The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Lisa Gilroy

Episode Date: December 12, 2023

Actress and comedian Lisa Gilroy joins Andy Richter to discuss working with (Andy’s TV sister) Amy Poehler, being too old for TikTok dances, Canadian references that don't translate in the States, turning gold into turds, doing comedy until you die, and much more.

Hey everybody, welcome back to The Three Questions. I'm your host, Andy Richter, and today I'm talking to Lisa Gilroy, who is an incredibly funny actress and comedian and writer, and I first got to know her through her social media videos. She's one of those hilarious people that are doing comedy for free for you. She's appeared recently in Hulu's History of the World Part II and Amazon's Jury Duty. You can check out her comedy podcast miniseries, The Disappearance of Dickie Donnelly, on the Earwolf Presents podcast feed. Lisa joined me live in the studio. Here's my conversation with Lisa Gilroy.

I could do a TikTok dance with you later if you want, Andy. Yeah, we might have to do a TikTok dance. Oh. Yeah. What is that? I mean, I don't even like the sound of that. I don't even like the sound. I've never done one. I'm only kidding.

I've never done one. It's too vulnerable. Now, is it like, how do you find out what a TikTok dance? I mean, this is, I'm old done one. I'm only kidding. I've never done one. It's too vulnerable. Now, is it like, how do you find out what a TikTok dance? I mean, this is, I'm old, so. Me too. But I mean, but is it like you see a dance on TikTok and then you replicate it? I mean, I see kids fucking doing it like in office plazas and things. And grocery stores.

They have no shame. Yeah. But I mean, is that what it is? It's just like. Everyone starts doing the same dance to the same song and then you as a 34 year old woman begin to watch and think maybe i'd look like that if i did it and then you try it in your living room and you don't and you can't learn it like you can't learn it i mean learning choreography is like a totally different skill

set than i have yeah like have you ever tried to learn choreography? Oh, I, yeah. I mean, I have been in situations where I'm supposed to, like where I'm being paid in a job in which choreography becomes a part of it. And it infuriates me. It's hard. It enrages me because it's like, you know, it's like a gorilla trying to figure out a baby toy and then just smashing it. Yes. You know, like, ah!

That's how I feel, too. I'm like, I can imagine what my body's supposed to be doing right now, but I can't, brain can't communicate to arms what they're supposed to be doing. I had, when I, one of the TV shows, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, name dropping, that's me. I was in the title. But they had a fantasy sequence that was like a musical number won't that be fun to which i said no and also yawn a musical number wow way to stretch guys um so they had the whole cast like they were like planning this whole dance thing and and and i said and it was like one of the few times I've ever like been like pulled rank.

And I was like, I'll come in at the end and do jazz hands. That's it. And then we're like, all right, okay. And that's exactly what happened. And the rest of the cast was like oh we have dance rehearsal for three hours or something takes a long time at least you know your limits i've been in these situations too where someone's pitched something like this or i've been the one to pitch it like you know be really fucking cool if we all learn this choreographed synchronized routine and we did

it perfectly and i imagine that i can do it but i can't yeah i had to do i I was on a Canadian sketch show called Air Farce. You've probably heard of it. I love the name. And we did like a Taylor Swift parody music video. Yeah. And it involved in one part like a thigh slap. Wow. And I practiced so many times in my own home that I had given myself bruises of my handprints on my thighs. It was so hard.

I was embarrassed, too, because then it was like on the day we were wearing shorts, and I was like, now everyone can see how much I've practiced this dance. Oh, boy. And I also don't have the capability, like a gorilla learning to dance, to do it gently. Like, I just couldn't control the slappability of it. Like, you just, no, there's no breaks on your slapping your thighs. Yeah, yeah. Had to do it if I was going to memorize it.

Wow. Well, we started, by the way, I don't know if you know that. Oh, thigh slaps and all? No, yeah, the podcast is ongoing. And you mentioned it, Canada. You're from Canada. I'm from Canada. You're one of those Canadians coming down and taking American comedy jobs.

Yeah, there's so many of us. Well, there actually, I mean, you know, there is a fair amount of Canadians in comedy. I think. Do you know how many people in Canada? It's not much. Have a guess. It's like, it's less than California, right? I think so, yeah.

Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I would just be making up a number. Me too, because who cares to know facts about that country? I actually love Canada. No, I do too. I really do. I love Canada.

It's kind of, I always, it's like Wisconsin. It's like a whole country. Wisconsin was an entire country. Honestly, Andy, I'm glad you said that because since moving here, I've been here for six years now. And it's been this weird kind of guessing game of like, what am I to you? I'm trying to find like, what am I to you? And I think I've kind of come to that same conclusion.

I'm just like or like a woman from Minnesota and my whole country is Minnesota. Yes, it's very much that way. I mean, it just and that's, you know, coming from Illinois. I mean, it just and that's, you know, coming from Illinois and it does definitely just just feels like, you know, beer drinking, you know, football fans that are that are polite. Hockey fans and hockey. Well, hockey fans. Right. Right. Of course. But yeah, but I know I have always I have always every time anybody ever complained, like, oh, I got to go work in Canada.

I'm like, what are you talking about? It's, I love it up there. Where did you spend time? Like Toronto, Vancouver? Vancouver, Toronto. I've been to, I was in Halifax once. I was in Edmonton once. Edmonton's where I'm from.

Yeah. Edmonton. Yeah. And I imagine there's just cows everywhere, right? Yeah. Well, yeah. Calgary is cow town. We're all cow town.

The whole country is maybe cow country. Is it? I don't know. Well, I mean, no. But I mean, isn't my picture of Edmonton and Alberta, and actually my grandmother's, a lot of her family, I have a lot of relatives in Canada. You do? That I haven't seen in ages. And they were all mostly religious fanatics.

I mean, what was it like growing up? I mean, did you grow up in the country? Did you live in the city? I grew up in the city of Edmonton on the south side. So there's like a million people in Edmonton, which I thought was a lot. Yeah, yeah. Until I moved out here. But yeah, we grew up like, know in the suburbs yeah so it used to be like gravel roads

out there when i was a baby and then they got to be real roads and my dad worked for telus which was a big like canadian phone company installing phones my mom was a assistant to a guy in municipal affairs which i've just recently learned i have to say municipal. You know, my whole life I was saying municipal. Is that stupid or not? No, I don't think so. I mean, I always say paramount and people say, you mean paramount? You mean like in terms of like that's paramount to the conversation or are you like paramount studios? All of it.

All of it. I have always said paramount. Interesting. Yeah, yeah. And then people say, why don't you say paramount? And I'm like, I don't know. That's just always. Because of Andy Richter and I run the universe.

Lazy Midwestern, I guess, you know, something like that. Yeah, I guess we all have different ways of talking. I can get pretty insecure about it because people were mean to me when I moved out. Like I talked, when I was, I met this girl at an audition and I said something, something to her. I think I'm eligible for seg. And she was like, for what? And I was like, for seg? Like, I'm like, this girl's stupid.

She doesn't know I'm talking about the Actors Union. Right, right. And she's like, it's sag. Like, I just remember her going, sag. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, ever since I've been learning to say, you know, grocery bags, it's sag. Have you had to curb your outs? Oh, yeah, big time.

And my stories and my tomorrows. Yeah. Yeah. My stories and my tomorrows. How poetic. My all tomorrow stories. Yeah. Well, first of all, are you in a big family? Are you from a fairly big family? I have a small family. It's just me and my sister. Which also I've been thinking about, you know, because I'm working with your sister now. Did you know that? Do you know your little sister? Do you remember your little sister? Oh, Amy.

Amy. Amy Poehler, yeah. That was my favorite bit. Yeah, yeah. That was a good one. God, you guys were so good together. That was, they were, when all of the UCB people came in and we started using them, it was like, people came in and we started using them it was a it was like it was a huge difference because there was when you you know it was all new to everybody but you'd write a bit and you would

hope that you could cast somebody if we went out into the world to cast it you'd hope that they would say that you there was a certain amount of funny you were expecting from it you were hoping that they would give you somewhere near the level of funny that you had pictured. And then the UCB people came in and they went past. Like they would just give you so much more and find so much more. And so it's like why, you know, Amy was on a thousand times and, you know, Walsh was on a million times and Andy Daly and all those UCB people, We just use them like crazy. Wow. But yeah, her playing my little sister, it was always fun to have her around.

But wait, was that weird for you? Because I don't think I realized that you, so you came from performing at UCB and then right? No, I can't. UCB was after me. I did like ImprovOlympic with Matt Besser and Matt Walsh, and I knew Ian a little bit. And in the early days, Adam McKay, the writer-director now, he kind of was with those guys in the very beginning of UCB. Wow, one of those stories like the co-founders of Apple decided to duck out early. Right, exactly.

