The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Amber Ruffin

Episode Date: October 19, 2021

Writer, comedian and TV show host Amber Ruffin joins Andy Richter to talk about getting started at Boom Chicago, auditioning for SNL, making the news funny, and more.

hey everyone uh thanks for tuning in to another episode another edition of the three questions with andy richter uh i'm andy richter so remember this voice because that's who i'll be throughout the entire thing and uh i am lucky enough to talk to a very funny woman who i don't i don't know that we've ever met i don't think we ever have have we no i would have remembered i i i mean i don't mean to sound like a shallow hollywood phony but i probably wouldn't have because I meet lots and lots of famous people all the time here in Burbank. No, I really have. It is a weird situation to be in where you're like, you know, like Robin Thicke. Do I just know about Robin Thicke or have I met Robin Thicke? You know, like things like that where it's- would you choose Robin Pickett I don't know I don't know it's just what came to mind um well anyway I'm talking to Amber Ruffin that's who I'm

talking to uh she's obviously in her office because I recognize that uh radiator over by the window that old-timey radiator that's Rockefeller Center yeah you've been here buddy I have I have how isn't it fun to work in that building doesn't it feel like you're a big time showbiz grown-up when you do that it really does nothing is better than freaking um like hurrying down the hallway and you have your sketch on your um what is this uh ipad on your ipad and you're like making changes on the fly. It's the best. Or you mean clipboard.

Clipboard. Yeah, clipboard. Yeah. Now, what night do you guys tape your show? We tape Ruffin Show on Fridays at 145. Okay. We tape Late Night with Seth Meyers Monday Monday through Thursday at 4 PM. Okay. So you're still working full time for Seth or are you just doing, okay. Oh my God. That's not fair. Some of us don't even have jobs anymore. Well, now how did, I mean, how come you wrangled that sort of deal?

Did you was it just because you're under the same kind of production umbrella and they're like. Yeah, they produce my show. Yeah, yeah. And you don't you don't just get your own show and you can't focus on your own show. Seth Meyers is like, no, you I still you're still mine. Look, late night with Seth Meyers is so easy, I could do a third show. Oh, what a dicky thing to say. People out here wanting just something, anything. You're like, I could do a third show.

And aren't you writing a play or something, too, on the side? I'm writing a Broadway musical too, yeah. Oh my God. And that, from the future, that will prove the bridge too far. That was where my eyes got too big for my stomach. Why do you think your parents didn't pay enough attention to you? Thank you for asking. I'm the youngest of five.

Oh, okay. That makes sense. That was never going to happen. Aren't you though the baby then? I mean, you know, of course I'm joking about, you know, needing attention. But I am the baby. And that means just leave the baby alone. Let her do what she feels like doing.

That's what being the baby gets you. I know, I know. No one's going to beat you up or make fun of you. And you're only allowed to talk to me like this. And that's how I became terrible. I was truly babied within an inch of my life. All right. I don't know how much I believe in all the birth order stuff,

but who do you think is the most healthy of your siblings? And there's, is there five? Is that what it is? I'm the youngest of five. Wow. Yeah. The healthiest of my siblings is the middle child, actually. Really? Yeah. Lacey, my sister, is the middle child and she's the only normal person the roughins have to offer and you can tell my siblings i said it they know don't tell them i said it why is that do you think did she have kind of the classic sort of taking care of everybody kind of middle child or was she also was she kind of left alone too and able to form herself? I think she was left alone too. Well, no.

She did a really good job and she got really good grades. She did very well. Yeah. And then she was also like very kind and nice. Whereas the rest of us are kind of like maybe not but a lot of us are like rowdy like i'm kind of rowdy yeah like if i'm talking to you and you say something funny i'm gonna grab your arm and then shake like rowdy yeah yeah yeah right exactly like a like a like a rodeo cowboy uh exactly exactly exactly i get in a barrel i taunt a bull and then whatever happens yeah yeah um yeah because i do think i do think the younger kid does get the benefit of in some ways it seems counterintuitive but i think it's the least stressed parents because by this point

they they know you're not going to die you know like they know you're they're not going to kill you because when you have a baby that's you're just afraid you're going to this thing's going to die you're going to you know because it seems so helpless and so little and you think oh my god and then after a couple of them you're like oh, oh, no, no, these things, they live, you know, feed them, you put them somewhere, you know, keep them from making too much noise. And yeah, and they'll be fine. Now, where did you grow up? I know I saw it, but. I grew up in Omaha, Nebraska.

Oh, that's right. Where did you grow up? I grew up in Illinois. I grew up in central northern Illinois, a town called Yorkville, which is about 70 miles west of Chicago. And then you did Chicago. And then I went into Chicago. Yeah, like you did too. Yeah, because that was kind of, you know, it was the closest draw. I got, I mean, you actually got pulled to Chicago. I just was in Chicago. And so, yeah, I mean, I just was in Chicago. And so, yeah, I mean, my first improv class, which I took, I was working in film production because I'd gone to film school in Chicago. I started at York or Los Angeles to big fancy film school.

So I went to Columbia College, which at the time had what they call, they actually referred to it in the literature as a liberal admissions policy, which meant if you can get a Pell Grant, come on in, you know, you don't need to read that well, it's no problem, you know. And I think it's much, it's much more legit now like it used to be like three buildings in the south loop and now it's like the entire south loop is columbia college yeah um but i had i got a good education i got a very kind of practical film education and i left there and worked in film production and learned more on two weeks of working on commercials than I did at two years of film school, as it always is the case.

And then I just, I wanted to perform and I started taking improv classes at IO. And in my first improv class, I sat next to a kid that was, had moved there from Phoenix because he wanted to be on SNL. And I was like, what? This is like a fun Saturday morning thing for me. It was kind of daunting in a way, you know, but yeah, no, I was glad because I don't know if I'd

been in Omaha. I don't know if I would have, you know, had the nerve to leave. I mean, I left Yorkville to move to Chicago, but so I don't know, but, but yeah, that was probably, I mean, how did you, did you expect to be in Omaha? Like when you were a kid, did you think I'm going to be here? Yeah, absolutely. I thought I was going to live in Omaha forever. Yeah. And I was gonna, um, deliver the mail. Really? Why, why is that? Really? Why that? Because it's a job. You like the uniform? I just love a good khaki short.

Yeah, a sensible walking shoe. A sensible walking shoe. A pimp helmet? Are those hats they wear? I got to share with the hottest. I bet you got to bring those from home. I don't think they provide you with pimp helmets. I think you get a safari helmet.

