Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out - 9. Melissa Villaseñor: Mike Writes Jokes with the SNL Star in Real Time!

Episode Date: July 27, 2020

Mike teams up with SNL star Melissa Villaseñor to work out jokes about feminist bookstores, moms talking to themselves, and guitar teachers who are frankly just showing off. This is a true comedy jam session and there are jokes written in real time! Don’t miss it. Please consider donating to: Rock The Vote https://www.rockthevote.org/

Hey everybody, our guest today is Melissa Villasenor. She's a comedian and writer. She's also a visual artist. She's a fascinating person. You can see her stuff on Instagram. She has multiple accounts, a comedy Instagram, a visual art Instagram. She's on Saturday Night Live. She's Instagram. She's on Saturday Night Live. She's an amazing cast member on Saturday Night Live.

We had a great chat. I hope you enjoy. Melissa Villasenor. Good to hear you, Mike. It's good to hear you. Yeah. It's always good to see you in New York and at the Comedy Cellar. And then it was funny because I was remembering today that you and I two years ago did a stand-up and vote show together at Hamilton College registering young people to vote.

And it was you. That's right. That was so fun. It was really fun. It was you and me. It was Phoebe Robinson and Gary Goleman, I think, was the lineup. Yep. And then you had another gig.

I don't even know if you heard about this. You had another gig, I think, at UPenn the next night. But then we took the tour bus back to New York and the tour bus broke down. Oh, gosh. What happened then? You dodged a bullet. Bus broke down.

It reached a point where we're on the side of the highway in New Jersey for like a couple of hours, I think. And I think it was me and Phoebe were the last ones. And we got an Uber from, wait for it, the highway. You know how hard it is to get an Uber from the highway? Because there's overpasses and underpasses. And you're sort of going like, we're between this exit and this exit. Yeah, there's no address.

Yes. That's wild. Yeah, there's no address. Yes. That's wild. Yeah, it was brutal. But I really miss seeing you in New York at the Comedy Cellar. You're one of the people who, when we're on the same shows together, I'm always happy to see your name because I'm like, oh, I'm going to watch you. And you make me laugh harder than uh oh my gosh comedian

that's so that's an honor thanks wow so with this podcast we have this thing it's called the slow round and it's basically like a speed round but it's slow and so one of the questions i ask people is um do you have a smell that you remember from your childhood? Okay, wait, wait. How old are we talking? Because there's a lot of smells for different ages. That is so true. You can say any number of smells. So you can track the smells through the years. Okay, great, great, great. I feel like when I was seven years old or eight, I loved the smell of new carpet. Love it. Same here. It smells so good. And if I take a whiff of new carpet today, I really light up. I light up the room. But I used to, this is real gross, but I would lick carpet too if I was like a family member's house because I like the sensation

on my tongue. Oh my gosh, that's too good. Think of all the shoes and the bare feet. Ew. We're nasty, you know? We're nasty. I wonder what it is though because I have new carpet. In one of the

episodes, I talk about the new carpet smell too. There's something in that new carpet. I mean, it's got to be some, I talk about the new carpet smell, too. There's something in that new carpet. I mean, it's got to be some, I mean, it's got to be some chemical, right? Like, it can't be some. Yeah, yeah, it's probably bad. Yeah, it's probably not good. Naturally, it's not a naturally occurring carpet in nature smell.

Yeah. Oh, God. If we could just make that carpet smell into a cologne. Yeah, I would be all over that person. If we could bottle carpet, we'd be billionaires, Melissa. You and me. We're taking this long. For bigly envious, senor made a carpet smelling cologne.

So you said through the ages you had different smells. You had carpet when you were young. No, they're all popping up. I'm thinking of them right now. I mean, most of them are kind of a little nasty. I mean, when I was in high school, I had one of the headgears that wrapped around the back of my neck with my braces.

