The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Murray Hill

Episode Date: August 1, 2023

Murray Hill (HBO's Somebody Somewhere, Hulu's Drag Me to Dinner) joins Andy Richter to discuss the road to becoming Mr. Showbiz, the 1990s drag scene, the joys of old-school variety shows, self-discovery through performance, and much more.Recorded on June 14, 2023. 

Hi, this is Andy Richter, and you are listening to The Three Questions once again. And today I have a legend, a New York City legend, currently, but soon to be a world legend. Can I say that, Murray? I mean, is that fair? Hey, you know what? How much do I owe you? I'm talking to Murray Hill here today. Keep going.

I'm talking to Murray Hill today. And I'm so happy to have you on. We're talking by Zoom, which, you you know because we're on different coasts you know uh you're east coast i'm west coast i think i'm i'm about as west coast as it gets and i'm about as east coast as it gets yeah yeah uh are you and well what are you doing what's what's your summer like what are you doing with yourself these days well you know it i don't want to get political right off the bat but you know there know, there's a writer's strike. So there's a reason why I'm at home talking to you today. Yeah, that's the same thing, too.

Yeah, yeah. I'm the same thing. This podcast. These podcasts are, you know, they're bulletproof in terms of, you know, industry downturns and stuff. We got this covered. Yeah, yeah. It's keeping me, you know from that next job as you know yeah i have i'm in this show right now and i'm not i didn't want to come on here to promote

it but i'm on a show i'm called drag me to dinner and it's yeah it's an unscripted show and yeah wow and i'm excited because uh can you swear on this program? You sure as fuck can. As you know, it's a shit show out there as far as what's happening with trans people, queer people, drag people. So this whole summer and this whole month, my whole mission in life is to say, fuck you. We're here. We're great. We're very fun people.

And there's nothing to be afraid of. So that's what we're doing we're great when we're very fun people and there's nothing to be afraid of so that's absolutely absolutely it's so it's so maddening i mean you know look i'm cishet cishet normal midwestern boring guy you know like polo shirt wearing dad uh that i can be but shirt wearing dad uh that i can be but it's just so dumb it's all like i it's yes it and i mean i know it's easy for me to say it's dumb it's hateful it's terrifying it's chilling but it's also so fucking dumb it's all like it's like we you, going backwards and like it there there wasn't, you know, like what was what life seemed to be getting better. It just seemed, you know, it seemed to be like more inclusive. People were, you know, it's crazy to me. Yeah, I got scared.

I know. And but I mean, but they also to the problem, too, is that they're like cynically being misdirected to hating on trans people because what else do these people have to talk about more tax cuts for rich people you know like building more walls at the border that don't work it's like they don't have any ideas so they got to pick on people and it's just depressing how many people are willing to go along with that you know it's the version tactic yeah you know you you said uh you said you know you're a heterosexual cis white you know chubby guy from the midwest well you know everybody knows what you look like and hopefully they'll look me

up after today but i look exactly the same as you do yeah yeah yeah right but i'm not so i'm only a little different andy so yeah just a couple of guys what's the i know i know what's the big deal well it's all just it yeah it's all you know i don't know it just it's really it's depressing it's it's annoying and it just uh like i say you know how long ago was it that ellen degeneres had a sitcom in which she came out as gay and it was the biggest fucking news in the world and now it was in the 90s yeah and that's that's not that long ago and now it's like you know just having having someone a character being gay as like a an exclamation point it's like it's a period it's not an exclamation point. It's like, it's a period. It's not an

exclamation point anymore, which thank God, thank, or a comma, you know, it's like, I know you're in comedy. It's like, yes. And yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's, it's, uh, it's silly. It's just, it's like, uh, but, uh, you know, yeah, but I'm glad you're fighting and I'm glad you're out there doing this because it is important. It is important to just get them to cut it out. And then also, too, I try to avoid it, but it's like when you look at, they talk about grooming. When you look at who's grooming, it's like it's clergy. It's not drag queens or kings.

