The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Aisha Tyler

Episode Date: August 31, 2021

Actor, Comedian and Director Aisha Tyler joins Andy to talk about wearing many hats in showbiz, getting through divorce, her alcoholic beverage brand Courage + Stone, and more.

all right here let's start podcasting let's do it ready america what does that entail here we come just talking i don't know spraying it out into the ether and hoping somebody gets a little, it get hit by a little bit of it. Oh, buddy. That it dampens somebody out there. Yes. Well,

I'm here today with Aisha Tyler on the three questions, but you, I know I'm, why don't I intro the, the podcast? It's not like you accidentally stumble on this. You know what I mean? I always feel it's like, Hey,

it's the three questions. Yeah. Yeah. We know we just clicked on it asshole uh but anyway i'm talking to aisha tyler who i've known for a thousand years and who has been funny and charming and brilliant for a thousand years uh a thousand and one she was a loser yeah right right before that just right before the transition from yeah from dick to Charming. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, how are you? You're COVID. You're COVID coming. Well, the never-ending COVID. It feels like we come out of it and then we don't. How was it? Was it okay for you being stuck at home? It was interesting.

And I wonder if you had this experience too. I've been marveling now that we're, well, I was marveling for that interim where we were out of it. And now we're back at it again. That I felt strange that I felt a bit of not wistfulness because it was a terrible time and terrible things happen to a lot of people, but that I was able to make some good out of that time. Like I had a lot of friends who were living in isolation. They didn't have partners. We really worked hard to kind of make like social space for them. So they didn't feel so isolated. Um, and as a result, I got all this

extra time with people that I care about that I normally don't see very often. My mom lives close to me and she also lives alone. So we, we tried to figure out a way to socialize with her safely. And I know people were zooming a lot lot but we went like onto the roof of her apartment building with like camping chairs and sat like eight feet away from each other and drank rose and danced like parliament funkadelic and the ojs you know and i if i mean in a normal year you know i would be like sorry you gotta go to work so um it was there were just some, there was some light in all of that darkness. And, and I mean, probably just, you know, I was lucky. I have a lot of people close to me that got COVID, but I didn't lose anyone very close to me, including some relatives who were hospitalized, but made it through.

So I was really grateful about that. But I also just felt like there was this strange interrenium for everybody. There was this pause. And so if you were fortunate enough to not be visited by tragedy, some of what you got was just more time with your family and the people that you care about. And if you were able to keep an income, that was the other thing. I mean, there was just so much loss, so much insane loss last year. And, you know, probably immeasurable. I mean, it's going to be like a time that we're going to be processing and trying to figure out for a long time.

Yeah. I mean, every generation has their curveballs thrown at them and things that affect them. You know, I'm sure that like, you know, like we talk about, you know, old people that came up that were children in the Depression, like how much that affected them for the rest of their lives. About like, you know, saving muffin wrappers, you know, or just whatever. Right. Like not just them, but their children were affected by that experience. Yeah. And I wonder like, you know, like my daughter had half of eighth grade and her entire freshman year pretty much at home. And I just and my son had half his freshman year of college and his entire sophomore year of college. You have college age kids, Andy May.

I do. I do. I know. I know. You're like a total grown up. This is so exciting. Not completely. I mean, I still am a fuck-up. Don't, you know. I'm now a fuck-up without a regular job. So now I'm really like, oh, shit. Oh, yeah, I remember this. I remember not having a paycheck coming in.

Right, when I was 25. Yeah, yeah. Like, holy shit, this is not fun. Right. Wait, so tell me more. So your kids both lost part of their school experience. Yeah, like my daughter didn't have, and I mean, it's not as bad as like the kids

that lost senior year of high school. You know, that's, but I just wonder like, and I know both my kids are more cautious and it's just added to kind of the general malaise of being a young person in a world where the earth seems to be dying you know like yes like the stuff the climate stuff is just it does seem to be that like you know whatever it is you know the grand surrounding is piling on at this moment right it's just one time after another yeah yeah

yeah and also that's a very that's a very angst ridden time anyway. Like I remember very vividly, like at the end of high school and for most of college, alternately, you know, you know, drinking my face off and then being terrified that the world was about to end. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I mean, uh, it's, it's a time where I think you feel these things a lot more acutely and it does feel like things are happening in a more acute way. Yeah. Um, than when we were kids, although, you know, we were and i was in college during the first gulf war and i remember that we were pretty terrified about that i was just out of

college so i was like i would you know i thought oh fuck if there's a draft i'm going and i was really nervous about that and then that's yeah as wars go, that was, you know, like. It seemed like kind of small fries. Yeah, exactly. Compared to, oh, absolutely. Let's go blow things up and then, okay, we're all done. And then, yeah, then wait for the cameras as you exit. Right. Yeah.

You know what? I wonder also if this, when your kids are a little older, but something, I don't have kids and I do not intend to because of the aforementioned drink of a face off. But you cannot do on a Tuesday when you got kids. I thought you just meant you drank so much that you damaged your eggs. Probably that too. I'm not going to, I'm not going to open up that dark corner of my closet. It's just going to stay shuttered till I die. There's no need to go all the way down into the bottom.

I understand. I understand. But I have noticed with my friends that have kids that they seem strangely, and maybe this is just colloquial and also I don't understand how children operate. They seem nicer to each other. Like I see a lot of kids like being super nice to each other. And I wonder if that's because they've been kind of having to rely more on the kids closest to them. You know, they haven't had the outlet of like playdates and school and playgrounds. Like, I just see kids playing really sweetly with each other all over the place.

I don't know if that's true. I think that is part of it. But I also think too, well, you probably know nice people, so they're going to have nice kids. You know what I mean? I do have a strict no assholes policy. But I also think, I think it's really.

At least for Mike, you know, my kids went to an L.A. private school and a nice school, and it's very hard to be a bully in in L.A. schools like you. It's I mean, I don't know about all of them. I mean, I mean, somebody might be listening to this and going like, oh, yeah, check out. And then name a check out. Check out Westlake Bullion or whatever college prep. Yeah. Or or or Jackal Elementary over there in Pacific Palisades. Yeah, that's filled with assholes. But I think generally the parents that are sending their kids. These schools are pretty woke for lack of a, you know, an easier term. And and they just don't put up with like right you know like oh that you know that kid's a terror that kid's awful to everyone i mean there still are a few kids like

that and there's still definitely mean girl shit that happens but it's pretty nipped in the bud and i mean it's right you know well i think that we culturally we aren't as tolerant of bullying i mean you know when i was a kid it was just, that's how kids act. Right. Yeah. Well, you got to. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, well, if somebody punches you, punch them back. Exactly. Exactly.

It was either turn the other cheek and get your ass kicked or punch that kid back. And then everybody's expelled. Right. There was no. Yeah. And it's also like, how about just not punching anyone? How about adults intervene here in a meaningful way where we all do something? And create a culture of no punching.

Exactly. But, you know, it's a lot to ask. I agree. I agree with you. Now, you know, this podcast is sort of, you know, autobiographical. And you, whether you know it or not, you're from the Bay Area. What? Yep.

An outrage. That's why you're such a hippie. That is true. I am a secret hippie. Are you a secret hippie? I'm such a hippie that is true i am a secret hippie i'm a closet hippie yeah i am um a lot of fish playing at your house all the time oh god not that kind of hippie but um uh the lyric uh the the the license plate on my car is the lyric of a pink floyd song oh wow yeah um off of uh i'm not gonna say what it is unless people follow me around right exactly The license plate on my car is the lyric of a Pink Floyd song. Oh, wow. Yeah. I'm not going to say what it is unless people follow me around. Right, exactly.

But I do. I am an old school hippie. And I have, like, you know, some of my first, well, the first album I bought was Metallica's Kill Them All. That's not hippie music. But I was really into, like, you know, Zap and The Doors. And I have been to a few grateful dead concerts yeah um oh god who was that now their name is not even in my head and i loved them uh the band that were the lead guy was also this incredible flautist oh jethro tull jethro tull i was apparently not such a fan that i remember their names but i was huge huge. It's been a while. Yeah. I'm very old. I'm just, I'm vintage.

But yeah. And also my parents were like, they grew up on the East coast, but they moved to California specifically because they were big hippies. So like I lived in an ashram when I was growing up. I was vegetarian. I was raised a vegetarian. Wow. Meditating, all of that stuff.

So yes. Are you still, are you still a vegetarian? Have you managed to? Oh no. Oh really? No, no, no, no. Well, here's what's interesting. Um, and you were talking about how like experiences when your kid kind of becomes seminal in your life.

Right. So I was raised a vegetarian, but like not in a vegetarian community, really like the ashram was vegetarian, but school, everybody had like bologna and shit. And so like, that's not fucking cool when like, not only do you not have meat, but like you have like literally inedible hunks of like carbon-based matter for lunch like that kid's got pizza and you've got like a date or so oh god yeah i mean spelt would have been elevated it was like dates and these like kind of fig newtons that were made out of like bark uh and so i was just like a beggar when i was a kid. Cause like, you know, typically the currency

of childhood is like, I'll give you half of the bologna for like your jello cup. And I was like, I will eat whatever rejecta you choose to fling into the garbage can. So it was a little isolating. And I wonder, I think when I was older, I found that to be, I mean, not in any kind of like deep trauma way, cause I'm, I'm, I'm pretty bouncy personality, but, um, I did kind of like deep trauma way because I'm a pretty bouncy personality but um I did kind of like kind of have a PTSD and then just want to eat like everything like meat and offal and uni and clams clams that look like penises and vaginas I'll just I'll do anything now but I but now um I kind of I'm a little bit of a flex just because I feel like it's probably better for me it's probably better for the planet not to be eating a steak every day for breakfast. So I'm pretty much vegetarian at home. And then I'll go out and eat a steak.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm well aware of how much red meat hurts the planet. I don't have a lot of stuff about the actual eating of animals because I do feel like, look at nature. Animals eat animals. Everything's eating everything.

