Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out - 79. Sarah Sherman: From New Faces to SNL

Episode Date: August 22, 2022

Sarah Sherman a.k.a. Sarah Squirm is the first and only Working It Out guest to show up wearing a t-shirt of the band Cannibal Corpse. The breakout SNL star sits down with Mike and the two comics cover everything from Kaufman-seque performance art to Sarah’s Weekend Update segments where she mercilessly roasts Colin Jost. Plus, jokes and stories about infrared saunas, getting chased by tweakers in the desert, fish eating fish, and a one-time only duet of Fran Drescher impressions.Please consider donating to Food Bank For NYC

You went from being a working comic, which is hard, to being a star, a comedy star, where people probably stop you in the street, and you're like, oh my God, I love you, and we can update, and all this stuff. What you're experiencing is not normal at all. You know, there is, I think I'm on the show in an interesting period of time

where there's teenagers on TikTok who, like, eat dog food that are, like, 20,000 times more famous than me. That is the voice of the great Sarah Sherman. You may know her from Saturday Night Live. This is Mike Birbiglia talking. Welcome back to a new episode of Working It Out. I'm so excited for today. Sarah Sherman is one of the funniest darn people.

Many of the guests on the show are people I've known in the past, who I've known for many years. This is someone I've been watching on SNL, I think is a riot. She does these segments with Colin Jost on Weekend Update that make me laugh so hard. Today, she comes on. She tells me what it's like to be a new person on SNL, which I think a lot of us have thought about. We crowdsource some questions on Twitter.

People had questions for her on Twitter. We talk about dreams. We talk about so many topics. Performance, you know, experimental performance. She does, like, a very, very unique thing. As a matter of fact, you can see her if you're in London, you can see her at the Soho Theater, which is one of my favorite theaters in the world. I did my girlfriend's boyfriend there many years ago. You can also see her on tour in Los Angeles, which is where I am now, as well as in San Francisco in September.

She's a really electric performer. I couldn't recommend seeing her in person more highly. If you want to see me in Los Angeles, this is my final week. I'm doing eight more performances at the Mark Taper Forum with the full set design and lighting design. It has been so cool. And then I'll be doing the, without the set and the lights, but I'll be doing the, without the set and the lights, but I'll be doing the show in September and October and November in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toronto, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Columbus, Detroit, Nashville, Mesa, Salt Lake City. Tickets are going fast.

And then there's going to be a New York City announcement soon. Stay tuned. The best way to know about that is on burbiggs.com. Sign up for the email list. Enjoy my conversation with the great Sarah Sherman. You and I were at the comedy

celebrity the other night, and I'm losing it watching you in the back of the room because I was going after you. God, somebody's got to be losing it. Losing it. Like, I would say it was one of the more inspirational, like, comedy performances I've seen, like, in years. Oh, my God. Because you're so, and it's similar to what you do on SNL

on Weekend Update, you seemingly so don't care how it goes. And then it has this sort of Andy Kaufman quality where it's like, oh my God, it's gonna go down in flames

and then it doesn't. It's the opposite. It's so funny because I care so much to the point, like I will die early. I will have heart problems. I care so much to the point of like, even that set you saw at the Cellar last night,

like I still am kind of nervous about trying new stuff there because I want to do so well. Oh my gosh. I'm whipping out, I'm dusting off the oldest material you've ever seen out there. Really? And it's like it doesn't feel very – you know, I feel a little bit like a coward there where I'm like afraid to push my – I mean, that's fine. Yeah.

That stuff is like old, so I know it works even though it's fine. Yeah. That stuff is like old, so I know it works, even though it's insane. Yeah. Well, like you, for example, like you have a bit where you like keep doing like saying New York, like I'm from New York, like in that New York accent over and over and over again to the point where it's not funny. And then it's funny again. And then it's not funny again. And then it's funny again. It's not funny, and then it's funny again, and then it's not funny again, and then it's funny again,

in sort of like Andy Kaufman, like David Letterman tradition. When I'm watching, I'm like, does she know that she's going to get him back? That joke in particular is so old that I've gone back, I've revisited it to do basically kind of like autopsy on it or I'm like opening it back up again to see how far I can push it in different directions like when you know a bit

like inside and out for years you know it works and then when you get back into it and like open it up and mess around in the guts of it to see like maybe there's a different kind of angle to put on it. So with that bit, my new experiment with it is seeing how long I can stretch the absurdity of it.

And I haven't been timing myself, but I am wondering if I am saying the same thing over and over again for at least two minutes or something like that. It seems really long. I'm curious. I'm going to play a clip of you

on Weekend Update. Oh, no. No, I don't have to watch it. No. Okay. Hi, Colin. Hey, Sarah. So how's your time

at the show been so far? What's not to love? Laughing, comedy, New York City. But I'm not going to lie, dude. I've got some feedback. You got feedback already? Yeah.

And I got a lot of questions about the show. First off, why is it live? Well, the name of the show is Saturday Night Live. Don't you think that's a little scary, Colin? I could say something right now that could ruin my life and yours. Please don't. I kind of want to. I'm crazy. Don't, though.

Anything could happen. I could have a nip slip right now. Sarah, you're buttoned up to your neck. You don't know where my nipples are. Okay, I feel like I know where most people's nipples are. Huh, do you? This just in. Local pervert Colin Jost claims he's seen most people's nipples.