It's pretty good. But no, I really thought I was going to work at the, and I was like, I will work in the day. And then at night I'll be, you know, the part of the chorus in whatever musical is downtown. Andy, I couldn't even imagine getting a speaking role in downtown of Nebraska. That's how never going to leave. I was, I was never going to leave. Yeah. Yeah. I did not see it.

And then, and it was what, well, first of all, you had the urge to get on stage, you know? I mean, you were that much of an extrovert. Was that something that, had older siblings done that? Or was that just something that you pushed for yourself? That kind of just happened to me because when I was in kindergarten, I could read. when i was in kindergarten i could read and when you did shows at school you like read a thing hey i'm i'm a you know a pilgrim and i arrived at this time and thanksgiving is the time so you know yeah the kid has to read it so i was always the the star person because i could read. Yeah, yeah. And that's the only time it's ever gone handy.

And I would do that. And then in church, I was learning how to play the piano. I'd had two lessons. And then the lady who was teaching me, for some reason, could not be the piano player anymore. Now, I think she did something the church didn't like, so they made her stop. But I have no proof of that.

But I'm just saying, that's the rumor. So then I just had to figure out... Did anyone have an idea of what the rumor was? The rumor was she cheated on her husband. That's the rumor. Like that's ever really a problem at church, you know? That must have been a pretty, I mean, come on. You can't play the piano anymore.

You cheated on your husband. That makes no earthly sense, but okay. I mean, she's still there. Right, right, right. So then I just had to figure out how to play the piano. And I had to figure out how to tell people what to sing. And then that evolved into me leading praise and worship every Sunday. And then I just, I really never sat and thought about this.

But it wasn't a thing I was after. It was a thing I was pushed into everywhere. And what age did you become the church soloist? 1991. So I was, oh no, I was not yet born because I'm so young. No, I think I was. Wow. Those little hands reaching out of your mother

hit the keyboard. And the other woman was a problem? Your mother was in stirrups in front of the piano. I think that makes me 12. Well, 12, Jesus. That is like, because church is a is a show you know church is theater that's i always you know i mean because i was involved in our church too um you know always being uh unencumbered by a belief in god but still enjoying enjoying like the whole you know

community aspect of it and all the different stuff you'd get to do and um yeah you know a lot of my friends were were involved in their families went to this church and you know i was even like a the youth deacon and stuff so and my brother would say to me you don't even believe in god and i'm like yeah what's that got to do with anything you know like you know you can belong to any club you want um well so so then that just sort of evolved and you just kind of found yourself and you just kind of had to learn to deal with it yeah yeah now it was very very fun do you think that that kind of mechanism of being like here you, you go do this, um, helped you in the sort of the,

the being in the daunting position of launching your own show. Yes. Like, I feel like all those things happened to me because I was like, fuck it. I'll do it. Um, you know, there are those t-shirts that say, fuck it, I'll do it. And then it's credited black women. that's kind of like no yeah yeah no one else i might as well take care of this i bet you i could um so it is like that and it is like well i wrote this thing yesterday we got to do it tomorrow it'll probably be fine let me just let me just slap together some choreography yeah yeah you get it it's always cute i always said like the conan show it was a a train that you're laying

tracks for and you can hear it it's coming you know and you're laying tracks so it's like you don't have time like to worry about it you just got to get him late and get on you know and move on and yeah and and never you know early on conan would have we'd have a bad show and conan would freak out and i would say you know because actually because when we started i kind of had more stage time than he did when we start when we started doing the show because he had done the groundlings but i had done improv olympic and annoyance theater and done you know just had more stage time um and he would freak out and be like oh my god that show was off and i'd be like yep it's a shame we don't get to do another one you know and then like nine months later or ten months later i don't know

a year later he said to me one time he goes like like, you know, it's like, that was not a great show. But I always tell myself, well, we always get to do another one tomorrow. And I was like, I told you that. You didn't come up with that on your own. God damn it. I told you that. Well, now you also did, you started doing improv as a kid too right where's there is there an omaha improv scene there was you don't happen to know fuzzy and sean do you i do not um there

were sounds like a children's show um it is the adventures of fuzzy and sean no fuzzy and sean were some improv guys in chicago and their third was a major in the Air Force, like an Air Force pilot. And he lived in Omaha because we have a big Air Force thing. And he started a group, Matt Martin. And then we started improvising. And once we went to Chicago for Chicago Improv Festival, and I took a class from Sharna, the lady who runs ImprovOlympic. And she said, if you move here, you'll have a job within a year. And then I did. And I did. I got hired up in Chicago.

Yeah. Wow. That's one time Sharna's been right. I love you, Sharn. I'm just kidding. Well, that's amazing. I mean, and how did your family react to that? Had you been in college at that point?

I've never gone to college for a minute. Wow. How old was I? 21? Oh, wow. And why no college? It wasn't for you or? I just never really considered it.

Really? I know that's awful. But I'm just not, like, all my siblings did go to college. But after, like, they were out in the world for a while. And then they're like, okay, I got to and then they're like okay i gotta go to college and then everyone has gone to college but yeah yeah i don't know also no one's forcing me to do shit i'm the baby i said shit that's how are we cussing on you can say whatever the fuck you want fuck balls fuck fuck shit yeah fuckity fuck fuck um yeah that's, well, that's good. I mean, like I have a younger brother who went to the Navy because he wasn't sure if he wanted to go to college.

And like within five minutes of being in the Navy, he's like, I want to go to college. So, yeah, I think sometimes it does take that. Well, so how did your folks feel about unpacking up and moving to Chicago? Um, they did not give two shits. Yeah, they really didn't. Because at that point, my oldest sister used to live in Panama. And my second oldest sister used to live in Namibia. Oh wow.

So me going to Chicago from Omaha was nothing. And they were like, bye, you know? So it wasn't scary for them at all. Also like, um, I have an aunt and an uncle who live in Chicago.

So it didn't feel like I was out in the middle of nowhere. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That does help a lot. And did you stay with them when you first moved there? No, I don't think I saw them once.

Oh, wow. Well, fuck that. But I do remember, like it did provide great comfort. Right. Just in case.

Yeah. Yeah. Just in case. Yeah. Yeah. You can show up on their, show up on their door bloody and say like i just committed a crime i've come to implicate you um well i mean what was it like going from

omaha to chicago and and going i mean is this the first time that you really kind of seriously felt like, okay, I can do this for a living? Yeah. Yes. Well, first of all, it was my first time on a plane when I went to Chicago. And then I took all those classes. Sharna let me intern. So I interned at IO and had just the freaking best time. And I would call my mom and be like, mom, the lady I work for has me buying cheeseburgers and she's going to feed them to the dog. I'm going to love, love. Yep, that sounds like Sharna. I am buying cheeseburgers for a dog. It must be nice. This dog gets a cheeseburger every day.