And it had this cloth. you know when you when you sleep you sweat at a certain point in the night so yeah throughout the nights my sweat would dry up on this cloth and then i would sniff it and i love the smell that's a good one i like the smell of my back my back of my neck sweat that makes me think of when I broke my wrist in grade school and I had a cast and then you're smelling the area underneath the cast. Oh. It's that same sort of like sweat or hair, skin thing. Man, what what was that like i've never had a cast before what happens when you had an itch in there did you get a like a knife or not a knife a freaking

maybe a chopstick scratching i think i i think at one point i made the mistake of trying to scratch an itch with a pen, and the cap ended up stuck in my cast. Yeah. Yeah. I wasn't, I was never, I've never been known for my grace. I'm not graceful. I think I'm quite graceful. I was thinking about, I think I am. Are you really? You were saying that earnestly you were more graceful. I was thinking about, I think I am. Are you really? You're saying that earnestly you're more graceful? I will say I take care of things that I have. I'm very gentle, a gentle

hand. Wow. You clearly have good hands because you're an excellent visual artist. Thanks, Mike. It's been just blooming for me over here with art ideas. I love it. So I've just been soaking it in like, and they kind of strike at me in the morning usually, um, or sometimes when I'm asleep and then I have to, and I just get to it, but I usually see the image and pop up in my mind and then that's it. I really don't do anything. Well, other than ask, other than ask out loud, like I'll say, this is something I do, but before bed I'll say, angels, send me a idea for this topic to draw.

And then poof, it appears when you ask. Do you really? I'm serious. I'm not a, yeah, I'm very serious. And do you believe in angels? You know what?

Lately, yes. Yep. Wow. Yep. Wow. Yep. Mm-hmm. I don't, and I'm not saying that as a leading question that I don't believe in angels, but I'm fascinated by people who feel strongly

that they believe in an other thing that is not, we can't see or touch. I just think there's some energy that's like well where did this come from when I really ask for help or something I don't know I don't know if I believe in angels I'm not sure I don't know if I believe in anything to be honest with you but

in this year I think all bets are off I know but that being said I will say as as a writing tip uh if anyone's listening who's a writer if you're you're stuck at a plot point or you can't quite convert something into a sketch or a stand-up idea is ask like you're saying ask yourself the question before you go to bed a lot of times your subconscious does a lot of work for you in your sleep oh okay so you do that too you just kind of

said goes go to sleep and like let it work i do it uh to uh i do it to atheism yeah well that's fine no but i do an atheist i do an atheist version of it no i love that to myself to myself but i think it's just like when you're just telling your brain what it is and then it does it i used to pray a lot as a child were you raised catholic like me yeah yeah yeah yep so you did you did all the sacraments huh i did the sacraments except confirmation i did confession i did uh reconciliation i did not do uh confirmation oh okay okay yeah yeah yeah did you do confirmation where are you i had to yes i am yeah you know i had no choice choice. But... Because you're strict parents? Is that why?

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Is there ever anything on SNL where you're cringing because you know they're going to watch and you're like, oh, that's maybe crossing a line for them? I think they've come a long way to where they're actually cool with me getting edgy now. Oh, wow.

Yeah, I think they are. You know what? I had a treehouse show Friday. I performed at my friend's treehouse in the backyard. I saw on your Instagram, and it was amazing. And, you know, I dropped a couple shits. Not the poop, but word. I'd say shit, and then I'll say bitch.

Sure. You know, just random, because it's bitch and, um, you know, just random because it's special when I do, because of my voice, I really don't have a voice that seems like I curse so much, you know? Right. Right. It's so fun when I'm just like, what the fuck? It kind of comes out.

It's like, really, it's so much fun too, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Like a little kid that's like, oh, I could say this. And I even think that people that want that sometimes people feel they can't curse near me i feel like maybe that's an energy i have that's that i'm very innocent or something i don't know i think i did i think i have the same thing i think i'm similar i think i think i could see that for you too yeah yeah

people are probably like oh mike what a what what a sweetheart. Don't ever say that word. Yeah. Don't say that word. Don't say these words around Mike or Birbiglia. Yeah. I think I have that effect. Do you have a memory from childhood that when you think about it now, still makes you cringe? I mean, I think when I was a freshman in high school, I couldn't have a boyfriend or date. And I remember always calling the guy that I liked that was my brother's friend. the guy that I liked that was my brother's friend. And I would call him after he got off the Wi-Fi,

which was usually like 3 a.m. at his house. And I would call him with my prepaid phone. And I got in so much trouble because I kept calling his number so many times. And it popped out on the paper in the mail what number I called and I called him because I didn't want to I didn't want to wake up my parents so I called him in the cabinet underneath the sink in my restroom because my room was right next to my parents oh god I hated that time so you were underneath the sink in the bathroom. Correct. Yeah, because my parents' room was right next to my sister and I, our room, so I didn't.

