The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Kerri Kenney-Silver

Episode Date: June 2, 2026

Actress, comedian, and musician Kerri Kenney-Silver joins Andy Richter to discuss her work on "Reno 911!" and "The State," her amazing punk rock band Cake Like, the second season of "The Four Seasons" on Netflix, the weirdness of mega-celebs, and the new comedy film "Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass!" Do you want to talk to Andy 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. Listen to "The Andy Richter Call-In Show" every Wednesday at 1pm Pacific on SiriusXM's Conan O'Brien Channel. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody, welcome back to the three questions. I'm the host of the three questions, Andy Richter, and today I have the distinct pleasure of talking to Carrie Kenny Silver. You know her from Reno 9-1-1, the state, the four seasons, and so much more. She can currently be seen in season two of the four seasons on Netflix, and you can also see her this summer in Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass, which is the new comedy film directed by David Wayne and written by David Wayne and Ken Marino. Here is my conversation with the sweetheart of sweethearts, Carrie Kenny Silver. Hi, Carrie.

Hi, Andy. How are you? I'm good. Let's talk this way the whole time. All right. Boy, oh, boy, boy. Welcome to Santa's Workshop. Yeah.

It's great to see you. It's so good to see you. That's one of the great benefits of this podcast is when I get to see people that I know and love and just hang out for an hour and I get paid for it. Wait a second. What are we getting paid? No, no, you don't get paid for it. Oh, I don't get paid. What you get is you get at least 30 people here about your latest project.

Wow. And do I have to pay? No. Okay, good, because I do not have the money. I want to be very clear. I do not have the money. I know that. Okay.

Oh, I know that. Okay, good. Thank you for letting me park in your driveway last night, by the way. I just needed a place that was safe to sleep for the night. No, listen. I mean, this is a really fun, cool, good thing that is. true, but I was approached to write a book about the making of the movie Elf. Yes.

And so I did it with a co-writer and the book and it's like it's coming out in November and stuff. I can't wait. Yeah, it's going to be really fun and stuff. But I of course didn't really like I have people that read contracts. But I found out towards the end of it like I'm responsible for all the images in the book. Like all the pictures. I have to pay for them. And some of those things are fucking expensive.

I know. I'm like, Will Farrell isn't just signing off on pictures of him. Well, he can't, well, it's not even his. It's like Getty images. And I,

like an old still from NBC from the Conan show and, you know, and luckily some people have like behind the scenes photos, but I'm like, well, I don't know what this, you know, it could be, it's like,

could be $1,000. Could be $15,000. Could be $100,000. It's $15,000. That's going to put a crimp in our vacation plans, you know. I mean, in fact, we don't even have vacation plans, really. Right. Yeah.

Well, the Sheridan, Waikiki is $4,000 in night now. Luckily, it would, I mean, it would probably be like a Culver City comfort in is what we'd be doing these days. Let's not get crazy. Let's not get crazy. I don't want you to get excited about a trip that isn't going to happen. But here's my question. Yeah. Who is your lawyer?

Oh, my. It seems like someone should have read that. I asked about it and they said that is a kind of an industry. standard. It is. Yeah, it's kind of an industry standard. But the whole thing is pictures. No offense. No, no, no. It's, it's, it's going to, it's mostly text, but it's like one of those books where, you know, there's like two sections of photos on, you know, it's like you got the regular book and then you got the glossy picture of photos in between. I want to see Bob Newhart sitting on his, on his director's chair, reading his script and smoking a cigar. Hopefully,

New Line is going to give us a bunch of stuff. Because, you know, there's always on-set photographers and somewhere there's a gazillion onset photos of Elf just sitting around and hopefully Well, I don't care what it is. I'm buying it. It's a perfect stocking stuff. I could probably get you freeing to.

Can I get a freak off? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That'd be great. Because when I say bye, I know. I mean. Exactly. I'd like you. We want afterwards, we talk about it.

Okay. Yes, I will be buying. Yes. Many of them. Well, let's look crazy. So how. How are you? You've got a lot of stuff happening. Do I? Yeah, the four seasons. Oh, shoot. Yeah. We better shoot that really quickly because it's coming out, like in days. I know, I know. How is that to do? That's got to be fun. Dream like every time. Yeah. I would do this till I die. How many seasons were there? Two. We've just said two and we want to do more. This season that's coming out, how much can I say about it? Well, we know there's a baby. If you've seen it, I don't know.

baby coming. And so, you know, what does that do to this group? And the baby is my husband who cheated on me, who left me, had a baby with a younger woman. And now she's being brought into the group. And I am helping to raise said baby. So what does that look like? Yeah. I'll tell you, it doesn't go great. No, it does. It goes great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you think that's something that in real life, if you're a real life husband? Oh, fuck no. Yeah, you wouldn't, you wouldn't raise a baby that he had with some other fucking whore? Maybe. I mean, We get the whore out of the picture. Right, right.

But give me that baby. Give me that baby. I'm ready for grandkids. Give me all that soft flesh. I don't want to chew on his feet. I don't know. How can you ever say in life what's going to happen? Although it's not something I'm looking to have happened.

No. No, no, no, no. Yeah. No, but I mean, but it is the kind of thing, it is the kind of thing that, I mean, you do hear about about like there's something, the Trump power. I don't know. And Trump is, it's such a shame that that word has been ruined. But like a baby trumps everything. You know, like the babyness of something, not baby Trump.

No, but you know what I mean? Like the fact that there's a baby in the picture. It's true, though. And you're just like, oh, I don't, you know. It's so true. Extenuating circumstances be damned. Give me that baby. Of course.

That baby needs love. That baby needs to be taken care of. Yeah. I can't. You probably can't afford me to sing the circle of life, but that's what I'm singing in my head. It would just be bleeped out. then it'd be less pictures in your book. That's right.

