Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Melissa McCarthy

Episode Date: May 13, 2018

Comedian Melissa McCarthy is known for her outrageous roles in “Bridesmaids” and “The Heat,” but not everyone knows about her journey to stardom. In this week’s “Sunday Sitdown,” the actress talks to Willie Geist about her path from a soybean farm in Illinois to crashing on couches in New York City to becoming the fourth-highest paid actress in Hollywood. And in honor of Mother’s Day, McCarthy opens up about raising two young daughters and why her latest film, “Life of the Party,” is the first one she’ll let them watch. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist, back with you for another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Thanks so much for clicking on us and for subscribing wherever you get your podcast. You're getting the full uncut interview here on the Sunday Sit Down. The interview we play on NBC on Sundays runs seven or eight minutes here. We give you all of it. Half hour, 45 minutes, whatever you want. And today it is Melissa McCarthy out with a new movie, Life of the Party. So fun to talk to because I don't think a lot of people fully,

understand where she comes from. You kind of picked her up around Mike and Molly maybe or maybe bridesmaids, maybe it was Gilmore girls, depending on how far along you are in her career. But she started growing up on a soybean farm in Plainfield, Illinois, about 40 miles outside Chicago. It's a long journey from there to where she is now. Forbes magazine just put her number four in terms of the most bankable stars of 2017 in Hollywood. Not bad. She, You know, came to New York, as you'll hear, with 35 bucks, I think she says. $35 in her pocket at 20 years old. Had no idea what she was doing.

Just rolled into town. And now she's one of the most famous people on the planet. So we're going to talk right now to the great Melissa McCarthy. We got together in the Rainbow Room here at 30 Rockefeller Plaza upstairs, a legendary room, just the two of us in a big, empty ballroom. We had in front of us some tea. She likes tea. And a macaroon. Do you know what a macaroon is? It's that kind of dry, fancy-looking cookie that some people enjoy.

We're going to talk right at the beginning about whether or not people actually do enjoy that and whether or not we actually enjoy that. So please enjoy this Sunday sit-down interview with Melissa McCarthy talking about her new movie, Life of the Party, at the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center. Well, thank you for meeting me again for our usual Wednesday morning, breakfast date in an empty rainbow room. Wednesday morning, guys. I said, I know we need crystal because I know you love it. So I wish we did meet here every Wednesday. Would that be funny?

Just shut the place down. Just real quiet. We just have tea and cookies we don't like. And don't touch the macaroons with mirrors and gold behind us. It's opulent. I always think, and it works like a charm because I think, oh it's too much and then you're like wow it's just look at all the sparkles and I start to yeah you're gonna be happy it's very sparkly very sparkly very sparkly

so I want to talk most about miss why but we'll get to that in just a minute oh god before we get to miss why in your time in New York let's talk about life of the party let's feels to me like a Melissa sort of classic big character funny loud, self-confident, more than maybe she should be. That's just maybe me. Something about it really hits my heart right. I mean, I think the character I play, Deanna is kind of based on my mom, who I just really do think it's like this like Marzapan figurine

that just kind of makes everybody feel good and tries her best, even if it's not, you know, she's not the most topical, meaning, well, probably my mom, or my character. But there's such a sweetness to it, and I just thought, I wanted to show, like, a mom and daughter relationship where the daughter wasn't always, you know, rolling her eyes, and the mom wasn't a nightmare. And I just think you don't always see that, and I have such a good relationship with my mom, and I don't know.

I know so many people that have great relationships. I'm like, why is it every time you see a mother-daughter that, you know, the daughter always like, hates her mom. And then the mom's just like such a train wreck. I'm like, maybe there's a middle ground where, you know, you can actually show that they love each other. And it's still funny and it's not saccharony, but like, I just, I don't know. I kind of love how sweet and hopefully funny this movie is. And it's such a cool setting to do it in because it's certainly a circumstance where the daughter would roll her eyes if her mom joined her at college. It's a jarring.