It's clergy. So, yeah, let's start a... let's start up let's get real people yeah yeah well now you say you're an east coaster where are you from originally so i grew up on in new england oh okay a whole bunch of different places and then i ended up in new york in new york i think i've been here you know it's when you forget how long you've been here you know you've done a good job yeah yeah. Yeah. Maybe 25 years now. Something like that. Well, I mean, I was aware of you back when I lived in New York, mainly because I loved that your name was a neighborhood, which I don't know if even people outside of.

Did you live in Murray Hill or did you just pick it i mean it's not even an interesting story but my first apartment in uh in new york it was it was like literally the size of a matchbook was on 23rd and lexington yeah i had a post up my apartment was so small i didn't even have a mailbox so i had to go you know five blocks up the street to get a mailbox and then when i was starting doing this and i didn't have a name yet it i just walked down the street and it was like murray hill diner murray hill cinemas yeah post office and i was like murray hill so yeah it is from it's a good name it's a really good name yeah and i also love because it's one of the most and i sorry murray hillers it's one of the most like nondescript like forgettable neighborhoods in new york city like i i bet people live there that don't even really realize where murray hill is you know and it's still nobody cares about it yeah yeah yeah but well

now when you came what at what age did you move to New York then? Or if I may ask. No, I could try to remember. I don't know exactly how old I was, but I'm 51 now. I'm not so good at the math. I got here in 94. 27. Had you always known, like, you were going to end up down there in New York City, that you'd get out of New England?

I always knew I had to get out of New England I always knew like yeah you know I was very ignorant and grew up in a you know pretty right-wing family very conservative community so you know without knowing anything because I was naive I I knew I had to get out so that's one thing i at least knew yeah i made a little jump and i went to undergraduate in boston so and then you know after a little time there i was like i gotta get out of here i love boston but you know boston i don't want any problems you know what i mean right right right i know what you're talking boston has a boston has its own you know, foibles, let's say, you know. Yes. Yes.

That's a good way to put it. A nice neutral way to put it. Yeah, yeah. So I got the hell out of there, and I got to New York, and that's when, you know, I really, you know, blossomed and found myself and found my people and all that kind of stuff. Yeah. Had you been performing in New England or in college?

So I got a crazy story, but I started off as an athlete, believe it or not. I didn't always look like this. And, you know, and an artist. So, you know, you couldn't do in the suburbs, you couldn't do sports and theater at the same time. And of course, you got to do sports. That's just the way it is. Yeah, yeah. So I went to art school in Boston and then for painting, but I got obsessed with photography.

And I had a professor who was like a total weirdo. And he turned me on to Nan Golden and Diane Arbus and all these kind of like underground documentary photographers. And I just got obsessed because, you know, I came from a very sheltered environment. And now I'm looking at these pictures with like and I wasn't out yet. Right. So out is what? Still a good question. But out is out is as Murray. Yeah. You weren't married yet. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm using that. I'm going to have therapy already today.

Thank God this is free this session. Yeah. Oh, this is absolutely free. You know, so long story short, I started photographing drag queens in Boston, in the underground, in the nightlife. Wow. And I just got really obsessed with it. And my teacher encouraged me. And he put up one of my pictures of drag queen in the lobby of the school.

And the next day it was gone. And, you know, that's kind of where my fire got started because they took it down. You know, the admin board or whatever. They took it down because they thought it was offensive. Wow. And it was, you know, it was not offensive. It was just literally a picture of a drag queen smoking a cigarette right and we're talking early 90s too it's yeah it's not you know yeah it's not the height of the pc era then ah but now we call it

woke but then it was pc right yeah so you know i i think it was it was around then so i wasn't performing but i was documenting drag queens performing yeah and you know it it you know they had school assemblies about talking about censorship and the difference between painting and photography all that kind of stuff and you know i was i was a little schmuck and i and i was like you know what this wouldn't be happening in new york i had that in my head so i like got out of there and i started photographing in New York, wig stock, like Lady Bunny. Yeah. And all these people who I'm friends with now. And Tompkins Square Park, right?

