The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Edi Patterson

Episode Date: October 3, 2023

Edi Patterson (HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones) joins Andy Richter to discuss improv comedy, growing up in Texas, the great Danny McBride, and much more.

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to The Three Questions. I'm your host, Andy Richter. Today, I get to talk to Edie Patterson. She's an actress, a writer, comedian, and she's a writer and performer on the show The Righteous Gemstones. And she is responsible for one of the greatest characters out there on television right now. And that's Judy Gemstone, who is really something, as we say. Gemstone, who is really something, as we say. Between her collaborations with Danny McBride and her performances in films such as Knives Out, Edie is one of the best comedic performers working today. And I was lucky enough to have her in the studio with me because I get lonely. Here's my conversation with Edie Patterson. Enjoy. I just love the sound of it.

My voice. My beautiful voice. Well, let's podcast. Oh, let's do it. I'm here talking today with a very funny. Now, you're one of those people that like I don't we've never met. And you're like one of those people that I just feel like we don't have to fuck around with. Like, let's not fuck around. We're pals already.

I mean, honestly, that's kind of how i felt when they were like oh andy wants you to come on his podcast i was like we don't know each other but yeah i'll go on my friend's podcast absolutely absolutely and i and it's and it's always i mean from having met a gazillion people and stuff it's always a bummer when i'm and i'm you know you're nodding because you know what i think i do there's you meet some you know of somebody and you like their work or you've seen them on stuff and you're like all right there's my future friend and then you meet them and they're just a fucking turd yeah it's a drag oh it's a real drag when it's just like yeah because you you I'm sure you've learned to like kind of trust that hit too of like because you have had things go in your mind where you're like

oh yeah that's my friend a lot of times that works yeah yeah and you're like oh yeah i knew something yeah i psychically yeah yeah but yeah when when they're a turd it's just it's it's deeply disappointing bummer and like for me because people you know for me all those years and honestly that's what conan was like and i mentioned, you know, for me, all those years. And honestly, that's what Conan was like. And I mentioned this, you know, because I've told a million like him and me meeting. We got set up to meet each other, even if we had, which we would have known each other already. Yeah. We would have known each other eventually because I know.

Yeah. We know. And in fact, we figured out. And I mentioned this before. We were at like a house party at Bob Odenkirk. Uh-huh. You know, and this is, I don't know, like 92, 93, something like that. And there's only 20 people there, but we just didn't, like, and I don't know why this giant creature with red hair didn't register, but we didn't remember meeting each other.

Yeah. But that's how we, I mean, the minute we met, it was like, oh, you're just as stupid as I am. The greatest. And it's just such, it's so good. And it's usually, you know, improv people you're pretty safe with. I find stand-ups, it's a little more dicier because they don't play well with others. They're not used to it, you know? Yeah.

Well, yeah. It's interesting. Because my whole background is improv, I don't always know how to find a stand-up. Yeah. And I'll think that gut thing of like oh yeah we can just fuck around and yeah yeah um maybe let's riff about something or actually let's not try to be funny at all right that's one thing a lot of improvisers are good at they'll just be people yeah when they're not performing yeah yeah yeah and so then i don't know sometimes i don't um

like i don't know how to compute like when a stand-up starts doing some material or something and i'm like oh i thought conversation yeah yeah i thought we were being people i don't know how to be now yeah yeah i don't have i don't have an act i don't have an act i have a you know a voice i put on um But then, like you're saying, you'll meet one and you'll go, oh, I can get down with you. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Absolutely, yeah. Well, stand-ups, I find, too, and I do make, I mean, this distinction was put on me early on in Chicago.

Improv stand-up. They were very separate. And I had friends that kind of bridged both. And I'd go to, like, this is a party of stand-ups. They were very separate. And I had friends that kind of bridged both. And I'd go to like, this is a party of stand-ups. And it was much, well, it was quieter. A. When I was in the sort of like transitioning from film school into doing improv. Yeah.

And I'd have parties. And like it would be my film school, like, you know school black fingernail polish friends. Oh, yeah. And then my improv friends who are like all guys in Blackhawks jerseys. And Converse. Yeah, my film school friends would just be like, why do they have to be so loud? I was like, because it's kind of fun. You're like, come on, we're all nerds.

Yeah, and it's kind of necessary. Sometimes it's kind of fun. You're like, come on, we're all nerds. Yeah, and it's kind of necessary. Sometimes it's just plain necessary. Yeah. Well, you are from the most originally named city in America, Texas City, Texas. Yep. You know what's crazy? A friend of mine, just this past weekend, I think, went to, in Santa Fe, went to a Lyle Lovett concert. A friend of hers knew someone who knows him or she's friends with something.

They went and my friend was backstage talking to him after. And he knew of the show I'm on. I don't know what we can say and not. I'm not trying to promote anything. He knew of the- You know, like I've already kind of, like I was so good when the strike started where people come in and they'd be like,

you know, like, oh, James Austin Johnson was on. And I was like, that late night sketch comedy show. And now I'm just kind of like, Righteous Gemstones. Yeah, so he's into Righteous Gemstones. I said you didn't say it. Yes now I'm just kind of like, Righteous Gemstones. Yeah, so he's into Righteous Gemstones. I said you didn't say it. Yes, I didn't say it. Anyway, my friend was saying,

oh yeah, Edie's from Texas. And he said, oh, I know, I watched the show. She's from Houston. And my friend who knows better said, no, actually, she's from Texas City. And he, being from Texas,

went, yeah, but nobody knows what that is. So he just said the nearest metropolis. Right, right, right. Because really nobody knows what it is. Because it's a coastal town, right? Yeah, it's right there. It's like 15 minutes from Galveston, right on the coast. So you grew up like in a beach town.

Kind of. Well, kind of. Because I always find them to be somewhat libertine you know or more so well i mean texas is so weird anyway because you can find everything yeah and you can find pockets of really cool stuff and then just know like i said austin yeah like i always said austin is like uh sitting next to a fun gay cousin at a Romney wedding oh you know yes at like a big Republican wedding but you got like you just happen to get like the gay one sitting next to you so yeah you're gonna have a good time yeah yeah yeah um it's Texas City's not a beach town Galveston is legitimately a beach town Texas City's not a beach town. Galveston is legitimately a beach town. Texas City's a weirder thing because it's,

there are tiny bits of beach, but mostly the part that goes into the water is called the Texas City Dike, and it's this long strip of- Jesus. Hey man, I say what I want. I'm on strike. It's this long long long strip of road with sort of kind of either rock

beach next to both sides but that juts out into the water yeah and that's kind of that's the that's weird yeah yeah that's your waterfront yeah yeah yeah so it's a different thing than like let's take all our stuff and go to the beach right you can do it there So it's a different thing than like, let's take all our stuff and go to the beach. Right. You can do it there, but it's a whole different thing. It's not as, yeah. Yeah. And now something's happening that I've never seen in my life. I was just there this last week with my mom and we went to Galveston to go eat with my aunt and uncle. And the water in Galveston was kind of a green blue. I have never in my life seen that.