I have some really hardcore you know? I always, I have some really hardcore vegan friends that I adore, by the way, if they're listening. Yeah, you're so nice. But, I,

they're like, it's cruel. And I do think factory farming is cruel and probably not, not good for people either. Cause it's very dirty, but eating an animal is no less cruel than like a cheetah, just snapping up a gazelle and eating it from the ass and forward while the gazelle is still aware and watching itself be devoured there goes my other

hunch okay great this is going terribly oh my liver there's a go so yeah so i don't i think i think eating less meat is just kind of like a good idea but i agree i don't really have like a moral thing about eating animals if i was like one of those people i'd like hunt like i have a buddy who was vegan for a while but he's like i, I'll catch my own meat. And we were like, yeah, I love that shit. Let's see how long that lasts. Yeah. Yeah. He didn't, it didn't last long. It didn't last long. Yeah. I love, like, I love, I love, I love to fish, but I only like to fish if I can eat them because then like me harassing this fish has a purpose whereas if you just catch a fish and then pull it into the boat and take the hook out and throw it back i just feel like like that's

just mean yeah now he's got like a like a a gaping injury in his mouth it's never gonna heal right it's like somebody you know throwing you into the back of a van and driving you halfway across town and then dumping you off you know it's like what was the purpose of any of this yeah way to go i wanted a photo yeah yeah i took a picture holding your foot up in the air yeah i agree with you i agree yeah but i think i would i would hunt i mean i would too if i live somewhere like i have friends that live upstate new york and like they can't grow a garden because there's so many deer. And I feel like, well, hell yeah, if I had, you know, venison showing up in my backyard, I might take a pop at it just to, you know, turn it into protein. I feel the same way about me.

Like I'd be happy to be turned into protein for somebody. I think it would be a nice legacy, a way to live on. You know, now you're no longer andy you're a gazelle or whatever well i'd be happy to just you know dog food that'd be fine i honestly don't care that'd be fine i actually that's so interesting because i'm i'm kind of in the same boat like once i'm out of this vessel i'm not really that invested in what happens to it next i definitely want to donate all my organs and stuff uh and then you know like the scraps, you know, like buried in the backyard. Right, right, right.

No, my directives are just cremated and toss me in water. I don't even, it could be a puddle. I don't care. Stir Andy into water like a scoop of Metamucil. I just don't want to take up any real estate. I think that's silly that every dead person needs a place to lay down and can't do something else with. There's not enough real estate. I think that's silly that every dead person needs a place to lay down

and can't do something else with. There's not enough real estate, quite honestly, to bury everybody in a six-by-three-foot grave. It's just not going to work. Yes. Well, now, I want to go back to ashram. You're the first guest I've had, well, maybe the first person I've known, raised in an ashram. Now, is that

when your parents are together? Because I know they split kind of young. They split when I was 10. So it was before then. Yeah. And yeah, we were together, but it was, and it's interesting because I have really positive memories about it. You know, people like watch Wild Wild Country and they think everybody was like trying to poison each other and have group sex. It was very, very anodyne experience. But men and women couldn't live together in this ashram, even if you were married. So it was kind of like dormitory living. So I lived with some other adult women,

just kind of like nice ladies. And my parents were around. And it was really fun because it was kind of a compound. So you had a lot of autonomy as a kid in there because it was super safe. So you could run around everywhere and play and you could hide. There were all these really cool places to hide in this thing and like spy on people and then yell at them and scare them. And I mean, it was, and then you had some kind of, you know, I went to school and

I did my homework and I had some responsibilities. I did some chores, but it was rad. Like one of the things that was really common was that people would bring offerings into the ashram, like flowers, and they would bring a lot of candy. And so the candy situation in this joint was just premium, A1 abundance. And they wouldn't just bring, like, chocolate bars. They'd bring, like, you know, like boxes of See's candy, you know, like chewy nuts. And is that just meant as an offering to the Buddha? Yeah, like, you know, like people, yeah, like exactly, to like the gods or, you know, people knew that it would end up in the community. So it was kind of a way to make an offering and then they knew that it would get eaten.

And yeah, I just, it was just rad. I was just like chomping down on like cordial cherries on a regular basis. Cordial cherries. All the grandma candies. Yeah, all the Werther's all the good the worthers the chewy caramels the cordials the ribbon candies and a tan that they may have been there for 10 years forever no one what is the flavor of ribbon candy other than like you know just sugar yeah i just i had an a great aunt uh a spinster aunt classics and she always had like just the i don't know where she got him the

weirdest tins of strange like ukrainian hard candies oh i love it oh so strange inexplicable katie my grandmother loved worthers and she would eat like a full bag of where there's a day and it really fucked with her continents guys so just watch out as you get older that you don't slide into some kind of a caramel K-hole where you're just Werthering and pooping all day long. Just stay on the toilet with the Werther's.

Get that nice high soft seat so you can just kind of go right through you. This doesn't seem as fun as it seems to you, Grandma. Right, right. The one thing I was going to say you the only thing i was gonna say about the awesome thing was that um i i think like people kind of find it to be very odd but it just felt like i was at summer camp for most of the time how long was it i think we lived there a couple years yeah we lived in ethiopia for a while and kind of a meditative we went to like a

meditative retreat uh and then my mom lived in india for a while so kind of a meditative, we'd went to like a meditative retreat. And then my mom lived in India for a while. So we were, they were, my family was really into it. And, and then, and then we moved back into like normal, like regular American people housing. Yeah. And did they, did that, now were they Hindu or were they Buddhists or? No, that's a good question. So this was like a, this was like a Hindu, like influenced group. Like a Hare Krishna knockoff kind of thing? Not as exciting as the Hare Krishnas. Thank God.

No, it sounds mild. My tolerance for symbols is very low. I can't be dancing. And head shaving. No, not for me. No, the sect was Siddha Yoga, Dham. So it was a very meditation-based sect, and it was based on kind of Hindu practices.

And it just involved, like, you know, meditating and chanting and doing some public service. You know, you were required to do, like, to do service. And, you know, eating a lot of vegetables and shit. My mom is not into it. Both of my parents have left that group, and my mom is now a Buddhist, and she has been for about 25 years.

Oh, wow. And your dad, is he practicing anything? My dad's just looking cool. have left that group and my mom is now a buddhist and she has been for about 25 years oh wow and uh and your dad is he practicing anything my dad's my dad's just looking cool my dad's yeah yeah yeah spending time being the neighborhood action jackson and where are i mean you said your mom's local but where's your dad now oh i was i grew up in the bay area so he's still he's oh he's still up there yeah yeah um and when they split were you in the ashram when they split or did no well we're living across the street oh wow um and uh yeah yeah and i don't know you know i've i i probably just have a high tolerance for like traumatic events because i remember when they split up being like they gave it a try. Oh, really? Wow.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I had seen them really like, really get back, you know, break up and get back together and break up. And I remember once walking into my parents' maybe when I was like eight and they were making out on the couch. And I was like, they are really putting their backs into this. Like good for them.

So by the time they broke up, I was like, I really felt like they had given it their all right i really don't have a lot of you know they were they did a very good job because they didn't fight i mean maybe they fought but we never saw it they never used us as pawns you know they never like manipulated us or or leveraged us against each other and they also never said anything bad about the other one yeah so i just didn't have that like you know you know your dad's an asshole or your or your mom is a soul succubus you You know what I mean? Like I just had like, my parents, you know, didn't want to be married anymore. And, uh, you know, and yeah. Uh, and you said us,

do you have a sibling or a younger sister, a younger sister? Oh, okay. Um, well that's good. I mean, it's, you know, that can be such a trauma that it's. It can be. Now, is it a trauma that you think you sort of compartmentalized and then it came out later? Or do you really feel like. I really wonder about that, Andy. Am I just a weirdo that I was like, you know, it's cool. But no, I don't think I don't think I did compartmentalize that. I know it was harder on my sister because she was younger. Yeah.

And I also know that, like, I lived with my dad and my sister lived with my mom, and so I got a lot of access to my mom. My mom was really present in my life. She made a point of always being available to me. My dad was a dad, and dads are dads, and he worked a lot, and so he wasn't as available to my sister, which I think was not a choice or intentional, just that

he was a dad. But he came around a lot, and they both really worked hard to be a part of the other person's life. Oh, that's good. I just think my sister missed the quotidian. She missed the day-to-day with my dad. Yeah. Because I was a little older, I could get that from my mom because I could just call her on the phone.

Right. You know, and that just might have been a function of our age. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's so interesting. Like, I don't have kids, like I said. So I don't know if I would feel differently about it if I did. But what I do feel like now, now that, you know, I was married and I'm now I'm divorced and I have friends who are like on their second marriages, is that maybe this idea that people stay together forever is just pretty much a false construct. Yeah.

And people can do it and people do do it. But the idea that it's the default state, I think I let go at a young age. Yeah. You know what I mean? I just think hopefully what you want to do is just not be a dick. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, exactly. How can you know when you're 22 who you're going to be at 42?

I don't know. That's just ridiculous. I don't know. I mean, you know, I was doing, and I think you and I were both, you were married 25 years. I was married 25 years. Yeah. And that's a long time. You know, that's a long time.