For me, it's a weekly, fingers crossed, I have enough left over. You have enough for a cheeseburger, yeah. Yeah, meanwhile, I'm giving the cheeseburger to this dog like, oh, enjoy it, buddy. But I forget what I was talking about. Well, I was just saying, what was it like to move there? And was it daunting? And how do you transfer? How do you go from Omaha to like, I'm going to make it in show business?

I never, ever thought I'm going to make it in show business. I always thought if they'll pay me to be dicking around, I'll do it. You know, and I never gave any thought to the next thing. I was always like, how can I stay paid? And that's it. Like I certainly wasn't like making big moves. I still wasn't. I got this job at Seth and was like okay I'm just going to keep my head down

and be quiet and then they started putting me in things and I was like oh okay I better figure out how to do it like this then well you no go ahead you were going to say something no but I was just going to say but it didn't

it was that's the way to do it though like you had just said that your friend was like i moved here from phoenix to try to get on snl like that was not my experience in chicago and chicago to me these people were like we live and die on the stage and we're young brothers I'm going to love it. Be blue. Like a bunch of hippies. Whereas out here in New York, people are like, look, I have goals,

but in Chicago, it wasn't really like that. Were you in Chicago? Do you feel like people were like, I'm doing this as a stepping stone to the next thing? Or were people like, oh, well,

there were some that had that vibe and might even overtly say things like that. And everyone sort of rolled their eyes about it. You know what I mean? Like they were the ones that sort of, like we had a splinter group that we took off from Sharna at one point called the Comedy Underground. And it was a very it was a scandal uh sharna the improv olympic was at that time it was in the there's a i don't know if it's still uh it was called papa milano and it was a restaurant an italian restaurant that was on lincoln and i don't remember the crossroad but it was like one of those wedge you know how like the cross was diagonal it was like a wedge building

and above above was it was a italian restaurant and then below was kind of like a bar party space and sharna that was that was where the improv olympic was and i was not i was just a co-conspirator i wasn't like one of them you know connivers but we split off there was like we were having these secret meetings like let's let's you know let's start our own thing because it was kind of you know we'd gotten experience under our belt and wait so you didn't misspeak that That's where Ayo was? Yes. It was in the basement of an Italian restaurant. Oh, I didn't know that. When I first started, it was in the second floor of an Italian restaurant.

It had a lot on Wells Street, a restaurant called Ciao. She didn't have her own building until after I left town. Whoa. It was always. Oh, no. Actually, when it started, it was above a blues club off of Belmont called Cotton, Chicago. James Cotton had a blues club and it was in the tops, top floor there was where she was doing classes and doing show. I think there was a downstairs space that she'd get,

that she would do shows at, but it would have to be split with blues acts, you know? And, and then it went from there to down to well street. And then after that, it went to this other, she was always looking for a space and always getting kicked out. And, you know,

and then, and then we, these two guys were friends with these two brothers that read, you know, and like classic Italian Chicago restaurant owner brothers, they got chummy with them and they kicked Sharna out and we moved into that spot. So we made Sharna homeless. That is a scandal.

It didn't feel great, but it was like one of those first lessons and kind of like, well, it's going to happen anyway. Like these guys you know because these brothers had made it clear like no we're gonna get rid of sharon no matter what so it was like well okay then we'll take over this space which it didn't last very long anyway and actually a couple the same two guys after a short time of of being there had decided that we hadn't progressed enough and we needed to dissolve the group. Oh yeah. And which we were, everyone was like, we, no one else here felt that way. And, and it was actually me and I was always the youngest. So it was like, I, it was one of my first, one of the first times of really stepping out, you know, in front of the group and saying,

and everyone, you know, they're also fucking passive and saying i don't and everyone you know they're also fucking passive they're like okay i guess if this is the way it is and then i went like wait a minute what i got nothing else to do like this is fun i love doing this and it's good work and we really were it was like the best improv i ever did it was you know like those magical times when stuff comes out of your mouth and you don't even know where it's coming from. Like you surprise yourself with like, holy shit, that was a good one. I don't even I don't even I don't remember thinking of that. It just came out.

And the two guys that were trying to dissolve it were pissed because then I sort of swayed everyone because, you know, the other guys who had been like, yeah, I guess we should break up. We're like, oh, you know what? I guess we should stay together. You know, like just so infuriating, like improv guy, you know? Yes. Yes. And in everything. And so we stayed together for a little while, but then it all, you know, kind of fell apart.

and those but like those though two those guys were two guys that were totally like open about their ambition to be something and do something and and i just didn't i was like i don't know it just i'm i'm like you i was like i can't even conceive well first of all for me to say like i want to be on snl just seemed like the oh my god what get a load of big shot over here thinking that he can just will himself on tv you know just kind of midwestern like take it easy buddy and i and i also wasn't even like i'm like i don't know is that what i'm gonna do i you know i i think i also thought like I'll probably just end up writing ad copy because it was Chicago. But yeah, it,

it, I just, I'm the same thing. I just kind of went from opportunity to opportunity of like, okay, yeah, I'll do that. And okay.

Yeah, I'll do that. And, you know, and I never really, and I didn't have any concrete plan, you know, but I didn't get my own show in Rockefeller Center. I had to latch on to somebody else. You had to be his anchor.

What studio were you guys in? We were in 6A. Yeah. Which is where, that's where Seth is now now right or is that where we're at studio we're right next to snl on eight oh that one is studio 6b you had studio 6a which is where which is the one that changes all the time a lot yeah. Because when we were there. We were in 6A and across the hall was live at five was like the news. And and and so we would we shared all kinds of space with like, you know, like the news anchors became like our buddies, like, oh, hey, Chuck Scarborough and Sue Smith, I think was her name. Scarborough and Sue Smith, I think was her name. But yeah, and when we started working there too, people could smoke.

You'd see like people running down the hall with tapes to put in the local news, smoking cigarettes, running down the hall. It was, it felt very Lou Grant, very kind of Mary Tyler Moore-ish being there. That's so cool. Yeah. It still feels that way. Does it? Yes. It's, I can't, it's amazing to me just the stuff that like, that building is so like the most complicated av setup ever and it's all in that building yeah in fact some of those wires caught fire some of

those cables caught fire once and we had to do our show outdoors for a couple of years. Really? Yeah, yeah. We had to, yeah, we ended up doing the show out by the ice skating rink. And it was like late fall. And Samuel L. Jackson gave me a foot massage. I remember. I will always remember that night for that. I don't know. It just happened. It's like a dream.