And I don't want to take away from the vacation. Oh, I don't pay for shit on this thing. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, no. The circle of life. I'm like, cut it. Who cares? Well, that, I mean, it must be great to be, I mean, it's been so weird and so slow that to just

to have a regular series must feel so nice. You know what? For once, it's nice to be like my husband and I have had just such a, it's just been such a boom. I'm embarrassed to eat. even say it really, but we've all had our moments where you're looking around, you're like, everyone else is working and what am I doing? So this is a moment where, you know, my husband has been shooting the show Leanne for Netflix and I've been doing four seasons for Netflix. Yeah.

Thank God for Netflix. I mean, I'm just like, we're in this little pocket right now. I just feel so blessed to be working at all, but to be working on something so great is it's so wonderful to, you know, like press junket stuff. coming up in the next few days. And that kind of thing is very often, I would say 90% of the time, you're going, oh, we're family,

we're all best friends, you're following this sort of script, which is, and this is true. So it feels like I want to shout it from the rooftops because when it really is true, it's so, such a moment in time. And not everybody gets that.

And I've gotten it. I recently got to shoot a few episodes of a good show that I really am. proud of being on and I don't think I can say anything about it yet. For God knows why. I don't know what these people think is going to happen. I know. If people find out that I'm on a show.

But I mean, I told people there. I was like, I would have done this show if it was shitty. I would. I'll do, you know, you hire me on a shitty show. I'll be on it. I think this is. I get to be on something that's great. Do you think this is a sketch mentality?

I have a theory about those of us who come from sketch. Yeah. My theory is that we are the court jesters. We would be doing this in a corner in our living room in Fort Wayne, Indiana right now. If no one had ever given us a chance, we would be doing it at the copy place that we work at, whether someone was paying us to do it or not. So I just think, like, I'm just always excited to work. I can't wait to work. I'm always trying to make the best of it, not because I'm a good person by any stretch of the imagination, just because,

Because, like, I can't believe we get to do this. Yeah. So when it's, when I'm there and excited to do it just because I'm doing it and it's actually good material. Yeah. You just feel like you won. I mean, I won. Absolutely.

Absolutely. I also think, too, it's as you get older, you get, you're like, yeah, you know what? It's all, I mean, and like you, it isn't, I mean, when you said sketch, it is kind of like, you, you, you, when you do sketch or, which I guess, you know, Conan, you know, Conan kind of sketch. Of course. Let's put on a show. Yeah, it's a little strip show. Yeah, it's little strip shows, it's a lot of bits. You do lots of bits. They're not all great. No, no. And also then they're over. Yeah. And then they're over and you go on to the next one. So I think it is really easy for somebody from our background to go like, you know, it's not that great. Yeah, yeah. Didn't work.

That's fine. Yeah. And over time, too, you know, I do all kinds of different television. Yes. And I, you know, I'm going next week to shoot some game shows and like I love being in game shows. You love the business of entertainment, and so do I. I just, I grew up, I didn't, I didn't play with my brother. I watched TV, basically. I made faces alone in the bathroom mirror as a child. Yeah, yeah. And had a great time doing it.

From sadness comes a little less sadness. Yeah, but money. What sadness should get paid for? You get money. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's why I'm here for the money. Now that I hear I'm not making money on this, I'm out. But it's been nice.

I did. Well, you can have all the snacks you want. You can take everything. God. Don't say that to me. But no, I mean, I, I just, you know, I feel like, yeah, I make TV. I make TV. I can do lots of, I'm lucky enough to be able to do lots of different things.

Yes, I feel the same. And I also, too, I think about when I was a kid and I would watch game shows, you know, like tattletails or whatever. And there'd be all these, you know, celebrities and they'd be joking with each other. And now I'm like, I'm fucking Burt Conby now. I'm Paul-in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think our generation too has a connection to game shows that no other generation has and no other generation will have a future. I bet you're right.

Because there is game shows were purely comfort food because they were tune in television. So if you missed it, you missed it. And they were only on while we were at school. Yeah, yeah. So it meant you were sick. Oh, yeah. you had chicken soup and it meant you could lay in bed all day. And it meant, you know, your mom's probably at work and you've got the run of the house.

And I'm going to make my own Stoufers pot pie later. Yeah, yeah. And I'm going to play with the dog. Yeah. And I'm going to do my Donnie and Marie coloring book on the couch, which I'm not supposed to do. And I'm going to watch the prices right. Like this is, this is heaven. This is me living like a single lady's life alone, but I'm 11.

Right, right. Yeah, in my apartment, which is it. the prices right for years was like there it instantly triggered like a sense memory of like home from school home from school it's a snow day yeah yeah it's a snow day or you've got fix vapo rub on or you faked it that's right and yeah and you have vix vapo rub on anyway now you mentioned it earlier you said fortwayne indiana and that's where you were born i was born how did you end up because i know your dad did he did he did voice work still does my dad is still he's still the Skittles tastes the rainbow guy. He's the voice of the Cocoopuff's bird. I'm cuckoo for Cocoopuff.

Wow. Count Chocula. How about a monster for breakfast, do they? Yeah, yeah. But I mean, how do you go from Fort Wayne to doing? My dad. Yeah, yeah. I didn't go alone. Right, right, right. No, but I mean, what was he doing in Fort Wayne? And was he in radio or something? I see. So they started, my, my mom and dad met in Illinois in a tiny little town in Illinois, McComb and Pekin. Illinois. Timmy we are. Peking, famous for its racist team mascot. Correct.

Use your imagination. Look it up. Let me give you a hint. They think they thought when they created the town that they were on the same latitudinal line as Peking China. Spoiler alert, they are not. See, the thing I heard was that they thought that if you drove a nail straight through the globe, that on the other side of Peking, China would be Peking.

Illinois, which is also wrong. Well, that's true. So they did, they had at the time, I mean, the whole town, I think, was based on what would have then been called Oriental motifs. This is correct. So look it up, folks. Look up Peking. Yeah.

