The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Mary Holland

Episode Date: November 24, 2020

Comedian and actress Mary Holland talks with Andy Richter about studying Meisner technique at Interlochen, the importance of not clinging to results, and co-writing the screenplay for her new film Happiest Season.

Hello, everyone. It's time for the three questions with Andy Richter. And I have a very, very funny, lovely, talented woman on the show today. talented woman on the show today. It's Mary Holland of Wild Horses fame of pretty much. You're one of those people that people are like, oh, yeah, I've seen her in a thousand things. Oh, that's what a dream to be thought of as that. That's very fun. I mean, don't you get that? Do you get that a lot where people are like, I know you from somewhere? Yeah, I do. And that was always like the fantasy

growing up of like being somebody that people were like, hey, I know your face from something, even if they couldn't like remember it right away. It's great to have a memorable face. No kidding. Yeah. And well, and also it means like, I mean, you're making a living doing this stuff, which to me is always like, that's it. That's right. Exactly. If you're making a living, wow. You know, I know, you know?

Yeah, I agree. But I think, but do people too, because you have been in so like done guest spots on so many different things. Do you get people that want to like go through your whole resume to figure out what it is that they know you from? Because I get that sometimes. Like, if they don't know me from the Conan show, and they're like, no, I don't ever watch that. That's not it. Nothing will make you feel more embarrassed, I think, than having to try to guess what somebody has seen you in. It's the worst. It's the worst.

Well, and especially like an example that comes to mind is like if I'm in a lift or something and the driver is like, oh, I recognize, or what do you do for a living? And I would say, oh, I'm an actor. And they'd be like, oh, what would I have seen you in? What have you done? And that to me is just, I totally know that it's a question that comes from like, oh, he's just curious about what I do. But the anxiety it gives me to be like, okay, now I got to guess what maybe he's seen. And like, or I have to like list things that I've done. It just feels very embarrassing. Yeah, yeah.

No, I know. I mean, it doesn't happen so much. But for a while too, there were like times when I would know just based on the demographics of the person asking, like what they know me from. Like there's a very, very different thing. like what they know me from like there's a very very different thing well no that's i mean it but like it's definitely like like teenagers it was always like i was in scary movie too and they're like that's it that's it you know because like if i say like to a teenager like i was in arrested development most of them like i don't know what that, I don't know what that is. That or the Olsen Twins movie. For a while, it was

like... Which Olsen Twins movie? I was in their big screen because they made a million movies of their own. I loved every single one of them. They were so good. Right when they were of the age where

girls who had been enjoying them were getting tired of them, they made a major motion picture in which I appeared. Wow. What was your role? It was called New York Minute. And I am waiting to be canceled for this. Oh, no. I'm waiting to be canceled for this. Because I play the adopted son of the leader of the Chinese Tong.

Is that what a crime family in the Chinese? I think it's a Tong. Oh, interesting. It's like basically, supposedly New York, but it was really toronto uh supposedly supposedly behind the curtain supposedly new york's uh like leader of the chinese mafia was this woman that ran a nail salon and i was her adopted son oh i spoke with a like Charlie Chan accent. Oh. Because that was the part was written to be like that. Right. And quite frankly, there was like you could do accents and it was like no one knew to be ashamed of doing like crazy accents. You know, I mean, one could make the case I should have known and I should have said no.

But, you know, it's like, hey, do, you know, like a Charlie Chan accent. And I felt like, well, it's motivated. You know, she's the adoptive. It's like, no, but why would I have a Chinese accent? Right. Right. New York City, regardless of being. Yeah.

And that's it. That's a great point. So that's a great anyway. Cancel away. I did it. I did a terribly insensitive. You have my permission to cancel me. You can't cancel me more than I've canceled myself.

That's what's going to save me. But I did not bring you on here to talk about the Olsen twins. Oh, you didn't? That's what I was under the impression we were going to be talking about for an hour. Oh, well, then somebody got out then. Now, you are an improv comedian, too. You never have done stand-up, right? No, no, yes. Strictly improv.

Did you set out to do comedy, or did you? I set out to be an Oscar winning actress. That was my dream was to be. Like Meryl Streep? Yes. Yes, exactly. That's really what I was going for. Like growing up, I was all eyes on me, whatever I could do to get all eyes on me.

I wanted the attention constantly. So arson? Did you ever do arson? I did a lot of. That's right. And I did. And guess what? It worked.

I got a lot of attention from it. You're not really hurting anybody. If you get the angels out first. No. Well, I tried to. And that's what counts. Is the effort, as long as you make an effort. That's right. Yeah.

So I knew just in my bones that I wanted to be an actor all growing up and be in movies and all of that. I had real stars in my eyes about that. And then went to like drama school, went to theater school, went to boarding school for theater. Yeah, that's I was going to say you're from Virginia. Yes. And your folks are doctors, right? Yes. What kind of doctors are they?

They're radiologists. Oh, really? They're both radiologists. They're both radiologists. Oh, I bet that was tense sometimes. Oh, boy. I mean. You're x-raying them all wrong. That's it. They would constantly critique each other's x-ray. It was really, it is really interesting that I grew up in that kind of household because they're very pragmatic people. My mom really, well,

they both have like a creative spirit, but they're very like, as you would expect doctors to be, just very like logical, very left-brained. And I remember after school, sometimes we would get picked up from school by our babysitter, and she would drop us off at the hospital. And so I would spend a lot of time just wandering around our local county hospital. Oh, wow. Were you in a rural area or kind of like in between? Yeah.

So I grew up in Galax, Virginia, which is... Galax. Galax. It's like galaxy with the Y cut off? That's right. That's right. What is that from? We're named after the Galax leaf, which is like a tiny little leaf.

Oh, okay. If that explains it. I'm from stinging nettles, Virginia. I, and I don't remember why it's called that, but I do know I, I,

I was looking at the history of Galax for some project or something. And I do know that it was originally going to be called Cairo. Oh, wow. Yeah. And then they pivoted to Galax. Right, right. So, but yes, it's the world's capital of old-timey mountain music. Really?

Yeah. Wow. It's very exciting. They have an annual fiddlers convention that is just the social event of the season. Right. And they have like clogging competitions and banjo competitions. Like it is a big to do. Now is that when you're a kid, is that fun or is it like, oh, that corny old hillbilly music?