I still think of it. Just get all giddy. Can't you tell my love's a-growing? You did what a lot of people, I mean, what a number of notables have done, including, I think, Seth. Didn't Seth do Amsterdam or was it his brother? Seth did Amsterdam. Boom Chicago is like a place that you go when you do improv in Chicago and you realize I'm not going to make him enough money here.

I go to Amsterdam and make some money there doing improv. And what was that like? Boom Chicago was the freaking best. Like we would, you know, we had like a regular 300 seat theater, like in the heart of Amsterdam. Huge. And it was like, back when I was there, being there was kind of a big deal a little bit. Like if you said, I work at Boom Chicago, people would go, oh, are you an actor? Oh, you know.

In Amsterdam or you mean anywhere? Oh, nowhere else in the world. Yeah. But in Amsterdam, people cared a little. Did they recruit you or did you like apply and try and get in? Yep. Every year they would go to LA, New York and Chicago and audition people. And I auditioned in Chicago and got it and was there for two years.

And it was just like the first, I'm going to say like year and three months was just horrible. It was horrible. The early part of it. Yep. I did a bad job. I had a horrible time. I did not like it, but I was eating a full dinner every night.

I love that. Yeah. Yeah. When, when you're hungry, dinner hits the spot. That's for sure. So, yeah. Love being able to eat. When you're hungry, dinner hits the spot, that's for sure. Every night. So, yeah.

Yeah, I just had a very bad time. And it was like, the vibe wasn't good. It was a bad vibe then. It was a bad vibe time. And then it just, everything changed. And like, the actors changed. And then it was the most fun i've ever had in my life i mean it was always the most fun right during the shows i would be like oh i'm

doing a bad job but uh then when it got good and i got good at the job i was like there will never be anything this fun so then i left and i did i called um i called second city on the telephone and asked for a job and they gave me a job oh yeah second city denver okay so i had just visited second city and i did you know how you can sit on the bench in Chicago and then do the set after the show? You could. Yeah. The day I went, Martin Short was there.

So all of the people who make decisions at Second City were also there. Martin Short. I was like, oh, well, I don't get to do the set because Martin Short's here, but it's cool. I get to see Martin Short.

Martin Short did not want to do this set. So I got to do this set. And it was like everybody in front of everyone. And it was like Slumdog Millionaire. Martin Short did not want to do this set. So I got to do this set. And it was like everybody in front of everyone. And it was like Slumdog Millionaire. The only suggestions were things I just so happen to know everything about. Like it was like sign language, gymnastics, and like one was spark plugs and i just so happen to know where a spark plug is and how to install a new one i was like these people must think i'm a genius i only know four things and you shouted out three

of them it was the best it was the best side slumdog millionaire it was like that was a fucking excellent set and it was and then when i called they were like yes actually you can't have a job we're creating a second city denver so then i did second city denver for a year more than that too i don't know and then we did uh we existed and it was great and then i was like okay i'm going back to boom chicago and they were like no no will you do main stage and i was like oh yeah great yeah yeah yeah right right you should have said that yeah um so then i did but they were like come back and tour i like, but I am hungry for food. And Turco is not going to do it. Yeah.

So then I did. I don't want to live in a van. Yeah, I don't want to live in a van. Because you can live in a van, yeah. I know, but I do feel like I did miss Turco. But then I did main stage for two years years then i went back to bloom chicago bloom chicago you do a lot of tour shows like there's enough actors to do two corporate shows while and one home show so you were always doing all of them. Yeah. So we'd be like, hey, welcome to Brussels, Shell Oil.

Now here's a special song that goes out to Barry Jenkins. He's one crazy CEO. And you'd have to do that like four times a week. You would have to do that. And it was the best because you never knew what was going to happen. Yeah. Sometimes you step out, you know, you step out you know you step out and that you can feel the hate yeah they just hate that you're talking yeah but all they want

to do is have a beer an indifference that's like aggressive or something you know what i mean like how you can like actively not care about them you know yes yes yes yeah so i mean we performed shows literally all over europe everywhere and it was the most fun because sometimes you would know the sketch sometimes you didn't look at it enough sometimes you would have to get there and they'd be like we don't like the sketch and you'd have to be like the sketch. And you'd have to be like, oh, my God. So you'd have to change the sketch, learn it, and then do it. So it really, like, you'll never feel uncomfortable again after doing a show like that. And most of it's improv. You'll never feel uncomfortable on a stage.

I completely agree, yeah. And then you go and you perform with other adults. And then you see how they act. And it's like, oh, you've never been unprepared in your life. Right, right. Like, oh, that's like, I'm sure it feels great, but it's not good for you. No. We call it cowboying it. Yeah, yeah.

It's like, hey, buddy, get out there and cowboy it. And if you haven't had to do that you you should yeah yeah because they should there it you get like a you get a nerve you know you get nerves or whatever word you know balls or you know chutzpah you get like this kind of which isn't like it's not a swagger necessarily it's just sort of like oh no no i can you know it's like i don't know it is like sort of a low-level trauma and trauma you know you can't trauma does once you kind of live with trauma on a regular basis you get you know your shit gets together and you're like all right you know this is nothing i can get, you know, your shit gets together and you're like, all right, you know, this is nothing. I can handle this. You know, you know, it is. It's like, Oh God,

it's like an entire room full of people hating you. That sucks. You know, I mean, Hey, if there was a, a, a better word for hate, I mean, when, when was a better word for hate. I mean, when the show starts, those bad shows, what you feel then is hate. Then after you've finished a whole hour, it's something deeper. It's people that hated you, but they hated you but that you hadn't taken an hour of their time now you've got those two things together i also want to ask do you think that like sort of getting to do all of that work and getting all of that stage times out of the context of what is any, you know, in any way sort of relevant to showbiz here in the States. Do you think that that isn't that it's like another kind of version of,

you know, a safe place to fail? Yes. And that, I think that's all it is. Once you've had the worst possible show a human being can have, then you wake up the next day and you have to do another show. And then you realize, oh, none of this is anything. So I might as well be balls out forever. And then the way you perform changes because you know that ultimately the only thing that's gonna stick is how much fun you had that's it yeah yeah so once you figure that out and it takes forever to figure i really do think you have to be all the way embarrassed to be a good performer like you have to have like if an audience didn't make you cry

and i don't know that i've ever cried but i'm not the cryingest guy but like if an audience has never really made you have a very sad day or two then i don't know how good a performer you're gonna be you gotta have a bad time yeah yeah yeah i always i think it's it's similar to and this is something i didn't have to do until uh on the conan show we would occasionally do bits that were like fake nudity like you know we're like it'd be like we're supposed to be naked but and it'd be pixeled out but we we'd be wearing what's called a dance belt, which for people don't know, it's like a one strap jock strap. It's a waistband and then a center strap and a pouch. And it's flesh color, or at least it's Caucasian flesh color, the one that I had.

