Inside Late Night with Mark Malkoff - Bobby Moynihan

Episode Date: October 22, 2024

Bobby Moynihan joins Marks to discuss Saturday Night Live, famous sketches, a host mistakenly breaking his ribs, & his David Letterman appearance. Follow on IG: @ bibbymoynihan Follow on X: @bibbymoynihan

Hi, I am Mark Malkoff and welcome to Inside Late Night, presented by late-nighter.com. Today's guest is Bobby Moynihan, best known for his nine seasons on Saturday Night Live. We discuss his time on SNL, some of his favorite sketches, and so much more. Now it is time to go inside late night. Bobby Moynihan, thanks for talking with us. Hi, how are you? Thanks for having me. You're one of the nicest people I've met from the show. Everybody from Phil Hartman when I was a kid going to the show, you know, famous asshole, Phil Hartman. I'm just kidding. I don't know if I've told this story on the podcast, but like I would have, I didn't realize how inappropriate it was in high school to have Phil Hartman do impressions for me. But every single time I asked him to do one, he would do it for me. Same with Dana Carvey. And it was one of those things. I know people probably ask you to do drunk uncle sometimes, but. I didn't realize that I would I'm sure if I was in high school I would have asked you to do it but I have to do say that and I've heard that from so many other people about how kind you are especially to the fans oh that's very nice thank you that's nice to hear idiot no I'm just kidding you did a hundred and ninety three Saturday night live episodes and like the thing I love about you is you are one of the biggest fans of the show like there's some people that go in that like the show

somewhat, and it's a happy accident they get on. But a year or two before you got on, you were camping out for standby tickets. Yeah, I got this jersey for Christmas a couple years before I got us and now, and now I have it signed by everybody that did it. Did you get that sign at the 40th? Where did you get that sign? I carried it with me for 10 years in a plastic bag, and any time I thought to ask somebody I would. You're not smart, man. Oh, man. Man, it's crazy. So when you were doing the standbys. Do you remember what shows they were for it? And you never got in when you would camp out. No. No, I think I only did it like two or three times. Once I just went and saw Keenan and got my picture with Keenan and left. And that was like a couple months before I got

the show. That's amazing. You got a picture with Tina as well, you told me, correct? Yeah. A lot of those people. I was a huge fan. Amazing. And then you're in there. So I know that you didn't get in to see the show before you were a cast member, but at what point did Bill Hader let you come to the writer's room? That was like, I auditioned, I thought it went really well, I thought I was starting on the Brian Williams episode, I was told, I was told, I was, we'll start you with Brian, that's what he said. And I was just like, what, what does that mean, Lauren? What does that mean? Who's Brian? And now realizing he meant Brian Williams, but that didn't happen, then the writer's strike happened. and I don't remember anymore.

I've told, I've, like, told the story a hundred times, and I'm not even positive if I'm right anymore. I think Bill took me, all I remember was Bill brought me, and I was in the writer's room. Chevy Chase did something on update? Maybe Seth Rogen was hosting? I remember when Chevy did his thing. Yeah, it was like the political thing with Hillary Clinton. It was that episode.

It was that episode. The writer's room, I've only been in a couple times, but there's. Really, I mean, it's a monitor. The curtains are closed, so you can't even see 8-H. Yeah. But there is that energy that's really fun during that show. Fun is not the right word for it. What would you say it was, the writer's room?

I mean, you go down for me. Usually, they'll take you down for music if you were a guest. It's either palpable joy or palpable, like, defeat. There's no in between. A little bit of both. I want to get this right, because I know, I've been looking at old newspaper articles from the Terrytown Daily News, and it's like 13-year-old Bobby Moynihan, Wizard of Oz is the Scarecrow.

Quote, the scenes and costumes are great. That was 13. And then you're doing, My Fair Lady, you're playing Doolittle. So you're doing all this theater, and at the same time, most kids are probably listening to Guns and Roses on their Walkman. You're listening to audio from SNL, correct? Yeah, I taped. I definitely taped the audio of the 25th anniversary, just like taped it on a tape recorder and listened to it all the time. But like I didn't know S&L sketches. I knew them like in their forms of the montage from the 25th anniversary. So like I wouldn't know full sketches or I would say a catchphrase that went directly into another catchphrase that went directly into another catchphrase from a different sketch because I just knew like that's where it started was just listening to that over and over again. Yeah, that 25th. And then it was

such a strange time when you got on the show because they were doing the elections. They're doing Thursdays. So you'd find yourself with Bill Murray who opened that big, um, or no, he opened the 25th, rather. He opened the 25th anniversary. But you find yourself with Murray. What was that like? Insane. Um, uh, there was a lot of weird stuff like that at SNL. I mean, my, my most vivid memory of Bill Murray, if I'm being honest, was the night, just one night, he showed up. I just remember walking down the hallway at one point earlier on in the night. And he had Leslie Jones up against a wall and was like, you're a Ghostbuster now. And he was like giving her like a Ghostbuster speech.

