The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Jane Lynch

Episode Date: September 17, 2019

Actress Jane Lynch sits down with Andy Richter to talk about growing up the funny kid in Dolton, IL, being too classical for a Shakespeare company, performing together in The Real Live Brady Bunch, and coming out organically. Later, Jane shares what she loves about her living situation and what she’d like to direct in the future.This episode is sponsored by Betterhelp (www.betterhelp.com/threequestions code: THREEQUESTIONS) and LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/THREEQUESTIONS)

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Three Questions with Andy Richter. As usual, I'm Andy Richter. Sorry, guys. But I'm excited because balancing out the turd in the punch bowl is the fruit in the punch bowl. Jane Lynch. Oh, isn't that sweet? Hi, sweetie.

Hi, darling. I love Jane Lynch. I love Andy Richter. Are there people that don't like you? Oh, sure. Really? Yes, absolutely. But I mean, like, do you find people that are, like, people you don't know?

They're usually jealous. People that don't know. I mean, I'm sure, of course, there's people in your't know? They're usually jealous. People they don't know. I mean, I'm sure, of course, there's people in your life that don't like you. I mean, I know plenty of them. But, I mean, is there anybody, like, do you find yourself, like, that there's people, like, I don't care for her work or I don't, like, that you would hear about that? I wonder if I would hear about it because I don't. Yeah, yeah. I don't hear.

It's not like someone stops you on the street and says, you know what, I don't care. If they did, I would give them a big old fucker finger. Yeah, yeah. I guess the reason I said it is because I am aware of it because I'm on social media. Yeah, yeah. I'm on social media too. But do you read just the random? Sometimes.

I used to. The hoi polloi? Yeah, the hoi polloi. Indeed, I do. You know what? Just in the last three weeks, I took a Twitter break and got rid of the app and everything. I've done a couple of- I have done that a few times, too, because it just gets to be, it's like I'm wasting my time, and this is also corrosive.

It is corrosive. Yeah, yeah. And anybody can say anything to you. So every once in a while, I will look at the comments, and sometimes they're, I'll be called a dyke or something about I have a penis, which I really wish I did. I'm aware. We've talked about it. We've talked about this. I have severe penis envy.

You know what? They're ugly, but they are pretty fun. I don't even think they're ugly. Well, there are some that are ugly. Uncircumcised are not very ugly. Yeah, that's an aesthetic thing. But once it's out of its socket, they all look the same. Yeah, exactly.

Look at the lesbian who knows this stuff. Isn't that crazy? No, I know. I mean, no, we've talked about this. We have talked about this. Yeah. I've had it forever. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. And yeah, but no, they are pretty fun. And I mean, just like watching TV and something to do with one of your hands fun. That's so funny. I don't mean, you know, there's no hard for us to do. I got to dig in. Got to do the pants.

Right. Exactly. Yeah. No, it's just kind of like it's almost like, you know, a fidget spinner. Yeah, exactly. It's almost like it's so weird because for women, we don't and not just because it's hard to reach, but we don't. I don't.

I mean, I'm sure there's some women out there and everybody in my circle, nobody like masturbates watching television. Like it's nothing. It's, there's a biological need that guys have because of that. My friend says it's external plumbing. It is right there. And also it's, it's, it's just driven more than ours is. Yeah. Well, yeah, I think, I think there's the biological, you know, like spread your genetic material as much as you can. Sure. Is the male thing. Yeah.

Whereas a female, she can't like spread her genetic material to six different places in one day. No, of course she can't. Which, I mean, that's quite a man that can do that. But, you know, it's a different thing. You know, the propagation of the species is a different thing. It's more choosy. It's more like this is going to take some time and this is going to fuck up the rest of the species is a different thing. It's more choosy. It's more like this is going to take some time and this is going to fuck up the rest of my life. Exactly.

You know, that point you were just making about spreading your genetic material, I just read something about a doctor who was, you know, fertility, who would implant this. Yeah. And he implanted his own. I know. So he's got all of this progeny. That's so crazy. isn't it crazy and then jeffrey epstein too had like this fantasy fantasy it was like for really yeah had a ranch in new mexico sex slaves yeah but he wanted to prop like he thought he was like the ideal the uber human

and wanted to propagate himself that that's like a deep deep primitive thing that's in the male of the species yeah but it's under control in most guys. I know. Because they're civilized. But this doctor. Yeah, the thing about, like, Epstein, like, okay, that's a hedge fund asshole. That's probably, you know, he probably, he's just a big grown-up baby bully. Yeah. You know, I mean, and also sick.

Yeah, yeah. Deeply, deeply sick. Right. This doctor must have had a thing. Yeah. Because you don't, you don't go, if you're the kind of person that's going to say, I have the opportunity to slip my seed to a bunch of unsuspecting women and make a bunch of my own progeny, you don't just stumble into, what do you call it, fertility services. You don't go into that specialization. It's like, oh, I found myself.

Yeah. No, no, no. I think somewhere. There's something probably deeply, maybe even subconscious. Yeah. I'm going to give them a little break on this, and maybe it's not even a conscious thing. Something subconscious. You find yourself there.

That's why a lot of crazy narcissists are therapists. Yes. Oh. It's heal thyself, and they don't even know it. I have, I would say, I have two friends who have among the craziest parent stories and their parents are therapists. Both therapists, yeah. Like you can, which is really something for somebody like me who's been to therapy and who believes in it so much to realize like, oh my God, this person that's helped me so much might secretly be a monster.

Yeah, right. You know, like be a complete mess and making everyone in their life miserable. I had a therapist who I just adored and she is, she's an odd duck. She's totally an odd duck, but she was really good and she was compassionate and empathic and maybe not in her real life. I mean, she had some, she's, you know, there were shadow edges all around the place. But yeah, I think that when you're drawn to that, there, it just seems that there's, there's got to be some wackiness in you.

Oh, absolutely. You know, I mean, corrupt cops. Yeah, right. You're interested in crime. Okay. You know, and it's like. I'll be a cop. Yeah, yeah.

And it's like, I'll be a cop. But you know what? I kind of, I'm not necessarily just interested in the one side of the deal. Okay. I'll be a cop. Yeah, yeah. And it's like, I'll be a cop. But you know what? I kind of didn't. I'm not necessarily just interested in the one side of the deal. Right. And it's just, I think it's kind of a natural thing where there's a topic that you're interested in. And if you're a nut, you might go out and be like, maybe I'll help other nuts. I always think people who are hungry for fame that want to go into acting.

And the great thing about that is if you don't have any talent, you can see it right away. It's evident. But then now in this whole social media culture where an influencer, you don't have to have any talent. You just have to appeal to something to maybe 1,000 people, and then that will become 2,000 from a million, and you're a a year in youtube influencer

although you know there is something to that i don't understand it it's all like it's you know there's people that are that are movie stars yeah and you and you look at them and you're like oh yeah that that person that's a fucking movie star and they might not even be that great an actor they might do the same thing over and over and over again. No, I got no problem with that. You are there all day for that. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, that person doing that thing again. Me, Brad Pitt. No problem.

He can be in any film, even in what I call his dark years when he wasn't a good actor anymore because I think fame overwhelmed him. Yeah. And it got in the way of his acting. But he's still great. He's got a light in this latest movie. Yeah, yeah. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Oh, what a satisfying movie that is too. He's so good, yeah. He's got a light in this latest movie. Yeah, yeah. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Oh, what a satisfying movie that is, too. He's so good, yeah. And he's so great in it. I did end up being a little bit, and it's a common critique of that movie, like, what was the point of all that? For me, it was retelling that story in a way I wanted it. Yeah, yeah. Where she's still alive. She perhaps had the baby.

I did have the baby. Yeah. And I don't know. I kind of like it. And that baby was the antichrist. The Manson family did us a favor. They killed Damien in the womb. And it was weird too that I did have a problem because I don't just look at the women Women that were in the Manson family as, you know, just evil killers. Yeah. I think they were sad, lost souls. I'm not saying they're innocent.

No, I know what you mean. But I definitely say without a Charles Manson, I don't know if any of those women would have stabbed someone. They were evil incarnate in the movie. Yeah. Yeah, there was like they were all bad seeds. Yeah. Evil incarnate in the movie. Yeah, there was like, they were all bad Cs. Yeah.

And I don't know that I could ever write a movie where a very heroic man, a very heroic, iconic white man, kills a woman by bashing her head repeatedly into things. Is this the Brad Pitt doing that too? Yeah, Brad Pitt does. I mean, spoiler alert, people. I should have said that first. Yeah, no, he kills one of the, I don't know. And I found it so satisfying. Did you?

I just, to me, it was like, okay. I know. I felt like the women were killed with so much more vitriol than the man was. Wow. Yeah, you know what I mean? I probably didn't know. I'm not a very good feminist. But I also loved, and I don't hate, what's the name of the guy?

Bruce Lee. I didn't hate, and I understand people are pissed off that he presented Bruce Lee as kind of like this egomaniac. I don't care. But it was also satisfying to see him beat just the bejesus. Yeah, throw Bruce Lee into a car. Yeah, that was fantastic. I mean, I felt a little guilty about that. I'm like, is this colonialism working in me?

I'm just coming off of Game of Thrones. So my ability to stomach violence and even just like, they would be like raping girls in the background. I'd be like, oh, okay. Yeah, right, right. You get desensitized. Yeah, you do. And it's also another time, another era. Well, the Bruce Lee thing, I know people are beefing about it, but Bruce Lee is treated like a deity.

So is it really so bad to have one like thing where like maybe he was a dick? Yeah. Like, you know what? So what? So what? He was a little bit of a dick maybe. You make your own movie. You make your biopic.

That's the thing about the social media cultures. Everybody wants to write the movies. Everybody wants to write Quentin Tarantino's movie. Or they want to even write like a Marvel movie. Yeah, or they want a movie to be like a pizza that they ordered all the ingredients on. And it's like, oh, I don't like olives. Well, then don't order. A movie's not a pizza.

Remember the days when you'd go to a movie and you just accepted it? That's right. And that's what I did with Game of Thrones. I didn't read. I watched the whole season, the whole show this summer. Yeah. Oh, you did? Yeah, I did. And that was your first time watching it? Yeah, I didn't read. I watched the whole season, the whole show this summer. Yeah. Oh, you did? Yeah, I did. And that was your first time watching it?

Yeah, I started season one, episode one, and I went all the way through, and I was absolutely riveted, and I did not look up one actor on the internet. I did not have a problem with any of the episodes. I just was like, I don't like what they did. I didn't have any problem with anything. Yeah. I just 100% accepted it, and what a relief to watch television and watch a movie the way I used to, which was you suspend your disbelief. I started watching that thing just out of curiosity because it was just such a different thing for HBO to do. And it just kind of – I just happened into it. Like, oh, that thing.

I've seen ads for that. I'll watch it. And I watched it from the beginning, from the very beginning. You did? In real time? Yeah, in real time. I'll watch it. And I watched it from the beginning, from the very beginning. You did?

In real time? Yeah, in real time. And I was like, but the first season, it felt like a guilty pleasure to me. I wasn't aware of it getting any traction or anything. I felt like, oh, yeah, that's my sword and sorcery falcon crest that I watch on HBO. I felt embarrassed that I was watching some guilty pleasure. Yeah, like some dirty soap opera

with lots of titties in it about, you know, about people with swords and magicians and shit. Exactly. And then it's, you know, and then it blows up. Yeah.

And then as it went on, it was, and it's, and this is like, it's not the only thing television's supposed to do, but it's one of the most powerful things television can do, which is separate you, give you an absolute vacation from yourself.

Yes. You sit there and you go somewhere else. You don't think about yourself. And there were so many times at the end of that show. And the only other one that was really like that was Breaking Bad. Yeah. Where I'd get to the end of it. And then it was only certain episodes. I was one really like that was Breaking Bad. Yeah. Where I'd get to the end of it. And then it was only certain episodes.

I was one of those people with Breaking Bad. It's like, oh, no, an episode about his marriage. Why isn't anyone getting their head cut off? But in Game of Thrones, we'd get to an episode and I would be mad. Yeah. Like a baby that had its bottle taken away. Like, I want more whoopee. I know.

That's what was so great about watching it. And I'm sure. And I watched the whole, I watched the. Did you end up at like till three o'clock in the morning sometimes? I saw the red wedding at like three in the morning. Oh. Awful. And then went right to sleep?