I feel like I'm older than you are, and so I was more of a landline generation. Well, we had landline, too, and I think I called him a few times there, but I'd watch to make sure my mom was still watering the plants outside to when I'd make that call. I swear that there's nothing more mortifying than you're talking to someone who you have a crush on and your mom gets on the phone and is like, Michael, are you on the telephone?

No. Mom. Mom. No. I'm on the phone. There. Mom. Mom. No. I'm on the phone. There's something where your voice peaks at. I'm on the phone. I'm on the phone.

I'm on the phone. How about this? Because I have, for me, have you ever gotten punched in the face, which I have a bunch of times when I was in Catholic high school. But have you ever gotten like a fist fight or like a physical fight um in high school yeah I kind of nothing no punch in the face but I have pushed I have pulled hair I have um I I think I punched a girl on their head in choir class because she took my pen

and she wow she said let me borrow it and grabbed it and I was like no you're gonna wait till I'm done and then maybe I'll let you borrow it and then she grabbed my shirt from the caller okay that was my uniform shirt. And I said in the least confident way, fuck, fuck you. And I punched. Oh my God.

But it wasn't committed, which sucks. To not commit to the word. Fuck you. Oh my God. Oh, man. That's so funny. But, yeah, nothing too crazy.

No, I was too scared. And if I ever did get in a fight, I would end up crying because that's just how I, even when I get angry today, it eventually just turns into tears, which is good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like a good, it's a good safety. Yeah, because then you realize, oh, she's actually just hurt. It's really not only anger.

It's interesting that crying somehow resolves the anger in some ways. Because that's how I am like, this is a little bit of a jump in an analogy, but like I write in my journal. That's sort of how a lot of my material is formed. But I, a lot of it is when I'm angry. I'm right. I just write. I just write and I write, I write, I'm curiously right. And then the anger breaks often into emotion. And it's like, like you're saying, like it's- It reveals itself. Instead of anger, it's like you're saying. It reveals itself. Instead of anger, it's like tears. That's awesome. That's so good.

I'm proud of you. There's something to it. No, it's great. Because you're in touch with your being, you know, letting it all come out. Do you think that you get that out of your drawings? Oh, big time. I feel like such a big

shared emotion. And when I share it, I feel I'm helping others because it helped me too. And then also when I draw something that's meaningful or whatever I'm feeling, I'm so zoned in on the paper. Everything becomes kind of just just I'm in the paper, I'm in the lines and it just feels so good yeah, it's really cathartic yeah, it's so funny you should say that because sometimes I think people say to me things like

are you embarrassed that you confess these things on stage and whatever and I'm like I'm so many, at this point I'm so many years past embarrassed. Yeah, no, it's, it's not even, it's also just, this is your story. And I love, that's my favorite stuff now is like when I'm digging and using what's around me, my, myself, observations, my family. And I, it just makes me feel more special because it's your own unique story i i love it

the only problem i the only worry i have is if i if i hurt anyone that i know by using yes uh the truth but that's kind of what we do i mean we are we just watch and observe and kind of little little shit talkers in a way. Right. Totally. We're talking, but that's where I remember someone, I think it was Argus Hamilton at the connoisseur told me with the crowd, when I would get nervous, he said, just see the crowd as your best friend that you would tell all your secrets to. And I was like, Oh, Whoa. But I, but that helped change my mindset. So when I go on stage, I'm like, oh, these are my friends.