Now back to you. What hooked me on your comedy on SNL is like, I feel like that show, I love that show. People know how much of a fan of the show i am it's hard to have your own voice on that show the show really has a voice like it's very topical it's very you know there's like a certain type of tone that that show always has and of course the different cast members give it a different personality. But you're like, so you? With like Colin,

like you like bully Colin basically. Yeah. You like torment him. Yeah. And it's like, how do you get away with that? How do you have the boldness to even like bring that up or pitch that? You know, like it's the only reason,

I think really the reason the bit works is because he's laughing really well the whole time like he is sitting there and who i i mean i think you know i don't want to toot my own horn but i i actually i do think it is genuine laughter that he oh yeah but he's doing a really good job of being like, I'm okay with this. I like this. But I could tell when I got there, he has a good sense of humor. Yeah. He knows what he looks like. He wrote the book Punchable Face. Right.

So roasting him, it's so easy. It's almost too easy. You know what I mean? It feels like, to me, a cheap trick a little bit I like got on the show and I was like, you know, I'll just make fun of the guy. Oh, that's hilarious. But he, I mean, I owe that bit doing well to him because I joined the show and I was kind of having trouble

figuring out how to get stuff on the show because it's, I'm a stand-up yeah and i've never written like in an ensemble before or like cooperatively with people before i i write all those update bits with the please don't destroy boys and celeste my friend celeste who writes on the show and it's like the it's like the best experience writing with people. Oh, yeah. They are giving me jokes that I say that make me look funny. Do you know what I mean?

I love Celeste. I love Celeste. I love the Please Don't Destroy boys, as you refer to them. They're boys. Do they call themselves boys? No, but I definitely do. All right, then I will too. Yeah.

The Please Don't Destroy Boys. I think I'm like three times their age at this point. And so like when I was like, I want to do this bit where I mercilessly torment Colin. I mean, there's like a Google Doc sitting somewhere with like 800 mean jokes about him. I think the reason I enjoy that so much, and I know Colin, I love Colin, he continues to defy my expectations of him.

His book is so good. Punchable Face is so good, and I so thought that won't be good because he hasn't had it hard. He's a handsome, funny man. And then it's like, no, it's great. It's so fun to make fun of someone who's handsome. I know. It's so satisfying for me to watch it as a viewer

because I'm like, yeah, take him down. All of the jokes are also like really, we've pushed it. Like the last installment of the weekend update, the jokes are basically like, like all of them are – I'm literally saying you're a pedophile who keeps interns in cages. Those are the jokes and he's never once been like that's too far. You literally –

one of the ones that I love so much is that you do a tour of the studio, a fake tour of the studio, and you go into his dressing room and you go to his mirror and it's fake daily affirmations that you put on. You are funny. Like you are intelligent. If you pause it on that, like if you screenshot whatever that moment in the studio, you can see it's all kind of rejected jokes that we had from the bit. Like Martin Herlihy wrote a joke that was like,

you will be in a Marvel movie. Oh my God. And that's on a post-it. Oh, and then it says something like, dinner with Giuliani later. Oh my God. What was your most

surprising day working at SNL? You've been there for a year. You've exploded on the show. No one explodes in their first year on the show. It never happens. I remember in the 90s, I was an intern on Conan. Will Ferrell didn't even explode in his first year.

He was good, and everyone was like, oh, he's very good. But you're exploding. You have your own segments. I think it's because literally the writers are so good that are helping me. Like, that's like the – I think I was telling you this the other night. It's like the most liberating feeling in the world to work with other people. Like after like eight years of only – like stand-up is like you're writing your own stuff and you're all by yourself, which means you put all of the pressure on yourself. Yeah.

And it's like. You're everything. You're the writer, you're director, you're the performer. Yeah. And so you're the only person to blame if it goes poorly. Yeah. And then it's not like you're self-congratulatory when it does well. It's just like it's another day of surviving basically.

But like when you're working with other people, it's like when things go well, you're like you feel proud of this other person. You know what I mean? It's like Ted Lasso, you won the game. It's like Ted Lasso, we won the game. Totally. And I think even if things go wrong when you're running with someone else it's not

like there's no blame it's like you i don't know it's just so i've never i've never you go down together yes that's what that's the joy of like because you know don't think twice came out of like i did college improv i wasn't like i didn't do a lot in my 20s but like i did college improv and those were my best friends and it was like if you kill you kill together if you bomb you bomb together it's so fun it's so fun and you feel like supported which in like stand-up even though obviously there's a community it's like obviously you're all alone and if and I didn't realize how bad stand-up feels until I've done something that isn't stand-up. No, you're absolutely right. Yeah.

Because now that I know what it's like to have work with people who care, it's like when you're doing stand-up, the only person you work with is someone who hates you, which is yourself. Oh my God, that's so funny. So it's like, oh, I'm working with my friends. So I owe literally any whatever small amount of success I've had getting stuff on the show or whatever to all the writers.

My friend Dan Bulla, who I wrote that meatball sketch. Oh my God, the meatball sketch is amazing. So Dan, we're working on the show, everybody's writing weird stuff. He calls me one day and he was like, I have this idea for a sketch where you're covered in meatballs. And I'm like, I love you. Who influenced all this?

Because I was referencing David Letterman and Andy Kaufman, but I feel like those folks are before your time. But Andy Kaufman is literally a Long Island Jew who went to the synagogue down the street from my synagogue. No. I mean, it's not like we overlapped, but I mean, I've always loved Andy Duff. I mean, he's still out there.