In Galveston or Texas City, I have only seen literally the color of your coffee water. Oh, brown. Brown water. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I think it's because it hasn't been raining and no dirt from the rivers is coming in.

Oh, oh, it's making it filthy. Brown water. Yeah, yeah. No, I know. Yeah. Yeah, the Gulf. My ex-wife is from Louisiana. Oh. It's always similar. Yeah. yeah. No, I know. Yeah. Yeah. The Gulf. My ex-wife is from Louisiana. It's always similar. Yeah. Yeah. It's now. Why are you from like a long line I think my granddad's mother was straight up from Germany.

Oh, I see. But yeah, it's a long way back. Yeah. And not even just in the U.S., in Texas. And then my dad's parents, they actually grew up, both of them, in Chicago. Oh. Yeah. Wow. Craz crazily it's so weird when i think about that and ended up in chicago and then came no they came to texas oh oh from chicago oh okay and so i i'll flash on that sometimes they're both long since passed but i'll think about

being at my dad's parents house which was also in also in Texas City, and my grandma was obsessed with the Cubs. Yeah, yeah. And thought Ryan Sandberg was the cutest. Ryan Sandberg is pretty cute. But yeah, I'll forget that. Oh, yeah, they were from a different place. And did your dad grow up in Chicago then? No.

Oh, okay. Yeah. So he's from yeah yeah totally wow and then we grew up in the house that my mom grew up in her father built the house that we grew up in wow that she then bought from her parents when they when she and my dad got married i grew up in the house that my great-grandfather built whoa yeah and so added on to it but it was so who all lived there your great grandfather lived there my great grandfather uh built the house and and i don't know if this is true but they say that prior to this that the the land prior to our family owning it the land had

been belonged to the black hawk indians cool not I mean, it's just another story of white men. Yeah, I guess, yeah, ultimately. Pretty much terrible. What are you going to do? I say cool because I go, maybe you experienced some magical shit there. Well, I can tell you that we had a huge box of arrowheads that we would find on our property.

Yeah, just in your yard. Which always felt like so magical. Like, wow. You know, people for hundreds of years have been shooting at the same rabbits we do. Yeah. We do it with pellet guns. Yeah. But yeah, it was.

Yeah. But it's it does feel like it's weird because it does feel kind of like you're rooted there. But then I don't know how you were, but like I never once felt encumbered by the notion that I got to stay there. Yeah. I don't know why. I mean, I don't know why either. My mom, you know, like my mom went away and came back. Oh, wow.

And when when my grandpa because then my grandpa had the house after his father passed. Oh, wow. So my mom, you know, but my mom ended up coming back and she wasn't even that crazy about, I just talked about this in an episode here where we were listening to John Cougar Mellencamp. I was born in a small town and I couldn't breathe in it. And it was a, you know, it was the lyric of, and every, you know, you can be who you want to be in a small town. And my mom, I guess was the first time hearing it went bullshit. Like, no, you cannot, you cannot be whoever you want to be. No, town and my mom i guess was the first time hearing it went bullshit like no you cannot right you cannot be whoever you want to be no you cannot no yeah yeah yeah that's kind of a false lyric yes yes melancamp yeah john cougar right right well yeah and it's like yeah if you're john cougar you can be who you want to be no matter where you are because you're what's known as a rock star yeah

and they tend to get a lot of right you were you were a white male rock star yes yes small town yes how would it have been if you were gay john i don't know how cool are small towns right exactly in your era yeah well um did i I mean, were you aware that you were bigger than Texas City? I mean, I know that's going to get you a lot of help. Well, it wasn't even a thought like that. It wasn't like I'm bigger than Texas City. It was I'm different than this. Did you feel that early on?

Early on. And did you feel that early on? I mean, because I know you were like, I saw or read an interview where you said something that you saw. I can't remember what the show was. You saw a show and you're like, wait, you can do this for a living? Well, yeah, I saw a lot of things early on that were inspiring to me, but not until I did literally a talent show in seventh grade. That's right. And it was something we wrote together and then did together.

And not until we were performing that and I was performing things I wrote and seeing how this auditorium of kids. It was like a dating game parody, right? It was a dating game parody. Because we didn't have cable, and so we just had the regular channels. The UHF channels. And then we had three upper ones. And on one of those upper ones, I think Channel 39,

which was ours, they showed all kinds of amazing reruns. Yeah, Brady Bunch. We had Channel 32 in Chicago. The Monkees and all this stuff. Green Acres, petticoat junction all that crap and uh dating game was one that i was obsessed with i was also obsessed with wrestling at the same time and a lot of times dating game came on after wrestling

but yeah so we we wrote a dating game parody and i mean, it was so, so generic, but it was like one girl was the jock and I was the nerd and literally had a pocket protector. Sure. Um, like glasses, I would push up, you know,

and like, yeah, but we were, we wrote it and did it. And there was man, something in my molecules changed when we were doing that and watching those kids like you know slap their knees and scream and go like oh okay this is what i have to figure out to do yeah yeah which i had no idea how to figure out to do it yeah luckily my parents were always like

yeah sure i'll be an actor what you want yeah want. Yeah. I know. We have no idea how to help you. I know. Like, sometimes my son has actually told me, like, and I find it hilarious. He's like, you should have pushed me more. He's 22 now. Oh, my God. And I've always told him, I say, you need a different dad then because that is not what I'm going to do. You should have pushed me more.

Yeah. He's like, you should have, like, because my thing was do whatever you want you know and i think because like the fact that there's you know he's like he's not sure what that is but it's like sure well a you're 22 no one knows what the fuck they want to do really when they're 22 no way even if you have like i want to perform you don't know exactly you don't know how it's going to shake down. You're going to be able to. And also, yeah, me knowing what I wanted to do at 22 is a whole other thing than someone at 22 now knowing what they want to do. All I can think of as you say he's 22 is like, oh, man, he had a weird chunk of years. He sure did.

Right at the end of being a teenager. He sure did. I'm like, that does does something he came back from his freshman year of college on spring break and never went back yeah stayed back at home with his newly divorced mother and you know it was rough it was really really tough and that takes a minute yeah to like figure out and also the thing that like you don't think like that it's easy to read stories about but it's like people his age that like it's not you're gonna make more money than your parents right it's not that like that's not what the world is the world is telling him you know what you're probably gonna have to get

a shitty job and then do kind of what you like to do on the side because that's just the reality of what it is. Right. And that was like kind of in our minds too. But we could believe that, yeah, we can do this. Like there's enough of this going on that there's a living. And now even if you're a kid that wants to do this, you're looking at the way it is now. It's like nobody knows if there's jobs out there if there's you know if you can make a living doing this or like i i always feel like they've been sold this weird thing because of um i don't know even just because of tiktok and stuff they've been sold this weird thing that's almost that thing you're saying but also the opposite of like come on anyone can do it so if you're not doing it by the time you're 18 you're a fuck up yeah yeah and it's like whoa i'm making 200 grand just by wearing this jewelry