No, I had to watch a few more. Yeah. So I went into the next season. To cleanse your palate of it. I had to. Oh my God. I had to cleanse it with some, you know, some more debauchery. debauchery yeah yeah yeah no that red wedding was really like oh my god that was really something like holy shit they just killed off some huge characters no oh yeah the mother and the the

rob the oldest yeah yeah and uh was that una chaplin was that the was that the role she played is she was she the wife i think so yeah I think that was Una Chaplin, yeah. She was like Charlie Chaplin's granddaughter. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. Oh, okay. I did look up some of the actors. Well, there you go.

I had some time in between seasons. I do it now. Yeah, yeah. In fact, I was just looking up Amelia Clark. I've been thinking about her for the last 48 hours. She was amazing. Yeah, yeah. Daenerys.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, now you came from a place where people don't go into show business. You mean, yeah, south side of Chicago. Yeah, yeah, yeah. South side. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

And is it still the same now or has it kind of, has Dalton changed? Dalton has completely changed. Yeah, yeah. Dalton is now much poorer. Yeah. We were really white. It's all African American now. Yeah.

But it's, you know, when you hear about the south side of Chicago and the violence, a lot of it down in my old town. Yeah, a lot of it. Because the south side just in, well, in our lifetimes has really transitioned from being well, the white flight. You know, just kept, you know,

Dalton was white flight, but then it just kept, the flight kept happening. It's in the farm fields now. Yeah, yeah. They keep running away from each other. Yeah. And what was your family? How many kids in your family?

Three kids in my family. An older sister, Julie, younger brother, Bob. And we grew up on the – and we lived our whole life, two different houses in Dalton. And went to St. Jude Church and hung out with, you know, it was a pretty small community. Hung out with the same people like for years. And yeah, not a lot of people saying, oh, I want to be an actress or I want to be a singer. That wasn't. How did your people end up in Dalton?

Did they start in the city? They started in the city. My parents lived on the south side of Chicago. My mother in South Shore, which is about 68th and South Shore. Yeah. And my dad, 79th and Emerald, an actual Irish neighborhood with Irish. He's first generation. My grandmother came from Ireland, so did my grandfather.

And everybody around them was Irish. Yeah. And then two blocks away from them was the Polish neighborhood. Yeah, yeah. And nary the two shall meet. Yes. But they would meet in the Catholic Church. Yes. Polish neighborhood. Yeah, yeah. And Nary the Two Shall Meet. Yes. But they would meet in the Catholic Church. Yes.

Oh, really? They would share? Yeah, they would share church. There wasn't different parishes? There was, but it would also, because it was done by your block, you know, where you lived. Oh, you didn't get to choose where you were. You did not get to choose. Oh, wow.

So you're worshiping with the Poles. I did not. I will not worship with the Poles. Yes did not. I will not worship with the Poles. Yes, exactly. Oh, wow. Yeah. Well, that's, I mean, you know, that's something good about Catholic authoritarianism. Yeah, exactly.

It's, you know, miscegenation between the Irish and the Poles. Indeed. You know, there are more Poles in Chicago than Warsaw. That's what I heard. That's what I heard. Yeah, yeah. I don't know if that's true. And now there's sort of, I just know from a few years ago, having a, for my mom's 70th birthday, renting a house in Michigan. What part?

What part? It was below, just south of Holland. I don't remember exactly which town, but it was right on the shore. And all the houses around there were owned by poles. Oh, really? By like the poles that. Came from really? By like the Poles that- Came from Poland? Yeah, yeah.

Or that like- Because in Chicago- Culturally identified Poles. Yeah, yeah. Like the real Polish Poles. Yeah. Because there were people, there truly are people, and I don't know if it's still the same, but when I was there, people that had lived in Chicago for 50 years and never spoke

English. Yeah, yes, absolutely. Because they did not need to. No, because they stayed in their communities. Yeah, they, absolutely. Because they did not need to. No, because they stayed in their communities. Yeah, they had it. When I worked in film production, one of my first time jobs, Mike Ditka, absently minded, wondered aloud if there was a Polish restaurant still there. And this, you know, ask Kissy production coordinator sends me to go find it with nothing more than a name, Milwaukee Avenue. So I'm driving up and down looking for Staropolska on Milwaukee Avenue.

Stop people to ask. No one spoke English. Oh, really? No one spoke English. No idea. From people in their 20s to people in their 70s. Wow. Polish, only Polish on Milwaukee Avenue. And I did find Staropolska and it was delicious. And I ate there for many years. Did you? Yes. It's one of the only things I can thank Mike Ditka for. Aside from the maybe the Super Bowl.

Okay, yeah. Yes. There's a particular Polish Chicago accent too. You know, Jeff Machowski at Second State? Uh-huh. He's a perfect example of, it's kind of like this. Yeah, a little bit like this. A little bit like this.

What's his name? Michael McKeon did it so well in Superior Donuts, the play. Yeah, it's a particular accent. He just nailed it. Well, that Chicago accent. Yeah. I mean, I can hear it. I still hear it when I go to my, like when my sister will talk about her dad.

Her dad. And I just, you know, you get used to. My mom and dad. Yeah, you get used to not hearing it. And then sometimes, well, and then sometimes like I can, a friend of mine just made fun of me because we were listening. There was an old song on the radio and I said, she thought like, oh, I think that's so-and-so. And I said like, no, that's Candy Stanton. And she went, Candy Stanton, Candy Stanton.

And I was like, oh, shit. That's Candy Stanton. And she went, Candy Stanton, Candy Stanton. I was like, oh, shit. That's Candy Stanton. Yeah. So what kind of kid were you? Kind of the, I mean, I was the funny kid. Yeah? Yeah, I was in the middle of my family. Funny family?

Yeah, my family was pretty funny. Yeah, yeah, mine too. Oh, that's good. And they always put a priority. I mean, most everybody in the family put a priority on me. Even the unfunny ones that weren't so funny that they liked that they were surrounded by funny people. My brother's very dry funny. It sneaks up on you.

And my sister's not that funny. She's, although good audience, she's unintentionally funny. And so was my mother, completely unintentionally funny. Whatever went in her head came out of her mouth and what came out of her mouth sometimes was just amazing and did she mind being laughed at

she didn't notice she was a little spacey oh yeah and she kind of barely listened and then her voice would just kind of just is there a psychological component to that effect you think

because it sure sounds like there might be one. You know, I think it was kind of a not 100% commitment to the here and now. Yeah. You know, a little bit. She's half Swedish, and that tended to win out the Swedish. You're Swedish, aren't you? I am. I'm Swedish.

Well, you know, these goddamn DNA tests, I'm mostly English, which nobody ever bothered. Weird for me, too. I'm barely Swedish in my DNA. I don't know how that happened. They brought it. No, it was, well, like, I mean, the two things that we were that we really sort of, that people sort of, because it's mainly the male names that get carried on, the family names. That's right, yeah. That carried on, which was Richter. And then my grandmother's maiden name was Lagerquist.

She was Swedish. But so it was German and Swedish. But, you know, German isn't so funded. You know, German's a little more problematic in terms of like, ah, great German heritage. Yes, exactly. Let's fondly remember everything the German people have done. Especially around 1918 through 1945. Oh, boy.

They really, they were on fire. Yeah, right. So the Swedish was a lot easier. It's just kind of. Oh, yeah. They're nice. They're a nice people. Yeah, yeah.

But they are. Depressed in the winter, but nice people. Holy shit, they're depressed. Yeah. There are such fantastic. That was the thing my mom kind of had. Yeah. There's such fantastic pictures of my grandmother's siblings who had, she was born in China to Swedish missionaries. Oh, wow. And they had lived around the world.

And then when the Boxer Rebellion happened, they had to leave. Like, you know, my great-grandfather, who was a physician, too, was almost murdered and had to be spoken up for and escape in the middle of the night. All these kids, I think there were maybe six of them, they went all over the world. And most of them farmed. But they ended up all over Canada, all over North America. And I think somebody might have gone to England. They were split up all over the world. Yeah, they all just kind of, they didn't stay together. They just kind of scattered.

And we're farmers and different things. And there are pictures of my grandmother and her siblings at things like in the 50s, early 60s. And it's just these, like, you know, at like a lake house sitting on it, sitting at a picnic table, just like 10 plow horse people with the saddest looks on their faces. Like, yeah, it's summer.

You know? Yeah, it's nice. We roast a pig. I think it's just a tease. Yeah, yeah. What's the point? No point. It's all a slog.

But yeah, so that does sound right at the Swedish alley. Yeah, so I think that was my mom. That was kind of my mom's thing. My dad was the happiest guy. Oh, wow. Joyful, corny, really good person. Banker, right? He was a banker. Yeah. Like local loan, he never became like a big, you know, I think he got up to vice president.

But just a really solid, wonderful guy. And people still say to me, you know, how's your dad? My dad's been gone for 15 years now. But, you know, we just loved your dad. He was just good, solid. I don't know. He was just really something. My mom's dad was like that.

He was everybody. He just, he didn't even work really hard he kind of just like he sold real estate and he sold insurance but he mostly just had an office in downtown Yorkville Illinois and played cards oh isn't that great everybody loved everybody everybody just loved him because he was just a nice man you know yeah and um and and I you know like I'm very proud of that. I think it's like, that's like such, to just be a nice person that's kind and makes people happy, like, holy shit, does the world need more of that.

Like, even my nieces and nephews are just, you know, will bring up stories about him. They loved him. Yeah. And he made such an impact on them. And it's a really great thing. And, you know, my sister, I was talking to my brother-in-law, we were on vacation, like we do, we go on vacation every year. We go to Santa Barbara and we were sitting in the lobby of the hotel waiting for everybody to come because we were going to walk on the beach. And my brother-in-law started to talk about my dad and just kind of burst into tears. He said, God, I miss him.

He made such an effect on my brother-in-law, too. He's been around for 30 years in the family and just loved him. Was your dad one of those people, too, that's just sort of blessed to be unencumbered by all the mental fucking bullshit? And he went through it. He went through it as a kid. Oh, he did? Yeah. My grandmother and my grandfather were at each other viciously. Yeah, yeah. Oh, he did. And he kept people to their sides. You go over here, you go over there. He'd be up in the middle of the night as like a 10-year-old,

refereeing this fight and negotiating. And he ended up being that guy. But it didn't encumber him. It didn't make him vengeful or depressed or I didn't get the childhood I deserve. And he was so great. We're just going to let that go. We just let it go. Some people, you know, it's like some people, they just get the luck of the draw and their serotonin levels are good.

It's true. It's just like, because there's certainly like with me, it's just like, because I kind of had that role. I was sort of the middle and was the peacekeeper and all of that kind of stuff when things were tough. But yeah, but no, I've always had a brain that's like, because I started to, when things are good in my life, be like, all the categories I used to worry about, you know, romance, job, future, you know, money, they're all good.

And yet I still feel like, what's the fucking point of anything? And that's where the meds come in. Yeah, well, good. Yeah, yeah. I think, you know, we are born with a certain nature. Yeah. And they're, you know, fighting that nature is fruitless.

I think it's the acceptance that, you know, like I don't get depressed, knock on wood. I just don't and never did. But there I know some people who do. And I'm like, you know what? You have a depressive nature and it doesn't. And you never did. But I know some people who do. And I was like, you know what? You have a depressive nature and it doesn't define who you are. And there are remedies, just like if you had

diabetes, you would take insulin. You're going to take a little whatever. And what, you know, for me, a number of years ago, it just started getting better. I mean, I'm still on medication. I've been on medication. But I've been on medication forever. And it was kind of like, eh, it was okay. And've been on medication. But I've been on medication forever. And it was kind of like, eh, it was okay.

And I don't know what happened, whether it was just age or something shifted. Something popped. And I'm better. But I still, you know, probably one of my most profound fears is that my brain goes bad again. I bet. You know? Because it's just when you don't have control over your moods, you feel so powerless. And then, you know, like when you're trying to get things right, you're trying different things and it's not working.

It's, you know, it's always like, it's always in my mind like, yeah, that could happen again. Yeah, absolutely. You know, and there's nothing I can do. It's not like I, you know, but it is like, yeah, that would suck. Yeah, and you could be plowed over by a bus too yeah that's true but the possibility of your brain going bad is probably a little greater yeah yeah so you know and i'm going to be a commercial for transcendental meditation right now but i i do tm and i it's you know like i don't have a depressive nature but there is a a lightness in my life. Because of that.

I think it's because of that. How long has that been? I've been doing it now for about a year, but I used to do it in the 90s too. And then I stopped and I picked it up again. I went, why did I stop doing this? Yeah. But there's something about it that in finding that what they call the transcendent place, but really it's about dropping.

