is wrong with, so that guy probably thought with me, what is it going to take for this guy to pull the trigger?

Right, right. But it was so funny, as I told the story indignant, and someone's like, you idiot. Because to me, it's like, I figured this guy got caught being weird and staring at me so i'm gonna stare back until he looks away and then the guy never looks away so i go okay you win weirdo and then he comes and stands at my shoulder oh yeah a misconnection. Yeah. So funny. Listen, we all have regrets. But I was so flippant, I was just treated like I was an absolute idiot. You idiot. I remember that day.

Oh, and then I think we had to go back another day to shoot because we'd have like a hundred, couple hundred people following you and Conan running up Sixth Avenue. Yeah, you shut down a whole street. I think Mr. T had something to do with that. David Lee Roth, I think, right? I think you go, hey, look! It's David Lee Roth. Maybe it was at an after party for the

10th anniversary because there was definitely... And I was so surprised because I grew up Mr. T, you know, first of all, oh my God, in Rocky and, you know, and then on the A-Team. Yeah. And Mr. T at that point was a super people pleaser and like looking to make connections. Yeah. And he came over like I was the president of Universal Studio.

How do you do? Mr. T, a pleasure to meet you. And I was like, oh, why are you so? And he was like so accommodating. And so I think he was just said there might be someone here who's got work. And it was fun to have Mr. T so interested in talking to me. Hi, I'm Mr. T. Yeah, it was given away by your 9 million necklaces and the fact that you're Mr. T.

Yeah. Yeah. There's no need to introduce yourself. Yeah. But it was interesting. And then I thought, and I was kind of like, I don't know if I was flattered or confused. And then I noticed he did it to person after person. And I was like, Mr. T's working the room.

He's working the room. Networking. How did it get to where Mr. And I was like, Mr. T's working the room. He's working the room. Networking. How did it get to where Mr. T has to work the room? Yeah. We'd have him on, you know, to do little cameos and stuff. And the whole, I've never seen anybody light up the entire six-floor hallway like Mr. T. He just would come in and start talking to everyone and joking around. And by the time he left, everyone was in a state of euphoria for like 10 minutes.

Well, it's things like that that are the best Hollywood things. You know, you meet because it's this guy as a kid that meant so much that you never would have thought you were going to meet him. Right. My best meeting in all of Hollywood. And it is a big deal. But I got to pitch. I was working on a pitch with Stan Lee. Stan Lee did everything I loved more than anything in my life as a kid.

And the first day I ever met him, I didn't even care. I was supposed to work with him. I've got the history of Marvel Comics. I said, it's an honor to meet you. It was an honor. And he's such a nice guy. I already love this kid. And I'm like, I'm working. I'm showing up day after day and hanging out with Stan Lee. This is insane. And he was a nice guy. Oh, that's great. You know, it's like it could it was but you know and i've been with all kinds of stars but you they creep up on you and if they're of your era

it's like okay but right the guy that was a mythical figure as a kid is the one that'll that blows your mind you know yeah yes you want to go back and tell your kid self like you're gonna meet that guy someday your life's gonna be awesome right. It was. It was a dream come true. I still think about how much fun. And he actually liked because we were going to pitch a comedy superhero movie. And he liked my characters. And one he liked was, and I think there was no coincidence, you know, Stan Lee's an old man. And I had a character where the way we did it was it enhanced everyone's natural qualities.

They got this gas got released on a, on a train and all the people in this train compartment anyway. So it was an old guy and he was based on my wife's grandfather who was, you know, was it a tail gunner in world war two survived that got his leg chopped off by a combine and was found like almost bled out and survived that one time uh there was a fire in a shed he's working in and he had a bucket of gasoline that he cleaned like oily tools in and the fire started he said son of a bitch and kicked the the bucket of gasoline and set the place on fire it came out of the place on fire so and, and he was a drinker. And so what the concept was these old guys that have no right to be alive, but they're just, they've never thought about