I mean, what's funny is Ben, it was Ben's idea, which I just absolutely rode his coattails on. And he came down and said, you know, he was watching my mom and I together. And he was like, what was Sandy like at your age? And then when she was that age, how old were you? And somehow it made his mind, like, drift into college. And he's from a college. He grew up on a college town, so he loves a campus. Carbondale.

Carbondale. Salukes, guys. Egyptian running dog, I guess. In southern Illinois. 25 people in southern were like, how dare you? Sorry, gang. And he kind of drifted off,

and that's where the kind of start of the story was, which I thought was the greatest idea I'd ever heard. But I took it as like, I didn't finish school. I was like, I should do that with the girls. And he's like, no, I'm pitching this out as the conflict of the story. I was like, I don't say a conflict. I think the girls would love if I went to school with them. He was like, you're missing the entire point of the movie

that this probably isn't the ideal situation. I was like, you're right. Like, that was the first big discussion. I just thought it was the greatest idea. I was like, I would love if my mom went to school with me. And he's like, now. Right. He's like, at 18, did you want her there?

I was like, oh, okay. So then it was like, then we were off to the races. It took like a half an hour for him to be like, one, don't go to school with the girls. Give them some space. Which we'll see. We'll see how that goes. You still may do that. I still think it's a great idea.

Have you consulted with the girls about how they might feel about that someday? I've been setting up the whole stay in California for college. You don't even have to leave L.A. Like you can literally since they've been two. Ben's always like, you're blatant brainwere. washing of the kids to be like, I mean, it's like when you go to college in California, probably close to Los Angeles. He's like when you started saying that when they were two years old, he's like, so I've

been laying the foundation. So at 18, they're like, maybe I'll just go here to school. I'll be like, well, I don't know. If you want, if you want. Right. That's how I'm going to trick them. You've deeply embedded the idea and then you're going to flip it on them at the end. I'm going to act really blasé about it.

And then go in the other room and just cry. It also could backfire completely, like, I am going abroad for college, right? Like, if you push the gas too hard. Oh, God. The thought of that just made my whole stomach be like, which when I was that age, I wish I would have had the wherewithal to be like, you can go other places. You can travel. Instead, I was like, I guess I'll go to the bottom of my state.

That was as far as I got. But, oh, no. Oh, if my kids go, if my kids go run for school, I'm coming for you. You have to prepare for the possibility. Oh, no. They may not live at home. I feel like I'm getting, my cheeks are getting hot. Just thinking about it.

Ben's going to watch this like, oh, you're going to. So this is the third movie where Ben's directed and you've starred, where you've worked together. What is that process like for the two of you? Does he pitch you an idea or do you work together on the idea? How does it work? It's kind of, it just depends. I mean, for a lot of times he'll come downstairs, it's really funny.

He like wanders in for coffee, I'm always up before him. And at least, like for Tammy and for this one, he kind of comes in, he's like, what if? Like for Tammy, he literally just came in and said, what if you took a road trip with your grandma? I was like, what are we talking about? Like he didn't say like for a movie idea.

I was just like, is he sleepwalking? Is it a fever dream? And he's like for a movie and just kind of staggered out. I was like, okay. And this one kind of the same thing. He'll come with an idea. And then we talked about this one. And he chalked me down off of what a great idea was.

And then we just start, once we kind of both know we like the world, we kind of, it's just fun to kind of keep imagining like, it could be this, could be this. Do you pledge your sorority? Do you not? Are they in a sorority? And like all of a sudden it becomes, it's just fun. fun to talk about like in the girls pitch ideas my favorite is when they pitch jokes do they really oh yeah it'll be like or maybe this happens it's always kind of like a like sometimes like they're really funny ideas but they're you know it will take like eight days to shoot right

i was like i like how elaborate that is but maybe the elephants aren't necessary have any of their bits made it into any of the movies or a joke at least or you don't want to want to have to pay them for it so you don't admit it on camera no none of their ideas they've all been mine i would think to me the upside of working together is obvious which is that you and ben totally get each other and your writer's room is your kitchen table and all those things is there any downside to having a professional relationship with your husband like did it ever stress you out to be working with your husband or just feel like i mean the only i would say the only no no never stresses me out.