Yeah. No, it's so much fun because you really like it takes place in the local park and the park just there's like a stage that gets built. And then there's like ice cream, you know, kind of carnival type food and stuff. And then the rest of the park is just filled to the brim with RV campers and things. And there's a path that goes around the whole park. And what we would do as kids is we would like, and young teens, we would get in little clumps and we'd walk through this path. And you're passing these RVs and people are like having jam sessions and you're

walking with your friends. And I mean, our town was so small and we were in the middle of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We were like, you know, very rural. And so the things to do around town were just to like walk around and encounter other teenagers. Yeah. And the town I grew up in, it was the same thing yeah it was like hey let's go stand in the mcdonald's parking lot yeah i remember there's this there's this one uh the cool thing that people would do on weekends is go cruising and that that just meant you would get in a car and you would drive up and down like the four block stretch of main street and you'd just pass other teenagers and cars go slowly yeah yeah we had we had road parties we called them road parties

which because it's the midwest it's illinois it's completely flat and it's all farmland right you could drive out into the and all that you know and there were a lot of farm kids that knew like, oh, there's this road that no one ever goes down. And so we would, you know, like it could be 15 cars. Right. And kids would know where it was. And you just pull up and they, like, there were guys that had like speakers that they could hook up into their trunk so you could listen to, you know, Anne Hale. Yeah, yeah. And just rock out, have a road party.

And just rock out and just sit in a ditch in the dark somewhere, basically. Yes. Drinking beer and listening to Janie's crying. Just existing together. Yes. Just being in the world together. We need to drink beer. Yes.

Let's go do it out, like basically in flat nowhere, and you know, in the dark. And that's what we would do. Yeah, yeah, I had the same experience. And we were, yeah, right in the sandwich in the Blue Ridge Mountains. So it's very beautiful around there. And we there's also like, as you can imagine so many back roads and twist twisty windy you know you could you could really uh really go have some alone time if you wanted to just driving driving in the dark were your folks from there what brought them to the you know such a rural outpost they so my dad was born in and grew up partially in Georgia and then went to college and stuff in Florida. And then my mom grew up in Virginia, not far from where Galax is.

And they met at the MCV, Medical College of Virginia. And they fell in love. And... You say that with some resentment. They fell in love. And I guess that's why I'm here. And I'm the product of it. Yeah.

Darn from the start. Exactly. It just, I mean, right at the beginning, we're off on the wrong foot. He, my dad, so my dad is two years older than my mom and graduated

first and he I think went and did his residency in Charleston, South Carolina. And my mom, when she graduated, joined him and they were working as residents. I could be getting this totally wrong, but they were working with a doctor,

a physician who was like, hey, I'm going to Galax. And you guys should come. And so they, yeah. They did. And they did. And they did. And they did. And it wasn't far from the town where my mom grew up in.

Like, it was just a few hours away. So I think she liked that idea of being close to her parents. And so, yeah, that's how we ended up there. Do you think of yourself as Southern? I do. Yeah. I do. I do, yes.

Galax is, like, right on the border of North Carolina. And, like, I went to summer camp in North Carolina. And that kind of mountain-y Appalachian, like, vibe there, it's very Southern. And all my friends had you know really thick accents and my dad did as well my mom didn't so much interestingly but um but yeah i do think of myself as as southern what it now and as you've gone through obviously you left uh virginia and you i did did you live in chicago for a while? I did. Well, I actually, I went to college just outside Chicago in beautiful DeKalb, Illinois. Oh, Northern.

Northern. Northern Illinois. Yeah, yeah. That's right. Okay. Okay. That's right. You know, Corn Festival.

I know, I know. Now that's a social event of that season. Now, well, we'll cut back to that. But I mean, what do you think? Like, do you feel like there's a separate identity from you and your southerness compared to like Midwesterners you've met? I mean, L.A.'s hard because everybody in L.A. seems like almost everybody seems like they're from somewhere else. I mean, yeah, there's a few locals, but they don't it doesn't feel like anything other that they exist in reaction to

all the other people that aren't from here you know what i mean like there's nothing like like i don't think like now that's a la thing to say because most of the people that are the grossest la people are new here you know what i mean yes that's a great point yeah yeah that's so true but what is the southernness that you think that's you know different well i so i had two experiences in the midwest so i grew up in galax and um was desperate to somehow find my way into acting i really i thought the way to do it was to go to Juilliard. I was like, that's it. That's the only way to do it. Because you hear that.

You hear that. Yeah, yeah. And I had no concept of how else one pursues it. But there did happen to be a woman from my hometown who was a few years older than me, and she went to Juilliard, if you can believe it. Oh, wow. And yeah, yeah, she's so great. And she, I cornered her.

I think our families went to the same church. Did she have a job or? She was from Galax. Oh, I see. And I remembered hearing that she went to Juilliard and stuff, and she was home for the holidays, and our families went to the same church. And so I went up to her and I was like, what, how, how and what? How and what? Hey, you, you help me get into Juilliard right now. I want to make it to Broadway.

And she told me that she was like, well, I went to this theater school that prepared me for the audition for Juilliard. And she told me about the school. And it was Interlochen, which is like an arts academy in northern Michigan. Oh, yeah. I've heard of that. That's fancy. Very fancy. It's mostly or at the time when it was initially founded it was really renowned as a

music uh their music program was they have like a festival up there too there's like interlocking means a fancy concert series in the summertime too yeah yeah yeah the the musicians that were so talented. But it did start out initially as like a summer camp, like in the 60s, and then became an academy. And so she was like, oh, I went there for my last year or two of high school. And so I was like, that's how you do it. That's how you do it. You have to get into this school, and then you get into Juilliard, and become and then that's how that's the only way you can become an actor yeah and so yeah and what was interlocking I mean well when how long did you leave your junior year your senior year I left my

uh I was there for my junior and senior year of high school so I I I left I left Galax and went to northern Michigan and was in a just – it was really a shock to the system in so many ways because my experience in Galax is it was a really small town. And I went to school with kids that I – like we went from preschool all the way up to high school together like same 30 40 kids yeah my experience of the world was um so limited and when I went to interlock and it was like my mind was blown like my horizons were just completely exploded there were kids from all over the world and it was just uh yeah it was i i really i feel like i just sort of like the southerness or the the kind of mountain um mountaininess that i had sort of i i in a way i i got very nostalgic for it i like kind of cling to it in one way and then in another way i was like i gotta i have to let let that go because there's so much so much more out there um had you been itching to get out of galex or was it just kind

of i just knew that i i knew i had to yeah but i in yeah i after i left i got so nostalgic for it um i think also at the time my after my first year at Interlochen, my parents decided to move from Galax. So they moved to just outside Nashville, Tennessee. And so I think that really influenced my feelings about Galax where I was like, oh, my God, this is my childhood. And it's going away. Yeah, it became like sealed in amber then because you didn't have any reason to go back there. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. But the Midwestness of it all, I didn't really experience that very much in Michigan, I think because it was its own sort of bubble. Yeah. But in Illinois, for sure. Like that was a...

