The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Amy Sedaris

Episode Date: July 30, 2019

Comedian, actress, and writer Amy Sedaris joins Andy Richter to discuss Girl Scout-level ambition, what she loved about performing with Second City, and her fondness for rabbits. Later, Amy shares some of her entrepreneurial passions.This episode is sponsored by Service on Celluloid podcast and U-Turn Audio (www.uturnaudio.com code: RICHTER)

Hello, listeners. Andy Richter here with the three questions, and I am absolutely thrilled to have one of my favorite people here today. I've known her for many, many years. Amy Sedaris. Hi, Andy. Hi there. Thanks for having me in the studio. You look great. You look really good. And I haven't seen you in a long time.

Thank you. And you look fantastic, too. Oh, that's nice of you to say. Do you color your hair, man? I get highlights. Yeah, because it looks like it's grayed. Yeah, I have some squirrel color in there. It's beautiful. It's a goodie. It's a beautiful, it's really a nice, whoever does it, ked. Yeah, I have some squirrel color in there. A goodie. But it's beautiful. It's a goodie. It's a beautiful, it's really a nice, a nice, whoever does it, kudos.

Oh, that's nice. Oh, thank you. Kudos to your colorist. Thank you. Or do you do it yourself? No, I have a hairdresser. Of course you do. Yeah.

Of course you do. You're big time. I'm big time. So we've known each other for a very long time. I mean, well, I mean, people got to know who you are. I mean, you're the television. I'm a little bit under the radar. I'm still under the radar a little bit.

Yeah, but I mean, but you know, you've done so much great work on TV and on stage with your brother David. You know, you guys have done a lot of shows here in New York together, written a few best-selling books, but it all started for you where in, was it North Carolina? North Carolina. Yeah. Raleigh, North Carolina. Were you born there? I was born in upstate New York near Endicott and when IBM moved to the south because my father worked for IBM that's when we moved to Raleigh, North Carolina and so I was like three. So I was raised in North Carolina. And what does your dad do for what did he do for IBM? He designed computers. Oh really? He was one of the very first people to design a

computer. I have a picture of him on a poster and everything. Engineer. Engineer, yeah. I used to think it meant he would ride a train. Of course. Yeah. Conductor. It's so funny to have, well, like, have you ever thought about having such a practical dad have such a creative bunch of kids? Isn't that fun?

He was the odd man out. He was the one we made fun of. Oh, really? Yeah. But, I mean, that's what I also love about my father is nobody went down that road. I mean, my older sister a little bit as far as if you need an executive for the will or something, she's the most responsible. Right, right.

No one else is going to pick up the phone or read the mail or she's the only one who reads mail, put it that way. So, you know, it is kind of nice. You realize you have to have that. And that's what I look for in friends and stuff. Someone, a grown up. Yeah, yeah. My dad was a grown up. So you're, and your, your mom was it is kind of nice. You realize you have to have that. And that's what I look for in friends and stuff. Someone, a grown up. Yeah, yeah. My dad was a grown up.

So, and your mom was more the funny one then? My mom was funny. She was funny. Yeah. Is that what you think drew him to her? Oh, that's interesting. Well, she was very, very beautiful. And yeah, maybe.

You think he's shallow? He just was going after the books? That's it. Bing. Yeah, yeah. He just wanted a trophy. What an interesting bunch. But yeah, maybe. That's it. Bing. Yeah, yeah. He just wanted a trophy. What an interesting bunch. But yeah, maybe.

Maybe because of her humor. But he just wasn't funny the way we were funny. Yeah. Yeah. So he was, did he end up being an outsider? Like, was it an unhappy outsider? No. And I was really close to my father growing up.

Yeah, yeah. Very, very close. I'm his favorite. Oh, really? Yes. So I was always playing golf with dad or going grocery shopping with him every Friday night. I was his best friend in the family because no one else would take that position. Oh, that's nice of you.

So I'm that person. Yeah, yeah. I'm a middle child. Oh, I see. How many are in front of you? Well, there were six kids and I was four. So really three and four is the middle child. How many kids were in your family?

There's four, but my older brother and me from my mom's first marriage and then my younger brother and sister are twins so they're so i'm kind of middle not mathematically but chronologically because because they were two babies nine years younger than me and then my older brother and we do we fall fairly in the kind of the classic oldest middle youngest in just various temperamental ways right like i am definitely the people pleaser oh right oh like like to a sick degree um i mean it's gotten it's gotten better over the years but it's still there. It's still like. But are you all close? Do you all like talk and.

Yeah, fairly. Fairly. Okay. Fairly often. You know, I mean, not as much as we should. I mean, not as much as. Do you have a lot of friends? Like, because you come from a family like that, do you feel like you have a lot of good

friendships out there? Or do you kind of feel like, well, that was your family kind of covers that? I know it's different for you because I know you have kids. Yeah, I do have friends, but I feel like in the last number of years, and I think that this has happened to a lot of men or this happens to a lot of men my age who are married and have children. You stop having friends. Yeah. Like they're still there. Right. friends yeah like they're still there right and if you get you know like if you get tickets to a baseball game you have friends that you can call but it's not to the same extent that i think that

women continue friendship that if i can just generalize in that way but like i know that like most women i know that are sort of my similar age and circumstance make a point to go do things with a group of women whereas men don't so much. I mean, I guess men will use sports to do that. Either the playing of sports or the watching of sports. I don't do really either of those things. I mean, I play tennis, but that's not, you know, you don't have a bunch of guys over to play tennis. But you grill.

And I grill. You were a big cook. I do. You get the grill going. Guys love the grill. Yeah. No, I mean, yeah. And we would. You were a big cook. I do. I bet you could get the grill going. Guys love the grill. No, I mean, yeah, and we would entertain. We certainly would entertain. But Sarah was always kind of the motivator of that.

Oh, see, I thought you were. Because I remember going to a couple of your parties where, you know, you'd make those ice cream sandwiches with the cookies. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I always felt it was your thing. Well, no. Putting together the guest list, anybody can do that but once it's once the party is there there again that's the people pleasing okay it's like i have often felt and

i feel like it's a detriment to my career i get as much satisfaction out of creating a meal for somebody as i do for making television yeah you know i mean i just it's like how many people are coming 20 all right let's see who's a vegetarian all right okay here let's you know it just, it's like, how many people are coming? 20? Oh, yes. Let's see. Who's a vegetarian? All right. Okay. Here, let's, you know, it's a problem to be solved. Right. And then there's a lot of work, which I think is like, too, if you're somebody that, like,

I've always said this sort of my, one of my, and this is something I figured out in therapy, one of my primary states of being, if not the, is alone in a room in a house full of people. And that's kind of like, and the kitchen can be that alone place if you got all this work to do. Right. And then you give the people the food and then you're like, okay, that's it.