With love. With love. I just looked it up. My Taiwanese producer just looked it up. By the way, by the way, now the Peking Dragons. And may I say, a town filled with beautiful, open-minded, love. loving people. I will say this. This is absolutely true because a large portion of that town was my family. And they are truly, truly a beautiful group of people. And the reason my father left to left Pekin or left when my mom left McComb was because my dad had this golden voice.

It was it was sort of something that happened to him. And he was doing high school radio, which led to very quickly, you know. commercial radio commercial radio which quickly brought them to fort Wayne indiana then really quickly to chicago then then then then st louis then um you know just boom boom boom boom but by the time i was four we were in new york city wow yeah so my dad's voice brought us there that's great yeah and he never he never needed so he never needed college or anything he just never needed pipes he's got the pipes And he has the pipes today. Wow. How old is he?

Gosh, you should know how old your foot. Thank you. Thank you. My dad's 78. It's in the Pekin. It's in Peking, Wikipedia. Right. It's one of the three things in Pekin Wikipedia.

Yes, exactly. No, he has a beautiful, he has that great old-timey, just naturally that announcer voice that people don't have anymore. And the funny thing is the like Skittles Taste the Rainbow sound is really, just how my dad sounds. Yeah, yeah. He told my grandmother when he was a teenager, when she found cigarettes in his pocket, in the 50s, he said, oh, these are for my voice.

The station manager is making me smoke these for so my voice will be better. So, yeah, he doesn't smoke anymore. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't doubt that somebody gave him that advice because that's, that was like, that was a, that was a kind of industry advice, like, you might want to smoke. to get a deeper voice, you know. So you sound more like a man. Yeah, the bubbling and phlegm, you know.

That's right. And women should smoke them so they're not hysterical. Yeah, yeah. Yes. That's, you know, like the, in The Exorcist, Pizzou, you know, Mercedes-McCambridge did the voice of that. Like, William Friedkin, like, had her smoke just like four packs of cigarettes. Oh, I would have loved that job. While she did that just.

Let's do a remake so I can do that. Because I'm a method actor. I see. see. Yeah. You don't smoke, do you? No, I did, though. Oh, wasn't it great? I, you know, I did enjoy the activity. I enjoyed the hand-to-mouth kind of, you know, oral fixation stuff. Yeah. But I did grow really tired of the smell.

You did. And now, yeah, and not so much the smell of like a freshly lit cigarette, because that can still smell kind of good to me. Yeah. But on your clothes and, like, like, you know. like down, and it's amazing now that the entire world does not smell like cigarette smoke, which it must have. Because now when somebody lights a cigarette 150 yards from me, I'm like somebody who lit a cigarette, and I smell it immediately.

I mean, think about New York City, the knitting factory. We used to play this club. I was in a band. We used to play this club. The ceiling of the knitting factory was 6,000 sweaters knit together and everyone in the room was smoking. Wow. I mean, first of all, how did it not go up? Yeah, yeah.

And second of all, it's like just held this cloud. But I think maybe you did it wrong. I think maybe you didn't smoke long enough to burn the senses in your nose because I stopped smelling it. And it wasn't until about six months after I quit that one day I opened my closet door and I was like, oh, I have a girlfriend who had, she was the first. Well, you mean you could smell your clothes. Yeah, yeah. But not for a long time until after I quit. Right, right.

I have a girlfriend who was the first. No, now I just don't do it at all now. I see. I see. So then I don't smell specific smells. I understand. It's just one general sense. Sort of melange of odor.

There's here comes, I have a girlfriend who was sort of the first in our group to have, not sort of, she was the first one in our group to have a baby. And I was knitting at the time. Well, I was knitting and chain smoking at the time. Yeah, yeah. And she to this day took her till I quit, years after I quit, before she told me that she opened that beautifully wrapped package with this gorgeous little baby sweater that I had knit her that reeked of cigarettes. You're welcome.

Yeah. Put it on the baby and just tell people, yeah, you know, I try to get her to quit, but she won't stop. I used to tell people that I was a heavy smoker when I was in fifth grade because I was so slow at the presidential mile that we had to do. Oh my God, that was my nightmare. I was like, well, I'm a smoker. What? You're not. Yeah, yeah.

Was it a funny family? Yeah, my D.S. Very much. How many siblings do you have? Well, I have half siblings. And the only reason I call them that is because we weren't raised in the same house because they were younger than me. I just got a phone with my sister.

We're very close. But we didn't grow up together. They were born as I was going off. to college. Oh, I see. This is my dad and my stepmom. I see. And I didn't, you know, my parents got divorced when I was seven. Okay. But the fan, both houses, both of my homes growing up, humor is the main currency. Yeah, yeah. Is today. Oh, it's just this is our. That's, I mean, I was just talking to somebody about that, uh, doing another podcast and telling people like, yeah, it was just, it was a. You're a family too. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Very funny people.

Like my dad, hilarious. Midwrest, yes. Yep. There is something about, there is something about the, you know, Tom Lennon's family as well. There's something about the Midwest kind of like, I am not the funny person in my family. Really? No, no, no. My uncles, my aunts, my aunt, like my mom was a great laffer.

My mom was the laffer. And my dad is the funniest person in the room. You know, it's like my, my mom. When someone says, oh, go to, you know, do a meditation and go to a safe place. Most people go to a beach or a mountain top. I go to like my grandmother's spare room where I'm falling asleep of all my aunts and uncles and grandparents. Everybody's still awake playing a board game and I hear them making each other laugh. It just was one constant din of laughter because that's what you did was make each other laugh.

And that's comfort to me. Yeah. Can't you tell my loves a grow. I distinctly remember as a little kid sitting at the top of the stairs when I was supposed to be in bed just to listen to, you know, the TV and people talk. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now my children, once they go to sleep, we're quiet. It's a silent zone. Well, you and I both live in houses that are so large that we don't even know where our children are. That's right. There's a separate floor. We call it the bunker. We've soundproofed it just so he can have his own space. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Not because we don't want to hear him.

