Inside Conan: An Important Hollywood Podcast - Tig Notaro

Episode Date: August 28, 2020

Comedian Tig Notaro (Don’t Ask Tig) stops by to talk with writers Mike Sweeney and Jessie Gaskell about performing her stool bit on Conan, having stage amnesia while telling her Taylor Dayne story, her kids thinking it’s still Spring Break, and her new advice podcast Don’t Ask Tig. Plus, Mike and Jessie talk about good things about The Tonight Show with Conan and what surprised Jessie when she joined Conan as a writer. Tig’s stool bit on Conan: http://teamcoco.com/node/21087 Got a question for Inside Conan? Call our voicemail: [phone] and e-mail us at [e-mail] For Conan videos, tour dates and more visit TeamCoco.com

And now, it's time for Inside Conan, an important Hollywood podcast. Hello, welcome to Inside Conan, an important Hollywood podcast. My name is Mike Sweeney, and I'm joined by Jesse Gaskell. We're both writers on The Conan Show and I'm just going to talk the whole show, which would be a disaster. Hi, Jesse. Hi, Sweeney. I'd love to hear you monologize. Have you been? I've been okay. I saw a cat in a lake this morning, but I haven't stopped thinking about it. You saw a cat in a lake?

Yes. What lake? Echo Park Lake. Oh. Yeah. Oh, yes. That one, of course. Very famous lake. Tell me about the cat. I took my dog there to go for a walk and she was like really excited about something that was in the water. And so we went and got closer. Among the lily pads, there was a little cat head sticking out and the cat was in the water. I know it sounds like I'm making it up. What? I don't know if it was a feral cat that somehow has adapted to live in the lake. I just didn't know. I don't think cats swim, do they? Not that I know of. I always

thought they avoided water. I thought so too. I started Googling it. I was Googling lake cat. Yeah. And nothing was really coming up. I'm guessing too. I started Googling it. I was Googling lake cat. Yeah. And nothing was really coming up. I'm guessing it didn't have a collar on. It didn't. No. Wow. It wasn't in distress, but it also didn't look thrilled to be there. You know, when we moved out here, do you ever hear about tree rats? No. This is going to be something else to fear. Well, they're regular rats, but I swear out here, they call them tree rats to make them. Are you talking about squirrels? No, they look like New York City rats.

Oh God. And they put the word tree in front of it to try to make them more palatable. But I assume someone just added tree in front. It's like calling something a patio rattlesnake, you know, it's a rattlesnake. Well, if anyone has information for me about the Echo Park Lake Cat, please write in. So that's what's new with me. How about you? I have nothing that exciting. We went on a road trip, but it got cut short. That's right. Because of all the fires.

Yeah. All of Northern California is on fire right now. I never heard of dry light. I guess dry lightning just means there's no rain at all. I mean, it feels like the earth is really telling us to get the fuck out of here. I felt like we were being punished for trying to leave our house. So, lesson learned. You were being travel shamed. Yes. Stay put. Keep a lookout for tree rats. Well, are you ready to introduce our guest? Dry Lightning is a good nickname for this guest.

Yes, she is very, very funny. Very excited to have her on. And she's got a brand new podcast, believe it or not. Yeah, but she's one of my favorite all-time comedians. It's Tig Notaro. We're here with the wonderful and hilarious Tig Notaro. It's such a pleasure to have you on the podcast. Thanks for dropping by.

Of course. It's very easy to make it. Yes, it is. It's hard to come up with an excuse. It is. It's really hard to come up with excuses these days. Yeah. It is surprising how packed Zoom schedules are.

I know. I'm feeling overload. Like I have to start saying no to some things. Yeah. I have four-year-olds and they're constantly asking, are you going to do a Zoom? It's the weirdest. Isn't that weird? Yeah. Like when you had children, you weren't thinking like, well, when they're four, they'll be talking about Zooms.