Yeah, that's Illinois. That's Illinois. Illinois is Illinois, yeah. Illinois is Illinois. Yeah. And I mentioned, I mean, and I'm just projecting, but I can imagine like going to Interlochen was probably the first, you know, because I can only assume from like when I'm growing up in a small town going to for me, the first real experience around you know theater type kids was uh i did speech team you know like yeah you know our plays were really shitty so i did speech team which is like for people that don't know it's not just if there's debate but then there's also basically you go stand in the classroom and act in front of people solo. Yes, I did that too. Yeah, yeah. We called it forensics. Yeah, it's the same thing.

We called it speech team forensics. It's the same thing. Like the medals would say forensics, like if you won a medal, you know. And there would be meets and it would lead up to like a, you know, or whatever, like sectionals. State championship. And then, yeah, state championship and you could win state. And I read prose. I read short stories, you know.

Oh, that's so fun. Yes, I did that too. Yeah. But going, I went to, I won a scholarship to speech team camp, you know, like a summer camp where basically it was like performing arts college, sort of, but aimed at speech team camp, you know, like a summer camp where basically it was like performing arts college sort of, but aimed at, at speech team. I don't have any recollection of what the curriculum was. Like I remember being there and the main thing for me was just like being around, like, again, diversity, like being around like gay teens who are out gay teens. Yes. And, you know, and as ridiculous as it is, like Jewish kids.

Like I just was never around Jewish kids until, you know, until I got older. It just was, you know, and that was the same kind of thing. Like, oh, yeah, right. This is like, you know, and now, I mean, my life is just lousy with gays and Jews. Just too many, to be frank, of both. Sometimes they're one in the same. I got some gay juice. Okay.

Well, I'm going to head out. This was nice. This was nice. No, but I imagine, like, especially in northern michigan like a it's probably still feels like camp is it very campy and very campy oh yeah it's it's right on the on the lake it's like it's very very campy and so you're like in a bubble you know totally yeah and we were also like interlock in itself is a tiny, tiny little town in Michigan. And Michigan, if you travel outside the property of Interlochen,

it's so hard to believe that both of those environments exist in the same location because uh very conservative like michigan is like uh really and there i don't think many of the local people in and around interlochen i don't know this for sure but i think our our sense as students there when we would go out in the world was that there was a lot of like art school, like, like they, they were not into it. Right. Right. But that was my experience too, of, of just like, I was like, Oh my gosh, there's, there's so much more to the world. And I was just plunged and yeah, a totally, totally new environment. But very much a bubble, very much a bubble.

Yeah. And what took you to Northern? Why pick Northern of all the Northern Illinois universities? Northern Illinois universities. We call it Northern in Illinois. You call it – there's Northern, there's Eastern, there's Western, and there's Southern. That's right.

All the directions. There are. There are. They caught them all covered. They caught them all covered they caught them all covered which is so nice and uh yeah and there's but western Illinois like I didn't know anybody that went to western but I knew kids who went to southern southern was a party school yes my brother went to eastern which is like eastern and northern seemed to be very similar just one was closer to Chicago like DeKalb is not that far from Chicago.

No. Yeah. Yeah, not far at all. And that was when I first dipped my toes into improv. I did the improv intensive at IO the summer between my junior and senior year of college. And what year is that? That would be, that was 2006. Wow.

That summer. I am old. Me too. I was trying to think like, wait, I wonder if there's any overlap, if there's anyone. No, no. Everyone that I know is dead now. Oh, no. Yes.

Oh, God. I'm the last improvis. Oh, no. Yes. Oh, God. I'm the last improviser from my era. Wow. Yeah. Well, we're thrilled you're here. So, yeah, I did. So, why Northern? Why Northern?

Oh, why Northern? That's right. Yeah. I, okay, well, I, listen, did I audition for Juilliard? Yeah. Oh, boy. Did I get in? No.

We'll be right back with more Three Questions. Can't you tell my love are growing so part of the interlocking theater program is your senior year you go to this um we would take like a a group field trip to these auditions called the unified auditions and at the palmer house hilton in Chicago, what would happen? I don't know if this is still how it's done. But what would happen is all of the like, conservatory acting training programs around the country and some out of the country would, each of the schools would like, have a room at the Palmer House Hilton, a conference room, and they would just, you would like sign up, you'd get an audition time, and they would just see like

tons and tons of kids coming through and auditioning. But it was nice because you could like bang out, like you can audition for like 20 schools over the course of a weekend. you can audition for like 20 schools over the course of a weekend. So we did that and I auditioned for all these different schools. And then I really liked – and Northern Illinois has a BFA acting program and it was the head acting teacher of that program was a very renowned Meisner teacher. Her name was Catherine Gately. And people would – she like formed this program at this school.

And people were really into her program. And so I auditioned. And then the woman I auditioned for, Deborah Robertson, who's like the movement teacher at NIU, I really liked her. We got along really well. And Northern wasn't on my radar at all. And then I went and visited and I sat in on some acting classes. And it was not how I envisioned how Juilliard was, where there's so much budget and resources. Even Interlochen was like that. The theater was so beautiful, and our classrooms were gorgeous.

And they had a ton of funding and resources to make the facilities really nice and at northern it's like it's a public university and they're the theater department was didn't have a ton of resources it was like i remember our acting class was in this this like uh lower level room that was so dark and dirty i feel like they discovered that that building later got torn down because they discovered asbestos everywhere like it was like it was really bad and we shared a hallway with the anthropology department so it was very much not like what i always fantasized theater school was going to be like. Right. Yeah, but there were probably some really hot anthropologist dudes walking around.

Oh, my gosh. The hottest. The hottest. Yeah. You want to dig for some bones over here, buddy? Yeah. I don't even know what that means. Oh, I know what it means.

Oh, all right. Okay. Yeah. Oh, I know what it means. Oh, all right. Okay. Yeah. And yeah, so, but this teacher was so great and the program seemed really great.

And so that's what brought me there, that Meisner training. Now, when you say Meisner training, what does that mean? I mean, just, you don't have to get into the atomic details, but just what is generally speaking? Huh? I said fade in like I was about to read you a whole screenplay. Right, right. aligns with improv really well because the whole philosophy behind it is active listening, being in the moment, not pre-planning anything, really working off your partner, whatever they're giving you that informs how you say your next line, being affected by your partner in the moment in that way. Yeah, that's perfect.