their health. They eat horribly. They're alcoholics. They're dangerous. And so anyway, there was an old guy and he became invulnerable, you know, and, and he said, I like that. That's a, Oh, that's a good one. Like, and, to have Stan Lee tell me he loves the superhero I've come up with, he goes, that's a good one. An old guy, you like that one. And I was like, okay, it doesn't get any better than that. You're ready to quit. Yeah. Well, I was wondering, well, no, we often ask our guests, because a lot of our listeners are maybe aspiring comedy writers or,

you know, kind of want to do what you've gotten to do. Do you have a piece of advice, anything that maybe helped you out early on? Yeah, just, I would say nowadays it would be, it's probably all about,

you know, computer stuff, like, but just be doing something. Don't wait for someone. Don't try to join the winning team, start a team, you know? And that's the biggest problem I saw with people. And that's what we did. We just

always did our own thing. It's, it's sort of like a, let's say the field of dreams, you know, build it and they will come. You just got to do it. And if you're doing good stuff, weirdly something happens. So just don't even think about how you're going to get ahead. Right. And when you're young just do exactly what you want to be doing and just have fun and just constantly be doing it because you need to get better and some people are like well i gotta wait till someone lets me do it right and right they wait for the offer yeah i can't believe i get to talk like this we didn't have the youtube but you know i mean that's probably what it is now.

In my day, it was all about, you know, just be on stage, always be trying to do something, you know. And I would see people that they were just auditioning, you know. And it's like, well, go ahead and audition. But it's not going to make you better. Don't wait till someone gives you a chance to do something. Yeah. And you'll find like-minded people. Yeah.

Too, which really, that really helps. Yeah. Well, that's the other thing. It's like, get into, because I was in ImprovOlympic, and that's where I met all the guys that I started the Upright Citizens Brigade with. Oh, yeah. So if you can get into a place where all these young people are studying, well, then you meet all the people you're going to come up with. So if you can get into a place where all these young people are studying, then you meet all the people you're going to come up with. And some of you are going to become directors and some

of you are going to become writers and some of you are going to be actors and you make all those, you know, very naturally, I guess you're networking. You're not thinking you're networking, but it's like, these are the guys that you're going to work with through your whole life. And it's great to join an organization like that. If you can, you know? Yeah. Yeah, definitely. That was UCB for me. Yeah. You don't think that at the time you're just making friends. It's only kind of in hindsight, you're like, Oh, we all kind of came up together. I look back at Chicago and there is no such thing, but it was like, we were all getting our PhDs in comedy

because, you know, every day we were there, you were filming something or you were rehearsing improv or you're rehearsing sketch or you're performing sketch or you're performing improv, or you're hanging out with those guys and you're just doing bits together, you know, when you're not. And so it was just, and all we did was work the minimum amount we had to, to keep our crappy, you know, I had a $315 studio apartment. So I'd substitute teach once, twice a week, and that would be enough money. And then every other hour of my day was spent doing comedy. And then I was coming up with Adam McKay, Horatio Sands, Matt Walsh, Matt Besser, Amy Poehler. Yeah. Oh, my God.

Who knew I was with this who's who of comedy? Neil Flynn. So many famous people. Yeah. Well, Ian, thank you so much for your time and all the great stories. Yeah, thanks, Ian. It was great catching up. It was a pleasure to do this because that was, you know out doing stuff on conan was so much fun

thank you ian roberts thanks ian for dropping by virtually he's a good improviser it turns out yeah well he's had some practice who knew and hey if you like the show you can support us by rating inside conan an important hollywood podcast on itunes and leaving us a review and give us 50 stars if they only allow five you need to write to them and demand yeah 50 demand more stars i want to make this really difficult for the listeners ah then they made us write emails yes thank you thank you. Five is plenty. And also, we would love to have, we love listener questions. We've been getting some great ones. We have, I know. Yeah. And they give us something to do.