Yep. Well, anyway, so this podcast, it's all about the genesis of it is talking about kind of behind the scenes of Conan. We usually talk to people who have some connection to Conan in some manner or form, usually the show. We'd love to talk about when you first appeared on Conan. But I wonder if we could start a little before that, because I read something that fascinated me. I'm just curious about the way you started doing comedy. And one interesting thing I read,

and I don't know if this helped feed you into the world of comedy, was you started out in the music business and you were a manager of bands. Yeah. I love that. On a very small Denver level. Hey, I would not knock the Denver market. I, to this day, always tell people there's some really, really great music out in Denver. Yeah. I mean, I play a little bit of guitar, a little bit of drums, a little bit of bass, and very much obsessed with music. And I had too much stage fright and lack of confidence when I thought that I might want to perform music in front of people. And then I thought, well, if I'm not going to perform it, maybe I'll work in the business somehow. And so I started representing bands and booking them. And it kind

of gave me a different kind of leg up in comedy in that I, it made me really understand how you need to have a certain amount of experience and success on your own for somebody to take you on and move you to another level. I mean, there's certainly examples of people that will just be swooped up and made a star overnight. But I don't know how lasting that is. Yeah, yeah, it's rare. But it did give me that leg up where I wasn't doing anything other than open mics

and just trying to make myself, just trying to get better all the time. And I didn't it took me a while until I thought, OK, I feel like I have something to go to somebody with. Right. Yeah. You had a good sense of, oh, it's a long haul. Yeah. And it might not even go anywhere. Right, right, right. Well, and then did you also have an idea of what the managerial side was like when you got a comedy manager? Were you sort of in the back of your mind aware, like, yeah, I know what I know what you're doing. I know what this is. Yeah. And you could smell BS a mile away. Yeah. Yes. And I also didn't have a manager forever.

I wasn't a hot commodity. Oh, yeah. I don't know that I am a hot commodity, but I'm definitely working and consider myself successful. But I'd say you're pretty hot commodity. Yeah. Well, I guess that's why I said that I was fishing. But no, I just I couldn't get signed. I couldn't get representation. And so I just thought, I guess I'm just not marketable or mainstream enough. And it was impossible to get representation or on late night or anything really on the road. I wasn't a headliner. My style didn't appeal to closing the night out. You know, just I was like, well, I'm having fun. And I have to say, when I did first go on Conan, it was a late night show that when I finally got on,

I remember I was driving home and my manager, who is still my manager called and said, they want you back. They would love for you to be a regular. And I was, what? I was so confused. It was felt so bizarre to be accepted immediately into a world I couldn't break into. Wow. Yeah. You were like, no, this doesn't feel right. Who gave you this number? Yeah. It's, I feel like I would get opportunities here and there, but it was always, you know, when Jay Leno was hosting The Tonight Show, the feedback I always got was I didn't have enough jokes per minute. I just didn't have enough denim shirts. No, I have a lot of denim shirts.

I have a lot of denim shirts. Well, you should have led with that. It was nice going on Conan is my point. That's a cool story that it just kind of flipped on your way home from taping the show. So was Conan your first television spot? No, my first late night. I did Jimmy Kimmel one time. Ah, okay.

Yeah. So that was my first time. That was my big late night break. But when I went on Conan, that's what I'm saying is I felt like it was different and that people got it. Yeah. And that I they called me immediately saying we want her back and we would love to have her as a regular. And I just thought that is an amazing feeling. Yeah, that's great. Yeah. I just wasn't expecting it. It was a nice surprise. How long had you been doing standup at that point? I would guess my first time on there was maybe 2010 or 11, maybe, maybe 2011. And I started in

96, I think. Was the first bit you did the stool bit? No. That was later. Yeah. The first one I did, maybe I did sound effects where i did a clown horn i i really don't know actually i have no idea that's good but yeah the the stool was oh my god in uh 2012 i think it was the following year yeah i remember that because you rehearsed it it's unusual you know usually comics come out and, you know, during rehearsal, they'll just come out. The lighting guy wants to check the lighting. Yeah, they like hold up their wardrobe and. Yeah, they make you hold up, you know, which shirt or jacket are you going to wear?