No, the sad thing is, is that when my, because I have a six-year-old now, when she goes to bed, we go to bed. Oh, I know. Because I'm 59. My wife is 50 and she's got the upper hand on us in terms of energy and energy and staying power. She goes to bed and we're like, fuck it. Let's get it. Let's conk out right now. I took two naps this weekend on Saturday.

Is that a health issue? No, not at all. I don't think, I think, well, I mean, this could just be me, but like, I, I love naps. I love naps. There must be something very healthy about them, especially as you get older. Yeah, Michael Ian Black takes a nap every day. Well, what's his name? Oh, no, no, I'm thinking of massages.

Shoy Otani, the big Dodger star, sleeps 12 hours a day. Wait. Not in one stretch. When? Like multiple naps. Like he'll just conk out in the dugout for two or 20 minutes or whatever. This sounds like a problem. And there's, but they have, no, it's not an narcolepsy or anything.

No. He just, that's what he needs. Part of his thing being like a superhuman athlete is like I also need to power down, you know. Wow. And naps, I didn't. And like I love, like, I don't mean, you know, but my wife, one of the things I love most about her is that if it's 2.30 and I get home from doing stuff and I'm just, I lie down like, I don't get it like, what are you doing? I get it like, you know, she's just like, cool, taking that because she understands

it. She also doesn't like to spend a lot of time with you. Well, this is what she told me. It's like, yes, please turn it off for a minute. Oh, you want to go lay down? Why don't you go to a hotel and lay down for a week? No, it's, it's what it really is. It's like, oh, good, an absence from bits. That's it. Your bits will just stop for a minute. Put the clown nose down for a half a second. Wait a second. Tokyo, come in Tokyo.

Please get your hands off my breasts. When your folks split, did your mom go back to Pika? No, no, no, not at all. My mom stayed in Westport, Connecticut. My dad was in Manhattan. So I had like the dream childhood of. Wow. You did have super.

I did. I had Westport Connecticut. It's like where David Leonard. live. Martha Stewart. Yeah. It's beach community. It's beautiful. I went to public school. I had just a very knocking around, you know, like walking to go fishing with my fishing pole. Like it was just beautiful, beautiful beach in the summer with my mom. Then weekends with my dad in Manhattan, first lived in the West Village, then moved up to the Upper East Side where nothing was happening. That was not, that was not the... Not optimal for a kid. It definitely was not the,

the brag that it is now. Right. There was nothing going on up there. It was beautiful. I mean, it was fun. It was great. What are you going to do? Hang out at the U.N.

I mean, come on. I did hang out at the U.N. a lot. But then summers, peak in Illinois with my grandparents, my aunts and uncles, my cousins, like running around the best, best time. And then I went to NYU and just stayed in New York. So New York, you know, New York, Connecticut,

just a big part of me, but also the Midwest is a big part of me. too. Do you miss small town life? Like, is there a part of you that thinks like me? Yeah. For sure, for sure. I kind of just want it all now. So it's funny, we're doing more traveling now than we used to do. And I think it's, for one thing, our son is 20. So it's just much easier. Right. Fuck that kid. Leave him home. Let's go. No, no, no, with him. With him, it's easier. It's easier. Oh, you're doing it wrong. Oh, shoot. Okay. He's here. Should I tell him to go? Yeah, he's supposed to be in college today, but I told him this is way more important.

I just want him to think I'm cool, so I bring him to stuff like this. Yeah, yeah. He is in class. I see. Where should you go to school? Right now he's going to school here as state school, but he is wanting to transfer schools to go to the East Coast. He studies mechatronics engineering. What the fuck is that?

He got my brain. She does fart jokes for a lot of. It does sound made up. Well, it is kind of made up. It's new. There's only a few schools across the country. do it, but it's mechanical engineering, computer engineering. Look, I have to close my eyes and make a weird face to remember it. Is it like robots? Robotics and AI. Wow. So he's going to transfer schools,

possibly, we're waiting to hear. This is the big week where we make our big decisions. I love having him nearby. Yeah. But if he wants to go, he's got to go and then I'll just follow him. Yeah. No, no, that's not. Yeah. It's I do, you know, I have a 25 year old and a 20 year old. on a six-year-old. And I've said this. I did find when the kids get to be 18-ish and start into adulthood, that's the most, the scariest time for me. That's horrifying. That's the time when it's like, oh, shit. Did I do it right? Yeah, I'm letting go of this balloon and it's going to float off into the sky. And it's not just a balloon. Inside that balloon is your heart. Yeah. That's just floating about and people are kicking it down the street. And are they going to try and

pop it. And also, look what, look what's happening in the world. And I, and I, I, I mean, I just can't, I just have to, you know, sorry to get all, but you just have to like trust the universe that this is, because one thing that I'm realizing is, I have to stop saying, I feel so bad for you. Because, because during COVID, I was saying, my gosh, you're spending your, your middle school to high school days in a room by your, you know, Like I was out doing this. I was out doing this. I was out. And it's like, no, no, no. This is the only childhood he will ever know. This is his childhood. It's happening in real time. Yeah. So you sitting around and going, you really missed out is really not helping. Yeah. Yeah.