you know on and filming it on my iphone yeah yeah i i find when i talk to you uh crazily yesterday on an airplane i was talking to this kid that was 14 who sat by my mom and I. And it seems like he was a musical prodigy. He was flying for the first time by himself. And I noticed he had like a band shirt on. And so I was asking him what he played. Kind of quickly figured out, oh, he plays everything. He's picked the tuba because that's his favorite. But I mean, he was speaking with such wild intelligence on everything

musical that i was like okay i see what's happening here yeah but he even said i was like wow that that's really cool dude that you have found you've found something that makes you really happy and it it works for you like you're in the flow with it, like that's awesome. That's really exciting. He was like, well, you know, I do wish that I'd found it younger. I'm like, oh, my God, that's a thing. Like, yeah, kids also put these weird like old school milestones now. I'm like, God, has no one taught them like milestones are bullshit.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or the fact that, like, some, you know, other children were, like, put into, like, musical servitude at an early age. You will practice piano four hours a day. Totally. At six. Yeah. Go walk the balance beam. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's like, that's not, I don't know. I mean, I don't know i i mean i don't know i'm at the point where like i don't know i don't know what the proper thing to do with a human is to like get them to to be to find self-motivation and to you know because and again it's like the other thing with with the the young people the planet. The planet. Like a few years ago, one of my kids said to me something about like, well, I mean, who knows if, you know, we'll even be able, the beach will even be there. You know, like if it won't just be.

And I'm like, that's in their head too. Yeah. And they're not wrong. Yeah, they're not wrong. Yeah, they're not wrong. Like, well, you know, the coastline might be 10 miles in in 20 years. You know, like, yep, Miami might be gone. Key West, bye. Yeah. Oh, well.

Yeah. I don't know. I don't know how they're supposed to figure it out. I don't know how they i don't know how they're supposed to figure i don't know either can't you tell my loves now i because you were kind of raised in a religious yeah family and now you now you have one of the most famously filthy mouths on television um i mean did those were those two things like were were you the family that people could you know like in in your family like there was fart jokes and dirty stuff and you know and like kind of reveling and for sure if somebody had a big zit everybody had to look at it kind of stuff. Oh, yeah. No kidding. This is crazy.

I haven't thought about this in so long. I'm not kidding. At one point, my dad had, not as it, but maybe, I don't know. A boil? Maybe a boil. Or a cyst? Like a small boil or cyst on his back. Yeah, yeah.

But I'm not kidding you. My sister and I used to like sit on the bed as my mom would work on it and pop it and we would all scream yeah in delight yeah it was it was like a thing we looked forward to yeah but yeah we definitely my dad was a plumber and uh didn't it wasn't like um he didn't pull punches with trying to make sure there was no cursing in the house. Right. And he had a pretty kind of absurd sense of humor. Yeah. Which I think I kind of got parts of from him and then parts on my own.

And then my mom is also really funny, but in a whole other way. That's, I don't know, more goofy or something i'm not sure but yeah it was never like oh we can't act that way at the pattersons yeah it was for sure like a safe space to be a real fucking weirdo yeah yeah yeah yeah that was like i uh you know it did kind of like like there was no like i don't even know why our bathrooms had doors in our house. No boundaries. There was no boundaries. There was like, you know, mom, I'm going to the mall.

I need money. Bring me my purse. And my mom's on the toilet. Like here. She's like gets money. Yeah, for sure. Nope. No big deal.

Yeah. We or we always close the bathroom door. But that in no way, shape, or form. Yeah, stopped anyone. I mean, guaranteed that no one was going to open it. Right, right. Yeah. Or come in.

Yeah. Yeah. For sure. For sure. Yeah. Still to this day, every time I go to pee, my mom starts asking for me. And it's established now. She has's established now she will not answer the, she will not open the door.

We don't do that to each other. Right, right. But that was fully how it was. But she will stand at the door and talk to you the entire time. She used to. And now I'll just go like, mom will literally be out in 20 seconds. Yeah.

Yeah. No, I think, I mean i mean that's you know being being i think that one of the beginnings of being funny is like being okay with like what a strange like liquid filled bag the human body is and how and how to like and how to be fan you know if you're gonna be fancy about that it's always like it's like come on yeah you know yeah there were there was quite a bit of um growing up farting in my house and like jokes about farting yeah which i think made me become like right now you couldn't pay me to fart in front of my husband. Oh, really? Or him, me. But if it happens, we laugh a lot. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But yeah, I think maybe that helped me decide like, oh, this is not a thing that's great in a relationship. But I think for some people it does work. Yeah. No, it definitely. I mean, it depends on the person because I recently got remarried. And my wife is like a mixed bag. We have a three-year-old. And so there's all that baby stuff.

And I mean, my daughter, I pick her up at school and she wants to ride on my shoulders. And the second I put her on my shoulders, I feel the fart on the back of back of my neck like thanks hon you couldn't have gotten rid of that before you got up on my back just warm yeah just like oh okay her body pushing away a little yeah um so there you know there's all that but like but it is like there's no like I remember when we started dating and I was, and I, you know, she's like, there's pee in the toilet. And I said, yeah, I got up in the middle of the night and I peed. And why am I going to flush the toilet? Yeah. Wake everyone up.

Wake everyone up and waste the water and whatever. And she's like, I don't want to look at your pee. It's pee, you know, But I'm like, all right. So now, you know. Yeah, fair enough. Okay, I'll flush the toilet. I'll waste precious water. That one I'm okay with.

I did wake up this morning to some pee in the toilet. Oh, really? Yeah. You don't know whose it was? I don't. I'm not sure whose it was. Mystery pee. That one I'm fine with.

Well, so, you know, you're funny. But but you know you got to get out of Texas City. And then you went to college in Texas? Yeah, I went to college in Texas at a place called Texas State. Just a state school where you could major in theater. Yeah. With like a BFA in acting. Where's Texas State? San Marcos, which is like half an hour from Austin. Oh, okay. Yeah. Really beautiful little town. Yeah. With like a BFA in acting. San Marcos, which is like half an hour from Austin.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Really beautiful little town. Yeah. But it's the place where I got the most like scholarships. And. Right. We had, my mom and I, that whole year leading up to college had, we would stay up and she

would find me like, hey hey if you uh if you write an essay for this running club in lamarck which was you know two towns over yeah um and they pick it then you get six hundred dollars for a scholarship or you know i mean we did all i did yeah yeah we had the same thing and then i got got one from the school and kind of all cobbled together. It equaled something. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, there wasn't a way that I was going to be able to go somewhere. One thing, being from Texas City, I didn't know where I should go that would help me be a professional actor.

Yeah. I didn't know there were places. I knew there was Juilliard. And my dad took me. It was the first time I had ever been on an airplane. My dad took me to audition for Juilliard. Oh, wow. Yeah, because I begged them.

And I was like, they're having an audition in Chicago. Can you take me? And he did. They were so awesome. They didn't know how to help me do it. But if I asked for something like that, we figured it out. Yeah.