And I went like, what the heck is happening? And then maybe three hours later, I walked into, I think it was Tim Robinson and Zach's office and Jay and Bill, Jay Farrow and Bill Murray just fully wrestling, fully wrestling on the floor. Bill had said something to Jay about him

needing to loosen up and then the next thing I know they were fully wrestling on the floor. I know Jay Moore and Chris Farley had a wrestling thing on 17. I read about that, yeah. How did Murray do? I mean,

He's much older. Yeah, he had a couple beers in him. He was holding tough, but, uh, but Jay is a jacked younger man. I want to get this story right. So when, when you find out that Lauren called you that you got SNL after 14 months to auditions, you were sleeping? Yeah. And you moved back across the, across from your parents home, right?

I did. I think was it after 9-11 and then like I lost, I was working at the South, Street Seaport. I was a bartender at the South Street Seaport. That's what at Unos, right? Famously, you worked at Umo's. Yeah. Yeah. Your Mark character, Mark Payne, yeah. Yeah. And it had shut down because of 9-11. Like, it was just like there was rats everywhere. So they shut the restaurant down. So I moved back to Westchester and I was working at the restaurant I worked at when I was like in college, I guess. And I think, I don't, everything melted, has melted together into one. Yeah, but I was. at home. I was at home in my childhood bed, in my children's bed. I was a little hungover. I never drink. I very rarely drink. And I had a couple. I had heard that, I remember hearing that Bernie Brilstein had passed away, Lauren's agent. So I assumed I just wasn't going to hear anything. I think my agent just called me and told me. Bernie Brilstein passed away so you probably won't hear anything so like you can relax. And I think that night I had like,

like a glass of wine and passed out, I woke up at one in the afternoon to the phone ringing and it was Lauren and I was like, hey. And he was like, well, from what I remember, he said something along the lines of America's going to love you this season. Well, you sound tired. It was a disaster. And at this point, do you still have a picture of Lauren on your bedroom wall?

I think I, no, I think at that point I had probably moved on. to, it was probably like, no, it was probably something else. I had probably, I changed a lot. It was probably, I'm guessing, no matter what, there was a Michael Keaton as Batman poster, probably still there now. Actually, I don't know, because we sold the apartment. Remember saying that in the theater when it came out of so exciting. So after that, is it, then you run across the street to tell your mom and you, you're in your boxers? I did. I ran across the street. My mom worked at the town hall across the street from my apartment building and I ran across the street and I was like I got it I got it and I said but I didn't

like run inside I sat on the bench outside and called it was just I didn't I don't I don't even it's all a blur one of your friends somebody that you knew for for 20 years wrote a column shortly after Chris Serrico who said he knew you in school and said that how do you know all this stuff you do you do I do a lot of research yeah you do there's a newspaper article. This was from 2008, August 25th. He wrote that Lauren called himself to give you the news and that Bobby told me he spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on a nearby park bench in total disbelief. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I just sat on a bench. Like, I just sat there going like, what? And you put on pants because when you went across the street, you didn't have pants on, correct?

Because you were so excited. I just ran. I just ran across the street. No, I totally, totally get that. But when you did that sketch with Sigourney Weber, what was it, rice and fire? What was it? Yeah. Yeah, fire and rice. That's a crazy one because like that one was that one I remember because it was like the real, the first time you get that horror story at S&L where you're like, I got nothing. I got nothing this week. I'm tired.

I love Sigourney Weaver. I wish I could be in the show with her. But like, fuck, I don't know what I'm doing here. Like, you know, it was a really like crazy week. And I remember going in. And I'm like, I have nothing. And I just went with a dumb joke. I was like, she's beautiful.

She's absolutely beautiful. And I remember seeing her in a dress somewhere. And I remember thinking the fabulous Baker Boys, that movie where the woman sings on the piano. So five seconds before I walked in the room, I was like, okay, what if she's a lady lying on the piano? But like, she's afraid of heights or something. But it's not, I don't know. I just had nothing. I just want to interject.