Adam McKay could be so filthy rich right now, he must be rolling over in his grave that he missed out on opening UCB. And he's long dead, by the way. He's pretty, pretty. He's upset. He's upset. He's been stifled. His voice has really been stifled. Wow, so those were like your friends.

Yeah, yeah. Wow. I didn't, and I did, they kind of, they sort of started to, I was already, you know, because I left and went to New York for a while and was in L.A. for a while. And that's when those guys really started to kind of get their footing more and kind of get more established. And then I was in New York, started doing the Conan show, and they moved, all the four of them moved to New York and started doing their stuff and started doing live shows. And I think I did the monologues for their first ASCAP long form that they did that was in a basement in Soho somewhere. Crazy. And then for a while, too, they had a theater on 22nd Street, and I lived two doors down.

And there were a couple years where we shared a New Year's Eve party. Oh, wow. Like, there was the New Year's Eve party at UCB and then up in our apartment, too. And I don't remember very much of either one of those. Were you rooming with people, UCB people? No. I mean, my then wife and I had an apartment, and it just coincided that it was two or three doors down. That's so fun.

Oh, it was really a lot. It was almost too fun. Yeah. It was too easy and too fun. But yeah, they came to New York, and I was already doing the Conan show. And it was just great to have them there because that was one of the first things of starting the the conan show like you say all this new stuff like you write like i'm i'm writing a bit for television and oh i know and then we would get i was so expecting oh these are new york actors we're

gonna get like really good people and just you'd see 30 really unfunny people after the other. And it was like a real eye-opener, you know, to just be like, no, funny, you know, funny is funny. Yeah. And these people aren't funny. So it was really nice when those guys came there that we could start doing stuff with them. So did you, I guess then when you were on the, you weren't doing improv at night anymore? Like were you doing any, you know, no? I mean, I would go, I kind of started to do more of the monologue stuff.

Right. Do you like doing that? Yeah. It's easier. I'm doing ASCAP at UCB now, and I would like to be a monologist, but I'm in the, you know, I'm in the ensemble. If you ask them, I'm sure they would let you. I just feel like it'd be weird. But I'm dying to know what it's like.

Because I feel like the monologist is up there, they get their suggestion from the audience, and I feel like in those moments when they're trying to figure out what to say, it feels like death for them. Yes. But for us, it feels normal. It doesn't feel like that much time has passed.

Right, right. I mean, you sit there. I did find, because I did it a lot in the early days. I did find, and it was against, because UCB, they're Del Close people, and that's all ImprovOlympic stuff. And ImprovOlympic was the most macho of improv, where not everybody did this, but you weren't supposed to do things twice. Right. Like, if you came up with a funny character, well, good job, but don't do that guy again. Really?

Yeah. It was kind of considered lazy and kind of considered pandering. And, you know, like the idea was to constantly be working at the top of your creativity and stuff. Imagine we expected stand-ups to do that i know a new joke every single time don't ever repeat it we were all young yeah so that was that's like something like now it's like what the fuck are we thinking that's so dumb you think you work it's not it's like you know it'd be like coming up with a product that's like really helpful like something that you know a water purifier that would be able to save lives.

But I can't. No, we can't do that. I'm loving that you're comparing your characters to a water purifier. Well, yeah, they're equally vital in terms of the human race. But I get there's a certain element of that, like over create, you know, produce as much as you can. That's healthy, I think, in creativity. It's like just scrap it, move on. That's great. And I bet like a lot of times too, during that portion of life, it's like a lot of those people that age and at that stage were auditioning for SNL. So it was like, produce as much stuff as you can,

have your, and then you'll say you're like five seconds of each character and do 20 characters in five minutes. Well, yeah. And I mean, well, and it also was like, but it was very Del Close who like, you know, was, you know, spent half his life being barely alive and having to be rescued from himself. You know, he wasn't like the notion of like, hey, Del, I want to be on SNL would have been. Oh, really?

It would have been gross. Really? Yeah. I mean, in some ways. So, you know, to say to kids learning comedy, don't repeat yourself, is really hamstringing them out in, you know, the way it works. Because when you go to SNL, they want to find refillable things. Right. And when on the Conan O'Brien show, we want refillable things. Right. In the beginning, we were like, we're not going to do topical humor. Like, that's gross to do topical humor. Like,

that's gross, shitty topical humor. Within like two minutes, we're like, oh my God, I hope Madonna does something so we have something to do something about. Yeah.

Because it's, it's so much to create, you know, television comedy that you need. 110 evergreen shows every year. Yeah,

you need something to base it on. So, but yeah, no, it was, we, we weren't supposed to no it was we we weren't supposed to do things over and we weren't supposed to be like aiming for laughs back then i don't remember

how we got on this but don't aim for laughs yeah number one i know wow you're supposed to yeah it was supposed to be you know the discovery was supposed to be the whole thing which is all really cool and i still do kind of believe in it as something to kind of aim for. Right. But it's, I don't think that it's full. It doesn't make sense for it to, it's a good, it's a good challenge to do that kind of work, you know. Right. Especially for a beginner to be told don't aim for the laughs, of course.

Definitely, yeah. Especially for a beginner, to be told, don't aim for the laughs, of course. Definitely, yeah. Because there still were people there who would do, you know, who had their go-to schticks, like, you know, climbing a flat and hanging upside down from it. Did people do that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Batboy? Yeah. Wow.

Like, would come out and then, like, crawl and then be, like, hang upside down. And the audience would be delighted. And you could hear everyone on stage practically going, oh, yeah, yeah. Y'all just jealous because you didn't think of it first. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. No, as Kevin Dorff once talked about somebody and said, he said, he goes for cute. And I don't have time for cute.

Like he's in some comedy emergency all the time. I'm a businessman of comedy. Yes. This is important. Well, when did you start feeling funny? Like when did you start feeling like, you know, this is what I want to do with myself? Interesting. I guess like when I was a kid, I was a bit of a ham.

I never watched musicals or liked them. But for some reason, my parents had the oliver twist soundtrack yeah i still they were trying to get you they were trying to get you inspired to work you know children yeah right right and to never ask for more i think that was the key lesson there um but yeah they had that and i i don't know i i it awakened something in me and i still don't know if i've ever even fully seen the musical i know every single song by heart and so i used to like put it on and do little shows i love to pretend i was a small british orphan for most of my childhood and my dad was always you

know we watched like snl and monty python and all that stuff together and um my dad my dad's so such a interesting guy because he's he's like one of my favorite people in the world. But he's so like serious. He's friendly and conversational, but he doesn't like to be embarrassed ever. But behind closed doors, he's like a maniac. He's like a clown, like imitating just voices, accents, characters like crazy. But then so when I would try to bring that out at like home depot right stop it stop that wow yeah so it was like so i had a lot of goofing around at home yeah yeah

and then i think unlike my dad i was like i think i'll just bring this with me wherever i go do you think that he like is he happy that you're doing what he can't do? It's funny that you ask that because he's happy and he's really proud and he knows that I work hard. And he thinks it's really cool. Like, when I get to work with people that he is a fan of, that's huge. Yeah. But he finds improv so cringy, he, like, can't watch it. Why? It's kind of devastating because it's all I do.

It's my number one thing. Yeah, yeah. And I feel like, yeah, at the beginning, although I moved away from home pretty early on to Toronto, and so most of the shows and the learning

and all that stuff I was doing was like away from my parents. So they would only see me do a show like once a year maybe. So I got time to get good before they saw me in the really bad. Yeah, yeah.

And even now, my dad would come see me do a show with like Paul Scheer and Manzoukas and those guys. You know, everyone's a heavy hitter. It's like improv is, this is as good as it's going to get. And leaving, my dad would just be like, yikes, I need a drink. Is it that he's embarrassed at them trying so hard?

But I don't know, because to me, I'm like, when I watched improv at that level when i was coming up i was like this is magic it's like it looks scripted but it's not to me it's like flawless yeah yeah but to him i guess all he sees is like people in their 30s and 40s doing like pretending to be like mom i'm home he's like oh my god where's the dignity in this i kind of you know what i kind of get it a little bit because i have had like i remember at one of the improv olympic i think it was the 25th anniversary which someone while we were there figured out it was three years after the 20th anniversary like she just kind of picked

another shawna halpern picked another like sort oh, well, this is the first time that we, you know, performed in a parking lot. Right, right. It's the 25th anniversary of that. I remember being back, and at first it was a, it was like, the show was terribly run. There was like the, we all had body mics, you know, like lav body mics. Oh, God. And so there were like 10 lavalier microphones little microphone pack that you clip to your body and they apparently the company the very cut rate company that she

hired to do it uh tested them each one at a time by turning them and going check check and then turning it off no so when they turned them all on once for the first scene, the board fried. No. And it was 40 minutes of the Chicago theater, like the the biggest theater in, you know, like sort of performing arts theater in town. A blazing fire with people dying. Yes. And and just and then so she like sends out like her her young musical improv kids to like, you know, like keep just go out there and do something. And it took them like 35 minutes to figure it out. We did the rest of the show with hand mics. Oh, no.