Isn't that where that is? Well, it moved. It started there, but then when it got, this is before Drag Race and the internet and all that stuff. Right, right. It was on the piers and it was like sponsored by Chase Bank. Wow. And then we're like, oh my God, this is incredible. Anyway, it was like my by chase bank like then we're like oh my god this is incredible anyway it was like my second weekend in new york and i'm photographing wigstock and then i was like

you know what jesus look around everyone's doing this everyone yeah yeah so i literally said what's on the other side of the spectrum and i found a listing in a print gay magazine. So again, old. Yeah. And there was a drag king pageant at this place called the Hershey Bar in the meatpacking district. This is before the meatpacking district is what it is today. Yes. You didn't ever want to go over there. No, it was.

Yeah. No, I. Yeah, it was. It was weird. And it smelled like meat. It really smelled. It really smelled bad. Yeah. And, you know, you said it smelled like meat. It really smelled. It really smelled bad. Yeah. And, you know, you said it smelled like meat.

There could be a double entendre there, but I'm going to tell everybody who's listening. It actually did smell like meat. There were gay men there, yes, but it actually smelled like meat. We're not joking. Yeah. If you go there during the day, there were just like racks of carcasses being pushed around, you know? I mean, it was nuts. Yeah. during the day there were just like racks of carcasses being pushed around you know i mean it was nuts yeah so i i went to this pageant and it was all uh you know it was very mass representative and it was serious and there wasn't any like camp humor kind of what i'd seen in

boston uh-huh long story short i became the subject matter wow i was like oh i want to bring this humor and this this camp comedy that i've been watching into you know into this space and you'll appreciate this because i have been a fan of yours since you started you know as a kid i watched johnny carson you know i stayed up late i snuck downstairs when i was supposed to be in bed and i watched every night i watched johnny kerson yeah yeah so you know i love those big personalities like buddy hackett don who i met shecky green you know so i all so all these things are kind of in my head and absorbing and then when i decided to become this character like it was informed by all those old school catskill guys yeah yeah, yeah. It's a quick story. Did becoming Murray help you come out

in your day-to-day life, or did you just instantly become Murray and you became trans? Or do you put names to it? I know all these processes are very personal, but I'm curious.

No, that's a good question in a couple of ways. Because one is, I was joking around, I am in my 50s. So when I got to New York, we didn't have the language that there is today. Not anywhere near it. There was no transmasc, trans this, non-binary. Gender fluid. Yeah. Genderer, nothing. All it was was butcher femme or fag or dyke.

That's it. That was it. It was either, you know, and in the community, you call each other fags and dykes and trannies and all that stuff. Back then, you don't anymore. But, you know, so there wasn't any language. So me going into murray was kind of was like a seamless thing yeah because i'd always been mistaken for a boy and i always thought i was

a boy you know like there's all that kind of stuff yeah it's kind of seamless in that way and so as far as identity politics and how i identify like i definitely am somebody that doesn't uh like to go by anything. Yeah. And that's been part of, you know, I'm a little different than the generation now. I'm just like, I just want to be Murray. Because, like, when somebody, you know, writes about you doing a show or you on one of your TV shows, you know, they're not like straight, heterosexual, cis male Andy Richter.

Exactly. Right? So, and that's, so i want to be treated like you and like everybody else yeah comedian murray hill yeah but i don't go by trans or drag king or anything because it's it's also it's kind of reductive in my mind now people and they use it and it's important to them and i i don't you know disrespect anybody. For me, it's just like, you know, I'm married. Yeah. Also, who gives a fuck?

That's the other part. Yeah, yeah. Well, no, I mean. Yeah? Well, yeah. And I mean, and I agree with, you know, that's the thing that when I, you know, write scripts or try to do ideas for things like i was like i like when there's a character that's gay or you know or there's a character that's native american and the whole point of them you know or or you you pick one of them and the whole point of the person isn't to just be you know here comes the gay character

you know it's like no it's just the same way that somebody's left-handed or, you know, a character is a, you know, a hockey fan or a character is a mechanic. You know, it's just a part of the bio and, and you just want to be, you know, look at them like that. And then just kind of, you know, get the personality of the person and forget about it. Well, Andy, I don't know if you've seen the, uh, somebody somewhere. I have, I have, and it's beautiful. It's such a beautiful show. I love it.