He's like, he's the most even keel human. Like, I'm, I'm, I'm always stressed him out constantly, because I'm like, ginkin, gong, gunk, gunk, he's literally, slow and steady, wins the race. Like, he's just even, Steven. I think the only thing is sometimes, if we talk about it too much, if we're like, and there's other topics.

Right. But it's also that it's fun. Like, we're not talking about statistics, And I mean, it's kind of fun to be like, what if? But every once in a while we're like, let's not talk about work just so we're not only on one topic. And even though our work is fun, we're like, okay, let's reenter the human, the actual world instead of the what if world. Right. It's kind of hard.

I think it's a little tricky when you actually like what you're doing, which is not a bad thing. Do you guys have those pinch me moments where you think to yourselves like we were in the groundlings and we were scrapping and trying to get by and figure out what our life was going to look like and now we're making this huge budget movie that's going to make a ton of money and it's the two of us still doing the thing we've always done together? Every day, every time that we're leaving or coming to and from work like depending, like sometimes I go early but we usually drive home together. as we leave set, almost every single time we're like, they're going to find out.

They're eventually going to come in and be like, what, what, wait a minute, get out of here. Like, it just seems crazier, like the first day of any movie or any time we're doing something, it just seems like it's so fun. It's something we dreamed about for so long, and you hope to just be able to get like a toe in. like if I could

if I could get a line in something it would be so amazing or if I could just get into a certain world and then to be kind of coming up with these stories and he's directing them we're working together

and we fold friends into it yeah I mean we're just waiting for somebody to be like I'm sorry I just came to you guys have got to get out of Hollywood we're just watching the clock well I bet some of that fear comes from you've talked about this

having worked so hard to get where you are and assuming like it's all going to end today or there's not going to be another job after that. Because you put in some years. We look at Melissa McCarthy now, but you worked hard. You struggled to get where you are. Yeah, it was not. I mean, I think I would have kept doing it either way in some capacity because I loved it. But it was not, you know, I didn't pop into Hollywood at 18 and, you know, get discovered at shrabs. There's a current record.

For everyone 85 and above, you know what I'm talking about. Big demo for us on Sunday, by the way. Oh, yeah. 98% of people got traves. Thank you. But also, I'm kind of really grateful because I was, I mean, I was a proper 18 to 25 year old that was a bit of a, not a dingbat. Because I worked really hard at what I did, but I don't think I could have, I did not need. I did not need probably a steady paycheck as much as I needed it financially.

I think emotionally the kind of the scrapping to stay in New York and to try to pay my rent and to try to do multiple jobs while still doing a play at night. I think all of that stuff was really good for me. I don't know that I would have the appreciation or the work ethic or even how I work. I think, you know, doing so many plays where you're just like, I hope we break even. I have to return the chairs. Like, I just remember, like, you know, I don't have a car.

It's in New York. I'm 20. I remember trying to get folding chairs into a taxi cab. And I was worried, like, I can't really pay for the taxi, but I can't carry the chairs back to the rental place. And just being like, this is probably, I'm probably doing, not doing something correctly. When you're hauling chairs.

And so I was like, why didn't you have a theater space? I was like, I don't think we could afford the theater, so we would use like rehearsal studios, and then we would rent chairs for the night and put on plays there. And then you had to get out the minute you were done. Oh, my God, yes. Yeah, clear out.

Immediately. It was just me, like, holding chairs in a flop sweat, you know, with, like, stage makeup on. So when you were growing up in Plainfield, Illinois, were you always funny? Were you always a performer? If I asked your parents, would they say, we kind of knew she was going to head in this direction.

I don't think they did. I mean, my, you know, I always, for some reason, I think, I always think about our dinner, like the kitchen table, we almost always ate dinner together. And my dad, I mean, my mom and dad are both really funny. My dad's more, like, he can tell it, he can slay a story, and he can retell the same story that you've heard 45 times.