And that's. It's half of your life. I mean, it's literally half of both of our lives. Yeah. Yes. Our grownup lives at least. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. But yeah, it's, it was, well, I think like I like we got divorced better than my parents did, and that's nothing against my parents. It's just, well, maybe it is a little bit. No, but you probably know more. You probably know more about it. You've seen more of it around you. You've seen people do it well.

You've seen people do it poorly. I think people, our parents, I think my parents probably handled it well because they were hippies and meditated all the time. Right, right. It was like a peace-oriented way of looking at the world because I had friends whose parents divorced and it was just like war. Right. And like scorched earth. Like nobody escaped, right?

Yeah. Like kids just beaten to a pulp. Right. Parents in drivels, right? And I think now we just know that like that's not how it should be. And maybe we're easier. I mean mean you know jesus andy divorce is fucking excruciating it is excruciating i don't care if even if you are the

one who wants to get out it is like the most agonizing thing that i have ever gone through yeah and so the easier you can make it on yourself and others, you know what I mean? Like, it's not not going to be like, you know, just an agonizing experience. And so you're just trying to like get through it without without destroying everything around you. Yeah, if you were if you were if you're a normal, healthy, I mean, relatively healthy person mentally and you are in a marriage. mentally and you are in a marriage under good faith circumstances, there's no way that it's not going to be one of the worst things you've ever been through. I mean, in some ways I felt like when I left, I mean, I don't really feel this way now, but at the time it hurt so much and it caused such disruption that I was like, it might've been easier if I died, you know,

like it might've just, no, but you know what I mean? Yeah. It's like, it's like, this is all so much, this is all so awful. And you know, and when you're in it, you don't see the end of it. Like I remember my sister saying, you know, it takes a couple of three years before you're really on your feet emotionally. And I was like, what? I don't have time for that. I got to get out. I need some pussy. So did I, Andy. So did I. You know, I remember that feeling so much. I just remember feeling like I am never going to be okay again. I'm never going to feel okay again. I am going to be sad for the rest of my life. And I had a friend, I had a couple of friends say something similar, like, you know, you just need to give it time. I was like, oh, fuck yourself. Fuck it, you know? And it did just

get better. And literally, I don't think it was anything other than a function of time. Like, it's just that, like, the agony needed to slowly subside. And I was just like, you're going to feel like you have to vomit every day. And then one day you're going to feel less puide. And I was just like, you're going to feel like you have to vomit every day. And then one day you're going to feel less pukey. And that I can't, you know, for friends of mine that were coming out of relationships, I'm like,

I can't give you any more insight than that. Like you just gotta, you gotta gut it out. Yeah. Um, and I do remember when I first separated, um, and I got my own place and I had never lived alone my entire adult life.

Cause I met my ex in college. Um, I had an apartment, I left my own apartment, you know, and, uh, and I would never lived alone my entire adult life because I met my ex in college. I had an apartment. I had my own apartment, you know, and I would get home every day. You know, I don't, I'm not, I'm not a doctor, everybody. This is not advice.

But for me, I really didn't handle it in like a mature way. I came home every day and I would make like a double Negroni and I would smoke and listen to sad music and just cry and smoke and drink. Like I just was like, I just turned into like a retired, like, you know, New York Fire Department

captain or something. But it worked for me. I mean, that really did work for me. I just was like, I was just like, you know, Ray LaMontagne for a few months. And then I kind of- Oh, upbeat stuff. Yeah, and I slowly kind of floated out of it. I was just like Ray LaMontagne for a few months. Oh, upbeat stuff. Yeah, and I slowly kind of floated out of it.

Yeah. And I think all you can do really is try not to take that shitty feeling out on everybody around you. Yeah. You know? That's good advice for everything. Don't. I mean, that's always, for me, especially in a workplace, I always like, look, if your bad day doesn't need, you know. Your bad day has nothing to do with me, bro.

If your shit bucket is full, don't slosh it. You know what I mean? Right. Walk carefully, please. Hold it still. Yeah. Just hold it still. Everybody like, you know, behind so we can get out of your way. Right.

Right. Can't you tell my loves are growing well now um we'll go uh well did i mean did you find yourself thinking back i i'll win then we'll move off a divorce i don't mind talking about it i don't really talk about it that much so this is kind of this is kind of a revivifying oh good yeah um did you find yourself thinking back on your on on your parents' divorce and, and seeing any, like any kind of parallels, any kind of like, you know, thinking about what they went through when it happened and, you know? You know, I think two things. I think the fact that I didn't have children in some ways might have made it easier, right? Because I wasn't so worried about how it was going to affect other, other people. Right. I was mainly just worried about how it was going to affect other people. I was mainly just worried about how it was going to affect me and my partner.

Yeah. But I think the thing that I hope that I internalized from my parents was that I just really wanted to be kind. Like I never wanted to fight about it. I didn't want to be cruel. I worked really hard to be as kind as I could. You know, people get so angry when they're going through something like this. And a lot of the anger is in specific.

They just are furious with you and furious at themselves. And so people say and do things that they don't mean. And I just really tried to just not, I just tried to be like, you know, this is someone that you're with for half of your life. No matter what happens after this, that person is going to be after your parents, probably the most influential person on you to date. And I don't, I did not see the fact that I was married for 25 years and then I got a divorce as like a mistake or a failure. I was like,

I did it, man. 25 years is a long time to be, to do anything. And, and it was wonderful. And then things changed. And so for me,

I just, the thing I took from them was I just wanted to be as kind as I possibly could to my, to my ex and to myself and to realize that like, people are going to say and do things they didn't mean and to not, you know, what happens is someone says or does something and then, and then that's revenge time, right? All of a sudden, like, you know, fuck it. I was, I was being nice, but now I'm going to cut the cat in half, you know, and give you the ass end. Um, and you know, people just get so petty and so cruel. Uh, and I just really wanted to avoid that. So I, I hope, I mean, people just get so petty and so cruel. And I just really wanted to avoid that.

So I hope, I mean, that's really what I tried to do is to just be nice. You know, it's just, it's just mean. And then, you know, you do something mean and then, and then you really, you just feel like, you know, you wake up like, oh, I'm a piece of shit. So I tried not to do that. throughout the divorce process that i did something like like there was a family event that i skipped because i was pissed at my ex-wife and i said i'll celebrate it with the kids at a you know the next day or something and like that was and that was just because i was that was purely because i was pissed there was no other reason other than my anger to do that and within like probably the next day I was like okay that was a mistake like I shouldn't

have done that I should never have let just like because there's it's one thing to be angry but if but the way that you act has to have some some construct you know it's just yeah it's just constructive forward moving yeah because you can't because you end up destruction is not yeah destruction is not in anybody's interest i mean yeah you're you're breaking something up but you're you know if you're trying to avoid collateral damage right the idea is like can we do this in a way that again doesn't scorch doesn't salt the earth behind us yeah because you know the other thing that the other thing that happens typically in these and again you know i can't speak how it is with kids but you know friendships come apart a lot of you lose a lot you lose all these shared

touch points that you know you don't want to lose and you don't want the other person to lose but it just naturally happens and so the loss is is like compounded because you lose everything, you know? And so then to go and break the last few glasses in the cupboard, it just seems like overkill, but it's also so normal to be so angry that you're not thinking clearly. Right. And a lot of that happens where you're just blind with rage. And then, you know, you wake up the next day and you're like, wait a minute. Who was who was that guy? Yeah. Yeah.

It's just so hard. Did you go to therapy? Yeah, we yeah, we were in therapy. Well, we had been to couples therapy with success throughout the throughout the marriage at different points. You know, that we there we'd hit kind of a rough, non-communicative patch. And then we'd go to therapy and it would work and we would sort of get to a good place again and i mean you know and then 25 years it's the large bulk of it was really good and like i said we're humans and we're complicated humans and we're both kind of

cranky and crazy and weird you know but i but yeah that's why we're together is one of the things right right i mean you know that's what makes you interesting yeah by the way but we were towards the end yeah we went to we we did like a final stretch of of therapy that really sort of was you know it was kind of like okay this is not like this isn't just this isn't just like a problem with the therapist or this particular episode of therapy isn't working. Like this is really kind of laying bare that this is not, not going to work.

This is so interesting. Yeah. And for people who are listening, who are in a relationship and thinking about couples therapy, you should absolutely do it because you should learn stuff about yourselves. But what's so funny is I remember a girlfriend of mine who's a, who's a therapist saying, you know, a lot of people resist couples therapy because they want to break up and they're worried that if they go to therapy,

it's going to either convince them or show them or make them stay together, right? Yeah. But what I have found, interestingly enough, is that a lot of times therapy can show you that you actually should separate. And hopefully then you're just trying to find a way to do it again in a kind way that doesn't like do a lot of damage. And that's so strange because couples therapy really is intended to keep couples together. Yeah. But sometimes it just shows you, I mean, not like, oh, not that there's anything wrong with you or that there's anything wrong with the relationship. But it's in some sense just show you like you don't want the same things anymore.