Nightmare. Doing large group improv scenes. Nightmare on Elm Street. Yeah. Someone tapping you out and you putting the microphone down on the ground and then coming out and picking up a microphone going like, hello there. Oh, God, I've done this. Yes. Wait, so the venue was big enough that needed mics?

It was huge. Okay. It's like, it's probably, it's the Chicago Theater. So it's like, you know, it's like the big theater that's in every town, you know, like the big old theater, like vaudevilly kind of theater with a, you know, with like two mezzanines. Right. And I'm just guessing it's probably like, you know, seven, I don't know, maybe 2,000 people.

So, yeah, you really need to be hiring the tech guy who works for that theater to do it. And I just, and so I was just like, but I was backstage and I could hear another group of guys doing improv. And it was two men that I know. And I could hear that they were trying to figure out where they were and who they were and what the game was. Right. And I just did have this existential moment of like, both of these men have children. Right. And mortgages.

And they're out there going like, well, hello, can I help you in front of 2000 people? And I just felt like, oh, there's got to be a better way. Oh God. Well, so I feel like when it's good enough, that realization isn't supposed to strike. Right. Like all we're trying to do is be good enough that we don't make anyone sad about what we're doing.

Yeah. Well, and I've always said, and I've always said, like, improv, it requires a forgiving audience. You know, you can't, like, you can't take a stand-up audience who are like, where's the fucking jokes? Yeah, yeah. And put them into an improv show and have them be patient and wait for people to figure out what the game is and where the callbacks are going to be and to give them room because they're just making it up as they go along. You know, it needs an audience that's like patient and loving and understanding and along for the ride for the reason.

Thank you. This is what I'm saying. So my dad just visited and he came to an improv show, left unhappier than ever. Then he was like, then a couple of days later, he's like, actually, you know, I would like to see a comedy show, another comedy show. And I was like, you I'm like, oh, my God, you've had a turn. I'm like, perfect. I could get myself on something tonight. He's like, not you would love to go see a stand up show. Oh, that's what I mean by like a real comedy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So then I'm like, OK, fine. Take him to the Laugh Factory. real comedy yeah yeah yeah so then i'm like okay fine take him to the laugh factory and we get there and i'm like immediately i'm like i hate everyone in the audience already yes everyone the audience is not my people like yeah and i hate to say this because i really do i respect stand-up so much and i wish i could do it it's something i think about doing a lot but you don't need to but but don't you think it'd be good to have something I could do by myself where I don't have to parade

around with 12 other people? I have tried. I have tried and I just in fact it was I was during the San Francisco Sketch Fest I was hosting a night of Conan related stand-ups. Either writers

from the Conan show who do stand-up or stand-ups who had appeared on Conan. At Cobbs, which is one show who do stand-up or stand-ups who had appeared on Conan. Uh-huh. At Cobbs, which is one of the premier stand-up comedy clubs in San Francisco. And I was in, I was probably five minutes into my opening 10 to 15, you know, as the emcee. And I just was up there and I just decided, I don't like this. Like, I don't, I don't like, this is all like stuff I wrote. And that's like in my head.

Right, there's no magic element, totally. I'm just telling jokes that I know, you know, are funny or that like were tweets that I, you know, like just repurposed tweets. That you took from Jim Gaffigan? No, no, my own tweets. And I just was like, I don't like this. And I haven't really done it since. And it's just not as rewarding to me. I don't, and I don't, this sort of very transactional, I say something and you all laugh.

Yeah. It's not the same as I'm on stage with another person that's like me, that's weird in the way I am and broken in the way that I am. And we're going to figure something out together that's going to make strangers happy. I guess that's the thing. It's like improv is being broken on stage together and stand-up is just like, you're one solo broken man. I know. It's a little bit scary. Yeah, and there's no discovery most of the time.

I mean, I guess some people do crowd work and stuff. But even the crowd work, it's like, because I had a very similar revelation to you where it's like, in Toronto, I was doing this

some sort of, at Absolute Comedy, there was some sort of contest or something that I was doing and I was doing the same five minutes every night and on like night three, I was like,

I had to do this, I was sick of hearing myself say this joke, this joke that I've written to sound as if I stumbled upon it organically and I'm surprised by my own, I'm like,

I'm lying to them. And then even the guy hosting, his crowd work was the same every night. He'd find one guy with a backwards hat and he'd go, nice hat. Does it come front ways? The first time I heard it, I was like, ha ha, this guy fucking rules.

And then the next night I was like, it's a charade. It's all a trick. It's a sham. It's all a trick. There's always going to be one guy in the audience with a backwards hat. I know, I know.

It's Alberta. It's Ontario. It's Canada. It's a sham. It's all a trick. There's always going to be one guy in the audience with a backwards hat. I know, I know. It's Alberta. It's Ontario. It's Canada. It's Canada. Get confused about headwear. But anyway, so I brought my dad to this show at the Laugh Factory. And the audience is all drunk. And so it's like people like, you know, not like the Christian improv audience who never touches a drop.

But I mean, like, you know, they were just, I guess, drunk on narcissism. I don't know. Like, it was just constantly, what? I got that. Like, people shouting from the back. Right. Bachelorette party. Just people that, if people behave this way at an improv show, it would just be so strange.

It's just not the, like, communal vibe of, like, we're all friends and you don't need to compete with me and you don't need to shout and i'm not gonna yell at you right right and then um yeah we're sitting there and my dad's loving it and somebody's like making a joke literally it's just like a stand-up being like yeah my uh wife doesn't know i'm here right now am i right man just close the door she's like where are you going i said shut the hell up my dad's like haha loving it and then the guy starts going like so what's going on here? Like pointing at us. Like, you guys fucking or what? She's a gold digger.

I'm like, I'm literally like, I want to die. And now he wants to die. I'm like, you brought us, you wanted to come here. Yeah, yeah. And now someone's making inappropriate jokes about us

from the stage. I'm in hell. I'm in hell. Yeah. Come to an improv show where you're safe. Did you say, I'm his daughter?

Yeah. Exactly like that. And then he was like, still, are you fucking? Yeah, literally. Yeah. It's terrible. Can't you tell my love's a crow? Yeah.

I mean, I have a lot of friends that are stand-ups. I find stand-up, you know, there's a lot of genius, brilliant stand-up. And then there's also, what I mean, you know, you can say the same thing. There's also just a lot of stand-up that's, like I said, it's just transactional. And it's just, and there's so many working stand-ups that just really do seem to be their sort of MO is I'm going to do stuff that works. Right. You know, I'm going to, which means stuff that I've seen other people do that then people will go like, oh, I like that because that's like that other guy that I heard do this same kind of thing. Right.

And there's no discovery. There's no nothing. There's no challenge other guy that I heard do this same kind of thing. Right. And there's no discovery. There's no nothing. There's no challenge. There's no, you know, and it just, it's, I just don't, like, I don't, why do you leave the house to do that? I don't, it's just, it's. And also, like, all those clips of stand-ups that are blowing up on TikTok and Instagram and all that is just moments in the set where they were doing crowd work. Somebody said something and they responded in a witty way.

It's like there was something alive in that moment. That's what we like. And that's what it is. And the other thing that kills me about, and I mean, and stand-ups complain about, especially like old salty comedians complain about the fact that every young person is just putting their crowd work up. It's because it's not wasting their precious material.

Oh, is that why they do it? Yeah, yeah. Because if you put, you know, like the third joke in your act and you have that be, you know, just like, and you're not promoting a special. You're just promoting come see me in a club. Right. in a club right you can't put in a joke that they will hear when they come see you in the club because i guess you're giving it away for free or something like that and that's and that's where i mean i have always felt and it's just it's me being bitchy folks don't write me you know letters and things no one writes letters but uh but you know, but it is, I do, there is this,

I feel like a superiority of like, oh, you're afraid. It was like when I, when standups in early on in Twitter would say, I'm not writing, putting jokes on Twitter. And I, and I always felt like, can't you make more? Like, are you capable? Like, if you come up with something funny today, don't you think you can come up with something funny tomorrow? Right.