And dang it if he can't tell it. crush it again. Like it was always something even growing up where I'm like, I have heard that story so many times, why am I still laughing? And then we're all, there's something about us hanging out

at that kitchen table and making each other laugh that I think is such a warm, fuzzy feeling for me that I think when I first, because I didn't do any kind of, I did one play in high school, but I didn't really get it. And I was like, oh, it's okay.

I didn't have an affinity for it. But like the first time I did stand up in New York, I think there was something about people laughing like that that was really comforting to me instead of like, yes, I did it. It was more like, oh, there was something familiar about it. And then, you know, and then so many bombs. Well, that's part of the process, right? That's part of the process for sure. So you were 20 years old when you came to New York, and is it true? You had $45? I think I had $35. Oh, it was $35.

Yeah. I don't think I went into the 40s. Fancy pants here 40s No yeah Just a terrible decision Like never I'd never been here And just showing up

I mean just shy of being like You know overalls with like a shuck of wheat I was like I'm from a soybean farm It was so When I think back on it I'm like I had no way to take care of myself Like I could barely My friend and I would like split a bagel

And I moved here to You know one of my dearest friends said, you know, move to New York, this is crazy. So I showed up at this address that he'd given me. He was staying on someone's couch, which is like only a 20-year-old, did not know that. And I showed up with all my bags. And this girl was like, what are you doing here? I was like, I'm moving in.

And that was like the second I knew, like she looked at my friend Brian. Brian, like, it was like a weird triangle of looks, and I could tell she had no idea. And he was already on the couch. and I was like, hey, can I get a square a carpet? Where did you sleep? Oh, on the floor, for sure. And then we got our first place was in Hell's Kitchen. Was this the one above Joe Allen?

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Which I wouldn't look at. I wouldn't look at Joe Allen's because I knew it was like a famous place for actors, like where people went after plays. And literally, which now I think is like, what a dig bat. but I would come downstairs and I would always walk past it

and I was like, I can't look at it and I certainly can't go into it. I didn't know if I thought they were to check for my union card but I was like, you can't go into there until I'm a real actress. Oh, like you had to earn your spot at that restaurant. Yeah, I was thought I had to really earn it.

I was like, they'll know. They'll know you're going to get searched or something for a playlet. But I went in, I didn't go in there. Ben and I went, I mean, I was well into my 30s. I had been working for a while, and finally I was like,

I think I can go and Joe Allen. And I still felt a little odd. Then I went in there. I was like, oh, it's like a casual place. I expected this, and I don't know if I expected plays to be going on and people to be doing, like, sylliloquies. I don't know what I thought. I'd never seen a picture of it.

But I just, I thought it would be something, I don't know, opulent and magical and I was like oh it's like a it's like where you get bar food yeah burger and a beer yeah I was like I got I could have popped in I could have popped it after 20 years of mystery just like pining pining for but not making eye contact I mean really because there was always like a dormant out there and I was just like don't look at him he'll know he'll know but you had to walk by him to go upstairs yes every night just looked just looked at my feet look straight down at my Did you, was there a plan when you came to New York? I mean, were you, was it, I want to be a stand-up comedian, I want to be in fashion, was there,

like most people would leave their, just, you know, leave, Plainfield, Illinois with a little bit of a plan. That seems crazy. That seems crazy. Oh, wouldn't you think? I mean, thank God, thank God you're kind of blissfully unaware. Yeah. I mean, if I would have planned it out, as you're insanely suggesting, I would have never, I would

have never left but luckily I'm just like sure that sounds fun I my plan was to go to FIT and to finish school and to do women's clothing that was that was the dream and then the first night my friend and I were in a grocery store and he picked up the village voice and he'd always you know I was always telling him these weird stories and he called me called me miss why just as a nickname that's what they called me in college and then it linked into what is that a reference to originally like my parents only called me missy like they have never said Melissa oh really yeah my mom's always like I named you Melissa to call you missy like they have never uttered the word Melissa and then

when I went to college I was like I'm a new woman I'm going my Melissa and and someone in college found out that I had always grown up as missy and she was like I don't get that it was like someone rather artsy and I was like well I don't I tell you, it's a, it's not a crazy name, it's like shortened for Melissa, and she's like, I can't call you Missy. I'll call you Miss Why. It's like a very theatrical, and somehow Miss Why stuck, so I, so from the first night, my friend, looked through the Village Voice and said, you're going to, you're going to do stand-up tomorrow night.