And you don't have to get rid of your thoughts. That's not what it is. But you just kind of let everything be. It's the most forgiving meditation technique I've ever seen. But I've heard really great things from people who have depressive natures about how it kind of releases them. It's brain training. I mean, there's scientific evidence.

I never have really given a good charge meditation. And it always seems like, oh, that would be something pretty good. And then I don't know, for some reason, I just... I mean, we'll see. Who knows? Maybe tomorrow. Maybe you will just change everything for me. Maybe I deliver the message. I'll have to change my name to Shree something. So you are an out gay person. Lesbionic. Yes, indeed. Lesbionic Sapphos of a woman. Yes, indeed.

Was there an age at which you kind of started to get the notion? Yeah. Yeah. As soon as I became, God, I knew it all along, but I didn't know the name for it. Yeah, yeah. I knew I was more interested in the girls in school. But in my brain, I wasn't saying, oh, there's something wrong with me. Yeah. I knew that I had crushes on neighborhood ladies. But I didn't know they were crushes.

I was just in love with them. Yeah, yeah. And then you get to be about 12 or 13, and there's a word for it. And also, I'm noticing, I don't want to go out with Jimmy. I don't want to have a boyfriend. I want to have a girlfriend. Oh, boy. And then there was a name for it. And also I'm noticing, I don't want to go out with Jimmy. I don't want to have a boyfriend. I want to have a girlfriend. Oh boy. And then there was a name for it. I found out there was a name for it. And I was like- Do you remember how you found that out? Yes. I was hanging out with the Isaacson twins. Oh, those fuckers.

Yeah. They were kind of a dark influence. They were kind of mischievous. Those twins, my mother would say, stay away from those twins. They said they were in Fort Lauderdale on vacation, and there were guys who walked up and down the beach holding hands, and it's called gay. And I went, inside, of course. Right. I am the female version of that. Wow. Yeah. And I thought, oh, it's like a disease.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, that's a tough thing. And, you know, I do wish that it wasn't a tough thing, but it wasn't that awful for me. I ended up being in theater, and the theater was just teeming with the gays. Oh, no kidding. Jews, too. And Jews.

Gays and Jews. So many gays and Jews. And Poles. Whenever I've had to, like, host a political fundraiser, I always, here in L.A., I always always like to say like, hello, queers and Jews, because it's always a liberal thing. It's true. Yeah, yeah. Seth MacFarlane once said at a Democratic thing, hello, fellow abortion enthusiasts.

Yep. So did you, what did you like, date boys to? A little bit, not much. Not much. Couldn't find it in me at all to do it. See, that's almost better. Exactly. And when I would be going to like a dance with a guy, because I wanted to go to the dance, I would almost throw up going, I don't want to do this.

Oh, my goodness. My body would not let me do it. Yeah. But I did it anyway. Yeah, yeah. And so you went to college downstate, right? Yeah, Illinois State. Illinois State.

Right in the center. Bloomington Normal. Yeah, Blo. And so you went to college downstate, right? Yeah, Illinois State. Illinois State. Which is actually right in the center. In the center, right. Bloomington Normal. Yeah, Bloomington Normal. Yeah, it's probably you and then David Foster Wallace. You know David Foster Wallace? Yeah. He taught there.

He did? Yeah. I didn't know that. I think even that's where he was when he died. Are you sure? I am sure. Or was it at University of Illinois? No.

Oh, God. It was at ISU. Really? You know, you would think I would know that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't. I thought he was a pretty amazing guy. Right. And you were walking around thinking you were the most famous, fancy ISU graduate ever.

Yep, yep. Yeah. And so what was college like for you when you got down there? It was great because I didn't go into theater immediately because my parents told me, you'll never get a job in that, so why don't you major in mass communications? It's theater adjacent. Right, sure. And then by the time I'm a sophomore, I'm doing plays and I'm not going to any classes.

Oh, yeah. And so I had to, I changed my major without them knowing. I got a tuition waiver, so I didn't, my parents didn't have to. Didn't have to know because they're not paying for anything. Well, they were paying for it, but they were very happy that they didn't have to pay for my tuition. And I told them, I didn't tell them it was because I was a major. I just told them I auditioned for it. They didn't connect the dots that I had changed. And then it turns out they really didn't care. They weren't paying that much attention. Right, right, right. And it was a bigger deal to me.

Were you a good student? I mean, had you been? Yes. Once I got into what I wanted to do. I would have guessed that also too, just in high school that. I was not a good student? Yes Once I got into what I wanted to do I would have guessed that also too just in high school I was not a good student in high school Oh you weren't I was C, C plus student Oh wow See I don't

You know Excellence seems like something that you kind of Oh thank you Not academically though Oh really But once I got into my theater stuff I got like for the last two years of college I had straight A's every semester.

Before that, I was, you know, C, B. But so my GPA when I left was like 3.3. It wasn't out of four. It wasn't as high

as it would have been had I been focused on what I really wanted to do. On theater the entire time. But I don't have a math mind. I don't have a science mind. Yeah. And I struggled

through all of that. Struggled and cheated to be absolutely frank. Oh, really? Yes. When you got to – was that – ISU, was that – being in college, was that what made you think, like, okay, acting, that's what I want to do? Yes. Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. And there's a great theater department at ISU. In fact, a lot of the Steppenwolf people went there, like Laurie Metcalf and Tom Irwin, probably people you don't know. But anyway, Randy Arne, a lot of people who are- I know the names. Yeah. That were- But yeah, I think that's a very common, especially a Midwestern thing.

You have all this stuff in you. You have who you are, but it isn't until you get out of that town that you realize that somehow the universe gives you permission to be like, oh yeah, I do like that. Yes, exactly. And I do want to pursue that because, I mean, I've talked about this before, but the notion of being from Yorkville, Illinois and saying, I'm going to be in show business. Right.

And whether that means even, and to me, that could have meant being a prop guy. Yeah, yeah. Did you know you wanted to be? I knew I wanted to be, I knew I wanted to be. I knew I wanted to do something funny. I knew I wanted to do something creative. I was afraid to act. And I also, too, quite frankly, had not been encouraged very well.

My mom and my parents, my mom and my stepdad and my dad, too, they were very sort of laissez-faire. Yeah. And my mother early on, I think, explicitly was sort of, you know, like the idea behind every police force, which they sort of have forgotten this, but this is the mission statement of the police is supposed to be that they're working towards their own obsolescence. And to me, that's always kind of been what parenting is. You're working, you are working as hard as you can to make yourself useless to this creature that you've devoted your life to. Right. And my mother explicitly said that to us early, I want you to do whatever you want to do. As long as you're happy, go be happy. Do whichever you want to do. I think when she got

towards the empty nest, she sort of was like, wait a minute, get back here somebody. I don't care. At least one of you get back here. But so, but I, and I wasn't really sure what that was. And I was in plays and the plays in our school. And I would, there was a spring director and a fall director, English teacher and a guidance counselor. And I would ask the main guy in charge of the guidance counselor, why are these plays so stupid? I mean, they were like Martin and Lewis movies.

Oh, yeah? Like there was one called Boys and Ghouls Together that was around. That was the plays you were doing? Halloween, yes. And nothing, no Pippin, no, you know, Whose Life Is It Anyway? The dumbest, most puerile shit. Can't take it with you. None of that stuff.

Not even like, not even Our Town. Not even like the, you know, we're music man, you know? And he's like, ah, we tried to do serious plays

and nobody liked it. Like, oh, okay. You know, it's like the beginning of just like, I mean,

of course not. It's just the beginning of not giving a shit, you know? Exactly, yeah. And, and I was in a,

I was, so I went out for all the plays and I don't remember exactly what point. I think it was like my sophomore play into the next one. And there was this, the next play was, there was a part that was kind of like, and I mean, and this is completely incorrect, but I mean, basically that's the way these things work. There was like a Swami, literally like a Swami in this play. And it was like the mainami, literally like a swami in this play. And it was like the main comedic part of the play.

And I could do it. I did it. I knew I nailed it. I was like, fuck yeah, I'm the fucking swami. Now I go to look at when they post the parts and I'm sort of like Norm, the guy that works at the office. And I've always been self-possessed enough to make a fucking beeline for the guy that cast this thing

and say, what the fuck? And he says, well, he said, yeah, you were really good at that part. You're better than the kid that I gave it to. He said, and in fact, he said, in all the years I've been doing this, you're the best natural actor I've ever worked with. He said, you don't need training goes, you don't need training. You just, he goes, everybody just from scratch, you're just the best.

But last year, Mr. Barron said, you and Julie Craft were a bit of a disruptive influence backstage. Meaning we had fun. Yeah, right. Meaning we enjoyed each other's company. In spite of the stupid play. Yeah, and joked around and had fun. Because we were fucking theater kids.

Yeah, right. You know? And he said, so I decided, like, I'll give you this role. And if you show that you can really commit to fucking Ding Dong Dell or whatever the fuck it was. And he's like, you can really commit to this. Then I figure, like, you know, you could do the next time we can maybe give you a bigger role and I said well thank you very much but I'm not going to do this you can find somebody else to play Bob or whatever

and I never did another play God you were self-possessed I never did another play for them because fuck you fuck me fuck you that's been like a you know a quiet like I'm the guy on the bus mumbling fuck me no fuck you you know I'm not the one screaming it

but so I never really had a lot you. I'm not the one screaming it. But so I never really had a lot. I did speech team. Yeah, yeah. What did you do? I did prose. Oh, okay. What is that?

You read something? You read short stories. Oh, oh, wow. It's just reading short stories. Like interpreting it and telling a story. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Oh, I bet you'd be great at that. Because there was also dramatic interpretation and humorous interpretation. And those you didn't have a script.

Prose is just, you know, you're reading a short story. Once upon a time, I was a little boy. Yeah, it's just you go on a Saturday in a math class in, you know, Cole City, Illinois, and you read a story that you found in The New Yorker, and they give you a ribbon. The New Yorker, that's pretty erudite. Yeah, no, I tried. I didn't want to just read the same old, you know, I don't even remember, you know, just the same old stories that they all read. Yeah.

But so, yeah, so I went to college with the same thing of just like, I can't, you can't do this for a living. And then you get there and you're like, oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you can. Yeah, you can. Why not? And even if I wasn't even thinking about a living, I was thinking about this. I love this. Yeah.

This is what I want to do. And my mother always said, like, after I do a play, she'd say, honey, you were really good. But I want you to know you need to learn how to type because you need something to fall back on. And I would say, okay, okay. And I, of course, wouldn't learn to type. And then after I had done Shakespeare in the Park and Linkin Park in Chicago, we did a production of – what's the one with the twins? I forget. Children's Hour?

No, no, no, no. Shakespeare. Oh. The lesbians. I don't know that. No, no, no. I didn't know. I didn't know.

I don't know a lot of Shakespeare. But anyway, and obviously I'm showing them. Yeah. Well, I was a big fan back then. And we did a production of it. And whatever the play is, I'm losing it. I'm sure everybody out there is screaming and going, the twins. Or not.

Or not. A lot of dum-dums listen to this thing. And my mom said, you were very good. But I've always seen you teaching. And I stopped her. And I said, never again. You cannot say that to me ever again. And where was this? What, senior year?

I was like 28 years old. Oh, this is out of college. I was in Chicago. Yeah, this is out of college. And she went, oh, okay. And she never did. She never said it. Yeah. The first time I left the Conan show after seven years, and I had been antsy. And my parents had known, like, I just kind of felt like I was doing the same thing over and over. And I had ambition. I wanted to see what more I could do. And I wanted to act, frankly. And I told my dad, and he said, oh, I said, you know what, I finally decided. And I went in and

I told Conan, and it was a protracted process, but he went like, oh, that's great. I know this has really been on your mind and stuff, but if you change your mind, you can still go back to work for him, right? And I said, Dad, I wish this wasn't the first thing you'd ask me. Like, you could maybe ask me this after 10 questions. Like, what are you thinking of doing? What do you feel like you want to do? And good for you for making the break. I know that took a lot of courage.

It was, yeah, well, just, yeah. I mean, I just kind of felt like I'd enjoyed a lot of good fortune. And I had done some good work. But I just was antsy. And I wanted to see if I could make it bigger. Yeah. And I just, you know, it was sort of almost a basic kind of entrepreneurial spirit. But also just the, you know, the dissatisfaction that can fuel us.