All right, eat it up. You like it? Good. Okay, now get out. Yeah, leave now. Get out. Or having a job. Do some dishes or something. I always say I'd rather work the party

than go to the party. Just give me a job. Then some dishes or something. I always say I'd rather work the party than go to the party. Just give me a job. Then you can just talk to this person, talk to that person. You've cast your party. You've made all the food. The hot's hot. The cold's cold. And then, yeah.

That's the fun part. Yeah, because that's a similar thing. But, I mean, what do you think? Why do you think that you are? Because I know why I am, but this is supposed to be about you. Why do you think you don't want to get into the party and dig around you know i just like to be responsible i dig around i just like i still like to mingle and do all that but i just like to have a job as well you know i'm just here picking up glasses or i'm getting going to get you a fresh plate and then

i just like to be hospitable i guess yeah yeah Yeah, yeah. But when I'm invited to a party, I like the other part too. It's just, I just like the planning. Yeah, okay. Yeah. All right, that's good. So North Carolina. North Carolina. Did you just go to public school?

Went to public school. Came from a very close family. We always put on shows at home. I was interested in theater at a young age. David introduced me to all kinds of characters because David was always doing them and he was really funny. Yeah. And I really em emulated him and so he's the one who got me into wanting to get up in front of a group of people and make them laugh is he two or three in the order he is second

he said first boy second you know child yeah okay so we were the show biz the two of you together just two of us together yeah we sure did yeah and And so I got into all that in high school. And then I got in junior high and high school. I took Raleigh Little Theater. I would take classes. My first play was Charlotte's Web. I played the rooster. And the lady said I was really good at making faces. And I still am.

You really are. You are. Yeah. I mean, yeah. That's what I do for a living. I make faces. And that always stayed with me. And then David, when he went to the Art Institute in Chicago, said, oh, there's this place here called Second City.

It'd be perfect for you. Why don't you come here and take some classes? Otherwise, I would have stayed in Raleigh, North Carolina and just been the funniest waitress. Do you really think so? I think so. I'm always, whatever I'm doing, I just try to be happy at what I'm doing. And I don't think of the next patch of grass. I'll still eat the same like feed off that same lawn

for as long as I can before someone says Amy there's fresh grass over here so yeah then I loved Second City and then you know that's where I met Paul and Steven and did all that would you consider yourself just like a generally satisfied person I mean do you you don't really I'm not too ambitious people might think I am yeah but I'm really i'm on a girl scout level ambitious you know what i mean in sense of like i don't i still like just doing what i like to do like i still go door to door and sell stuff for a dollar you know make that cash maybe i miss from waitressing and you know like more like under the radar and little achievements i like but i don't really go after the big the big star yeah yeah yeah I'm kind of that same way.

And I think it's one of the reasons that improv appealed to me. I had no real drive to be solo, to be appreciated solo on stage. And to this day, I sort of tried my hand at stand-up because it seemed like the thing to do. And there was lots of chances to do that. And I just came to this conclusion. I don't like being up here alone no so much better when you're with somebody absolutely have you ever done solo never never done um I mean a monologue here and there that David wrote but I've never done stand-up and I'm like oh it's so much better to riff off somebody or someone in the audience because then you know it feels it so I'm the same way but I do

like an audience oh you do I do like you know you know doing stuff live I'm the same way. But I do like an audience. Oh, you do? I do like, you know, doing stuff live. I like the energy, like going on talk shows when it's live. Yeah. Yeah, I miss that and doing theater. That's fun. Yeah, I mean, doing live stuff. But honestly, I've gotten to the age where I don't care much about audiences. I'm always trying to make the cameraman laugh.

Yes, that's your audience. Yeah, that's my audience. You know what I mean? I mean, so, yeah, there is a live audience, but it's not the random strangers that were on a tour and went, yeah, why not? You know, our dinner reservation's not until six. Let's watch Conan. So, had you gone to college at all? I didn't go to college. I went to NC State for a little while, and it just wasn't for me. I was taking a few classes in sociology. I thought I'd work in a women's prison or do social work.

And then I thought, this isn't me. I don't want to go to school. What drew you to that work, do you think? Just being interested in people. And then I thought, oh, I can play those people. I just want to go into your home and look at your stuff and talk to you about it. Right, right. I want to hear every problem you have because I'm a good listener.

And I'm just like, I'm interested in other people's lives. And was the women's prison, like the reason that it was women's prison, was that because that sounded fun? Yeah, I just thought it was a big deal just to have a women's prison in Raleigh. I just always read about it. I was like, wow, prison. What are they like? Yeah, yeah. What do they wear?

What do they eat? How horrible. You know, just anything. And then I was just talking on Midnight Express. I was talking about that movie the other day. That was a big, big movie for me. I don't know if you remember when that came out. Oh, I absolutely remember that movie.

I was terrified of prison and turkey. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, my God. Yeah, and homosexuality. Yeah. Terrifying. Oh, poor Brad Davis. He was good. He homosexuality. Yeah. Terrifying. Poor Brad Davis. He was good.

He was good. I saw that movie. That was like at the time, possibly like the dirtiest movie that I saw. Yes. Yeah. And I saw it with my friend Dave. Yeah. And it was like, it's just weird too to be, I've always found it weird to be like with, especially when you're teenagers or whatever, to be like watching sex scenes with like a friend.

That always just seemed like such a weird thing, like watching this arousing stuff. That's why whenever I've been in a situation where it's been like a group of us are going to a strip club. Uh-oh. If it's not a co-ed group, I ain't going. Didn't we go to Billy's Topless a few times? We did, yeah. That was fun. But see, that's a co-ed group.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. If it's a group of men and women, that's sort of like, then it's not just a bunch of gross guys getting boners with each other. Yeah. Yeah. If you're getting boners, it's got to be girls around. Like the opening of that movie, Kids. That opening of the movie, Kids. They're making out for, what, seven minutes or something?

I don't remember. Leo Fitzpatrick. Yeah. They're just making out for like 10 minutes. That is uncomfortable. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, my daughter, if there's any even beginnings of a sex scene, she's like, turn it off.

Pause it. Fast forward. How old is Mercy now it off. Pause it. Fast forward. How old is Mercy now? 13. Oh, man. Wow. She wants no, and thank God.

Yeah, who wants you to, who wants to sit around and watch sexy stuff with your parents, you know? Although Purple Rain, when that came out, was fun. Yeah. Watching Prince do his sexy little thing.