Yeah. And, you know, it's tough because I'm sure a lot of traditionalists out there would say, well, you should try to work past that. But, you know, there's also, you also only have one life. And I don't know that you should be sublimating your own desires for 70 years on the planet to someone else. own desires for 70 years on the planet to someone else no uh i looked i looked at it as you know i had it's sort of like what you said i um you know there's like there is kind of like three parts of your life and it's your childhood your adulthood and then your dotage you know like when you're just, how dare you place us in dotage? I will come over there. No, we're not, we're not in dotage yet,

but you know what I mean? There's, there's like, there's like, if you're lucky 20 years where you're just, you know, you're retired and you're just kind of, you know, hanging out, rock them. So, you know, I figure, I figure like I am, you know, I probably will work till I'm 70 ish. I would hope. So I was sitting there thinking like I am, you know, I probably will work till I'm 70-ish, I would hope. So I was sitting there thinking like I'm halfway through my grown-up life. And if I, like the best it was going to get, it seemed, was just kind of getting along okay. And I just was like, that's not enough for the rest of my life. That's not enough. And that was one of the things about it that was really, that I didn't expect. And I didn't realize it's going to happen,

but it wasn't just like the death of the marriage and the household. It was like a future that I had held in my head for probably before I was even married. Cause I had this idea about being married and what my life would be when I was old and how we would go grow old together. And I had that for 25 years in my head. And it wasn't until we split that I realized, oh, that that future is gone to like that future that I that I had like real concrete goals. I guess they would be because they hadn't happened yet, but they didn't seem like goals. They just seemed like, well, yeah, we're going to do that where it was it was gone you know and in some ways it's kind of you know when you're in the thick of it it kills that the past a little bit too because you think about that person that you loved or who was your you

know who is your person who is your baby you know and i don't mean baby baby i mean you know i mean your sweetheart yeah and you look you you know that space too, you look back on those times and you're like, yeah, but it's also this person that I don't like anymore, you know, or that I'm mad at, or who did this or who said this. And so you just, you really are, it feels like barren earth. Like just, you just clear the decks of everything. God, that is so wild. Cause I've been thinking a lot about that about the way that you felt a specific way about this person they were your person yeah so all of these memories and experiences all like imbue your this relationship with a certain set of values and then you also look back and you feel differently and and you almost can't remember

who you were when you felt that way about that person. Like that person, the Andy of 15 years ago or the Aisha of 15 years ago seems like another human being. Yeah. And that's, I think really, really a very strange feeling. Because I think when you're 25, you think I'm always going to know what I want and who I am.

I'm always going to be exactly this person. And I always say this younger people, and then they always go, shut up, old lady across the street. But, but there is just no way for you to know. There is no way for you to know who you're going to be in 20 years. I promise you, you are not going to wake up at 45 and feel want, need, understand the same things about yourself. It's just an impossibility. And all you can do really is just try to like grow with this partner. And if you can't grow with them,

find a kind way to go on your own path. But I wonder, I know this is, Ooh, it's turning into why you should three questions, isn't it? Oh, well,

that's fine. I wonder if I'm getting paid though. You aren't other than all the, Oh yes. I'm getting absolutely nothing for this. Other than all the pussy that's raining out of the sky for you, Andy. And I imagine you now,

a divorced man, like Lucy Arnaz at the chocolate factory, just can't fit at all in your mouth fast enough. It's falling all over the place. But it's all over your fingers, all over your face. Yeah, yeah. But. The cleanup is terrible.

Terrible, terrible. Avocado tree is nothing compared to pussy raining out of the sky. Good Lord. Delightful, but quite messy. Did you find personally, like I think this is something that's really interesting. You know, when you're in a relationship, you are constantly filtering most of your choices, not all, but most of your choices through the prism of how it's going to affect another person or whether they're going to want to participate. Or you as a team or whatever. Yeah, exactly. And then, and because you were married as long as you were,

I'm assuming that this was similar for you. It's a very strange feeling to be like, I can do whatever I want. And I sit on the couch at three o'clock in the afternoon and eat pizza and drink whiskey. And then I'm going to Kung Fu punch a rabbit, whatever it is that you like to do. Right, right.

You've just never had a framework where every decision is your own. uh and that's um strangely liberating and a little disorienting i think if you've been in a long relationship absolutely because i would um there was a little bit of that well i mean it's overall sad and lonely and you know especially with kids you know and but there is a part of like hey i got my own space for the first time in a million years and especially i think like i don't know if it's just a dad thing or it's just the kind of dad that i am uh because i tend to be kind of like a codependent person anyway like like my whole life has been avoiding the question hey and, Andy, what do you want? My question, because I don't really know

and I kind of find that daunting. And also I was so used to from an early age being around people with louder voices going, well, I'll tell you what I want. And then I go, okay, well, let's get that for you. And maybe while we're doing that, I'll figure out what I want. And then you just fast forward 50 years.

Right. And here I am. Still here here so there was part of like i had only lived alone once in my life and it was awful it was like just at a real low shitty point in my life and i had no money um so it was kind of gross and terrible and then this was like all right i I got a nice apartment. And I worked really hard to make it livable fast because my daughter was 13 at the time. And I did not want to have one of those fucking, you know, bed on a bed frame and couch divorce dad apartments, you know, with like a couple of ketchup packets in the drawer. You know, I wanted, I hung pictures right away. I made it like a livable sort of thing. But then I found myself to like, because I was so, I didn't know what to do with myself. My, I can do anything. I would tell myself I could, I can do whatever I want,

but it was usually like, like, well, cause yeah, cause I don't have anybody to do anything with, you know? And it took a while to get to like, no, no, fuck that. I can do whatever I want. And if there's, you know, and I'm, you know, and that isn't to say either too, like that I can go out and, you know, go out and hook up and stuff. Cause I'm, I don't even know how to do that, really. It's not particularly rewarding, I think.

I think it's a false construct. I think the minute you think you can do it, you're like, oh, this is sad. Nikki Glaser recommended me because you have to get recommended to be on Raya. Raya, yeah, yeah. So she recommended me and I was like, oh, you know. That is just a little celebrity fuck room, Raya. It was, I looked at it. And it was weird because like in order to get in there

and look at it, you have to be like, like provide five pictures of you. And I just was like, ugh. Already this feels like too much. What, like headshots? What the fuck do you want? Just send them a poster of andy rick i know i felt like here's a link here's a google link google me bitch yeah you can see

this big floppy head as much as you want on on the internet but i just so i'd like in the you know and like pick a song to go along with the like little montage and all this shit and uh and then i started looking at it and i just i just felt vertigo like oh my god like it just looked like every la phony that i've ever seen and you know and you know and just and i see a couple people that i recognize that i know that you know yeah i mean men and women you know because then i like you know because i want to see what men what you know what the men's profiles and stuff look like and i'm looking at that and it just it all seemed like the grossest la party i've ever been to that makes me go embarrassed let's just you know drive through astro burger

and go home you know literally i was just about to, let's just leave and go to Astro Burger. Let's just get out of here. And but I I and the one of the turning point for me was one of the women who was and I did, you know, I did appropriate ages. I didn't like go like from from 17 on, you know, but like there was a grown up woman on there, but she listed her job as denim architect. Nope. Nope. Nope.

Goodbye. No. And I just, that was, I was like, this is not, this is not the place for me. You work at the Gap. That's not a thing. This is not a place. Yeah. What?

You trim, you know, like you tailor blue jeans? She folds them and then piles them up in the blue jean section according to size. I don't know, but I was like, denim architect. Are you living in a denim house? That seems dangerous. Very flammable. One rain, then the sun shines again and you're, you know, you've lost a bedroom. You're down to the den.

But yeah, have you never been on Raya? Have you never done that? No, no. This is so weird, but I feel like you described everything I would have felt had I gone on Raya. Yeah, yeah. And I would prefer to be alone. And I know that that sounds like superioristic. That's not how I feel.

I just, I have a, it's weird because we're both, you know, comedians. But I somehow have a low tolerance for embarrassment in my personal life. Oh, I absolutely. I humiliate myself on stage for everybody's enjoyment. To be embarrassed in real life, I just, maybe because I get so much humiliation in my job. Yeah. I don't need any extra humiliation in my private life. So, no, I just, I, one thing I did do is I just, after I, after my Ray LaMontagne phase, during which, by the way, you were talking earlier about not doing stuff, I just decided

I was going to be sad. And so, as a result, I really, if you can enjoy being sad, I really, like, I enjoyed it. I was like, I'm sad. I ate, like, you know, $50 worth of sugar fish like every day just alone in my apartment. I was like, I'm going to take care of myself. So I did kind of revel in just in kind of being mopey and miserable. But when I came out of it, I just immersed myself in my social life.

That was what I did. I just like I became like almost hyper social. And I mean, you know, I'm not embarrassed. I was like, you could find me dancing on a table on a Tuesday. You know what I did. I just like, I became like almost hyper-social. And I mean, you know, I'm not embarrassed. I was like, you could find me dancing on a table on a Tuesday, you know what I mean? I was like, I just went out with friends. And that just kind of, it was a good distraction and maybe it like sharpened my muscles a little bit.

But I just don't, I'm just so, I hear so many horror stories about Raya. I don't think I could tolerate even one of those things happening. Do you know what I mean? Like one of them would send me into like a tailspin for the rest of my adult life. Yes. I would rather, no. I don't, I, you know, I love people, but I don't like that many people.