Blah, blah, blah. Yeah. But you had to work out with the director this bit where you take a stool, just a regular stool and move it across the floor so yeah drag it i'm laughing just describing it oh my god and so i had the feet up and i think all the writers have the feet up and we all you just heard every all this laughter coming from out of the offices because it was so hilarious because you just commit to it and it just goes. Well, I remember when I was taping, the floor wasn't making the noise I was hoping it was going to make. And so I had to grab the stool and I ran up to where Conan was because I think there was

plexiglass I could see up there. So I started dragging it across the plexiglass across the front of his desk and somebody told me that maybe i had scratched the plexiglass and it had to be buffed out i hope so i really hope so and you know what happened right because i remember watching the taping it's like wait what why isn't it squeaking were you kind of quietly flipping out or were you just like, well? Well, I just thought this is hilarious. I mean, it's a risk doing that bit anyway. Right. And I was kind of exhilarated by taking that leap. And as soon as it wasn't making the right noise, I thought, well, this at least might be funny to see me find the right noise.

This is exciting. I was willing to do it on his desk, too, if I needed to. I think that was better, actually. I feel like taking it up there. But I was willing to go on top of his desk. I was willing to find wherever the squeak was going to come from. On his forehead. It was very exciting to watch.

I would have just been like, good night. Thank you. You'll never hear or see me again. I'm going to Mexico. People were like, what happened? And they talked to all the crew people like, what happened to the floor? And you've probably heard this. What happened?

The crew guys in between rehearsal and the show, they buffed the floor with polish. I don't think I ever heard that. Oh, yes. Oh, wow. They polished the floor so nothing could squeak. They're like, we're going to make it real nice and smooth for you, Tig. That's so funny. We noticed you had a problem with the squeak in school.

You ruined my career. We're going to iron it out for you. Not a problem. That's the fun of going on Conan is knowing that you can take those weird risks and leaps and. And someone who works at the show is going to fuck up. You've got to be on your toes. But yeah, I think that that's the fun part of going on the show is that, you know, that you'll be embraced with a weird risk. I was also wondering, I mean, I had heard your Taylor Dane bit.

I've probably listened to that as many times as you told it because I love it so much. But you had done that for a Conan after hours stand up show. Yeah. And I just watched it. And it's so fun to watch because, well, maybe you can tell us what happens. It was a really interesting thing because I was really sick at the time. And I had also just gotten back. My mother had died unexpectedly. And I was also just really physically ill. And then my girlfriend and I broke up that

day. And I was kind of out of my head. But you still did the show. I went on Conan. And I was really in a bad place. But I thought, well, maybe this will make me feel better. No wonder this made the stool accident seem like child's play. Well, you know, because I had been in such a dark place for so many only had I told it a million times, it's a true story. So it's not even really that I have to remember anything made up. Right. Just have to remember your life. The facts. Yeah. And I was on stage and my head just went blank and I started my emotional state and my confusion and life just

entered my brain of like feeling removed and floating away. And I kept thinking, oh my gosh, I'm on stage, but. But I'm up here. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm really going through something crazy right now. And then I just the audience was looking at me and I was realizing, oh, I've stopped talking. And then I said, I'm sorry, I'm I'm forgetting what I'm talking about. And they were looking at me and nodding and kind of laughing. And I was like, oh, I was like, Oh, you think I'm kidding. Right? No, I don't know what's happening. Let me see. And I was just I was, I couldn't