Yeah, exactly. And the first year or two years of the training, we never touched a script. It was all just working on being present with another person on stage and communicating what you're getting from them and how they're making you feel. And that's what, if you've heard of the exercise repetition, that's like what that does. Is it like you would say to me, you have a gray sweatshirt, and then I would repeat that back to you. And then you'd say it again to me and I'd repeat it back. And the point is not the words. The point is like what I'm getting from you when you say you have a gray sweatshirt.

So if you're like, you have a gray sweatshirt. And then internally, I'm like, whoa, he seems like annoyed by me or something. And so that will inform how I say I have a grave gray sweatshirt back to you yeah so that's that's the idea that you do repetition for a bit and then you start like incorporating character and then you start incorporating intent and then you start incorporating scripts okay yeah but a lot of improv yeah because i was, I mean, because I don't, I mean, I get paid to act for a living, but I learned how to act from going to film school and then doing improv. And, you know, you kind of learn to act in improv while you're figuring out something to say. Yeah.

So the acting kind of becomes, you just get used to committing and saying things and being that person. Yes. And there are techniques with film acting that you learn. And I was lucky enough to get work. And then I, you know, working was where I learned how to do it. So when people say, oh, I went to Stella Adler, I went to Meisner. I don't know what the fuck they're talking about. Right. Right. And I took a couple of theater classes in college and did not respond to them well. I mean,

improv was much more like- Totally. When you say two years before you touch a script, that would have made me bananas. I would have been like, what? What am I doing here? Yeah. another one where were trees today what it was a lot of that it was a lot of that yeah but what i do i i i completely agree with you that a lot of a lot of the actual training of like being a film or a television actor happens just in the experience of doing it. Yeah. So there's nothing that you can really be taught.

You just kind of have to learn it. Yeah, yeah. And even with improv, you go to classes. Yeah. And yeah, you learn the rules. And the rules are important. And you stick to the rules. But you don't learn anything until you're on stage in front of strangers.

Really. Right. You know, you just got to do it. Yeah. But I do feel there were tools that I was given in that training that I really like I found improv, it completely – I was like, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. Oh, good. I was going to ask how did you go from this aim, this years-long aim of being a fancy Juilliard actor to then, you know, to then being, you know, in a t-shirt and jeans, you know, in the basement of somewhere with six other people and eight people in the crowd,

you know, being funny, you know, I mean, how does that, are you just, you, did you just say buy Juilliard as soon as you, you know, or that kind of notion of that? I just say, you know, once, once improv started, you just knew like, oh, this is so much more fun. It really ties in with generally what I've learned being in L.A. and having lived here for like 13 years now and pursuing this career, when I found improv, one of the things that I loved so much about it was that it was so, it was just such pure creativity. It was completely, I loved the collaborative part of it i loved how like the more i committed and like really like acted the the whatever character i was being like

fully brought all my emotion to like gave every part of myself to the scene the more that was like rewarded and it was funny it was funny. It was funny because I was really playing it as like real and with the depth of emotion that I would do in acting school or whatever. And I had so, it was so fun. I had so much fun doing it. And when I moved to LA and continued to improvise, and simultaneously I had an agent and I went out for auditions, I never got anything. And that's where this notion, this fancy Juilliard, like, oh, want to like be in movies I want to do this I want to be a really like serious actress I had to let it let that dream not go but but just loosen my grip on it a bit because I was I first of all I hadn't like no idea how i was gonna get there yeah there was

no path and i was enjoying improv and that that community and the friends i was finding there and like that creative outlet so much that i did sort of have a reckoning where I was like, well, what? There was a shifting of the goalposts, I think, where I kind of let that, the lifelong dream I've had of being this fancy actor, let that go and just be present in what was happening. Well, also because you make those decisions when you're a kid. Yeah. And then you get older and you realize like, I, you know, I'm not so sure that's what I wanted to do anyway. Yeah. And that happens throughout your whole life, you know, like

what I want to do now is different than what I wanted to do 10 or 15 years ago. I mean, it's, you know, or what's important to me or what I really want to follow, you know, it's like, it all, it always is evolving. So. Right. And your expectations, I, that, that is like another big lesson is like, your expectation, as much as you can try to just be just be loose and free with your expectations. Because things will never be like what you expect them to be like. And that can't be something that holds you back or is a depressing thing. It's like I had these expectations of like,

oh, I'm going to, and then I'll go to Juilliard and then I'll do the thing. And then I'll do it. And then I'll have my dream. And what actually was my dream was revealing it itself to me gradually. And wasn't like this expectation that I had in my head. Yeah.

How do you get from DeKalb to Hollywood? Driving. We'll be right back. There, that's another good one. Great. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. We're cooking on these commercials.

That's a laugh line. You got to get out on those. I've watched a fella do that every now and then. Great. So we did part of the theater program at Northern Illinois was we would do showcases. The graduating seniors would do a showcase for agents. We did one in Chicago and then in New York and in Los Angeles. Yeah. Fancy pants. That's pretty New York and in Los Angeles. Yeah.

Fancy pants. That's pretty cool. It was really cool. Yeah. Because also my BFA class, our graduation lined up with the MFA class that was graduating. And the MFA class, they were super, they had it all together and they got the funds together for us to also go to New York and L.A. That was all them helping us organize that. So, yeah, I auditioned in L.A. and then an agent came to that showcase and I met with him while I was out here and he was like, come on out.

And so I did. Do you do monologues? Do you do scenes? What are they doing to – It's a combination of scenes and monologues. Yeah, yeah. You know, whatever will showcase. So you came out here with an agent.

I did. You came out – I did. Now, when you got here and you had run into other hopefuls, were they like, fuck you getting here with an agent already set up? How dare you? How dare you? Well, he.

So I didn't really know anybody out here. Two kids from my my class, my BFA class also moved out here. But we were in totally different parts of the town, so I didn't see them very often. We were in totally different parts of the town, so I didn't see them very often. But the first friend group I had was through an acting class that my agent recommended I sign up for because it's Meisner-based cold reading class. And so in that class, it was all like working actors. So it was old hat to them. Oh, I see.

To have an agent. Right. But I felt that I was like, oh, my God, I feel I'm so, wow, I felt so lucky to have representation. You certainly were because it's not usual to move to L.A. with an agent out of college. That's like really, really great. Yes. So did you, how did you find UCB out here? Did you just, you knew like, oh, improv, Chicago? It was, I lived in an apartment building close to UCB Franklin.