Yes, that's fair. That's fair. In a general sense, yes, I love people. i don't like that many yes you know what i mean that's fair in a general sense yes i love people i love humanity i think we're funny and hilarious and stupid and wise and but like but in actual practice like you know if i get on a bus how many of those people am i going to actually have a good chat with and that's you know and that's i'm you know that's yeah oh is that superior yeah probably well that's that's but that's just right i mean yeah but it's it's tough for people to really connect in a meaningful way anyway yeah so you know i think that's just normal and then two people you might talk to two people

and might find both of them to dullards or inscrutable and then they might talk to each other and love each other that's just like the right right exactly right so but it's like but i just know from 54 years of being on this planet, odds are like if I sit down next to someone, we might have a pleasant chat. But for us to really connect like that doesn't happen very often. And especially, too, with the path of my life, like now having been a funny person in a place that didn't have a lot of funny people and then meeting other funny people and then your job is to be around funny people it spoils you like just because and i mean and i'll you know from being on the conan show for all those years meeting people that i don't know but i know their their work i like their work they know me they know my work and because we're just

kind of the same type we hit it off immediately like short, you just get a shorthand right away. Like, Hey, I know you, you know me, we can just go right. You jump way ahead to like the fifth meeting. Yeah. Go right into call each other fucker, you know? Yeah, exactly. Call each other assholes. Like first 30 seconds. Yeah, totally. Right. Right. Yeah. And also like, it's not just that you're, that you're around all these funny people. Cause, because I feel like, I mean, that's part of it i think but there's something else which is that you live we live in a community and i think you could find these communities all over the world it's not just entertainment but specifically a community of like highly and look there's a lot of ding-dongs in this town too don't get me wrong but a community of highly engaged

people and so then to meet someone and again don't everybody out there start you know burning me an effigy wait till i'll say something later that'll make you even angrier but um but um to meet someone, and again, don't everybody out there start burning me an effigy. I'll say something later that'll make you even angrier. But to meet someone who is not that curious about the world, you're going to go on these dates and people are going to be obsessed with their tits or their eyelashes or the Kardashians. And you're like, I can't even muster a quarter of a boner to talk with you anymore. So you know what I mean? So like, you know,

it's just, you just, you're spoiled by living in a, in a, in an engaged group of artists that are thinking about the world a certain way. And again, I just keep, I'm just listening to the tweets,

but you know, it's not about political alliance or even though we're better than you, but it is just, we're more, we're more compassionate. We care about people. But it's just more about like the, sometimes you've been living, you've been kind of operating at 10,000 feet and, and then just, you know, to hang out with someone who's like super

excited because they got tickets to a concert or whatever. It's just like not going to get it done, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And it's, you know, there's, yeah, I always just look at it. There's somebody for everybody, but there's just, you know. There is. I, yeah, I, just look at it. There's somebody for everybody, but there's just, you know. There is. I don't know.

I think there are more than one person for everybody. And I also feel like in the time between when you're not with your person and when you're not with the next person, you can cobble together that person from your friendships. And so that was really what I, I like, I really engaged in my friendships and I was getting all kinds of like interesting engagement and support and fun and quite a bit of like, you know, like I got to do my twenties again. Cause I, you know, I met my ex when I was 19 and I don't regret any of it. And it was just fun. I just kind of like learned a bunch of stuff about myself. So I did that, you know what I mean? I did a lot of that. And that was that I found that to be satisfying. I mean, it's not the same as like, you know,

meeting some hot lady on Ryan, like shipping her in the back of your Porsche, but you know, I did that too. Can't you tell my loves are growing? Were you, um, uh, were you still on the talk when you split with your husband i was yeah and was that i mean was that hard to i mean did you address it on air was it just something yes i did and it was just an infamous like blark fest um i did address it because i i'd really been wanting to I did address it because I, I'd really been wanting to not talk about it because he's not in the business

and I did not want to like exploit him in any way or turn it into a story. And we really tried very hard to keep it out of the press. Unfortunately it got leaked. And so then I talked about it because I, I want, again, I wanted to protect him and I didn't want people to be speculating about the relationship. Yeah. So, you know, I really I worked really hard to keep it out completely out of the public eye.

But unfortunately, somebody along the chain there slipped the papers to the public, which is, I think, another really stinky thing because it's an incredibly painful experience. And it really should be up to the couple to decide how and when to talk about it with whom. But when you're in this business, like nothing is ever your own. And I think that's awful because you're going through this terrible, terrible experience and then people are talking about you. Yes.

In the most disgusting, exploitative ways. In shitty, shitty ways. Shittiest ways. Shittiest fucking ways. And also it's like people who have a beef with you anyway, now there's a new thing to you know you know there's a savage you further yeah there's a new reason to like you know and i found a i found a big difference i've talked about this a little before i found a big difference from being a married guy on twitter with a bunch of joke pals of you know of of every gender and

every stripe that i joked with every day. And the second that it was announced that I was split from my wife, all of a sudden, any sort of like innuendo. Yeah. Every, every, every,

yeah. Every comment I made was basically come and fuck me now. You know, like I couldn't just like make a joke about, you know, whatever the rocks new movie without it be now you know like i couldn't just like make a joke about you know yeah whatever the rocks new movie without it be you know you're obviously hitting on that 28 year old like okay i guess all right you know i just i just want to see the movie guys i just want to make the jokes that i've always made you know yeah well all right we I want I want to ask you one other

question and I and I would just turn up it's the other thing that people do like they'll take their pot shots at you but they also will take pot shots at your spouse and like fuck off yeah and that made me even angrier because like I chose this job I can take it I you know what I mean I've taken it before but like you know they would say stuff about him like he was after my money. We met when we were in college. Right. And I had no money. I mean, it was just, it was infuriating.

It was really enraging to me. Yeah. And then, you know, you can't really give it any shine because if you do, you know, you're just really feeding that beast. So you kind of feel a little powerless to, you know, to protect someone that regardless of whether you're married anymore, you know, to, to, to do, to protect someone that regardless of whether you're married anymore, you still really care about. Um, so yeah, I mean, it's, uh, that's good. Yeah. Getting divorced. Well, well, I wouldn't say famous. How about infamous?

Well, no, I mean, you're known and it's the same thing and it's like, and you are known. And so like, I don't know, like, I don't know why anyone cares about seriously my life at all i mean i'm not tom cruise i'm not you know i'm not anybody interesting you know i i really do have i find you fascinating mr rector but i'm but i mean no i don't think i'm boring but i mean but in sort of like lurid terms you know is i i don't do anything interesting like i don't you know what i mean i'm i just don't and so it was always a shock to me that anyone cared um but i do feel like now now setting up like i i do i don't ask you this about you know when you met the person that you were with for 20, however, because we were together for 27, married for 25.

You know, nobody knew who I was. And now people know who I am. So like dating has a different thing. And especially, especially with like the app kind of notion, like I would be loathe to do that anyway. But now that I'm a known quantity i just and i don't you know this it's part of it i think i just like well how are they ever gonna like know it's me like how are they you know like like do they because i don't get off on the notion of hey somebody that likes me being on television wants to go on a date with me.

That does not appeal to me. I want somebody that's like, who actually, I don't know, takes a chance on who I actually am, not on my fucking IMDB stuff or a clip reel. And it's weird. And the fear is that that's inescapable. That your public persona is an inescapable aspect of how people perceive you and the fear is that

you will never meet anybody ever again who doesn't know andy richter from television right and so and i mean this is this i know this sounds kind of rarefied but i think it's i think it's true how will you know if somebody actually likes you it It's a really frightful, you know, space, headspace to be in, which is like, you're not being paranoid. I mean, I want to move through the world in a normal way. I do want to go to Asperger at one o'clock in the morning in my sweatpants.

I don't want to be riding around in a limousine and, you know, eating bowls of diamonds. Like, I don't know, other, you know, Rihanna or whatever. But the fear is that, is anybody I'm interacting with that I didn't know before interacting with me or interacting with my IMDb page?

Yeah. You know, and I just think that's, to me, I think that's probably the toughest part of coming out of a relationship later in life is like, do I trust other people and i guess maybe do i trust myself do i trust my own feelings yeah you know i think that's i i yeah so i'm just adding to your existential dread here did you get burned at all by it well in dating because you know i

mean i haven't dated a ton anyway and it you know and it's unavoidable but you know i've i've had a nice time dating you know i mean yeah yeah i haven't like met any creeps you know, and it's unavoidable, but you know, I've had a nice time dating, you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. I haven't like met any creeps, you know? Yeah. No, I haven't really, I haven't really met any creeps. I have a low tolerance for, uh, I just, I don't, I don't, I have a low tolerance for creeps. So, yeah. So like, uh, you know, I think that there are people that get trapped in this kind of, they really want to be in a relationship they're willing to tolerate behavior or or or interact with someone who may not actually have their best motivations and they do because they want to be in a relationship you know what i mean and i i just i don't i don't i don't need any new people so if i'm going to take somebody on i really kind of will really assess as much as i

can yeah who they are and what they're looking for. Right. Send a private investigator after. Absolutely. I dog chip them when they're asleep and I have all their cars, have trackers on them. I go through their fecal matter every morning and I test for drugs. Wow. And then if I find drugs, I go, why didn't you give me any drugs? So it's a very, it's a reliable system.

But it's not like I'm better at this than anybody else. I just think that like, especially when you hear about these really exploitative things where a celebrity, you know, gets together with somebody and then there's a big money thing or something. I think it's just typically because people are afraid of being alone, you know? And so they don't kind of listen to their own inner, you know, suspicious person. But I have not. No, I mean, I lost some people last year. Not that they didn't die.

But I do think that COVID really highlighted who was worth keeping in your life and who maybe was just a good time friend. Oh, really? You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I do feel like Yeah. I do feel like that. I do feel like there's some people that maybe we all have that we've been carrying

and they're fun to be around, but then when things really got challenging, they didn't really show up. Yeah. So I think for a lot of, I know for me and for some of my close friends that we, we, we lost a couple of people just because we felt like, okay, life is really short. And I want the people that I give my time to to love me as much as i love them yeah yep that's a good one that's a good rule to follow well i'm looking at the time here uh and we've been blabbing uh have you even asked me one question andy well i mean but this is listen it's all it's all it's the concept is bullshit uh i mean we've talked about in terms of like where you come from, this is where you come from.

This is especially the most recent history. And I know for myself, you know, if I was to talk about like the person I am now, the biggest effect of who I am right at this very day, the biggest impact on that was this divorce. You know, I mean, all that, whatever I learned as a kid and whatever I learned coming up in my career and everything, all of that's there. But in terms of like who I actually am right now, compared to a couple of years ago, that's all the divorce. It's all the divorce. It's all being out on my own. It's all figuring out how to be on my own. Cause I did not know. I didn't, I just didn't even have the skills to really be on my own.