I mean, obviously I love him, but I like, I always loved stand-up. I was obsessed with Todd Berry in high school. It makes sense. Todd's brilliant. He's brilliant. I would guess you'd like Kristen Schaal. Totally. Maria Bamford. Yes, Maria Bam that's brilliant he's brilliant were you i would guess you'd like kristen shaw

totally i uh maria bamford yes maria bamford's brilliant and then i was like also doing a bunch of like visual art stuff like separately and then when i started performing in the like chicago diy noise music performance art scene and i was seeing all these crazy performance artists using like you know blending all different types of mediums that's when I was like oh I can perform with my visual stuff and is that how they spotted

you like did SNL spot you like doing your solo show in Chicago no they I did JFL stand up last year and they just saw me do stand-up. No kidding.

You did, so you did Just for Laughs in Montreal, which is like the biggest comedy festival in the world. Oh, no way.

So it was, No way. You were saying you did it virtually? No, it was like just a show at the Dynasty Typewriter. So I didn't have to go.

I just literally, This is the weirdest story. It's, So you didn't even go go. I just literally... This is the weirdest story. It's... So you didn't even go to Montreal. You performed at the Montreal Comedy Festival, except it was in Los Angeles, streamed to Montreal, sort of. What did they do? Right. Who knows?

Yeah. And then you got SNL from that? Yeah. Your life is so crazy. It was awesome. I literally drove 10 minutes from my house to do a stand-up show. Because I think when you get JFL, it feels like a really big deal because you go to Montreal and then you're there for a week and it's like all this stuff. Yeah. But then I just had to do like, it just felt like a normal stand-up show.

Like go to the Dynasty Typewriter like you always do and do seven minutes of stand-up. Oh my gosh, it was low pressure. It was low pressure. They just got to see me do stand-up. I didn't have to do any whatever crazy thing. Did you... I saw that you wrote on the Jackass movie. The new Jackass movie.

It's generous. I went for... I got hired for like one day to like do like. And they put you on it, the screenwriting credits. Isn't that cool? That is cool.

I guess I can technically say that I wrote for the Jackass movie. There's definitely like shared DNA with you in like the Jackass universe in the sense that it's like there's something, even if you're doing a scripted bit on Weekend Update,

there's something that's super real about it. Yeah, yeah. And like super something super real about it and like super provoking about it like the audience is sort of like wait what? It's almost disorienting and they do body horror except I do like fake version which is I like

make my own practical effects and they just like literally hurt themselves Do you feel like, would you ever do something like that, like a jackass, like where you're the person? I, so this is like a humiliating story actually, but I was like, oh, I can do a jackass bit.

And then like was making this whole project where I like had made these like big paper mache boobs that when you punch them exploded blood because they were like these like blood water balloon things. Yeah, I'm with you. And then I had my friend. Hacky bit. Everybody's seen it. I mean, it's classic. Who hasn't at this point?

And then I had my friend, like we were testing it out and I had these, and I had my friend like punch me in the boob and like it hurt so bad and I was so hurt and I just never did a jackass bit ever again oh that's so funny and it like ruptured a blood vessel inside one of my boobs and my nipple was gushing blood for like days this podcast is over I crowdsourced this to Twitter today questions for Sarah Sherman Aaron Reed stuff asks what's the hardest part of being SNL newbie it's a hard question

do you feel nervous day one they do a really good job of just throwing you into it question. Do you feel nervous day one? They do a really good job of just throwing you into it. So you don't think about it. You're really busy and you're working so that by the time I was on camera, I was so tired and distracted.

Which I think the lore of SNL is like, it's so crazy, crazy schedule. Oh my God, you never sleep. Which is true to some degree, but it literally helps you not be just rocking back and forth in your dressing room being like, I'm about to be on live television in front of millions of people. Because you're working. I had the same thing when I guest hosted for Jimmy Kimmel a few weeks ago.

It was like, was that nerve wracking? I was like, well no,, it's like you're surrounded by like 40 people who are doing their job at like the height of their game. And so you just sort of hit your mark and you collaborate with the people in the different departments and then it happens. It's like that famous Lorne Michaels line.

It's like, we don't do it because we're ready. We do it because it's 1130. Oh my God, that's so true. I never heard that. You've never heard that? That's the most famous Lorne line, I think. I literally, I don't know anything. Everyone's always like telling me shit that I don't know about.

I guess the hardest part is figuring out how to make something that feels true to yourself. Yes. Because that's the hardest part with anything. I think with stand-up, it's unlimited freedom. Yeah. To the point of even at the cellar, they have everyone lock up their phone. Right. Not like if I say something crazy that

could get me in trouble no one will tape it it's more like there's no you can mess up and there's no evidence of it and like i think that was that's my favorite part of stand-up is like it's i mean i love live performance yeah and so that's why i feel like literally blessed by God to be that I have a television job. That's a live performance. It's like, that's the best part. Like I was struggling for a long time because with the changing internet

landscape, like the only way for standups to like truly make money on the road is to like churn out internet content. And I like truly could not do that because I am a live performer. I can't do a video and look at my own. I can't look at myself and edit it. I couldn't put stand-up clips online. I just was totally.

You just didn't fit with your personality and your skill set. It was paralyzing to me for some reason. And I also think, you've seen my performance. It's like you feel physically threatened. It's very live. You feel like maybe something. For example, you'll grab people's drinks from the front row and be like, can I have a sip?

It's very invading people's space. Yeah, in a time of COVID that's great but it was like I was really struggling to figure out how to make that work like I've made like little movies but they're not my stand up yeah so I

was really struggling with that and then like the fucking godsend blessing from heaven that now i'm like it's a live show it is like yeah it's live it's the only thing that's like that i mean just kimball and like all those late night shows the same thing but i'm like damn i lucked out like that's the best part of the show it's live on, at itskeys asks, what's the weirdest, grossest thing you couldn't get on the show? I had that thought too.