And so I don't want to do the same thing as these years, you know, happen because I just, I just, I rely. I just am relying on the adaptability of the kind of ape we are. You know, that just like, well, it'll all. kind of come out in the wash and even though, because like I, it didn't even, it didn't hit me until my, you know, my, my older kids were in their early teens. They're worried about whether or not the planet will be inhabitable. I know. What? You know, we had, we had nuclear war to worry about. But it wasn't real. But it's not, it's not the same. It's not we're, we've ruined the planet. Like that's, it's like, well, somebody might push a button and then. ruin a planet. But somewhere in your head, I think there was always, you know, the mutually

assured destruction always seemed like, well, that's a good part of the deal. Like nobody, you know, do the Russians love their children, too, as Sting would say. So that you always kind of knew like, well, okay, yeah, that is scary. But I think we're fine. How real is that? Yeah. But this is different. Everything. And if they're, if you got smart little kids that want to find stuff out and they look on the internet about climate change, it will shake them to. their core and both my kids went through that and I'm like did they go through that that's what I was going to ask because my son is so chill and I'm so grateful because I am not because I'm a mother and because you know it's my job to look you know 10 feet ahead of where he's about to walk to go oh look

out for this look out for that make sure there's no tigers in the grass that are going to eat them yeah exactly and and at this age I'm not really supposed to tell him I'm supposed to let him see them and then be there, you know, with a band-aid if he comes running back this direction. Right. But boy, that's hard when it's not, you know, when it's full-on landmines around. Yeah, yeah. And so luckily, he's the one that's like, Mom, it's okay. Yeah.

Okay, great, great. Because this, whatever your reality is is your reality. And if your reality is that it's going to be okay, then it's going to be okay. And I'm not helping anything by going, but just look out because this thing over here. Exactly. What good is that doing? Yeah, I know. It's making me crazy.

It's going to make you crazy. I just have to trust. Yeah. I just have to trust. But your kids went through that. And then they got over. I mean, they didn't get over it. It's just a component of them that they had to be like, well, yeah, you know, we might lose Miami, you know.

You know, like, that's just in there. Yeah. Okay. Well, I've got to go to work or got to go to school. Well, listen, we live it. We all live it. But we really have lived it because we live in Malibu, and we went through the Woolsey fire, lost our roof. Wow.

We're out of our home for a year. Was it Palisades close to you? Palisades was close enough that we couldn't be at home. We weren't in any danger, but we had no gas or electricity, and the smoke was so bad we had to leave. Right. Did you have to do remediation on the house? Not this time. Okay.

But the first time, the Woolsey, when I say we lost our roof, that's not really fair to say. It buckled so bad. It had to be removed and replaced. And so therefore, everything inside is like, you know, at risk and the chemicals and the dust and the things and the neighbors are gone. And, you know, you're driving by melted cars. And it's just like, what is happening exactly? So he's gotten a real taste of twice living through, okay, grab grandma's silverware, let's go. You know, and will this be here when we come back? Well, the neighbor's house isn't here. Well, that house, that restaurant we used to go to is gone.

Wow. You know, those kinds of things. So I never experienced anything like that as a kid. It was like you said, just the threat of the Ayatollah. Yeah. And then it was like, wow, I have this thing. Right, right, right. And now it's real things like mudslides and fires and things like that.

This is very uplifting. I hope people are. Hey, everybody. Really? Let's tune into these real fun, the funny pants. Carrie Kennedy Silver here with the optimism report. Oh, goodbye, Miami. Well, tell me about, because you, the guys, I think you guys from the state are unique in that it was a, it was, well, I guess maybe, well, first of all, there were so many of you in the beginning.

There was 11 of us. There was so many of you. But then also so many of you have gone on. I mean, I don't, just to me, it seems like the people from, there are more people from the state still working, still productive, still out there really contributing than there are in other similar sketch comedy groups that got a TV deal on cable and et cetera, et cetera. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, maybe like SCTV or. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I don't understand it either. And I don't know how I ended up in the center of it as the only female. I don't understand it. But I do know. At the time, was that weird or was it just? No.

Because comedy was so male-centered at that time. There weren't. It wasn't a thing. Yeah. It was like you could be Gilda Radner or you could be, you know, Lorraine Newman. But if you weren't those people, then you wasn't going to happen for you. Yeah. It's not like, what am I going to grow up?

I'm going to be Carol Burnett, like a point. Of course not. That already happened. Right. She's on TV. But that's not a job that I can do or be. Yeah. Maybe I could be an actor, but that's probably not likely either. So it just was a club that I was doing at NYU with my friends.

But there weren't schools at that time in Manhattan that I was aware of. Like it wasn't like there weren't, you know, a bunch of UCBs you could go to and take. And I didn't know from Second City, you know, in New York. So it was like, I'm an actress. I'm studying drama, right? I'm going to be a dramatic actress. And then here's this fun club with all this fun guys. And of course I'm the only girl. Now, in the beginning, I wasn't. When we were a college club, there were other women in the group. But then we quickly got rid of them. Well, let me tell you, we got really serious, really fast. Oh, really? It was like, this is what we're going to do for the rest of our lives. We're always going to be together. We're always going to do sketch. And we're always going to do this. Or you're out. And other people were like, sleeping and. an 11-tier bunk bed. For real. And literally, look, it's 37 years later, and it's still, we're still, I mean, you just did a tour last year.

Just did a tour last year. And, you know, Gail Dautry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is coming out. Yeah. You know, it's, that's, most of us are in that. It's like, we're just constantly working together. It's a beautiful thing. Yeah. I can't explain it, really.

Yeah. It is quite shocking. I mean, the only couple of people that didn't go into. really like on-camera acting stuff consistently. That's a choice. Todd Hollabeck moved almost immediately to South Korea. He was also always an artist. And he teaches, he's a professor.

And he teaches art installation art. Yeah. A light installation art in South Korea, having this huge, beautiful life over there. Wow. Kevin Allison's podcast, Risk, is like a big deal. Everyone else is like, I mean, Michael Showalter's directing these huge crazy things and David Wayne, Cameron, I mean, Tom Lennon, it is kind of shocking how many of us

Tom Lennon is never not working. Never not working. He's unbelievable. Yeah, he's ridiculous. But I mean, and I don't mean that, I mean, of course there's a tinge of envy to that, but it's also because he's just so fucking good. But I feel like you're this way too. You're just someone who you're just always there, which is so, you know.

Yes and no. I mean, but he, you know, a. I just, there have been so many times when I've been on a lot and it's like, oh, next door, Tom's got a part in that show. Always. And then next door. Oh, there's, you know, that's just kind of been the case forever. But he also, too, has 10 times of work ethic than I do, you know, that too.