But that was, you know, he was like the size of Stuart Little. And, you know, it was more fun. I don't know. Well you go to chicago did you just pack up and move you were just gonna go and live there or was it sort of started off taking summer classes at the workshop players workshop with martin um martin de mont yeah and then i liked it and i like chicago i liked everyone seemed like they were coming and going and they were like you had the baseball, you know, it was like a big gum. They were into sports, but I kind of liked it. And everyone had a job and the big characters, their actions like dish. And I was like, oh, my God, you know, just what I saw people making out in the back of open trucks, you know, down there by the Montrose Beach or dumping hot coals on the sand and walking away. down there by the Montrose Beach or dumping hot coals on the sand and walking away. And you're just like, what is this place?

And all windy. And then it was freezing in the winter. And I just was fascinated with like Cicero and places like that. And I was like, yeah, it was really eye opening. I mean, you didn't see taxi cabs in Raleigh. No. You know, you look at a cab like, I wonder where it's going. Yeah, it's the airport. The airport.

Yeah. So I was it was a real eye opening i don't think i could have gone from raleigh to new york i needed that middle place yeah yeah where did david live at that time um did you stay imagine you stayed i did i remember stepping over drunk bodies yeah to get to his front door and hearing gunshots and he lived in a bad part of chicago and then, you know, you probably like you, I just moved all the time. I don't know how many apartments. I ended up in Bucktown before I left. Right, right. Yeah. The thing about that town too, it's, you know, it's like you say,

there's just people doing stuff with, you know, making out in the back of trucks and being big. You know, there's not, there's a kind of a lack of pretension there. I think there's a very small amount of fancy people there. Yes. And in fact, even the fancy people among themselves think of themselves, I think, as relatively rough fancy people. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like a rich Chicagoan probably thinks of themselves as a lot more realistic and down to earth than a rich New Yorker. For sure.

I think so, too. But I loved it. It was the first time I was friends with someone. I said, what does your dad do? And she goes, he's a maitre d'. And I thought, oh, someone's dad can do that? Like, I was even that naive. Like, a maitre d'.

And your mom waxes people's lips at, you know, Elizabeth Arden? Wow. Yeah, that stayed with me. I got a lot from Chicago. Yeah. And again, it was stand-up, like you were saying, and people were just always, like just always like doing theater work and it's just everything was a possibility it's fun that way yeah yeah was there some thought in your mind about where this was all going did you think about i never think where something's going yeah i don't either i don't and i wonder if that's good or bad for us

yeah because you don't want to be standing there with nothing. I just, I do think of in the moment, I don't get too ahead of myself. And I think this is what we're doing right now. Right. I don't know where it's going to take me. And we'll deal with that when it takes me there. I mean, that's kind of how I live. Yeah. Well, you also had, you had that good partnership with David to kind of like, because did he come to New York first before you two?

We were doing plays and I would take a leave of absence to Second City Main Stage, come to New York first before you two? Yes, we were doing plays and I would take a leave of absence to Second City main stage, come to New York. We'd do a play, I'd go back to Second City. And so I was kind of putting my toe in New York, but it was never like a goal of mine to live in New York. I never thought of it. So I thought, well, David's going there, I'll go there.

Yeah, he was always sort of like your, he'd set up the beachhead and then you could come. That's nice. You know, that's really actually nice because, you're, he'd set up the beachhead. Yeah. And then you could come. That's nice. You know, that's really actually nice because, you know, you didn't have to go through that initial loneliness either, I think. Yeah. Because you always had him there. Yeah. I think the first time I ever met you, I think maybe you and, did you and Paula ever live together?

Yeah, we dated for eight years. Yeah, I think it was when you all were living together and it was your birthday. Made it for eight years. Yeah, I think it was when you all were living together and it was your birthday. And Mick Napier brought me and a couple other people over to your party. And somebody gave you a wicker wheelchair? Yes, from the 1800s. Who gave you that?

I don't remember who gave it to me. And I would decorate it Halloween, put cobwebs on it in one shoe. And then I got rid of it. I just wheeled it to the east side to Obscura, this place that would sell it. I looked haunted. But I would always play these games with people who would come over, like rid of it. I just wheeled it to the east side to Obscura, this place that would sell it. I looked haunted. Yeah, yeah. But I would always play these games with people who would come over, like, get in it. I'm going to have to wheel you to the rooftop, get you out of my apartment, into the elevator. And you would lose your patience with somebody, and you would become evil and start hitting them.

Because you were like, can't you move your leg a little? Like, can't you? You know, it was so abusive, but it was so much fun to play that. Right, right. Well, there's something about was so abusive, but it was so much fun to play that. Right, right. Well, there's something about a wicker wheelchair that really inspires the cruelty. You know, because it is, it's like, it was a cruel time. It's a cruel time.

Wicker is a cruel, it's a cruel, a cruel material. But didn't I know you from Annoyance Theater? Didn't I meet you in Chicago? Yeah, but I think that's the first time that I met you. Okay. And then we knew each other from that point on but i do remember like even at that point in my life it's a tremendously fun thing to go to these two uh and you're both beautiful people go to these two beautiful people's apartment and the woman gets an old wheelchair as a gift and you were giddy you were just like you jumped in it and

immediately started wheeling around playing with it yeah and being all the different people that would be in that wheelchair that's fun i think paul donello gave me that chair actually yeah yeah i think paul gave it to me and at that time too at that age to be like exposed to adults who are just being like living their lives like children really I mean and like giving each other toys and then playing make-believe it was fantastic you know but there was you know booze and drugs involved yes of course yeah uh so yeah so um then you ended up coming to New York and kind of was at what point did you decide like enough Second City I'm gonna go to New York and kind of was at what point did you decide like enough Second City?

I'm going to go to New York and I'm going to commit to doing stuff with David. I think David said we have a place in La Mama. We got a deal to do a show. And that's when I said, let's do this. And then I was like, and Paul and I were dating. I was like, why don't you come? And we Paul did a part in the play and we just stayed. And then downtown HBO came to see the show.

And that's how X-57 happened. It just landed in my lap. Like, oh, would you like to do a sketch show? So that's kind of, I never thought about doing TV, really. Really? You didn't think about it? I mean, weren't there people? I mean, obviously, there were people around you that were getting hired for different TV things.

I guess, but it was never, like, I remember at Second City, I did a pilot for a show. I didn't know what a pilot meant. But everyone was like, wow, that's great. You're going to LA. Like, that's why people went to Second City to do things like that. But I was like, oh, I hope it doesn't go. Then I can come back and do the show. You know, I didn't understand what a pilot was.