Oh, really? Yes. And I would see, I would see the line out there. And I never made the connection in my head of like, I had never, I knew what Upright Citizens Brigade was, the Comedy Central show, but I didn't know what this theater was was and then my friend and i went and saw a show there and i was like oh this this is improv this is this is what the things they do in chicago and i got very excited and signed up for classes and then right away it was, oh, yes, this is where I'm going to be. Yeah, UCB is really – I mean, I feel – I mean, I was a tangential part of it because when the four of the original members who were the UCB moved to New York,

I knew Besser and Walsh. I've never met Ian or Amy, but they came to New York and I was like, what are their friends in New York? And I did monologues for them a thousand times. And my ex-wife and I lived when they got their first theater on, what was that, 22nd Street? Mm-hmm. My ex-wife and I lived two doors down, literally two doors down the street.

Oh, wow. And there was like a couple years in New York where we had joint Christmas parties, or like New Year's Eve parties. That's fun. Like there'd be a party at the theater and then also up at our apartment and we kind of, you know, people going back and forth. Yeah. There were drugs involved. Oh, I hate that.

Now I hate that. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. That's how we play it in Galax. No drugs in Galax. That's right. No drugs in Galax. I can say that's a fact.

But I really am so proud of those guys for coming, you know, for young people going to New York. And now they have basically the most vital improv school in the country. Right. You know, definitely. Like, I think the best work of the last, for sure, 10 years of improv theaters is from those guys, you know? Yeah.

It was absolutely, finding that community was a lifesaver for me. And I think a lot of people feel that way because you are really leaving a school sort of environment where you have a built-in community and you have built-in creative projects and pursuits. Like we're doing this production in the spring and we, you have scenes, you do an acting class and you're all of that's like set up for you. But when you move to LA,

none of that is set up for you. You can go, you can like pay to take acting classes, which is nice, but you don't have that sort of, I will definitely have a show that I'm doing in spring and you don't have that sort of, I will definitely have a show that I'm doing in spring. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you don't have that built-in community.

You have to find that for yourself. So UCB was definitely that for me. And also the fact that constantly just getting to do shows and no matter where they were, they were in a basement or they were like in someone's yard or whatever. It was so fun and it was so creatively fulfilling. Yeah. Yeah.

When do you start, like do you have to get a day job when you come out here? Oh yeah, I had a whole bunch. Yeah. I had a whole bunch. Yeah. I had a whole bunch. My first job was I was a hostess at a restaurant in Beverly Hills. Oh, God. I just had a memory. So this restaurant, very fancy. And they wanted the hostesses to be equally fancy. And I'm not fancy.

I don't know if... Well. Well, I don't know if you... It's a very nice gray sweatshirt. Thank you so much. You're welcome. I'm not Beverly Hills fancy. I don't... That's not...

I don't... I just don't... That doesn't come naturally to me. And I remember one time. Thank God. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. The manager had a meeting with all the hostesses and he made a comment that I was like, I think this is specifically targeted to me. He said, now, listen, some of you do a great job. You show up here, your hair is done, your

makeup's done. And some of you, it looks like you just rolled out of bed. And I was the only one who fit that description. So I knew that was me. I had like kind of weird, bushy hair. You were in pajamas at the time. In footie pajamas. I was holding my teddy bear and I was asking for a glass of milk. Yeah. Yeah. So I didn't, I worked there actually for a while and then I tried to be,

and then I was a daytime bartender at that restaurant. I wanted to be a nighttime bartender because you can make a lot of money doing that. Good cash. But they never, again, I don't think I was fancy enough. They never promoted me to that.

So I quit there. I was a dog walker for a long time. I worked for a dog walking company. That's good. Yeah. And then I just did various other like one-off jobs, some other restaurant jobs. Yeah, dog walking I think was like my main source of income for a

while. Yeah. And when do you, when do you finally start to kind of, as we talked about initially, make a living at this? Like when are you starting to kind of, what are like, what's like the first big thing to happen where you're like some cash and this is, you know, and also when you're starting out like that, you're constantly, at least I can only speak for myself, constantly plagued by the, okay, when am I going to have to quit on this? When am I going to have to go like, all right, I'm going to get a job in advertising or I'm going to, you know, sell cars or whatever, you know. I think this sort of goes along with the whole letting go of expectations thing,

because I really, there, I could not let myself think about, well, what does the next, what happens in five years? Or what does the next even year look like? I was sort of, I just got into a sort of protective mode of like, this is what I'm doing today. And I'm not even thinking about like, where future income is coming from. Yeah. It's healthy compartmentalization. Yeah. Yeah. It's life-saving. It's life-saving. Compartmentalization. Yeah. Yeah. And so I didn't really have a plan. I did start like coaching improv.

I started teaching improv. And that was great. And then I got the first role I got. Well, the first like I got a job in a regional cheer wine commercial, which felt great being somebody. Sure. Being from, yeah. Yeah. Right near home.

Yeah. That's right. And so that was very exciting. But that did not, that maybe was like $500 or something. Yeah. That was not, could not sustain for long. And then I got a part in Silicon Valley. That was the first TV job I ever got.

Oh, great. Yeah. Was that the first season? That was the first season, and yeah, I show up towards the end. It was just one episode, but that sort of felt like it broke the seal or something because then I started. It's also coincided with doing shows at UCB and meeting people and like um you start to see like oh it feels so much more

accessible because your friends are the ones who are like making shows and doing like it It felt like being in the UCB community was a big part of how I met people and how people knew what I could do and would bring me in to do a thing. Yeah. So then that started to pick up a bit. I did a Cascade commercial, which was huge. That was the first like, oh my God, this is what can happen. Yeah. Those good national commercials. I don't know if it's the same anymore, but I know when I was starting, there were people that would like, hey man, I got a Crest toothpaste ad. I'm set for the year. Like they could quit their waiter job just based on what that would do for them. I think the pay structure is different now.

It is. Yeah, because television is so different. Yeah. But in those days, you could get one of those things and it would just, you'd be set. You'd be set. Yeah, you'd get, and especially if it was a commercial that ran for years and years, you know. Right. So, yeah, Cascade, like, when you, like, is the Cascade commercial, like, can you quit dog walking? Can you quit, do it, like, did that sort of?