believe what's happening to me. I mean, I finally remembered and started. Yeah, you kept sort of narrating that you were remembering and then it was funny because you kept saying no. Yeah. And you could tell the audience really thought I was kidding and I was trying to convey, no, I'm not kidding. I'm really forgetting this. And then I finally got it back on track and I finished it. And then I remember when I went back to my dressing room, JP, the producer came up and he said, Hey, you know, don't worry, we can edit that together and nobody will know. And I said, you know what? I kind of like that people would know. I like that people would see me struggling because I didn't want him to cut out me forgetting and just cutting immediately

to me remembering. I said, I think it'd be a really interesting moment to watch. I know I'd want to see a comedian going through what comedians can go through sometime. And then coming out of it again. Yeah. Yes. You never see that. It was, it's, that's really brave of you. Yeah. That is extremely brave, especially with everything else going on that day. You're like, yeah, leave that in well it just felt like that's really what's happening and it felt okay i don't know i just felt like such a lie for

me to not um show what not and no offense to jp of course it's his job to be like yeah let's make that um let's tighten that up i'm gonna help you help you out here. And I was just like, yeah, I kind of don't want that. And I just really, if you guys are okay with it, I'd like people to see me struggling through it. And people come up to me about that bit all the time. And they say, yeah, they're like, oh, I saw that Conan where you're telling the Taylor Dane story.

And it's so funny the way you're messing with the audience. Oh, or they say, were you really forgetting or or they're like, oh, God, that was so awkward to watch you forget. There's different things that people put on the moment. And the truth was, it was really happening. And it was really an out-of-body experience. And I could have easily just stopped talking and walked off stage. Yeah.

Well, that's the thing. You kept your cool and you stayed in it, which is what's so cool to watch. And you sell it. Eventually, the audience is all on board with you. I was really trying to remember you could knowing knowing this watching it you kind of see your brain trying to installing yes be like okay i have to as long as my mouth is saying something people aren't going to be like my brain can be somewhere else trying to think of but people were laughing the whole time

so i could see why you're like leave it in in. It's not like, you know, you could hear wind blowing through the studio or something. And even if the wind was blowing through, I just was feeling like. JP could have added it. I'll add, I'll add wind. I wonder if there are all these young comics who saw that and are like, hey, you don't need to remember your act. I love that you do conceptual stuff on Conan. I wonder if there are all these young comics who saw that and are like, hey, you don't need to remember your act. Right. I love that you do conceptual stuff on Conan. Kind of reminds me of many moons ago when Steve Martin was on Johnny Carson.

He would always come up with a conceptual bit to do each time. And it is a delight to watch, especially like for all the writers on the show. You know, it's like, oh, stand up, stand up. And then you come on. It's something totally unexpected. It's really great. Yeah, it's fun to I just thought of something this morning and I ran it by Stephanie. I thought, oh, I have a funny idea for a talk show segment if and when I'm on the couch again. And so I ran that past her.

You're locked and loaded for 2022. Can you do it over Zoom? I mean, I could. If I was a guest on a show, it would definitely work on Zoom on a talk show. I mean, I'm not saying it'll for sure work. Right. Theoretically. Yeah. All it needs is conversation. It just popped into my mind this morning. I thought, oh, that'd be really fun to do. Good tease. Have you done any stand up during the lockdown? Because I have not.

Everyone's different. Yeah. You know, I kind of, you know, as I mentioned, I had some health issues and the past seven years I've been really pulling it together with my health and getting through some extra struggles that I've had and surgeries and pain and all that. And I just feel really good. And I have such a tremendous family. And I am so thankful to be really finally in the clear for the first time in years. Glad to hear that. I'm glad and proud to say it. It's been quite a journey I've been on, but I can't imagine taking any risk and everything and anything that I would do has to be bulletproof because I don't want to jeopardize myself or Stephanie or our children or anybody in the world. And so I'm happy to, it's not that I'm happy to stay home.