And the first time that I ever had to do that, you know, like you put that thing on and you get in a robe and then you go out onto a set and you're like oh it's just like oh fuck you know and i and i mean you know it's like it's also that thing of where you know that your nudity is going to be comedy nudity you know what i mean like it's like yeah it's like it's funny that that guy thinks he should show that thing that body you know like that that can only be a joke uh you know the vessel in which he exists um as it was you know like pretty people it's like it's not funny like their nudity is cool and and but i always was struck by once the robe came off it was done it was like oh i'm not going to get any more naked you know i'm not going to get any any more revealed so oh i

don't you know and then i would like you know probably do actionable things like you know put my leg up on somebody's chair and just'm just like, how's it going over here? You know, because, you know, it was all family anyway. You know, we all knew each other at that point anyway. But yeah, it is, it's good to be humiliated if you're going to do this, because that's always a risk and you might as well. It's like, you know, it's like inoculation. It's like you're getting little doses of it where, you know, to inoculate you against the big scales that you might get when you're, you know, doing your own show or something. Yeah. Now, according to my research, you married a Dutchman.

Would you carry to defend that? I was drunk. Oh, boy. I didn't know no I did I just spent so much time in Holland I spent a total of five years there yeah so I'm not surprised I'm not surprised is your husband a comedian in any way? No. No, he's a bummer. He's not funny. Real downer.

He's actually a painter. Oh, wow. He married a Dutch painter. Wow. And he paints beautiful paintings. But he is, I i mean he's hilarious but when i married him he was absolutely not funny like it just wasn't and also i was doing comedy every minute of every day and every night i had a show no matter what. It was constant. Yeah.

So I didn't need him to be funny, but I saw that he felt like he was funny. And I was like, I think that's cute. Then over, we've been together 10 years. And now I understand the man is hilarious. It's just when we first got together, dutch wasn't good enough to understand the structure of the jokes and now i understand very clearly he's absolutely hilarious i just needed to understand the nuances of dutch yeah in order to get it and now you know in his language he's fucking hilarious and in english it's pretty close too he's getting good yeah yeah do you speak dutch at home?

I never think we do. But then sometimes at the end of the day, I'll be like, I think we spent most of the day speaking Dutch. Wow. I think what happens a lot is he will speak Dutch, and then I will respond in English. And then when we go out in public, we will both speakutch so that no one knows what we're talking about and then if we're around friends then we speak english yeah yeah friends should just let you speak what a what a downer let you have your secret language together you know i love our secret language yeah it really is it's so cool to have a secret language. I bet it would be. People hear you speak it and go, because Dutch doesn't sound good.

Oh, no. It sounds bad. Truly the ugliest language. The first time, I've been there just for vacation a couple of times, which I always find, I always found, because my ex-wife and i loved amsterdam just it's such a beautiful relaxed town and we were coming from new york city and it was kind of like a pretty green new york city in that you go to a restaurant you go have coffee you hang out you know just like it's kind of a cafe kind of life but so you know with the canals it's just a gorgeous place and it's very easy too because everybody speaks english um but every time here you go like

oh we went to amsterdam people be like oh yeah you know like you're just like yeah to get high and go to the red light district which i mean like i we walked we walked not the length but across the red light district once, and I was like, ew, no thank you. No thank you. This is, you know, nothing against sex workers. But, yeah, it is. The vibe is different. It's not what you think it's going to be. It doesn't feel sexy, you know.

Yeah, yeah. It feels scary. Scary. It feels like you shouldn't be there for sure. Yeah, yeah. It feels scary. It feels like you shouldn't be there for sure. Yeah. But any, oh, but yeah, people are always like, oh, you know, Amsterdam is, but it's. It's so much more.

I know what I was, the first time when we first got there, we were staying at the Amstel Intercontinental, which is a nice hotel. And I don't know if it's even still there, but... The Amstel Hotel, the big gorgeous hotel on the river? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Well, you know, I was on TV then. No kids yet either. So, but it was... I just... The taxi driver, we got in, we said, we're going to the Intercontinental, the Amstel.

And he went, Amstel Intercontinental. And I was just like, oh my driver, we got in, we said, we're going to the Intercontinental, the Ames. And he went, I'm still Intercontinental. And I was just like, oh my God, Dutch is just, it's like hawking up a loogie with every sentence. It's a bad time. Yeah. It's bad. Did you, did you start learning it right away when you got there or was it kind of? Yeah, I'm a language guy.

Oh, okay. I'm a language guy. I love languages. I love learning them. And I really do think I'm good at it, Oh, okay. I'm a language guy. I love languages. I love learning them. And I really do think I'm good at it, but that might not be true. I think I might just be willing to sound like an idiot. Yeah, yeah. No.

But I really, they made us take Dutch classes. I think we are the only generation of Boom Chicago who they made take Dutch classes. It was super fun. I had a great time. I would love to have an excuse to learn a different language. And cause that's the only way I ever do anything is if it's forced on me, you know? So, um, um, so you can, I mean, you end up, you come back, you go to, is it, do you go to New York to work for Seth? Is that what it is?

Oh, I know. I remember. I remember you auditioned for SNL. And then Seth saw you. Yeah, yeah. But in between, I went, we lived in LA for two years to try to make it. Right. It was horrible.

Terrible. Was it a question between you and what's your husband's name? Jan. Between you, of course. It was, was it a question between you and Jan, whether you would be staying there in Amsterdam or whether you would, you know, whose career would take the lead or, you know, or because he can paint anywhere yeah yeah yeah he was like yeah let's do it okay he didn't care he's a pretty

chill guy yeah yeah so uh so so two years in la and it just yeah it's not a bad place to be very sad you know it's a great place to be broke. It was very sad. You know? It's a great place to be broke. Yeah. It is. It is. You have so much sunshine. And even though you have no money, your apartment is nice. Yeah.

Compared to New York. Absolutely. You live in a little mansion. Yeah. It was great. I mean, I had a lovely time. And I was a part of this theater called, what were we called? It's a theater called Sacred Fools, where it was like a writer's theater where you write most of your stuff and they put it up as the best.