I think that I sort of tapered off with dog walking, and then that company eventually went, disappeared. But I did taper off of the dog walking, And I was also like, I was on a house sketch team at UCB. So I was like, really putting a lot of time into that. And yeah, our house improv teams and practicing and coaching, I was really running around doing a lot of improv stuff and living off that cascade money. And also I was sharing a studio with my boyfriend at the time. So our rent was very affordable. I could really make that money last for a while. Right. That'll keep a relationship together.

Oof. Yeah. It oddly was so romantic. Oh, was it? Yeah. Even though the only place, this studio was so small, the only place this studio was so small the only place to sit was on the bed that's where we ate dinner

it was like that but it was very exciting because it was like oh my god I'm doing it that was my work and my work is created I'm going around and doing improv. It felt great. It felt like the, I realized then I was like, this is the dream.

I'm living the dream. When you get that, that paycheck is just like, oh my God, you can, you can do this for a living, you know? Because you do it for so long for nothing other than the fun of it. And I mean, and at least for me, like I never had any solid game plan. I just was kind of like, yeah, this is fun. And I see other people kind of making a living at this. And I understand that's a possibility.

Right. But then once you get like, you're like, oh, my God. I mean, mean for me it was doing a live show it was like oh my god i you know i'm making enough money i'm certainly doing as well as i did with the piecemeal waiting tables working for a moving company right putting together lockers for my uncle kind of you know income that i had before that uh so yeah it's it's something super powerful about getting paid for the thing that you do for free just because you, you love doing it.

Yes. Yes. And having that all with the backdrop of going to shows every, every night, pretty much like it it felt so i felt so alive so vibrant and it gives you the honestly i mean now uh you know in my 50s i it is like i had the kind of youth that you you know like i had a really fun youth that was full of lots of and i I, you know, and aside from like, oh, I was hanging out with people that now are, you know, now are famous or successful or whatever. That's like secondary to just like, oh my God, the fun that we had. The fun. Just the fun and the laughing. So much laughing. Yeah. And making, and, and also like the audience is having so much fun and you're also having so much fun with the people you're on stage with. It's just, it's such a high. It's such a positive experience.

And I had that same kind of reflection of like, I was thinking about my 20s, which were flawless. I think that's well known. I made no mistakes. Yeah. I think that's well known. I made no mistakes. Yeah. But I think about how lucky I was that I met this, got to be in this community where we celebrated each other and made each other laugh. And it's just so freeing.

and then also making other people, like having people come to the show, audience members making their night better by laughing. It was just, it's so, you do feel like so excited that you really lived life to the fullest is what it feels like. Can't you tell my love are growing now you uh pretty early on in in in getting work you were a series regular on i i forget the name the patrick stewart yes blunt talk blunt talk and he plays sort of like an irascible talk radio guy yeah yeah he's like a um a british like journalist um i he was based on um or inspired by the the movie network and that character you know that yeah sure um howard yeah yeah yeah um so and it was from the brain of Jonathan Ames,

who is such an amazing writer, has such a unique sense of humor. So, yeah, I was so thrilled to be on that show. And that was pretty, was that one of your, like, is that an early job to get paid for? It was an early job. Yeah, yeah. And initially, actually, that early job to get paid for? It was an early job. Yeah, yeah.

And initially, actually, I auditioned for this series regular role in it and did a callback and came close to it, didn't get it. And I was so devastated because that's the closest I had gotten to anything like that. And I had been up to this point, just to really paint a picture for you. I had been auditioning for eight years and had never gotten a single thing. Wow. Nary a thing. And I went out for hundreds of things.

Yeah, yeah. So getting that close was very exciting. And when it didn't work out, it was a bummer. But then a few weeks later, they were like, they're adding another part and they want you to play this part. It's not a regular, but you'll be in most of the season. And so me and Kar and Sony, his part, we were like sort of a duo or whatever in this world. And he and I went through that together the first season. And it was initially picked up for two seasons because it's Patrick Stewart

and it's Jonathan Ames. I mean, so that was cool knowing there was like a little bit of somewhat job security. After the first season, they informed Karin and I that they were making a series regulars for the second season. Oh, wow. That's great. Which was great. Yeah. Yeah.

That was really exciting. And does that really, like, do you feel like, okay, now that's it? Yeah. Yeah. uh does that really like i do feel like okay now that's it like i yeah yeah i cried so hard the day that we when we wrapped shooting the first season i i mean i now think back on that and i'm pretty embarrassed because every to everyone else was like okay this job's over go to the next job uh and like we all like each other and it's fun and but you know yeah but i had i was like no this is it this is the end this for me this is it i don't know if i'm ever gonna get another job like this i'm in i so i clung to it with the ferocity yeah so much emotion i just sobbed and sobbed and sobbed when the first season was

over um and then the next season was over and then it got it got canceled shortly after that yeah yeah so and and i mean i imagine that's tough i you know i yeah no shit i mean i'm like like what was that like i bet it sucked you know i in fact, I know for a fact it sucked. Yeah. I know what that's like. It did. And it also, it was just very, I mean, in that sort of protective way of, I'm really not thinking any further ahead than like next week. Yeah. thinking any further ahead than like next week yeah so when that ended i was i was really like

okay okay now that might be the only thing i ever get yeah it's a weird it's a weird combination of privilege yeah and you know like you your wildest dreams, you know, the gal from Galax, Galax, Galax gal, the Galax gal in Hollywood on a TV show. And then and you're you know, and you're really like, yep, that's it. And for me, when I was on series that see because, you know, they they shift to it seems when it's positive it seems like my god this show is doing great and then literally a day or two later they'll be like oh these new numbers are not good and you're like what you know yes and you start to make plans in your mind when the show is on and it's going you start to make plans about what your life is going to be like because this thing is going to keep going. And then it doesn't.

And then it doesn't. And then it's you're like while you're still in this space of privilege, you're scared fucking shitless. Yes. Because there's literally nothing in front of you. It is a void. It is a complete dark void. There's no assurance of anything, any kind of security or stability or income in any way. Yeah.