Right. But I was just happy doing plays with David. And, you know, those plays were so funny. They were funny. Yeah, I got to do one of them. Yeah. Yeah, you sure did. You played the worm.

Yeah, I did. Our expressive worm. And, yeah, so, I mean, that was everything I loved. Yeah. And putting on a show, painting the sets, doing the wardrobe, casting it, memorizing lines. It was the best. Yeah. It's an enviable thing to be satisfied with something like that, to not have those kind of overreaching.

Because I mean, I felt I'm similar. have those kind of overreaching because I mean I felt I'm similar like and then I don't like I never I never thought I'm gonna take improv classes and I'm gonna get on SNL whereas within my first improv class within a couple of weeks I realized the kid that was sitting next to me that I kind of started to befriend had moved there from Arizona to eventually get on SNL. And that was crazy to me because I started taking classes because Beth Cahill, Betty Cahill, who I went to film school with, I went to Columbia College in Chicago and started doing film school there. And then I worked in film production, but I had the notion, like I'd hear about Second City and I think like, oh, that sounds up my alley because I can't, I'm a writer, but I can't really sit down and write think like, oh, that sounds up my alley because I can't.

I'm a writer, but I can't really sit down and write because you run on your feet. Yeah, I write on my feet and I'm funny and, you know, and I'm quick. And it's always kind of what I've been rewarded for by humanity. And I even remember looking up Second City in the white pages and calling them and saying, like, what are the classes and how much are they? And just I'm sure that whoever talked to me was not like a particular legal salesperson. Lois. Yeah, yeah. Lois. I was like, I don't know about that.

But then I started taking classes at ImprovOlympic. And I, like I said, never, even while we were doing, you know, we broke off and started our own, you know, ambitious groups that broke away from the smaller groups. And there were guys that were like, we've got to get casting people in here. And I always was just kind of like, I don't know how do you do that? I know how to do this. I know how to be on stage and have fun with each other and how much fun that can be. But it seemed like it was just, it was hard to reconcile to me, how do you stay within this framework of this thing and be free and open and commit to it while you're also thinking about. Wanting to get picked. All these professional groups.

And even to this day, it's gross. That's the gross part of it. Like, that's like the sordid part of it is all of that. Right, the wants. Yeah. But I remember somebody wanted us to do a play in L.A. And David's thought was like, well, then it turns into casting. Then it's all of that wants yeah i remember them they wanted somebody wanted us to do a play in la and david's thought was like well then it turns into casting then it's about that then people want tv so then you get plucked from the play because you got a pilot and you have to be replaced it was just it was a different vibe in la to do a theater than it was in new york oh

because it's just showcasing exactly it's just showcasing it's just to get agents in there and see things but i love these young kids who are so open about, I love working with like 32-year-olds. Yeah. You know, because they still know how to write a letter. They still, you know what I mean? But I like that they're so, will do anything to get a TV show. I like how ambitious they are and eager and hungry. And it's fun to work with them.

And like, really? That's what you want? Good for you for knowing that. Yeah. You know, I'm like, really? You go to LA and do a TV show? And they're like, absolutely. Yeah. I'm like, okay. For you know i'm like really you go to la and do a tv show and they're like absolutely yeah i'm like okay for me it's like you got to prove yourself first so this is who i am what i like to do and get it out of your system and then maybe you can go do that once you start making that money in los angeles you're going to want to

keep making it you know well and also too the the things that you're going to go do in los angeles are going to have a lot more constrictions on them. There's going to be a lot of really unpleasant people that you would rather not hear their opinion giving you opinions. And you have to do what they say. Yeah. And that whole thing, that does kind of become the enemy of what inspired you to do this in the first place. Yeah, you're right. That's so well said. Yeah.

Tell people just a little bit about what it was like to work at Second City and being touring company. I mean, give them a sense of what that was like. Well, for me, what I liked, you know, you're taking the classes, then there's an audition to get into a resident stage or touring company, and you have to do like five characters through a door, something like that. And then you get picked, and then you start touring, you do the best of Second City. But that's where i met colbert and danello who i still work with today and you know what i learned from second city is about finding people like that like building relationships like that and hoping that you have it for the rest of your life like all the people from sctv you know the snl they were so lucky and they remained friends and they still work together so i learned that at second city um and i'm really lucky that the three of us met each other but once paul and steve and i

worked together then we got started getting our own material in those shows oh yeah you know we got away with a lot of stuff we kind of made our own rules we're mavericks and then we got into a resident company and um started writing material together And it was fun working with your friends, laughing really hard. And it was kind of like old people at Second City in that we were the new group. So it was like fading out the old people. And it was fun. I met Jackie Hoffman, who was a really funny girl and working with funny women. Because back then it was like four boys and two girls.

And it's just like. Right. That's the way it had to be. Yeah. That's the way it had to be. Right. So it was fun finding funny girls to work with. But there weren't that many. Yeah. You know, just like. Right. That's the way it had to be. Yeah. The way it had to be. Right. So it was fun finding funny girls to work with. But there weren't that many.

Yeah. No, I know. You know, there really weren't. I've always said that they're just. And I actually do think it's changing. And I think culture is changing. But certainly from my childhood and on, girls were not rewarded for being funny. There were not girls.

I mean, they were. There were funny women in my life. And that's. I mean, I were there were funny women in my life. And that's I mean, I honestly, I prefer funny women to funny men because women are just I don't know why that is. I mean, maybe it's just because it's like if they're, you know, funny men are vanilla and funny women are strawberry, you know, because there's just a lot more vanilla than there is strawberry. So my preference is for the thing that there's less of. And there's certainly in the comedy culture, it's white men, white men, white men, white men. But although it is it is changing, you know, we are there is like and, you know, although it's changing, but there's a bunch of guys cheesed off because there was a female Ghostbusters.

They're all fucking mad because ghostbusters with girls you know so it's like yeah it's getting better but it's still dumb as it can possibly be yeah but i never thought of me as a girl like i did parts i never put myself in a girl category i've always felt like one of the guys yeah and i didn't do scenes on weddings and you know at the things that some of the other girls wanted to do like Or as the seductress. Like, that was, yeah. Yeah, I was like, I want a mustache. I'm like, I just, and whenever it was an all-male scene up, I would always find a way to enter it. I would always get in that scene. Like, oh, really?

Yeah, yeah. You know, and time my laugh. I'm like, that laugh lasted 30 seconds tonight, Paul and Steve. 30 seconds. And they're all, they're busting their ass trying to, and I would walk in with short bangs. I'm going to get my bangs cut and get a big laugh and leave. Go, go, go.