And it's just like, I guess the answer is, no, I'm not. I don't think I can. God, it's scary now though. Like with TikTok,

reusing sounds is like how they function. It has created this whole, I believe that the young people, the young people on tiktok right now they don't understand create intellectual ip plagiarism anything like that yeah i just saw a video yesterday where some one creator was accusing another creator of stealing her joke her video and she made this whole thing and she and then of course the other creators like green screening herself on top of the video as a response to it, a stitch, reply, whatever.

And she's like, this girl's so salty because she thinks I stole her video. Hun, I saw it on Twitter first. You took it from Twitter and then I took it from you. It's just like,

that was her high ground. Yeah. So the joke is stolen and everyone has stolen it. We're both thieves. Yeah. But it's like, okay, and it's fine.

And people replicate other people's videos physically with the words everything just i've had it happen to me you know like and i can't blame them because they just think this is what the platform's for it's like you do a thing and then it's like lip-syncing a song i'm gonna lip-sync your joke and people think it's mine right did you start doing comedy in edmonton or did you go to yeah i did actually i was doing improv there and then i was a drama teacher in Edmonton. Oh, really?

That was like my version of being able to do the work. Right, right. Like be a comedian. I was like, I'll be funny for my students until I die, I guess. Well, did you go to college? I don't know.

I did, yeah. In Edmonton? Yeah, in Edmonton. I went to the University of Alberta. And then you got out and just started and you were teaching acting? I was teaching drama class

for high school kids. Wow. And I was doing improv on the weekends. And yeah, and then I auditioned for a kids TV show that was in Toronto. And then I got that and left and never taught again. Oh, really? Yeah. And do you miss that?

I mean, was that something you wanted to do or is it just something this is a way to make money with the degree that I have? Well, I don't think any teacher is like, here's how I'm going to get rich, bitch. No, but I mean, but it's a job. Oh, yeah, totally. But I did love it. And I still like out here have like coached improv. That like scratches the same itch. And I was always like a camp counselor.

If I can get any group of people to play a game that I want to play, which is essentially drama class, I'm doing the Lord's work. That is true. It is. It's like it's your birthday every day. Yes. Yeah. And you get to decide what the game is. Yes. I used to be the bus host too. We had summer camp in BC, so it was like a 10-hour bus ride from Edmonton to Princeton. And I would host the bus. Like I'd be on the microphone in the bus.

Can you imagine a better place to have people who cannot leave, cannot turn you down, cannot exit at all, captive for 10 hours of whatever games, trivia, anything I wanted to do? Were they happy about this? Yes. They were happy about this? Are you sure? They loved me, Andy. Okay. I mean, I can't be certain.

It sounds like sometimes you might be exhausting. This is just a hunch I'm having. Yeah. Do you exhaust? Were you like one of those kids when you were little where it was kind of like, Jesus, Lisa, just stop. Yes. This is literally all I talk about in therapy. Really?

Yes. Just stop. And my dad said those exact words, you're exhausting, when he visited. I was like, I guess sometimes people want to relax. Right, right, right. Now, is that just like, do you run at a high RPM? I mean, I definitely need my alone time to recharge and become even more sinister than ever. Sure, sure.

To plot. But yeah, I don't know. I always just kind of look at it like, if we're hanging, I think this is why I got into improv because I'm like, if we're hanging, why can't we all be like crying, laughing and making a special memory instead of just like sitting in silence on our phones? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's like, yeah, sometimes, you know, I might try to force that in a way that's annoying, but a lot of good memories have been had.

Yeah. But I mean, at a certain point, once the special memories pile up, are they special anymore? Wow. You think your life could become too special? Right, exactly. So you're kind of going, you're trying to avoid that. If you have a brain full of golden moments, what good is gold? Wow.

You know what I mean? Wow. Midas is curse. You need to keep them, you know, I think you need to recharge more is what I'm saying. What if my whole life is gold and the most special moments are diamonds? Or turds. Then maybe the turds become what's precious. Oh, I see.

Yeah, yeah. Okay. Or the gold just becomes turds. I see what you're saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm loving your outlook on life. Thank you. Thank you.

I'm not sure it's an outlook. I haven't really workshopped it very much yet. Well, tell me about moving to Toronto. I mean, was that scary? Was it exciting? Were they happy to see you go? God, I just never thought that I'd leave Edmonton. Really?

Yeah. My dad was born and raised there. My mom came from Egypt. My mom's Egyptian. Oh, wow. They all immigrated to Edmonton of all places. I guess there's a pretty decent Egyptian community there. Yeah, Cairo to Edmonton pipeline. Yeah, the nonstop flight. It's because it's very similar. Cairo and Edmonton, very similar. God, it's really devastating. Like, I just can't, I can't even stand how cold Edmonton is.

I can't imagine. So, anyways, there was kind of like a vibe of, thank God we're here. That made me never really think about leaving. And then I was doing this, yeah, I was in that improv. What do you mean, thank God we're here? Like, thank God. For example, I've never even been to Egypt because my family doesn't want me to go. Actually.

Oh, I see. So it's a perspective of your mom's. Yeah. And like, I mean, and Egypt's obviously not a great country for women and young women. My mom and her sisters, there's three girls in the family. And my mom came over when she was 13. They were all like really young. And anyways, there's just like a vibe of like, would you go back yeah and we're grateful to be here and

we're grateful to be in canada and i do i love where i grew up but um i was doing improv on the weekends with this group and then they wanted to audition to host this kids tv show so i went with these girls to help them tape an audition like was like, you were supposed to improvise with another person. You fucker. Yeah. So, I booked it. Submarined them. I submarine them. Yeah, yeah. And they've forgiven me. And...

Or so they say. And I got an email saying, like, basically a callback. Like, we send another tape. And so, I messaged the other girls and I was like, there's something wrong with the tape. Like, I guess we have to send another one. And they were like, we did not get that email.

I didn't even know what a callback was. I'd never auditioned for anything before in my life. Wow. So then, yeah, I got the job and I moved to Toronto. And it was my first time being away from home. I was like newly married. I got married young. And I went over there by myself because I didn't know. I was like, okay, I guess I'll go for six months and shoot this show and come right back. I had no idea I would not return home. And so I left and it was just so lonely. I can't explain going to a city where I didn't know a single person.

My dad had one friend there and I lived with her. She had kids in college and I just became one of the kids and moved into one of the rooms. And I don't know anyone my age. And on the show that I was working on, it was a prank show where I was the host. So there was no other talent. And it was just like a crew of 20 guys and me. Like there was just, it was so hard to make friends. And the city felt so ginormous to me. And yeah, it was my first time like being, feeling truly lonely. Right. And did your, did your husband come with you then after a while?

So then after the first six months, then I moved back home and then the show got picked up for a second season and we were like, let's just move out. And then we stayed there for five years and then we moved to LA. Oh, that's good. Yeah. That's very good of him to do that, you know, to, to travel with you. Yeah. Or is he just a lamprey on you, you know, on the bottom of you?

No, it was great. But I mean, he, I think he had the feeling. What does your husband do, if I may ask? He's an engineer. He's an engineer. So. So he was able to work anywhere. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think like having come. Because there's trains everywhere. Yeah. He's a, he's a big choo-choo boy. Yeah, yeah. He's a choo-choo boy.

No, since moving to California, now he does, like, software engineering. He switched to, he used to be electrical. Oh, wow. And now California's, like, the place for. For software engineering. So it's kind of a dream. Because I'm doing, I have access to all of the best comedy here, in my opinion. And he's, like, in Silicon Valley, you know, or close enough.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we both are, like, so excited. Oh, that's great. To be living here. Yeah. That's great. That's great. That's great. So I think it was like,

I think it was an easy move because he had come and visited me while I was shooting the show. And Toronto is just such an incredible city. It was like the first time where I was like, Edmonton's a strip mall. Like it was the first time I was like, I've thought that way about my own city. Yeah.

Yeah. And I remember visiting home at Christmas and being to my dad, like so rude, like as a young, you know, like twenties, early twenties, just being like, hey, I'm worried about you. Are you going to die here? Like you need to see the world. Like so annoying. But.

Had your husband had any ambition to move? No, neither of us ever thought we would. Wow. I know. Wow. So, yeah, it was a big deal. Yeah. And then did, I mean, you obviously, you ended up moving to L.A.

You were in Toronto for how many years? Four years, almost five years. Almost five years. And then did it just become, was there something that brought you here? Because you did, I mean, you did the prank show and then you did, you said you did sketch show kind of stuff. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, so I ended up, that's where, like, my love for improv really, like, kicked into high gear when I moved to Toronto.