I mean, I just talked to Scott Thompson and that this isn't enough is the thing that can really, like, especially when we're young and especially in this business, it is the fuel we run on. This isn't enough. You can get to a certain point where it's like, oh, this is away at me this isn't enough at some point it's got to be enough or you're going to go to your grave right in frustrated yeah and shitty shape so can't you tell my loves are growing so um were you making a living as an actor in those early days in Chicago? Let's see. There was a point that I was, yes. Not then, but then I joined the Second City Touring Company.

Oh, yeah. Started making a living. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it was a small living. It's not a great living. It wasn't great, but I didn't need much. Yeah, yeah. As far as I was concerned, I was making a great living.

Yeah. And I loved Per Diem. It was like a whole bunch of cash that they just put right in your hand. Yeah. So I started doing that. How did that happen? How did you getting from being a theater person? Like in a Shakespeare company.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shakespeare lady into yuck, yuck. Yeah. Remember how you would try to get an audition general with the Goodman? Yeah. And then you try to get a general. You had to call. Yeah.

Remember you would call in busy, busy, and then finally someone would pick up. Oh, and you'd get it. And you send out resumes and stuff like that in the Chicago area. Right. And so it was just one of the resumes I had sent out. Oh, wow. And they called me in. Wow.

And I don't know based on what, because I hadn't done any comedy. I don't think they knew who, they didn't know who I was. I was just doing little plays off loop or non-equity stuff. And so anyway, I came in and I auditioned with a ton of other people. And I never liked improv. It scared the hell out of me. But I got up there and did – and I got cast. They chose Jill Talley and me and Michael McCarthy.

Oh, gosh, who else? Greg Holliman, who was, you know, Greg from Strangers of the Candy. Sure, of course, from Strangers of the Candy with Mr. Blackman. Exactly, yeah. So that was our touring company. Those are amazing. That's a really fucking talented bunch. Yeah, that's a talented group.

And we were a little older than the rest of them, too. We were like 28. Yeah, yeah. And had anyone else been through their whole five classes? No, none of us. Levels of classes on a t-shirt? They kind of they didn't they didn't cast from that wow that they that's such a fucking gimmick i know that

was no guarantee i never did second city because i just heard i heard the word on the street was go to the io if you're any good charnel put you on stage yeah if you go to second city you got to go through five classes and maybe you get a t-shirt and maybe you get – An audition. Yeah. Maybe. I'm sure they let him audition, but rarely did anybody out of the classes get put on the stage. In fact, I don't know one instance.

Wow. Maybe there are now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you remember Jon Favreau? Of course. He was a dishwasher. Oh, that's right. No, I know.

Or a host or something like that. Well, he and I did improv together. At I.O.? Yeah, at I.O. Which is ImprovOlympic for those who don't know the lingo. Yeah, ImprovOlympic, yeah. And in fact, I remember doing something once because Sharna would, you know, ran us out for special events. There was something, it was some suburban high school, and they called it Venetian Night.

some suburban high school and they called it Venetian Night, which I think the idea was that it was, I think, based on something that like in Venice, there's a festival and you go from gondola to gondola. And this was in each classroom, there were different activities. We did that at our church. We called it portico. Oh, this was Venetian Night. Oh, that's so funny. And we did 15 minute, 20 minute improv shows, like five of them. Right, one after the other. Yeah, this was Venetian night. Oh, that's so funny. And we did 15-minute, 20-minute improv shows, like five of them.

Right, one after the other. Yeah, and one after the other. And did they ring the bell in between each? Yeah, like the class bell. Yeah, like the class bell. You go in the hallway and you go to the next show. It was me and Favreau and maybe four or five other people. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, how fun. No, he and I have known each other for a gazillion years. He's doing so well. Oh, fuck yeah. Oh, my God. Fuck yeah. No, he and I have known each other for a gazillion years. He's doing so well. Oh, fuck yeah.

Fuck yeah. So I went to Second City, but I was in that Shakespeare company that I was in. It was called Free Shakespeare, and then it became Chicago Shakespeare, but not the Chicago Shakespeare that's there now that's actually a big company. But we used to rent ourselves out to high schools, and we'd show up with a little bit of a set, some cheapo costumes, and we'd do scenes from Romeo and Juliet, from Macbeth, from, you know, any Shakespeare show. Yeah, yeah.

And that was a lot of fun. And we got paid for that too. We'd get, you know, 50 bucks a show, 100 bucks a show. Did you have to stop the Shakespeare when you got into Second City? Yes. And did your Shakespeare friends be like, you sell out? You sell, yeah. No, by the time I left that Shakespeare company, because I was such a pain in the ass and persnickety.

Really? And I, you know, I came from classical training. I went to a, you know, Cornell. We had a classical part of our training where we learned how to fence and everything. Oh, wow. And I was pretentious as all get out. And I hated what they were doing. I thought it was sacrilege.

A lot of people, you know, screwed around with the language and they weren't pure the way I was. So by the time I left, the guy said to me, don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out. Oh, boy. So they were happy to see me go. In the rear view, everybody waved. Yeah, yeah. Now, during this time, are you out? Are you dating? No, I'm not dating for sure. I'm out-ish. Yeah. Ish. Yeah, but still a little afraid of it yeah yeah yeah um I guess uh what what's the I mean aside the Brady Bunch when we did the real life Brady yeah that I was you know and it wasn't like I had a moment

like I held a press conference well but that's when I started to get to know you and it did seem just having because there were a lot of people that knew you from, because we, for those that don't know, there was a show in Chicago that was started by Jill Soloway and Faith Soloway. Right. Jill Soloway from Transparent. And Faith Soloway, who now they're doing a musical version, and Faith did all the music for that. Oh, great. I knew Faith from Second City. Yeah.

And she was our musical director. Yeah, because for those who don't know, every Chicago-style improv groups, seven, eight to ten people, and there's a piano player that is improvising a score along with you. It is a skill. It is. There were maybe three or four in town that could do it, and they never were wanting for work.

For work, yeah. And Faith is one of them. Yeah, and Faith was a genius. Genius, and the nicest person. The best person in For work, yeah. And Faith is one of them. Yeah, and Faith was a genius. Genius and the nicest person. The best person in the world, yeah. And she actually just was kind of coming out at that time. She came out to me. Oh, she did?

She was dating Tim Meadows, who was also in our touring group. Yeah, from SNL and another person I've known for a million years. He went home. I don't even know if Tim knows this. He went home to Detroit to visit his family and Faith and I went out and made out all night.

Oh, wow. So I ushered her into the ways of Sappho. Oh, my goodness. But that was, and we were friends. We made out one night. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But she didn't say anything. She just made out with you and you're like, I think she might be gay. I think she might be a lesbian. I'm not sure. I'm not sure about her. I do have good gaydar

and I got a feeling about this one that's sitting on my lap right now. I could taste it. Yeah. Yeah, no, because I remember. Because when I first got to know her, because I knew Jill, and she and Tim were dating. Yeah, right. Yeah, so it was.

Another nice, wonderful person. Tim met us. Oh, he's the best. I love him so much. Yeah, but so it was all that was kind of happening to me coming in fairly new to all of this. That's right. Where did you come from?

I came from Iowa. I went to Columbia College Film School. Oh, okay. Did a lot of, I'm a film actor. I didn't, I took a couple of theater classes and thought they were silly. Yeah. I had, I remember Charles Grodin wrote a book and he and his first book is really cantankerous. I think it's called It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here.

I remember that, yeah. Which is what somebody, when he was working in a castle, and there was nowhere for them to go, him and the actress in the scene. And they sat somewhere, and the woman that ran the castle said, it would be so nice if you weren't here. woman that ran the castle said it would be so nice if you weren't here um but he wrote about his taking early acting classes and he said that he got thrown out of them because he kept saying why why why they'd say do this you know like be a tree and be like why i don't want it i want to be a person in a play i don't want to be a tree you know i remember going to uh somebody who wasn't a very good director and i had been had been working for quite a while. I said, now let's do the lines really slow.

And I said, why? Yeah. She said, just because. Because it makes me feel like I'm doing something? Exactly. Yeah. No, I've had, I've been, I was in a movie where somebody did that to me and it was infuriating. Yeah, yeah.

They were, now do them fast. Do them real fast. Yeah, yeah. Fast, fast, fast. Now do them, do them, but then stop in the middle of every line. Like, just show, just like somebody's so fucking scared that somebody's going to figure out, you don't know what you're doing. Yeah, right. But, yeah, I just, at that time, I remember it was like, it seemed like everybody was coming out and everybody's.

Yeah, oh, yeah, that was a special time. We were all bursting out. Yeah, we did this show, time, I remember it was like, it seemed like everybody was coming out and everybody's. Yeah, that was a special time. We were all bursting out. We did this show, The Real Life Brady Bunch, which was just Brady's on stage. It had a game show that preceded it. The Real Life Game Show. Yeah, to give, it was an audience participation game. It was a really. You were the announcer.

I was the announcer. When we went on the run. I wasn't initially. Oh, you weren't. Oh, it was Howard. Yeah, when Jill, I just, you know, the whole theater, the Anoints Theater, everyone would turn out on Tuesday nights. We'd do two shows. And one of the main things was, well, it was all hands on deck in terms of just turning the house over for two shows.

Yes. And there were live commercials that we did for merchants that needed, you know, improv performers. So we'd do commercials. It's the summer of 1990. That's how long ago it was. Yep. live commercials that we did for merchants that needed, you know, improv performers. So we do commercials. It's the summer of 1990. That's how long ago it was. Yeah. And then also the bit parts. Like, I think the first one, I played Buddy Hinton's father, the bully's father.

I think that was the first one that I did in the actual show. Yeah. But when Jill, they got to go to New York. Village Gate. And to the Village Gate. And a guy, Mark Howard Sutton, was also running the theater. And he had been playing Mike Brady and doing the announcing. And he wasn't going to go. And I knew that.

And I said to Jill, hey, put a wig on me. And she went, huh, OK. And it got me to New York, which got everything kind of rolling. So you played Mike Brady. I played your husband. I played Carol Brady, your wife. I did feel very much like we were the adults. Me too.

Me too. Absolutely, we were the adults. We both lived separate. That's right. I lived in the Salvation Army by myself. You lived by yourself as well. Well, I had a friend that lived in Hell's Kitchen that let me pay half her studio apartment rent to sleep on a futon in her corner for however many months. And everybody else like flophoused it.

They lived. In warehouses. Yes. And like this weird loft space that they put up sheets to create rooms. So they lived together, worked together. Fucked together. Fucked together they lived together, worked together. Fucked together. Fucked together, cried together, fought together. Drank together, did poppers together.

Oh, it was just- And they went out after, and I was sober by this point. Yeah. So everybody went out afterwards, like to the Lions. What was that called? It's still there. Everybody go out and get loaded. Yeah, yeah.

And I would go home to my little Salvation Monk cell. Yeah. And you would go home, but you'd probably hang out a little bit, though, wouldn't you? A little bit, but no. Not much. No, there were definitely moments of where deep into the thing where it would be, we're having a gathering for so-and-so's birthday or for whatever. So-and-so's sister is visiting, so we're all going to this bar.

And I would go and just feel like, okay. We definitely would be adults. I have had the exact same experience. I've had enough of this. This is like, okay, hi, kids. Yeah, have fun. Have fun now. All right, I'm just going to go, you know.

And where are you going, Andy? Aren't you going to hang out? Yeah, yeah. No, I'm going to be. I used to do the Irish goodbye. Excuse me, like I'm going to the bathroom. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I do, yeah.

If I even showed up, yeah. But it was just because'm going to the bathroom. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I do, yeah. If I even showed up. But it was just because I did just had this, it was just too much. Yeah. It was too incestuous and it was too, there was also a fair amount I felt of psychological manipulation. Yes, there was a lot of that going on. There was a lot of- There was some darkness around the edges. There was a lot, yeah, there was a lot of kind of people-

Emotional. There was a lot of darkness around the edges. Yeah, there was a lot of kind of people. Emotional. Spinning people against each other and stirring shit up. Absolutely. There was drama. Yeah, there really wasn't turning against one person. Yeah. And everybody would kind of turn against them and they'd be out and kind of weren't sure, am I out?

And it always felt like there was a little bit of puppet mastery going on. Yeah, there were a couple of people doing that. I eschewed it. Yep, as did I. Yeah, I would just go and buy weed in the park and self-medicate. So what do you think predicated the coming out? When I, you know, like, was it just enough? Was it enough? I don't know that I suffered that much about it.