This was a fake pitch, essentially. 100% not even fake pitch just like I saw her in a dress once and yeah yes it was a yes I went we're a team called fire and rice and you're lying on the piano

but you're afraid of heights so you're afraid you can't stop talking about how high up you are and it was just a dumb joke it was just like maybe I'll get a laugh on someone being afraid of heights on top of a piano and like unfortunately the room laughed and Sigourney

went like, oh, I love that. I want to sing. I want, and she, like, in the pitch meeting said, I want to sing, uh, I got the world on a string. And I was like, I guess I'm writing this. And that was that. But like, that's sometimes the best because that that's one of my favorite things I ever got on the show. And she calls you in her dressing room because it's one of those things that she's like, we're doing it. The host has a lot of input. So she pushed for it. It wasn't getting in the show and she pushed for it. But yeah, that definitely happens. I know that we're going all over the place, but tell me, about when you when you told lord michael's you were leaving the show i just would imagine you would

be knocking on his office on the 17th floor and just um you have this all rehearsed in in your head but you took a different approach i read what was that i don't know what what did you read i have um an article um a newspaper article that you said that you never had emailed lord michael before but you emailed him at 2a m and you're like does he check his email and he emailed you back five minutes later saying let's talk in the morning. Don't worry. Everything's cool. You got to New York. You met with him. It was perfect. You said he's the best. I owe him every day. Yeah, that's probably somewhere around what happened from what I remember. Yeah, I don't remember it being a gigantic deal. I don't remember it. I think there were other people. I think a lot of S&L has to do with

timing. And I think like the timing of me leaving was not horrible. for everyone, you know, like sometimes nine seasons. I mean, yeah. Well, they also had people. They had good people, you know, not to toot my own horn, but like, you know, like, it's like when you lose a Kristen in the middle of a season, it's scary. I wasn't as important as Kristen. So I don't think it was as, uh, uh, but just at just on a purely technical point of view, it's a baseball, if it's a baseball team, you need Kristen. Yeah, I mean, I have to say that in terms of like going through your history when one day you're showing, I know you're a father and stuff showing your kids that some of the stuff that you got to do. One of the funniest things I saw was you and

Duane Johnson doing those promos back and forth. And I read a book with Duane Johnson's writer, I think is Brian Gwartz saying that they were internally some of the people, the writers were hesitant to do the sketch and they had to really push for it. Is that true? Is that your recollection? Because it killed. Yeah. Well, I think why was because it was the Rock's idea. It was the Rock's sketch. He brought that sketch and a lot of comedy writers don't love it when that happens. And also, by the way, they're rarely great when hosts bring in sketches. Sometimes they're not what you wish them to be.

And you have to be polite and be like, good idea. Well, I think that's, I think no matter what you have to be polite, even if it's good. So like, it's a hard thing. But, you know, The Rock and his buddy Hiram, they, they, they, he's, he's, been writing for him since he was in WWF. So it was a WWF promo that they always joked about doing was like, what if we always did one where we just said real shit? And it's just like that was a hilarious premise. I remember nothing correctly because I was terrified for 10 years. But I think Rob Klein was put on that to help. And I think like, so he was there also. But like it was

the Rock's idea from what I remember. And that's one of my favorite things I ever got to be on in the show. That sketch annihilated. You did an interview with USA Today in 2013, mentioning that you would take from time to time props from SNL. What do you have? I mean, I just started cleaning my room. I just, right? Just in hands reach. These are waiting Garth's drumsticks from the, Garth's drumsticks from the 40th, that I just drunkenly stole. Yeah, I just walked around on the 40th stealing shit because I was drunk and I don't drink off. That sketch killed. I mean, that's a very hard thing.

There was later in the show, and the writing was just so good in their performances. It was great. I sat front row for every one of those rehearsals. I couldn't believe it. It was Wayne's World. It was nuts. I mean, like, growing up on it, and then you get on the show, and then it's just like, what's happening?

I'm sitting next to Bob and Marty Culp while watching Wayne's World. Like, it's nuts. I have a picture of me sitting next to AnaGas Dyer and that outfit with Wayne. Like, it's nuts. It's crazy. As a fan, it was like. Like, face cam. Your whole life is just so interest in your trajectory and how long everything took.

And then the day before you get SNL, you do ASCAT at UCB. And Robin Williams, he shows up. And you're just, everyone's like, what is going on? And he's going to be the, he was the monologue person? No. Did he do? No, he performed. He just wanted to work out with you guys and just do improv, correct?

Yeah, he did it a couple times. It wasn't like, that wasn't the only time. He'd done it a bunch. But I just, the only time I got to do it with him was just happened to be the night before I started SNL. And you might be the only one that he pitches a prank. He doesn't even know you really. And he finds out that you're going to be on SNL and your day, first days is tomorrow. He had a thought and he went with it and I was genuinely terrified.