And so I'm, you know, one of the most thrilling things about that show is how well received it is. Cause when I first, the first episode that I saw, I was like, Ooh, I'm not sure if people are gonna, but they, it's, I'm not sure if people are going to. But there's people, the people that love it really, really love it. And thank goodness they do. Yeah. And to what you just said, I think like my character on the show and Jeff Hiller's character, Joel, it's like, it's exactly what you said.

We are people, characters first. Yeah. Just like everybody else on the show. We also happen to be trans and happen to be gay so it's not the fred's not going i'm gay i'm gay i'm trans i'm trans it's just like you know we have the same problems as everybody else the same romances and you know processing we got to do and grief and stuff so i'm just like blown away that hbo allowed us to do that yeah we didn't go down the path of oh here's the squirrely you know high maintenance queenie guy and here's the trans guy that's getting beat up in the corner right it's like no you know fred got married this season

and jeff has joel has a lover you know so i do see the, it's like a quiet progress. Yeah. Because it's a small show, but people are responding to it. And I think it's because we're not in your face. We're just, kind of what I started off saying is like, we're just people. Yeah. Yeah. Can't you tell my love you as a performer did did murray did becoming murray like had you been a performer before or did murray when you became murray was it like a magical transformation

into somebody who could be the life of the party and standing on stage and having everybody focus on you you know in in that there was no language and role models and all that kind of stuff when i was young i think murray enabled it's interesting because when i'm murray even now after you know spending at least three or four million dollars on therapy the last 30 years you know i'm more you know alive and present and you know full of life when i'm murray yeah so you know i think murray in the beginning was like you know like what's that analogy like when a rib is broken or something and it grows like it grows like murray is like a you know one of those spare ribs that grows out of necessity. Like, you know, Murray saved my life. Yeah.

You know, I could have gone down a dark, you know, path. Yeah. And I think, I really think becoming Murray and like got me out of that. And it was a little disassociative to be, you know, because you're this persona, right? Yeah. Which I want to talk about that too. Yeah. It merged more as I got older.

But, you know, Murray got me to travel all over the world. He got me to meet people I would never even think about. I feel like he's responsible for my relationships, Bridget, my deep friends. So, you know, it was kind of a survival mechanism that became a career. And then, you know, and also I've loved old school cat skills comedy since I was a kid. So, you know, it's all those things happening at once. Yeah. Well, I love, too, that, like, your act is, like, you know, you've got stuff about Joey Adams.

you've got stuff about joey adams you know i mean just like like i'm just like you are not going for the young crowd when you're doing you know joey adams and elvis impersonations and henny youngman bits you know i mean you're which i love that i love it so much because it's just i i've given up on like worrying about it because i'll say, I'll say my, my, my wife and I were just at a, a few months ago, we were at a, uh, a game night in which we, we were invited by, uh, friends of ours, but it was mostly, I would say it was like 85%, 90% beautiful young gay men was that just because the owners of the party and it's just how it shaped up. I was absolutely astounded at things that these guys did not know. Like, just like Suzanne Summers, I think was one of them.

And they're like, I don't know who that is. And we're just like, what, what are you talking about? You know? And I have kids, I have a 22 year old and a 17 year old. And there's like, sometimes I'll reference people that I just am like, you know, like, I don't know, uh, Bert Convy. And they're like, not if I don't know who the fuck that is. I'm like, yeah, I know. I can't even, I'm not even going to. And like I say, I just stopped caring. I'm just going to make those references because I, what am I going to, I don't know any YouTubers. I don't know any influencers, you know? So I got to stick with what I know. Were you that way as a kid? Like, were you, were you, did you, oh, were you, were you watching the Tonight Show?

So you, you know, you loved all that, all of that kind of stuff. Yeah, because I always loved that. It was fun. Like that to me was the draw of, of this whole business was that it was fun. That, to me, was the draw of this whole business, was that it was fun. And it just seemed like these people have fun for a living. And it can be true. Right?

Yeah. Yeah. Like the Dean Martin roasts are on Amazon Prime now. Yeah. I love Dean Martin and the Dean Martin show and all. Yeah. And, you know, so, you know, I love Dean Martin. Yeah, yeah. Because, you know, he was always having fun. But, you know, they're roasting each other and they're having a good time and they're really reading each other like crazy.