So yeah, it's, I mean, that's, I mean, that's where I come from in a large extent over the last couple of years. So, yeah, I mean, I, I love that you have that kind of clarity about yourself. I don't like, I know that I didn't, I did not think I was going to get a divorce. I was very confident I was going to be married forever. Yeah, me too. different person. And I think that, so I found what you said really compelling because I think what happens is then you go on this journey of like a new journey of kind of like self-discovery of like, wait, who am I now? And what does this mean? And if you can get there, I think you've gotten most of the work done because most people just suffer and they just wonder what happened,

you know what I mean? And they're pissed and they're sad and to really be in a space of like oh this has really changed me and i'm learning a lot about myself and i intend to keep growing i mean you've probably done it the best way that you possibly could because the fact of the matter is like you know nobody can control what happens in their lives you know to a large extent and you've just got to find a way to be fluid and be kind to yourself yeah and then be kind to the people that you love yeah right yeah absolutely well we have to get to your liquor oh yes let's get to my liquor yeah uh i was sent speaking of drinking myself into a stupor this is like now see now it becomes like a real talk show where we're going to do a segment about your product so tell me what do you have to plug today, Aisha? Let me grab them. Hold on there. It's just off camera here.

In Andy's capacious beachside mansion. In Burbank. In Burbank. Burbank, Malibu. This is Courage and Stone is the name of this. Now, how does this come about? So this actually- And these are pre-mixed cocktails.

These are premium pre-mixed, ready to drink cocktails. You said it. It really came out of like, strangely, I think it kind of came out of our jobs. Like, you travel for work and you'd have these great meals and you'd have these great drinks. And then I'd get home like on a Wednesday, you know, after like whatever, 14 hours on set and I'd want a drink and, uh, and I wouldn't know how to make it. And I'd have like a sad, you know, bottle of like oxidized Sauvignon Blanc in the fridge. And I was like, I want one of those cool things I had the other night. And so I started making, I started kind of, I had bartended a little bit, but I started kind of teaching myself how to make

classic cocktails. And then just quickly realize that like most people don't have the money or the time or the resources to like build out a proper bar to be able to make a lot of different stuff. Right. You need like bitters, this and remove that, a bunch of garbage. And so I started, and also I was like, I'm pooped. I don't want to make a drink. I want, I want, I just want a drink. Right. And so I started batching cocktails and keeping them in my fridge,

like in just a swing top bottle, so I could pour out a Negroni when I got home without making a mess. And I was like, wouldn't it be cool if you could buy these? And that's literally how it happened. Yeah. And so then I embarked on a year of very focused, concentrated day drinking. It was a very fun year fun year i just kind of tasted stuff and formulated came up with my own formulas and then found um found an investor and

started this company and when i was first getting into this which was honestly 2014 the are the ready to drink category was really like non-existent but now you're seeing a lot more people come into is there more space yeah there are they're out there you know uh ours is the best but um but um but you know you what you see more is like what people think about ready to drink now is like white claws so you know they're like kind of just it's kind of like a vodka soda in a can so we're at the other at the upper end you know yeah yeah more a little bit more premium um completely natural no stabilizers or fillers or corn syrup it's a whole foods compliant i really wanted to make the kind of drink that would be good enough that you you could it could be served in a bar yeah

yeah because i it's not i mean for me the you know i remember i mean i haven't drank a ready-made drink in forever that's part of that is because um i like to make drinks i know how to make like i know i know various drinks and i mean, I cook and stuff anyway. So I, for me, it's fun. And I, and I,

and I like to have weird shit up in my cat up in my show off. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Oh, show off. Absolutely. No,

no, but like, you know, you want to be, you like, you, you care about it. Like there's times when I want a real,

uh, trader Vicks, my tie. Yeah. And in order to do that, you want to be, you like, you care about it. Yeah. Like there's times when I want a real Trader Vic's Mai Tai. Yeah. And in order to do that, you need Orchid syrup, which is an almond syrup. And like three different juices. Yes. Yeah. And I'm willing to do that most of the time. You know, most of the time.

Sometimes I'll take Limeade and tequila and call it a margarita. and tequila and call it a mark or a margarita um but but also too in my from when i was younger but like canned cocktails look like shit garbage oh yeah and those garbage cocktails still exist like the harvey wall bangers of the world yes so like this end of the of the of the spectrum is relatively new uh and i really didn't i really wanted to do something that i thought okay this is something you could keep on your bar cart yeah you could pour it out without any effort. But it wouldn't really necessarily – like I still have a whiskey collection. I probably have like 30 whiskeys. Like I love that stuff.

I'm into it. But it was really like the solution for when you came home at 10 o'clock after taping a show and you were pooped and you wanted a drink. you know, 10 o'clock after taping a show and you were pooped and you wanted to drink. And this is not to keep banging on a dead and also divorced horse. But I did find that when I separated, I stopped wanting to cook anything. I stopped wanting to do anything. Just wanted to sit around and mope. And so cooking really like I stopped.

I just stopped cooking. I was like, no, someone will bring something here at some point that is edible. Whether I ask them to or not. Exactly. Here, I'm going to try. I'm going to take a sip of the old fashioned. A little bit of ice there. No, I kept it in the fridge.

OK, it's good. It is. It is foolproof. So it is meant to. It's meant to pour over ice so that after 20, 25 minutes, because it's foolproof, it will still have a lot of structure even after ice melt. But it's delicious. Oh, thank you. It's really good.

And I have poured out the Manhattan. Oh, yeah, the Manhattan. Oh, you're such a classy fellow, Andy. I love it. It's a black Manhattan, so it's going to be a little spicier and chocolatier than your kind of conventional Manhattan. I like the Manhattan a lot. And I'm more partial to old fashions. You like the Manhattan?

I like it. Yeah, yeah. It's really good. I'm so happy. I'm so happy. And it is nice because it is like I can – I mean, I would drink these. And like I say, I'm not – because when I come home at 10 o'clock at night and I'm too tired to make a cocktail, I will pour booze in a glass and be happy. Yes, yes.

And you don't need – Like, I don't need – Enjoy fancy. Yeah, I don't need any, you know, fancy ingredients. Just booze in a glass will work, you know. I really tried to make these for people who love great food, who like entertaining, who maybe don't have the skill set or the wherewithal or the time to make this stuff from scratch but want something that tastes as good as they get in a bar. But I also,

I want it like, I, I also wanted to make it for people who are kind of like, like lay drinkers. Right. So, you know, I,

I will go drink. I will drink to, you know, two fingers of virus whiskey. Right. I will. But I, I remember I have a friend who like would always see people in movies

drinking whiskey and was like oh you know there's they've got it in the glass and the rocks and it's golden and sniftery or whatever they'd up to yeah then poured themselves two fingers of whiskey and we're like so this is also kind of um like a like an entry into drinking premium whiskey but it's got a little bit of sweetness it's got the you know It's got the character of an old-fashioned. Yeah. And it's meant to kind of be for the everyman drinker or the everylady.

You know what I mean? Did you do this because you thought like, hey, I could, like, is this like, I think this is a way I could make some real money, you know, like some good money. Or was it just because it's fun and, you know, and you have an entrepreneurial spirit because I don't know if I could, you know, and you have an entrepreneurial spirit? Because I don't know if I could.

I mean, I would have an idea like that. And I don't know that I'd ever pull the trigger on it just because I'd feel like, what do I know about things? I'm naive. Somebody bring me some eggs. Yeah. Which is everybody in Hollywood. We're like, where are my eggs? I ordered eggs.

What's my eggs? He's laughing because he knows it's true. So, no, you know what it was? It was kind of both, but it was more the second. I loved cocktails.

I love cocktail culture. I love bars. I love bartenders. Like I feel like even more than chefs and I love great food, but like bartenders are really purveyors of joy, right? Like their job is to like, see you kind of see what you need, talk to you just enough to keep you entertained, but not bother you leave

you alone. If you're mopey, chat it up with you. If you're into sports, like they're just, they're, they're these kind of like happiness agents. And I love spending time in bars. I love drinking great drinks. And it was just kind of extension of that, like loving that world. But I also remember having a conversation with a friend of mine, uh, who like old friend of mine and being like, you know, the difference between, you know, this is like over,

I'm sure drinks, you know, there's been you and me and like Zuckerberg or like, you know, Elon Musk and a guy who invented post-its. We have all these great ideas. We don't do anything about it. That's why those guys are billionaires.

And we're sitting here drinking at happy hour, spending $4 on a cocktail. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, the idea is like, um, it's the like um it's the execution right it's the it's if you have a great idea then it's the part where you actually execute and i that was a while ago it wasn't when i had this idea but then when i had this idea i was like i feel like this is a pretty good idea yeah i feel like i should see if i can do it it's it's substantial it's it's good looking

packaging thank you it does not seem like you know like cheap shit no and i really i worked it's not i worked very hard to make sure it's a small batch distillery that makes all of our spirits like i said that where there is no artificial coloring there is no artificial flavoring everything is natural i really wanted to make something that i would be happy with to put my name on um so it definitely wasn't like, I thought it would be like a get rich quick kind of thing. I thought if I'm going to do what I really wanted to do something, it'd be something that I would drink and that I would want other people to drink. Is it doing well? It's, you know, we just started, like we, we kind of launched during COVID. And so we had some success because people were ordering

online. Right. And that was great. And I think that was the great thing about last year. People were home. Yeah. And so we had a big jump in sales because you could order cocktails directly to your house and you could kind of replace your bar experience at home. And we did a bunch of fundraising last year. I did a lot of Instagram Lives to raise money around COVID relief.