It was the best experience I could have got. For what you do now, for sure, I bet. Yeah. Absolutely. But then we auditioned for SNl and then i did not get it i very didn't get snl and then and then i got sent because he was there like he was there hiding in the lurking in the back trying to poach people uh from all auditions look i think i didn't get snl and he was like oh that's too bad i'm gonna going to give her this job. So she doesn't cry. What a sucker. I was like, Oh no, I didn't get it.

Okay. All right. Come here. Um, but I did, there was like four, you know, how you audition and then you stay and then most of you go home and there was four of us there lakendra who went on to be a writer sashir zameda who got the job leslie jones who went on who initially was a writer and then me and i'm the only one who didn't get snl anything yeah even though you made it all the way to that point because it was just the four of us for like three days so it feels like i extra didn't get it yeah yeah yeah but then i think it turned out pretty good yeah i think so too i think you probably yeah you um I bet you have, I'm just guessing, but I bet you have a more pleasant existence than the people that are working on SNL.

Because that's just, it seems like, like trying to, you know, like, you know, trying to serve eggs in a dryer. You know, like, you know, you're constantly crumbling around, you know, and you're trying to keep things precious and keeping together, you know. Why in a dryer? I don't know. I was thinking a tumbler, some tumbling thing. It hurts. Do you have siblings? I do.

Did they put you in the dryer? No, I never got put in the dryer. Well, you know what? I think I got in one once on my own, but like in college at a laundromat. So I can't really say it was like, you know, it was self-imposed torture. Why? Did you get put in the dryer? Yeah, but I was game.

I got to know what happened. Yeah. All right. Hey, no problem. Yeah. Maybe I want, yeah. Maybe someday I'll go over a waterfall and a barrel and I want to know what that's like. Yeah.

Yeah. So I bet you. And also, I mean, it also just might be my perspective because doing a daily show in that building is, I mean, it's different. Like people, when I was there, people would complain. Cause when we started, we did 47 weeks a year, five days a week. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was a lot like right off the bat when we started.

And then also to be constantly under fire, you know, like the people that put you on the ship, then sit on the shore and shoot cannonballs at you. And, but people at SNL would complain about how much work it was. And especially in the early days, we were so scared and we'd, you know, spend just put so much comedy into the show early on because we didn't know any better. And we would, I would be like, shut up, SNL people.

You get the fucking summer off. We get two weeks at the most and that's like once a year. And, and, and it's like, and also, but I did like that we couldn't be so precious about our stuff. It's got, you gotta to get it out there you know and it's like every night you gotta you know it's more like a diner than a fine than fine dining you just just get the food out and it'll taste good you know i feel like everyone feels that way about their job but when you say 48 weeks my my God, 47 is a lot.

I know. I know. We have 14 weeks off at Seth. 14. I just think it's just a different time. It's just like they just, and, you know, and I think that they were just like, they knew, I mean, Conan was coming from nowhere. So I think they just knew like, well, we can just make him do whatever we want.

was coming from nowhere so i think they just knew like well we can just make him do whatever we want and he kind of gave off a whatever you guys want kind of vibe which i learned like oh yeah don't do that like let them let the people know right from the beginning you got limits because otherwise they'll be like oh oh we can fuck you oh we will fuck you hard then you know learning learning learning um but yeah but it was it was it was a lot and and especially because like in the early days too i was the one that did remotes and the first you know i i did remotes for maybe like a year and a half before he ever started doing them because robert smigel thought it was too letterman-y for Conan to go out. So it was like, let the kind of the dumb dumb. And I mean, I mean that in just kind of like, I was kind of the dumb

guy. You know, I mean, I wasn't, you know, I mean, that was a persona I could put on for the comic value for the show. And like, let me go out and do the remotes. And I would sometimes do remotes, I'd do them on the weekends and i remember there was one and then i'd have to edit them myself because there wasn't like that structure yet i was a right i was hired as a writer first and i was still expected to put you know fill up spots on the grid you know like write bits and make sure that we had enough stuff to put on the show for the first couple years and then i was like you know what fuck this this is too much you know, like write bits and make sure that we had enough stuff to put on the show for the first couple of years. And then I was like, you know what, fuck this, this is too much. You know, I, nobody's going to fire me now I'm on the show, you know? Um, but I remember there was one and

it was like either 24 or 25 days in a row that I worked, that I was working, uh, on, you know, putting that show together. Cause like I said, I'd go shoot it all weekend and then I'd come back and have to edit it until two o'clock in the morning because it would be on the show the next day. Yeah. Oh my God. We killed ourselves. The early, the early days of that show,

we had so much comedy. We would do like four acts of comedy just because that was where we were coming from. I mean, especially Conan being a writer. It was just, that's what, and Smigel pushing us. It was like we made this kind of defensive wall of comedy while he and I figured out how to be on TV. Because when we first got on TV, we sucked at being on TV.

I look at tapes. I can't look at tapes of it. I can't look at tapes of the first few shows. It's just too painful, you know. Can't you tell my love's a-growing? But anyhow, how did your own show come about? Did you start to,

was it because of your segments that you were doing on Seth? We saw a slot open up at some time on NBC and we were like, oh, we should pitch. And this is Shoemaker's idea, who's the executive producer of, um, late night set shoe Shoemaker's like, you should write up a proposal for a, a late night show and turn it in. And we did. And they were like, no, thank you. And then a year later, they were like, we're launching this thing called Peacock. Can we have that show you pitched? And we're like, Oh, okay, great.

So it was Shoemaker's idea to do a late night show but jenny and i really thought you know because you turn in so many sketches yeah and most of them have to go in the garbage yeah yeah so we were like we can certainly do a once a week show for sure right especially if we have other writers so we do and it's pretty great it's four acts of comedy and it's pretty easy yeah i have to stop saying that but it's true but only because it's once a week man man, you can do once a week. Yeah. And your co-host, Tarek, I don't know him. Where does he come from?

Tarek is also a Bloom Chicago actor. Oh, okay. So when I got hired at Bloom Chicago the very first time, Tarek was there too. And we had just the best, you know, adventures all over Europe. It was the most fun. Yeah. And, you know, he also, I know he has this training of where I can give him a script and be like, read this over. You have two minutes. Let's do it.