Yeah. But it's still, I mean, some of it gets a little offensive now, but the intention is humor, love, and really joy. And I think that stuff is gone today. Yeah, yeah. I try to hold the torch. But even Don Rickles, I saw him live. Oh, idiot, I can't believe this. I've seen him live about 15 times.

Yeah. Sometimes Joan Rivers opened up for him. Wow. And then one time I saw Tony Danza open up for him. Wow. And the gray-haired grad was booing him because he went on for an hour. They were like, Rick Coles, Rick Coles. I mean, can you imagine?

We only have so much time. You know, Tony, he had his, like, you know, his barber shirt, quartet hat, and his plain trombone. Yeah, a song and dance. They're like, Don Rick Coles, Don Rick Coles. That's fantastic. Yeah, but I was attracted to those big personalities

that they just, they were, they were just having fun. It was like unbridled joy. Yeah. You wanted to hang out with them and you wanted to hang out with Johnny too. Right, exactly. Yeah, and I also- Thank you, watching you on TV.

Yeah, well, thank you. Yeah, because those roasts to me also too are i've actually been asked to be involved in them but i can't like they just they they do get a little too mean like they you know like yeah yeah now it's now it's really cutting you know but it it's still it also too is just like these are i mean a lot of those people obviously had the stuff written for them but to me it was always and it was one of the things i liked about early twitter is like it's a joke party it's like a p it's like a party of people writing jokes and you know and jokes there's formulas to them but the whole idea is if you

use the formula and you can still surprise somebody that's fantastic you know it's a really fun feeling so i i look at those things and yeah you're right there's some of them there's a lot of cringy stuff in it like jesus christ this stuff like the way that the rat pack would talk about and use sammy Jr. is just unbelievable. But I do believe they loved him. I do believe that they. It's very nuanced because, you know, as I'm sure you know, like Sinatra was, you know, Sammy's biggest, you know, biggest supporter.

And he literally was like, Jack and Trotter, I'm not playing here unless Sammy stays in the same hotel as me. Right. So there was that. But the way that they talked about him and even on those recordings now, you know, it's a little like, oh. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. How do you, I mean, do you have a feeling about that?

You know, because I guess this kind of stuff all the time, usually by boring people. So I'm going to delve into the boring here. Um, but this whole thing about, do you think that comedy is being squashed by, you know, wokeness and one like, and you mentioned it PC, you know, how long ago PC was, you know, was, and that, so we've been kind of dealing with this and I know the way I feel about it, but do you think that, say, for instance, the term tranny, which is now kind of verboten. But I remember when we first started to hear, well, that's not acceptable. That's impolite and hurtful. I remember hearing RuPaul say, I'm going to say that phrase. Like, that's my phrase. I don't say that phrase with hurt. I'm going to keep saying that. And I, I mean,

I don't know where Ru is with it now, but I, you know, I think there's that initial reaction of like, I'm still going to say it, but you know, you end up kind of having to know that like, but you know you end up kind of having to know that like well if i say that i'm gonna hurt young people's feelings um and is that has has that kind of thing impacted your act in much of a way or a way where you feel you can't be as uh anarchic as you want to be that's an interesting question because it's also a generational thing and rue isue is, I think, about 10 years older than I am. Yeah. And, you know, in the 80s and 90s and before that. Gay people, trans people, they called each other trannies.

Yeah. Called each other faggots and all these other dykes you did that because much like you know the other the african-american community they like these minorities have their own words that they take back that have been used to discriminate them they take it back and they use it to have power over right you know they've met remember that whole controversy with jay-z was on oprah and she was like you can't use the n-word he's like you're not understanding yeah we're taking this word back in our community so it's it's so that it is a generational thing so there is no malice when and the intention is not malice when rupaul's saying that yeah but to your point and i've had you know it's it blows me out of the water is i will have young

people today get upset when I say ladies and gentlemen, and that just cracks my head open. Yeah, yeah. Because to me, that's a very old vaudeville thing, right? Right, exactly. So, but, you know, if they don't know Suzanne Somers, they don't know vaudeville. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So, you know, to me, being woke, it means you're not an asshole yeah that's what i

think yeah that's it yeah you know when people to me and you know you're part of the the comedy world you know there's a plenty of male comics that say that crazy shit and it is transphobic homophobic misogynistic you know we've all been part of the comedy world. Yes. They're just being assholes. Yeah. They're not being smart. They're not being cool. They're just assholes. Yeah. So, you know, I wouldn't say, you know, to be woke is to be like, yeah, I respect my fellow human being.