It's just that it's... Let's not that I'm happy to stay home. It's just that it's... Let's not go that far. Well, no, I mean, I am enjoying it. I kind of stop in my tracks sometimes when I think of how busy Stephanie and I were about to be because we work together and write and create and produce. And we've had this life where we've been able to spend three hours in the morning with our kids and then we start our day and then one of us would come home and spend a good three to four hours with them at the end of the day. And we were just almost teed up for this leap in our career that was going to take us away from our family more inconsistently. And I truly stop in my tracks daily and think, oh my gosh, especially the time that we've been able to spend with our kids.

Yes, it's a lot. And yes, it's wonderful and it's hard, but it's also my reality now. And I can't believe I almost missed out on all of this time. And so like, I think so many people, when I consider going back into whatever world might be a version of normal again, I really want to prioritize and incorporate what we've created at home right now because it's so incredible in what I didn't miss out on, you know? Right. Yeah, you really gained perspective. Yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah, especially for four-year-olds, like what a great age get to spend all that time with them. Yeah.

Even if it includes Legos. They have no clue. We haven't told them about the pandemic. They're just like, I guess our parents are unemployed. Right. They love us so much they stopped working. When the lockdown happened, it was kind of overlapping with their spring break at preschool. And when the lockdown continued, we just thought they don't know what spring break is. So we just kept telling them they're on spring break. And so to this day, they don't know how long time is. Yeah, no. And so they

still think they're home on spring break. And so how long is a week, mom? Yeah. Well, but that's the thing is they don't know that spring break is a week. Yeah. Yeah. They just know they went home for spring break. They are getting the rosiest view of school ever. And it's interesting because Stephanie, she started doing this thing that kind of makes them think they're in control. It's pretty brilliant because she'll say, do you guys want to go back to school? And they both say, no way. And then she says, yeah, you know what? Let's skip it. Let's just stay home. And they're like, yeah, let's skip it. And she says, you want to just build like bat flyers and batmobiles with Legos? And they're like, yeah, let's just do that.

And then they think they're deciding to stay home. It's so much power. Yeah. For almost half a year. Yeah. And next year or the year after, whenever they really do go on spring break, they're going to be like, what the hell is this one week trip to Hawaii? This is terrible.

I thought it meant staying home for half a year. I thought it was, yeah, half a year. I thought it was yeah, a week of school and then 51 weeks of break. Or even two years, however long this is going to be, you know. Can I say one thing about your Twitter account, which I think is fantastic? Yeah. You have a different person every day do your Twitter account for you. And I learned about it at our work in our office where three really funny women who work in our office over the course of a few months got a shot at doing it. And I knew one person that, you know, oh, she's in charge of researching clips, Alex Wallachy. And I didn't even know that, you know, she had ambitions as

a writer or performer. And, you know, I heard she was tweeting for you and she had these hilarious tweets. And I think it's an amazingly generous thing to do for people who want to learn to be or trying to be writers or performers. Well, that is kind of you. But I also. Oh, it's also selfish. Yeah. It also means you don't have to tweet. Well, there's that. But I also want to, no, I just want to say that I can't take credit for it because Funny or Die, when I did my HBO special, they really wanted me to join Twitter. And I just have never had an interest. To this day, I don't have an interest. People tell me jokes.

People say, oh, you got to follow this person. This person has this great angle. And I just, for some reason, does not interest me for a good reason. I think it's a really good reason. I'm not on Twitter at all. It is like it's an extra job you're taking on to tweet out jokes all the time. And it's built to enrage. I mean, it's literally set up to enrage you. Yeah, it just that whatever, whatever it just hasn't interested me. So they pitched the idea to me. They said, what if you started an account and then we just passed it along to somebody new every day? And I said, Oh, my gosh, I love that. Yeah, do that. And so it has been so fun for me to hear from people. It is funny,

because some comedians will come up and say, Hey, it's me, blah, blah, blah, I tweeted for you one day. And I'm like, I am so sorry, but I don't. I don't read that. I'm so glad you had that opportunity or had fun. Right. But it's also so fun for me to hear that it'll get stuck in a pocket of comedians in Austin or St. Paul, Minnesota. It's ventured outside of the comedy world where artists have used it. Painters. Oh, that's great. And do they recommend?