I guess you probably couldn't get blood on, right? Like the stuff that you're describing as like gory. You can. I don't want to say it because I do still think I can make it happen. You're holding a candle for it. Yeah. Yeah, I get it.

And they let me make it. The grossest thing, they let me make it happen. You're holding a candle for it. Yeah. Yeah, I get it. And they let me make it. The grossest thing, they let me make it. We brought, it was at dress rehearsal. So people have seen it. Love this tease. And.

Huge. This is a scoop. It's a scoop. Yeah. And it's disgusting and there's a lot of blood. And I was like, I couldn't even believe,

like they are letting me try. So they let me, me and PDD wrote something disgusting, brought it to dress rehearsal. The reason it bombed at dress rehearsal was because I was new and like, didn't really know how to do the show yet. Yeah. And it didn't get cut because it was disgusting.

They let me try. Yeah. But, yeah, maybe they'll let me make it next year. It's funny. There's a lot of blood in it. We have Daily Beast online, too. This is someone on Twitter named Akeen Machine. online too.

This is someone on Twitter named Akeen Machine. Sarah, what inspires your iconic fashion choices? Right now you're wearing like a cannibal corpse shirt. Just having fun.

Having fun? You enjoy it? I just have fun and I enjoy it. That's cute every day, right? Yeah. It literally is like I just have fun and I enjoy it. That's cute, everything, right? Yeah. And it literally is like, being a comedian, it's like there's no rules. It's the best thing ever.

I never have to be an adult. I never have to grow up. I never have to wear a suit. I never have to do anything I don't want to do. These are all things Michael Jackson said and then look what happened. Look what happened. I do a tabloid headline about him.

Yeah, yeah. No, I love that though because it's like I feel like a lot of the artists who I admire most, it's they went with their gut on something and then it ends up being, as Keen Machine is saying, iconic. And then the truth is like, as Keen Machine is saying, iconic.

And then the truth is, like, most of those people who you admire are like, no, they went with their gut. They don't know. You don't really know what's amazing fashion. You're like, yeah, that's what I like. I literally grew up, like, watching The Nanny. My favorite part of the whole show. From the 90s, yeah.

My favorite part of the whole show was favorite part of the whole show was like she would get crazy discount designer Moschino suits from Filene's Basement and I've just always looked like this Fran Drescher the nanny Miss the Sheffield Miss the Sheffield

oh my gosh have you done that on the show there you go there it is and this is what working it out is, everybody. Wow. I guess I know what an amazing impression is. Jadge, watch out. Oh, Mr. Sheffield. Mr. Sheffield. This is called The Slow Round.

Do you have a memory from childhood that you always think of on a loop? I'm in dream analysis, like therapy right now. And this image that I have, that's been a, so when you're like, you know, paying attention to your dreams and like doing like dream work or whatever you, you like, now I remember my dreams every night, basically. Do you keep one journal by the bed? Yeah. And, um, the one that's been like coming up a lot which you know who knows what this means but my i was fishing with my dad i'm from long island and this image that i think about a lot is he's pulling up this fit we're fishing he's reeling in a fish another fish jumps out of the water and bites the the bites the fish in half that we're pulling out of the water and bites the fish in half

that we're pulling out of the water. And so then what we're left with on the dock is this bloody head, but it's still alive and it's flopping around everywhere and there's blood spraying everywhere. And my dad's stabbing the fish over and over again to kill it and it wouldn't die for like 30 seconds. It was just flopping around and spraying blood everywhere. And I think about it all the time.

It's a tricky one to interpret, right? Because it's like, I think the gore of it has to do with your comedy, probably. Things in your comedy. I think it was the first time because I was a kid that I'd seen actual, real,

utter violence. You know what I mean? So you had it as a kid that dream this was i saw it in real life as a kid and so now it's the image that kind i see a lot in my in my mind's eye and it also has been appearing in dreams oh my gosh so that that's a real memory it's a real memory and my my analyst said This is me telling tales out of school I hope he's not He or she or anybody

Whoever it is Exactly He says that if your dreams Are really violent and gory It's because your unconscious Is trying to get your attention So my unconscious is using that image From childhood to be like,

pay attention to me. Wow. I'm telling you stuff. I don't know what it is yet. Can you think of a time where you were scared and ran away? Like as a child or as an adult? Child or adult? Like maybe at this point a year and a half ago, me and my friends were making this video in the middle of the desert in Joshua Tree. Sandy Honig and my friends Luke Taylor and Wyatt Fair. Shout out to you guys. Nice. We're making a movie in the middle of the desert

in the middle of the pandemic because we were like, we have to shoot outside. It's COVID or whatever. Yeah. And a fucking crazy desert tweaker started chasing us through the desert screaming. Yes. Wait, chasing you with a weapon?

Like his big pickup truck. Oh, God. And then he was tweaking out, so he was ripping all his clothes off. Oh, no. Yeah. So I literally ran away. Hold on, hold on.

Let's unpack this. You're shooting something. A guy comes by in a pickup truck, like gets out of his truck and like takes his clothes off. Yeah, and like terrorizes us for like seven to eight hours. Oh my gosh. And it was like because we were like shooting in the middle of the desert in the pitch black

and to illuminate the scene we were shooting, we turned on the headlights of my friend's car oh and i had set up this like um this little set in the middle of the desert with these rainbow sparkly curtains to look like literally i recreated the colors from johnny carson yeah like the curtains when i made them sparkly and stuff because i was doing like a me and my friend sandy were making like an ode to rod I made them sparkly and stuff because I was doing like a, me and my friend Sandy were making like an ode to Rodney Dangerfield thing. Okay. And I was just like in the middle of the desert literally doing 10 minutes of Rodney jokes.