I'm, I am not as much of, I'm not a good self-starter. I'm the same. He has an engine that I don't understand. And he always has. Yeah. And I think that's probably why I've kind of barnacled to him. because I don't have that, I have that engine when I'm in the middle of a project.

Yes, me too. But I don't have that. Put me on something. Put me in coach and I'll play. Put me in. I'll play 24 hours a day. I will show up. I will be early.

I will be on as much as I can't. I will do craft service for you. Like I'm so excited to be here. I love our business. Yeah. But the getting from the job to the job and then the making of the job is thank God for Tom. Thank God. for you know, Ben Grant, thank God for Michael Black, thank God for David Wayne, for Kept

for Showalter, for all these guys, Joe Trulio, because I am the, I'm the kind of person that's like, I'll have an idea. Yeah. Or I can, you know, bring in jokes, bringing characters. I love the editing portion of things. Yeah. But when it comes to the like, okay, here's the plan. I'm like, what's the plan? What are we going to do? And then once we're doing, doing it, I can, I can be a big, big, you know, part of that machine. But it's the Tom just, he's like, and then we'll do this. And then we'll do this. I have an idea for this.

I just called the guy. We're doing it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, because I, I mean, and I have, you know, I've written things. I've pitched things. I've, you know, and I'm just like, it's like, I mean, some things, they'll get kind of, you know, if it's a ladder, like, oh, I got up three rungs this time before they kicked me

off of it. But I just, I don't, and then I just, you know, I left to my own devices, it's like I get a creative charge out of, you know, thinking, looking in the fridge and going, what can I make for dinner? Well, that's beautiful. I'm actually very jealous of that because mine is different. My reason for this is not because I get a charge out of that. Mine is because, is self-esteem. Oh, really?

Yeah, and I think there is a blessing and a curse with being, having been the comedy baby raised in this nest of men because they've been, they have, there's such a safety. And I have been, I'm so lucky this, this particular group of men in particular. Yeah. Just, you know, this is the 90s. Anything could have happened. Right. And I, this is like the biggest. You could come up with some real assholes.

Dude, this is the biggest group of brothers. like good, solid humans who just saw me as a sister, as a partner in comedy, not even a sister, just another person next to them doing another average fart joke, you know, same as the guy on their right. And I just, we tumbled into this together. And so I never felt like, oh, shit, the pressure is on me. And then so once I sort of stepped out and like did the Ellen show or did, you know,

movies without them or things. I was like, okay, wait, can I do this? Okay, okay, I can do this on my own. But when it comes to starting a project, a full from nothing project, I still turn to the guys. And I go, is this a good idea? Should we be doing this? Because my general feeling when I step out on my own is, thank you for inviting me. I'm sorry I came. Oh. Like, are you going to be disappointed with me? Which is why, back to your question about four seasons, like, how does it feel? It's, it's life affirming because I've been in this group for so long like yes I'm proud of the work I have done there that I have done the work the group and my work there but now like there's no hiding right so I'm standing next to Coleman Domingo who's giving an Oscar and Emmy winning worthy performance I'm

standing next to Tina Faye who wrote these words yeah like there is no hiding anymore so now I do feel justified like, oh, right, I know how to do this. I don't have to hide. But I still, it's frightening to self-start. Yeah. It's so funny to hear you say it because, you know, you're looking at what you've done, it's all, you know, it's brave. It's brave stuff. You know, like to front a band like you did. Like you fronted a band for a little while. Like that's not, that's not an insecure person's thing to do, I don't think. That's interesting that you say that because I forget, like, not that I forget that it happened, but you're right. That's a crazy thing to do, especially for someone who's not sure of themselves,

especially for someone who has never in their life played an instrument. For people that don't know, this is a band called Cake Like, which was in New York, and you guys got together and you didn't even know how to play instruments. Correct. And then within a year, you had an album. Correct. That's not an insecure person. Which got three and a half stars in Rolling Stone.

That's a ballsy thing. And then we made three more albums with Neil Young. Wow. No, it's crazy balls. Yeah, yeah. But I think that happened, the success of that happened because there were no stakes. Because this was like, wouldn't it be funny if we did this? Like, wait, we're actually doing this.

This isn't funny anymore. We're on tour. Wait, this is happening. Wait, I care about this. Yeah, yeah. But I think I was a character on stage there too. I see. So I was playing the part of someone who.

who's in a all-girl band and I'm a lead singer. And I am here with my pussy cats. Yes. Yeah, it was like another character for me, I think. That's how that I could hide behind. Yeah. But yeah, you're right. That's pretty ball.

I mean, even just going to the audition for the four seasons feels ballsy to me because I had never been asked to audition for something like that before, but it was always a dream of mine. But I was so sure I wasn't going to get it that it didn't feel like. like a big swing. I get it. I've been in that position where it's like, oh, this isn't going to happen. Somebody's obviously been offered this. You do it better. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, this is just, I'm upon in some, like, they're just going to, you know, use me to leverage money for somebody else. Right. Exactly. Because I, I, this is great material. And oh, my gosh, I get to see Sherry Thomas.

And so, yeah, I don't know. I think there's something to also always feel. feeling like there is something to live up to every time you walk in a room. I feel it every time I do a podcast. I feel like, you're my friend Andy Richter, but I like, oh my gosh, I don't want to ruin your podcast. Like I want to be worthy of this. I want to be worthy of all the things that I do. I don't ever walk into something and feel like, sit back, everybody. Where do you get a load of this? Get a load of me. Yeah. Here comes KKS. Well, I think people, I think people. I think people. are because to me like when I hear I when you say like that you're still sort of don't feel sure of

yourself outside of that protective zone I mean I kind of understand that because of the years on the Conan show it was a little different because I had I had different nests you know it wasn't just like the same continuous one but I you know and it it occurs to me like well why why do you think that's in you but then I say I would have to ask myself well why is it in you Why are you somebody who's, who I went, you know, I came from a small town in Illinois and to think that I could be in show business and be on TV was absurd, you know, it just wasn't done. And yet here I am, however many years later doing it, but still don't own it. Feel like, of course, there's just happening.