Because I had been doing these shows in Edmonton, but there's not a lot of, I mean, there's, like, some decent improv stages in Edmonton. But then in Toronto, it was just, there's so many more. Yeah. And not better ones, but just way more stages, way more different types, like short form, long form, games, all sorts of stuff. And so I went and watched a ton and I was like, oh, I got to be doing this. So then I was doing more improv than ever at night. And then I auditioned for Second City and then I was in the touring company with them. And I think what kind of like fueled the move to L.A. was when I was in Tour Co., I wanted main stage so bad.

And I was like on the track for it and, you know, being talked to about it, like, Hey, maybe next year, whatever. But then all these women that I like idolize that were on main stage would do it for a couple of years. And then they would be back doing the same pay what you can improv shows that I was already doing. Like in Canada, it's just not the same kind of like springboard. It felt like if you're going to stay in the country, at least, um, It's not like Chicago where you could just do main stage and then you're Steve Carell or something. Right.

Right. Like you don't get, it's not like you get a TV show from being on main stage in Canada. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've always thought that about like, you know,

having a lot of Canadian comedy friends, some who end up, you know, like, like a lot of the kids in the hall guys, like, you know, that like,

you know, Scott Thompson was living back in Canada for a while. And I just, you know, I have such like a, you know, like people, whenever they would ask me like for advice and career stuff, and I'd be like, well, first do improv in Chicago, then have someone make you their talk show sidekick. And then agents will see you doing that. You know, I don't, I can't fathom any other path than my own and i just wonder like are there people i mean i know there's people in comedy making a living in comedy but it's got to be kind of like in canada yeah yeah in canada but it's got to kind of you know i, it just doesn't seem like I'm not aware of like a Canadian SNL or like a Canadian sitcom that lasts eight seasons or anything, you know?

Right. Yeah, totally. I mean, yeah, that's that's exactly how it feels because there's also so few networks to even make shows. Right. Like you could get on a show, but it's like you're everyone's auditioning for the same one TV show every year. It's just it's not there's could get on a show, but it's like, everyone's auditioning for the same one TV show every year.

Yeah. It's just like, there's not room enough for all of us to do it. So, when I was in Tour Co., I started putting together

my green card paperwork and I was like, might as well, I guess, start trying to make the move. But yeah, there are people that,

and I think there's people who are better people than I am who think like, they're experiencing success in Canada and they want to stay and cultivate more opportunities for other Canadians to do comedy in the country without leaving. Better people than me. Right, right.

They're going to be the tragically hip of comedy. Okay, thank you for saying that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because that's exactly what it is. It's like that we have CanCon laws, which is Canadian content, which means a certain amount of whatever songs we play on the radio have to be Canadian. So we have all of these, like, Canadian celebrities that the rest of the world don't know about. Which, by the way, another absolutely jarring and shocking part of the journey of moving to America, especially as an improviser. Because I'd say things on stage thinking everybody fucking knows this person, and nobody knows them.

And it's, like, it's so hard for me to— What a Kevin Cleary thing to say. Like, just, even like, I mean, oh God, Prozac. We have this band called Prozac that was fucking huge. And I thought, and here's the kicker. These men are, they're two guys from Montreal. And their whole shtick was like, nobody knew what they looked like. They were like the Daft Punk of Canada.

Yeah. And they did British accents. So I thought they were like worldwide pop stars. Yeah. They were just Montreal Canadians doing British accents. So I thought they were like worldwide pop stars. They were just Montreal Canadians doing British accents, never showing their faces. And I've been utterly duped by that. And their biggest hit, Andy, I'm so embarrassed even thinking of it.

Their biggest hit is called I'm Obama Shirai. Okay, it means nothing. It goes, I'm Obama Shirai, I really want to see ya. Okay, it's insane yeah imagine me like cut to me on stage at the Largo

referencing that as like the song that the teens are rocking out to it becomes that I'm this and then it's like

the other improvisers have to rally around me like I'm some now the game is I'm a teenager but I'm actually an alien and that's why I speak a different way

I'm like I didn't mean for this to be the scene. But now it's become the scene. Right, right. Do you think that there's like, are there Canadian bands that feel like. American? No, that they feel like. No, that they just feel like if it weren't for the can-con laws they wouldn't be as you know like if it were an equal playing field you wouldn't know so much yeah i mean i'm obama shirai you wouldn't know i'm obama shirai i'm sure

that's why the rule was made was put in there. But there's some that like I couldn't believe when I moved here are not American rock bands. It's like even the content of the songs sound like they're singing about America. And I guess that's probably an intentional tactic. Right, right. But yeah, it's really weird to be here now and be like, oh, I'm kind of the off-brand or permanently kid sister. It's like in a microcosm of my own life, I'm the younger sister. I'm the exhausting one. Thank you so much.

And then when I come here, I'm like, oh, that's maybe my whole country tugging on the sleeve of America being like, listen, look, look, look at this. Watch this. You think this is funny? You are Canada. You embody a nation. Wear it proudly.

Fun, polite, exhausting. So what do you, do you just, do you come here and just rent an apartment and start looking where the improv classes are? I mean, did you have any contacts here? I didn't know anyone here either, no. But it was like, it was good coming from Second City, at least knowing at least a lot of people had come over for portions of time. That's like a Canadian thing to do. Come over for like three months or they get the O-1 visa, which is good for like one year. I went straight to green card. So it's like permanent residency, which is great. But then also it's like impossible. It was so hard to find an apartment because I have

literal, I just got my social security number. I'm like you I am 12 days old I'll have no credit I have nothing yeah yeah um so yeah we had to we got an apartment that was like being built we were like hello if we give you money now before the walls are up can we have this can we rent it when it's done so that's how we ended up doing that but um yeah what was your question well then just what was it like in those early days oh yeah UCB obviously yeah UCB, obviously. Yeah. UCB was so eye-opening to me because I've been now at this point been doing improv for like 10 years before I even moved out here. And then I started taking immediate— What year is this, by the way? 2019 I moved out here.

2018, okay. 2018, yeah, somewhere near the end of 2018. And I went straight to UCB and Groundlings at the same time. So I was like, okay, I also have this like fire in my belly that's like, I just spent all of my money on a green card. So I can't make this work here and create some sort of like job out of this. This is going to be devastating. And you got to turn over every stone. So if there's an improv group here, I did the same thing in Chicago. I was with different groups. And there was like rivalry where like, you know, the guys in ImprovOlympic would be like, what do you go over there at the Anonymous for with all those drug-taking queers?

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, because there's drugs and queers. I experienced that too. It was always because, well, yeah, they're all going to help. Right. They're all going to help me be better on each one. And I'm like, no offense, I don't know a single person here. Like, mama got to make friends.

And I'm only going to like one out of every, like, 15 people in every class. So it's like, okay, I got to take a lot of fucking classes to meet people that I connect with. Right, exactly. So, yeah, I started Groundlings and used to be immediately. But Groundlings, you know, the track, it has this like bottleneck. So when that was happening, then I really started like diving into UCB. And I got the, you know, you take the first class and they make you buy the manual. I know.

Okay, this is a UCB manual and you have to buy it. And you have to have it. And it's $25. And you read it. And you, it blew my mind. I was like, there is a book. I was reading it like, oh my God, this is why. I remember in the early chapters, we would talk about like, you know, the unusual thing.

If you're painting, there's like a blank canvas and you put a splash of color on it. It's only a splash of color because the rest of the canvas is white. As you were talking about with the gold and the turd nuggets in my life. If it's all gold, it doesn't mean anything. So the unusual person and game and stuff like that, it's like I didn't ever use that terminology. I had been doing improv for so long and I didn't know the textbook explanation of it. So that was like became really exciting for me. And then I started actually looking at like, you know, the Herald and like structures of

repeating things and what game is if you take it to a lateral move and put it somewhere else. Like that was mind blowing to me. Yeah. Yeah. So then, yeah, I did that. And what did you find that it was stuff that you were doing anyway and that you didn't? I could have avoided a lot of heartache if someone had given me this Bible because I learned the hard way. Like I did so many just like drop in shows for a long time. I was just self-taught.

Like I just joined an improv. I joined a student improv group and there was no teacher. It was just like we were just doing shows. Yeah. And I was just figuring out trial and error like what works in a scene. I know how to get laughs. You weren't really doing improv classes? No, I hadn't taken an improv class until probably second, like two years into living in Toronto.

And even that, it was like mostly using improv to write sketch. It wasn't ever just like improv for the sake of improv. Wow. Which is what I love. Yeah, yeah. I'm very surprised because you do seem, you know, like, you do seem like very much a improviser. Yeah, that's what I love to do.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, in fact, I listened to the here's a plug thing The Disappearance of Dickie Donnelly on Earwolf. It was you and Lily Sullivan. Yeah, she was my first guest. I was sent the link

in prep for this and I didn't realize that it was like an improvised conversation. And it was so delightful. It was so much fun oh thanks because that's what's it's what's i mean what is the whole thing about improv is you know listening to funny people be funny together and enjoy each other and discover things together and make something together you know it's, and it was a perfect example of it. And like I said, I was surprised that it was so, I mean, I don't know.