It could just kind of naturally, organically happen. I didn't have a moment where I'm coming out. Yeah. You know, just little by little, person by person. And it's not like, do you remember when Eric Waddell came out? Oh, this is a funny story. He had been gay as long as I knew him. He was the host of the game show that preceded the Brady Bunch.

But he was not out in the beginning at all. Oh, I see. I don't have that recollection. And you could tell he was suffering over it. When is Eric going to come out? And so he asked, there was a Mexican restaurant across the street, and Eric said to Mick, who's the head of... Yeah, Mick Napier. Mick Napier said, I need to talk to you. And Mick's like, he knew what it is. Can you meet me for margaritas?

And he's like, look at his watch. Yeah, like, I hope we can... He knew exactly what it was for. Let's get this over. I got a lot to do. Yeah. Yes, Eric, what?

I think I'm gay. Eric, you are gay. All right, nice talking to you. He started wearing all that, you know, it was late. It was the early 90s. He started wearing, like, the parachute pants with no shirt.

Yes, yes. And he started working out. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and I remember Mick especially would wear the most outrageous like canary yellow bicycle shorts. Yes. Through which you could tell his religion. Oh, indeed. Do you remember his room, his quote unquote bedroom in the top of the theater?

Yes. Remember his dog, Kalua? Uh-huh. Full of Kalua's poo. Mm-hmm. And it was an absolute mess. And I went up there. I bought him a jacket because he didn't have a jacket.

I bought him a jacket and I said, I want to clean your room. He said, oh, thank you. So I went up there. I mean, it was unbelievable. I washed his sheets. You would believe what was going on. See, I would have said, I want to clean your room, gone up there and gone like, you know what? I don't want to clean your room.

I dove in and I cleaned it and I swear to God, within a week, it was back to where it was. Yeah. But he was really grateful. He was so sweet. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, that place was definitely. But he was really grateful. He was so sweet.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, that place was definitely. And, you know, because at the time, too, I was involved in ImprovOlympic and ImprovOlympic offshoots, which were much more Chicago guy. Yeah, right. Like, it was mostly white. Not a lot of the drama. Yeah, mostly white guys, you know, like. Straight white guys.

Yeah, straight white guys. Absolutely. And, I mean, and I think, you know what? I can't even think back and think like that there was any openly gay people on that stage at that time. I can't. One does not come to mind. Yeah, at IO. I can't think of one that is actually gay after all these years.

I think everybody, it was straight guys basically. Yeah, right. Every once in a while a woman? I don't know. Oh, yeah. No, it was probably a tokenism. Yeah. But it also kind of did feel like – it wasn't like funny women weren't appreciated.

It was just – This group happened to be straight guys. Well, and I think also just at the time, there's much more of an ear for funny women now. We have a cultural ear to hear funny women. Very good point. But in those days, too, I also just think, too, and it's changing somewhat. Little girls aren't socialized to be funny. Yeah.

You know, like the class clown, like, oh, that kid, he's an asshole and he's a loud mouth, but he's funny. He's funny. The girl that does that is like, what are you doing, young lady? How dare you? Oh, yeah. I remember getting that from teachers. Absolutely. Yeah, and I think it's you're not going to get a man that way is the you know sort of the underlying thing

of it so i think there were just it was rarer to have there just were less women yeah which in some ways made them more valuable like if you had a funny woman it's the same thing with the you know it's a market yeah there's oh there's a lot of funny white guys okay you got a group of funny white guys holy shit that woman over there she's really funny we should get her in here yeah you know because i think that was like bonnie hunt i would say absolutely at second there was a note rose was the same yeah yeah yeah it was kind of like they got up onto barb wallace yeah they got up on stage and they just did their thing. They owned it, yeah. Amy Sedaris, for Christ's sake. Amy Sedaris.

Yeah. Amazing. But yeah, so at the IO, and then we had an offshoot group called the Comedy Underground. A lot of guys were like, what are you doing over there with those queers? Yeah, is that what they were saying? What are you doing? What are you doing? Everybody was over there fucking each other and doing drugs.

True. And I was like, yeah, everybody's over there fucking each other and doing drugs. I wasn't part of the fucking each other and doing drugs and true and i was like yeah everybody's over there fucking each other and doing drugs i wasn't part of the fucking each other so much like there was a lot of kind of loosey-goosey oh my god yeah sexy kind of things and that i just was like completely missed yeah i missed out i don't know i wouldn't have done it i was just like i didn't even know it was happening i'm so nice yeah no i and i was still like i was a late bloomer i you know i didn't but i just kind of like i mean I was having sex, but I was just like the notion of three or four people in the room while we're having sex just didn't. I didn't even know that.

Oh, yeah, yeah. It was happening frequently. And I just was like, I don't know if I'm, you know, I like disappointing somebody one at a time. Pointing somebody one at a time. So, yeah. And that was another way that was just sort of a separateness, sort of like, I don't know if I really want to dive in here. I tried to, too. I tried to wrap my mind around it.

It was like trying to date guys. It was one of those things that I, come on, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to go out with them tonight. And I couldn't. And then I just couldn't. It just wasn't, it wasn't my jam. And so I'd sit alone in my little monk cell and I'd be depressed about it. I'd be talking about it. Why don't I want to do this? I just didn't. And it's not a judgment on it. Look, they had a freaking blast. It just wasn't my blast. Yeah, but there were, I think

some of those people probably weren't sure whether or not they should, and maybe did things that they weren't quite sure they should have done. Oh, really? I thought everybody was so cocksure. No, but I think, no, but I, because I do think like, I did know myself and at the time I felt like I'm a scaredy cat and I should be more open. But I think in the long run, looking back, I wouldn't have changed it. I wouldn't have gone. I just would have given myself a break. And I, yeah. And I just, and now it's like, no, no, I knew who I was.

And I trusted myself enough to make choices along those lines. So now how does the world find Jane Lynch? You know, like you, cause you're there in Chicago and we're doing these shows. Right. And we did the Brady Bunch. Right. And then I know you did some legit plays back in Chicago. I did. I went back to Chicago. I came and saw you in a couple things. Steppenwolf. I did a couple more than a couple of shows there, yes.

And then, is it best in show? Yes, probably. Let me think. Well, you know, I did The Fugitive. It certainly didn't make me a star, but it kind of put me on it. No, but that was like one of my first, holy shit. Look at that. I know her. Like, you know, like we have actually, you know, like probably used the bathroom after each other and are familiar with each other's smells.

Indeed we are. Yeah, yeah. Indeed we are. So that happened and I actually moved out to L.A. right after that. And that was, see, when that happened, the Brady bunch had ended. Oh, I remember exactly what happened. The Brady bunch had ended and we all,

everybody stayed in LA because we were doing it at the Westwood playhouse, which is now the Geffen. Everybody stayed there. I went back to do a play at Steppenwolf. So I was at, in Chicago. And then we went on the tonight show with Jay Leno. Remember that?

And so I flew back to just do that. Oh, see, I forgot the chronology of that. Yeah. So we did The Tonight Show. We did, which meant we just did, if you remember the Brady Bunch, there was a Silver Platters episode where they get on a TV show. The Corky Collins show, I think it was. Is that?

Oh, my God. Good for you. Oh, that's from Hairspray. No, that might be from, that's from Hairspray no that might be from that's from Hairspray but it was like the so and so show and they performed a song

time to change yeah is that it I don't know they called themselves the silver platters the silver platters why

because they were trying to win money to buy their parents an anniversary silver platter there is rhyme for the reason yeah so we just basically did

short scene of of the kids did the musical number and it's cut to you and me and alice going like hey look it's the kids on tv you know and uh but yeah it was really and but we were on the fucking tonight show doing this nonsense in our thrift store clothes yeah and i remember the guy clipping my mic onto me which was probably the first time of the gazillion times that somebody's clipped the mic onto me some which was probably the first time of the gazillion times that somebody's clipped a mic onto me. Some old stagehand clips his mic onto me. And we'd been through rehearsals.

And everyone puts it on. It's time to go out. And it's like, oh, shit, we're going on the time show. And he puts it back on me and goes like, your kid's got a good act. Even at the time, I was like, no, we don't. No, we really don't. We really don't. This is a fucking Brady Bunch song.

Yeah, right. Exactly. Like, kind of the point of it is that it's not a good act. Yeah, exactly. And you know what? I think at that point, too, we had kind of stopped having fun with it. Oh, absolutely. It was over.

It was over. I mean, by the time that this sort of little grassroots theater 70s nostalgia, by the time it gets to Jay Leno, it's over. It's completely over. The irony is all gone. So then I went back to Chicago and it was that spring that I was cast in The Fugitive. And then when it was coming out. And that was just through casting in Chicago. Casting local roles. Here's the thing, Andy. Andy Davis is the name of the director.

Andrew Davis. His assistant came to the Brady Bunch and based on her seeing me do Carol Brady, said, you should have this woman. He listened to her. You should have this woman, Jane Lynch, who he didn't know from Adam or Eve, play this character in The Fugitive, the lab technician, good friend of Harrison's Ford character. And he said, okay. And I was offered the role. Wow. We. I was offered the role and they paid me $8,000.

Wow. Which was a shitload of money. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That vaporizes in a moment. Oh, yeah, exactly. But at that time, it did me well. No, it's still money. It's a lot of money.

I came out to LA to do the movie Cabin, and that was going to be my nest egg. And it was like, it was a hummingbird egg. It went away real fast. When I got the job on Conan, the same day, I got a call to come in that I had gotten a job as an assistant manager at a movie theater. You're kidding. And I was able to call the movie theater and say, sorry, I'm going to replace David Letterman. And you at that time were just a writer. You were not his sidekick.

Is that correct? No, I got hired as a writer. Right. And then it just sort of evolved. But I think, I don't know if Conan did, but I think Robert Smigel always had the idea that we would somehow. And our performing relationship evolved around the office. Yeah. Because we just, we would work.

Because Conan's in the writing room too, right? Yeah. He was there all the time. And I was the yes and. And I also too was like the, I was the asshole who would, like, you know, because he plays guitar. And it's an obsessive thing. And he used to just walk up to people and be playing and this is before nobody really knows anybody right and he

would come in and he would be playing guitar and it was frankly annoying and weird because it's you know he'd come and if you feel like you're being like this person that's your boss and it's going to be the star of the show is like forcing you sitting there playing guitar and there doesn't seem to be that much irony involved so uh like i i would like after you did the first time i was like that's weird and i got things to do and you have to sort of sit there and like is it like a violinist at an italian restaurant and so i i started i started when he would come up i would i would get up and start dancing and clapping and going, well, boy, yeah, get it. And then he stopped coming around to play guitar for me. But I was the one that was like, I was the one that yes-handed him.

Exactly. Without fear of repercussion. Exactly. You were very much the emperor has no clothes. Yeah. And he allowed that, which is big of him. And he enjoys that. Yes, yes.

I think he likes to have most funny people that seem to be funny in a challenging way, which he's not even really that way. I've known Mick Napier was somebody who would say the most fucking cutting thing to you. Get right to the quick. The button that you thought you had hidden from everybody, he would say, so your parents' marriage destroyed you and your relationship to women, huh? Yeah, exactly. And you'd have to say something like, well, you know,

at least I'm not looking for daddy's love by sucking dicks. And he would be delighted. He'd be like, yay, you get it. You know, like I'm mean to you and you're mean to me. And it's the way we show that we love each other and that we respect each other. It's a madness, you know, that frankly, as you get older, you don't have time for it. No. It's like, no, how about we just be nice to each other, you know?

Right, exactly. But yeah, so that's amazing that they just give you that part. Yeah, so they just gave me that part. It really, truly was a thrill for everybody to see you there. But that's also, you know, everybody loves you. Of our group? No, of our group. I don't know that that was true.

Really? I certainly didn't feel it. That's my- I felt like the outsider. Oh, really? Absolutely. That was my perspective on it, though. But then maybe it's my kind of quasi-outsiders perspective.

Yeah. Or perspective, too. Because I saw you as being right in there, but as the adult. Yeah. But really well-liked. Yeah. And respected. Yeah.

And I did not feel that way for myself. And as I look back on it, I probably was more respected than I felt. But I just didn't know who I was. And I had the same experience as you. Like, looking back, my instincts were telling me to do something that was contrary to the ethos of the group, which was to party hard and fuck each other and have a good time that way. And I never wanted it. Yeah, yeah. So, like, in retrospect, if I could say something to myself back then, I would say, don't beat yourself up for this.

You're just different. And there's nothing wrong with that. You're just different. I think, if I may say, having known you all this time, and an improvement that I feel like I can safely say, you used to overthink things. And I don't think you overthink things anymore. Wow. I think that might be true. I think that you're pretty sure of who you are and what you want.

