The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Justin Halpern

Episode Date: August 25, 2026

Writer and Abbott Elementary executive producer Justin Halpern joins Andy Richter to discuss the weird world of network television testing, his best-selling book (and subsequent TV show) Sh*t My Dad Says, his unique path to TV writing, the amazing William Shatner, and his debut novel, Get Lost. Do you want to talk to Andy and his comedian friends live on SiriusXM’s Conan O’Brien Radio? Tell us your favorite dinner party story (about anything!) or ask a question - leave a voicemail at 855-266-2604 or fill out our Google Form at BIT.LY/CALLANDYRICHTER. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the three questions. I'm your host, Andy Richter. And today I'm talking to Justin Halpern. He is an author and screenwriter, and you know him for creating shit my dad says. He's also executive producer on Abbott Elementary and Harley Quinn. His debut novel, Get Lost, is out now. Here's my really great conversation with Justin Halpern. Well, Justin Halpern, thank you for coming in. Thank you for having me. First off, what's going to fix show business? What's going to happen with, television. I think more mergers. The more we can consolidate corporations, the better off we're going to be in this industry. Do you have any handle? I mean, because you've run a number of shows. Like, you've gotten, like, you're more of a grown-up in TV terms than I am because you've actually, you've actually run things. I've just, you know, little Lord Fauntleroyed my way through things.

But it is like, I don't, I don't know what's happening anymore. I just, you know. I don't think they know either. I think that's where all the like fear comes from is just they don't know exactly where the next big boom is going to be. And it's no longer about like chasing just like, we made a bunch of good shows and we put them on the air. I think it's like, how can we grow? Yeah, yeah. And it's like exponential growth. And that's what's driving everything.

And to me it just seems like this nebulous concept of shareholder value. Yes. Is going to kill us all. Yes. How can we increase the value for shareholders? Yeah, yeah. And it's like, well, if we took the first 10 years of S&L and burnt the originals, you know, we could make some money. Okay, let's, you know, like there's just, it just seems crazy.

Well, they demonetized what was the only metric that mattered, which it used to be just like, if a lot of people watch something, it was successful. Yeah. And now we'll get, we'll hear somebody, somebody will be like, well, a ton of people are watching a show, but they're already on the service. We need new subscribers. So it doesn't matter that you're the most popular show on the service if you're not bringing in new subscribers. So the metrics all changed and used to just be so simple of like. Is that the case on Abbott Elementary or is it still sort of bound by network rules?

It's a little of both. Like we do 12. It's actually funny. We do 12% of our viewership is on live that day on ABC. And then like 88% is on Hulu. That show you that. Did I say NBC? No, you said ABC?

Did I say ABC? Did I say ABC? I thought you didn't, yeah. No, I'm, I don't know. I don't know what anything is anymore. NBC doesn't exist anymore. It's gone. Oh, well, that's good.

That's good. I was tired of residuals. But anyway, I'm sorry. I interrupted. So it was 12% on ABC. Yeah, and then 88% will be on Hulu. Okay. And then in the summers, after our seasons completed,

it moves to HBO Max. And then it's on Netflix. But you can also still watch it on Hulu because we're a co-production. It's a whole bunch of stuff. So this is all to say, like, it's on so many different platforms. Yeah. But it's still, network TV is still sort of a place where if you can get a lot of eyeballs very quickly. Yes.

You know, and then that can help the growth everywhere else. So I do think it still has value, but I don't know. I mean, it's so different from when, you know, I was growing up. Yeah. Well, I mean, it still is kind of on the antiquated pay structure. of eyes on show equal money in pocket and then repeated viewings make money in pocket. Yes. The thing that kills me, and I still don't understand why it is, like now, you know,

ratings were a little nebulous because the Nielsen system was, you know, it always seemed like a little opaque on purpose. Yes. And it's like, well, some people are writing in their diaries, and some people have. have boxes on their TV and it tells us what they're watching. Whereas like with Hulu, they know exactly how many times somebody turns on an episode of Abbott Elementary and they're not paying, you know, they don't pay for it and as such, do they? No, the business models change.

Yeah. That's fucked up. It's crazy. Yeah. I mean, that's, you know, that was a large part of the strike too. It is this like weird thing. Yeah, Nielsen was always just like, well, well, how much do you think it did? how many people do you think we're watching.

Right, right. It was like, yeah, you never really got a sense of it. And now they know the second you turn it off. Yeah. And if you don't, and then there's like completion rate. And then there's all these different things and all these different metrics they use. And all of that is to say they don't give us any of those numbers. Like we don't ever really get to see any of those numbers.

Don't look behind the curtain. Yeah, because if you know, then you can be like, well, hold on a sec. Yeah. So it is sort of like, I don't know, the way that I, I've reacted to it is to sort of like retreat inside myself and just be like, the only I can't control is the work we're making and the stuff that we're doing and that's it. And I can't worry about any of this other shit. And everybody else has just got to like, have agents and lawyers and all that kind of stuff.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it sucks though. It's like I started a great thing from somebody that somebody said, you know, there was this new streaming paradigm. So it's, yeah, it's subscription, subscription. And then get to a point where it's like, well, how do we get the money back out of that you know like we poured all this money in there how do we get it back out i know commercials and so it's like we're back to an ad-based they reinvented tv yeah except all the worker protections yes have been exploded have been obliterated yeah and i you know it's not good and i just fear i mean that's the

way i fear with a lot of stuff like it's going to i i have a faith that it's going to ride itself and that and that like this kind of wealth and equality that we see, you know, both inside and outside of show business is going to end. But it's just kind of like how many guillotines will be involved is the question. It's funny to say that. I was like watching this interview with this like guy. He was like a billionaire who made his billions in like nickels or like I don't know. It was like some weird thing where I was like that's worth of.

Yeah. Yeah. And this interviewer asked him they were like, uh, you know, are you ever worried about what you just said like, uh, an uprising. as wealth inequality becomes greater and greater and greater, this gap, are you worried about it? And he was like, well, I think about it a lot. And he's like, and, you know, historically, this has always ended in revolution. And I guess I'm hoping that it's a nonviolent one is what he said.

And I was like, well, maybe you should cut it off before it gets to revolution. If only you had a part to play. Yeah. It's too, wow, too bad. How did you, how did? Abid Elementary happened. Was that like kind of a through agents? Because Quinta Brunson created the show.

She did, yeah. And then on what point did you come on board? So we cast Quinta in a pie. My partner Patrick Schumach and I cast Quinta in a pilot that we were doing two years before Abbott Elementary. We cast her in this pilot. And it was like when we tested the pilot, every scene that she wasn't in was like the worst testing thing you'd ever seen.