I did not get into Juilliard. It was an incredibly traumatic experience. Was it bad? Oh, dude. Brutal. I swear those, you know, those snootatoriums don't do anything anyway, you know? So I knew there was that, but I didn't know there were these other schools you could go to where you like even meet other people that can help you or there's famous alum or you know right right so anyway i went to the internet too is like not having it was the

internet like it was like just just starting coming around yeah so you didn't know like because it was the same thing when i went to film school it's's like, well, I've heard NYU, and I know LA schools, but I can't do that, so I'm going to stay in Chicago and do this. Yeah, totally. And by the time I was in at Texas State for two years, there was something I had heard about where you could go and audition for a bunch of schools at once. And by then, I had decided, like, what am I doing? I need to be in some conservatory. By then, I knew there was a thing called schools at once. And by then I had decided like, what am I doing? I need to be in some conservatory. By the time I, but by then I knew there was a thing

called a conservatory. I learned that word. Yeah. And so I had done this audition. Anyway, I got, I got accepted into like the Stella Adler School at NYU or something. But they were going to give me

a little financial aid, but not enough. And I can remember talking to my mom and going, this is what I have to do. What am I doing here? Taking these classes, fucking math and philosophy. And I need to be acting all day. And she was like, well, I don't know what to tell you. But if you want to go there, you're going to have to go and get them to give you more money.

So I would literally call them every day and go, look, I know you said you'd give me this much, but I need you to pay the whole thing. And they would literally day after day go, I mean, it's not happening. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's not how it works. So anyway, I didn't go and I did my four years there.

And I'm so glad i did i i still am a big believer that i don't know the only reason to that college is anything is because you get to go live in a city of children and become an adult and know how to make friends and yeah learn how much to drink and not to drink yeah learn how how much how much you can drink and not to drink. All of it. Yeah. Learn how much you can drink and still drive. Sorry. It's just the reality, folks. Yeah, no, it's all this. It's learning how to be a grown-up.

Totally. And I always felt like right when I was getting out of college, I was like, I actually kind of feel ready to learn something. Right when it's done. Yeah, right when it's like, oh, yeah, this sounds... My sister just took her first kid to college, the first of her kids that go into college and she was like, I just felt this

envy. Just like, I want to start this. And college is so cool now. The cafeteria was so good we had garbage you know we had garbage too and i had i most of my like theater friends i don't know i don't know i don't understand what they would eat but for whatever reason they didn't eat a lot in the cafeteria yeah and they would go and just get a whatever like a bar or something but they would eat at yogurt the restaurants around town yeah but i ate there at least a couple meals a

day yeah and um the the one and only panic attack i've had in my life was in college freaked out sitting in a class and i was like running, running back to my dorm. I'm like, I don't know what this is. I can't breathe. I went and sat in a church on campus. I was like, please, God, whatever this is, I don't. So later, I think maybe even I went to a doctor. I was like, I don't know what happened. My heart was racing and blah, blah, blah. So he's asking me about my diet and i went oh um yep so for at least a year now every meal i drink mountain dew from the cafeteria at the college

and i just the worst the worst no water. No water and all caffeine. All caffeine. Yeah. All caffeine. In like those big red plastic cups. Yeah, sure. Those pizza cups. And I just fill it with ice and my Mountain Dew and go learn my monologues. Oh, that's hilarious.

You have Mountain Dew poisoning. Seriously. You have done the dew too much. Oh, man. That's hilarious. So then go to austin because that's like yeah you know the nearest place to totally warm yeah well yeah and i had started the very first improv show i did for an audience was sort of toward the end of college yeah and then yeah i went to to Austin and was just working to make money. But my main thing was that's where I really started improvising.

Yeah. Paid audiences would come. And I did a couple of independent films there that, you know, don't pay anything. And I sort of went, oh, right. You have to move somewhere. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and I had two friends

who had moved to LA and yeah I literally still didn't know like do you go to LA do you go to New York yeah I remember at at that point I had started noticing that a lot of TV shows were filmed in Vancouver uh-huh and it is there was a certain point where I thought, is that where you're supposed to go? Yeah, yeah. And then I realized, oh, you can't just go there. It's a different country.

Yeah, it's a different country. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, I went to where I had a couple of friends. And it was here. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

And then started doing stuff with the groundlings and, but, yeah, it came, it was partly just as simple as that as i knew more tv and film happened in la yeah then maybe new york yeah and i knew i had two friends and we would

i could figure out living with them yeah did you find like that there was a like qualitative difference in terms of like your friends and your people that you're hanging out with in Texas and then you come to LA and it's like oh this is even more my tribe yeah I think so I I have I have a few friends that have stayed since college and are still some of my besties for sure. But yeah, I think once you start sort of honing in and knowing like, oh, I'm for sure going to be an actor and I'm for sure an actor who improvises and I'm never going to stop improvising. Because then, yeah, you're meeting improvisers and stuff. And then you get your world within the world in LA,

which I feel like, for me at at least was a huge key to going, oh, it can be the best city in the world here. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You know, this place can be great. Yeah. I think before you've got your thing inside the thing, it can be sort of like, oh, God. Especially from Texas. Yeah.

You can be sort of yeah, what's happening. But yeah, for me, it was always like the really handsome, you know, mid fifties guy, like at the driving range on a Wednesday at 11 a.m. You know,

just, and just being like, I bet that fucking guy came out here because he was handsome. Uh huh. I want to be an actor and look at him here i didn't know where this was going no no no it's just like i just that guy you know that just where it just felt like oh there's so many people here that came out here to get you know and now it's like and now they i don't know you know sell venetian blinds or something you know and it's yeah like i was always afraid of like

this is not the place i mean it's an easier place to not have a gig than new york for sure new york's a lot like the meanest if you don't have a gig you can be comfortable here you know but it is but it's still there's this as mark maron once said on the Conan show, he said, yeah, about why he didn't like illegal. He's like, you look out and you see that stuff in the sky. That's not smog. That's vaporized disappointment. He's like, oh, that's really fucking true. Yeah, there can be like an existential thing.

Yeah, yeah. Until you get your sort of make your own universe. Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe the sprawl has something to do with that. Yeah. Well, and I think also, too, just like the draw of show business attracts so many people

that just don't really understand what it means to be creative and make television or make movies they just kind of see this whole thing and they want a part of it and they you know and then they approach me at the at a starbucks and you know pepper me with 15 names that i'm supposed like this carpet bombing of references i'm sure you get my name's bob grant, you know, and you sure, I've talked to, you know, Stacy Miller over at, you know, just like, and I'm like, where are all these people? You know these people. And anyway, I got a project I want you to like, wow. You know, are you getting people at it? You get noticed like strangers saying, hey, I have something you should.

It's more knock on wood. It's more that it's in a really usually really nice phase of the people who want to talk to me like something I did. Yeah. Which is cool. Yeah. Yeah. Which is cool. Yeah. But I wonder, I wonder if you get blasted that way because of your talk show background where they go, oh, I know this guy and he can help me. Yeah. And he's on a thing where they promote stuff all the time. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And he knows everybody and he's talked to everybody and he's friends with everyone who's ever been on there.

to everybody and he's friends with everyone who's ever been on there and but but they i mean like a guy you know like a guy tries to give me his novel what the fuck am i gonna do with your novel yeah like if i had a novel i wouldn't know where to take it you know yeah just the the desperation to be a part of this thing which is ultimately the closer you get to like the fame part of it it's like oh that's kind of you know that's a creature that you you feast on each other yeah well you want to tell that guy too like oh dude do you really want to do this yeah yeah like is this are you giving me this just because no you think this is your idea of what this could be? Yeah. Do you really like watching?