Right. And you can take the piss out of them and make fun of them. Right. But, Andy, what would you, what do you describe, like, I don't even know how to articulate this, but the, you know, Joan Rivers, right? Yeah. And Don Rickles. Both of them said really hardcore shit. Oh.

And some of it is obviously not appropriate now. Yeah. But to me, I never thought they were angry, mean, spirited people. Yeah. They were loving and generous, spirited people. Yeah. They were loving and generous and all this stuff. And then they did. So, but today, sometimes I think people that say hardcore shit, they actually mean it. Yes.

I don't know. You know what I'm saying? Like, there's some. Well, I know, like, Sarah Silverman used to say, you know. Okay, that's a good example. She used to do really, really, like, super dark, you know, or dress up like Hitler for something. You know, she used to do like a lot of... The first couple lines is about Hitler.

Yeah, really. She used to do really kind of... And, you know, and she even kind of knew that it was like to see... I mean, because she's like snow white, you know, she's like, like a Disney princess, like pretty,

you know, dark princess saying the most hateful, horrible things. There was something that was jarring and funny. And, and, but, and,

and I am always, you know, I never, again, I knew like, you knew that she was. She didn't mean what she was saying. She was like on the right side of the material.

Yes. Right. You know, like like her intentions were to shock, but to educate and to expose, you know, differences. Right. Well, the shock of the humor, I think like there's also just the shock. Like, I mean, you know, I with my funny friends, I say horrible shit, you know, like about like murdering people or whatever, you know, and and because, you know, well, a. You know, we with each other, we we have to deal in the hard stuff, you know, like, like we can't just, you know, we can't have a light beer together. We need to like mainline darkness in order to really

enjoy, enjoy laughing at each other. Absolutely. Yeah. You know, well, we, as comedians, we need to confront dark things and we need to do stuff. You know, there's no line. I guess it's just a case by case basis, you know, in terms of like what you feel like you can say and what you can't say. Well, maybe it, maybe it's even just about the intention.

Yeah. You know, like, like when I watched Sarah Silverman, you know, it is uncomfortable and she says uncomfortable stuff, but I, I feel like I know her intention and like

with chris rock you know he's more um i'm a big fan of his he's more loose of what he says yeah but i kind of get this sense from him too like like watching joan rivers like he'll say stuff and but his intention is he's on the right side of the material he's not you know and he's calling out white people and he's calling out black people and he's calling out gay people yeah but the intention isn't to denigrate them well i don't want to get into the whole david chappelle thing but the but the but the intentions are different you know it's yeah but it's all nuanced you can't police that either yeah you know do you can't did you uh do you ever tour and i mean in your career have you toured clubs like just regular run-of-the-mill comedy clubs where people didn't

know that you were trans i kind of came up in a different path like i toured with dita bontice like all over the country okay like you know 10 times over and like you know and i've done like the west end and i've done definitely done some comedy clubs yeah and uh so it's never something i'll say in the act right i never say anything about it and people especially comedy clubs they can be a little more you know conservative but one of the one of the things i do early on right so it's? So it's my litmus test of how much trouble I'm going to be in that night. I'll do this joke of somebody in the front row. And I'm like, what's your name? Jim.

Okay, Jim, I'm going to do an impersonation of you looking at me. So I'll do this and then have him staring at me. Like deer in headlights look, right? And then I'll say, Jim, I i'm reading your mind i know what you're thinking is it a man or a woman is it a man or a woman and i'll say jim the answer is no and then usually that joke follows by for the four people that got that joke give yourselves a round of applause yeah for the rest of you it's gonna be the longest seven minutes of your fucking life so i think you know i'm a big believer of camp comedy and like disarming yeah using comedy to disarm so you know that's like the joke that i say okay let's talk