And then when she came on screen, it was like the dials all went up. Yeah, yeah. And she was great. The pilot was not good. And afterwards, we had such a great time working with her. And afterwards, we said to her, we were like, hey, if you ever have an idea for anything, you ever, you know, we knew she was a writer-performer as well. Like, come talk to us. A couple years later, or a couple weeks later, she came in and she sort of had this, like, basic idea for Abbott.

But she wanted to do it as an animated show. And my partner and I were doing an animated show. And mostly she wanted to do that because I think she was really busy. And she was like, I can lend my voice to it. And we were sort of like, yeah, let's kick it around. and then we kind of, we hadn't talked to her in a little bit. And then a couple years later, my partner saw her on the Warner Brothers lot

where I have an office, and she needed a ride home because she doesn't drive. And he was like, you know, me and Justin talk about this idea you have for the show about on the school all the time. And would you ever consider doing it live action? And she was like, you know, I had been thinking about the exact same thing. And so she came in and sort of pitched out this idea to us,

and we kind of helped her, you know, format and her shape it. And then four weeks later, we were out pitching it. Wow. Did it take long to sell? No, it's sold to everywhere we took it, which was great. It was like people really, I mean, she's, I mean, as we all know now, but at the time, she was sort of, she wasn't famous, but she was known in the internet.

She was her own creator. And I mean, and those people tend to, like, the people that are paid to know who's good out there that no one's heard of knew of her, you know. Yes. Yeah. And so we pitched it all around. and people were really excited. And she was, she did such and she's such a dynamic performer.

She did such a great job pitching it. And it was right in that moment. And I remember this, this executive at, at ABC, Wendy Steinhaugh, what she was, she made her case to ABC while they should buy it and make it. And she was like, if we don't make the Quinta Brunson show, like somebody else is going to make it. Yeah. And so Wendy and Aaron Werenberg over there, they really fought for it to happen. And, and that was how we kind of got it going.

Yeah. It's just for people in television comedy, it's like the biggest piece of flotsam off of the Titanic right now that people are clinging to just in terms of, you know, it's like, look, there are survivors. There they are, you know. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's like the one working well. Yeah. Yeah. Because it's, I mean, there's just so, so few comedies.

And also, I mean, no one listens to this, so no one's going to hear this. So few comedies that are good. Yeah, there's been some successful comedies of the last seven, eight, ten years. But some of them are just, it was actually a famous journalist, just told me that, because I was at a charity thing that had a bunch of people, a bunch of famous people. And he said, I was in a hotel room and I put on a popular sitcom because I thought, No, I haven't ever seen this and I'll watch it. It was horrible.

It was, and I was like, yeah, I know. It's hard. It's really hard when you have devoted your life, you know, your work life to comedy. And comedy that's not necessarily uncompromising, but certainly has a high standard. Yeah. And has it. And like for me, my whole thing is, I've seen that before. before that's boring.

Like that's, you know, that's, that covers so much of quality control in my estimation. But then there are the people that are just like, hey, what do you want? What's working?

Oh, okay. Here you go, you know. Well, it's so fear-based. I mean, that's why like,

I used, I was such a fan of you guys. And I used to stay up till 1230 to watch, I would always make sure I watch that first comedy bit. Yeah. After, after the open. Yeah.

And the reason that I loved it, aside from it, it was brilliant, was that I never knew where it was going to go. Yeah. Like, I never, when you guys would do those bits, there was, I never could guess what the ending of these bits, where they were going to go. And it was, there was something like so exciting about it. It's like, I'm watching these, like, brilliant people do comedy. And it's stuff I haven't seen before. Yeah. It's I just don't know what's going to happen.

And I think for me, like, when I make TV, like, all I'm ever thinking is, like, I just want people to be interested and not know what. what's going to happen. Yeah. Even comedically, I mean, obviously it's like I'm not making, you know, Oceans 11. Right, right. No, and nor am I. And I make all, you know, I make game shows.

I direct commercials. You know, I mean, I'm not, I'm not trying to like reinvent the form. I'm just trying to make good stuff. Yeah. I was on a network sitcom and the showrunner creator was telling me about, like, I don't remember whether it was a B plus. or the resolution of something or the, you know, like the gimmick of a plot. And he told it to me and I went, I don't, I said, it just, I really feel like I've seen that before.

And he went, yeah, like, yeah, yeah, good. See, it works. And I just was like, oh, what a bummer. That's when you know, man. Yeah. When I was on staff of shows, it's like you get that, honestly that, when you hear that from the showrunner, to me when I was on shows, that would be like, okay, you know what? Like, we're not really trying to do anything here.

This is like, this is just a different version of waiting tables, which I did for many years. Or like, okay, there's a hundred burger shops in town. You're just going to fucking do the other one. Carelessly make the same fucking burger that everybody else makes. I know. And it's like, that whole thing is I think it's like because the job is so sort of competitive. Yes. And because it's so hard to break.

in, you can get in this sort of like mindset of like, well, shit, they want me to make the 101st burger place and they better make the burgers. Everybody else makes the burgers. It's like, and you forget why you got into it. Yeah. You forget that it's like, well, no, I got into it because I love making burgers and I like to make them a certain way, you know, and I like to experiment and do something special with it.

And it just like, when it just becomes so homogenized, yeah, when it's like, that's the thing. I always hate it when you go and you pitch a show. and they're like, I'm having a hard time wrap my head around this. What's it like? That's what they'll always ask. Because they want it to be like something. Right. It gives them a sense of comfort. Right. And it's covering their ass. It's covering their ass. It's covering their ass. Superior what it is.

Yeah. Exactly. It's like a popular thing. Yeah. Like I can't say which one, but it's like a very popular thing that's made a lot of money. Well, all right then. Yeah. And then it's like, well, we can rubber stamp then. I can keep my job for another 18 months, you know. And I think that's what it is. It's just like you end up, and that's what I appreciated so much. What you just were saying about like, I just want to make good stuff. I don't need to make something like that is breaking the paradigm. I just want to make good stuff. And I think

back to this like Nancy Silverton, who owns Moza and is the chef. And I watched this documentary about her. And she was like, I'm not trying to make food no one's ever had before. I'm trying to make the food everyone loves better than anyone else makes that food. And I think that's something that Quinta and I and my writing partner talked about so much when we were making Abbott, which is like, I want to make a sitcom just better than everyone else is making it. Yeah. Yeah. And because like, it gives you a reason to get out of bed, you know? It's I, and because I know, and I've always tried to, because, I mean, there's a lot of comedy jihadists that I have, you know, worked with, you know, who are like, fuck that goddamn peace, you know, especially like other late night shows that they felt were mediocre and stuff. And I was, I'm always kind of been like, look, there's something for everybody. And there are, there are very popular shows that I think are awful that a lot of people really love. People, I go to, like, I go to my, like, go visit my family in Illinois, and they'll be like, we love this show, and I just have to go, oh.