Do you really like writing movies? Yeah, yeah. And you want to be in that world. Yeah, because it can get real creepy if anyone's approaching you because their mindset is, oh, he's so lucky. What he does is so fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, oh, no.

I've been working at this really hard. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, oh, no. I've been working at this really hard. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I kind of. It all landed in your lap. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. When you were coming up doing improv, was because I have noticed just in the times,

you know, from when I started, most improv teams had one woman maybe two if they're and were you starting to see more women uh yeah coming up in comedy because i i mean there's there's just a lot more women in comedy and i think it's i really enjoy it because i just and i'm you know i've said this before it's not because I'm such a great ally it's because I'm tired of men you know I mean it's just you know it's just like it's like a male point of view of comedy to me is like yeah it's gonna you're it's gonna be hard to show me something I haven't seen before got it whereas with women there you know, it's like, oh, well, you know, there's, I mean, what did we, you know, Toadie Fields and, you know, Phyllis Diller and, you know, Joan Rivers.

And then it's like, and now all of a sudden there's, you know, hundreds of funny women, you know. I feel like it's interesting. I'm really, really grateful for this. I'm really, really grateful for this. And I don't know if this is something that just was a huge luck thing or if I was like calling this to myself energetically. I'm not sure, but I feel like every step has, I've had amazing chicks in the mix. And I feel like part of the reason I ever even wanted to go through the whole deal at Groundlings was because I was very inspired by the women I saw there.

Yeah. And I was also improvising with what's now a group called Impro Theater. Right now, we do full-length improvised plays. But before, it was more short-form sort of standard. For a while it was called Theater Sports. It existed in LA well before I ever moved here. But even as part of that and Impro Theater, there were always these women in the mix,

many of them like even 10 years older than me, that I thought were genuine badasses yeah so i kind of always lucked into whenever i was trying to be uh whenever i wanted to be uh the best or the most awesome or you know get better at improv i always had women to look up to. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, oh, cool. I want to be that good one day. Or I want to be that easy. Or I want to be that wild on stage.

Or that fearless. Yeah. Yeah, it was usually women. Crazily. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, I think back and I'm like, okay, yeah. Definitely in Texas,

there was a, there were less women than men. I don't think that's the case in Austin now. I think it's very, there's, I don't know though. There's a lot of women in the mix. I know a lot of great women in the mix.

And now for sure in LA, there's a lot of women in the mix. I don't know that it's totally equal yet. Yeah. Nor should it be. And I know I really, really like doing all women shows. Yeah. You know, it's interesting though, because I think about this.

Not too long ago, just even like a month ago at the Groundlings, I did an improv show. And just the way it was set up, it was all women and one guy, which to me, I think, yeah, I've been part of all women groups a lot in my life. But I think to a lot of audience members and I think to a lot of students who are coming to the show that was a

big deal and I so I do I do try to remember that like we do need to hammer this in even though it feels like a given to me like a fucking course we need a ton of women in every show it is important to like keep hammering it

and just make it I just think it should be uh a given yeah yeah yeah because it'll because definitely left left untended it'll just slide back in yeah i totally totally i always worry about that i remember they somebody was talking was – I think it was like when Gordon – James Gordon announced that he was leaving. And there are all these people, which, I mean, late night now is just a wasteland. I mean, the Tonight Show gets ratings that would have been not great for us when we were on at 1230. not great for us at when we were on at 12 30 you know yeah like there's just so many so many less eyes on television when it's being rated when the ratings are coming in um but i forgot what maybe the fact i think where you were going was even when they're looking at openings that come

up in late night it's so rare that you hear a woman mentioned. Oh, right, right. It was James Corden. Yeah, and people were like saying, you know, give Ali Wong that job or, you know, give another person of color that job. And I was just thinking, if Ali Wong gets that job, she's going into salted earth late night television now it's just it i can't even imagine starting a late night talk show now and how much the deck is stacked against you and against you

in terms of getting attention doing something different doing a quality you know a good quality show that people are going to watch and i just thought if they give that to somebody like Ali Wong, it won't do well. And then it'll give the gatekeepers a reason to say, we tried. We tried with an Asian woman and look what happened. You know. God, because I hear you say that. We pushed her out on an ice floe into the Arctic and she froze. Oh, God.

You know, like. Yeah. And I like I don't even realize what what a wasteland it is that you're saying but i hear you say like oh maybe someone was throwing out ali wong's name and i go god that would be the fucking greatest fantastic and i my my possibly naive brain goes maybe that would change everything yeah yeah or you see like wanda sykes guest host yeah something and you go holy shit yeah what why isn't this a thing all the time well like sarah silverman had a fantastic talk show behind a paywall which

people aren't for some reason they're not ready to do that yet and it just didn't it didn't take you know and it's i just don't i i mean we don't know what the next kind of version of that is yet and like i i've said to people and like who do you think is going to be the next talk show i was like nobody knows who they are like it's like you're not just going to pick somebody that there's a known quantity and put them in that thing it's going to be somebody completely new who starts it, starts a different kind of show that somebody, then an old person like me will go like,

what the hell is that? You know, like, you know, like the way, I mean, I know, you know,

there was, there was some like, like there's somebody wants to tell me like these kids brought up on Tim and Eric, you know, like, it's like, yeah, Eric. You know, like it's like they like absurd shit. Like sometimes it's not even funny. There's no joke. And it's like, yeah, that is kind of what the kids want. You know, they like non-jokes sometimes and just –

Yeah, totally. The teenagers I know, like they – that is the stuff they love. Yeah. They love – they love I Think You Should Leave. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is hilarious and fantastic, but it is like I mean, it makes me laugh until I'm crying.

I tried to show some of I Think You Should Leave to my mom and she was just like, what? I don't understand. What is happening? See, I kind of love watching it with anyone who's like that because it takes me further into space. Yeah, yeah. And makes me laugh even harder.

Because there is something. God, we share an agent. I don't know Tim really. I've met him before. Yeah, I've met him a couple of times. Tim really I've met him before but yeah I've met him

a couple times but I've told his agent before like god I really I really love his show

and it's I don't know how quite how he's doing this but it you feel altered when you're watching it

yeah you feel like what did someone put in my coffee like you feel off. And I think it's, I don't know what he's doing, but I think that's magic. Well, I'm always amazed because it's kind of very similar themes.

themes like it's like you know it's like not so sharp guy putting into embarrassing situation in high stakes embarrassing situation in front of lots of people yeah or or not so bright guy acts terribly in high pressure situation but doesn't understand you know like there's just and and i'm i'm just amazed that like i will watch variations on that theme done by tim yeah for 25 years i will just sit and watch it over and over and i even love that sometimes there's like like tim like tim there must be like the thought of like look tim you've been the moron at the center of the sketch like five sketches we need to let's just you can be one of the people going I don't think you should do that and we'll just have like some nice old man be the asshole who's just basically doing the Tim Robinson stuff totally and I fucking love it every time you know yeah it is some random old dude with a shirt brother. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Like, yeah. Yeah. It, yeah.