And all those plans, just you feel like such a moron for having had like, oh, my God, I was thinking about like, you know, buying a house. Yeah. What was wrong with me? You know? Yeah. And it's again, that idea of adapting expectations or you, you, you, you have these, but you just have to get into this mode of like, well, I expected this and now that's not happening. You just have to get so used to letting go of what you expected things to look like. And especially, I imagine too, this has happened to

you. Even within the work, you can never, I mean, one of the things that I've learned is don't hold on anything too hard. Like just be every single thing you do. Yes. do not trust it at all. No, no. Just think that at any moment it could just vaporize. That's right. That's right. Exactly. I think that that, I mean, it sounds like,

oh, that's not a very positive way to move through life. But actually it is because nothing is so precious to you that you can't you can't like grow away from it or be you're just so open and adaptable and able to like move in a pivot to a different direction yeah when you don't hold on like i felt that way even just the auditioning process i don't know if you felt this way but i would get so nervous for auditions and I would spend hours preparing. I would go in, do the thing, torture myself for the next few days about whether it went well or not, and then find out I didn't get it and feel terrible. And over the years of, many years of doing that, I then learned like, oh, the more I'm just like, well, whatever happens, like I have, if I have no attachment to what the result is going to be, I can, I can be happy in my

head. Yeah. I, it's a, it's a crazy, it's like, I always think about, it's like, it's like I always think about it's like it's like asking someone to dance at a dance when you're a teenager it's like the person that acts like they don't give a shit about dancing they can take your leave dancing if they turn off the music and the lights went on they'd be fine to leave like that is the sexiest person that's the person that you want to dance with. Right. The one that doesn't give a shit about it. That's just like, yeah, I like dancing. Okay.

And yeah, you know, or, you know, or like what's more attractive than someone who's not that interested in you. Exactly. Well,

it's also there. There's just an ease about someone when they're, and that's, that is easy to watch. You know what I mean? Like that, that, that puts the audience at ease. The same is true in an improv audience. Like if the, the audience is aware that the improvisers are nervous, they are very scared

for them. Like they don't get to just enjoy. Yeah. And when you feel like someone is settled and at ease, it's like, oh, great. Now I can just – now I can really observe your performance and enjoy it. It's a weird thing to not care, to spend so much time caring and thinking and stressing, and then you realize like, oh, no, I'm caring and stressing and worrying over getting a job when, or being good at what, you know, like it's kind of, you put them together. I want to be good and I want to get a job. And then you realize like, no, what actually makes my life better and it has the appearance

of making me more hireable is being like, here I am. This is what I got. You say yes, that'd be great. You say no, eh, you know, okay. Right. I have other things going on. I don't, my identity doesn't hinge on this. Yes. Whereas the truth is it does. Yeah, but it also too, your identity hinges in,

your identity isn't hinged to you in a job. You know, like say like when a show gets canceled, you're not thinking like, oh my God, that job, that job was me. And I know people in my life whose job are them. Like their identity is so tied up in their job. And I just, it seems so dangerous, but that's also for me from being in a very volatile industry. There's people, you know, I guess if you work for an accounting firm and you're a good accountant and the firm is strong, you can wrap your identity up in that.

Sure. Because you're not going anywhere. Crunch the numbers. Yeah, sure. Right, exactly. Whatever that means. Whatever that means. I'm crunching.

I never hear the crunching. But I, yeah, it just, it always seems like it's just it's better to not care so to just yes have a light touch just have a loose grip have a light touch have a light touch and be be adaptable um be water okay okay okay and i'm the first person to ever say that and you are i'm the first and only person to ever say that be water ruin hardwood floors as much as you can that's my advice to you kids uh now i'm looking i because just kind of you know i did a google on you and I saw some, and I saw like some projects like a, I saw an interview with you and Betsy Sedaro about a female arm wrestling movie.

Yes. Like that was raw. The world has been robbed up by COVID so far. Is that the case? That is the case. That is the case. Yes. Betsy and I were in a, it's like a buddy comedy,

buddy sports comedy about women's arm wrestling. We had the time of our lives making that movie, as you can imagine. Yeah, we had so much fun. What's it called? It's called Golden Arm. Golden Arm. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and Betsy's so funny.

She is. Betsy's one of the funniest people in the world. I mean, she is out of this world funny. She's so great. Yeah. And Maureen Baruccia directed it. And we just had so much fun making that movie. And then the other thing that I saw was you're on, you play the voice of a droid in a Star Wars game show for children?

I was like, what the fuck is this? It's a real, what a life. This, I don't know if you remember these shows from like the 90s, but Legends of the Hidden Temple and Guts and these like kids competition game shows. Did you? No, I don't. I mean, I, you know, I knew that like the slime one.

Oh yeah, Double Dare. Yeah, like those ones kind of. Yeah. But no, I'm not aware of the other one. They were really big for me growing up. That was like must see TV for me after school was watching these competition shows. And the guys who created this show work at lucasfilm and they

were fans of those types of shows as well and so they they were like what if we did one that takes place in the star wars universe and so they uh created the jedi temple challenge the premise of which and it's all like in canon like it's all it's all in the star wars universe yeah um the idea is that the kids are young padawans and they they come on the team they come on the show in teams and any relationship could be brother sister best friends cousins you know um and they go through they they have to pass a series of trials and then at the end if they one team manages to make it through all three they will become jedi knights oh very exciting and you're the voice of a droid and i'm the voice of a droid i'm you're not in the droid are you because it's just a humanoidid. But you're not in the droid, are you? No. Because it is a humanoid.

Like there's a person in a costume. There is a person in a costume. That's Gordon Tarpley. And he designed 83, which is the name of my droid, designed her how she would look and like built it himself. And he operates it. And then, yes. And then I did the voice. And I played the droid companion to Ahmed Best,

his Jedi Master, Kelerin Beck. And I'm like, we're like riffing with each other. You know, I'm like wisecracking and, you know. Are you on set with him talking, like just off set? Yeah. And the droid has to react to whatever you're saying it was a really interesting setup uh i was in the control room where all the monitors were and uh all the like producers and writers and things and i had a microphone that was attached to a speaker

that was nearby gordon yeah so that so that um ahmed Ahmed could hear what I was saying and banter with me and the kids would hear me too. But then also I had another microphone that went to a little earpiece in Gordon's ear where I would be like, okay, okay, dance. And then I'd say something. And then he would, but we didn't do that very much after a while it became much more streamlined where i would just he just we sort of got in a flow together where he he like knew how to move when i would be talking yeah yeah um but yeah it was it was very strange being like that's those fun weird gigs though you know so much fun yeah and especially if it's nice

people that's the other thing it's like the people that you work with generally are nice but there are sometimes when the set's kind of a bummer and that's when it can be sort of like right no these guys were so great oh the the creators of the show were amazing it was so much fun and so much fun doing a job where you're surrounded by kids who are like really focused hard on like accomplishing a task. Yeah. And super excited. Super excited. Yeah. It was a very positive, very positive experience.