Why is your tongue bleeding? Because I'm biting it so hard as we watch this thing. But I, like, different tastes for everybody. And there are also, too, I know, somebody said that they believe that everybody making mediocrity was working to the top of their abilities. I don't believe that. I think that you can go 10% past mediocrity. And I think that you can push 10% past mediocrity. I believe that's on both sides of the fence.

If you just like be a little more, I guess a little less afraid, a little less afraid to say, I want to push this show a little bit and to go, okay, I support you in pushing that show a little bit. And I'll stand with you as we go up the chain. But, you know, I also, too, have hit the wall of, well, I don't know how it is nowadays. I haven't had one show get that far, but just the wall of white men that don't understand things that just were like, what? Where's the titty? You know?

I wish they'd asked me where the titty was. They don't even ask that anymore. They don't even care where the titty is anymore. I was like, do you want me to take my shirt off because that's where the titty is? Yeah, I think that's, it's exactly what you said. It's like you have to have it on both sides. You have to have the person on the business side of it who is saying, all right, I'm going to fight for you to do this thing that is a little scary. Yeah.

And then you have to have the person on the creative side who's like, I want to do this thing that's a little scary. That might fail. Yeah. That might end up looking like a disaster. But it also might end up being something that is fantastic and nobody's seen before. Yeah. You know? Matt Weiner, Matthew Weiner was a writer on Andy Richter controls the universe.

and gave me the pilot that he had been shopping around town that no one wanted to buy and who everyone said, well, period doesn't play. Period shows don't play. And it was madmen. And so, you know, scrappy little AMC said, here's $12, go make it. And then the next year everything's fucking Pan Am

and swinging cocktails and cigarette, cigarette Johnny, you know, it's all period. And I just, every time I hear somebody, have that, you know, that they're so assured of their, the people that don't make anything, that they're so assured of what the conventional wisdom is, I just want to go, but you know, that all it takes to break that is just that's the exact thing you're talking about working. And, you know, and so you know it's wrong. It's like Victor Fresco, who made Andy Richter controls the universe said once about testing.

He said, well, you know, the thing about testing is it's always right. because everything's a big success. Oh, man, I remember one time we were in testing, and you know, have you ever sat through a testing? I never have. Oh, it's awful. I was offered it, and I just said, I don't need to see. Especially if they're fucking talking about me.

I know. It's better that you didn't. I always have to sit. As a showrunner, I always have to sit through. Of course. So they have the two rooms. They have one. You have a video into the room.

There's the 30 guys and there's the 30 women. And these are all people who were available at 2 p.m. on a Wednesday in the San Fernando Valley. Yeah, yeah. And so one time we're like testing our show and you're watching the dials go up and down, like minute, second to second, right? And then after they asked us questions. And I remember it's like, it's so nerve-wracking. And I'm sitting there with the network.

And this one guy raises his hand, and he's wearing a mesh tank top with nothing underneath it. And he has a bandana on his head and one on his fist. I don't know. The one on his fist, I don't know why. This is his hand and they're like, yes, sir, what do you think? And he's like, the second act break fell flat was what he said. And I'm like, I'm about to start laughing. And I look over and the executive's like, and writes it down.

And I was like, if you saw this fucking guy walk up to you on the street, you would cross the street, you would be like terrified of like this person. Yeah, yeah. And instead, he's now altering the cut of our pilot. This man has a band down on his hand. Because it sounded self-assured. Yes, totally. It's like, it's like, you got to, like, believe in shit. Yeah.

Like wearing a mesh tank top. Exactly. You got to believe in your stuff. No. Somebody was probably like, hey, that looks stupid. That does not look good. Yes, it does. Yeah.

Nobody's doing that anymore. Yeah, exactly. Well, someday they will be again. And that guy became the star of a testing moment. And that guy was Matt Damon. Can't you tell my love's a crow? Well, you. And you obviously, I mean, I think it's safe to say you come from a funny family.

Yes, I think I do. And is your mom funny too? I think my mom is hilarious. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, she's funny. She just doesn't need to be told she's funny of her. Whereas my dad, no, because she feels confident in her own. Oh, I see, I see.

My dad's a little thirstyer for it. Oh, really? A little bit. I think he thinks he's like, my dad, and I say this was so much love to this, because I love him to death. My dad firmly believes he's a genius in all areas of the world. Right, right. And I believe he is too in many respects, but geniuses can be wrong frequently.

Yeah, so, but they're both very funny people. Well, when you, I mean, when you have, when you amass a huge pile of technical knowledge, because your dad, doctor of nuclear medicine. Yeah. When you have to learn so much really deep, hard shit. you start to be like, well, I know, I know things. Yeah, I've seen God. Yeah, yeah, I know, I know things.

And it's like, well, I would always see it. Like, when I first came to L.A., I would, I was like part of a stable of this guy that pimped out celebrities to golf tournaments, like to charity golf tournaments. Wow. He just had a phone list of people and would be me and always like, you know, Kevin Sorbo and all these different people. But they would, you would go and you would. play in a fivesome, which is normally verboten. Yeah. But you're the celebrity.

Like, you're the celebrity wheel and they all pay money to, like, hang out with you for the day. And it's all by chance. One of the first ones I ever did in New York was a bowling thing for some theater group. And the Conan show had been on for two months or something. And I came and I met my group at Arlene and like, hi, everybody. Hello, I'm Andy, hello. And then at the next lane, Keith Hernandez showed up.

And then on another lane, Liam Neeson showed up. And this woman said to me, I wonder who we're going to get. Oh, my God. I was like, I'm sorry to tell you. He's already here. And he's me. And the palpable disappointment on her face was fucking hilarious to me. I wonder who we're going to get.

Oops. But anyway, I would play golf with these, you know, and they're like rich, wealthy dudes. And they could not stand to have a caddy tell them how to putt. You know, like, that's like, this is what this person is a whole job. They're just so used to being right about stuff and not being questioned. And it was such like a great early lesson of, I mean, most of the best lessons I've learned or watching something and going, oh, I'm not going to do that. Oh, 100%.

Oh, no way I'm going to do that. Because Jesus Christ, that's, you know, and then it's like, they'll hit it and they'll be, huh. Yeah, like, yeah, huh. You did exactly what the opposite of what this like, this, you know, brilliant Mexican guy who's as good a golfer as anybody here who works here every day, you went against what he said. The man who literally is at this course at every moment.