So that was a big component of the year. And it's done well. And now we're just starting to kind of get into stores. So we're, we are available in LA at Bristol farms and at K and L and a lot of other places, but you can go to courage and stone.com and have it sent directly to your, to your sweaty grasping fingers.

And then you don't have to go to DT fingers, your shaky pink elephant. But yeah, it's, it's been, it's been a real journey for me because the other stuff I learned, honestly, and I like this part just as much, is I am an entrepreneur now. I started a business and a lot of it was really opaque to me in the beginning. I'm learning about all the aspects, all the operational aspects of running a business that I knew nothing about before. And I think it, I hope it's making me better at my, at my other jobs too, because, you know, we're also business people. I mean, we're entertainers, but we run a

little bit, you know, we run a business that is us. And I think a lot of times, especially when you first start out, you're kind of relying on a lot of other people to take care of you in this business, you know, managers and agents and all these other people. And again, this stuff is opaque to you. And then one day you wake up, you're like, wait a minute, what did I agree to? So being better at business, I think has been a nice side effect. And I'm happy because there are very few women in the spirit space, very few women of color, people of color generally. And I'm really hoping to be an example for other people that want to get into this space to be emboldened to do so and to diversify the spirit space,

which is just meant to, you know, just kind of like old whiskey white guys. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm excited about that. Just kind of giving other people, hopefully like a little bit of impetus to,

to maybe chase their own, their own good ideas. Well, good luck with it. It's really, it's, it's a, it's a cool idea and,

and it's a good product, you know, it's delicious. Yes. That was my, I mean, like, I know it's a good product. It is delicious. Yes. I know it's my company, everybody, and you're rolling your eyes out there, but I only cared if it tasted good. It's not yummy. If I don't want to drink it, then I can't put my name on it. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Well, what's next for you? Oh, wait. Go ahead. Go ahead. Ask me the question. And then you can ask me what's next for you? Oh, wait, go ahead. Ask me the question. And then you can ask me what's next. So my question for you is, and I think we share this experience as well, even though I wasn't on, for example, the talk as long as you were working with Conan.

But I wonder if your feeling when the show was over was similar to your feeling when you got a divorce, which is that this kind of unbridled freedom is both exciting and disorienting. Yes. Yes, absolutely. And I mean, and it was so weird and it kind of snuck up on us. And also, too, like I I had grown used to – our schedule was not very tough. Right. Like even when we were on the air as an hour, it wasn't very hard. I think the most sort of like – and we only had four-day work weeks because TBS always shows movies on Friday night. And that was that way from the beginning. So a four day work week is not that,

you know, Fridays I'd go in and, but it was very kind of optional for me at least. But then we'd have, you know, time off. And I got used to being a guy in LA that works in show business who just isn't working for a couple of weeks.

So I, I kind of adjusted that both before when I was married and now. So I kind of think I have some experience at being sort of underemployed. And I did prior to going back to work for Conan. I had, you know, there was, you know, months would go by when I wasn't really having much to do. So this is kind of crept up on me. It kind of crept up on me because such weird circumstances for it to end,

you know, like, which I actually found a blessing because the show was probably going to go off the air no matter what. Like, just it was not, not with tbs it just wasn't it was hard as a platform far away for a lot of people right yeah and the show the show does a lot better online than it does on tv you know i mean and it's been that way for a while um so we were probably going to be ending on tbs anyway And it's so much nicer that we ended on TBS when we had to be out of that studio rather than just have it Peter out in that studio. And then we go, okay, thanks everyone. Bye. And then, you know, a bulldozer comes in and pushes everything down.

So I still don't know if I fully wrapped my head around the notion, you know, I definitely have, I have moments of like, oh yeah, every day, every day that goes by was a day that I used to be making money. And now, you know, like nowadays,

like this day, I mean, I'm doing this and that makes me a little bit, but it's not like I had 10 years of every day. I was getting paid something, you know, if you want to amortize it over the over seven days a week or whatever. But that's just weird and and chilling at times.

And and but and also like there but there is the fear of like, is anyone ever going to love me again? Oh, of course. But no, but I know. I know exactly what you know what I mean. And precisely that way. Yeah. With precisely that kind of urgency that every day or every week. Yeah.

It's a different thing. I, I know exactly what you mean. Cause by love, I mean higher, you know what I mean? Give me money. But that,

that, I mean, give me money. Yeah. Trust me. Trust me to be in something that a lot of money has been poured into that's expected to get a lot of money back out. Right. And they're hiring me because they think the money's going to – not because they think I'm – I mean, that's the bottom line.

They think I'm funny and they like me and everything and they like my body of work. But the main thing is you got to make money back for them. That's why they're hiring you. They're not hiring you because they think you're cute they're hiring you because this somebody spent money on this guy before to for money to come back out of the machine uh so we're okay spending money on this guy because he has a track record of making money come back out not a ton of money i mean i haven't really been like one of those people that you know know, I don't have walk away money. You know, I mean, I still have to work for a living.

But, you know, but it's, I don't know. Yeah, I just, you know, it is, I don't know. You know, you end up feeling like, is this it? Am I, you know, and especially with COVID, Jesus Christ, I felt like I retired. So it kind of feels like, is this it now? Like, do I just kind of put around a house with a dog and, and Burbank and, you know, get on zoom calls every now and then? Well, I mean, was it, was the talk like that?

Did you feel, cause that was a willing exit. Yes, it was. It was a willing exit. And I'd been considering it for a while. I had directed a movie and I wanted to go out and try to direct another movie. I wanted to become, if not a full-time director, like primarily a director. And I knew that it was going to be very hard for me to say to somebody, hey, give me millions of dollars to direct a movie. I have a day job that works four days a week, 50 weeks a year.

Like that was just, I couldn't, I'm not going to be able to sell anything to anybody or they were like, all right, lady. And so I knew it was one or the other. And so while it was kind of, it was like a tearful exit, it was definitely like an exit that I wanted for myself. And, but I do remember being like, oh, the stability, the income, the, you know, the urgency, the relevancy of being on TV every day. Like, is that a loss

and but i also remember just feeling like kind of anything is possible right i wasn't limited by being on this one show and then this one's being seen this one way anymore uh and then it's taken a while you know what i mean like um i'm getting ready to direct my second feature now it's taken a while. You know what I mean? Like, I'm getting ready to direct my second feature now. It's, I mean, I think, I feel like I left the talk like four or five years ago. I'm not quite sure,

but it was a while ago. But, but also. What year was it? 2018? Was it 2017? 2017 is what I want to guess. But what I also will say is that I started directing TV and i've like been direct i mean i've been directing

almost like full-time doing that and that was really what i wanted so like i i always think about like that parable about the dog like you know you have somebody to drop a bone to get another bone right and like you're terrified to drop the first bone but like there's no way to get the second bone without dropping the first yeah yeah um and um i remember feeling like what's gonna happen and then i just consciously kept saying to my house a self just say in a different way just what's gonna happen yeah which is a feeling i hadn't had for such a long time because like you said your your days and your jobs are so prescribed yeah um and it is it is scary but the one thing i think that you have you you're just not only you're like

incredible intellect and how funny you are but one thing you have going for you is one thing that we have going for us now that maybe didn't exist like the first time Kona went off the air or like you know in all of the other long interreniums of my career where I was doing fuck all is like the ability to create for yourself

in a way that's even more tangible and more substantial now because of all the streaming services and all the digital options, you know, like, you know, you know, you've created a lot of stuff, but it's, it's, it's more competitive, but there's more room now to do more things. Yeah. I, I agree. I just don't, I don't take advantage of that enough. I don't do enough on my own. I mean, I, you know, my whole life I've been sort of like, I should be writing a screenplay on the side. And, and I, and I just like, you know, I, I got into improv. It wasn't an accident. It's cause, you know, I didn't want to write standup. I didn't want homework. I wanted to get,

I wanted to show up and do some funny stuff with some funny people and then go home. Absolutely. And, and there's like, that makes, that's great. And that makes great sense when you're Conan O'Brien sidekick. But now that I'm not, it's like,

and I, I mean, and I am, I have, there's irons and fires and I'm, I'm developing, I'm developing things, but you know,

but also to wait, you need to wait until you get excited about shit. Like that's not like you can just wake up in the morning with a great idea. Like, you know, the muse has to visit. You know what I mean? Yeah, absolutely. And also, too, like when you say it also, you know, when I actually when people ask me, like, I just actually was back in Illinois this last weekend for a family thing.

And people, you know, cousins like, well, so what now? And then I'm like, well, there's this and then there's this and then there's you know like just different like i say irons i have in fires and when i say it i go like oh gosh i have a lot i have like four or five potential revenue streams here but when i but because i know show business they're all so contingent on somebody you know some fucker that's been in maui for three months coming back and going like yes all right here you go here's two episodes yeah um so yeah it's you know it's i wish i wish i had more i mean i wish i was starting a booze business that's what i wish

i mean that'd be pretty sweet it would be be, it would be lovely. And it does, it does take all the time that I'm, that I'm not writing because I'm drinking whiskey, but. Cause you're enjoying the product. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, where are you going now? What's, what's next for you? Do you have any kind of plan or, you know, I mean, directing is, that's fantastic. I love it. Yeah, I'm really excited. If you put it right before a work thing, you can have me for six days in a row. Now I can plan that out a little bit better. But I love directing. It's like a beat the clock kind of game.

I love it. It's just like aggressive problem solving. Absolutely. Like a real life version of the cube. You're like, how do I get over there from over here without breaking this or falling on that? But yeah, I love it. And I, I kind of was aiming for it for a long time.