One time I was opening for Tom Papa very early in my career. He's the best. And he's so nice. And he gave me this tip that I used ever since, which is like if you feel like you're losing the audience, focus on talking to just one person in the audience. That's good. I'm writing that down. Tom Papa said, feel like you're losing the audience. And you know what? That always helps me be present too. When I stare at someone's eyes,

because sometimes I'm up in the clouds and I'm going through the bits and then I'm a robot. And then I'm like, okay, let's breathe. Let's look at some people, you know? And and it's, I think it's because I've been staying in Rhode Island in the suburbs. My brother and sister both live with their families in Rhode Island, and so we wanted to be nearby them. Oh, that's nice. And so it's been really sweet. My daughter gets to see her cousins, which is a really special thing. But it reminds me of growing up because I'm in the suburbs,

and I grew up in the suburbs. And I wrote this down. of growing up because I'm in the suburbs and I grew up in the suburbs. I wrote this down. We had these neighbors growing up. I'll say a fake name, last name, because I don't want to say their real name. I'll say the Murphys. It was an Irish last name.

I think they had five teenage daughters and no parents. Or they had parents, but I never really saw the parents. Okay. We basically grew up next to the movie Virgin Suicides. But then when I mentioned this to my sister Gina, she goes, they were a little bit more like the Kardashians because I don't think they were virgins. And their boyfriends who had these loud trans-ams, and they would come over and they'd make out with the girls,

like, all the time. And they had four cats who would roam around the neighborhood and sneak into our garage and copulate in the attic. And so the cats were copulating in the attic, and the Murphys were copulating in the trans-ams. Wait, wait, hold up, hold up. What's trans-am? Oh, I'm sorry.

Trans Am. It's actually helpful to know. Trans Am was, I grew up in the 80s and it was sort of a lo-fi Corvette or something. Like a car, like a fancy-ish car. Okay. Trans Ams, wow. Oh my God.

You know, I'm always trying to understand. That's why I work out bits with friends. I'm always trying to understand which references make sense and which ones don't. But the point is we had cats copulating in the attic and Murphys copulating in cars. And so we ended up having like 25 or 30 cats living in our attic. Oh my gosh. Well, it was, it was, it wasn't where I'm exaggerating, but it was a lot, you know, and my mom hated cats and my mom is so sweet and she doesn't hate anything. And, and, but when she would see the cats and this might be an incorrect memory, but it's how I remember it. She would literally audibly say,

I hate cats. The same way that Indiana Jones says, I hate snakes. I always thought that that was an odd screenwriting choice, having him say, I hate snakes. I feel like all we need is the visual of a snake and sort of his face hating snakes and we get it.

So the stray cats belonged to these stray kids who had no parents. And so they would make out a lot with their boyfriends, these teenage girls. My friend Leslie, who lived across the street, she and I would spy on them and we would laugh. We were like seven years old. We'd like laugh and laugh.

And sometimes we would hide in the bushes and stare. And then we'd step out from behind the bush and we would go, one, two, three, you're kissing. And then we'd run away. What the hell? But yeah, so that's a bit that, that's all I have so far. But I was, I don't know. I was just thinking about my neighbors and how it's funny how growing up when you're kids, you just see, I don't know if it's Catholic or whatever, but in some ways you just have this shame about sex and kissing.

And then for whatever reason, it manifested itself, at least with me and Leslie, where we were trying to shame other people for kissing. But kissing's beautiful. Is there anything you're working on that you want to share? Oh, man. So, well, with my bits, they're way different, which is really cool. We both have our strengths. Well, with my bits, they're way different, which is really cool. We both have our strengths. They're super short, and a lot of them are premises.

That's great. That's great. Okay, let's see. There's one I did a video of where I said, there's this commercial out right now where this lady has such a phony voice, and it really upsets me. On the radio, she'd go, we want to thank all of the people that are taking care of us during this time. All of the, or what did she say?

Something like, we are in this together. We thank all of the first responders, and we will get through this together. I think it's like for a market and I'm just sitting there like, no, you're, that's not nice. Your voice is just, and are you trying to make love to me? Yes, that's the plan. It's just so, it's so corny. It's so funny. Yeah, but that's just like real short. But okay, let me look at, I have my list here.

Oh, that's really funny. Well, you know, it speaks to this thing I always, it drives me crazy in commercials or movies, which is like the saccharine, like the perfect voice, the perfect voice, the perfect everything. And it's like, when I see that, I just can't relate to it at all. No, I know. They should have me on there and be like, we're really thankful.