Yes, absolutely. And been here every day. Yeah, my dad used to, like, for many years in my childhood, he'd always go, you know what they say about me. Wrong, yes, and doubt never. And for a long time, I was like, oh, that must be like a good thing. What does that mean? It means you're frequently wrong, but you're never in doubt. Oh, I see.

And that doesn't seem like a good plan. No, that's a terrible plan. Yeah. That's actually, it took me. I remember one time I said it to like a teacher or something like in college and I was still like, oh, this is a good thing to say. Right. And my teacher was like, well, why is that? good. Yeah. And I had never investigated it before because my dad had always told me like that was the thing. Yeah, you just take it. And I was like, oh, actually, I think that's the

180 degrees away from being right. Yeah, yeah. This is the most wrong thing. Yeah. Like you, you want to be, yes, I'm wrong a lot and I'm, I'm always in doubt and we'll investigate that there is the possibility I'm wrong. Yeah. And so I think that was like, but it, I guess like when you know you're a doctor dealing with people, all those patients were like in the furthest stage of cancer possible. Yeah, yeah. Like they want to hear some like, you know, they don't want their act to be like, we got no idea what's going on. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, throw this at the wall. See if it sticks. Yeah. I mean, I can see that. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I've always said, too, like in television terms when somebody at the top, like I had a guy cancel a show that, well, not pick up a show that we'd made. And he said, like, look, I'm sorry, buddy.

I might be making a big mistake. And I just thought, nobody wants to hear the pilot of the plane go, guys, I'm not sure I'm flying the right direction. You know what? And I don't know, maybe we could crash into it. Like, no, kill me. Just kill me and know that you're killing me and act like you're, I have to die, you know. No one ever wants to say no in this town. Like no one ever wants to say it.

They want to say every version of it but that. Yeah. Yeah. And you're like, at some point, especially as like a creative person, you're like, can you just tell me the truth? Can you just, because I'm already thinking it. Whatever you say other than yes, I'm going to take as no. And then in my brain, I'm going to come up with the absolute worst thing that can be thought about what you might think.

Right, right. So just say the real thing. And it could be possibly worse than what I'm thinking, my brain. Right, exactly. I saw back on your thing about like never doubting yourself, I was driving through Burbank and they turned the kinkos into an equinox. And all over this, all over it, there's like, you know, pictures of hard-bodied, beautiful people. And in between each photo is the slogan, question everything but yourself. And I thought, well, that might inspire you to get to the gym, but it is exactly why the world is so fucked up right now.

Yes, in one sentence. Yes, in one sentence. Why we are all fucked. And like, and I just, I love to think about all the meetings and all the emails that went into pictures. that slogan and nobody went, you know, this is terrible. This is like, this is like a magic spell

of evil that, you know, is causing the world to be a piece of shit. Especially someone reading that right after they've burned 400 calories. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Most susceptible. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. It says, I saw on the, because, I mean,

you're very well known for shit my dad says. and you fucking rode that thing. Oh, man, I squeezed all the juice out of that. You sat around your dad. You got any more, Dad? Come on. Say something. Protting it with a stick.

It says that you started writing down things he said when you were like a little, what was it, like four or five years old? Well, a little older than that. Yeah. I would like, I kept like journals and stuff. But I wasn't, at that time when I was writing stuff down, it wasn't because I thought it was funny. It was like, this has been hurtful to me.

Oh, wow. I'm going to write it down. Or like I'm feeling upset and I'm going to write it down. It was never like I thought like, this is gold. Yeah, yeah. It was more just like, here's something I'm experiencing. Here's something that was said. It was a way to kind of, it was like a catharsis for me to just kind of process whatever emotions I had.

That's so prescient and advanced for a little kid to do that. Well, maybe. Or was there mandatory journaling in your house? No, there wasn't. I think it was an inability to feel feelings. Like there was not a lot of like feeling of feelings in my house. I mean, I was in the Navy and it was like everyone around me, I lived in San Diego in a naval community. And it was like, you never heard a man express how he was feeling ever.

And so I didn't know what to do with any feelings. Yeah. Like my dad, I've never seen my dad cry. and the only time he's cried that I can that I know of is when secretary won the triple crown. This is true. He cried when separate secretary. He said greatest physical achievement he's ever seen. But so I didn't have, I didn't know what to do with these feelings and I couldn't.

And I knew what I knew I could. It's for a horse. That's why. In a race it didn't know it was running. I saved my tears for animals. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Beautiful animals.

And the men on top of them whipping. Yeah, yeah. The tiny men. Yeah. So anyway, go ahead. Well, so I just didn't know what to do. And I had these feelings and I was a more emotional kid than I think I, and I didn't know what to do with them.

And so I would just write down things that I was feeling or thinking or just kind of like having trouble expressing. And a lot of times that would revolve around some interaction I had with my parents or with a friend at school or whatever. And so that's when I first started writing down all the, you know, things that my father said and other people said too. Are there ones that you've got, like, because you obviously went back through the archives when you're, are there ones from those ages that ended up being unintentionally funny?

Yeah. The one that actually was one of the things, first ones I put in my book was I was in kindergarten. So I'd basically like just learned how to write. Yeah. And I had a, I, I'm very bad at math. I still am to this day. I was always through school, terrible math. And it was the first math test I ever took.

And it was like literally like six plus two, whatever. And I got it, I got zero out of 10. I didn't get a single one right. Yeah, yeah. And I was so upset because it was like zero out of 10. And you had to get, take it home to get your parents to sign it. Of course. Yeah.

Feel the shame. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so I took it home and I was just like, and I handed it to my dad. And I was like, I just, I got zero out of ten on this. And I don't know what to do. And he looked at me and he was like, well, all I can say is if kindergarten's kicking your ass, you got a rude fucking awakening coming. And I wrote that down, but it made me really upset.

Yeah, yeah. Of course. And I think his, the thought behind the thought was like, you're going to have to tough it up a little bit. Right, right, right. Really making it this upset because I was so distraught. And that was one of the things that was in like, and the earliest journals that I was like keeping.

And that is what I then later, now as an adult, and I thought it was very funny. And I put it in this book. Yeah. But at the time, I didn't write it down because I thought it was funny. I wrote down like kindergarten kicking shit out of me. Yeah, yeah. Like I was like, what am I going to do?