Didn't know if it was going to work. Didn't know if I was going to be good at it. Don't know if I was going to like it. And then just, you know, was able to slowly work my way into doing more of it. And it's, I love it and it's been going really well. So I just been directing a lot of television and I'm getting ready to

direct a feature in a few weeks. And then I'm like, my dance card is kind of like already loading up for next year. So I'm really happy about that. And I love it because I, first of all, because I don't have to go through hair and makeup. Uh, and I'm really to not have to care how you look. Oh boy. I love it. Oh, it's delicious. I, I, I never need to go through hair and makeup again. Uh, and then, um, And then I love it, not just for the reason that you said, the problem-solving thing, which I find delicious. I'm always like, we don't have time. Oh, we're going to get it done.

We're totally going to get it done. I can't wait. I love it. But also, the thing that I like about it is that when you're an actor, I mean, I do enjoy acting. You really are only responsible for caring for yourself, kind of what you're going to do, your decisions, your interactions, your inner space, maybe the other person in the scene. But when you're a director, you get to take care of everybody. You get to encourage everybody, and you get to coach everyone,

and you get to hopefully empower them all to do great work. And you get to be like, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, let's do it. And that's my default state is pew, pew, pew. So do you remember the cartoons well you're you're old like me do you remember the cartoon spike and tyke uh and that was the big bulldog and he had a little puppy friend and the puppy was like hey spike what are we gonna do today hey i'm totally tight when i'm on set like i just feel so stoked to be there yeah um i'm like rocking up to people like have you had a breakfast burrito dude this is fuck go

get a fucking breakfast burrito. Like I'm free. They're bad. That guy's just fucking making them when you ask him. I love it. And I'm, I mean, you know,

like not to put, not to sound too Pollyannish, but it's remarkable when a dream comes true. Cause I, I wanted to be a director and I worked very hard to get people to take me seriously. Right, right. And it's nice that it's finally starting to, you know, pick up some momentum. So I'm stoked about that.

Does that squeeze out like the other part of your life, you know, like a social life? Does it squeeze it out? Yes, it does. And are you just okay with that for now? Do you think you'll be okay with that forever, you know? I'm okay with it for now because i feel like it's not permanent you know i think tv specifically is pretty all-consuming if you go back to back but actually like i'm literally about to go do this film and i'm like i i feel like i have to call my friends but you're not gonna see me again until like next year yeah you know what i mean like i know it sucks that i'm going away

and i'm bailing on you but like if i come, I'm not going to turn in my homework for my movie, which like there is nobody I can turn to be like, it's that guy's fault. Like it's, it's all my fault. It's all on you. It's all on me. So, um, so yes, I do, I do see that. And like, for example, I left LA last November and didn't really come back until like the end of May. Oh, wow. Yeah. Like I was home for like a week at Christmas time. Yeah. So it has been really all consuming, but I really do enjoy it. Where were you that you could be like COVID safe and everything?

Shows went back up last summer. Oh, okay. Yeah. And there are like really specific COVID protocols on set. You know, everybody's masked. Everybody's wearing a mask. Oh, so you were just working but out of town. I was just directing.

Oh, I see. I see. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. And so, you know, it's masked. Oh, so you were just working. I was just directing. Oh, I see. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, wow. And yeah. And so, you know, it's like everybody's six feet, there's no more video village. You're kind of standing away from everybody. You're kind of on your own. And then, um, and then I got vaccinated. And so I felt a little bit more weapons free, although they're obviously the breakthroughs are kind of problematic right now, but, but, but the, the rigor on set is very high. You know, there are people monitoring you. They will come over when you're talking too close to somebody and be like, get away from that person. I've experienced it.

Yeah. I mean, I've done a few outside gigs and a few guest spots. And, you know, one of them was being one of the producers was a guy that directed all the episodes of one of my shows. Oh, amazing. one of the producers was a guy that directed all the episodes of one of my shows oh and i was i was chatting with him and somebody somebody i hadn't even seen all day came up and said you can't be over here talking to these this is my friend yeah yeah i was like oh oh gosh okay right yeah disease i have i have been very much like uh like a covid police unless it refers to me do you know what i mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm like, put on your mask. Hey, don't tell me what to do, buddy. And it's what you realize is how people will gravitate towards each other no matter what. Like how you will just naturally start to inch towards anybody you are talking to. That's just human nature, really. Yeah, so I'm directing and yeah. And then and then you know i'm kind of in the space you are like i have a bunch of irons in the fire and i'm kind of hopeful yeah for for what will happen next and to take it full circle back to what we started talking about grateful that you know

last year wasn't as devastating as it could have been, but very aware of the fact that it really was very, very painful for a lot of people and hopeful that the economy comes roaring back in a way that makes people whole. You know what I mean? As, as, as, as whole as they can be made. You know what I mean? What, um, what do you want people to take away from just like you? Like, what do you feel like is kind of the moral of the Aisha Tyler story? Oh, my gosh. Shit. See, this is the part where your bullshit premise just nails me to the wall.

You know, I think two things. I always used to write in my books when I, my last book, when I would autograph it to, I would just say, be brave. That was the thing I would tell everybody to be brave. Cause I feel like, um, the moral of my own story has been like, it really doesn't matter what the outcome is. It just matters if you tried. Yeah. Cause what you don't want to do is lie down one day and be like, shit, I wish I'd gone for whatever it was that I was meditating on. Yeah. So I just think, you know, be as brave as you can be.

Don't fear failure. Failure is your friend. The real problem is that you never went for the things that you care about and things that you dream about. And then also be nice to people. Don't be a dick. Those are my two mottos. Be brave and don't be a dick. Yeah, yeah.

Those are good. Good andos. Be brave and don't be a dick. Yeah. Yeah. Those are good. Yeah. Good and simple. Very, very basic. Fit on t-shirts. Very, very basic. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I wrote a whole book about failure and about how successful people have a high tolerance for failure and that's why they're successful. Right. Because if you, if failure just crushes you, I mean, you're going to fucking bug off and do something else. Right. But if you can fail and be like, okay, that didn't go my way. Let me try that again. Right. Right. That's, that's really the path for success. Yeah. It's, it's one of the weird things about like the thing that you and I do, which is, uh, seemingly very insecure people that can't take rejection, get into a business. That's almost 95% rejection. Like, you know what I mean?

Like I do not like rejection. I do not, you know, I avoid it. I probably, you know, like, you know, like in my life, there's been times when I have not participated in, you know, because I was afraid of the rejection of like not being good at something or, you know, or, or not getting something that I, and, and that, but then it's like, well, yeah, but I'm'm in this fucking I also feel like it's also weird too I feel like I'm kind of shy in a way you know like I don't want to go and talk to you know like go to a party and have a group of people around me laughing and slapping their knees at all my witticisms you know and but yet I do but yet here I am you know like in a job where everybody looks at me and you know i i don't it's

it is weird it's weird you know to the sort of the dichotomies of doing this weird thing we have the very strangest job yeah we really do but thank god for it oh no kidding it's right i i yeah i mean i'll bitch about it but i got i truly on some level, I have no beefs about it. Oh, you're a showbiz guy, old showbiz perfect guy. It's fun. It's fun. It is. It's fun.

That's the main thing. Because that's one of my things. It's like, if you're not, you know, I had a relative, my aunt, passed away recently. And one of the things that I, and I kind of, I wasn't expecting that there was a little service for, and I wasn't expecting to be eulogized, but my mom went, come here, say something about her. And I was like, oh, okay. But one of the things that I said was that she insisted on having fun, like all the time. Like, it wasn't like we might have some fun today. It was like, she woke up and like, all right, what fun are we going to have?

And that was, it's such an inspiration. And it's such a, like, it's such a shortcut to live in a better life, you know, to like being happier and just. That is a life hack right there. Yeah. I'm going to make sure that every single thing I do is going to have some element of fun. Yeah. And I'm going to try to be as joyful as I can.

And I know that's easier said than done, but literally just get up every morning and be like, let's rage. Yeah. And even if you got a shitty job, crack some jokes with the person that's got the shitty job with you next to you. Just try and have some fun. Come on, people, have some fun.

Come on, guys, lighten up. Well, Aisha, thank you so much for spending all this time with me. It was fun. And thanks for the booze. My pleasure. I might wait till, because it's now 1.44 p.m. I might wait till later to polish them off.

Listen, you will get absolutely no judgment from me. You asked me what my advice was. Other than be kind and be brave, I will say I am a big fan of a day drink. It's not the intoxication so much as the feeling of power of like, I'm a grown-up and I can do what I want. Yes, and so I much prefer the daylight drinking to the nighttime drinking.

So whatever happens when our little boxes winkle out on this Zoom, you do you. You'll get no judges do you. I will. And everybody out there, you do, you guys do you too and do it right now. Go out on your front porch and do you.

Don't do, but, but, but not in the, in, with an eye shot of the neighbors. Whatever. Maybe in the backyard.

Yeah. Oh, and go visit courage and stone at courage and stone.com. If you would like to have some booths sent to your house that you can do you as well. And it's delicious stuff. Yay! I endorse it.

All right. And thank you for listening. We will be back next week with someone else who will be answering these three nonsense questions. Bye! I've got a big, big love for you. The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a Team Coco and Your Wolf production. It is produced by Lane Gerbig, engineered by Marina Pice, and talent produced by Galitza Hayek. The associate producer is Jen Samples, supervising producer Aaron Blair,

and executive producers Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Your Wolf. Make sure to rate and review The Three Questions with Andy Richter on Apple Podcasts. Can't you tell my love's a-growing? Make sure to rate and review the three questions that Andy Richter on Apple Podcasts.