I don't know what I expected. But because, well, because it's like Earwolf Presents, you know, like I'm expecting, oh, this is going to be, this is going to be worked out. Oh, no, it's not worked out at all. And in fact, it's only four episodes and it's gonna change into someone else's podcast yeah so um but yeah but i mean that's fine it's wild to me that you had never taken classes of it because that's you know i can't imagine not having had classes and doing improv you know like there was enough classes, there was enough practice that I got in classes before I went on stage that I, you know, I kind of, you know, there was a form to it as opposed to just get up there and feel your way through it.

That's, you know, kudos to you. That's really brave and really shows, you know, that you love it. Well, it's also like an Edmonton thing because it's like if you see, if you know that, and like I grew up watching Whose Line and was so obsessed with it. It's like you could see that with your friends and just be like, let's try to do this at like a coffee shop or something. Right, right, right. It's like kind of that, I am grateful that I had those like informal times just to dick around before I ever came out here. Yeah. just to dick around before I ever came out here.

Yeah. Did you have moments when you came out here that were like very, I mean, aside from getting into improv and finding, you know, your tribe and all of that stuff, were there things that started, what were some of the first things that happened that made you feel like, okay, I can do this. Like this is going to be real. Yeah, I guess I just like, I kept green lights, you know, like I knew I

enjoyed it. But like, for example, that that group that I was in in Edmonton, I saw them do a show. Yeah. And they it was like they performed at like a church. It was like a church group. And they did like improv at church. And I was like, what is this? I like it better than God. And then I, you know, someone put me in touch with the girl who ran it and I was like can I come and like watch you guys practice or like anything like I was just so I just wanted to be involved and so I came and I was like watching a practice and then she brought me up for like to play one of the games I don't know whatever some sort of improv-y game that is not really improv but like you know if you played like Martha I think that's what we call it where someone would step in and be like i'm a tree and then someone else steps in and was like i'm

the witch that lives under the tree and then if they're like you're basically just trying to like add just adding on yeah yeah and i did a couple games with them and afterwards she pulled me aside and she was like look can you do the show next week because there's a girl in this group that i think is so bad and i would love for you to just replace her for this one show so it's like already stuff like that was like the very first time I even went for a practice. Right. She was like, could you be in a show right away? And you already learned about backstabbing.

Like right off the bat. Well, then. The cutthroat aspect. And then to go from that to the audition with the girls that I got the. Yeah. It's like I wasn't ever trying to get the thing that I got. It's like it felt like people just kept going like, hey, I see this. And you would you like to try this? So thank God, because I don't think I would have had the,

you know, courage to ask for that or think that I was good enough to do it. And then, you know, same thing. I moved out to Toronto and I didn't even finish taking the class before they cast me in the touring company. And then I moved out to LA and I was on the mess hall teams and they moved me in the middle of mess hall to Harold Knight like stuff like that that just kept happening that I was like I was still so new at it but I felt like I felt enough like I must be good at this that it's okay like I kind of have the opposite of imposter syndrome where I'm like if you think I'm good enough to do this like jokes on you like I've tricked I've successfully 100% agree and I'm not responsible for what happens now 100% agree and I've talked about I've successfully duped you. 100% agree. And I'm not responsible for what happens now. 100% agree.

And I've talked about that before. I mean, elsewhere, but on here too, that like the whole notion that you're supposed to just base your place in the universe based on how you feel about yourself is insane. You need input. You need to base your placement on what does everybody else think of me right you know and i and i was very much the same way in that i had there were very specific moments uh in doing improv where i where there was like this tangible acceptance of what I was doing and somebody saying, you're good at this, you know, in a way that was like, oh, this isn't just a path. Like they actually are saying, I'm good at this thing that I thought, yeah, I think I'm okay.

You know, that it's like, and that's what it took for me to continue doing this and like to come out here. And there's all, you know, I had all kinds of like stuff of like, well, this is L.A. and not everyone here can be Tom Cruise. You know, there's a lot of people here doing in show business, making a living. I could do this. You know, like this doesn't all make sense, you know, in a way. Yeah. At least it used to not now not now that i'm on the long the long slide down does it really does it really come in waves because i you know i spent my first couple years out here thinking like you know i had to do a lot of work

on like i might never be able to make like i could always maybe make enough money coaching doing I was doing a lot of commercials yeah but I really wanted to be on like a comedy ensemble tv show yeah it was like my big dream yeah and I had to really reckon with like that might that actually might not happen for me I can still be out here like doing shows getting filled up creatively in all sorts of other ways but I had to do a lot of work on being okay with that yeah and I'm sure you did at one point and then at one point you were doing all the things you never dreamed you could yes and does it go away again like you actually feel like you're in a place where you have to like take care of yourself in that way and go like I might never oh absolutely really absolutely absolutely yeah I mean because well and, I was, you know, my situation, I was on Conan Island for many, many years.

I wasn't even like really out circulating that much. I had a job and I, you know, and I have kids and I have a life and I would go to my job and it was a fantastic job. It was, you know, I worked with people I loved. The hours were good. You know, I mean, and it was really fantastic. And then it ended. And I was like, all right,

come on, acting roles. And it's like, it's just there's lots of stretches of time. And not just now, I mean, at different points in my life where the phone didn't ring that much. Right. And I still enjoy a lot of, you know, goodwill from people. And I have a history, you know, that people know and like.

But, yeah, it could, you know, I don't know what's going to happen. Like, but yeah, it could, you know, I don't know what's going to happen. I don't, I'm not guaranteed to be, you know, to be some kind of superstar for the rest of my life. And, you know, and quite frankly, too, I'm not that good on my own. Like, I'm not that good figuring out what to do with myself. I relate. You know what I mean? Like, I need, I'm, I've always been good about being around situations where something happens with a group of people and getting involved with this thing, with this thing that's not just me. Right.

I mean, I did in between, you know, the two times, working for Conan, I came out here and I had And, you know, working for Conan, I came out here and I had sitcoms, you know, that I was the star of, which is, you know, like wildly successful in one sense. But there's still plenty of people on the Internet that like to say, like, well, you're a fucking three-time loser on show business. Of course, people at home on their couches have never taken a risk. Right, exactly. And I mean, you know, and I've had a lot of work that I'm very, very proud of. And I'm just lucky and blessed in so many ways. But yeah, I don't know. So are you committed to doing this until you die?

You have to say right now. Yeah. Okay, me too. Because I honestly, I don't know. Blood pact? I'd rather not. Could be funny. I'd rather not. Could make funny. I'd rather not.

Could make a memory. Could make a memory. Golden memory of blood. Yeah, no, I mean, I'm going to do something like this. Yeah, we got to. Because I don't, I don't know, aside from like opening up a breakfast restaurant and flipping pancakes. Would you like to open a restaurant? Would that be like parallel open a restaurant? Would that be like Parallel Universe Andy?

No, probably. Honestly, Parallel Universe Andy would probably be in Chicago working in advertising. Oh, okay. Or Parallel Universe Andy would be working with animals. Like I like animals. I'm like, all right, I could work with animals. But I couldn't have an office job. I mean, advertising is an office job, you know? Yeah.

I mean, advertising is an office job, but it's, you know, not really. You don't have to wear a tie. I know. That's so funny. Even when I was a kid, I remember when I learned what a temp was and I was like, that's the closest I ever felt to being like, that's what I want to do. Because it was once I found out it was like a different job every day. I was like, I'll do that.

Because I just couldn't bear to think of. Oh, a different job every day. That's when I, because I went to film school and I worked freelance out of film school. And that was instantly like, I was like, all right, I like this. It's different all the time. And then, you know, so then I got into show business and then got on the same show for years and years at a time being myself. But even not if like every day there's a new thing to laugh at, there's a new joke. Yeah, that's true.

That's true that's true yeah but i mean but it's still it is after a while it is kind of like it's you know yeah yeah i took one of those like um career aptitude tests and i got my top two were garbage person like garbage i want to say garbage man but then i was like that's gendered and then but when you say garbage person it sounds like right right like you're a garbage, like you're actual garbage with legs. Piece of shit. Really? Like it said.

It said garbage man and the number two is magician. So I like to think like what I do now is kind of a mix of both of those. That seems like a not very reliable testing service. It was like we did it on the computers in the Mac lab and it was like a hundred questions. It better fucking know what it's talking about. Do you like lifting cans? Yes. Do you often wear long sleeves?