He's so brutal. It's so brutally honest to do that to a child, you know. Do you find, this is a side note because I want to keep going on the, but do you find that when you had kids, I should just speak for myself. Once my first child was dried off after being born, it was like just a wall of, holy shit, the stuff they did hit me. Like, I mean, I'm exaggerating, but very shortly after having a child, there was just like a lot of stuff that I was like, oh my God, that was incredibly inappropriate.

Oh, that was so much. Why would you do that? You know, like, and did you have that when you had a kid? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I really, really did. And in both directions, though, too, like I had that version of it.

But I also had of like, oh, I understand why this thing was happening when it was happening. I had that too. But, yeah, which is funny. I have less of that. But, you know, which is funny. I'm just going to agree to keep the conversation. In case my mother's listening. My dad also feels like he had that when I was born, you know.

Oh, yeah. I remember one time I took my dad out to, it was when I was like 19 and I wanted to take him somewhere for Father's Day, but I was obviously like broke. And so I was going to take him to Jamba Juice. He loved smoothies. Yeah. So I was like, I'm taking into this Jamba Juice. And he starts talking to me while we're in line. And he's like, you know, I say, he says I love you. I love you. I love you. Always has. That's good. Yeah. And he was telling me about, he goes, you know, I do that because your grandfather, he lived to be. 99 years old. And for his entire life, all 99 years, he never once said, I love you to me. And then he turns and goes, I'll have the Rasmataz. Like, we had reached the top of the, we had reached the front of the line. But I think for him, you know, that was, that was, that was, that was, he was like, look at all this stuff that happened to me. And I'm not doing it. And then for me, I think when I had kids, I had the same experience you had where I was just like, this is wildly inappropriate.

Like, this should not have been, you know, something that was done. And I think, I think on some level, I don't know if you feel like this with your parents. But for me, I do. definitely think him seeing me with my kids made him investigate how he was with us. And because one time I remember, we're just like, this is, I had probably kids that were like, my kids were like five and seven at the time. And I'm sitting there and they get up and they go somewhere else. And it's like quiet. And he looks at me and he goes, I did the best it could.

I was thinking like, what was going on in your brain for the 25 minutes that led up to? I did the best I could. You're replaying every fucking thing you had ever done. Yeah, yeah. So I think there's some of that for him, too. I don't know if you felt like that for your parents. Yeah, but it's much more histrionic. Like, you know, I did the best that I could is usually with tears streaming down space.

And at the top of lungs, you know. But I mean, I, I, and I have been a strange. for my father for I think maybe 18 years or something. Wow. Yeah, just because it just got to be so, just, it was all fights and just the sort of replaying of the same dynamic and all getting back to the basic question of who is supposed to be taking care of whom.

And then sort of just like, no edit feature on him, you know. And at a certain point, it's, you know, I'm married to this woman. I don't want to hear this. Yeah. Those kind of things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm just, I'm married to this woman. I love this woman.

I have children with this woman. This is my life. I didn't, like, stumble into this willy-nilly. Like, I'm capable. And also, it's like I always wanted to. And I did tell him in the last big argument we had when he's telling me about, like, my relationship issue. and not just with, you know, but just like why I'm doing it wrong.

And he's cut such a wide swath through life. Like I've, I'd seen him make clerks cry at least four times in my life. Like just in what we call now Karening. Right, right, right. But I, you know, I just said to him, I said, yeah, because you're a real fucking expert on human relationships. And I could, you know, and I was, it's like, whenever you like really land one on your parents, it's like, oh, that felt good, but oh, what to what end? Yeah. But yeah, it's, I, you know, it makes me sad.

And my wife actually just, because I'm remarried, my wife is just like, it's so weird, I've never met your dad. And I'm like, well, not really. Not weird to me. Yeah. And I, and I, it is sad in some way. but I also too have made some kind of peace with it because, you know, there's nothing worse than when people hear something. Like when you've made the decision to estrange yourself from your parents, it'd be as if right now

you went to me, well, you've got to look at it from his side. Like when people tell me that, I'm like, oh, like I never did that over the decades that I've been dealing with this, you know? I mean, because it's not a decision. I'm not, it's not a decision that was, I came too lightly. And frankly, I've heard all kinds of things from people that still talk to my dad that make me feel like, oh, okay, well, yeah, there's no reproach mall around the corner. It's also I feel like, you know, now as a parent, like, I can't imagine the thing that my child would tell me about myself that I wouldn't try to fix to be able to have a relationship with them. Yeah. Like, you're the parent. Yes.

Like you want like you have to on some level whether you think that you're right or not right. At some point who gives a shit? Yeah. It's like, do you want to have a relationship with your child or not? And I can't think of anything my child could say or point out about me that would that would get me to be like, well, you know what? Fuck them. Yeah, yeah. It's like, you know, so that's that I think the same thing of this like, well, have you thought about it from his side?

Well, on some level, who gives a fuck? Yeah. if I have or not. Yeah, yeah. Like, he's my parent. Yeah. Like, the onus is on some level on him. Yes.

To do that, you know. And so I feel like that. And it's, you know, even talking about this. And I love my father dearly. And, you know, we have a great relationship. But I think him in that moment saying, I did the best that I could, was also him being like, fuck, I have to, I have to come towards him. because it's not going to come, even if it doesn't come the other way, it doesn't matter.

I don't need it to. I need to tell him that I know that there are things I could have done better. Yeah, yeah. You know, and to me, that was like such a loving thing from a guy who, like, is not a big of motor. Right, right. Yeah, no, it's amazing. And I was going to say, did he, like, did he appreciate your funniness? He did.

Yeah. He loved it. Even when you were a little kid. He loved, it drove him insane, but he also, he loved it. I mean, he, he would, he, his favorite thing is mixing it up. Yeah. So he, like ball busting kind of stuff. Yeah.

Yes. He absolutely loves that. Yeah. It's like, sustains him. And so I think he loved that. I would also sometimes just push his buttons and make him crazy in a way that my other brothers didn't do. Yeah.

But that was something he valued so much. And it was also partly why I loved doing it so much. Yeah. Do it more and more and more and probably to some extent why I do it for a career. getting that rise out of him. Yeah, and getting attention. Yeah, and getting attention. And that was like the way that I could do it.

I don't know if you feel like this for comedy, but I try not to do this, but I can't help it. It's like every time I write something or I make something on some level, even though I wish it wasn't like this, what I'm really doing is I'm putting it out there and being like, hey, world, am I a big piece of shit or am I worthwhile? You know, now vote with ratings. Yeah, yeah.

very healthy. Yes, super duper healthy. And again, I would hate for that, but to be like how my kids lived. But for me, I think it was just kind of how I, all my self-worth was wrapped up and can I get people to laugh? Can I get people to be interested in something that I'm saying? Like, you know, I could think if I had been handsome, I would have never done any of this stuff.