Genuinely terrified like, oh no, no, I don't want this to happen. I do not want Lorne Michael's first image of me is bringing Robin Willis. in in my clothes. I was like, please, please, Robin Williams, no. You're one of probably though, I mean, you made the right decision, but do you think he would have done it? I think he was 100% serious. And in retrospect, if I'm being honest with myself, I'm, I'm thinking maybe he saw the terror in my eyes and went like, I'm going to back off a little bit. But he gave me his number. He never called. But like, if I followed up on it in any way, or have been like, let's do this.

Or I think, yes, I think he would have done it in a second. I think he was 100% serious and looking for fun. It's amazing that you have these stories. You're on Seth Myers, and it's really fun to see you go on these shows with people that you know. You told Seth, and he understood this. You said every time you go back to that building, you get in the elevator and you have anxiety. Do you think that will ever go away? And why do you think is it just that that happens every time?

I mean, I spent 10 years in that elevator, taking that elevator up and down, panicking for 12 million different reasons or being the happiest I've ever been in my life for 12 different reasons. You know, one week at S&L, you're, you're, you had the best show ever and you're on a mechanical bowl with Tom Hanks at the after party. And the next week, you're not in the show and you feel like you're the unfunniest person in the world. And then it all starts over again the next week. It's insane. Hank's did the mechanical bull the one that's it's like a couple blocks from Rockefeller right it's I know I forget the names of all the places it doesn't matter but highs are highs and the lows are lows but it's just yeah it's that it's just it's just insanity it's like I remember the first two summers after S&L like feeling physically different and I was kind of like what's wrong like why do why do I feel this way and I think it's because my adrenaline had just been pumping for nine months every single week is like do or die, and then all of a sudden you have your life back. And then it's not. And you're just like, what just happened? I just went through like nine months of intense overstimulation, I think.

And then like it just, yeah, it was the greatest thing in the world, but it makes you old, quick. One of my, one of my friends, Dan Pasternak, I think you know Dan Pasternak. He was at the Jude Law episode and he got to, he got to witness you say live from New York at Saturday night. And I know you've done an interviewer saying that was that that right there was one of the biggest moments of your life when did you know did you know you were going to be doing that like a dress rehearsal did you do because sometimes they changed the order around did you know you were going to be doing that and what was that like you have the cue card did wally give you the cue card it's right there it's right behind the computer um um i love this you have it in your room right now

I mean, yeah, my office is just a shrine to, uh, it's just all, I love this stuff that I have collected through the years from these jobs. Oh, man. Um, that's the, uh, up there, that's the Kylo Ren mask that Matt. It's signed by Adam Driver. It says, uh, from your friend Matt. And that's the one he used.

That's, but he had his, like, they had official Lucas one probably, uh, yeah, they had like an official Lucas film like the one they, they used to take pictures. like not the not the wasn't screen used it was like the one that they use for specifically for photographs and they they brought that down for us to use uh for that but we had I had this mask uh just in case and he signed it I think he put it on at one point but he signed it I have the R2D2 signed by yeah I kept everything I love that you did this um you have on the 40th you have that photo with George Lucas Yeah, that was the 40th. Yeah, he was there.

And then I saw that you got to meet Mark Hamill knew who you were in Carrie Fisher and pretty much everybody, which is for a Star Wars person, unbelievable. What was the first talk show you ever went on? Was it Fallon? Technically Conan, but it was like the bits. It was like I was doing bits. I wasn't the guest. That was before you got SNL, correct?

Yes. I don't know. Maybe Fallon, maybe. Gosh, I don't remember. I don't know anymore. It's a long time. Yeah. I'm guessing it was Fallon because, like, I think he had just gotten, maybe it wasn't even the Tonight Show yet. I think it was still late night. You did the show a bunch of times. I know you did each show a bunch of times. Okay.

They would just, they would just come upstairs and be like, you got five minutes. You want to play Flip Cup with Chris Hemsworth? Like, I think I did that once. They would just call us and bring us downstairs and we would be in bits. I think I played Flip Cup with Chris Hemsworth or something like that. I don't remember. Put that on your resume. Yeah. He also broke my ribs in the middle of a live S&L. What?

What happened? That Marvel sketch, there's a sketch where he's Thor and the whole joke, it was when he hosted and it was like the Avengers, I think, maybe it was Avengers. And the whole joke was it was like a newscaster interviewing Thor afterwards and he was going crazy. And during Dress, he high-fived me and the whole joke was I went flying. because he's very strong. He's Thor. Of course. And there was a mat on the ground and I went flying and landed on the

mat. And in between dress and air, they cut like a giant chunk out of this sketch. So the guy holding the mat just didn't know. So the guy's holding the mat and he's holding it up against his chest and he thinks he's got like 10 cards before he's got to put the mat down. And Chris Hemsworth raises his hand. I high five it. I go flying. I throw myself because I assume the mat's going to be there and it's not. And I just hit the concrete on the floor of the studio and just crack and just crack two ribs right here. Did you go to the doctor right after that or did you wait until the act before it was over?