about the elephant in the room so to speak right and then i i know it's not a big deal is it let's have some fun with it and that also too is? Let's have some fun with it. And that also, too, is where hope lies. Having some fun with it. Being able to, you know, I mean, it's a hard, I don't know how we get from, because I've always noticed about like old people, and especially like of my grandparents' generation, they would have friends that were of different ethnicities but it was always like well that's the way you Italians are you know they it was not like you know Jim the Italian was Jim the Italian and Jerry the Greek was Jerry the Greek you know

and then it's like oh you great and everyone was kind of categorized by that, but they were friends, but they would bust balls based on these, you know, stereotypes. Basically. I was doing it last night. I was like, cause I'm half Italian,

half Irish. And I was like, you know, my, my friend, we ordered the cheese ravioli. Yeah. And they,

and the Parmesan came and there wasn't a spoon in it. And my friend literally without it younger than i am just threw up her hands and was like what's the spoon what's the spoon what's the spoon of the cheese i'm like no it's fucking italians it's like sometimes stereotypes are based on facts yeah yeah yeah yeah but i i mean my point is that they were all, you know, that was kind of some love mixed up in there. There was, you know, it was all like, you know, gentle kind of poking. And I wonder how we get from there to, you know, where everybody accepts everybody and we all just have fun with it. You know what I mean? Like it, it's, it's such a, there's so many stops and starts in the way it all, it all develops. And, uh, and I, and I just, you know, I just hope that it keeps going in terms of, I just want everyone to get along. That's all. No, I mean, yeah, me too.

Me too. And, you know, I know there's a lot of debates about his comedy dead and all that crap. You know, I don't think it's dead. of debates about is comedy dead and all that crap. I don't think it's dead. I don't think it's ever going to die because ultimately from the old days to today, people want to be entertained and

the world today is more, I would say, on record is more of a shit show than it ever has been. So we actually need the relief. We need to watch funny shows. We need to watch talk shows. We need to listen to podcasts just to have some break of reality that's a literal burning dumpster fire yeah yeah i don't think comedy is going anywhere right you know maybe the answer is just don't be

a fucking asshole about it yeah yeah yeah definitely is that and yep you know and if it's not for you you know if you don't like Dave Chappelle. Yeah. Don't watch the show. Don't watch it. Right. Has your act, do you feel like there's been, I mean, obviously your act has changed over the years, but has it changed in any kind of like thematic way that you can feel? Like, does it become more personal? Does it become, you know, sort of, you know, less Henny Youngman references as time goes on?

Yeah, I mean, I think, yeah, I mean, I think like Henny Youngman, right? He had the one lines. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Yeah. You know, and so, you know, I still have that kind of, I keep going, no one's going to know what I'm talking about, but the Catskills-Borscht Belt kind of rhythm, you know, like the one that they, but I do, over the years, and the young generation has helped me in this,

and I do bring a little bit more of my real life into it, like relationships, and where it's like, it's not long form, an hour of a monologue of my life and all that shit, but it's like, you know where it's like it's not long form an hour of of you know a monologue of my life and all that shit but it's like you know there'll be a little singing then there'll be some one-liners get everybody warmed up and then there'll be an extended story that is based on my life but through the lens of murray so it has been it's more personal and you know

the trump years kind of forced my hand yeah and i never i made a point never to like speak of him or anything like that but you know in my shows i'd always do a countdown at the end of like you know how many days you know at the end of the set or the show i'd be like all right drum roll we're you know 250 days left till he's out of office. I have this joke, and I still say it. It's not a joke, but I say this at the top of the show. No matter where I am, I say, no matter who you are,

where you're from, what you do, who you do, and how you do who you do, we're all accepted in this house tonight yeah so you know so to me that's that's a political thing in my mind in my my intention but it's not like you know fuck you if you're a republican fuck you it's just like hey yeah tonight we're good everybody's good and you know and if you vote this way you vote it doesn't matter tonight we're good yeah let's put down the arms you know like let's put down our weapons and just laugh and relax the show business is fun andy it is that's the idea you you pay for a ticket

you're supposed to come there to laugh not get it not get mad no just does murray uh is that we i mentioned you mentioned it a little bit earlier, but does Murray creep into your relationships in a way sometimes that's like, get out of here, Murray? You know, I mean, is there, do you, or is there sometimes like identity crises where you feel like, I don't know if, if I, if, if I'm more Murray than me? Yeah, I think when I was younger, the lines were very blurred. And when I was first starting, I was out every night,

pushing it, doing shows, guest appearance, hitting the boards, another vaudeville term. Yeah, yeah. And I was with a non-showbiz person who had a day job. Yeah. And there was, it's a lifestyle thing. It's a very different lifestyle.