I'd be an idiot. Yeah, I'd be the most happy idiot in the world. Those weren't the cards I were dumbstilled. So it was like, that was what I did. Yeah. Did, like, was the funniness in your home? Was it always a happy funniness? Or was it like sometimes?

Because I remember big laughs at really awful times in the dysfunctional family dynamic. And in some ways, it's like, if you can do that, like, if you can be a group of people that can find laughs when it's like, we're not being nice to. each other here people, you know. Yeah, I think that the great thing about my dad being a doctor for people with basically a terminal illness for his entire life was that he did not sweat anything about, like less than death. Right, right. So there was no world where he was going to treat something with the gravitas of a cancer diagnosis. Sure. Right. And so we were able to kind of like laugh. I mean, he has the darkest sense of humor of anyone I know. I can imagine, yeah.

We've both worked in comedy for forever and like, you know, comedy writer rooms can get very, very dark because, you know, dark as dark as it gets. Fantasticly dark. And it's some of the biggest, hugest laughs you ever have in your life. People have asked me numerous times, what's the funniest thing Conan ever said? Like, I can't tell you that. He'd be put in jail. Yes, totally.

And it's like, it's being in that room and getting that. think that the origin of that for me was my family of like them being able to like have gallows humor in a way that just I never experienced anywhere else outside of my family until I came to here and started working in comedy rooms and then I was like oh wow this is what I remember from growing up yeah this is what I had grown up that's that's interesting did and it just occurs me too like was he dealing like what was were there miraculous turnarounds in his practice sometimes there was oh okay because i was wondering if it's just like some sort of palliative you know sort of prolonging of the ending of someone's life you know he was like no there was sometimes there was

miraculous turnarounds many times there were there were not and he was trying to prolong life but every once in a while there would they would like you know hit on something he'd see something he to have these scans, he's like, you know, the whatever they are, like scans of the body that from the patient, we had this glass window and there was a street light kind of outside and would shine into the window and he'd put the scans up at night and he would just get a glass of whiskey and he'd just stare at him. He'd stare at him for hours. Just looking at them, trying to find something that was in there that he didn't see upon first he'd do it. That's like a detective from a TV show. Yeah, it really was. Looking at the wall of evidence and just staring at it

until something comes out. Yeah. And I mean, that's part of the reason why it was hard to live with them is because to him, it was like if you did something, you did it all the way to the fullest extent you could possibly do it. Yeah. Like you spent every second doing it. And because to him, it was like, these are people's lives at stake. Like, he can't miss something. He can't. So he would work until like 10 at night. And then he'd get up at 4 in the morning and he'd start work then too. And he took it so seriously. And then he's asking asking me to take like social studies that seriously. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he would have, uh, it was funny. One time I came

back home, this was like, I don't know, maybe like 10 years ago. And he has a ton of books. And I pulled out this one book and I was like just flaming through it. And then the front of the book there was writing in the, in it and it said, my dad's name's Sam. And it said, dear Sam, I'm going to lose the battle, but you'll win the war. And I was like, what? is this? And I was like, because he was in the Navy, I was like, oh, and it was a patient who had terminal cancer. I had one asked him about it. There was this woman who had terminal cancer who he had, basically my mom said he had, because my dad's first wife died of cancer. Oh, wow. When my brothers were one and three, my half brothers. Yeah. And this woman had been a woman who

had had had the same kind of cancer that his wife had, that he was not able to obviously stop. Wow. And so he had like immersed himself in the office for like six straight months. Like this is when I was little. I guess I didn't even know. And he had tried to cure this woman's cancer. And he failed, you know, and she had written him that book. She had written in this book that they had both liked that they had talked about. And so I think for him, it was like he, you know, it was like these people's lives.

He took it so seriously and they loved him and he loved them. Because that was the thing. I would go, he would pick me up from school sometimes and we'd go back to work. So I spent many, many afternoons in the VA cancer ward. And he'd be like, read this. England Journal of Medicine and staying my 10 by 10. There's a lancet. Shut up.

Yeah. But I would some, every once in a while, I'd meet one of the patients and then he'd be like, well, what is it like having the nicest dad in the entire world? And I'm like, what the fuck are you talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he was so sweet to the patients. Yeah. Yeah.

So, yeah, and that's the way he was. Yeah. Can't you tell my loves it grow? How do you? I mean, we would, you wouldn't have called it probably this back. then, but how do you let him know, like, I'm turning you into content? Well, I actually did have to tell him because I started that Twitter account without him knowing.

Yeah. Because I didn't think anybody was going to look at it. Right, right. And I remember I... And it took off really quickly. Yes, it had no people following it for a week. And then one day I opened it up and it had like 3,000 followers. And I was like, what?

And then the next day it had 30,000 followers. And it was because Rob Cordy saw it and tweeted it out. And then from there, just people, other people started in and just... And then a day later, it had 100,000. And by the end of a week, it had 500,000. So at around 300,000, I was like, I'm probably going to have to tell. I'm not to tell my old man that this is happening. You know, he doesn't have, he's deathly afraid of the internet because of the,

this is not a joke, because of the 1996 Sandra Bullock filmed The Net. I don't remember what happens in that. It's, it's, she gets her life stolen from her via the internet because her computers connected to the internet. It's not a good movie. It's like identity theft or. Or more sort of metaphysical. No, it's identity theft and like empty bank accounts and all kinds of shit like that.

Yeah. And he saw that movie and it changed his life. Wow. To this. So he has a computer at her house that is not connected to the internet whatsoever. It is just a plug into a wall. And then my mom has a computer that is connected to the internet. But he even keeps his computer on the opposite side of the house because in the net, like, it was close enough to another computer.

It doesn't make sense. How does he send emails for work? He goes to her. computer. Yeah, fuck her. Well, honey,

they can get you. As long as they don't get me. Yeah, yeah. And so, yeah, he doesn't have, the internet,

he doesn't understand what Twitter is or anything, like they didn't even heard of it. Yeah. And it was also right when it was starting.

So I, like, came into the room and I was like, hey, there's this thing called Twitter. And he was like, I know what Twitter is. You got to start up

the internet to do Twitter. And he did starting a karma. like he did to like turning the keys in the car. And I was like, yeah, yeah, sort of. And I was like, listen, there's like a lot of people. I write down things that I've written down things that you said and I've put it on this Twitter account and like people like it.

Yeah. He's like, okay. And then I said, you know, people have approached me about like, you know, putting it into a book or something. Is that something that you would be okay with? Do you want to like see? I don't need to see it. And I go, are you okay if I do that?