Absolutely. And you don't make excuses. Did you see back then? Yeah, no. Yeah, yeah. You saw that little suffering. Yeah, like that you used to. And I mean, and I'm not saying this is, you know, because everybody can be imperfect and sit there and see other people's imperfections.

Yeah. And it doesn't make them perfect. It just makes them observational. Right. But yeah, I think it used to strike me that you would get worried about things that you didn't necessarily need to worry about, you know. Interesting. Well, so, but then how soon after the fugitive are we into la best in show oh that's that's about 10 years or eight years oh really i went to i went i came

to los angeles in like 93 right after the fugitive and um you know i came back having been here with the brady bunch and then uh but i went from from Chicago to live here for good, living on Cherimoya in the Beachwood area. Jill lived down the street from me, and everybody else was flophousing again on a place on Beachwood. And we started doing the Tamarind. Remember, we would do the Beachwood Palace Jubilee. Oh, you were not here. You were doing Conan. I think by that time I was in Conan. Were you doing, and was that the Miss Vagina show? No, that started at the Annoyance, and then they did it at the Coast Playhouse too. Yeah.

Which was hilarious. Yeah, a group of women – Jill directed a show and improvised. Improvised – it was written by process of – Everyone in the show was an improviser. They gang wrote this show called the Miss Vagina pageant and it was a beauty pageant spoof and it was really funny and in fact I think they won a LA theater award oh really yeah an LA weekly theater award for that but yeah so at this point you're in New York yeah and a bunch of you are out here kind of just keeping it going we were we kept it

going for sure we did um a bunch of sketch comedy shows and shows, and we kind of went all over the city. We started out, though, at the Tamarind, which is now UCB, on Franklin, because we all lived in the Beachwood area. Yeah. And we did the Beachwood Palace Jubilee every Monday night. We called it the Beachwood Palace Jubilee. It was hosted by Barry – remember Barry Saltzman? Uh-huh. And he played a character called Adamola Olegabafola. And he wore a tux and he was our host

for the evening. And Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan from the Groundlings came over and did stuff. Molly Shannon started doing stuff with us. Ana Gasteyer, Sam Pancake, and we kind of added to our group of Chicago people. And then when we couldn't get that theater anymore, we went all over Los Angeles. Yeah, yeah. We'd do one-timers. And I remember at one point doing a closing number in my underwear. We always did that for no reason.

And I was like, I've been too old for this. And I remember thinking to myself, I don't know that I want to do a closing number. In my underwear. A number from Annie in my underwear again. I think I might be done. Yeah. And indeed,

life took me elsewhere. But that whole time I was doing guest spots on sitcoms, jumping up and down every time I got a job. I mean, I did Party of Five. I did a weird, like I stretched, it wasn't just like one genre. I would do like the single camera comedies, single camera dramas. I was on Empty Nest, Party of Five, a show called Joe's Life. I mean, I have like about 40 things I did in those. Yeah, yeah. You know, just kind of one-offs. Yeah.

But it keeps the bills paid. Oh, my God, yeah. It keeps the health care coming. It sure did. And I'm doing voiceover, too, at that time. Yeah. So I was doing pretty well. I was making a living.

And then I auditioned for a commercial for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes. And at the callback, it said who the director was, Christopher Guest. Yeah. So I did that commercial, and I met him. And Sean Masterson played my husband. Do you remember Sean? I do remember Sean. He's great. Do you follow him on Twitter?

Yes. Yeah, he's great. Yeah. I love his Twitter feed. And then I started doing Best. I did Best in Show like a year later, maybe eight months later. Yeah. And that led to really great things. Yeah, yeah.

I've been working with him I think four or five times. Again, it's kind of great too and kind of fitting that it's like – it's improv. It is. Yeah. Different though. Yeah. It's a different kind of improv. It is, yeah. Different though. Yeah, it's a different kind of improv. It is. It's different than Second City type improv where you're, which is basically kind of getting to the joke as quickly as you can.

Yeah. And kind of revealing things about society and politically and this is relationship based. And it's more, in fact, it's a more feminine kind of comedy. It meanders and it's not like going right for the orgasm. Yeah. It's a lot of foreplay. Yeah, yeah. And the joy is in watching two people trying to work something out.

Yeah. And it's not necessary. In fact, Chris doesn't like if you go right for a joke, although I don't think he's ever given anybody a direction, like, don't do that. Yeah. He did tell me once not to do something. What was it? It was, you know when you did that thing, Jane?

I said, yeah. I said, don't do that. Oh, he didn't want me to kiss Jennifer Coolidge again. He said, one time is enough. And I think he meant we got it, but then he kind of gave it. Darn it. Yeah, right. And I had a terrible cold, so I was really glad.

I want some more sugar. Yeah. Yeah, but he rarely gives stuff like that. But I don't think he'd cast somebody in the first place if he thought they were one of those guys. Yeah, yeah. Guys or gals who goes for a joke. Yeah. He said he can tell within like five seconds whether the person can do this kind of thing.

Right. Do you go into that kind of, do you go in with a script? Do you go into an outline of scene by scene? Yeah. It's an outline scene by scene, so it looks like a regular script, but there's no dialogue. Yeah. And there's no rehearsal. He just rolls the camera.

Yeah. But, you know, Michael Higgins used to say, you know, we pack very heavily for this, meaning that we do a lot of work. I mean, I would talk to myself in the mirror. I would tell stories as the character. I would read the paper out loud as the character and opine about the story. You know, just to get it really into you. In fact, it's more preparation than I do for anything in terms of character. Well, it's, you know, there is, with improvisation, I don't do much improv anymore.

And frankly, it's just out of, of like the same reason i don't enjoy doing cardio i know it's kind of good for me but it doesn't feel good it's like it's not good for you yeah and i mean there's part of me that's kind of like i don't want to do this i don't want to do this and to me like when people say like why don't you do a lot of improv anymore i say because i don't want to leave the house to get nervous yeah and. And that's what it. Remember we used to though? Yeah. I used to like. Leave the house to get nervous. In my. To be stressed.

Yeah. And have anxiety. In my. In my. You know. In my improv prime. I was doing. Probably eight shows a week.

I think. And they're an hour and a half. Without knowing one thing we're going to say. And the best. Some of the best work I've ever done. And your brain gets like a muscularity. Yes. And that what you're doing in that situation is that none of it matters until the camera's rolling.

And the camera costs money. So you've got to produce. You've got to give them something when that camera's rolling. So you get to a point where that becomes second nature. You don't have the pressure of, oh, shit, I have to produce something because you've been speaking this – I'm presuming. Yes, that's true. I mean, you've been this person in the mirror so much that when the camera goes on, you know something's going to come out. Exactly. I know so clearly who I am, what my fears are, what I think I'm great at, the character,

not so much me, what I'm hiding. All that stuff has been done, not even on a conscious level. It's just through the process of creating, an interesting person with many facets has come up. So when the camera rolls, yeah, I'm 100% there. But what's great about how he shoots is he shoots a master first. And, of course, he doesn't know what it's going to look like because we're not rehearsing. He just throws us into the scene. He lets it run, I mean, sometimes four or five minutes.

Yeah, yeah. So you think you have nothing more to say and you hear the camera. Yeah. Oh, my God. Oh, fuck. You know, fuck, you gotta keep going. Well, and I think too,

that that kind of comedy, cause the kind of, I've never been in that pure and improv filming kind of situation. The improv that I've ended up doing in film work is there's a spot here where you can say something different because, and it's because that usually those sets are built in a way that you can't just run across the room. Because you can't say, as this character, I'm now going to go open the fridge. No.

Because the fridge isn't wired. You're not lit over there. The cameraman doesn't know you're going to move. They have to follow you with the focus. There's all kinds of departments that hinge on what you do. So you can only like you know you can fuck around with the lines if you're not going to move and that's kind of the improv you get yeah um but i do think like in what you're talking about you're going in there knowing who

this person is and you know the comedy is going to not come out because you got this funny idea for a joke sometimes sometimes fred willard always has a funny idea yeah you come in loaded loaded with some stuff you got some stuff mostly you're relying on your reaction to what other people are going to do exactly the given and their reaction to you and it's just and that reaction and that's i've always been like in this around the conan show for years he likes to know ahead of time i don't want to know yeah and there'll be and he'll and if it's between me and him there'll be like we'll come up with something at the last minute and he'll say you know he says like i'll say something like i hear you on a plane this

weekend and then he says and then what you will you say and i'll say you'll hear you'll hear when i you know that's how i am with pre-interviews too. Yeah, yeah. I'm like, you'll find out. I'll tell the story. And because number one, like, it's going to be better. Trust me, it's going to be better if I don't say it now. Exactly. And if I have something in mind, I want you to hear it for the first time. For the first time. While the camera's going.

Absolutely. Because that's where it's fun. Yeah. You know, and so he's, like, now he's used to it. Now he's like, he knows, like, he'll. He trusts you. Well, and he'll be like, I'm going to say this. Now he's like, he knows, like, he'll. He trusts you. Well, and he'll be like, I'm going to say this. And he's like, oh, fuck it.

You're not going to, you know, you're not going to play this rehearsal thing with me. I'll just be like, yeah, yeah, I'll say it then. Yeah. Okay. And also those movies, what he does, it's great. And it's, you know, the format is, which is documentary style. So there's always a position, there's always going to be a scene where you get to sit down and talk about who you are and your story. So he gives you that opportunity.

Like this last movie, The Furries movie, what was it called? Mascot. So I worked with Ed Begley Jr. And I have no idea what he's going to say. And I've decided, all Chris has told us is that we used to date. So I built this whole thing, this painful whole thing. And he's just kind of benign about me. Like, hey, how you doing these days? And I'm, so it turned into this really great thing where he was like, I don't know what I did

to her. And I'm like, I don't want to talk about it. But he gives us the opportunity. We're sitting with each other and he tells, Ed gets to tell his story and he's worked it out. I get to tell my story and I've worked that out at home. I've actually written it out. And so did he, obviously, because it was so sharp and he did it like 12 times. And he says this whole thing about the reason he became a big mascot person is because he has a very small penis. And he's a part of the Tom Thumb Society. And he really embraces it now. And he

came up with all this stuff. And I'm hearing it for the very first time. And it's the most delightful thing in the world. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And does it dovetail with your story too? Oh, that's great. And also, we're telling our stories, and they don't have anything to do with each other. But we have, you know, how I got into mascots is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he did his way. And then in our scenes, he doesn't really understand why I'm so mad at him. And my pain is so deep and I can't talk about it.

And so it turned into this thing where he's like, he's kind of Andy Richter-ing it, which you're so good at being, you know, empathetic and what's wrong? Yeah. You know, and sympathetic. And she's like, don't touch me. Now, from that, then the next big step for you is Glee. Yes, exactly. And how does that happen? Well, I was doing, remember Party Down on Starz?

Oh, my God. Isn't that amazing? That was such a good show. Oh, that is. If you are listening to this and you have not seen Party Down. On Starz. Pause this and go watch Party Down. It was on Starz.

Right. I don't know where it lives now. Probably, I think Netflix or Hulu or something. I forget. It's there somewhere. Oh, it's Adam Scott. Adam Scott. Lizzie Cohen.

Lizzie Kaplan. Lizzie Kaplan, I'm sorry. Martin Starr. Yeah. Ryan Hansen. Hansen. Oh, God. Who? Ryan Hans Yeah. Ryan. Ryan Hansen. Hansen. Oh, God, who else? Who, Ryan Hansen in that.

Ryan Hansen. So brilliant. Plays a dumb blonde. He plays a dumb blonde. And it is one of the best dumb blonde performances in history. And at the very end, he does a neo-Nazi song and he doesn't know why it's bad. He doesn't get it. He goes, but I have blonde hair.

And he's like, you have blonde hair and he's like you have blonde hair you understand yeah and then i whisper and he goes oh what's what's the holocaust but he's and i play a dumb person too yeah yeah so we're like really dumb together you guys together are like you're i'm an ex-actress who was really an extra yeah basically who kind of glorifies her career but you think you're better than him and he's just so you know he's my he's like my kind of my protege yeah tell me what was what's johnny carson like well let me tell you oh and i tell a story how i'm at a car wash yeah he gave me attitude yeah but yeah i know him pretty well um but yeah but you guys his chemistry is so fantastic and then honestly, honestly, I've said this before, what happens between Adam and Lizzie, it's

sort of a will they, won't they, you know, Jim and Pam-ish kind of thing. It's the best one of those I've ever seen. It is, isn't it? It's just, I mean, you really love both of these people, and you feel like you're really watching two sexy, funny- Ken Marino, too. Yeah, Ken's fantastic. So the rest of us are like clowns.