The contact high you get from kids who are into something is just like the first time that you take your kid to Disneyland, it's just like, oh, my God. Yes. It's better, I think, than going yourself, you know, like the contact high you get from your kid. Oh, my God. Yeah. Yeah, it was cool.

We had so much fun. Yeah. So that was a great job. I hope we get to do more. All right. Excellent. We'll right. Excellent. We'll see. Yeah.

What else have you got coming up? Got cooking? Yeah, what COVID allows. And then also, too, like, where do you, you know, what's your aspirations? And that doesn't even have to be showbiz-wise. It could be living on a houseboat in Amsterdam or something. That's it. Oh.

You just nailed it. That's easy. All right. Well, thanks, folks. Bye. Well, what's coming up this holiday season is a movie that my friend Clea Duvall directed. And she and I wrote this movie together called Happiest Season. Oh, right.

Oh, my God. I've heard about that. Yeah. I'm so, so excited for that to be coming out. I'm not quite sure how it's coming out. I know the original plan was a theatrical release, but, you know, what are movie theaters now? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But it will be clear how you can access it. And this is like a lesbian Christmas romance. That's right. It's a romantic comedy, a Christmas movie. Yes, about a lesbian couple. And it's so much fun. It's a comedy, a Christmas movie. Yes, about a lesbian couple. And it's so much fun. It's really moving. I think it's such a perfect movie for right now.

It's all about self-acceptance and family and connection. And it's just very joyful. It's a really happy movie. And I bet you, I mean, unless it's a piece of shit It's a really happy movie. And I bet you, I mean, unless it's a piece of shit, which I don't know. I mean. Well, yeah. You never know.

It could be. You never know. No, but I mean. You never know. It's also, I bet you it's going to be like an incredibly important thing. You know, just like. Yeah. The word representation gets kicked around but it's a very important thing and i think that it's like it's probably

it's going to be you know it just sounds like it's probably going to be really meaningful to a lot of people so i think it will be and i on you oh well thank you i it's also i think so cool that it it is like a mainstream it's a studio movie it and it it's telling this story and it's it's so wild that there aren't already a ton of christmas movies yeah you know romantic movies about gay couples like yeah and so it feels really exciting that this is the beginning of you know hopefully there are so many more after right something that's been due for a while yeah exactly yeah and then uh and and do you how it was writing a screenplay like that and selling that was that something that you're like is that is that just second to acting or do you think like that that could be something that you could very happily segue into i i would be thrilled to um hold both i i one thing that was so fun and

i mean the whole process of writing this with clea was such a blast. And an aspect that was really special to me was this, the character we wrote for me. It was so much fun creating her with Clea and making these decisions about what she was like and what her dynamic in the family was like and what she would say. It felt really cool to be on that side of it as well as on the acting side of it. I really love that. So it does make me want to write more things for me. Wow. For me and me alone. For me and me alone. It was very fun. And actually, Lauren Lapkus and I are writing a movie that we want to be in together. We're writing roles for ourselves. And so it felt so fun

and accessible. And it was, you know, it's a lot of work, a lot of thinking. Yeah. You got to think about a lot of things. I know, I know. It's a bummer. It's a bummer. You know what? And I hate using my head. I hate it.

But it felt so much more like, oh, I can do this. And this is another means wherein I could be creative and, you know, and have fun. And, yeah, so it was cool. Well, we've now come to the part of the, you know, the part where you're supposed to sum it up, wrap it up. Oh, God. What have you learned? Like, you you know like what's the point of your story here because frankly i can't find one it's been a mess all over the map oh my god this is so embarrassing oh i feel like i interviewed six people oh no well I guess the message I want to leave your listeners with is, hey, listen up. Now, listen.

They're listening. Okay, great. Are you comfortable? If you're not comfortable, get comfortable. Guys, get comfortable. Guys, get comfortable. This could take a while. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Because buckle up. It's going to be another hour.

I mean, I really think that the story, the point of my story is, hey, you got to let go of expectations and be as unattached to results in any part of your life as you can be. That's great. Be in the moment and see what comes to you. Yeah. see what comes to you. Yeah. Unattached to results is a great way to, and it's hard in what, and I don't know, you know, I was going to say in a results-based society, but we might just be results-based creatures. You know, I don't know if it's necessary, if you can put it off on one thing, but yeah, that's definitely the thing is that when you, if you're just focused on the results, you're, you're, you're missing what the important thing

is because ultimately, I mean, it's, it's what you've experienced and it's what, it's how you felt going through all of it. That's really the point, you know yeah it is it is and the and if you're so attached if you if you cling to results so much you will just you're just setting yourself up to constantly be disappointed because nothing ever goes the way you think it will and you know the way it's all chaotic and especially in this business it's so unpredictable you have no control over anything yeah and so the sooner you can let go of the steering wheel yeah and let jesus take it that's right as you go right into the ditch yeah but there's a bunch of cool teens hanging out there so you're gonna have and then when the cops come and they're like what why why did you why did you run over those pedestrians and drive into the ditch?

Jesus took the wheel. Sorry. Good luck getting that guy in jail. Yeah. Yeah. Try to put on an APB for Jesus. Yeah. You'll have every hippie in town in here for a lineup. Well, Mary, thank you so much for taking the time to sit down and talk with us today. I have nothing else to do. So it was really, this might not even be recorded. Oh, okay. This is just basically, yeah.

You're spending time with a shut-in at this point. Oh. Yeah. Well, great. Good for you. This is it. You'll get your reward in heaven for this podcast. I hope so.

Do you have a voucher or something that I can provide as proof? I mean, she knows. Okay. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. It was so fun talking with you. I'm thrilled to talk to you. It's great to see you. yeah thank you so much for having me it was so fun talking with you i'm glad i'm i'm uh i'm i'm thrilled to talk to you it's great uh to to see you i mean i haven't seen you in ages great to

see you too and and i hope the movie does really well the would tell me the name of the movie that that you wrote with clea again it's called happiest season happiest season look at that will you guys go look at it? Go look at it. Listen to it. Let it into your heart. If you're going to look at it, it's important that you also listen to it. Precise.

Please. All right. Well, thank you so much, Mary Holland. And thank you all out there for listening as usual. And I will have someone else next week. I don't know.

Oh, usual and I will have someone else next week I don't know who the three questions with Andy Richter is a team Coco and Earwolf production it's produced by me Kevin Bartelt executive produced by Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco and Chris Bannon and Colin Anderson at Earwolf our supervising producer is Aaron Blair associate produced by Jen samples and Galitza Hayek and engineered by Will Becton and if you haven't already make This has been a Team Coco production in association with Earwolf.