Yeah. And I think this man who was, you know, having a sort of a, he was tweaking on something. Oh my gosh. He saw this like glowing mirage in the middle of the desert and I think thought it was maybe an apparition or something.

Oh my gosh. And it drove him insane. Did you ever see Todd Glass do his impression of Rodney Dangerfield doing Mitch Hedberg jokes? No. This is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Shout out to Todd Glass. Do you want to hear my Todd Glass impression?

Oh yeah. Relax. of Todd Glass. Do you want to hear my Todd Glass impression? Oh, yeah. Relax! So Todd Glass does Mitch Hedberg.

No, sorry. Todd Glass does Rodney Dangerfield doing Mitch Hedberg jokes. He goes, I like rice when you're really hungry and you want a thousand

of something. I don't get no respect at all. These staircases and escalator are broken. Oh my gosh. You're going to take his job as Todd Glass. Todd Glass's job as Todd Glass. He's literally the funniest person alive.

I opened for Todd early in my career and similar to the way that you inspired me when I watched you the other night, he inspired because I was like oh he has no rules with his comedy at all like he'll literally like pick up someone's like chicken fingers in the front row and start eating them and all the show is he if he's bored with what's happening in the room like he's all about like what's happening in the room right now like let's let's make it happen. And he also like, what, like,

I feel like he was saying woke shit, like before anyone. He's a very woke guy. I feel like, like years ago he was doing shit where he was like, why am I, he had all those, that material that was like, why do all of my like friends who are like older,

why are they saying all this this hateful shit on stage? Yeah, he's great. I don't know if this will make sense to the people listening if they don't know Todd Glass, but he is a great comic, and he's super original and provocative. And he's original and provocative in a way that's like... He's never...

I think that, you know, you can be outrageous and provoking without, you can be outrageous and provocative without like fucking hurting people's feelings, I think. Yeah. And I think he does a good job of that. Do you, have you had bits where people have come to you and said like, this hurt my feelings?

Um, I've gotten in trouble. Like I've gotten in trouble in the past for like some, I've triggered people. Yeah. And cause you know, I'm sure like sometimes in my show, I've triggered people. Sometimes in my show, I'll have a paper mache butthole that's exploding hamburger help me

and I'm showing that while I'm talking about I want to fuck my dad, whatever. I think the whatever at the end saves that. It's like a whole thing, but I'm not going to explain it here. People have come up to me and been like, you didn't do a trigger warning. Oh, interesting.

And then my reaction at the time was to apologize. Yeah. But thinking back on it now, I was like, well, the poster for the show at the time was a uterus, something that I drew, which was like a uterus, and the ovaries were eyeballs and then there was a severed finger in the vaginal canal. And so I'm like, that is kind of like,

what did you expect I was going to do at this show? Right, it's going to be pretty explicit. Yeah, yeah. That's going to be an explicit comedy show. Yes. What's the best piece of advice anyone's ever given you that you used? It's going to sound so late.

So my friend Dynasty Handbag, she's like legendary performance artist comedian who lives in LA who hosts this monthly show called Weirdo Night. And it's like the best show in LA. It's truly what it sounds like. It's Weirdo Night. Comedy, performance art, freak shit, whatever. She like saw me perform in LA once,

and I was doing, sometimes when I'm not doing a stripped down stand-up set, I'll have video, sound, multimedia, whatever. PowerPoint comedian. PowerPoint comedy, of course. And she was like, you don't need to work so hard she was like you are funny and you

I can see you working really hard even like at the cellar sometimes I'll feel like I'm really giving them the old razzle dazzle tap dance routine sweating on stage like a farm animal. I'm so afraid of them not having a good time. I'm so afraid of them not liking me. I'm so afraid of them not laughing

that I do feel like I work too hard. It's like I don't need to have these fucking always with the bells and whistles. I mean, I even said to you after your set, I was like, I wish I could just get up there and say a joke. Jesus. I just, I do, a goal in life is

I do want to just get on stage and feel confident enough to just, I just say a joke. I don't have to do the whole fucking thing. But whatever you're doing is wildly inspiring to me. I'm like loving every second of it. It's crazy. Someone's got to.

When you were growing up, was there a group that wouldn't let you in? Yes. Well, I mean, this is college. Yeah, college is fine. Not getting on my college improv team, I was like. I mean this is college but like yeah college is fine not not getting on my like college improv team I was like

oh no kidding like true at Northwestern yeah very competitive school yeah sure like

it's it's a hard school to get into it means you're a nerd yeah this was nerd and like truly my whole life I wanted to be a comedian

yeah and I like went to school near Chicago right Yes, I was a nerd. Truly, my whole life I wanted to be a comedian. And I went to school near Chicago because comedians are from Chicago. Chicago, Mecca, et cetera, yep. And I went to college being like, oh my God, it's going to be fucking awesome. We're going to do acid, smoke weed, and it's going to be crazy, and I'm going to be a comedian. Yep, where do I sign up?

Yeah, and then people were like, you're not funny enough. And I was like, are you serious? Oh my God. Wait till you find out what my job's going to be in 10 years. Hilarious. Wait till I bring you down a fucking peg. I do think rejection is ultimately good for you. Yeah.

That's your advice right there. Yeah. It probably did push you. Not getting an improv group. That and then just like, you know, stand-up is like constant rejection.

I always say that to people. Whenever they're considering doing stand-up, I always say, do it regardless of whether you're going to end up being a stand-up comedian. Because it's just great. It's just great practice. Getting up in front of strangers, talking. Mostly failing.