So that was fun. Now, when you say that you guys started getting away with stuff, what does that mean? Like who would have stopped you from doing stuff? Joyce or, you know, you're supposed to do the best of. Joyce Sloan was the director of the page. Yeah, she showed that. You know, and I did this.

I lived over a deaf girl, and she came back from Cir came back from circus basically i don't know how to pronounce that but um she you know that's where i was like oh we can do this the visual scene you know you don't have to have words and that's why we started tumbling at second city and that's what got into our regular show and we just started doing you know scenes like that that the audience could just appreciate the visual aspect right the way that i just appreciated you rushing past i lived above a deaf girl started doing you know scenes like that that the audience could just appreciate the visual aspect right the way that i just appreciated you rushing past i lived above a deaf girl and when she got back from cirque de soleil like wow that's a lot of information that was a big thing for me to to live over a deaf girl because i was like she was an acrobat no she yeah she was a little bit but

she went to that show and she was acting it out oh me. Oh, I see. I see. And I just thought, oh, from now on. I thought you meant she was away with the circus and came back. See, I leave out the details, Andy. That's what I do. That's what I do. I was like, what is she talking about? I think she fast. That's my problem.

Oh, okay. So she just explained it to you and there was something about that. She was acting it out. And I just remember, and same with my books, I thought for people who can't read, maybe they can look at a picture and be triggered so I whenever I do anywhere I always take that in consideration yeah because I'd watch strangers of the candy with the volume down oh really and think is this still entertaining to somebody who can't hear tell my loves are growing paul danello who still is a creative partner of yours today you guys were together as a couple for eight years yes was there a difficult time in between there when you decided to not be a couple that collaborated we were doing x57 and we were like

well if this goes another season why don't one of us needs to move out because I'd spend my day off cleaning the apartment and he'd spend his day off cutting a tomato on the table and walking away from it. You know, I was like, I couldn't. It was just too much. And so we were just friends. It turned into more of a friend relationship. And then I was like, you see that prop girl

over there? You guys would be perfect together. We never officially broke up. But I just think we were meant to be partners and we still are. And it's really fun. I was telling you before we started talking about the Fosse thing that I'm watching and I think a lot about me and Paul watching that.

It's fun to have a relationship like that. That you're not dating but you really care. No matter what that person does you're going to be there for that person. Paul will always have that together. I mean it's an amazing amount of generosity and selflessness i think too and is that do you think you both possess that i mean do you think like was he as as generous with saying go ahead and date someone else and not having a possession over you yes yeah yeah that's pretty great that's a that kind of. And even now he's married.

He has children. He lives in Maplewood. I still wrangle him into projects. Oh, you got to do this, you know. And, you know, but I'm the godmother to his kids and obsessed with his two boys and love his wife. It's all good. Yeah.

It's, you know, you've had some amazing partnerships. I really have. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I think, you know, it's created an amazing sense of security i think you know to have david starting out sort of like i say you know he was your expedition force went out and and i think that that probably was the setup for allowing you to be you know trusting of another creative partner right yeah yeah and maybe there'll be somebody new. Yeah. Maybe. Yeah.

Do you think you work better with men than you do with women or do you think there's any difference or just happen to work out that way? I don't,

that's a good question. Someone else asked me something like that. Maybe, I think I do well with gay men and I'm always like, forget the women,

where are my homosexuals? You know what I mean? I got the girls. Sure, yeah, yeah. I like gay guys. I love gay guys. Yeah, yeah. I absolutely love

them and i've always said when i you like to just talking about boring gay people just being a waste of gay like what a waste of gay of gay oh look at that guy's boring useless yeah come on if you're gonna go to the trouble of being gay you know know. When I learned, one thing I've been paying attention to is working around so many people is our mood swings with other people. This is, which is kind of a new thing for me, like juggling other people's moods when you work with people. Do you, do you have that? Because you work with so many different people.

Yeah. You mean, you mean managing their mood swings? Or just, yeah, being around when you do have to work around other people, you know, in a situation like. Are you talking about your mood swings? No, no, not my mood swings. I'm pretty much the same, I'd have to say. I think, but maybe not. But I'm pretty good natured and can ride it.

But I can sense it when the mood is happening with other people. That's just a hard thing to juggle when you work with other people. Yeah, no, you get used to it. And you get used to sort of like, I mean, have you worked in a lot of tense atmospheres? I mean, I think when I think about your shows, I think like, number one, you're sort of setting the tone. Right. Like your whole thing is setting the tone. So it's like you've never, you know know like you never had to be on a rob low

courtroom drama you know i would love that you know i was i was i was on one of those i was on a rob low courtroom drama it was like it was like the one of the most drama-y things i ever did and it felt so fucking stupid there was was, remember that, that when the Cubs like blew a playoff game because that guy tried to catch a ball. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, like there was a fan.

I can't remember his name. But the Cubs were about to, close to winning this game. There was a foul ball. Cubs outfielder going, he was going to catch it. And this fan, this dumb Cubs fan

puts his mitt out and catches it in front of them. And then the, whatever team it was, went on to beat him. Right. They would have been out of the inning and they would have been onto the playoffs. Well,

they did a rip from the headlines with this Rob Lowe show called Lions Den. Cause his name was L Y it was L Y O N. I think. Cause his name was like Bob Lions orO-N, I think. Because his name was like Bob Lyons or something like that. And I was a B-plot with Matt Craven and David Krumholz were like the younger lawyers. And I was a rip from the headlines. I was that guy.

But the whole premise of it was that the newspaper had i'd fucked up the team's chance of winning that's a fun part but the whole thing was that they uh the newspaper printed my name and home address and phone number like what fucking newspaper is gonna print the you know like the liability of that and so it's like i'm gonna sue the newspaper like well fucking of course you are but there was i i will never forget this line because i come in and i'm talking i'm kind of a dick about it and uh matt craven's playing the good cop lawyer and krumholz is just so pissed because the baseball team lost the championship and krumholz finally like has a breakdown because they're taking my statement.

And he's like, why did you do it? After all these years where they couldn't win the playoffs, why did you do it? And I had to say, because I thought to myself, if I catch that ball, my kid's going to think that I hang the moon. Oh, God. Or my kid was going to think that I hung the moon. Which, number one, no one in my fucking life has ever said hung the moon, except for some schmuck in a fucking TV writer room. Hung the moon. That guy hangs the moon.

Fuck you. Nobody says hang, hung the moon. No, when they're off like that. It's like brothers in a TV show when they're trying to, you're like, you're not brother. Who calls their brother bro? Yeah, yeah. Hey, bro. Hey, bro.