I didn't go. I was terrified of being fired. I stood up and went, I stood up and I physically couldn't breathe. And you could see me in the sketch like trying to finish. And like, and then the second the sketch was over, Jenna, the state. manager didn't know what to do. So she threw me a towel and I couldn't even grab it. It just hit me in the face and fell to the ground. It was like the saddest moment of my life. And I just walked, I just walked away, went in my dressing room and was like, just keep your mouth shut. You don't know what.

I didn't know it was broken yet. And I was just like, don't cause problems. Get the show done and go home. And like Monday, I was like, every time I breathed, I was like, yeah, I got broken ribs. Don't tell me you went to the after party with broken ribs. I don't remember. Maybe I did. I definitely went on and did the next show with two broken ribs. I have like a notch right here because there's nothing you can do. So I just didn't do anything.

I probably like freshly had health insurance and didn't know. I was like I didn't. I just didn't go. I remember going to Devlin Corrigan, who was a UCB improv guy and he used to be a doctor. And I was like, what do I do? And he was like, take a lot of ab, though. I was like, was like, was it your first or second audition at SNL

that you had to wait for four hours in a dressing room? Maybe both. I mean, like, what do you do during that time? There was a lot of waiting. Are you just going over your audition for four hours? Or what are you doing? I don't know what other people did, but I, because of Conan,

because of doing the Conan bits, I knew ahead of time that if you turned on the TV pressed input and went to a certain like input channel you could see what was happening in the studios. It's up a live feed. I just watched everybody's audition and then went like, oh, they were great.

Oh, oh no, they were awesome. I'm screwed. Yeah, like, which I think was a terrible idea because the guy that went before me, the guy that went before me was amazing and I still can't believe he didn't get it. I think you're the only one that knew that going in that got to do that.

What an advantage, I think. Yeah, it definitely felt like a secret, a cheat code of some kind. If I didn't have, I would have just been sitting there panicking. I have a quote from Lauren Michael somewhere. I don't know if I can find it or whatever saying that you've knocked it out of the park with your second audition. I'm sure your first one is well. I have never heard him talk about an audition like that.

Maybe Christian Whig, maybe one or two other people. But I have a quote from a newspaper article on you that he said, you knocked it out of the part. Did you feel that that way, your second time? Yeah, 100%. I felt like the first time I did what I was supposed to do and the second time I showed them who I was, if that makes sense. Like I came in, I did three characters and three impressions and I'm terrible at impressions. And then the second one I went like, here's something I did when I was a kid. I used to pull up alongside people when I was a kid when we were driving, me and my friends and we would just say, like, we would ask him to roll down the window and then we would go, hey, I'm sorry, do you know how to get to

Arbolato drive? And they would go no. And we would go, oh, okay, all you got to do is you got to go straight three blocks. You're going to see a Best Buy. And then we would just start giving them directions until they got confused or drove away. And I did that at my second audition. Like, I just, I think I was just more me, if that makes sense. Was that Nathan Lane that you did that one for the hamburger society? Probably. That sounds, no. Actually, I might have done that in my first one, because I was trying to, like, sound like Nathan Lane. Like, I, I just wanted to say, uh, something familiar, something peculiar, something for everyone, eat a hamburger tonight.

I said Nathan Lane for the National Hamburger Society. And then I sang that and that was it. It was 13 characters. Was that your second audition that you did like really the big ones? Smart man. Yeah. I just did like a bunch of dumb shit. I literally, I saw somebody on the subway on the way over, try and get in the subway and

then get super, super mad at people for not holding the door for him. And I just did that. Like, I, I just did that at my audition. Like, I was, I think in my mind, I just thought, like, well, I didn't get it the first time. So I'm, why not just can go crazy? I don't, I don't, I don't know what happened. I don't remember any of it. I'm so confused. He said it not. You knocked it out of the par. Well, that, that, that's crazy. I, I never heard that or saw that, but like, that um i should send you the um i'll send your um publicist or whoever i'll send you um something to get to you a newspaper article yeah that's crazy so many times these little surprises come at s nl and you were working for hours i think maybe a quote said you said 17 hours writing a sketch about