I'm realizing as you say that, that it is that every time. And I'm like, oh, I love watching things that make me cringe. Yeah. My husband can't handle it. He has to walk out of the room. I have a level where the cringe is like reality show stuff. Like where somebody, like prank kind of stuff. I just am like, no, no, no, no.

If I know it's fake, then it's like, okay, I can handle it. I can even handle real stuff as long as I feel like no one is being hurt and no one and the performer isn't being mean to anyone. If I feel like they're confusing an old

person, I just can't. It just makes me me mad or when the comedy is like this idiot doesn't know he's in a comedy sketch yeah i hate no shit because he just came to cvs to buy some cough syrup yeah you know yeah but i don't know anything where people are on awkward dates yeah or living in a house together drinking too too much and fucking. I'm all in. And yeah, my husband has to walk out of the room

and I'm like, oh, that's part of what I love about what he's doing on that show is he's making those parts of my brain fire. Yeah.

But it's all written. Yeah. I'm like, I don't know. To me, that's the magic. I'm like, I don't know how

you're making me like squirm and tears roll down my face laughing yeah yeah can't you tell my loves are grown I want to talk about the show that you're on I just have to talk about it because it's such a funny show thanks and and you know when i when it first came on because i you know the televangelist is a comedic trope sure and and so i was like kind of skeptical and even though as much as i love danny and and kind of you know the danny mcbride. Just talk about another guy that just, he's got his own world that he's made. Yeah, absolutely.

That he inhabits, you know, fully as kind of Danny McBride, you know? And I love it, but I was kind of like, oh, televangelists, you know? And then when I watched the show, what I love is there is not an ounce of cynicism about the religious aspect of it. Zero. There's never any.

And I thought, oh, that's so brilliant. There's never we're fleecing these rubes. It's like this is our job. This is our thing. We put on a show. We do this stuff. And they believe it you know which is the complete key to then because if you believe that part of it it's like then everyone can be

absolutely bananas totally you know because everyone just yeah yeah yeah and i feel like part of what makes it really fun is we have never been making fun of believers or belief or religion. It's just let's deep dive these screwed up people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. These specific screwed up people. Right.

But yeah, I think it maybe helps that we all kind of grew up with religion in the mix. Yeah. we all kind of grew up with religion in the mix. Yeah. And none of us had any desire to do something super parodied or super or blasphemous or. Yeah. Or like was going to tear down televangelists. Yeah.

I mean, I mean, it kind of. It maybe kind of does. It kind of does that, but it does that in a way in a way that isn't preachy which is always the best way to if you wrap a message in a story like i've always felt that way like if you can get if you can give the audience what they want and also have them learn whatever you want them to learn like that's the hardest thing to do yeah and if you put what you want them to learn up front, I just know me as an audience,

I'm like, no thanks. You know, like you want me to learn something? Fuck you. Forget it. I'll go watch something where I learn nothing. Yeah, seriously. I'm not trying to do homework. Right, right.

Yeah. But I do think that then it is like, it does, I mean, it certainly is warts and all kind of people. And so I think that it does then, when you do look at a real televangelist, you can be like, it does undercut them in a way. Sure. Where you can be like. I think it shows the hypocrisy that can exist. Yes.

Yes. In, yes. In that world. And the tremendous amount of wealth. Huge. The tremendous amount of wealth that goes kind of unaddressed. It never gets really sort of worked out. Yeah, Yeah. You know? Yeah. And yeah, it's just interesting if the approach is these people are doing their best. Yeah.

I don't know. I just think it makes everything more fun. Yeah. Yeah. And I do think that they think they're chosen. I don't think they think like, ooh, look what we're pulling off. Yeah. Yeah. I think they think like, yeah, look what we're pulling off. Yeah, yeah. I think they think like, yeah, obviously, we're chosen.

Yeah, yeah. And I love, too, that it started in professional wrestling. That like, that John Goodman's character. Yeah, showman. Yeah, was in professional wrestling. It's just like, oh, I know of a similar business, you know, a similar brand of live show business that I could be in. Yeah, it's great. And, you know, and I think one thing too, and one of the reasons I think that your character gets to stand out so much and really pops so hilariously is because you get to write your own stuff.

Yeah. I mean, we all kind of have our hands on everything yeah we're writing and so it's not like oh i i write all the judy stuff right but definitely um definitely i've got my hands on most of it i think that makes but i think that that's there's something intangible where you get to say your own so lucky yeah so lucky. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Huge, huge. That's a huge gift. Yeah. Yeah. I was looking at some clips I was telling Sean before that like just the great monologue at the end of season one where you and I always, you're Edie and he's Tim. The character names I always, you know, but whatever.

But you meet at Outback Steakhouse and you tell him the story of your, you know, your professor and your romantic relationship. But just lightning bolt to my slit. Just that phrase. I was like, no, you can't., like nobody would write that for somebody to say. Nobody would have the, I mean, because that was, I'm assuming that you've came up with lightning bolt to my slate. Absolutely. Yes. Because I don't think anybody could like write that for somebody else.

Like that's something you've got to say for yourself. Luckily, that's my favorite thing is to make things really specific. It's the best. And how, how a specific weirdo would talk. Yeah.

And luckily, that stuff that if I'm, if I'm writing something it really makes me laugh. Nine times out of ten, it really makes Danny laugh too. Yeah, yeah.

So, that's another great part in the mix is that if i if i write lightning bolt to my slit there's not someone in the mix who's going no what does that even mean you where as everyone knows exactly what that means yeah yeah yeah but oh no i just it's such, it's such a wonderful show. And I am like. Thanks, Andy. I'm envious of you guys. Like, just, you know, even, like, you guys is, and I've seen them before, too.

Like, you guys is bullshit. Here we are on the set, you know, promoting the next season of. You guys' things of those are actually funny and fun. And obviously you're all having a good time. And that's like the eat your vegetables of being on a TV show. And usually it's so boring and no one gives a shit. And it's like, they're funny, you know, like that's great. You guys are having fun.

And it's for sure. The main thing, you know? Yeah. We're genuinely having a blast. And I think we all feel really, really grateful for that. Yeah. And like, oh, dude, it doesn't always work out this way. No, it sure doesn't.

Yeah. It sure doesn't. I think we're truly savoring it, which makes me really happy. Truly savoring it, which makes me really happy. I read something where there's a movie that Danny, like there's an Edie Patterson movie that Danny kind of shepherded through. Yeah, that we wrote. And is it coming out? Has it been out?