Go into cards. Let's go. And he'll be like, yeah. And it does not care. You can't phase the man. You can't do it. So, yeah, it was, you learn, not everybody can can do that so he's really talented he also does a broadway show called freestyle love supreme which is all like freestyle rapping but it's on

broadway and it is a lin-manuel miranda show and sometimes they have like Wayne Brady and like special guests who can improv improvise like songs and, and reps. It's the weirdest best show, but Ted does that show. And he does our show. It's really cool. Wow.

Yeah. You guys are great together. And I, you know, and being a fan being for obvious reasons, a fan of like two people better than one person because it is it just it's like you got so much more to do and it's just more fun to watch um and did you did was there ever a consideration to do

interviews on this show because that's such a staple of most late night shows. No, absolutely not. We never thought to only because we were like, let's call it a late night show and really let it be a variety show. And then by the time they figured out, it'll be too late. But if they ever make us do more than one show a week, if we get to keep doing the show fucking a month from now i mean let's start there yeah yeah yeah no i know that'd be great but uh if they if we ever did end up doing this show for more nights a week then we would have no choice we'd have to we'd have to start interviewing people because i don't know i couldn't do no oh yeah 47 weeks a year five days we sounds insane to me yeah yeah no it's a lot it's a lot um so much i mean and you know so much of kind of your identity on Seth's show, did it start with jokes Seth can't tell?

Was that sort of when you first started getting on? I think I started doing a bit called Amber Says What before that. And that was a recurring bit where I said, what? In different ways in response to news stories. But I think that was before Joke Seth Can't Tell. But also before that, because we didn't start doing Joke Seth Can't Tell until Jenny worked here. And I don't think she worked here until like two or three years after the show started. So I had to be without her for that long.

But when she started, it was off to the races. And you would just rip up whatever you could get out of your brain into a script and send it to her. And she would do the rest. She'd send you her half idea. And we just created this machine that we just fit each other's brain so perfectly that it became such a, like, fun factory. And when she came up with the idea for Joke Seth Can't Tell, I thought, what a fun bit to do at the read and never in front of other people. I thought there's no way we can do this in front of people.

But we did. Yeah. I'm still shocked. At the end of every one of those set goes, it's like my grandpa always said, black women and lesbians are liars. When he said that at the table read, I laughed myself sick. And then he did it at the table read i laughed myself sick and then he did it at the um rehearsal and i laughed i was like he's he's gotta stop saying that he's gonna accidentally say it

in the show he said in the show and i was like we're dead we're done the show's canceled i don't think he can say that i thought it was like all right you like it. I love it. Yeah. Yeah. Now, a lot of that, you know, I mean, a lot of your, of the stuff you guys do is topical and about like really awful topics and like really dreadful top. And I mean like full of dread topics. And from my perspective and especially coming from the comedy that I've been doing most of my life, which is absurdist, silly nonsense. And we, you know, and we were on the air before, you know, there was a daily show that is kind of like the current daily show. You know what I mean?

show that is kind of like the current daily show you know what i mean like before topicality see was seen as you know like serious topicality of really tackling issues in a comedic way was even done so like if we had also you know if we had sort of tried to do that i think we just would have looked you know we look like we're chasing somebody's tail. But it's terrifying to me that you guys do this. Cause I find so much of what's in the news. Just, I don't know how to make that funny. You know, I don't know how to make comedy out of George Floyd,

you know? And I, and I mean, is that, can you speak to like that mechanism in you? And I guess in Jenny too, and the staff to, I mean.

Yeah. I think it comes from like being black. Yeah. I was like, cause you know, you come home from work and you're like, well, I got like, I can remember when I got fired from a, like I got a job at a sandwich place that will remain nameless. It's not the one you're thinking of, but the other one. And it was way out in West Omaha where all the white people were. And my parents were like, you do not want to work out there.

That's too many white people. They don't want to see you and you will be fired. And I was like, you guys are old as fuck. So I went out there. Sure enough, the, um, after like two weeks working there,

the boss pulled me aside. I was like, you're, I had braids. She was like, your hair is gross. I, uh,

I think you should just straighten it, make it straight. You know, like the rest of you do. And I was like, Oh no. And the next day i was fired i came home i was like mom dad you're right and we laughed what was the reason i mean what what

reason did they give that you couldn't sue over or did did he just know like you're not yeah yeah yeah they know but they didn't give me a reason. They did. They said that my drawers were never balanced. That's not true. But, you know, you got to say something. But, yeah, like when you have to deal with stuff like that, you know what I mean? If you can see that as funny, then you're like, yeah. Yeah, no, those things pile up and pile up and if you're gonna be in like some sort of you know paralyzed with rage over that you're gonna have a real short life

so yeah it's gotta end up being you know yeah and everybody has their own version of it jenny said the other day she said something something that knocked me out. She was talking about how she loved her little girlfriend a million years ago. She was like, but, you know, we couldn't get married because it wasn't legal. And I was just like, oh, oh, yeah. Oh, my God. I know. Yeah.

Like that shocked my face off. I was like, oh, yeah, you just have to live like that. You go to bed, you wake up. It's still true. You can be sad all you want it's not gonna do nothing yeah but i yeah i think that's how we because you know you have to talk about all that stuff at home then trump really makes you real good at it because it was so hopeless for so long that it just got extra funny yeah yeah so yeah well and yeah and because it just got extra funny. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah. Well, and yeah, and because it just. Well, I mean, on one level, you know, this is just one aspect of it. But like racism is so stupid.

Like it's just so dumb. It just doesn't even make any sense. just so dumb it just doesn't even make any sense it so it's the that that sort of just that stripe of stupidity trump is like a farmer that like cultivated it and made it grow and you know and and it gave a lot of well i don't know if they're all stupid, but a lot of people's stripe of stupidity and gave them that permission to let it fly. You know, and I and I mean, I've said this before. I mentioned this on I don't know if it was this podcast or one of the one of the many I do. Oh, yes. But, you know, I grew up in a very Republican area and I was never really a Republican. I mean, I didn't I wasn't anything until I kind of, you know, got to be a young adult and started to figure things out for myself.

But, you know, you'd see like a Republican road sign 20 years ago. It's like, OK, that, you know, I probably disagree with that person. And now they just seem sinister. Like I saw I was down by San Diego and I saw a Larry Elder yard sign. And I was just like, that might as well be Voldemort. You know, like just the shit that Larry Elder says. It's like, how can you put that in your yard and be okay with it? It's like, it's just such an absurd level.