Exactly. Instead of facing our own sad lives. Mortality, yeah. Please submit your listener questions. You can leave a voicemail, which we always love, hearing your beautiful voice at 323-209-5303, or you can email us at insideconanpod at gmail.com. And we have a special treat today. We're joined right now by Matthew Chauncey, a great writer and the creator of Team Coco's new scripted audio series, Self-Center. Hello. Welcome, Matthew. Hello. Thank you for having me. Sure. This is my first podcast, Breaking News. Wait, what? So everything I know about podcasts, I know from... What? Yes. That's amazing. Who's had you locked up? This is a Team Coco exclusive. Wow. Very exciting. So I'm assuming this is going to be just like Che Diaz's podcast.

I'm just like that. So I'm hoping so. Yes, we're going to take some calls, live calls, even though it's pre-recorded. Do you have a woke moment button? Because I'm like prepared to engage with it. But yeah, thank you so much for having me. Of course. Yeah. Well, I want to hear about, I'm so fascinated by this scripted podcast that you wrote.

It's called Self-Center, and it has a ton of amazing celebrities voicing it. Totally. You got Kim Cattrall. Speaking of... I know. Speaking of it just like that. She couldn't do it because she was busy doing her podcast.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. It's a really fun show. It's a horror comedy kind of in the vein of Death Becomes Her, if you remember that movie, one of my favorites. I love that movie. Yeah. And it's about a exhausted wife and mother,

played by Judy Greer, who on the eve of her 40th birthday, her mother dies. And kind of the combination of her mom dying and middle age looming she kind of goes into a bit of a spiral uh crisis of mortality and this online wellness brand called self-center just sort of magically appears to kind of pump her up and give her all the things she needs to kind of feel good about herself and she ends up snagging an invite to a weekend wellness retreat at the founder's house.

And when she gets there, things get a little odd. And she starts to realize that maybe the natural beauty and wellness they are selling is more supernatural in origin. So that's kind of the premise. And Kim Cattrall is our girl boss, which is totally delicious and fun. That sounds great. That's awesome.

Yeah, I love this, exploring the darker side of the kind of self-care industry. The darker, darker side. The darker, darker side, yeah. Yeah, totally. I'm sort of someone who has a love-hate relationship

with all of that stuff. You know, I love Goop. I love Quentin Faldreau. But I'm sort of like, you know, a simp for all of the products and stuff that they put out. But I like to think that I should be too smart to buy into all the things they're selling. But I'm just not. And so the show is sort of a... There's something so funny

about that contradiction and also kind of horrifying. And the show is just sort of a way to put all those anxieties on its feet and... Yeah, take control again. Yeah, totally. Oh, and I think all the time about how much I'm just an algorithm. Like, we all like to think that we're very special. And then you go on your Instagram and what's being advertised to you is just so perfect that it's like, oh, no, they have my number. Totally. Yeah. All I do is get fatty liver notices. So it's not, I kill for some goop come ons.

I have been getting a lot more male Spanx type alerts. Oh, seriously? I think it's clearly linked to my Postmates account also. Because they're like, I think you're going to need this. Elastic waist pants. Yeah. Well, the good thing about podcasts is we're all sitting. Yes.

No one has to see it either. No one can see our lower halves. Thank goodness. Thank goodness. Well, I was wondering, how did you decide to make this a scripted podcast? Because, you know, when you're thinking of what to write, like what, how did that become the thing you wanted to write next? Yeah. I mean, the idea came, I was actually in Ojai where the show is set on a little bit of

like a wellness weekend of my own. And were you like, how do I write this off? Yes, totally. Can you describe Ojai very quickly for our listeners? Ojai is like, you know, 50 minutes north of Los Angeles. And it's like a very pretty valley sort of wine country-esque community. And I was at like a really pretty Spanish revival house. And it's like so beautiful and quiet there and like the quiet is kind of beautiful but also a little eerie

especially at night and there were these like crazy orange groves that we were walking through and i was like oh this would be like a good place for a chase and that was sort of like the first chase through an orange grove yeah i know I know. I know. Which spoiler alert that happens in the finale. And, uh, and yeah, a friend of mine, Adam Sachs, who works for team Coco, I just sort of explained the idea to him and he was like, Oh, you know, we're trying to do scripted podcasts. That sounds like a good idea for it. And I think there's something really special about the intimacy of a podcast. You know, you have the people in your ears, you're kind of talking to them. And so since self-center is so much about, you know,