And I was like, I write. Wow. Again, again, poor planning. I'm not a great example of, like, you know. Really plan, think it out. Because again, if I really would have thought about what goes into really doing stand-up, I probably would have been terrified. So you just walked up there cold, told stories, and how did it go?

It went okay. I didn't know about the flashing light. Oh. I didn't know that when they flash the light from the back that that means get off, especially when you're doing like your three and a half to four-minute open mic set, that they're just like, nobody cares. Nobody cares. Nobody cares. Like as you walk on, they're flashing the light.

They're like, we already dislike you. And right when the light happened the first time was at the exact same time that people laughed. And then I saw this flashing light in back and I was like, they're encouraging me. I literally thought it was like their idea of like silent applause. And then the light kept flashing.

And I was like, so I just kept talking. I kept talking. I did, I did, it was like way overstayed my welcome. It was probably very awkward. And when I got off the guy, came out of the booth and just screamed at me and was like, what, how dumb are you? He's like, did you not see the light? And I was like, I did see the light.

He goes, what is your problem? Why didn't you get off the stage? I was like, I thought you were encouraging me, which is not the thing to tell to some old drizzled person that runs like a, the like open mic night at a stand-up club. Right. Right, right. But it went well enough that you tried it again and you went back. I did it for about eight months, which I think people that really do stand up are like, you didn't do it.

Right. Like that doesn't fully count because, you know, people that really, really are down and dirty with to do it for, it's such a hard thing to do that I have nothing but respect for it. But I kind of didn't like the combative quality of the hecklers. Right. it just wasn't my thing. I didn't want to have to, I didn't want to have to make somebody feel bad about themselves for me to keep doing what I was doing.

And I was always amazed. I'm like, it's as if the same guy was in every club. It's always, and I'm not kidding, it's always like, take your job up! It's always some crazy thing where I'm like, has that ever worked? Have you yelled something into a crowd of women and someone's like,

What a great idea. You're wonderful. But you would have to stop, especially when you only had four minutes. I'm like, two minutes out of that is, now I have to be mean enough to you to actually embarrass you to make you stop talking. And then I just didn't like how that felt.

And then it's also a really hard transition to be like, so anyway. Back to, now I made this guy feel terrible because I had to, to do anything and then to switch back in. I was like, I don't know that I want the combative quality of it. So then I started an acting class. And then eventually you move west to L.A. What prompted that? Did you know you wanted to do improv, groundlings type of work? No, not at all. I was doing all dramatic stuff here. I did stand-up and then once I started acting, it was all very, very

straight dramas. And I just couldn't, I couldn't crack the coat of the business of it. I couldn't figure, I was always doing plays, I was always doing something, but I couldn't figure out how to get agents there or somebody to help and send in for submissions, but I was like, I'm not wielding the business side of this correctly. And then I thought, well, there's so much more work in L.A. I should go there, even though I didn't want to leave New York at all. And I had another dear friend that was in, had already moved to L.A., and he let me move into his studio. So it was another glamorous exit. There you are again with your bags. Yes, my shuck of wheat and my overalls, with, yeah. But you and the groundlings, you obviously met people who

became your partners for life and professional partners. My husband, most of my dearest friends in the world are from there. And then it's amazing. It's like all the people that, that was really like my university. Those are kind of my college years, I think. And even though I had already studied acting here and I loved how I trained, I think the combination with improv, because I had not done it. I mean, it was such a, I had always, you know, the plays and the word of the play, and you certainly were not improvising Tennessee Williams. It was like, just stick to the text.