Oh, I get it. That's his brother. Yeah, like off. But no, but having to say that line repeatedly was honestly, I'd rather masturbate on camera than have to say that. Yeah, that'd be hard. That's excruciating. There's something, emotion, like that's something emotion like that kind of emotion

that kind of like jive emotion of like if oh it's it's just playing like something it's just such a embodiment of something that's so gross like number one over caring about sports right right right number two having completely fucked up parental priorities like i'll catch this ball to make my son love me and then and that it's being put out there as like as the correct way to be it's just it's all false and you have to sit in the courtroom that must have been brutal oh i don't even remember the courtroom part oh that must have been brutal. I do remember, though, because having worked on comedies, for the people listening, you block a scene. You go in with the director, first of all, the actors,

and they have all their lines, and you walk through the scene, and you block it, and then they bring in the key people, like the lighting people and the camera people, so they can watch and see what they've done. So you do these rehearsals. You do it about eight, nine times sometimes. And by the third or fourth one it's time to fuck around as far as i'm concerned like why can't i do it like yeah you know in an accent right why can't i do it like i'm being very sarcastic you know and and uh it was i could tell that the the people in charge were like annoyed

that i was having fun and i could tell that the other actors were like terrified. Sure. He's changing it. He's changing it. I'm like yeah fuck you. God damn it doesn't change the camera move. No. If I you know talk with a lisp. Or like yeah you want to play.

We want to play and it's fun to play. I don't understand anybody that gets in the show business and doesn't want to have fun. Right. And I mean all the fucking time have fun to play. I don't understand anybody that gets in the show business and doesn't want to have fun. Right. And I mean, all the fucking time have fun. Yeah. I mean, even, you know, the best people I've ever worked with are the ones who are like that. Yes. Jonathan Groff, when he used to run the Conan Room, he would be like, guys, we got to be late. And he'd be like, we have to think of something for tomorrow.

And then somebody would like throw a trash can down the hall just to hear it sound and he'd be like oh let me try that you know like always ready for fun yeah uh chopping wood yeah chopping wood and having fun so after exit 57 which was a you know relatively short lit was it one season or two seasons i think it it was two. It was a sketch comedy show. Endless sketches. Yeah. Long sketches. Yeah.

Yeah. The one I always remember was a blackout, and it was you were pregnant. Oh, want to feel my baby? Yeah, yeah. I mean, through the vagina. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was Paul's. No, that was good.

That was good. Want to feel the baby? I mean, through the vagina or from the inside? From through the vagina. Wasn't it in the through the vagina? I don't remember, but boy, that was funny. And then we did Strangers. Strangers.

Now, how did it go from Exit 57 to Strangers? I think I worked a little bit doing stuff. I think I was still doing plays. I was waitressing. And then I wanted to do something in after school specials. And then I went to Paul and he had the idea of making an older woman. And then I went to Colbert and he said, how about you learn the wrong lesson? So we each brought something to it, pitched it

and Ken Alderman at Comedy Central picked it up and we just did it for three seasons. And when it got canceled, which they still haven't officially canceled it. No shit, really? No, we were fine with it. We were like, we could do 10 more and we could not do 10 more.

You know, we kind of had that attitude about it. And from there to Colbert do The Daily Show. Is that when he went to do? Yeah. Yeah. And then Paul and I, and then now we created At Home with Amy Sedaris show, which is fun. And we have a lot of fun people on that, like real actors who want to come on and have fun. Like you said, Ann Dowd and, you know, just people that are just. Matt Molloy.

Oh, I love Matt Molloy. Isn't he great? Michael Shannon. Well, Cola Scola. Cola Scola on the show is so goddamn funny. Yeah. Matt Malloy. Oh, I love Matt Malloy. Isn't he great? Michael Shannon. Well, Cola Scola. Cola Scola on the show is so goddamn funny. Yeah. It's really become what I love about the show.

And I was talking to Jody Lennon, who's a mutual friend of ours, who was in Exit 57 with you and who's now producing and writing. You know, the first season, it really did seem like not only what you guys were doing is figuring it out yourself, but you were also letting everyone else figure out kind of what the show is. Yes, that's true. And now it's Pee Wee's Playhouse. I know. It's like if Julia Child, it's like if you mushed together Julia Child and Pee Wee's Playhouse. Right. And now anything can happen. Oh, it's so fantastic.

It's so funny. But Cole is really fun. Yeah. And I saw him do a fake orange juice commercial on YouTube. And that's where I was like, oh, that's my neighbor. Oh, really? And then I worked with him on Difficult People. Yeah, yeah.

And he's a writer this season. And he really can do anything. He just excites me so much. Did you hire him just from that YouTube video? Oh, that's fantastic. And then when I worked with him on Difficult People, he was improvising a lot. But everything he said was good. You know what I mean?

I was like oh who's that like he hasn't said one false thing yet yeah yeah and then we just clicked gives you a funny boner yeah he really oh boy what about that yeah yeah he has a good energy just a good disposition he does he does he's a he's he is an attractive person yes in the sense that you just like a magnet you just want to look at him and you want to hear what he has to say. Yeah. Well, I mean, we kind of talked now, you know, about where you've come from. Where do you think you're going now?

I mean, where do you? I have no idea. The dentist, I got to get a tooth pulled. No, no. But I really, I don't know where I'm going. Do you really have to get a tooth pulled? Because I would like to talk about that. I was supposed to get it pulled two days ago.

I just had one pulled a year ago. It's a process. Right, right. And this is my Amy Winehouse tooth. It's right here, so you'll see it. So they were going to pull it the other day, and I kind of talked them out of it. I was like, don't go by what I say. It's not showing up in the x-ray.

They think I just cracked it because I'm grinding my teeth. Yeah, yeah. So I just put it off. I'll have to get it pulled eventually. Do you wear a night guard? I do now. Yeah, yeah. Oh, grinding your teeth. No worries, eh? off i'll have to get it pulled eventually do you wear a night guard i do now yeah yeah but you know

grinding your teeth uh no worries eh it seems like something's eating longer on that side yeah exactly anyway what a drag i know the process and i hate it and i'm such a good sport in the dentist chair yeah i pride myself on it what are you gonna do people complain about it's just but that's also too that's like actors that complain about having to wait i'm always like what did you think this was i know i just don't like feeling the stitches on my face you know when they're stitching it and you feel it yeah and i have all those those dental books where i make fun of people with stitches in their mouth i cut out the images send your car and say you know smile it's showtime i, that was my go-to. Like, oh, my God.

And here I am, third tooth. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the show is going at home with Amy Sedaris. We just started writing season three, True TV. True TV. We just started writing season three. So I guess I'll have that.