And just being okay with people not liking you most of the time. Absolutely. Great training for everything. It's great training for being a parent. Oh, yeah. If I'm ever bombing in front of a kid, it lights out for me. Yeah.

I need kids' approval so badly. You know when you're like little cousins or any of my friends who have kids and I'm trying to entertain them, they're not laughing. I'm like, this is worse than anything. Oh my gosh. What is, what's the assumption people make about you sometimes that they get most wrong?

Or like you feel misunderstood or? I think a lot of times maybe with alternative comedy i keep talking about comedy i don't know if you're maybe asking real questions about me as a person yeah yeah i think like with alternate alternative comedy people are like it's you know like weirdo stuff yeah but it's like the whole thing about comedy is that it's a way to access people and identify with large groups of people. You're trying to make people laugh.

You're trying to make people identify with you. I think a lot of times people think I'm like too weird or too alienating, but it's, I'm like, it's for everyone. Yeah. Comedy is for everyone. And I'm not that insane. Yeah. Well, you, yeah, you kill.

I'm trying so hard. What nicknames have you had in your life? Well, Sarah Squirm was a nickname. Oh, it was? My friend Ethan Mermelstein in high school called me Squirm and Sherman because I was so disgusted. I just was. And then people just called me Squirm my whole life after that.

Oh, I love that. Yeah, and then I moved to Chicago and I was performing with all these freaky musicians going by like piss, piss, piss, moan, moan, moan. And like blood liquor and oozing wound. So I was like, yeah, it'll be Sarah Squirm when I perform, you know? I love that. So like, yeah. It was like a good nickname.

Do you ever think about having it like at the top of the credits of SNL, say Sarah Squirm instead of Sarah Sherman? It's kind of nice, like clocking into work as Sarah Sherman. And then I had this like night gig when I'm Sarah Squirm and it's different. And it's like not what they've seen on tv

right it's your superhero yeah it's my superhero or my it's definitely my my joker identity or right yeah Okay. I'm going to go to material. Keep in mind, keep in mind, this is new material. This isn't done. A lot of these are half-baked ideas. And if it makes you think of anything, you can tell your own story about the same thing.

But I thought of Chicago things because you started in Chicago. I was at Steppenwolf with my show Old Man in the Pool last month, and so I wrote down a few notebook things. There was a place on my corner that had an Airbnb in Chicago, and it had an infrared sauna. And I don't even know what that means, but they said it was healing. So I walked into the sauna with the sauna attendant

and she said, don't be alarmed. You're not going to sweat on the outside like you usually do. It was one of those moments where I knew I shouldn't ask follow-up questions because the answers were probably going to be wrong and make me second guess the whole thing being a scam. But I did it.

I go, do you sweat on the inside? And she said, yes, you sweat on the inside. I'm talking to this woman, and I don't think she knows whether sweating on the inside really exists. And I don't know if sweating on the inside really exists. And we're standing there in this sauna together, confidently discussing the idea that soon I will be sweating on the inside. 20 minutes later, I'm in the sauna. I can't describe it any other way. It felt like I was sweating on the inside. That's the whole thing.

Literally, it's what I wrote down. Well, literally, what struck me about what she said was like, you're not going to be sweating on the outside like you usually do. And I kind of interpret that as like, as you usually do, you fat, fat slob. Easy. Fucking pig.

Easy. That pig. Easy. That's very funny. But I immediately take it as a judgment on myself of how I sweat. Like you usually do. Jesus Christ. You don't know me. You think you know me? You think I'm a pig in heat?

Jesus Christ. I wrote that down and then I wrote down this because at this infrared sauna place, they also had, by the way, have you ever even heard of infrared sauna? I literally didn't know what it was. It sounds like it will give you cancer. Yeah, and by the way, like, A, probably gives you cancer. Don't say that one. I'm not going to say the name of the place. But also, like, why am I trusting this place?

I've never even heard of infrared sauna. Why am I even doing this? this place? I've never even heard of infrared sauna. Why am I even doing this? I mean, that's so classic. I'm in town doing my show and being like, I guess I'll go to the place in Ohio that has hot dogs where they put Froot Loops on the hot dog. I'm here. I'll do the local thing. So then they also had to do like float sensory. Oh, did you do that? No, but I was literally wondering if I heard infrared sauna and it made me think about these float tanks.

Yeah. So I did it. I did it. And? Well, I have a story. I am genuinely curious too. Okay. I'm at the infrared sauna place.

They have this floating sensory deprivation tank, which is like salt water in a little kind of like coffin. I don't know what it's called. And the woman walks me in. It's like literally the size of a coffin. And she goes, I go, what do I do in there? Like, I literally don't know what it is. I'm like, I'll do the float thing.

I don't know what it is. She's like, I'll do the float thing. I don't know what it is. She's like, you lie down. It's salt water. It holds you up. You can adjust the lighting and the sound, like it's music, so that it can be pure darkness. That's the sensory deprivation part of it. And she goes, and you can just fall asleep even.

And I go, but wouldn't that mean, and she cuts me off, that you'll drown? No, the salt water, and I quote, the salt water won't let you flip over. It's like the Dead Sea. And I'm thinking, why do you think they call it the Dead Sea? People die. Then I looked it up. That's actually not why they call it that. Joke's on me.

The point is, I'm in this tank. True story. I have the button for music, button for light. I get overconfident. I'm like, I'm going to go full darkness. Ten minutes later, I'm in a full panic. Can't find the light. Can't find the music.