So the freedom of it, and like the first time I went to see it, I just thought, this can't be off the top of people's heads. It's too, it's all making sense, the rhythm's good, it just seemed kind of like a magic act. And then I was, you know, I was hooked. I saw a show and I started classes there. But I only knew, my sister sent me like a tear sheet out of a magazine because I was like, theater in LA will be amazing.

Again, like I live in a cave. I had no idea about anything. Turns out it's amazing you've gotten as far as you have that. It's pretty shocking. I'm here. I'm upright. I know when I hear myself say things, I'm like, I'm not as dumb as I'm really selling myself as, although I'm not doing a great job. You've made up for it since then. We'll give you that. Let's hope.

I think people, you know, just as I was saying before, people don't realize how much work you put in. They see the end product of who you are now, this big star. But 12 years at the groundlings is, that's no joke. No, it's not. It's a lot of wigs. First of all, it's a lot of wigs and unattractive, ill-fitting pants. But it is. There was something, too, you had to work, you had to work so hard there. I mean, it was so competitive, not competitive of people against people,

but, you know, it's a finite number of spaces in that company. And there's so many talented people there. And a lot of times it was just like, are you going to bring in, you know, seven scenes hoping two get in or do you bring in two and nothing gets in it was like it was the work you put in and then being with those i mean i was there with like myrudev and christin wigg and jim rash and that faxin and that's where i met ben and it was just an insane insane group of people so you saw that you saw how funny how how good their writing was how hard they worked and for me it was so inspiring that I was just like I want to at least feel like I deserve to be in the room so I finally

kicked into like a work a work ethic that I didn't have like in college like the short time I did in college I just didn't have the focus and when I got to groundlings I really I feel like I really felt my focus just because I was surrounded by people that I admired so much that I didn't want to I didn't want to blow it and your career turns on one of those too good to be true Hollywood stories where you say, if I haven't made it by the time I'm 30, I'm out, I'm going home, I'm going to do something else my life, and then a week before your 30th birthday? It was shy of two weeks, so somewhere, you know,

somewhere around a week and a week and a half before my 30th birthday that I said, you know, I've given it a good decade, I've worked really hard, it's not happening, but I was starting to do more and more work on the production side. And I was like, I'm really enjoying it. It's still really creative to put together a project and to work on that. And I thought, if it doesn't happen by 30,

I really, I'm okay with making the choice, too. I thought I'd probably still continue at Groundlings, but it was like my day job will, I'm just going to pursue production. And then, yeah, I got Gilmore just, just before I turned 30, which I also thought was a sitcom. Which, again, I'm really painting myself as an idiot. Yeah.

Someone's not too bright. No, but I was so excited and new to auditioning and the whole process that I think we all, like, went out to a restaurant that night to celebrate, and I was like, you know, here's, like, I said something about being on a sitcom and someone leaned over there, like, it's a one hour, and it's not a sitcom,

that's a half hour, and it's like, I was like, got it, got it, either way. Whatever, you know. Like, you get the idea. I was like, is it, Can I show up and I can get on the lot? That was like the most exciting thing of like the gate rising and you driving on. I was like,

you're actually on the list. Crazy. Yeah. And it took a long time to be like, you know, am I going to get on today? So it was, it's still kind of exciting. There's something about going on to a lot that is still kind of an amazing thing from, you know, from this, you know, farm in Illinois. And then you're driving on a lot.

And I think of the history. and everybody who's gone through that gate before. And I'm always a little, I get kind of goosebumps. I get that too. When I come in here, the 30 Rock and 5 a.m. I get on the elevator, I'm like, Belushi was on this elevator. Yeah.

All the. Maybe sleeping. Likely. It is. I mean, you walk the halls in this building, and you're just like, it's pretty amazing. It's pretty amazing. Yeah.