I know. It's sad and it makes it extra on your brain you know because of people want to put their signs out in their yard like that specifically it's like ew you keep this yuckiness alive whereas before you never saw it when nobody wore no hat or t-shirt you just everyone was a normal until proven an idiot and then but now it's just it's everywhere it's everywhere yeah yeah so it's a little extra sad yeah but also a little extra safe because now i know what to do yeah yeah yeah yeah you're not gonna catch me it. It's, you know, I mean, I had the comfort of never, you know, just being a white male, a white cishet male that I might have thought like, oh, you know, Republican, that doesn't necessarily mean racist but now it's like well it's been made pretty clear that you're you're signing on to something that now is like not even ostensibly racist it's outwardly racist in

so many ways and and it makes me think it didn't change. Like I was just comfortable in not in, in thinking like, oh, there's, you know, there's just like, there's, you know,

a little aspect of that. Like, no, no, there's like that Willie Horton ad. There was a reason for that Willie Horton ad. Like there was, that was the expression of something that was just there.

That was like that to a certain amount, a certain low number of white people's like, yep. That I like that. I like that. a certain amount a certain level a number of white people was like yep that i like that i like that yeah yeah that's for me um so anyway i mean i i when i watch your stuff it's i just i can't well i mean i you know it's like you said there's jokes that seth can tell but i mean but just just the ability to derive joy from what is happening in the world is just really a wonderful talent and a gift for everyone. And, you know, good on you for doing it. Thank you, Andy Richter. I love you so bad. You're welcome. You're welcome. Well, so what do you, do you have any big, big world owning plans at this point? Or you're just going to chug along?

Yeah, I learned not to make plans. Also, like, nothing is scarier than this. Because, like, you don't know. Yeah. You don't. Is it going to keep going? Is it going to stop? Does it have to stop tomorrow?

Like, what is happening? Will this go on to stop tomorrow like what is happening will this go on forever what yeah what is this so it keeps you on your toes and i'm like i don't need to be making any other plans yeah yeah yeah you got enough keeping you busy yeah yeah i just gotta keep chugging along like my old friend andy richter says what are your plans i don't even i listen i'm 54 i been divorced for two years i was married for 25 i got a 15 year old and a 20 year old and somebody said something about you know a year from now and i was like i don't even fucking know. I don't have any, I'm like, getting divorced was a big thing. You know, like if, if I hadn't gotten divorced,

that was a different, it would, it's a different story. Like I would, I would have kind of known, you know, like it's when you're, when you're in a marriage, you sort of, I mean, that was one of the, and I mentioned it. I just had Aisha Tyler on and we talked a lot about divorce and cause we're both failures. And, and, and I, you know, like one of the, one of the things that you don't anticipate is it's, it's like a death of a future that you were holding on to. You know, it was my future i had the same future in my mind for you know 25 years 27 if you were together for two years before and that and that was like oh that future doesn't exist that future that seemed so like real like i thought about it so much like

where are we going to live and what are we going to do and how are we going to do? And how are we going to, you know, how are the kids' lives going to still be in our lives? And it just, it goes away. So I don't know. I've got like, you know, my decks have cleared and I don't know what's going to happen. And very much the same way. And now, you know, having the Conan show just ended, that's another wrinkle.

And I'm readjusting my mind to a freelance mindset because i was spoiled by 10 years of steady income and i have to just calm that shrieking voice of like i know i'm not making money you know like where's the check coming from you know and and also getting back to not being, you know, for me, it's I got now I got to figure out like what I want to do with myself. Like, am I you know, am I just going to make myself available to some other situation and devote myself to that situation? Or am I going to be an author and sort of start to write my own story? And I don't I don't know which is, you know, I might not be that author. I might just be like the guy, you know, I might be a utility player and I'm, I don't have

any qualms about that. I love what I do. And I, you know, and I help out in lots of different ways. You know, I can help with the story and I can help with, you know, the dialogue and I can help with the way it looks in addition to performing. So, you know, I know how to make television. I know how to be on television. I just am not sure in what capacity it's going to be. So how exciting. Yeah. Exciting and terrifying. Gosh, what is going to happen? I don't know. I will keep you appraised. So the final of the three supposed questions, you know, it's just a format here. What have you learned?

Like, what do you think is like the main lesson you've learned from, you know, from starting out in Omaha and ended up where you are now? I don't know. I don't know. I think the main lesson I've learned is to stay open and never make a single plan. Like I certainly was not going to leave Omaha, but I never thought to cut off that possibility I was just like hey you know I'm living life whatever happens have them once I got to Chicago I was like oh well who the fuck knows now it could be literally anything in the world and then Amsterdam happened I was like wow did not see this coming and then second city half was like okay never would have guessed this then main stage i was like this is it this is the pinnacle of the back to boom chicago oh my god and then i couldn't believe i gathered enough guts to move to la to die slow there for two years and then i couldn't believe it when i got set. It's all, I would have never have guessed,

I would have guessed wrong at every turn in my life, every last turn. So I just don't, I don't have any plans for anything. And I, but I know that I'm capable of literally anything. So I think it's all right to not have plans. Yeah, that's what I, that's, uh, you know, because, because I was, as you're sitting there saying like that, you, you know, all these, all these accomplishments, all these like places that you end up and that you wouldn't have expected it. That's, it sounds like somebody that's going, oh gosh, you know, I, I little old

me, but you're not saying that you're saying, yeah, all right. I didn't, I wouldn't have thought, but I mean, but you, I can do it, but I just didn't think the world worked that way where I'd get the chance to do it, you know, because you gotta, you know, you do have to believe in yourself. Um, I don't know if anyone's heard that before it's very revolutionary you uh you believe in myself yeah i've been tearing myself down daily i thought that's what you were supposed to do you're telling me all right amber i going to let you get back to work. Okay. Do you have any ideas for like any topical sketches of any kind?

See, now don't you feel good? You're feeling pretty good. Yeah, I don't. I'm going to go to the grocery store. I don't have to think about, you know, from after this, I'm going to the grocery store. Oh, my God. In a car? In a car. You spoiled little piece of shit i know you're so lucky and then i'm going to pick my daughter up from school and my dog up from daycare oh that's my yeah no topical bits i don't have to

think like oh let's make anti-vax funny today yeah you sir are living the life all right well thank you so much for your time and thank you for having me and i love you so bad i've loved you forever thank you you're part of my favorite show i love you i love you i love you so bad i love you too and uh and tell everybody there i said hi and you know and and and make a good show. And all of you out there in podcast land, thank you for listening to another episode of The Three Questions. And we will be back next week. With more Amber Ruffin. What? 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 Earwolf. Make sure to rate and review The Three Questions with Andy Richter on Apple Podcasts. Can't you tell my loves are growing? This has been

a Team Coco production in association with Earwolf.