this crazy suit salesman it's going nowhere and then colin jos just comes in at 5 30 in the morning says i have to write an update piece do you have any ideas and just off the top of your head what you say? Uh, I think that was the day we wrote it was either, well, both drunk uncle and Anthony Crispino, both of those were like, um, I'm not positive. I don't remember which one it was, maybe drunk uncle, it sounds like, but like I got, I was getting married and I went to go get a suit. And the guy who like waited on me was seven feet tall. He looked like Hollywood for mannequin. Like he had like hair that like came to a point. he was a character and he had a big letter like Laverne from Laverne and Shirley like all of his suits and

everything was monogramed and everything and I just thought he was absolutely hilarious and I spent like 20 hours writing this sketch and I was like this is going to be my next big S&L character breakout character I hope this is the one and then yeah I was leaving I remember I was leaving for both of them drunk uncle I was he was like you got anything for update I got to write an update and I was like, um, I think I went to my office and I looked up, there was like a sheet of all the, like when we get hired, you have to write down all the character, your preexisting characters and stuff. I guess like for like merchandising reasons or I don't know, whatever. Yeah, I've seen Mike Myers list of the, and Kevin Neely's list of that they brought in, um,

that preexistent. And yeah, you just lie. You just make up a bunch of stuff in hopes that it'll get on one day. And I wrote, I think I wrote drunk uncle Mike. for no, like, I don't even know what it meant. And, uh, uh, Colin was like, I got to write something. I was like, I do this like drunk guy to make Chris Getherd laugh. Like I just pretend I'm drunk. And what if it was like a drunk uncle or like, you know, like a guy, you know, one of those lovable types that everyone goes like, ah, he means well, but he's a fucking idiot.

Like, and I think that was it. Like he went, I'll write something up and we pitched a couple jokes on it. And, and then like the next morning, I definitely remember, uh, the suit salesman bombing and going, oof, well, at least I got that dumb drunk thing in the second half and then cut to me holding my funco pop of drunk uncle and crying every night. And signing them. I've seen pictures online, people to Facebook, people going to the, went to the show and stuff, and you're signing those funco things, which is amazing.

I wanted to ask, your Instagram is really fun. Everyone follow Bobby on Instagram, but I was- You're the first and only person to ever say that, I think. I was going to say on your last episode, so you're there for good nights. You have no idea what's going to happen. No, I was mad. I was mad. Why?

You were sick as well, right? I was super sick. Did you feel better by Aaron? No, I was very sad. I was, I was very sad. But the good nights especially, I remember being a little angry at first because I have this weird thing. or I had this weird thing when I was there

which was when everybody left I would casually walk back to the back of the band and say goodbye to the band but that was just decoy not that I didn't love the band I have a problem I have like a neurosis and I had to be the last person offstage

I don't know why I just when people exit the stage physically. I always stepped off the stage last. I don't know why. It was just a weird, weird. A lot of performers have those things. Dave Letterman is one of those people. Oh, I got, I got hundreds of them. I don't know, you know, it's whatever. But like, it just an athlete. Athletes have them. Yeah. Yeah. And it was my last one. And I remember thinking, oh, my gosh, I'm going to step off this stage for the last time. And I don't know if I'll ever get back on here again. And it was pretty

crazy. And then I see out of the corner of my eye, I see Tom Hanks whispering to, Alec Baldwin and I could just tell that they were planning something because they were looking at me and I was like what what's happening because you don't the last thing you want is is Tom Hanks and Alec Baldwin conspiring against you and the next thing I knew they were lifting me up and carrying me off stage and I remember my first thought was can put me down put me down I don't want to be I want to walk off this stage I have to be the last person off this stage so like I was livid at first. And then the second they put me down,

I was like, I just got carried off stage by Tom Hanks, Alec Baldwin, J. Farrow, and Keenan Thompson. It doesn't get better than that. And I cried like a baby and went like, well, that was better.

That was much better. It's a Rudy moment. It's such some, it's totally like from Rudy. Who gets that? We all did. Vanessa, Sashir,

we all did. We all, and we all deserved it. Yes. Were you in your dressing room the first time you heard Don Pardo say your name and then you started bawling? yeah that was or where were you dressing room my dressing room upstairs so and he says your name and you just I mean I get that I yeah to hear that from him yeah thinking about it now gets me choked up it's nuts a lot of

I was good I was good for a couple years and now it's the 50th and a lot of emotions are coming up again and it's crazy oh yeah it's going to be fun I've heard some inside stuff um about what's going to be going on and stuff I think it's going to be so so much fun absolutely insane fans are going to be very happy How often did people come up to you and mention the Jester and Timber like Beyonce to you? Is that like the thing that you get the most or drunk uncle or both? No, I don't leave the house, so I don't get it that often. No, that's funny. It's funny, I randomly hear single ladies in the wild and like it's more like that.