He goes, my only rules, I don't want to have to do shit. And I was like, I don't think you're going to have to do anything. Okay. I like him. Yeah. And the funniest thing was at one point when it was all happening, I was getting like people asking me to come on these late night shows. Oh, yeah. Right?

And I'm like, I'm nobody. I'm like, you know, so it's crazy. And these are all like, you know, like we got asked to go on the Letterman show with my dad. Yeah. And so the Booker is like, hey, will you and your dad come on the show? And this is like, this is Letterman. Yeah, yeah. And I'm like, I go to.

Are you in L.A. at this point? Are you still in San Diego? You go, wow. And are you living at home with them? I'm living at home. Wow. Yeah, I'm living at home. I didn't realize that.

Yeah. So I go to him and I'm like, dad, like, they want me to go on like the David Letterman show. And he goes, oh, good for you. And I go, I go, yeah, but it's contingent on you also coming on the show. He goes, I got bad news for you. Wouldn't do it. Yeah, no. Didn't give a shit.

Very wise of him. Yeah. Very, very wise. A single thing. I think he ended up being on camera for like, I did like an extra on my, if you bought my audio book, you got like an extra video. Or yeah, you got like a video with me and my dad on it. But that's literally the only thing he's ever done because he didn't have to leave

his house. I brought the cameras to his house. Oh, wow. Yeah. Well, did he ever come see a taping of the Shatner show? That was the funniest. He came to the pilot. Yeah.

And so we're shooting the pilot. Because it's a multi-cam. It's a multi-cam. Yeah, it's with an audience. Audience show. And that's the kind of one that people come to. Yes, exactly. Older relatives come and.

Yes. So we're shooting the pilot there and I'm 28 and and he's there and we start the very first shot of it. And then the director goes, cut somebody talking in the audience. And I was like, immediately I knew. I was like, it's got to be him. And so they they're like, you know, audience, please, well, we're shooting blah. And then they start rolling again and then I hear his voice. And they're like, cut. And I hear him going, I don't drink that kind of fucking whiskey. because on the set there was like a whiskey it was like a bourbon bottle I don't know what it was whatever it's probably you know like old eagle brand

it's some bullshit brand you know and I come up to him I go hey you have to shut the fuck up and he was like what he does nothing in this is like my house and I was like it's not real life it's like you have to stop stop talking there's mics over the audience because they

collect the laughs like stop talking stop it and he was like all right I just think this is bullshit Is he telling your mom this? Is she next to him? Yeah, she's next to him. Okay. Because I'm like, is he just announcing to the whole audience?

No, he's telling my mom this. Yeah. She's next to him and she's like, she's also trying to get him to be quiet. Yeah, yeah. So then after the show, he finally, he's after the show, he comes, they like want him to come down. And he's like, he hates it. He's like, this show's terrible. And this show was really bad.

But he. Well, is that, I mean, is that out of your control? I mean, it was, it was out of my control. This is what I like to say. It was out of my control. had it been in my control, it would have been a different kind of terrible. Like it also would have been bad. Yeah, because you were just dark.

I was a kid, I would have fucked it all up. Yeah, no, running a show, it is that's, you know, they hook you up with a grownup and it's like, you go for coffee and then go like, all right, let's get married. Yeah. Let's have a TV marriage. And then it's like, oh, I fucking picked a dummy. Yeah. So it was, it. We're a great person too.

It was bad. And then after the show, everybody wanted. him to take a picture with shit. It was like me. They wanted to get a picture of Shatner and then me and then him. Yeah. Shannard does not give a shit from my dad at all. He has no interest in meeting my dad.

My dad has even less interest in meeting William Shatner. Doesn't care at all. How convenient for you. Oh, God, I know. So they like, I'm like dreading it. It felt like when you have like you're getting married and both your divorced parents are there, haven't spoken to each other in years. You're like, I just like, let this get.

Yeah. And so Shatner, walks up to my dad and he just goes, sir. And then my dad goes, sir. And then they shake hands and then they take the picture. And then Shannner walks off. My dad being like this proud guy is insulted that this has happened. So he walks off, except he's on a sound stage.

He's to know what fucking going. So he's just standing. I see him walk straight towards a bunch of cables and he's just standing in the middle of them. And then I have to go over and be like, hey, what's you doing? He's like, I'm just looking at all the sets. Yeah, yeah. We can go now.

And that was the last time he ever, showed up at a tape bay. Wow. Yeah. But he did watch it. He watched three episodes. He said it was terrible and he didn't want to watch anymore. Wow.

Yeah. And as he watched subsequent things even? Yes, he's very honest with me. Like he loves Abbott Elementary. He loves it. Yeah. But like other things I did this animated show on HBO Max, Harley Quinn. He's like, I don't understand it.

It's not for me. Yeah, yeah. I can see that. Like Hart. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, old man.

Yeah. Yeah. What? It's like an adult animated cartoon. Yeah. Yeah. He'll always give it a chance, but if it's not for him or sometimes he'll say it's not for me, which is him saying like, it might be good, but I don't know.

But if he hates it, they'll be like, this is dog shit. I don't like it. Yeah. Well, you're here. Do you know why you're here? I'll tell you why you're here. Because you have a novel out. I do.

And what gave you the nerve to think that you could write a novel? Honestly, I was on, it was during the WGA strike and I was walking the picket line. and I knew I couldn't write any TV or movie stuff and I just had this idea crawling around in my head and I was like, you know what, I'm gonna use this time to try to write a book. Oh, wow. And I had almost finished two books before this,

two pieces of fiction and then they were terrible and so I threw them out. And so this was my third attempt at something different and I was like, oh, I think there's something here. Yeah, yeah. Keep bright in it. Did the first two you threw out were those self-murdered?

Like did someone, you didn't show them to anybody. No, no, no, no. I held them down under the water. Well, what was it about this one that made you let it live? I think that the characters were more interesting to me. Okay. And the story felt more manageable. I think the thing I had to come to terms of the things that I do well and the things that I don't do well as a writer.

And I think I tried to, on the first couple things I tried to write, I tried to write, I tried to write like. the books I love to read. Yeah. And then I realized I don't have the same talents that those people have. I have other talents and I'll lean into those and write a book that, you know, leans into those. Do you think that those first two forwarded attempts were integral to being able to do the third one?

A hundred percent. Yeah, yeah. There's no way that third one exists without the two failed ones before. Right, right. Yeah. No, definitely. And I was also had this idea. There was like two things that really struck me that got this book.