Can't find the door. Can't find the music. Can't find the door. The sensory deprivation is working. And I started to freak out. I'm like, okay, I can't drown. She said, I can't drown. That's good. Keep pushing this wall, thinking it's the door. It's like, what? Like three times, four times, I'm like pushing a wall in darkness. And then I think to myself, why don't I push the opposite wall? So I pushed the opposite wall and it was the door that got me out, which is a great lesson in life. Never go into a sensory deprivation chamber. Is it bad that that whole story made me want to go to that more than anything?

Because I have been thinking about wanting to go. It's kind of awesome. I'm going to go back. There's this... Oh my God, what is it? Ken Russell? Oh my God, am I... Ken Russell. You tell me. You keep saying this is the question mark. Ken Russell has an amazing movie,

Altered States, and it's about a guy who gets addicted to going into these sensory depried States, and it's about a guy who gets addicted to going into these sensory deprivation tanks and he goes, it basically breaks time and space and he goes insane and there's like, it tears a hole in like every dimension of the universe. Oh, wow. And it's a scary movie.

Nothing has ever made me want to do anything more than seeing someone go insane in a sensory deprivation tank. Do you have any bits you're working on? Or half-baked things? It's not a bit yet. Okay. But I like literally wanted to really badly get on stage. It's so boring, but I did want,

I wanted to do like an airplane joke. Okay. Where, because I was on. I went to Chicago last week, and on the one trip to Chicago, the plane made two emergency landings. What? No, on the same flight? They were literally like, hey, what's up?

The plane's broken. We're going to land in Cincinnati. I was like, hey, what's up? The plane's broken. We're going to land in Cincinnati. And I was like, totally, 100%. And then we landed in Cincinnati. We changed the planes. We were back in the air. My show was at 8 p.m. And we were back in the air, and they were like, okay, hey, what's up?

There's a tornado. We have to emergency land in Detroit. And everyone on the plane is freaking out. Are we going to be okay? And I'm Googling how long is the drive from Detroit to Chicago. And then we made an emergency landing in Detroit and the pilot got off the plane and was like,

in my 33 years of flying, this has never happened one time. Oh my gosh. And then I was thinking of a bit that was like a really prolonged, like all my bits, really prolonged, absurd, like what's the worst thing that could happen? Like you're on a plane. Like people are afraid of flying. It's like what's the worst thing that can happen?

Like you're in the air. You hit horrible weather. The plane splits in half. You watch every single person around you scream bloody murder, call their family members and die in exploding painful deaths. Like, what are you, a fucking pussy? Something like that.

I love that. You're like diving headlong into everyone's deepest fears. Yeah. What are you afraid of? So what, you die, get over it? Yeah. Something like that.

I don't know what the bed is yet, though. Yeah. Grow up. What's the worst thing that can happen? You land in the water. Everybody tries to deplane. You're all drowning because it's like seven feet below the sea level. So you're almost going to live, but then you don't live.

I mean, what's the worst thing that can happen? And what's the worst thing that can happen? You hear the woman next to you crying bloody murder on the phone

to her only child. Like, get over it. I mean, what's the worst thing that can happen? And it's like, everyone's on fire.

You're looking at human beings who are complete strangers completely on fire. And it's kind of like that cliche, like liar, liar, pants on fire, except it's their whole body on fire and then you die. What's the worst thing that could happen? What's the worst thing that could happen? 9-11-2?

Get over it. 9-11-2? Okay, and we're not releasing this. Yeah. And we're not releasing this because the I said. And we're not releasing this because the Bush family is going to take it down. Oh, my God. Oh, Sarah.

Oh, look out. I actually have an airline joke, too. First of all, I think that joke is great. It's not bad. But what's the worst thing that can happen? It's so funny, and then you say the things. It's funny to me. Because everyone is afraid of...

I think the joke has to be like everyone like why are we flying this is defying god by the way right and it's like everybody's afraid of it obviously it's like what's the worst thing that can happen uh one of the windows of the plane smashes open and uh we see the person next to us, their body suck through the window and break into pieces. What's the worst thing that could happen? What's the worst thing that could happen? You're sitting there knowing that your fate is soon to be what just befell before you.

Oh my gosh. And you're about to be a, you're about to, your body is about to become a splat. Oh gosh. a splat. Oh, God. A splat. I wrote it, you were saying you were like, we're like going to do an airline joke.

I had an airline joke from Chicago too because I was flying Southwest Airlines. Classic. Yeah, that midway flight to Chicago was really solid from LaGuardia. They're one of the people. I appreciate the simplicity of Southwest Airlines, but if I'm being entirely honest, whenever I walk to the gate,

there's some part of me that thinks the entrance of the plane is going to be a tube attached to a bus. And the thing about us Southwest Airlines customers is we're not picky. We're all going to be good with it. We're going to be like, I guess now we take the bus. This is what we deserve. I like Southwest because if there aren't a lot of passengers, I think you fly the plane and you can have a barbecue or something like that. I'm not sure exactly what the rule is.

I think Southwest Airlines' slogan should be, we have some airplanes, you figure out the rest. There's so much freedom. It's more American than American Airlines. It's so stupid. Well, I would even say it's not American. It's a socialist utopia. Oh, that's interesting. Yes, because it's general admission. It's general admission.

It's a classless society. It is classless, yeah. And classless. And classless. And it's a living, breathing example of maybe Karl Marx's ideal society breaking down into utter chaos. Bernie Sanders Airlines.

Bernie Sanders Airlines. It's not just for the 1%. Actually, they won't go near it. Yes, it's true. I enjoy a nice Southwest. Oh my, two free bags? Are you kidding me? It's amazing.

I love Southwest. You fly into Midway, you get a pastrami sandwich from... Immediately it's about food. What's it called? Manny's. Oh yeah, Manny's. Manny's Deli inside Midway.