But I don't really know. I'm just going to figure it out. And I'm happy to do this. But I don't know what will happen beyond that. I always say I'm trying to have a baby just to turn people off. I'm going to try to have a baby, Andy, at my age. Who gets turned off by that? Just anybody who knows me.

The beautiful creation of a new life. Well, I'm involved. Yeah, yeah. Well, but I mean, you are motherly. You have a series of rabbits that you've. Yes, my third rabbit, Tina. I had for four years. Finally, it's a boy.

After four years. Yeah, I live with an aggressive animal. Why rabbits? I was with you on the Upper East Side. I do remember we bought her. But was that a lark? Tattletail. Was that just on a lark?

Absolutely. I saw it in the window. I was with you. I bought it. I think Jackie was with us, too. Maybe. Yeah, Jackie or Jody. Yeah.

Brought it home. And I've been... I think Jackie was with us, too. Maybe. Yeah, Jackie or Jody. Yeah. Brought it home. And I've been, I just love them. I like having a prey animal in my house that can just kick back and relax and know that I'm not going to eat it. It's fun. I'm like, look at that. Yeah, yeah. You know? No dogs or cats ever?

Growing up, we had dogs and cats. But the rabbit just seems right to me. And I still get fascinated by their floor routines. You know? It's like Aunt Clara when they jump up and turn around. You're like, did that rabbit just seems right to me and i still get fascinated by their floor routines you know and it's like aunt clara when they jump up and turn around you're like did that rabbit just move and you know like did that bush just move you know three blocks down the street i love that about what do you mean i don't know what you're talking about all of a sudden they'll hop up spin around and land and you're like did i just see that or does that happen so fast what and what is that a function of they're happy oh. It's called binking. They bink

and hop and twirl and skip and jump and I'm still like blown away by their little floor routines. Yeah, yeah. A cat's not going to do that. Does he use a litter box? Yeah, full of hay. Oh, wow. So you don't even have turds all over your house. No, and I have a badge and I'm trained and I can go to your house with hay.

You have a badge to train people? Yes. Who authorizes? The House Rabbit Society. All right. Okay. Gave me a badge and I wear it around my neck and I go into your house and I'll say, Andy, you're doing everything wrong. And I'll educate you on hay and rabbits and all that stuff.

Now that people know this, you're going to have fans buying rabbits just to try and get you into their house. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell me a little bit about, because I don't know if a lot of people know this, about, you mentioned it shortly, about you're basically, you're very low-level entrepreneurial spirit. Yes. What is that about? It's from Girl Scouts and Junior Achievements. Yeah. And I like- And tell me some of the things that you've done. Because, I mean, I know from Girl Scouts and Junior Achievements. Yeah. And I like-

Tell me some of the things that you've done. Because I mean, I know, but- Pod holders I make a lot. I'm right now, I'm covering lighters, you know, just big lighters. And I make special covers and I sell them for $10. But I just like that transaction of you're a customer and I'm selling you something and I want the cash back. And it's just, you know, like you said, it's an extravagance. You can tip people with it.

It's allowance money. Right, right.. I think it's just in me to make allowance money. I mean, I always ask kids about how much you make it at home or you have Kool-Aid stands or and they're just like, what? I don't even know anything about money. I'm like, I had a bank account when I was 10. I had a job when I was 14. It's like, are you kidding me? Don't you want to, you know, who wouldn't want a job at seven? Wouldn't you want to you know who wouldn't want a job at seven wouldn't you want a job at seven uh i had i mean i i worked i probably have worked since i was 11 or 12 i mean started out with paper routes but then i always i had paper routes and you know an occasional neighbor work and then you know there also would be sort of there was seasonal farm labor that kids would do yes to pick tobacco

in the south for for us it was uh they called it walking beans which is that you just they would till the field and it would bring up rocks that would have to be gotten out of the field and they would be gotten out of the field by kids following behind picking up the rocks and throwing them onto a thing and then there was baling hay you know know, like moving the hay bales, which I think I only did once because I was so allergic. It was miserable. Oh, I bet. Did you ever see any snakes in those fields or in the hay?

Not that I remember. Yeah, no, not that I remember. By that time, it's pretty cold. In Illinois, it's pretty cold. And I don't think, you know, snakes and snakes aren't that, they're not that big a problem. Okay. Anyway, but then the other one too that, they're not that big a problem. Okay. Anyway. But then the other one, too, that you would have to do is castrating pigs.

Oh, my God. Kids to handle. Oh, my God. I never did that, but I had friends that did it, and it's, it is quick and nasty. Wow. Yeah, yeah. Why kids? Because they have little hands?

Because they just, you know, you got to get, because you just need like four kids to hold on to pigs and get rid of, you just need. Wow. And then you don't want to pay, don't want to pay much. So you just like, you know, if you don't have four kids of pig holding age. Whoa. Yeah, yeah. You got to go and get the one that you do have to go hire kids that are old enough.

But now you did, you did cheese balls. are old enough. But now you did cheese balls? I sold cheese balls. Let's look at some of the things. Cupcakes and cheese balls. Cupcakes and cheese balls. I was selling those out of my apartment when I lived on Christopher Street. Yeah. And then when I moved, I stopped selling them.

But I'm going to get back into it. Yeah. I might get back into it. But everyone started doing cupcakes. Yeah, yeah. And then I got a mouse problem and a cockroach problem in the old apartment. Oh, because of your catering business i mean think about it a mouse in my house and they see a cheese ball the size of the moon sure the joke's on me they were all in my apartment exactly

and they're like one with walnuts too rolled in nuts oh yeah uh now did you get did you find people because this is the thing is like are there fans just coming to you to buy cheese balls? Or are you getting like some dilettante-ish New Yorker people to be like. I've had both. Yeah, yeah. I've had both or charity. And I'm like, you know, I'm always like, you get one, no repeat business. Pick it up on my doorman.

I'm not, now it's all these rules. You're like, I don't want, fuck it. I don't even want your cheese balls or cupcakes. I make it so you can net cash only. Yeah, yeah. You know, I'm tough like that. Yeah. But if I get a job, I'll go to production and say, why don't you order 250 cupcakes from me?