Like I'm reminded of it when I hear it. But like, no, I don't get I don't get hounded a lot for that. kind of stuff. My favorite is every once in a while I'll just be walking around and someone will scream, rest in peace, ask Dan, and it makes me very happy. And I just. So people, if you see him on this. Move on. I have to say, though, the Beyonce Timberlake thing that would make national news. I mean, it was all over and online. It was crazy. You almost, even though it was your idea, for a moment, you said they might have been testing you. They were going to take you out of the sketch? Yeah, it was a very, I think.

that was like my first real introduction to what S&L was actually like, and I didn't know it until years later, which is like the new kid on the show, having no idea what it takes to get a sketch produced at that place, went, hey, I have this silly idea. Keenan Thompson showed me the video in his dressing room, showed me the music video, or he was watching it. And I walked in and I said, what is this? And he showed me the Beyonce music video. And I saw the girls in leotards. And I literally was like, I guess fat guy and a leotard would be funny. What if like Beyonce's here? What if I was one of the backup dancers? What if me and Keenan were like the backup dancers in leotards? That's what I thought. It would be funny to see guys in leotards.

And Keatum, I think Keen was like, I ain't getting in a leotard. And like, and then like, we just came up with that idea. I asked John Lutz to help me write it. And like, from what I remember, he very kindly said yes but I think like in retrospect was probably like oh Bobby this is insane she's never going to do this like you can't like you know like the reality of it all and we wrote it

and uh you know Beyonce is not at the read through so Kristen readtze's part at the read through and it did fine it did very funny it got the reaction of like wow this would be great if Beyonce was in it but she never had done a sketch at that point, right? She had been... Well, I mean, she had been in Austin Powers, but like, she had

not... Yeah. So at what point, who tells you you have to go to Beyonce's dressing room? Well, no, that was it. It didn't get picked. It didn't get picked. It didn't make it into the show. And then I think it was like Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday. It all melts together. All I remember was getting a phone call from Andy. And even that was like, what? And Andy was like, hey, Justin Timberlake is in town. He's on his way to the studio. Are you cool if I ask him to be in this sketch? And I was like, yeah.

And then it was like, if he's in this sketch, maybe Beyonce will do it. And I was like, okay, I get that. And then the next thing I know, Andy was knocking on my door. We went down to wardrobe and Justin Timberlake put on a leotard. and, like, went and knocked on Beyonce's door and was like, you're doing this sketch. And she was like, okay. And, like, that's how it happened.

But then the next thing I know, I'm in a room with Beyonce and all of her people and we're talking about the sketch. And all I remember was she was super nice. She was like super, super nice. And a woman in her crew who, I'm sorry if she hears this and she is offended, did not seem like the most necessary member of the crew. There was a lot of people doing a lot of stuff, and she was doing a lot of sitting on the couch going like,

you ever meet this guy? She just kept through the whole pitch, through the whole pitch going, wouldn't it be funny if I was in the background eating a bagel? And you have to take that you... Well, no. Well, this is the problem. I was like, yes.

I was like, that's genius. You just want to get the sketch on. No, no, I genuinely. was on her side. I was like, because I think stuff like that is weird. I was like, a woman eating a bagel in the background for no reason. Yes. When that is the wrong decision. And she just kept trying. And it didn't happen. And I, but that was it. I didn't know any better. I was so young and so new that I was like, of course you can eat a bagel in the background. And then like a couple writers who had been there for a while were like, you shut your mouth. Like, like, you. Like, like, you. you know, like I didn't know any better. I learned a lot that week about mounting a gigantic thing like that and how hard it is and how many people are involved that make it come together. And you make one tiny decision about something and that changes 15 people's jobs for the next 20 hours.

And like, I learned a lot of lessons on that. But yeah, it was like the fact that it happened is insane because all of the things that had to fall into place. It's like the universe, everything coming together. That was it. I remember that Monday, seeing it in Entertainment Weekly and being like, it's less than a week ago. Less than a week ago, I walked into Keenan's office and had this idea. And now I'm looking at it in 10 feet away in a magazine. It was confusing. Where were you in the building when Stephen Spielberg came up to you to said that he was a fan of yours and drunk uncle? So, you know, when they go through the studio, there's like the side doors over near Don Pardo's booth. And then there's wardrobe, like the wardrobe area.

And then there's the TVs right across from the wardrobe area. Right there. I was standing right there. He also, that's also the same place, same exact spot where there was some sketch on that had the end of the sketch, the out, was just like some plastic dinosaurs fighting and it was really shitty looking. And he just tapped me on the shoulder and leaned in and went, mine were better. to have those moments. Yeah, yeah, he's hilarious. Yeah, it's crazy.