Yeah. Yeah, it's immediately about food there's no way they feed you on Southwest no no and also I'm just not there yet I'm not there yet on food just any food in general no no I'm just not there yet on food on airplanes I'm just like you know I'm going to go mask I respect the no mask but I'm not there yet on food, on airplanes. I'm just like, you know, I'm going to go mask. I respect the no mask, but I'm going to mask.

Wow. I see where you're coming from, but also there's like 200 of us. Why not wear a mask? So you're not even drinking water on the plane? No, I actually don't. I think I would on a six-hour flight. Wow. I don't think, if somebody walks by me with chips,

there's literally nothing anyone could do to stop me from eating chips. What's the worst thing that can happen? A thousand potato chips smack you in your face and your skin breaks into pieces until you die? What's the worst thing that could happen? What's the worst thing that could happen? What's the worst thing that could happen just when you put a chip in your mouth,

you hit turbulence, that the chip goes vertical in your throat and does that thing? What's that thing? You get like a vertical chip in your throat where it's like goes completely. I don't know if there's a term for that, but it's awful.

It's a horrible image. You all know what I'm talking about when the chip goes wrong in there. Oh, of course. I mean, I've imagined it. I don't know if there's a term for it. It's when the chip goes crazy. What's the worst thing that can happen?

You go fishing with your dad, you catch a fish. When the fish goes up, another fish eats that fish and scene. God, it's an amazing. Maybe something's got to happen with that. Yeah, it's phenomenal. It's a beautiful image. Phenomenal. I think you could merge it with what's worse than going to happen bit.

What's the worst that could happen? You tell that story earlier in the show, and you bring it back with what's worse than going to happen bit. I never tell true stories on stage, really. I know, but you sort of do. I know. Because the thing about your dad, like in New York, it's like from a grain of truth. So you sort of do. I know. Because you think about your dad, like in New York, it's like from a grain of truth.

So you sort of do. I think that that fish image is phenomenal for a joke. And I think, what's the worst thing that I'm going to tie in? That we're going to leave that for another day.

No, you're right. Because I'm literally, I haven't written a new joke. I need this. I think it's all in there. I think you should start from some of the memories. Even the desert story is great. And you

can just embellish from what happened. The fact that this tweaker came at you, that's a great start. Like a phenomenal start to a joke. I didn't even tell you the half of that story. Oh, really? Oh, my God. What a nightmare. The final thing we do on the show is we do working out for a cause.

We donate to an organization you think is doing a good job and then we'll link to them in the show notes and encourage people to do the same. Food Bank, NYC, give people food. End of story. I've been given to food banks for so many years. I try in every town I tour in to give to the food bank locally because I think of myself as a part-time resident of that place,

even if you're there a little bit at the time. If people are listening, donate to your local food bank. They stretch a dollar farther than you can possibly imagine. You can't believe it. That's good, donating in every city that you're in. You do have an impact on the city that you're in. You're part of the city. For a period of time, you're part of the city.

You're part of the economy for a period of time. You took a plane there, which means you brought all those fossil fuels in there. Your carbon footprint is huge because you're driving around going every float tank in the city while you're there. What's the worst thing that could happen? You have $10 less than you used to have? What's the worst thing that could happen the second you click donate on your phone?

You get hit by a plane in 9-11 too? That'll help. Just to be clear, I didn't laugh at that. Yeah, a ghost came in and laughed at that. There was a ghost, yeah, moments ago, a ghost came in, laughed at that, laughed. And I'm here just to say, shame on you, Sarah Sherman. Every time my boyfriend farts in the, yeah, I've got a boyfriend, whatever. Everyone relax.

I'm Todd Glass. Everyone relax. Every time my boyfriend farts in the apartment, he was like, oh my God, like someone just like broke in and farted. Oh my gosh. Wait, that was so crazy God, like someone just like broken and farted. Oh my gosh. Wait, that was so crazy. Someone just like literally broken and farted. Sarah Sherman, Sarah Squirm, I'm in awe of you.

Oh my God. I continue to be a huge fan. Thank you for coming on Working It Out. Working it out, because it's not done. Working it out, because there's no hope. That's going to do it for another episode of Working It Out. Sarah Sherman, a.k.a. Sarah Squirm, as she goes by on stage. You can follow her at Sarah Squirm on Instagram.

You can watch her on SNL. You can see her on tour, which, again, couldn't recommend more highly. Our producers of Working Out Are Myself, along with Peter Salamone and Joseph Birbiglia, consulting producer Seth Barish. Sound mix by Ben Cruz, supervising engineer Kate Balinski. Sound and video recording by Chuck Staten, with help from Gary Simons. Associate producer Mabel Lewis. Special thanks to my consigliere, Mike Berkowitz,

as well as Marissa Hurwitz and Josh Upfall. As always, a very special thanks to Jack Antonoff and Bleachers for their music. And of course, a very special thanks to my wife, the poet J. Hope Stein. Her book, which is called Little Astronaut, comes out in September. Very special thanks to our daughter, Una, who helped create the original radio fort made of pillows.

Thanks most of all to you who are listening. Tell your friends, tell your enemies. And by the way, thanks for telling your friends. I noticed a bunch of you did some Apple podcast reviews, which I so appreciate. A lot of you listening found us through the Jimmy Fallon episode, and that's been really cool. There was a clip of that on TikTok that was seen by literally millions of people, which was outrageously cool. We've had a lot of great guests this summer. We

got more coming up this fall. We appreciate you telling people you'll like it. Tell your friends, tell your enemies. We're working it out. We'll see you next time, everybody.