So that, I mean, that was your big break. then Mike and Molly was huge sort of got into household name territory and then I think maybe you'll agree, maybe you want that bridesmaids was the thing that took it to another level. Is that fair to say? It's what it felt like. Yeah, I think

so, which was such a crazy feeling about all of that because we all of, you know, everyone in that movie, we had all been everybody except Rose really, we had all been at ground leaves together. So this is kind of

what we'd been doing for 10 years anyway in a little theater on Melrose Avenue where, you know, who has a red wig? Somebody have it like, I can't tell you how many emails I've gotten from people. Like, who has the doctor's coat? Like there was one that was just like passed around to everybody.

And it was so, I mean, you know, Kristen Wigg and Annie Mamelow wrote it. And it just seemed, I think there was a feeling of like, what's really funny to us because this is what we've been doing for so long. And I was like, I know anything those two write, like, anytime they would write together ground, and each were like, it's going to be great.

Like, as performers and as writers, they're amazing. But I didn't know how it was going to, how people were going to take it. Because I thought, well, is this just us? Like, is it us just in our own little world? And then when it hit like it did, it was so exciting, one, because I thought, my God, my two friends, like built this world.

Like this came out of like their experience and and then it was just so fun that we all kind of did it together. It was pretty wild. As you're talking about the movie, I apologize. The scene flashed through my mind at the bridal shop in the bathroom. Yeah. That's a career maker right there. That's a doozy. That's when Paul Fee in a beautiful suit is pouring oatmeal and I believe it was like cranberry juice.

And so, you know, then there was always somebody that's like, the secret is the great. I'm like, well, thank you. Oh, God, I don't need to know there's ham in it. He's like, that's what makes that. I'm like, nope, I don't. He's like, the texture. I was like, he had to finish why there was like purified ham on it. I was like, and all of us standing around and Kristen eating those almonds, like,

the amount of footage of us ruining things just because of like full, full crazy laugh crying or just like somebody shaking. There's so much. Rose, in the airplane, you see who is an incredible person, but also the worst laugher. When she breaks, it's like, she doesn't try to hide it. She laughs out loud. Like, it's so funny.

But there's a scene in the airplane when Rose's little, like, stick arms come up, and she's fully putting a magazine in front of her face because she's laughing. And I was like, you can completely see her shaking, which is great. But, yeah, that dress shop was. Man. That was tough. That was something. And there's something about that.

Many people kind of fake vomiting where you're like, you know, there's a trigger there. There's a trigger. We're all just like, keep it cool. I only have a couple minutes left with you and ask you, this will air on Mother's Day. Yes. And you've said Life of the Party is the first movie that your girls will be able to see that you've been in because it's PG-13. Yes. It's the first, it is.

It's like there's something really amazing that I can. I'm thrilled to have my mom see it, and I'm thrilled to have my girls see it. And it really feels like... I also love that world. I mean, I grew up on... There's so many great comedies that... You know, they weren't for kids.

They're not saccharony, but you can still... Everybody can watch them. Like, I've just had the girls start watching, like, Splash, and all these different fantastic comedies. And I kind of love that pocket. And so this feels... this feels great and I do love that that can finally prove that I have a job you know they're gonna be looking for their jokes from the kitchen table in the movie though I know they're

gonna be and they're like if they if they do see one they're literally just gonna be like pay up pay up it's gonna bring a roll of quarters quarter per joke guys that's what I'm that's what I'm a shiny quarter suddenly I've got like a newspaper hat on you know for for someone who claims not to have been terribly savvy at the beginning of her career. You've certainly turned that around in the way you run your production company, the way you run movies, the way you negotiate. What is your, what's your posture toward Hollywood in terms of making a movie and getting everything you want out of it?

I guess I just always, and I think Ben feels the same way, I think we just fight for the story. The story and especially the characters for me. Once I kind of lock in, I feel like I'm defending. I get so attached to them. Even if they're terrible and difficult to deal with, I'm always like, oh, but they're soft, chewy center. I get very defensive for the characters. And I think that weirdly is not only in the performing of it or the writing of it,

I think even in the making of it, I feel there's a sense of responsibility to make sure you have enough of a budget to make the story you want. Because if you start cutting, I think, too many, you know, half the trick is how do you do this and make it a reasonable price that I realize it's a business. But it is protecting that like, but can we still make the story that we want to make?