Thank you so much. Let's be strong and get through this, man. Like, that's how I would want to say it. But this is just a little more. That's really funny, though. Maybe that's where the bit goes is like, if they hired me, here's what I would do. Right. And yeah. And see, now that's kind of a perfect opportunity. Sometimes my brain goes, Oh, what impression could I place there? But sometimes it's, it could be me,

you know, or it could be someone in my life. It doesn't need to always be a celebrity impression. You know what, you know, it'd be, you know, it might be a funny invert invert inversion of it is um is like it's like why don't you hire me and i'll be in my tree house and i'll be like i'm performing in a tree house that's how bad things are but we're all gonna get through this together yeah that's good i'm writing that okay that's good i'm in a tree house i'm on a baseball field this isn't an ideal situation but we're all gonna get through this together. We don't have to use our fake, calm voice.

Yeah, exactly. Oh, man. Yeah, she really bugs me. And then you start crying. Okay, wait. That's really good. They should have me do the radio. You just start crying.

And I just go, and the commercial just goes They should have me do the radio. And then you just start crying. And I just go, oh. And the commercial just goes so long. I'm like, oh, shit. And then it cuts to black. Yeah. And the music stops mid-note and it cuts to black. And you can't tell whether your TV's broken or not.

I love that. Okay. So that's that one. Okay. This is something I'd love your help on. Actually, there's two important ones I'd love your help on. All right. So I've been taking guitar lessons. Okay. And he's a phenomenal guitarist. He, he, um, plays a Spanish guitar really well and he'll, uh,

and he has a accent. I'm trying to, I can't remember exactly where he's from, but he's the best. But sometimes, you know, guitar teachers mid-lesson, they just kind of go off and show off. The ding-a-ding-a-ding-a-ding-a-ding-a-ding-a-ding. And then I just feel dumb. I'm just like, that hurts. I'm barely on doink, doink, you know. Right, right. But also, it you know, and right. Also, it's like, man, that what you just did right now, there

should be lyrics attached with that. Just like you're never going to get to this level of guitar playing. So that's one part of the bit. And then also, so I noticed I have Skype lessons with him and he's got an accent and I noticed that I struggle if the voice is too calming, I tend to get sleepy. So this might be an issue for going forth. Like his voice, it's like, now, Melissa, what you want to do is the hand placement. You want to practice having the fingers land on the chords all at the same time.

So it's that the whole time. By the way, I'm almost asleep. Yeah. And he always relates the notes to colors. He'll go, the way I see it is the colors of the notes. And I get sleepy. So it's almost like, you know what? I got to change it up.

Let him go and get a guitar teacher that has a real screechy voice like, then you strum it and you have something like a Gilbert Gottfried or something. But something that's like ingrained and it like scrapes my brain when I hear the voice. and it like scrapes my brain when I hear the voice. And put the hands on the thing. Put the capo on the fifth fret. Okay.

I don't know. I don't know what to do with that, but I kind of think that's the way to go. I also think like it's very funny when you say that he goes off on his own. Yeah, he does own riffs. Yeah, and it really hurts every time. Well, by the way, it's also like, no disrespect to him, this is me saying it, not you, but it's a little bit like,

are you trying to sleep with me? Are you trying to impress me with your guitar skills? Yeah, yeah. I am paying you for this lesson you you're not allowed to hit on me that's really funny yeah and also like there's a there's a way in which like it like just the analogy of bringing it to somewhere else. It's like, you know, you don't show up to the first day of space camp, you know, to learn from an astronaut. And they're like, so what I do? And then they're like, three, two, one. And then they're gone. You're like, come back.

I thought you were going to teach me how to fly a rocket. That's hilarious. Can I use that, please? Please. Holy smokes. That's so funny. That's really funny. A few weeks ago, David Sedaris was on, and he said this line. We're talking about YMCA swimming pool.

And he said this line about, because my new show is called the YMCA pool, and I talk about it extensively. And he said this line about how in London, every once in a while, when he goes to the YMCA pool, they'll blow the whistle because someone has shit in the pool. And I laughed so hard at that. And then I've been writing for months, and I've been working on this metaphor,

which is the YMCA pool is a great metaphor for existence because it's filled with people who are trying to stay in their lane, but no one stays in their lane. And sometimes it feels enormous, but it's actually quite limited. And there are wealthy people and unwealthy people and all races and genders and there are healthy people and unhealthy people and everyone's sort of naked.