No, we haven't made it yet. Oh. We'll make it at some point. You should do that. Yeah. You really should. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, if you get time. I'll make it. Honestly, dude make it at some point you should do that yeah you really should yeah just i don't know i mean if you get direct it it honestly dude it's awesome and i hope we get to make it at some

point yeah yeah um it feels to me i think what we set out to write was something in the vein of like almost those uh almost kind of dramedy comedies from the 70s or like a character comedy from the 70s. Where it's just like a little deep dive on a person or a little group of people. Yeah, I think it will be a blast. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, it sounds. We just have to figure out when.

Where was it before the strike happened? Like, was it seemed to be on its way to being made? We had pushed it for a minute. There was a minute, like, a few years ago. I never know what the number of years is with COVID anymore. I know, I know. There was some point before COVID. Yeah.

Because we wrote it a while ago. There was a point before COVID where we were, there were some people interested, but it maybe wasn't exactly the budget that we thought we could make the very best thing with. And so then we, yeah, had something in the mix with someone else. But the schedule also for our show gets so intense

because we write it all and then we film it all. And it's so big. Back to back without any real lag in between? Yeah. I mean, there's enough time in between to get production going. Right, right. But yeah, it's pretty back to back, the finishing, writing, and the starting. Yeah, that's what I mean.

Like you start episode one, but by the time you finish episode, what do they do? I mean, tens or twelves? We actually usually have, we do nine of them. Nine. We usually have about, usually eight written by the time we start filming. Oh, okay. Yeah. And we block shoot, so.

Yeah. It's kind of. Which means for, if you don't't know you shoot stuff for different episodes based on the location or the whatever if you got like a complicated wardrobe shoot all those scenes even though it's across three episodes yeah yeah or like the the the the big amphitheater uh what do you call that coliseum that we use for our church is a real working concert venue and you got to do it all at once yeah so we need to shove all that into a couple weeks and yeah stuff like that sweet but yeah it's pretty back-to-back we yeah we write

then we film and are you going back any well i mean obviously you don't know yeah i mean we did get picked up for a fourth season which is awesome oh that's good yeah we you don't know. Yeah. I mean, we did get picked up for a fourth season, which is awesome. Oh, that's good. Yeah. We just don't know when we'll be able to start writing it. And are those written? Oh, you haven't even started writing them? No.

Because they haven't paid for it yet. Mm-mm. Yeah. Yeah. They haven't paid for it. So we haven't even started. Oh, man. Wow.

We're right around the time where we probably would start. So hopefully it won't push it all that much. Yeah, yeah. Well, what do you see for yourself going, you know, heading down? And I don't just necessarily mean work things. I mean, you know, anything going on, you know, you want to open a pancake restaurant, you know, I don't know. Buy a boat? Any stuff like that? Big plans?

No boat, no pancake restaurant. But. Missing out. Yeah, which one do you have? I'm combining the two. Oh. I may be interested. I may be interested.

I, you know, I really, really like, I really, really like acting. I love it. And I feel like I'm in a good phase mentally and soul-wise where I, I think it takes, took me a while to realize, oh, the best thing I have to offer is if I'm completely, completely myself. And exactly what I think is funny or true or insert any number of words here. Yeah. And not trying to be an idea of anyone else

not that I was ever trying to be anyone else but I think the discomfort of comparison is more intense as you're starting out and I think I just started trying to figure out what people want you to be

that's the other thing and I think I've realized even that doesn't matter You're trying to figure out what people want you to be. Right. You know, that's the other thing. Right. And I think I've realized, oh, even that doesn't matter. Yeah. That the only time I feel like I can get to another level when I'm doing it is when I'm at a true place in my head of, there's any number of phrases, but letting it rip or a true place of fuck it and then yeah that's a totally positive thing in my head yeah me too um i always say don't give a shit yeah then that let's see what happens a positive thing yeah like

and then things can get transcendent yeah and i feel like only in the past chunk of years have I really, truly felt that. So I want to keep going forward with that in my performance and just do awesome things. I really like the stuff I've been doing and I want to keep doing awesome things that I know I can bring something awesome to. And things that I read or write, and I go, ooh, I know. I can feel the sweet spot of this inside of me. And this is going to be different and weird, and it's going to be different and weird because I'm doing, because it's me.

So I definitely want to keep doing awesome things acting-wise. I don't know if that's kind of a boring answer or not. No, it's not a boring answer at all. But I also want to keep doing awesome things acting-wise. I don't know if that's kind of a boring answer or not. No, it's not a boring answer at all. But I also want to keep writing, and I want to – there's a few movies I want to write, and I don't know when, but I do want to direct. I directed a music video last year. Nice.

I was like, oh, oh yeah i really dig this yeah and like i'm like i said i'm not sure when i i'm not on a rush for that yeah but i do want to do that at some point yeah um i've been i've done some commercials and it's oh cool so much fun yeah i mean it doesn't you know it doesn't sound like directing commercials doesn't sound but it's like i've figured out i like being on set that's just what i you know like i don't need to i don't need a lot of things that i thought i probably should have you know number one on the call sheet or you know ownership of things and all these seven like i just like to be on set. Yeah, being creative.

Yeah, be on set on something, on a good show that I can believe in and that I like the people with and that's… It's everything. Yeah, it's everything. Yeah. I mean, because it's like you have so little control over the end product anyway. And I've been in so many things. Well, I didn't say so many things.

But, I mean, I've been in a number of things where I'm like, man, this is going to be great. And then it's like, oh my God, this was not great at all. When I go see it, it's like, I don't know what happened, but in between then and now, it's not as good as I thought it would be. And then other times, you know, and then if, I mean, they're less where you're like, oh, this thing is not good. And then you're like, oh, okay. It was a little better than I thought it would be. But you have so little control over that, that it're like, oh, this thing is not good. And then you're like, oh, okay, it was a little better than I thought it would be. But you have so little control over that that it's like, I don't know, you know.

Here's my thing with even directing that music video. When I asked to do it, I was like, ooh, I just need you to know this. And I vomited out like, I don't know lenses. I don't know how to do this stuff. I don't know these technical things and on this at least because it was an amazing DP it didn't matter yeah but you went to film school so you know all that stuff I don't know that much of that stuff honestly no I don't I mean and I I helped produce a late night television show for years and years

and years and years so my. So my expertise is in, here's three pages of a sketch, get it on screen. And I don't, and I'll say, I mean, I don't know the exact, you know,

the people that light things, light things because they know how to light things. The people that shoot things know how to shoot things. Whereas like, I feel like, but in order for the thing to have a sense of humor, that's what you got to know. And that is the thing that I've done,

you know, the whole Malcolm Gladwell zillion hours. I have done that a zillion hours, make little short things. When it gets to be longer form, like the notion of directing a movie, I don't think I could do that. I don't think I would accept that because I would just feel like it'd be like the same thing as like, will you draw up some blueprints for this new house? I'd be like, I don't know how to do that.

I mean, I'll arrange your furniture, but I don't know how to build your house. Yeah. So, no, I don't think, I think there's always, you know, we're led to believe like every director's got to be an auteur. Not really. You just got to kind of be like. Have a point of view. Well, and keep the morale up. You just got to keep things moving and keep everybody happy and make it set a good set a good tone, you know, and that.