the inner turmoil that's going through our heads as we're on these wellness journeys, it felt like being able to do that in audio form and really be with Judy Greer, who plays that character as she's sort of like living the journey, but also self-analyzing the journey felt like the perfect audio premise. Yeah. Because it must be a little hard to write for audio only versus writing when you know there are going to be visuals. Yeah. I had never done it before. So it was scary. Right. But it ended up being... But again again we had like the voiceover with

judy which was great and then kind of the premise of the show is she gets self-center has these fitbit style wristless called an embrace that uh enid harger of the ceo of the company kind of talks to the clients through so we have kim cattrall kind of being the little voice in Judy's ear. So it ended up like really working and it's really not as different as I thought it might be, which was scary too, because there's like a lot of action and, you know, horror elements, but it worked really great, I think. Yeah, I imagine in some ways it's kind of liberating to like, oh, you know, we can make all this supernatural stuff go with sound. Yeah, you don't have to worry about the budget and like CGI and stuff. Yeah.

I was like, zombies, let's have an army. It's like 20 of them. It's fine. Yeah, it was very liberating in that regard. And you just get some spooky sound effects. Yeah. So very easy. This was terribly easy.

You should have made all your actors do all the sound effects, too. I didn't sign up for this. Well, Judy Greer is amazing. I mean, your whole cast is amazing. I'm really curious. Did you, were you able to get them together

so that, or... Well, we recorded it during the pandemic, so no one was physically together but we did kind of like we're doing now judy and kim would record at the same time so they were able to play off each other even though they were technically 3 000 miles apart so we did that with uh her we also did that with judy and a partner non-share low who's really great they're kind of great she's so funny partners in crime in the show. And so that was something I didn't expect to do

because I've worked in a lot of animated television where that's so not a part of it at all. Like people are just in a booth alone recording with basically no context. So it was really fun to get to watch them spar with one another. And I think it really paid off. I didn't know.

I just assumed even in animation they would try to get people and scenes together just so they can get the reality of it but that's not the case right they tend to be especially now because everyone does like a million things at once it's so rare i've never experienced that so it was really fun people have their own like vo booth at home, right? Yes. Especially now, yeah. In the current era.

It's the same way with music. I have a cousin who does music sessions, and he said they all used to be in person. And now he records a bass line at his house and sends it in. Oh, no. All the movie scores you've heard in the past two years are like one orchestra member alone in their house and they just build it. It's like conducting that and stuff is wild. Wow. Yeah, so no more like, I mean, we're never going to have that footage of the Beatles recording.

But I guess also because the Beatles are not together anymore. No longer together. Yeah. That's the first impediment. Yes. Well, Matthew, we have a couple of,

so we usually do fan questions at the end of our podcast and we have a fan question that maybe you can help us answer. Okay, great. They're usually about, you know, show business. And this one says at the end of every episode, you ask guests if

they have advice for those interested in entering show business. On the flip side, what would you recommend people not do? That's from Cameron. Well, my personal path is when I moved out here, I got a job as a writer's assistant. So that was kind of my way in. The first job specifically was working for a TV showrunner, which I think really is a great entry point in that, especially from that showrunner desk, you get to see every level of production. You get to see every script that comes in. You get to see what the showrunner does to the script. And you really understand kind of how to mount a production and how to run it yourself, which is great. I think on the flip side of that, though, is you can really get trapped in those jobs. And I certainly did for a really long time.

Yeah. And you can kind of burn yourself out because it's, you know, working so many hours for very little money year in and year out. And so I think you kind of always, you can't rely on that job to actually graduate you into anything. And I think you kind of just have to have that side hustle in some way, shape or form. And I would very much encourage like before you make the leap, having material that you feel like good about to kind of, if you could produce it on

your own, you would, because it's just, it's really hard to balance all that when you're working. Oh yeah. 14 hours a day. But like you said, you can get so easily swept up in someone else's dream and helping them realize, you know, their visions and then not know when it's time for you to go off and do your own thing. Yeah. My bosses were always working but they would always have... You're sort of tied to their fate in a way that is

not very empowering where it's like if they... So when their shows get canceled or their pilots don't get picked up, you've lost a year of career progression. So... Right.