I mean, not technically, but we can sort of imagine people without the little tuft of fabric. And there's a lifeguard who's sort of like the president and we probably shouldn't trust the lifeguard. And there are rules, but clearly some people don't follow the rules. And it was founded as a Christian men's organization,

but the Christian and the men part has fallen away. And there are elderly people and middle-aged people and really elderly people and kids. And no matter what you do or what you say, at some point, someone will shit in the pool. So that's the bit that I wrote. And then I was like, oh, wait, but he said that on this show. And so I emailed him actually this morning.

And I said, hey, I wrote this thing. And he wrote back to me, and it was so sweet. He goes, no, it would never occur to me and it was so sweet he goes no it would never occur to me uh that i own the idea of shitting in a pool uh but that's if you're talking he goes the rest of his email i'm reading it he gets his emails if you're talking about the why it's bound to come up it's in the air i don't have any claim on it i would be puzzled if you didn't mention it. And then he writes, and also you should include this too, because it's fascinating. A lot of people shit in the showers at the Y. And then he says, ask the staff and they'll tell you

it's shocking. Sincerely, David Sedaris. That's so great. It's really generous. But you know, that's... I'm that way too. It could be something so far off and you're like, oh, but they mentioned it, but that's so cool. That's fun.

I'm glad you could add that. Which is all to say, please use that. I would be honored. Yeah, that's awesome. I would be honored. That's awesome. Yes. I'd be thrilled. This is a premise, and I don't know where to go with it.

My mom, so, you know, I'll see my parents once in a while, thankfully. So I go to their house and sometimes if I just sit in a room in a house, I can hear my mom walking around talking to herself, just random words of like things she's got to do. But she'll just say a couple words and it, she'll walk around, and I'll hear her go, I've got to go to the P.O. Box. Lori. God, Lori calls.

Lori calls too much. This printer. I can't. My back. Okay, so it makes me want to be like a detective, like Sherlock Holmes, and just write down all of the clues and figure out what's going on. That's so funny. So I just kind of write down like, she goes,

oh, Laurie texting me. Laurie. Oh, so she's, there's a Laurie in in her life and i kind of just write it down and then maybe the end result is like i have this long story i've made up like so laurie has a package for you at the p.o box and it couldn't be a bomb but you don't want to go and then maybe my mom at then's like ah you know know, I don't know. But it was just like because she just talks so much to herself. Oh, that's so funny.

Yeah. So I don't know where I just don't know what to do about it. The detective thing is funny. And then the other thing is like, is like, if you talk to her while she was talking to herself, would it be like waking someone up from a dream? Right. You'd be like, you just like, you like get into her personal space and go like, what is going on with Lori? She'd be like, wow. She's like, no one's supposed to talk to me when I'm talking to myself. I like that sound, the wah!

Yeah. You interrupted my thought flow. Yeah. I was having a conversation with myself. I'm going to write it down. No, this is good. This is awesome, Mike. Man, this is... Oh, good. That's the goal. It's like your treehouse. So my wife, Jen, and I wrote this book, and it's the new one, Painfully True Stories from our Licking Dad. Oh, yeah, and I encourage people who are listening to this

to get it at your local bookstore, because most of them, like, same thing with groceries, same thing with a lot of things, are doing curbside. They're doing their best to do curbside. And so support your local bookstore, because you want them to exist a year from now. That's true. That's the way to do it.

But anyway, so I followed a bunch of them on Instagram because my wife and I decided we're going to do a virtual book reading tour because she's a poet and I'm a comedian and we're calling it the Jokes and Poems Virtual Tour. We're doing one with like 20 different bookstores. Awesome. But what I found out, there's a big universe of Twitter and Instagram of bookstores. I started following a lot of them. And I didn't know that there are so many feminist bookstores. But I was thinking that they should just call them bookstores.

Because if you can read, the odds are you're a feminist. And if you're a feminist, the odds are you hang out at bookstores. Also, the last thing we should be discouraging people who aren't feminists to do is not read. I feel like we're really putting the nails in the coffin on the non-feminists. Like, oh yeah, you don't like women? Well, I don't think you should read.