I'll tell you what, I'll give them to you for $2 a piece and make the check more because I'd rather do it for cash. But if you don't have petty cash, you can write a check, but it's going to cost you more. Go straight. Go straight to them. Yeah. But there's not even like a profit margin in that i'll make a profit yeah they're really if i get my butter cheap if i go to costco and get butter all right for peanuts absolutely it still just seems and i'm no businessman but of your time i know you know

what i mean of the time that you could be spending what else you're gonna do with three compose a symphony that's what i do something with my hands always making how much of this is weed related how much of this is just back then a lot yeah not so much it's just like i like if i'm sitting in a room we're gonna throw out ideas i might you know i like having something to do yeah boy how much of this is weed related that's funny well i mean come on yeah i know you say 3 a.m. and you're... Back then. Now I don't stay up until 3 now. Yeah, yeah.

That's too... Who can? Sometimes I can, but you know. Now I guess it's the what have you learned? I mean, what do you... You know, what's Amy Sedaris' philosophy? Come on. Better to ask permission.

First of all, let me ask, because I interrupt you. I'm sorry. Have you ever been to therapy of any kind? I went to therapy after my sister Tiffany died. I went for a while. And all this, this show that I'm working on now, I've been thinking about it for like 12 to 14 years. But I wasn't moving forward with it. And so I did the cookbook.

I did the craft book. You mean the show. At Home with Amy Sedaris. And I had a hard time. It was almost like I just wanted to keep forward with it. And so I did the cookbook. I did the craft book. You mean the show. I had a hard time. It was almost like I just wanted to keep thinking about it. Yeah. And I didn't really try to really get it off the ground. I'd met with a lot of people who tried to make it happen. And then I'd pull away.

So I went to a therapist for a year to talk about Tiffany. And also, why can't I move forward on this particular project? You know, what is it? So and it was really fun. I like talking to somebody. And, you know know someone you pain someone to listen to you yeah and I'd never been before and um you know so I and I don't go right now but I would I'd like to go back and see her at some point yeah yeah so that was kind of fun what may I ask what was holding you back on the project do you think I think for me and it

you know I could think about something forever you know what I mean I want to think of every possibility and just obsess about it it's harder to make notes oh yeah yeah like crazy you know but it's harder than then you it's but you just got to do it there are people who can think and there are people who are doers uh I just that's I I don't know what it was exactly, but she motivated me to be like, just, we're going to do this. And all of a sudden I had to do it. But it's like a stew or like, that's the kind of show that I'm doing. It needed to stew for 14 years for it to be, I think something, if it's going to be really good, it needs to cook for a while. You can't make a two minute soup, Andy.

That's right. I know people who do and they put frozen French fries in it. And I'm like, no, you can't make quick soups. What does that mean what and then and then the fries disintegrate and it becomes soggy and uh supposedly thicken it's awful awful but i just know a friend who made a soup and they put frozen french fries in it oh i thought maybe that was like some acceptable like mock apple pie kind of you know shortcut that people were really really yeah yeah but what i've learned is i it's people that you work around and you know building relationships that's what i've

and i'm i'm happy to have that with paul and steven you know i think it's just it's building teams and also knowing when someone's not part of your team you can still like them but you're like this isn't right you know good luck to you but do you ever do you ever just do nothing like do you ever like like if you have a stretch of time where you're not working oh i'm always thinking of ideas yeah do you go on vacation like if it's a work i like work vacations but i'll go to tokyo with david and yeah yeah and um and but you don't ever go sit on a beach somewhere. No. Really? Not really.

No. I mean, we have to go to the North Carolina beach. David bought us a beach house and I'll go down there, but we don't have tanning contests anymore. Right. So I don't really lay out as much as I used to. And I miss that. I love tanning. Yeah.

Well, you're Greek. Yeah, I'm Greek. I can do that. You can do that. Yeah, yeah. But a vacation, not unless I know there's a job coming up or it's a work, you know, no, I'd like to have something to think about. Yeah.

Is it just because the, are you worried about money in that sense or? No, I just happy. I just like do, I just happiest when I'm working. I'm always happy working. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's what makes me happy.

That's, it's, it's, it's good to know that. Yeah. And if it's making a lighters, if I got a job, I got to get a hundred lighters made by Saturday. That's know that. Yeah. And if it's making lighters, if I got a job, I got to get 100 lighters made by Saturday. That's a job. Yeah. It doesn't mean I have to be on stage and, you know, I just need, someone needs to be calling me and telling me we need this. Oh, wow. It's fun to me.

And I like hiring people and I like being boss. Yeah. It's fun. Well, listen, thank you so much for doing this. Andy, so good to see you. I appreciate that you could fit it in. Blast from the past. Yeah, no kidding. Really? Yeah, yeah. It's well listen thank you so much for doing this andy so good to see you you could fit it in from the past yeah no kidding really yeah yeah uh it's great to see i haven't seen you in ages a long time since you did your tv show which i i can't even believe you didn't do more of those

yeah detective show andy barker p.i that was a good idea yeah it was a fun show it was a fun show it was a fun show and it was a great cast that was squandered well it was just squandered that you know that's kind of when you're talking earlier about people you know you you the different like your your projects have always kind of been generated by you or by david or by the people with whom you know your partners and i think once you once you get out of that it's then you get into a world where conan o'brien has a great idea that he hands off to Jonathan Groff. And then I get to be in it. And then we cast all these fantastic people in it. And then it gets made for TV.

And the people who are in charge of its destiny don't get it. Don't give a shit. Don't. I mean, you know, the quality of that show was irrelevant to the people that put it on the air. And it was on, I think. One season, right? There were nine episodes, and I think it was on at four different time slots. Oh, sure.

They just, you know, they put it on like, this week it's on Thursday at 8. Right. Next week it'll be Tuesday at 10. Friday's at 5. They just, you know, they put it on like, this week it's on Thursday at 8. Right. You know, next week it'll be Tuesday at 10. Friday's at 5.30. Yeah, fuck you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, yeah, so it sucks. I mean, you're, you've, you, I mean, I know it wasn't like some grand calculation, but you've done, you've made a wonderful life for yourself and career and made a lot of people happy.

Well, that's nice. You can't beat that. No, you sure can't. You can't beat that. No, I mean, that's the nice thing about this work is you are literally making a physical manifestation of happiness. And that's pretty good stuff. Yeah, that's good.

All right. Well, that's as good a place to end as any. Okay. Thank you for listening to the three questions with Andy Richter. And thank you, Amy Sedaris. Thank you, Andy. For spending some time with us. Bye-bye.

Bye. Got a big, big love for you. The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a Team Coco and Earwolf production. It's produced by me, Kevin Bartelt, executive produced by Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco, and Chris Bannon and Colin Anderson at Earwolf. Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair, associate produced by Jen Samples and Galit Zahayek,

and engineered by Will Becton. And if you haven't already, make sure to rate and review the three questions with Andy Richter on Apple Podcasts. This has been a Team Coco production in association with Earwolf.