We're idiots. Yeah. We should be catering. Yeah, yeah. And then you've got Adam and Lizzie, and they're smart. Yeah, and confident. And competent, and kind of a little world-weary. They're too young to be so what they are.

Yeah. And they, you know, will catch each other's eye as this, you know, clown car of a cast. Yeah. You know, are just being ridiculous. Yeah. And then they're kind of each other's port in the storm. Yeah. That's really nice. And so, and just from that, that's where Ryan.

Well, actually, well, no, no, Ryan, actually, Ryan and I go, Ryan and I go back to Popular. I did an episode of Popular. Oh, okay. And I played like four different, I played the same character who has four different incarnations. And it's a – you know, it's Ryan. It's a crazy rollercoaster ride of an episode. And it was – you know, he wrote it for me. He called me into his office.

Wow. He had seen me in Best in Show. And so I had known him. So that was 1999. And then all of a sudden, I'm doing Party Down. And he says, I've got this show. Would you play this part? What year did that start?

It started 2000. I think we did the pilot 2008, 2009. And I think Party Down is 2007, 2008. So I left Party Down for the first season. They did two seasons. Megan Mullally came in. She was fantastic. Yeah, yeah.

And the second season. That did two seasons. Megan Mullally came in and she was fantastic. Yeah, yeah. In the second season. That's how I, that's when Glee happened. Now, this all is, you know, for a lot of comic performers, this is happening fairly late in your career. Yeah, I'm just 49. Yeah, this like. Yeah, 49, 50. This sort of real sort of like splashy. Everybody knowing who you are.

And is that, how do you i mean i imagine that's a good thing yeah i think it is a good thing i i i don't know how well i would have dealt with some of this um being younger and insecure where i i blew with the wind you know with wherever the i mean social media would have probably killed me. Yeah. Killed me. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was, I remember saying to you and Conan once when I was nominated for an Emmy and you guys were, so, is it exciting? And I said, you know what? I don't feel really, I don't, I think I should be more excited.

And Conan said, no, no, no, it's good. He said, it's good. It's a really good thing that you kind of take it in stride. Yeah, because those things are so silly. I know. They're so silly. My beef with all of the awards things is that we are in one of the most rejection-heavy businesses in the world. You gather a room full of people who have beaten the odds, who are all, nobody there is broke.

Nope. Everybody there is successful beyond what they're probably their wildest dreams, unless they're megalomaniacs. We all have made it. Yes. And we decide to have a night where we all get dressed up. Where we separate them. Yeah, where in groups of seven or eight, we make it so that only one person out of each of that group can really feel good. And then they-

And you feel bad when you lose. When you get in there, because I just know from writing, we were nominated for writing, you think, you know, like, oh, it doesn't really matter. But when you say someone else's name, you feel bad. And it's like we're rejection junkies. I know. It's the stupidest thing. Like we still need to feel somebody saying no. No, not's the stupidest thing. Like we still need to feel somebody saying no. Mm-hmm. No, not good enough.

I think if we really had the, and I have this point of view, and I think if everybody did, it would be a much better world. Usually. That's it. Follow Jane Lynch. The awards are for the fans. Yeah. And it's for them to see their favorite people, or maybe not their favorite, but to get a chance to see, oh, like I'm looking forward to see the Game of Thrones people. I'm a fan. And so I'll watch going, oh, I'm looking forward to see the Game of Thrones people. I'm a fan.

And so I'll watch going, oh, I hope I get to see Peter Dinklage and I hope he wins. But that, it doesn't mean anything to Peter Dinklage, I'll bet. Yeah. And it shouldn't. Yeah. So this jumping up and down when you win and, oh, I'm so surprised. I didn't even prepare anything. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, my God. That kind of thing, it's like you're going to crash in about 20 minutes because it really doesn't mean anything. Well, and also, too, you got a one in eight chance. You didn't think you would get a one in eight chance. Like, yeah, there's a real chance. Yeah, that you're going to have to go up there and talk. But the excitement. And then they say someone will be the winner and then there's going to be seven losers.

Yeah. And there's not. Yeah. There's not. But you feel it. You feel it. That's how you feel it. And that's kind of the notion of it.

And then the next year, I mean, I know from having friends that have gone through the Oscar, that starts months ahead when you're going to dinners and parties and all this shit. And it's like, and that's how you have to campaign like you're running for office. And does it ultimately, I mean, yeah, it doesn't mean, you know, it's empty. But in terms of the, you know, emotionally after a while, you can't keep that forever. But what about in the business? Does it matter? I think it does. I think it makes, I think that when you win a statue, the next day, your day rate

goes up. I just think that, yeah, I just think that there's math and it's like, you know, you, and I think the same thing happens with the nomination, you know, you just, yeah, your, your cachet goes up, your, your rate goes up. It seems as if it's less and less unless it's just me projecting i mean i don't you know that's a question more for i guess for probably an agent you know or a manager can we call one now i don't want to get someone on the line i can't get mine on the line one thing one thing i did want to ask when i was asking you for about this happening like

how much dissatisfaction with your career was there before like say glee happened or very little very little very little you would have been i had a moment i remember one moment and i was hiking up fryman and i ran into liza murray you know liza uh jill murray's wife yeah yeah wonderful actress in her own right and i looked at her and i said second city alum and a second city she had her youngest daughter and a little baby bj her and I said – And a Second City alum. And a Second City alum. A Chicago funny person, yeah. She had her youngest daughter and a little baby Bjorn. And I said, you know what? I think I'm done. And she said, no, you're not.

And by the time I got down to the bottom of the hill, I was back in the game. Yeah, yeah. But no, I just – I love doing it. Yeah. And I loved it even when I was just doing, you know, a guest spot on Empty Nest. Yeah. I loved it when we were doing our little shows in the Beachwood Palace Jubilee. I still like pulling into the lot here.

Yeah. I never get over it. I never get over it. I was going to ask you that. I never, ever get over the fact that I work on a movie lot. Yeah. And I mean, and it's weird, too, because it's like I work. And the guard knows me.

Yeah. Hey, Jane. Yeah. And he says, I have to ask for your license. Oh, don't worry about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I, you know, the fact that I work on a talk show, but yet I still get to come to Warner Brothers Studios every day.

And it's just, and when I have to walk from one place to the other, or we'll go shoot a little thing, you know because on the sets on the sets that are like a million movies have been shot on and you look at the plaques on yours you know like on your all about eve was shot in this fucking studio yeah along with you know a hundred other things but just like stuff like that or it's or ghostbusters yeah isn't that on this stage where we're like where we are right now, Ghostbusters. So I really do get a charge from all of that. And what's especially funny, too, is because, you know, like your Pee-wee's Big Adventure, you know, like Roman gladiators and women in like Elizabethan garb and space aliens walking around.

Around here, if there's anybody in goofy costumes, it's probably us. Yeah. You know? Like, if you go to the commissary and there's somebody dressed up like an insect, it's probably us. It's probably the comic show. It's a little bit they're doing for comedy. Like, yeah, nobody, you know, it's not like young Sheldon is having Roman centurions in, you know. Do they do big movies here anymore?

Sure. Sure. Yeah. No, they still do. They still do. I mean, you don't really know about them too much. You don't know it's happening sure. Yeah, no, they still do. They still do. I mean, you don't really know about them too much. Yeah. You just kind of hear like, oh, you know, Batman shits a brick is over there, you know. I'm looking forward to that one, actually. Oh my God. That's a freebie, Hollywood.

Batman shits a brick. Well, you know, the three questions are where do you come from? Where are you going? Where do you think, I mean, you're just going to do more of the same, you know, the three questions are where do you come from? Where are you going? Where do you think? I mean, you're just going to do more of the same, you think? Do you have anything? You know what, though? I will say, and I bet you have the same. It sounds like you have the same.

I don't have that blinding white hot ambition. I don't either. At all. I wish I could buy a little bit. Nah. I don't want it. I had it. I love acting, but I don't have to do it.

Yeah. I used to have to do it. I enjoy sitting at home. I moved into my own guest house. I know that sounds so rich and elite, but I have a little guest house in the back of, in like in the backyard and it looks out over laurel canyon and it's um a protected trust and it's little and it's got a queen bed or a full-size bed yeah and i've been living there for the last six months what's the rest of the house um my uh my partner has lives it actually

is living in the uh room over the garage because she likes that room better. And yeah, we don't sleep together. And her son is the only one who lives in the house. Wow. Yeah. And how old is he? He's 26. He has autism. So he'll always be with us. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We might move out.

Right, right, right. But he's a sweet guy. And so he's the only one in the house. And my whole, my bedroom and my bathroom, you know, is completely unoccupied. Yeah. And the dogs run back and forth from over the garage to my guest house and pass right by the house. Yeah, yeah. So I really love it. It's really great, too, because they are like little clubhouses.

Yes, exactly. We have our own little spaces. The room over the garage is kind of like, oh, that's really great. There's something. It feels like I'm on vacation. And I wake up every morning to the canyon. It's just the best. And it's, you know, and that is, you do get older, and there is a notion of healthy separation. Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely. So, but I mean, is it, do you want to stay in L.A.? Do you want to, is there any sort of like, do you want to direct or any of that kind of stuff? I do want to direct. Yeah. I do like the idea of, and I never did before. Yeah. But I do like the, I love telling a story. In fact, I would love to direct. Yeah. I do like the idea, and I never did before. Yeah. But I do like the, I love telling a story.

In fact, I would love to direct commercials. I watch commercials and I just, I take face plants. They're so terrible. I do the same thing. Just terrible. I actually have directed a couple commercials. Oh, you have? And if my schedule, yeah, because I came up through that in Chicago doing film production.

Yeah. And I still have people back there. Like there's a guy, Cliff Grant, who's an executive producer at a production company that could very well, that he's could very well be me. Yeah. Had I stayed.

Had you stayed. Yeah. Or, you know, or I probably would have ended up in some kind of advertising. Me too. Because I do the same thing. I watch commercials and I go,

that's fucking lazy, shitty stuff. Exactly. And commercials are art that is foisted upon us. Yes. And they could be better. They could be. There's no reason to be so cynical and shitty and just like, ah, this is the same shit. And also, I'll just look at how they're telling the story of the commercial.

Yeah. And sometimes it's like what they're wearing and what they didn't cut away quickly enough. And you can tell it's a non-union actor. Now, I could take non-union people and make them good. I know how to do it. To me. I would love to do that. In fact, Jennifer, sometimes when we're watching television, she just pauses and says, either direct a commercial or just- Oh, shut up. Yeah. I don't care that much. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, I'm the same way. And having had that experience of directing a few, number one, it's really fun. Yeah, I bet. Because you've got a set amount of hours. You've got a list of things you've got to accomplish. And it's like a beat-the-clock game show. Oh. And there are different kinds of directors.

You know, there's Alfred Hitchcock who storyboards out the whole thing. Or, you know, Steven Spielberg, kind of the same thing. With a real sort of like vision. Yeah. There's also directors, and this is the kind of director that I am and that I would like to be in the future, which is the person that just everybody asks their taste. Should we do this or this? And they go, do that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And your whole day is just a series of making decisions and problem solving yeah we're running out of time oh shit we're not going to shoot this thing in that room let's just turn around to this other side of this room we're already here right just turn the lights over there and we'll shoot this over there rather than go to another room you know just simple problem solving things which you gain from being on set yes you know you gain from having done this you gain from watching sitting and watching people make a bunch of bad decisions right and and again it's just a question of taste yeah and

and and it's and that's like i i feel like yeah i've done this enough and i don't i now sometimes when i guess do guest work i have to bite my fucking tongue all the time because they're trying to solve a problem. And I'm like, do it this way. Do it this way. It'll take no time. It'll work. Just do it this way. It'll cut together great.

Yeah. And around here, I mean, I'm not like too much of an arrogant person, but there are one of my main jobs here is I call it comedy consigliere. I mean, I do what I do on camera, but I also, in rehearsal, Conan and I are the last step going out the door. And I don't care who the person in charge is. They need somebody that they can trust to turn to and go, is that good? Because I'll write shit, and I'll look at it and go, is that good? I don't know. And you have to ask somebody to go, and somebody you trust says, yeah, it's good. And you go, OK, fine. You can move on now because you say it's good.