The only bookstore that isn't a feminist bookstore is an adult bookstore, which just sells porn. So we have feminist bookstores and they're pretty much just bookstores with books and then adult bookstores and they have porn. But I'm starting to think feminists should take over the word adult

based on the two offerings. Like I think they have a rightful ownership over the word adult in that case. But then the adult bookstores would be furious if they did that. Like when World Wrestling had to give back the acronym WWF to the World Wildlife Foundation. Like you had to see that coming. The Wildlife Foundation's a bunch of nerds. They spend all their time on rare endangered animals they definitely have the skills to fill out the trademark forms and the wwf guys are like forms what forms i'm

gonna pile drive you if you fill out that form and the wildlife people are like right and then we'll sue you and the and the people are like, we have Triple H. He's a lawyer. And they're like, he's not a lawyer. He's sort of like a fake businessman, actor, wrestler thing. If you want to bring him to court, that's fine. But I don't know what'll happen.

Anyway, we're the WWF. See you soon. So the point is, there's adults and there's feminists. And it actually reminds me of the time I stayed at a bed and breakfast. I was on the road and I decided instead of a hotel, I'd stay at a bed and breakfast. And I opened the welcome packet and it said, this bed and breakfast is gay friendly. And I thought, is that the idea of the bed and breakfast is gay friendly. And I thought, is that the idea of the bed and breakfast?

I'm pretty sure a bed and breakfast that isn't gay friendly is a haunted house. And that's sort of the end of the bit. It doesn't have a natural ending, but it's sort of like, I call it feminist bookstores and gay friendly B&Bs. That's that run.

It's shaky at first, but it's sort of fun. It heats up with the WWF analogy. Yes, I got that. And by the way, I had to look up all of those WWF references. The wrestling references? I didn't know those. Oh. I didn't know who Triple H or like what pile driving is or whatever

oh yeah i don't know any of that so what we do to wrap up is we do this thing called working it out for a cause where uh if you uh you can choose to shine a light on a nonprofit or a charity that you feel like is doing good work right now? I say you can donate to Rock the Vote. That's a great one. And that goes back to our origin story of doing a stand up and vote show at Hamilton College many years ago. show at Hamilton College many years ago. It was fun. That was such a good show.

Awesome. To people who don't know, Rock the Vote is a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to registering voters, building the political power of young people. You can visit them at rockthevote.org. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, thanks, Melissa, for being on Working It Out. I feel like we got some good bits going today. Oh, my gosh. No, I'm really stoked about the ones.

You're the best. You really help me. I got to call you more when I have bits I'm working on because you see it differently. You get the pieces that I need help on. It's great. Call me any time and come back on the show. Hell yeah.

And I hope I'm able to visit the treehouse soon. Yes, you will. Working it out, because it's not done. Working it out, because there's no hope. So that's another episode of Working It Out with Melissa Villasenor. You can follow her comedy Instagram at at MelissaVComedy or her visual art Instagram

at MelissaVArt. The producers of Working It Out are Peter Salamone and Joseph Verbiglia, consulting producer Seth Barish, sound mix by Kate Balinski, assistant editor Mabel Lewis, thanks to Mike Insiglieri, Mike Berkowitz, as well as Marissa Hurwitz.

Special thanks to Jack Antonoff for our music. Jack's full-time job, as you know, is scoring this show. But this week he had a small side project come out with an up-and-coming talent named Taylor Swift, I think. We wish them the best. As always, a very special thanks to my wife, J-Hope Stein. Our book, The New One, is in your local bookstore. We're doing virtual bookstore events across America called Jokes and Poems.

The official virtual announcement will be made on my mailing list this week. Are you signed up? If not, you should sign up. All the emails are written by me, and they're fun. As always, a special thanks to my daughter, Una, who created a radio fort this week with the help of One Fresh Pillow, who has been listening to the podcast,

sent along some free pillows. They're very comfortable. They're very sound-absorbing. Una, what do you think of the pillows? They're really soft, and they also have little pillowcases. Once again, our thanks to Sam Adams, who is presenting the Restaurant Strong Fund. Join them today at SamuelAdams.com. Thanks most of all to everyone who is listening to our Labor of Love podcast.

Tell your friends, tell your enemies, we're working it out.