One, the first was I had just seen this article in. online that there was this tiny bar in central California, like Inland Valley. It was like 1500 square foot bar. It was tiny. It had one exit and one entrance. And a guy walked into it. They have a video of him walking in and then he never comes out of it and they never find his body. And they have videos, 24-hour unbroken footage of on the exit and on the entrance and this man was just never found. So it was just that story kept sticking in my head. It's just like, what an interesting mystery. And also very sad. But yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, maybe not. Yeah, maybe. Maybe he went to a truly better place. That's right. Yeah, yeah. And then I had this idea about, you know, sort of a, what is it like to, and this is loosely based on my life, but in a different way, like, what is it like to have a parent who is sort of larger than life that everyone loves and everyone thinks is so great, but you as a child

know that they are, they are not a good parent, you know, which is kind of the opposite. my dad was like very hard to get along with and people were in the neighborhood were largely afraid of him. But like, you know, that idea of like people, if you're sort of an abrasive good person and you are paired with an avuncular piece of shit. Yeah. You know, people just are drawn to charisma and they sort of overlook. And I was like, oh, what if there's this daughter who's in her, you know, early 30s and

she's estranged from her father. Yeah. And he's this avuncular sort of everyone loves him, but she knows him to be just a downright piece of shit. Yeah, well, tell us the plot of the book a little bit. So the premise is this... And I mean the ending, too. Yeah.

I don't have time. The premise is basically there's this woman in early 30s. She's kind of abrasive. She's sort of gotten everybody out of her life. And she's estranged from her dad. She gets a call at the start of the book. Her mom's gone missing. And she's like, my mom goes missing a lot.

My mom's got mental health issues. Like, it's not fine, but it's fine. She'll come back. She always comes back. And they tell her, well, this time it's a little different. They think that your dad murderer. And so she goes back to her small town

in sort of Inland Valley, Central California, and with her dad, tries to find out what happened to her mother. And in that mystery, she sort of confronts this thing of like, I wanted to write a book about like, of this theme of like how you need to sort of like, sometimes you have to like let go of your anger

for people that you love in order to move forward. And it's not about getting an apology from someone. It's about like, how do I take all this anger I have? towards this person that was supposed to do, protect me and love me. How do I set that aside so that I can move forward in my life, no matter if they apologize or if they never apologize, you know?

And so that was sort of an idea I was interested in it and wanted to kind of explore within this sort of like buddy mystery comedy. I mean, does she let him know, oh, by the way, people think you murdered her. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's like it, that's like in the, in the ether throughout the entire experience. Yeah, yeah, totally. And she's also like, she doesn't think he did it simply because, she doesn't think he has the

finishing ability to do it. The follow through. To follow through it to actually do it. And she thinks he's too lazy to actually ever do anything like that. He's so self-centered. Why would he ever, because, you know, why would he ever confront anything like that?

But yeah, I think it's like, you know, it's like the cops all love him in town. They're like, we just got him in here because we had to pull him in. Right, right, right. It's like the small town.

So I think it's like even the cops who have pulled him in for murder are more charmed by him than, than her. Yeah, yeah. Well, it's called Get Lost. So it's already out. It's out. It's out. And it's a runaway bestseller. Wow. Congrats, Justin. Thank you so much, Andy. You're the new Stephen King. No, I mean, as I told you when you got here, I didn't realize until an hour before we were supposed to do this that I had got already received an emailed copy of the book. So I do plan on reading here because it sounds interesting and it sounds like it's, I mean, obviously some topics that I can sort of relate to and dynamics that are of interest. But you've got that. So that's coming out.

You've got your show running a Netflix series based on your book, I Suck It Girls with Bill Lawrence. That's right. Patrick Shoemaker. Yep. And what's that going to be called? Is it going to be called Is it going to be called I Sike a Girl? Yeah. It's kind of like an R-rated sort of teen comedy. Oh, nice. Yeah. And is that, are you doing that in, by, or like aside from Abbott Elementary or doing both at the same time? Wow. We actually have the. A lot of people aren't working, dude.

And you got two? What the fuck, man? We have the writer's rooms are literally across the hall. We have the, Abbott is such a well-run machine. And it really is like Quinta's, you know, she is the vision for that show. And so I always looked at my job there as I'm like the, I'm the contractor. I'm like, all right, I can put a wall up there if that's what you want, you know.

And so we, there's very talented writers. writing staff there that is doing a lot of heavy lifting as I'm trying to get this other show off the ground and then once that's done we'll go back to Abbott I love Bill I've known Bill for a million years Bill gave me my first real real job oh wow yeah Bill Bill was definitely a mentor yeah yeah for me he's too handsome to be a successful writer too I don't like it yeah what the fuck me yeah uh well justin help her thank you so much for coming in and spending some time with me no problem and I must say I would be I would be disappointed if I didn't get to say this which is that Like the work that you did was,

is so foundational for me as a comedy writer and wanting to get into comedy. Like, it's a trip for me to sit across me in this thing. And it really, like, you know, I used to record the bits you guys would do on VHS and, like, watch them over and over again. Yeah. And it was just like, it was such a special thing for me.

And it felt the way that you guys made that show, it just felt like it was me, this kid in San Diego growing up in like a naval community where no, I never met anyone who worked in the entertainment industry. It felt like you were like coming through the TV to be like, I get you. Yeah. I get you. You're going to like this.

This is going to be something cool. And it's like going around at school being like, hey, check on my impression of Randy the Pyloric Sphinctor. It's like nobody else knowing what the fuck I was talking about, you know? But to me, it was like I felt so seen. So it's, it's, I'm such a huge fan. Oh, thank you. It's such a thrill to be able to talk to you.

Oh, thanks. And really, like, just to let you know, like, so much of the work that you did is like, why I'm where I am now. It's really cool. Really, really great to hear. And that's something, when people say things like that, people who are serious about comedy and who do comedy say, you were formative for me.

It makes me feel like, you know, that's what David Letterman was for me. I was in Illinois watching this show and it was just like, this is hilarious and no one I know understands it or gets it. And they think I'm weird for liking it. And just, and you just kind of, again, it's flotsam. It's like a piece of wreckage to hold on to until you get out of the waters of your childhood, you know. It really is. Yeah.

Well, get lost. It's out. Go buy it. Justin Halber, thank you so much. And I'll be back next week with more of the three questions. The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a team Coco production. It is produced by Sean Doherty and engineered by Rich Garcia. Additional engineering support by.

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with Andy Richter wherever you get your podcasts. And do you have a favorite question you always like to ask people? Let us know in the review section. Can't you tell my loves are growing? Can't you feel it ain't you showing? Oh, you must be a knowing. This has been a team Coco production.