Yes. Yeah. Now that I think of it, there was a lot of long sleeve questions. When you said you were working with Amy Poy pauler uh what what are you doing with amy so she's producing um she has this whole new like podcast uh universe oh so through paper kite she's doing her dr sheila um show right now where she's a therapist and she has other comedians on yeah um to you know counsel them through their marital problems or whatever it's so funny it's so funny and when hers ends it's gonna turn into so the last guest on her show is ike and then ike plays

this kind of like um joe rogan kind of character who's been canceled um and he's seeking therapy and then the next 10 episodes are ike's podcast where he's been forced to hire a female co-host. And that's me. Oh, okay. And then after ours is done, it will transition into another different parody of a podcast kind of thing. So we go from like Therapy to Joe Rogan to there's like a murder podcast after us. And it's all just done by comedians. And it's all purely improvised.

And it's just been so fun. Oh, wow. So, yeah, Amy's produced all of them. So she's with us in the booth every day. And I like that. That there's like a, you know, like a framework. Yeah, wow. So yeah, Amy's produced all of them. So she's with us in the booth every day. And I like that, that there's like a, you know, like a framework. Yeah, a through line that's kind of planned

out. It's super cool. That's great. Yeah, it's been so fun. And it's just like all we can ask for, you know, to be laughing at work. And I also have something here that you're on Glamorous with Kim Cattrall. Yes. Ooh la la. Ooh la la is right.

Honey. What is that? That was super fun. We shot that in Toronto. So that was so nice to go home. That's the thing. I have so many friends in Toronto, but I don't have family there. Yeah.

If I'm going to take time and go home, I go to Edmonton. And I find it difficult to have those two places. Because I would feel so guilty if I went to Toronto for Christmas and just spent time with my friends, you know? So anyways, it's nice to have an excuse to go to Toronto for friends. Get over it. Get over it. Get over it. Not everything needs to be a golden memory.

Those people, you have given them enough. Those people up there. The cows and the oil. It's so true. You've given them enough. Makes me sick. But yeah, so we shot in Toronto and that's fun

and then as soon as we wrapped on that I got to shoot another show a Taika Waititi show that's coming out next year so that would be fun oh wow I got to play like a detective

oh that's awesome I showed you gun with my fingers I did so you'd know how serious I was about it I did yeah

but like that's fun too because that's like a dark comedy and I get to be someone funny but I also get to have a gun and like kick down doors and arrest people, which I never thought in a million years. Have you ever played a cop? A cop? I can't remember, honestly. I mean, it would have been a one-off.

But I did. I got to be a murderer on Monk once. Oh. On an episode of Monk. Oh, you were like the unsuspected. Yeah, yeah. Like friendly guy kills women? Yeah. It's like, yeah, hon, welcome to comedy. Oh, you were like the unsuspected Yeah, yeah. Like friendly guy kills women? Yeah.

It's like, yeah, hon, welcome to comedy. Yep, yep, exactly. Wow. Yeah, no, I've gotten to I mean, only occasionally I've gotten to play like a villain

or a bad guy or something. Isn't it cool when people let us do it? It's the best. I just never thought that I would get to wear a leather jacket

and like do that. You know? Yeah, yeah. So fun. I can't think of I played jacket and do that. You know? Yeah, yeah. So fun. I can't think of... I played a bunch of priests. Oh, I can see that for you. I played a bunch of priests, and I have also been, I mean, a million times the voice of a dog.

Wow. Either on an animated show or in a live action show where either the dog's mouth moves or it just cuts to the dog and the dog says something around why he's cracking oh yeah but he's like kind of thinking it and the humans can't hear it exactly so do you do your voice or do you do dog voice no mostly my voice oh really that's what the people want that's this boy people hear this voice and they think dog they think something that shits in the house on the floor. Yeah, no, that way. I yeah, lots of dogs. That's a real honor, though, to be wanted for your own voice.

Kind of. I'm getting mad because. Well, it's not so much anymore, but it used to they used I used to get auditions for animated voices and they'd be like, not cartoony, which is like, excuse me. That's like saying, I don't know. It's like going, okay,

we're going to go on a cruise, but you have to stay indoors. Yeah, I know. Like, what do you mean not cartoony? That's what the idea is.

Especially when you do it. Like, I did my first animated series last year for Comedy Central called Fairview and it was like, louder, faster,

louder, faster, until everyone just sounds psychotic. There's no such thing. And that was like a kind of political adult comedy. Yes. Nobody wants regular voice. No, I don't.

I mean, I'm hoping that it kind of changed. I mean, I got to do, I did Mort in the Madagascar movies. I got to do that voice, which is a very cartoony voice. So that was, you know, I got to do that. And I've a very cartoony voice. So that was, you know, I got to do that. And I've done other cartoony kind of voices. But, yeah, no, a lot of it is like play it real. Yeah, because that's what the kids want. Have you ever done a drama?

Yes. Did you cry? No, no. Andy. I've done a few dramas. You're supposed to cry in a drama. I know. I know. I know.

The one that I – I mean, this is your podcast, but the one that I did, Rob Lowe, after he left West Wing, had a show for five minutes called Lion's Den. L-Y-O-N-S Den den and it was a legal drama cool and i was in a ripped from the headlines b plot uh which was based on i don't know if you remember this i'm from chicago so i do but the cubs years ago were in the playoffs and they were just almost, we're going to win this game. And there was a foul ball that- That guy caught it, right? And this guy caught it. This guy caught the foul ball and the Cubs would have caught it and they would have been out at the beginning and then they ended up losing.

Right. And so this guy was Bartman, Steve Bartman was his name. So this was, I was playing Steve Bartman. Whoa. But in this TV version, the newspaper, because, you know, the newspaper, if a guy fucks up the team's, the home team's chances of getting into the World Series, they print their name and house, their address and phone number. Yeah, yeah. They print their name and house, their address and phone number. Which is that's in this, it's like as if the Chicago Tribune said, Steve Bartman lives at so and so. God, terrible. And that was, so I was going to sue the newspaper.

So I had to go in and hire this law firm. And it was with David Krumholz and Matt Craven were the lawyers. Krumholz and Craven. Krumholz and Matt Craven were the lawyers. Crumholtz and Craven. Crumholtz and Craven, LLC. Yeah. And it was just so weird because it was just all so corny. Did you have a baseball in your hand the whole time? No, but it's just I find and I found it to be so much more embarrassing

than like walking around in a G-string in a comedy because i i a thousand percent agree you know it's like i want people to laugh at me when i'm asking them to laugh yes i don't want them to laugh at me when i'm really trying not for right or or to like this is you know this is very important it's like it's not important like it's also silly and corny but the one the thing that i remember that i will carry with me forever is that in the scene matt craven is like interviewing me and asking me and you know all the questions and crumholtz is just pissed because i screwed up the chance for the team to finally win good cop bad cop yeah and crumholtz is all pissed. And finally, Krumholtz can't take it anymore. And he says, why'd you do it? Why did you reach out and try and catch the ball when you knew that they could have caught it and won and the game would have been over and we would have been in the World Series?

And my line was, because I thought if I caught that ball, my son would think I hung the moon. You're kidding. That was my line. And I had to say moon. You're kidding. That was my line. And I had to say that. You could have cried. So many times. You could have cried. And I was just like, I have never in my life outside of.

No, no, no, no, no. I've never heard anyone say hung the moon. No, no, no, no, no. Hung the moon. God. And it was just, like I say say it was just embarrassing oh embarrassing i deeply relate yeah yeah i also and i also too like when i you know you're on set you're rehearsing whatever having fun i got the definitely got the feeling of like you're not supposed to have fun here yeah

you're not supposed to goof around like when we're when we're just blocking like don't don't do your lines with a funny accent yeah i don't really get that why not because it's like you also hear about all these method actors who are like ruining all of their personal relationships for the job and it's like i get why you and i love our jobs yes we get to laugh yeah it's like what's in it for you guys i guess there's a nice paycheck i don't i guess but it's like how can they be like wow i really loved ruining my entire family's life pretending to be the joker and then dying like what i don't know i don't know it doesn't seem like fun to me well what do you i mean what where do you want to be say in like five years like you know what do you want to do i mean you said you you're? Like, you know, what do you want to do?

I mean, you said you're doing this. Yeah, I'd like to do it till I die. That's kind of like my mantra. That's something I decided early on. Like, I'll be here doing this when I'm 90. And then hopefully I'll just like have outlived the other people that were better than me. And I'll get all their jobs. Yeah, yeah.