Yeah, he came up to me and told me they were talking, they were doing drunk uncle impressions at the dinner table on Thanksgiving. And I was like, okay. Steven Spielberg. What is the best prop you own from Lost? I know you own a lot from Lost. What is your favorite piece? Boy, um, I have.

Don't you have the fish machine? Yeah, that's in a storage unit currently. Maybe this, that Jorge gave me is Mr. Cluck's costume. Oh, man, yes. I have a bunch of props from Lost, but like- You have Dharma beer, I know. That figure in the middle is a Bobby Moynihan Dharma Initiative action figure that Damon Lindelof made for me.

I was just a fan of the show. I really liked it. No, that show is one of my favorite, absolutely. And I know, like, you meet JJ Abrams when he comes over there. He's a really nice guy. I've met him too and stuff, but it's like... Yeah, the best. Your phone rings, and it says on the other line,

do you want to be in a Pixar movie and you just say yes? And that is basically what happens with Monsters University. That's, it's that simple. Yeah, it was for that. Dan Scanlan, the director, I think like he had seen some sketch or something on SNL. I don't know why. I hope I'm right.

These are all memories that are coming back to me. I think it was the... Andy's digital short where it was like the jammy shuffle I think it's like we were all kids in pajamas I was like a kid show but then so all of a sudden

everyone had knives it was it was a week I think it was called the jammy shuffle and I remember him saying like I heard you just say this one line in there and I thought it was funny and I thought it would be green for this character and I was like well thank you

yeah that was my first Pixar movie is a parent that's great that you have that last question is there a favorite late night appearance that you had You've been on so many shows. Andy Cohen, I know you went on Fallon, you've been on Seth. Was there something that stands out? I mean, probably Letterman just because I still can't believe that happened.

Like, I can't believe I got to be on Letterman. Letterman and Stern, Letterman and Stern were the two where I was like, huh? I met you right after you did Stern. It was like 2013 or whenever it was, and I was talking to you about it. And the thing about Stern and a lot of other people I know that have gone on, You forget that you're being recorded when you're talking to that guy. Is that true? Yeah. Well, it's Howard is just, that was like, I don't think I was regularly going to a therapist at that point. And I remember thinking like, why do I feel so good? Why is he making? And like, I think he's just been through so much therapy that he has become a therapist in ways. Like, he knew how to make me feel nice. He knew what to ask, when to ask. And then the second he was bored, he knew like, okay, let's get into it. Or the second I looked like I was ready, he was like, so what was your point? father an alcoholic? And I was like, yeah, Jesus. Like, it was, it was, I wasn't expecting to be

so taken by him, uh, and kind of in his control, if you will. He's very good at what he does and he led that entire conversation. It was fantastic. And a lot of times people go on, they don't expect to be talking about those things. How, what was your Dave appearance like? I love that you got on that show. It's not easy. Well, that's a difference. Howard's a fan. And Howard, like I felt like he cared you know like I felt like you know whatever and letterman was just like I was I remember feeling from start to finish like just don't fuck up like I think the first thing he said something to me he said he said something like you're a young man are you and I said like I'm 11 years old today or so I just made some joke out of panic and he said pretty good beard for an 11 year old or something but but I remember like I could physically see his body relaxed. Like he, like, it was almost like he went like, oh, okay, this guy's not uptight. He's, he answered me back and he doesn't seem completely terrified.

And like, it was almost like I felt like he accepted me a tiny bit. And it, but it definitely, uh, I definitely felt like I was interviewing for a job in comedy. And what's his name was backstage? Biff Henderson. Yeah, I almost said, Bud Biff, Bud Mellman, Larry Bud Millman. I wish he was back. Yeah, I wish it was Bud Millman. Both of them are great.

And Biff is just telling you where to go and where to stand and you want to go like, can I get a picture with you? And like, and you realize he's just doing his job. Bobby, I don't, I want to get you out of here. Bobby, thank you for doing this. How did this go? Is this okay? And I really appreciate your time. You've put me out terribly. This was a horrible. I never want to return. No doubt. This is amazing. It's good to talk to you. Thanks. I really, really appreciate it. Same here, ma'am. Thanks for listening. Please subscribe so you never. miss an episode on Apple Podcasts, please rate it and leave a review. Be sure to go to late-nighter.com for all your late-night TV news, and you can find my podcast at late-nighter.com forward slash podcasts. Have a wonderful week, and I'll see you next Tuesday. We're going to be.

I'm going to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to be. I'm not going to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to be.

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and We're going to be. I'm going to be. Oh. Oh. You know, I'm going to be. I'm going to

be a lot of Thank you.