Yeah, they hand it off to the next person. That's why it works its way through a community. Yeah. And then my assistant is if the account kind of is stagnant, my assistant will, you know, give it some new life and send it off in a direction. And where I have become involved is since the pandemic started, we've started handing it off to different charity every week. So it's not every day, but a charity gets the account for an entire week to really get their message out there. And so that's felt really good at a time where I felt like I want to be helpful and involved and I'm stuck in my house and I giving charities a voice. So that's been a way to feel helpful. Yes. Yeah.

It's like one of the few happy Twitter stories. I know. You have actually been doing a podcast during quarantine, right? You just started it. Called Don't Ask Tig. Yes. It's an advice podcast. I had a podcast in the early days of podcasting called Professor Blastoff. Yeah, I remember that. But my podcast is just the regular run of the mill in your ears audio podcast. And it's been fun to get back into the podcasting world. And it feels like it is close enough to taking the place of stand up at times because of the silliness, it can go on, you know, tangents and having funny friends on to help me answer listener advice. Yeah, that's the premise, right? Yeah.

We try to give actual earnest advice, but it's also hard to not just go out of control. Give bad advice. Right. And that always points back to the title, Don't Ask Tig, because nobody ever said to ask. Right, right. Yeah, you've had great guests. I saw Will Ferrell and Sarah Cooper. Yeah.

Glennon Doyle. Oh, yeah. Really great writer. Yeah. And Sarah Cooper, you get to hear what she sounds like. I know. What's her real voice like? Her actual voice.

I thought I had discovered Sarah Cooper cooper that's how out of it i am we all did yeah i feel like i never it's always stephanie that shows me something i feel like i never have shown her something that she hadn't already seen and when i came across it i couldn't believe how funny this person was. We don't have to explain. Do we have to explain Sarah Cooper? She's... I don't think so.

Yeah, everyone knows. She's lip syncing Trump. Yeah, but she does it like a perfect Trump impression. But also not even the perfect. She does it perfectly in her own way, but she comes up with these weird... Yeah, you have to watch it. But like hiding in a shower and peeking out of the shower while she's i i'm just you can't describe it i i've watched some over and over

because it's so simple but but it's it's amazing yeah the context of where she is always brings what he's saying to a new level right yes yeah yeah she's incredible i always love how she's three quarters i don't know there's something hilarious about that she's always kind of like three quarters almost looking away oh yeah from the camera yeah every decision she makes it's perfect it's perfect can i show you something so incredible that just occurred do you see that in the background? What is that? It's a little veggie burger that Stephanie just delivered.

Oh. Yeah. Oh. I was thinking, God, it smells so good in here. She can come into the frame if she wants. She would never. Stephanie's fantastic. Yeah, we love Stephanie.

Yeah, she was in one of our Comic-Con cold opens. Yeah, she's incredible. Yeah, we love Stephanie. Yeah, she was in one of our Comic-Con cold opens. Yeah, she's incredible. Yeah, she's really talented. And she's so, so kind. She brings little meals to me when I'm working in my office. Oh, that's great. Yeah. Slides them under the door.

It's the best. We always ask a guest to, if they have a piece of advice for people starting out in the quote unquote business, you know, as a comedian or a writer or, and you've, we didn't even get into it. You've written for a lot of television shows, including your own show, One Mississippi. And, but just in general, if you had a one piece of advice for people starting out. It could be bad advice. Yeah. one piece of advice for people starting out? Nah. It could be bad advice. No. Yeah. Oh, you won't give advice off your own podcast. I get it.