And know what, you know, it's lots of problem solving. You know, you got people asking you questions and stuff, but it's fun. Yeah. You know, yeah. Yeah. It was that. Well, that's the stuff I focused on when I did it. Yeah.

I had also written the concept for the video. And so I knew there were times I wanted her to be able to be hilarious. And there were times I wanted her to be able to be just kind of gorgeous. And like, then like sexy, but a funny version of it. And I do feel like I pulled all that off. Who was the artist? This awesome chick, dude, named Elle King. She's a country star now.

She used to be a pop star. I know. I've heard the name. She's legitimately amazing. I mean she sings her face off. She's kind of she's sort of whatever. I don't even know if they call it like outlaw country

anymore but she's kind of that version of like badass country. Yeah old country kind of. G gorgeous and all tatted up and like yeah yeah she's like a bad girl yeah yeah and how did that opportunity come to you you know what she and her manager went to record the song and one of them i can't remember if it was her or her manager, Chip. One of them said, oh, this sounds like something that Judy Gemstone would sing. And so her manager literally DM me on Instagram. And then a guy who he sort of knows that I know sent me an interim message saying, hey, check your, what do you call those DMs that you don't know the people? I don't know. It's like your other box. You don't know the people? I don't know. It's like your other box.

The DMs you don't know the people. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was like, check that box. My friend is a manager and they want you to direct a video. And I was like, oh. Okay. So because the interim thing came. But yeah, they literally just reached out out of nowhere.

Wow. Yeah. That's great. Yeah, it was cool. Thank you, Judy Gemstone. That's right. Well, what do you, what's the point of it all for you? What do you think, like, you know, I mean, you kind of covered it when you said, you know, the be yourself kind of aspect of it.

But I mean, are there other kind of lessons that you've learned from doing this or that you wish someone had told you? that you've learned from doing this or that you wish someone had told you? I think as much as you can. Well, okay, let me back this up a little. I think there are so many valid life philosophies and life lessons and kind of roadmaps within improv of there's really no wrong ever. There's just keep, just go and follow the joy, I think.

I think that's huge, huger than I've ever realized before is, I heard this thing once on npr years and years ago where some scientist was saying uh that he thinks people that you are basically seeing the innermost truest part of people when they're laughing and i was like it just struck me like a lightning bolt to my slit and i was like oh i think that's true yeah i think that all this bullshit we put on other things of like oh that person's a dick or this blah blah if you can see somebody truly belly laughing not fake laughing not trying to like look pretty while they laugh not trying to be a cool guy while they laugh but But like someone genuinely, genuinely laughing, I think you get a glimpse of their soul.

Yeah. And I think that's the most important thing in life. Yeah. Not to distill it down to sort of laughter is the most important thing, but I think it is and then within that is you know really truly caring about your friends and your family yeah and trying to help them when you can and trying to help trying to help in general when you can yeah because we're all the same we're all connected we're all the same we're all just made up of weird fucking dots. Yeah. And I think,

I do think there's something transcendent in laughing. And if I can help bring that, great. Well, you know, there's always, you know, historically,

philosophically, the notion of making people happy is, there's a, you know, a real strong value attached to that. And it's like, it's the epitome of happiness, making people laugh. Totally. Like, I don't know, like, aside from drug dealers, I don't know who else is more like a selling someone a direct path to happiness than what like we get to do for a living. And it's just, it's just, it's, it's, it can be so amazing and it can be so wonderful. And it's a shame that like,

that gets forgotten a lot, you know? Yeah. You know? Yeah know yeah it is because it's really profound yeah um and i think it's easy to get in your own way with it yeah and then you have to remember like oh yeah if i get out of my own way and my whole point say you're say it's with improv i mean you could put this on a thousand things if If my whole point is to make you look good, I'm going to look great. I don't need to worry about myself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think we're all at our best when we even forget we have a body. Yeah.

And just like, yeah, let all the beautiful shit come through. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, and I was, you know, when I did one of the groups that I was with in Chicago, it was a wide range of experience on stage. Like there were some people that kind of just, and it was kind of the nature of this group. Some of the people kind of just started out and other people knew what they were doing and had been doing it a while. It kind of just started out and other people knew what they were doing and had been doing it a while. And there was a woman who was very enthusiastic and would go out like like we because it was it was improvised plays.

Uh-huh. And we would get the suggestion and everyone goes backstage and this woman would go out every time. The first one out. She'd be the first one out there. And it got to the point where she would go out or someone would try and beat her. And if they could beat her, then like, okay, good. We're starting. But if she got out there quick enough, it got to be where everyone else on the team would just look at me.

Like, go get her, Andy. Go, you know, like go. And I found that like what I could do because she just did the negating, you know, like where you go. Like there's a great 30 Rock bit where Liz Lemon and Jane Krakowski, I don't know, I can say the characters, where it's like a flashback to their improv, doing corporate improv. And it's like, here is, and I can't remember. It's like, here is a guy, a character from Slingbait and Oprah Winfrey, you know, like driving in a car or something. And Liz Lemon goes, I sure do love them French fried potatoes. And Jane Krakowski goes, no, you don't, Oprah. Just like the heaviest denial.

You're just so hilarious. And this, you know, you'd be like, you know, like, how can I, you know, sit down and act like you're typing and how can I help you? And she would be like, well, first of all, you should get back to the oven and start baking that bread. Oh, brutal. You know, just like, and I found relentless agreement. No matter what she threw at me, I would go, okay, fine. Yeah, I'll type my novel later. I got to get back and make that bread, you know, and then. It's the only way.

It just, and it's such a bigger thing that I'm not saying that you should be a pushover in life, but relentless agreement to forces that are against you, like, all right, you know, you want to push me this way? I'll go that way too, but I'm still going to assert myself. I'm still going to be able to get control of this thing by agreeing with you you know and by totally you know i mean and that's almost a a big uh spiritual philosophy because you're almost excited describing acceptance yes and just yeah the moment is what the moment is. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I hope at some point you kicked her out of the group, though. For real. Yeah, it wasn't. We didn't have that. It wasn't like that kind of thing.

Just sort of, you know, you just keep plugging away and hoping that attrition, which I think did eventually. Yeah. You know. So, well, Edie, this has been really, really, really fun. And I appreciate it so much. Oh, man. Thanks for having me. It's really fun.

Coming in and talking to me. And I want to thank all of you out there for listening. And I will be back with another episode of The Three Questions next week, God willing. God willing. The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a Team Coco production. It is produced by Sean Daugherty and engineered by Rich Garcia. Additional engineering support by Eduardo Perez and Joanna Samuel. Executive produced by Nick Liao, Adam Sachs, and Jeff Ross.

Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, with assistance from Maddy Ogden. Research by Alyssa Grahl. Don't forget to rate and review and subscribe to The Three Questions with Andy Richter wherever you get your podcasts. And do you have a favorite question you always like to ask people? Let us know in the review section. Can't you feel it ain't showing Oh, you must be a-knowing I've got a big, big love This has been a Team Coco production.