But yeah, I love LA. I'd love to be here. I really want to do like, it was so fun to play in the Taika show. Taika with T.D. It's a dark comedy. And it was like that was like a dream. You know, I got to be, you know, one of the leads. I got to have a gun, as I said, was important to me. I got to kick doors and they would splinter into oblivion. Like stuff like that is so fun. Yeah, yeah. And I'd never been in like every episode of a series before. So that was like so many boxes ticked.

But I really, what I would really like to do sometime in the next five years is like either some sort of really just truly funny ensemble comedy. Like this was like a dark comedy what I did. It was still really funny. But I just want like bingo, bango, dodge, a minute like ha ha ha um or more like improvised stuff like i got to do jury duty last year and yeah that being like unscripted character stuff like what nathan fielder does or borat or like jenna friedman like those kind of things that would be a dream yeah to go into something and like trick people into believing me what about what about outside of career stuff oh i don't have any ambitions outside of i just you're an empty vessel except for show business no probably

sometime in the next well that you know i'd like to have kids probably in the next five years yeah take yours if you don't want them. You know what? Leave your number with our producer and I'll let you know because believe me, there are fucking days. Oh, boy.

But yeah, definitely, definitely kids sometimes. It's so funny. I went to the horse races for the first time last week and there was this like kind of creepy guy. If you're listening to this,

look, man, someone had to tell you. And he was like hanging out with my friend and I just hanging around us in this like shared box area that we were in you and he was like hanging out with my friend and i just hanging around us in this like shared box area that we were in and he was like for some reason his line was like so you girls have kids we were like no he's like thinking about having kids you guys want to have kids i'm like yeah i'll probably have kids when when do you think you're

gonna have kids i'm like do you is this hitting on me for you how many more times times are you going to ask me about this? I'm very fertile. What's up with the birth plan, huh? Fertile and motile. Natural, epidural. What's up, ladies? What are you going to do? I'm like, dude, I'd love to have a kid soon. Not by you, please.

Yeah, yeah. But yeah, family stuff is huge. Yeah, you know, I go home more often now. I feel like the older I get, the more I'm going home. And I just went home over the weekend. On Friday night, I was talking to my sister on the phone. We were saying, I miss you. I miss you.

I love you. She's saying, the trees are all turning color. We're carving pumpkins. All the stuff that we would do usually as a family. I wish you were here. And I was like, I looked at flights and I was like, why don't I be there? Yeah. And so I bought a flight for the next morning.

Yeah. I've never done anything like that before. But I was like, when you remember you have free will. Yeah, yeah. You can go and spend time with your family. A little bit of disposable income. And yeah, why not? Yeah.

Well, Flair Air, as we were talking about in the kitchen. Yeah, we were talking about before. Yeah. $75 a flight, honey. Yeah. If you guys got $75 burning a hole in your pocket. And you'd like to fly nonstop to Edmonton, Alberta on Tuesdays and Thursdays only. You absolutely can do that.

Wow, that's awesome. Well, Woody, I mean, so far, you know, you got so much ahead of you, but, you know, we ask on the, we, by we, I mean me, a very royal we, what have you learned? Like, what do you think, you know, do people ask you for advice? I mean, somebody has to at one point or another.

Yeah. Yeah. I think, like, the biggest thing that I've learned, and I've talked about this before, is, like, when I was coming up in Toronto, I had a teacher there, Rob Baker, who was incredible. And I got, like I said, I kept getting these opportunities that I shouldn was incredible and um I got like I said I kept getting these opportunities that I shouldn't have had or like you know they felt like they were unique to me they were before my time I was too inexperienced for them I kept getting pulled forward so there was a lot of times where I would be I would find myself at a show with improvisers that were all like 10 years older than me that were people that I idolized and I was suddenly

playing with them and it was really scary to me because I don't think people knew how new I was to improv. Right. And so anyways, it was one, it was a show like this. And I was in the, ended up being in the cast with my teacher who was currently teaching me at Second City and someone had booked us on a show together. And I just felt so like, you know, it's like a weird feeling. I felt so out of place, like, and they're all friends and they're all the same age group and they and they've all come and gone from main stage and they're just so much better than I am. Yeah. And I was with them in the green room and I think he could tell that I was like freaking out a little bit. I was just a little nervous, like couldn't really hang.

And I didn't know what they were talking about. You know, I was like, I didn't have anything in common with them. And right before we went out, he was like, hey. And he just like put a hand on my shoulder and he's like who's gonna have the most fun out there and I was like oh I didn't I was like yeah we're gonna have fun he's like no who's gonna have the most fun and I was like me he's like is it gonna be you

maybe could be you is it gonna be you and we started kind of like rallying back and forth like I was like yeah I am I'm gonna have the most fun and it kind of and I'm a naturally very competitive person also so getting this idea in my head of like like look if we're all going out there or we're all walking onto set or we're all waiting in this audition room or whatever I can't control who's gonna have the best show who's gonna book the job nothing like that but I can decide inside that I'm gonna have the most fun out of everyone

here yeah that's all I can control. So if I have that idea and it really has like helped me just kind of like live open-handedly with this career that's so hard to do, just to play and have fun, be as playful as I can and enjoy it for what it is without trying to be good

or anything like that. It's very, very wise. And I have, you know, because that's like a conclusion that I've reached and you're reaching it a lot younger than I did, which is, did I have a good time? Right. Okay, then that's success. Yeah. Yeah.

And I, you know, I used to have, there used to be guests on the Conan show. movie star types that I, you know, that like over the years I would become friendly with who after the, either before or after the interview would be like, was that okay? Like, did I do okay? And I always would just say, it doesn't matter. Did you have fun? Did you enjoy yourself? Then yeah, it went great, you know? And I think that that's such a good barometer to sort of guide you through anything, really. You know, I mean, maybe not brain surgery.

Like maybe you should know your stuff. Hey, we can have a little fun. Yeah. But I mean, not like, what if we did, what if we put this nerve on this node? But even that, like even to argue brain surgery it's like that woman got you can come to work yeah

female brain surgeon well my mom yeah I didn't even know that happened she comes to work and she can be like she can make eye contact

with all of her like assistants in the room and be like how was everyone's weekend before they start like why fucking not some people are so committed to not having fun

that it alarms me you know you could infuse some fun into anything, you know. In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. Yeah, no, it's true. There are some people that just do not seem to care. And or the most heartbreakingly, like even when I moved out here, it's like and I got on Herald Night and it was like, fuck yeah, like this is so exciting.

And then I'm on Herald Night with people that are like, oh, do you guys think the ADs are going to be watching the show or like oh god bastards giving notes after and like they're like working themselves up into a coma yeah i feel so privileged to be here but i also can understand that it's just herald night which is here's the other half of who's gonna have the most fun it's also you know if you ever get caught in feeling like you can't or it's too scary i like to think about, I don't know the names of all my great-grandparents. Okay?

I don't. It's probably something that I should, I don't. Oh, you know, I don't think I do either. Okay, great. Loving this common ground for us.

Because, what does that mean? Like, so, when you die, it's like, how long are you going to be remembered for?

How long am I going to be remembered for? If I don't even know my own great-grandmother's name and she's my flesh and blood and like part of a crucial part of my story right like what am i gonna do here that's gonna make such a splash that i have to worry about whether or not people give a shit about it yeah marilyn monroe is like the most famous actress of her time i can't name more than one movie she's been in like and imagine she walked set being like, oh my god, that was terrible.

It was the worst acting I've ever done in that scene. It's so humiliating. I just vaguely know that you're a blonde woman who used to live. That's all I'm left with. The impact that we leave, the legacies are non-existent. So you might as well have fun. Yes, exactly. That's all that to say.

You might as well just enjoy yourself. Because no one's going to remember you when you die. Hey, everybody. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back next week. No, thank you, Lisa Gilroy, for coming in and spending this time with me. It was fun. It was great.

This was super fun. I'm a big fan of yours, so this was really fun. Thank you very much. And I am of you, too. And it's nice that we finally got to meet and that I got to learn that I should be having fun. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good thing. But anyhow, thanks for tuning in all of you out there, you podcasters, listeners, and I'll be back next week with more of whatever this was. The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a Team Coco production.

It is produced by Sean Daugherty and engineered by Rich Garcia. Additional engineering support by Eduardo Perez and Joanna Samuel. Executive produced by Nick Liao, Adam Sachs, and Jeff Ross. Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista,

with assistance from Maddy Ogden. Research by Alyssa Grahl. Don't forget to rate and review and subscribe to The Three Questions with Andy Richter wherever you get your podcasts. And do you have a favorite question you always like to ask people? Let us know in the review section.

Can't you tell my love's a-growing? Can't you feel it ain't a-showing? Oh, you must be a-knowing. I've got a big, big love This has been a Team Coco production.