Right. Got to tune in. Right. No, I think it, you know, it's almost advice. It is exactly. It's not even almost. It's exactly advice a mother would give a child, which is to really believe in and embrace what is different about yourself. And it's all of those cliches of and I apologize before this even comes out of my mouth. But there is really only one you. But it's true. And it's the more you can tap into it. And the more you can allow

yourself to be that and really silence what is the entertainment world looking for? Or who are my influences that are really getting a hold of my vision? Like get all of that out of your head. And who are you and what what feels right? And what feels authentic to you? And what do you think is funny? And you might be wrong and but you might be right. And even if you're wrong, and you want to keep doing it? Yeah, you know, knock yourself out. But I remember after a show of mine, actually, I was in between the early and late show at this club years ago. And the owner of the club said, oh, yeah, we have a stand up class here every week. And I told all the students to come and pick your brain in between the shows. And I thought, oh, God, I want to be doing in between shows. Yeah, thanks a lot.

But one of the comedians, and I'll never forget this, but she said, you know, I do stand up Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Do you think that's enough? If you're feeling like you can schedule your stand up and that that's enough stage time. Oh, just Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. That doesn't indicate passion. Right.

You know, you have to be always, and obviously your job or your family might get in the way of always being on stage, but it can't be that regimented. You have to just be so passionately wanting to get up on stage and want to share what you think or feel or see. And again, the more exactly who you are, the more exciting, you know, I think about any and all of the people that said no to Maria Bamford, you know, that horrifies me. To me, she's one of the greatest things that's ever happened. And if she listened to, oh, but what's the sitcom? Yeah. Or you gotta be more...

You gotta sex it up. Yeah, you gotta sex it up. You gotta be more personable. You gotta be... It's like, no, no, no. This is the show. Yeah. This is the show yeah yeah this is the show so i think that's it it takes a while sometimes it takes a while yeah but don't get discouraged that's a good point too you really have to know who to listen to and who not to listen to you know

when people are giving advice mostly don't listen to anyone anyone but yourself yeah i think that you truly have to be passionate about it and you can't feel like there is an exact agenda right there's no algorithm to like being a successful no it's like oh i'm gonna do open mics for a year then i'm gonna start and then i'm gonna get an agent and. And then I'll go to TikTok. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's you have to want to do stand up and you have to be so passionate and you have to offer something that is very, very true to yourself, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Because people can smell inauthenticity, I think.

That's great advice. And you might be terrible or have terrible nights but have a sense of humor about that of how terrible it is yes or what you need to work on or you know nothing will really make or break you right no one thing there's not yeah no one thing you know and unless you do a nazi salute Don't do that. Right. But it won't take you down like you think it will. Yeah. Just to have an off night.

Oh, my God. Yeah. That happens all the time, I think, where it's like, oh, my, there's no coming back from this. Yeah, yeah. But no one else noticed or remembers. Or cares. Nobody's thinking about you. That's the other thing to remember is nobody's thinking about you.

They don't care. They don't care. They don't care. Nobody is thinking about you. Wife, children, nobody. Nobody. Especially the cat. Well, Tig, thank you so much. It's so nice to talk to you. We're such

fans of yours and we hope that we'll get to see more from you soon. I hope so too. I love the show. And everybody listen to Tig's podcast, Don't Ask Tig. And we should also tease your idea for a bit the next time you're on the couch for a talk show. There might be something. I think that's enough details on that.

Okay. Sorry to overshare. Thank you, Tig. Thank you. details on that. Okay. Sorry to overshare. Thank you, Tig. Thank you. Thanks, Tig. Bye. And that was Tig Notaro. And an appearance by a homemade veggie burger.

I hope she enjoyed it. Yeah, me too. New episodes of Tig's podcast, Don't Ask Tig, are available weekly, wherever you get your podcasts. And we have a voicemail to play. Oh, my God. We've not heard this yet. I'm excited to hear it. Hi, Jesse and Mike. This is Ty from Chicago. I have a different question for each of you.