And I think that all starts to go into the negotiating. And if you're going to be away from your family, like what are all the key pieces that keep your life happy, keep the story of a certain quality. And I don't know, it all kind of merges together, kind of part and parcel for it. It must be nice to be in a position to be able to ask for those things

because Ms. Y didn't have that leverage back at the club. She did get a free drink. Almost every, almost every time. Or, yes, almost every time. No, it's a ridiculous luxury. I mean, there's still, you know, even though we get to make it, it is part of the puzzle that I like,

and I think it's why I like doing production. There is always a push and a pull and everybody's trying to make the best version of it, but there's a million ways that you have to shift and change and be pliable to get a movie to work. I mean, what you first start with, you know, Ben's always like, you realize this is, I get super attached and he says, I'm a robot, we're going to have to like take a lot of this out because it's, you know, you just can't, you can't do it for the budget. And I was like, no, it can't be done. Like, but that part's my heart.

He's like, it's not your heart. You just like it. And we'll put it somewhere else. So it's like, but then once we start the actual, you know, kind of Tetris game of it, I find that part of it very, very challenging and still really exciting. Because it is, it's the last hurdle of like, sure you get to do it, but you have to, now you have to fit these parameters. it does make you break the story, fix the story, and all these things.

So I kind of, I like the, I like the mechanics of that. So a few floors down from where we're standing. You burst on the SNL scene with your Sean Spicer impersonation. What was that phone call like from Lauren and did you think it was a crazy idea? Oh, I thought it was a crazy, like insane idea. First of all, I was like, I don't do impersonations. I was like, I don't understand what. why are you asking me?

How am I going to do Spicer? Like, that doesn't make any sense. But I was like, I do feel that that bear needed to be poked. But I was like, I mean, what kind of prosthetics could we possibly get into? Not going to take that long. Which I was like, hey, hey, are we talking like eight hours of like you always hear people like, you know, I had to lay there for like six, seven hours. So like the guy came in and was like, no, we need like 12, 15 minutes.

I was like, guys, can you at least? lie to me and say it's going to, like, it was not a long process, which was really shocking, because then I also looked quite a bit like my dad. So it was a very, is that right? Well, there's a huge nog in here. And then when you take that hair line back and you just see a lot of forehead, but I did not, you know, the response, and that's S&L just being able, that's, to me, that's why that show is not only fun, but important that you can, you know, that they, They really, you can shine the light on crazy things that are happening and make people on both sides kind of watch it and meet in the middle, which not a lot of that's happening lately. And everyone can have a good laugh at it, which I also think is like a, it's all just, it's all just take a minute.

But it was a wild thing. And like we did one where I was on a segue driving around the city, which I'm here to tell you one of the most. real things I've ever done. I remember that you're going up 8th Avenue, I think. Just on the podium. Just on a podium, which I kept pitching just because I was like, I want to try writing a segue around New York. But then when they said, we're going to do it, I was like, oh my God, just like madness.

Did you ever hear from Spicy at all? I guess indirectly. Kind of indirectly, kind of indirectly, but I never thought, you know, it wasn't to, you I think the point was made on the show. It wasn't kind of to like, now let's get together and hang out. I was like, no, no thanks. You've seen my view on this.

Yes, I think the skewering is my howdy-do. That's great. Thank you so much. My thanks to Melissa McCarthy again. Life of the Party is in theaters now. And my thanks to all of you for checking out the Sunday Sit Down podcast. To hear more of our full, uncut, unedited

interviews with my guests every week. Be sure to click and subscribe so you never miss an episode on the Sunday Sit Down podcast. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, most of all mine. Also, my wife, my sister. Oh, I'm digging a whole afternoon every mom. Why don't we just cap it right there? My mom, my wife, and my sister. Happy Mother's Day. I'm Willie, guys. Thanks so much for checking out the Sunday Down Podcast.