There are, I mean, my idea of myself worth varies wildly from day to day. Yeah. You know, kind of based on whatever the last. email I got was. Yeah, I hear you. Mine's based on the last word of the email. Like the first paragraph, I'm like, things are going well. And then I'm like, but they didn't say, oh, dear.

Yeah, yeah. And that's, but that's exhausting for other people, which is why I try and keep it a bit on the deal. Yes, oh, me too. I do with my husband. My husband's like, like, I will call my husband and I will go, hi. This is how he'll know. I'll call three times in a row.

He's like, oh, shit. He's like, yeah, what's going on? He's at the hardware store, right? I'm going to see him in 20 minutes. But I'll triple call. He'll be like, yes. I'm like, hi. I don't have brain cancer, right?

He's like, no. I'm like, okay, I'll see you in a few minutes. You know, like, I just need that. How does he know, though? Yeah, yeah. How does he really know? Because I googled it, and I do. So, but we'll talk about it when you get home.

I googled it. and I have a spot on my nose. It feels like a Zit, but it's not as it, and that could be brain cancer. It's probably brain cancer. And get some Drano because I clogged the toilet. Okay, I'll see you. I'll see you soon. Oh, that is not a side of brain cancer?

Consistent bowel movements? Okay. I'm fine. Can't you tell my love's it? I don't love the adage that all comics have or all people in comedy have, you know, insecurity or dark past or whatever, but I do think there has. has to be a certain amount of immense vulnerability. But I also have seen friends of mine who have, not necessarily friends, but people in our

business who have crossed over into this place where it's like, oh, now you are doing this level of work. And I have seen changes happen to people that are very icky. Yes. And I would never, ever want to be that person. Yes. So I think no matter what happens to me along each of these ways, like when, friends of mine say, oh, you did this great thing. You did this. I'm like, yeah, but.

Yeah. But I wasn't great. And it could have been someone else. And it could go away at any time. I'm just always, always keeping myself in check. Because I don't know why. I don't know where that comes from because I got such support as a child. It's probably, you know, Fort Wayne, Indiana water supply. That's what it is. That Midwesternism is just drilled in. You've got a lot of fluoride in our veins. Well, I'm the same way. The state kept each other humble, too. Yeah.

And that might be it. Right. And I'm grateful for that. Yes. Nobody can get too big for their britches, as we used to say. Which is beautiful. Yeah. Which is beautiful.

Yeah. Yeah, I think, and I'm with you, because there is a lot of being famous and getting famous. And sometimes, I mean, my life is very. not normal not really show busy especially now like i'll come in here you know and into and i mean in the conan studios and you know like ted dancin will be here and because he does a podcast here and so it's like i'm chummy with ted dancing you know but that but that's he's just a co-worker and yeah he's ted dancing and yeah he's like been on tv continuously for 80 years or whatever but it's he's you know he's just a guy I work with. He's going to love that. But he's not telling me anymore. And he's also a sweet,

just one of the best people on earth. But we get it. Your best friends with Ted Dancer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the point. But I then occasionally will still be invited to like a smallish, very famous people gathering. And it is fucking weird. Like, I'm not saying about everybody, But there is a lot of where it almost feels like there's a, and I just remember because there was a Vincent Price version of the Edgar Allen Postory mask of the red death. Yes. And it's for people that don't know, it's like about a grotesquely extravagant party being thrown in a castle while everyone outside is dying of the plague. And the plague makes it its way in and ends up killing everybody. But like it sometimes feels like that.

It feels like these people are captives of being famous and that they only can really let their hair down with each other. And the rest of the time, they just seem scared and weird. Well, they, especially today, have reason to be scared. Yeah. I mean, I have kind of the perfect, I think you and I both have kind of the perfect, like, proximity to that kind of interesting stuff and the goodies from it, like the fun parties. but not the expectation that we're going to always be there. It's like, oh, when I get invited to one, I'm like, oh, this is exciting, you know. But it's not like, it's just so jaded, like, oh, God, who's plain are we going to be on this week?

You know? So I love that it's always a treat. It's always like, oh. And exciting. And then also when you're there and people are like, you know, good to see you. You're like, oh, it feels normal to that person that I'm here. That's how fun is that. But then I think you're right.

There are those people. There is that core group of ultra celebrity that it does feel like I do almost feel like bad for them because I forget that like I'm going to leave here and go to Trader Joe. Yeah. And I'm going to be perfectly fine. I look like shit. Yeah. And I just think like can Tom Cruise ever go to the grocery store? And I don't know him.

I'm not saying he's one of those people. I don't think so. But there is that level of. fame that you really do trade away. That's it. A regular life. Correct. And I think part of the beauty of that is character acting.

I have so many. This is, I look more like my Anne character on four seasons than any character I've ever played. Yeah. So I am getting a significant, significantly more recognized than before. Yeah. Because people don't usually know it's Trudy Weigel until they, sometimes they'll hear my voice. And like, God, I'll be at a checkout and I'll say something and they'll look up and go, Trudy.

You know, and I'm like, surprise, I'm nothing like her. I'm just a regular old lady. Yeah. But Ann is close to me and I look like her. So it's happening more often. And it's just fun and delightful. And people will say, I'm so sorry to bother you. I just wanted to tell you I love you.