Mike, we don't really hear a lot about anything good that came out of the move to The Tonight Show. What was the best thing that came out of moving from the Late Night Show to the Tonight Show? And Jesse, what was the biggest surprise about coming in to write for Conan versus previous shows that you had written on?

Thanks, guys. Love the podcast. Bye. That was so nice to hear a man's voice. Yes. Wait, I'm a man. Oh, yeah, that's right. I'm sorry. Sort of. I forget.

You got a nice question. I got a question about The Tonight Show. Oh, no. Thanks, Ty. Ask me about my appendectomy. No, I'm kidding. That's actually, I thought, a really good question. It is a good question because there has to be some good thing that came out of it.

No, I mean, The Tonight Show was an adventure from beginning to end. You know what one nice thing was about The Tonight Show? We were on the Universal Studios lot. If you had free time, you could get on a golf cart and you could drive all around the lot and you could see Bruce the Shark exhibit. Oh, cool. Whenever you wanted. Yeah. I remember I briefly worked on that lot as well. And there was sort of a break in the fence where you could just sneak onto the park.

I heard about that. Yeah. They may have patched that up by now. I would hope so. But I remember going on my lunch break one time and we rode the Jurassic Park ride. And I don't know if you remember, but that ride, you get completely soaking wet. We weren't supposed to have done this. So then we had to come back to the office.

Oh, wow. Completely soaked. It was like, well, this is very obvious where we've been. Yeah. I remember some riders would come back and go, oh, yeah, I just rode the mummy ride 12 times. It's like, okay, well, we're doing a show tonight. I'm starting to understand. Don't do a late night show next to an amusement park. You might get distracted.

I don't know if that's the answer he was looking for, but yeah, I think that's an, that's a positive thing. How about you? Something that surprised me when I came to the show. Um, well,

I was surprised by how nice everyone was. To your face. just such a supportive environment. And from the day one, I was, it was almost like, I think Brian Stack was one of the first people I met and it was like, he's so nice. You almost wonder if he's making fun of you. Yes. It's so nice. And he's so funny when he's performing and, and, and his writing, uh, Brian Stack was a writer on late night and the tonight show and Conan for many years. And yes, his writing was so kind of mean and dark that I could see why when you met him, you thought he was maybe doing an act or something. Oh, come on. Yeah. You're being sarcastic. Right. I always thought everyone was so supportive because

you just wanted to get the show on there. And so... Yeah. And that was the other thing that surprised me was how fast the turnaround was. It's very intense. The schedule. Between writing something and getting it on the air. Yes. I.E. pitching it at 1130 that morning. Right. Having to rehearse it two hours later sometimes. Yeah. It's crazy. There's not even time to spell check something. And you're really just kind of going with your gut on a lot of things and the second it's approved everyone starts calling you up yeah asking questions about all this so you don't even have time to write the script because exactly they're calling asking about the script and like well what happens on page four and you're like i don't know i'm not

there yet that sounds like a better way to do it to come from a show where people seemed like the writers seemed like they were kind of undermining each other to a place where it's more supportive. I think the reverse would be kind of hard to handle. That's true. Yeah. So I guess I can never leave. I don't think I'd do well on a show where everyone was mean. I'd crumble. Well, thanks, Ty. That was a fun set of questions. Yeah, thanks, Ty. And if anyone else wants to call in or email us, you can call at 323-209-5303. Or you can email us at InsideConanPod at gmail.com. That's it.

All right. Well, that's our show for the week. Everybody stay safe out there. There's a lot of danger. Oh, please. Come back next week. We'll be here. And we like you. Inside Conan, an important Hollywood podcast is hosted by Mike Sweeney and me, Jesse Gaskell. Produced by Jen Samples.

Engineered and mixed by Will Becton. Supervising producers are Kevin Bartelt and Aaron Blair. Executive produced by Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco. This has been Inside Conan. Conan on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or whatever platform you like best. This has been a Team Coco production in association with Earwolf.