It's just so hard to know because the business is very... You know, you can't be too risk averse because everything is so up and down and things can seem like they're a sure thing and then they fall apart. Totally. But it is... I think it's a good...

What you've brought up is a good point that you can't get too comfortable anywhere either because you do have to often take risks to have big payoff. And so having that balance of like, have I, you know, do I have now the tools? Like I've made some connections at my assistant job and I have some samples and I'm ready to go off on my own and then not end up staying somewhere for too long in a comfort zone because you have to push out of that comfort zone to have big payoffs. That's why I'm quitting this podcast today. Yes, we have gotten way too comfortable. Yes. You look like you're leaning back a little too far. I'm a little too relaxed. I am.

He's completely horizontal right now i'm so mellow this is all great advice well that's awesome matthew are there or matt i don't know why i called him matthew that's fine um the whole like matthew matt matt thing is there's just so many of us it's the most basic name for someone of like a geriatric millennial like myself so i basically if there are multiple mats i become matthew and if there's right so it's really room specific there are no other ones yeah in this room so whatever whatever works for you that's versatility are there any other things you're working on right now or um you know what what is keeping you creatively afloat at the moment yes i'm working um i've been working for the past couple years on this uh marvel show

for disney plus called what if which is a anthology series where every episode they kind of take an event from the marvel movies and say what if you know this played out differently how would that change the characters lives how to change you, the Marvel universe as a whole? So it's kind of a fun Marvel version of the Twilight Zone or Black Mirror. So I've been on it. We're in kind of multiple seasons. So yeah, that's kind of what I'm doing now, which is super fun. Yeah, that sounds great. And you have a popular Instagram account as well. Oh, I don't know how popular it is. It used to be.

This is like going back to my former Goop acolyte days. But I used it back when I was really on my Goop game and, you know, worked out a lot and did all the products. Like, I was in a lot better shape than I am in now. And so I think when I was looking for the validation from the Goop stuff and the world, I did a lot of shirtless selfies. But the content, as my body has expanded and I'm getting those Spanx push ads, it's more like dogs and plates of food. And so every week, the popularity of the Instagram account starts to dwindle. But those are on there forever, the shirtless photos. Yeah, so just scroll to everyone listening. Scroll down.

I used to be like much better looking. Well, you look fantastic. And I would double down on the shirt. I would go for the shirtless ones now. Or like body positivity, which is very, you know, I'm trying to embrace, like I embrace body positivity as a movement, but I have not yet internalized it for myself. Right, right.

It's good for other people. Right, of course. I just keep hating myself. Yeah. I'm just so comfortable in that I've been doing it for, you know, 37 years. I don't want to shake that up. Yeah. Why stop now? I wouldn't worry too much. It's worked out. Yeah.

I made a show about it. So like, you know, let's hang on. Right. Also, you're in an incredibly powerful position. You could power broke Kim Cattrall going

whether or not she can go back on. Yeah. No kidding. And just like that. And just like that. That would be an interesting conversation to have. Depends on whether there's

a season two of Self-Center. Yes. That is going to be her deciding factor. I am certain. So is it out now? People can listen to it now? Yes, you can stream it on Audible right now, all eight episodes. Cool. All right, check out

Self-Center, and thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thanks for chatting with us. Matt, how was your first podcast experience it was good you know you always remember your first usually for being kind of bumpy and awkward and not know what to do so i think you guys are very helpful you definitely nobody climaxed but you had like a good like top energy and guided me through it so thank you so much for that's very kind Because I don't think either of us are. That will be in the cut.

That's like the review. Like major top energy on Inside Connect. Comforting tops, yes. Cuddly tops. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Thanks, Matt. Just one more thing.

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