I'm like, that's horrible. That's the best. I mean, really, like, I'm sorry to bother you. I just want to tell you, I love you. I know, I know. that in a day. I know, I know. But, you know, then there's these other people who live this other life where really it is like a cage. And yeah, and they can only let loose in those in those little spaces. And yeah, I just, and then they can't complain about it because people don't want to

hear that. No. But being a character actor is a pretty sweet spot. Yeah. It's a pretty sweet spot. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I feel the same way. Like I feel like, I get, and also too, well, for the longest time, too, I always, my feeling was if people recognize me, it's, they like me. Like, because it's not like the things that I'm in are shoved down people's throats. Right, right, right. You know, it's like, oh, they would have to kind of know the Conan show. Right. So they already like.

Yeah, they're already there. It's not like, oh, it's that guy from the Conan show because you have to seek out the Conan show, you know. So, yeah. It's so true. I do. It is, I have a nice level of it. And I do, because I do feel like, but ever got to the point where I couldn't go to the grocery store, that would suck. Yeah.

Because I, you know, I can, there's sometimes where I just need a break from everybody. And I'm like, guy, we need milk. And then I just wander the aisles for 15, 20 minutes just to have a breather, you know. But there are people. There are Uber famous. One of my, I mean, my very best friend. in the world is is an uber famous person. And we go everywhere.

Yeah. So sometimes it is just a choice. And I think some of these people have chosen like, no, no, no, this is how I'm going to live my life. And you might see me. Right. But there are some people to, I mean, everybody's different. It must be terrifying for some people.

For some people, it's enjoyable. For some people, they're just like, no, I'm going out right now. Right. And, you know, almost don't see the circus happening around them. And for those who are wondering, her best friend is Pope Leo. I just, I feel, I know you were protecting him. He couldn't have just stuck with what he had. He had a sweet little thing going with that little church and now he's got to be the Pope.

I mean, we don't get a lot of alone time anymore. I bet you don't. I bet you don't. Every time we go to Trader Joe's, he gets stopped. Yep, yep, yeah. Every time, especially when we're in the wafer aisle. Right, exactly. Everyone wants a picture with him.

And good luck going to a White Sox game now. Forget it. Forget it. Forget it. Well, thank you so much for coming in. Oh, I also want to say you have an upcoming movie Wishful Thinking, which stars Maya Hawke and Lewis Pullman. It's so beautiful. Is that coming out?

Yes, Sony Classics bought it. And so it's coming out soon. It's coming out soon. I don't have a date, but they, oh, Maya Hawk and Lewis Pullman talk about just some chops, some real deal acting chops. Yeah, yeah. Just to be in the room for that kind of stuff. When I'm around those people, I'm like, oh, I'm reminded like, I don't really have training. Yeah, I'll just be over here.

I'll just be over here. People gave me jobs and then I came in and said the lines, but that's pretty much it. These people. I did. I got to work with Margo Martindale. Love. Oh, oh, oh. Margo Martindale on Will Arnett had a sitcom for a minute on CBS.

Oh. And she played his mom, I think. Really? And I did an episode on it. And for people that don't know, on the night of it, and this is a sitcom that shoots in front of an audience, you do a speed through of your lines. Usually like in the makeup room, the cast sits around, and then you just, at a rapid clip, go through all of the, every scene. In front of a live audience. Yes, it's in front of a live audience.

So it's like a play. So you're just giving everybody a chance to make sure they know the lines. And so we were doing that. And she was sitting like, I don't like on the edge of a counter or something, kind of like legs spread, forearms on her legs. And it's a sitcom. It's not. Yeah.

You know, it's, it's. And you can go again. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, you know, it's not Arthur Miller. It's a sitcom. And the intensity and the power of what she was doing at double speed just to do the lines was like I wasn't remembering my lines because I was.

was just watching her because she just is in such possession of power. She's magical. She's like walking theater. I got to do a pilot with her called Counterculture where we played sisters. Yeah. And we were this like Southern family. And I was the mistake. I was like the oopsie way too late.

And she was my big sister. She same thing. Talk about feeling schooled and just. But lovely. Oh, the best. So much fun. And really. Silly, silly, silly lady.

Yeah. And like the best people who are really good at show business understands the whole point is to have fun. That's it. Yeah. That's it. But just, yeah, you're right. Just watching that, you know you're in the room of somebody that's studied really hard.

And that's how it felt like to do this movie. And the director's first time director, Graham Parks. Oh, wow. I had worked with him on a game show on a video game. Oh, wow. And just thought, who is this brilliant brain this? brilliant young brain. And he said, I'm doing a movie, my first movie. And it stars Maya Hawke and Lewis Pullman, will you do it? And I was like, yeah. Okay. Yeah, I don't need to read the script.

Yeah. And there's also, and you mentioned it, Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass, which is just peppered with former members of the state. David Wayne directed it, and it's co-written by David and Ken Marino, who is a prince. And when's that coming out? I don't know. So, oh, it's going to be premiering at the, at Tribeca Film Festival, June 10th. Oh, sweet. Something like that. Also, Sony Classics. And, oh, my God.

I bet it's fun. I bet it's really funny. Oh, my Lord. Yeah. It's like a who's who of ridiculousness. And it's a blast. I'm in it for 30 seconds, so don't blink. Yeah, yeah.

But it is, it's really funny. They have, they have gotten to the top of their comedy mountain for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Carrie. Thank you so much for leaving your compound. Coming down here to ground level with us. I don't know how I'm going to find my way back because my helicopter.

Oh, no. They wouldn't let us park on your helipad. No, no, no. Because Ted Danson's helicopters up there right now. And Ted's is, it's powered by vegetable oil. So it's very unreliable. And I'm not sure about the side car. That seems dangerous to me.

That's where Woody lives. Woody Harrelson. All right. Well, I love it, Carrie. Thanks so much for coming. Thank you. 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 Eduardo Perez and Joanna Samuel. Executive produced by Nick Leow, Adam Sacks, and Jeff Ross. Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Battista, with assistance from Maddie Ogden. Research by Alyssa Graal. Don't forget to rate and review and subscribe to the three questions with Andy Richter wherever you get your podcasts. And do you have a favorite question you always like to ask people?

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