I believe you. And that's kind of what I've been for him for years. And so I get to sort of make those decisions. And this needs a new ending or cut out that middle part. And when there are questions sometimes, and I'll say, do it this way. And then other people will kind of go on with other things. And I'll say, no, you should do it this way. And then other people will kind of go on with other things and I'll say, no, you should do it this way. And then they go on and, and then I just will turn to whomever. Usually it's like a cue card kind of go like,

they should just do what I tell them to do. It's so much easier to just do what I do, what I say. It'll be good. It might not be the greatest, but it'll be good. And we can move the fuck on. So yeah, no, I think, I think you would make a fantastic director. Well, thank you. No, because, you know, you have always been a calm in the storm. And that's a major thing that a director needs to be.

Yeah, yeah. You know, and I think you make, you got good taste. You make good choices. You know, I have more confidence in that now. And I think a lot of what happens is in the editing room. As long as you have the camera rolling and something genuine. Yeah. Because even if it's a damn commercial about La Quinta or something like that, I would always have the camera rolling.

Yeah. And then I just put it. And that's how Christopher Guest works, actually. Right, right. That's why he rolls so long, because he just plucks genuine moments from every take. Yeah. So you think, oh, I'm sure this will end up. And the take with you, like, rubbing your nose is what he uses.

And it's hilarious, because it's in the middle of someone pontificating. And when they're not trying. When they're not trying. Yeah, when they're not being aware of how they're looking. Exactly. Kids and non-union actors. Yeah. Let them think that they're just setting the lighting or something

and you be shooting. I remember I did it and I felt like this was real. This was, I did a series in Chicago, I did a series of lottery commercials which actually I was... I didn't know you did. I was the star of. It was kind of like... Chicago. Yeah. It was Illinois State

Lottery and one of them had a Chicagoago blackhawk and i don't remember i know my mom was oh bananas oh my god you're working with whatever the fuck his name was but he was really sweet guy but he was just he's a hockey player so he doesn't really know how to do things and and they were off shooting some like i because you know you're shooting a couple of different things and they were just off shooting some, like I, because, you know, you're shooting a couple of different things. And they were just off shooting him doing some copy. Yeah.

You know, like if you, you know, like buy a lot of, you know, a scratcher and turn in your scratcher, you might get tickets to a hockey game or something like that. And he's doing it. And somebody comes over and be like, the client wants you to go over and maybe, because it's not a good read. It's kind of, and I went over and maybe because it's it's not a good read it's kind of and i went

over and i looked and and he's and he's like he was lost and like i said you know when you're doing voiceovers and they say they want more smile you know like they want smiling i said you really physically you can't see it but you physically smile and it sounds you know like this is this is me saying without a smile this is me saying it with a smile yeah your voice changes and you can hear the smile i said just smile through the whole thing yeah and he did it and they were like oh my god that's perfect and i was like it made me feel like it's such a simple dumb thing that i've learned from standing in front of a microphone somebody saying like more smile and go like oh i guess it just means smile and it does holy shit yeah that does work it's just little

tricks you know so people who aren't, get them on the first take. Yeah. Be ready to go. Don't waste any. I remember I did a movie with Carol Burnett and Craig Nelson. Not Craig Nelson. Craig Robinson. Uh-huh.

And they were doing a scene, and they were improvising. And it was the rehearsal. And it was freaking brilliant brilliant at one point he says what do i have to do to you for you to get you into a coffin today because she was buying her own coffin yeah and then they're shooting the scene and it's an hour later and it's all gone yeah it's all gone don't even bring them in until it's lit yeah and then don't tell them your role right right right yeah yeah yeah it's the best stuff yeah yeah. And then don't tell them you're rolling. Right, right, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the best stuff. Yeah, yeah.

And then there are actors who actually can do that. Yes. Well, I mean, these two could do it for sure. Right, right, right, right. But they should have done it. You don't rehearse an improv. I don't see the magic. Like I said before, the first time you say it, you're probably going to say it the best.

Yeah. And the person that's going to hear it is going to hear it the best. And react to it the best. So I person that's going to hear it is going to hear it the best and react to it the best yeah so it's i don't like i don't like to over plan to me it's always do like talking about sex after after it's happened like well what's there yeah remember that part i'm sweaty yeah i'm sweaty too you know it's nice but you don't like but even to talk about it it's like ah it's magic yeah let it be without be. Let it be. It's magic. Without any words.

Yeah, yeah. The third question is the, what have you learned? What have you learned? Yeah, like, what have you learned out of this whole Jane Lynch journey?

No. You know? Most of everything doesn't matter. Yeah. You know, the meaning we put on things and the way we

have something in the loss column and the win column or this was a failure, but this was a success. None of it means anything. And I wish I had known that younger. But you learn it when you learn it. And it kind of just happened organically.

I really don't care. I don't have great identification or need for particular outcomes. Yeah. It's really just all fallen away. Yeah. And I'm very grateful for it because I'm so much happier. Yeah. And it's not like ecstatic.

It's just kind of a – it's like after I got divorced. Mm-hmm. It was that there was kind of a – I went through a – I was blissed out for about six months. Mm-hmm. I didn't realize how oppressed I had felt. And that's kind of stayed with me. Yeah. Kind of, it's a beautiful kind of equanimity.

Yeah. That it's like I needed that. It was kind of, it was a really tough time. Yeah. And I almost needed that to punch me in the face in order to go, you know, sometimes it's like you need to be punched in the face. Well, and I think too, as you get older too, you become – I mean, I'm not religious, so I don't think – the time I got is the time I got. Yeah.

And that puts an urgency on it. I think that people that think that to not have a religion is somehow meaningless, it's like, no, I think it actually imparts way more meaning on every second of every minute and of every day without getting too worked up about it. Yeah, because I look back sometimes, and I mean, I look back and a lot of what I want to ask myself is, what were you afraid of? Yeah. Like, even down to like, when kids were mean to, like, I mean, I'm a large person, so I didn't suffer a lot of bullying but there

are moments that are still in my fucking mind about when that kid said that thing to me and i backed down and thinking back like what was i afraid of why didn't i say fuck you and then and then you take that into show business why did i take that from that person why didn't i why didn't i say i knew at the time it was wrong. Why did I just take it? Why didn't I say, no, this is not right. I'm not going to do this. And it's like, was I afraid that I'd break a bone? Was I afraid that I would die, that I'd never work again? I think so. I think it is. There was something deep down inside. It's always life or death deep in our psyche. But when I look back on any one particular one i think none of it was going to happen no none of it like if i stood

up to that kid in school he wouldn't have it what if he'd hit me he would have hit i've been hit it's not the end of the world you know and and it you know and if i've never been fired but if i was fired it wouldn't be the end of the world you know um through that process as i've gotten older too one thing that and i love this about the professional me now is i am not afraid to say no and you are treat you are conditioned in this business from an earth yes like you gotta do it gotta do it tell you you gotta do it show's gotta go on come on you gotta which is like okay i also too it's very transparent of like you know like don't make trouble for the people that you know are making the money just fucking be a fucking grease the wheel and be a player play along yeah yeah but

then there's times you know like i'm doing a game show pilot and they and i see people you know who are on the show too doing some sort of testimonial to a camera and they're like okay it's your turn to do this and i'm going what is this and they're like it's a birthday greeting to the woman at the network who's going to make the decision about whether or not this show could get picked up oh my god and i said oh i'm not going to do that and they're like well it would it might help your chances and i was like if me blowing smoke up this woman's ass on video saying, happy birthday, and gee whiz, I really hope you'll like us and accept us, if that's what it takes, I don't want this fucking job.

Yeah. OK? You know? Yeah. And I mean, it's like, because, no, that's gross. I don't want any part of that, you know? Yeah. So yeah, I think that that's that's a that's a

a good thing to to feel is just and that's yeah kind of like age none of it just relax yeah yeah just relax be yourself exactly it's the most step everything's out of your hands anyway it really is i think we feel we have much more power over things than we do we really don't yeah it's just kind of there's a trajectory to your life and you either flow with it or you're, oh, you know. It's almost like your life is like this wave and you're trying to control a wave. You can't. No. And you got to, well, that's like somebody, you know, somebody I want to ask somebody about, you know, Zen.

And they're like, it's like I always feel like, yeah, this whole notion of trying not to try. Yeah. And they're like, yeah, it's a always feel like, yeah, this whole notion of trying not to try. Yeah. And they're like, yeah, it's a mind fuck. And the point is never to succeed. It's just to keep trying to not try while you're trying. And I think there's a paradox that I'm pretty comfortable with, which is, is there free will or is everything destiny? On one hand, I think that everything's just destiny. And on the other hand, I know that I'm going to make

a decision to do certain things. So I just kind of live comfortably in that area. Right, right. Because you can think like, well, is my will just a part of destiny? You know,

did I change my mind because I was destined to change my mind? Change my mind. And I kind of line up with that. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know.

And I also, too, think you find out what's important. There's so much of show business is this is very important it becomes clearer and clearer it's like oh none of this is important yeah i mean i people come on this show big people that come on this show that i kind of have become friendly with and they'll say how was that and i'm like i always want to say and i do say it doesn't matter. It's just six minutes or seven minutes on a talk show. It doesn't matter. Did you have fun? I like seeing you. It was good to see you. I think that's, you know, and that's if you, I also think that too,

professionally speaking, if you're in it for the right reasons and if you're working in good faith, if you are trying to ensure your best experience going through a work day on a thing, it's going to come out in the work. Yeah, yeah. You know, like an unhappy set does not make a good anything, whether it's a horror movie or a, you know, there's exceptions. But certainly, I've worked on- Well, at least not for very long. Yeah, I've worked on shows where it's like, hey, guys, quit fucking around. We got to make comedy. And it was always to me like, oh, that's great.

Good job. You know, like that's, you got a real bedside manner there. Well, this is- Look, you've got your phone in your hand and your wallet. You're on your way out of here, aren't you? I know. I mean, because I've been keeping, I feel like I'm keeping you too long. Oh, God.

I could, you know. I got nothing to do. No, because I just, I mean, I could talk to you for. Me too. Really like four hours. Well, I mean, let's go to dinner. Yeah, let's do it. Come on.

Yeah. I mean, because it's always such a joy to see you. And back at you. And I feel so lucky to have had you throughout my life. And it's been a long time. It has been a long time. It's 30 years probably. It's like 30 years, yeah.

No, really. I've always loved you and I always will oh thank you i mean unless i don't know you mass murderer i might put it i think you'd have compassion for me that i would you know what you're right i would hurting i would i'd be like it's not her fault you know she's probably a good reason yeah yeah yeah yeah she killed all 30 of those people because you know they were but i will tell you i yes i'm a lovely human being i just below the surface is so much violence andy i have i have chased people in my car oh really that blow the stop sign at the school at the bottom of my hill wow where i'm not i'm behind him and i'm putting i'm waving so they can see me in the rearview mirror and I see them looking and they're like, holy shit, this woman's crazy. But what if it's a crazy person with a gun one day?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So just so you know, if you do hear that I've done something awful, you'll know that just below the surface is some violence. Yeah. I get pissed off at people you and i think that there's that you and i i relate to this you hold yourself to a you're easygoing you like yourself but you hold yourself to a strict set of rules i do and i just hold everybody else to those rules yeah and i do too you know i do too no i know i do the same thing where i'm like that is it basically boils down to uh keep your own shit in your own bucket don't slosh it out on other people.

And there are a lot of people that toss their shit all over the whole room. Oh, God, I know. And so, yeah, I'm a little bit strict that way. So when I do see people, what I consider misbehaving, and my misbehavior is not like – it's all just about being nice to people. It's all – and I think that it's the same thing. And you're talking about being – fucking stop signing to school. School. Yeah, dude know, and I think that it's the same thing. And, you know, you're talking about being saved. It's a fucking stop sign at a school. Yeah, dude.

One after the other. Yeah. Just blowing that stop sign. Yeah, yeah. I felt like GARP. Remember World According to GARP? Uh-huh. And Robin Williams

chasing those cars because they're going through fast. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I always feel like GARP. Well, Jane Lynch feels like GARP. Yeah.

We're going to end on that note. Well, thank you so much for coming. I really appreciate you spending this time. And, boy, the follow-up that won't be recorded, now that's where the real juice will be. Yeah, right. All right. I love you, Jane.

I love you, Andy. Thank you so much. Thank you. And thank you out there for listening. We will hear you or we will speak to you next time on Three Questions. Bye-bye. 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 Sahayek, and engineered by Will Beckton. 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.