But I'm coming home at four or five o'clock in the morning. She's getting up to go to work. I'm drinking and drugging and doing all that shit in the 90s. Yeah. So it did get confusing. And it was like, I't you know i didn't have like a personal life that was different than showbiz yeah so you know there was bad relationships breakups heartache all that shit therapy you know so now i do have a space to you know have a personal

life that's not murray yeah yeah and you know the other thing is murray is me so that that's something i've had to work out too yeah actually this is you know all right this is me right right so this person's in there this vibe is in there you know but it's also you know i think a lot of comedians and personas always say you know are you on are you on all the time yeah so now i'm not on all the time but it took a lot of work at the end a lot of work and a lot of work and a lot of money and i still have a bill i gotta pay her i was gonna say that's i mean is therapy been pretty instrumental in that yeah absolutely and anything you know a therapist you know she doesn't give a shit if you had an article in the hollywood reporter yeah yeah i just don't want to hear about it right doesn't care

yeah let's let's get to the issues here so yeah yeah i think just the fact that my therapist has nothing to do with does not give a shit or care about showbiz in any way yeah yeah it's helpful i have a day therapist because i have two the first thing every time the session i go oh my god murray i saw you in this oh my god i love go, oh my God, Murray, I saw you in this. Oh my God. I love that episode. Oh my God. Did you hear about Bridget doing that? Yeah.

I have a friend who's a writer at the end of a session once the therapist asked if they could be connected to their literary agent. And my friend stopped going to that. That was like, no, no, no. Yes, okay, I won't be making next week's appointment. Yeah, unless I get 10% from your goddamn book deal. That's right, that's right. Can't you tell my loves well what's what what do you want to what do you want to do with the rest of your life that's a simple question um you know like do you want to just kind of keep

doing the same do you see yourself living in new york forever well you know as far as location you know it as things get a little bit more divided in the country right now there's there's not too many places you can go where you could feel okay sure as far as that goes i'm gonna stay in new york yeah for the meantime you know i think i've always you know since i was a kid i always wanted to be on tv right and you know i've had 25 years of rejection yeah i mean a million you know you know how it is a million rejections sure and i finally got a little break on the hbo show and then i got you know which i play a character but the drag me to dinner show i'm the host and it's like an unscripted show right and then i really get to be murray in the element you know i got the suits the rings you know the whole

stick going down yeah and you know so it's that's another step so you know my dream is is to have like a dean martin show like my own show and casual like that and joyful and and and old school which to be old school is not like ancient material right old school to me means entertaining yeah and like what you said we were talking about like johnny and the old even conan and you you know where you just you weren't going on something to promote something or this and that you're just going to have fun yeah talk and you know the the excitement of showbiz yeah so that's that's what i you know i want to be that uh you know johnny carson at dean martin that you know they were like 90 they were still doing their show and then they were you know having dinner by themselves at the hamburger hamlet yeah like right every night yeah every night yeah that's beautiful yeah i would i would love to

see you uh host like a playboy after dark you know like that old show with the where it's like taking place at a at a swanky apartment where you know beautiful people are partying in the background and oh look over there there's a jazz trio that we're going to listen to you know and and that was showcasing talent yeah it was a real a real like uh you know admiration for artists yeah and and it was glamorous and it was casual and it was you know it wasn't so the way everything is now so can't yeah yeah i love that or do you or do you mean like a variety i mean or would you like to do like a variety show the way that that you know dean martin's variety show was well it's kind of like a cross between you know like the the dean martin show the playboy after dark you know watch what happens live it's all that yeah that kind of stuff oh it

sounds great i would love to i would i would watch that in a minute yeah all right thank you yeah it's just you know just light fun humor can't be yeah and i'm a huge fan of paul rubens of course yeah yeah yeah and you know like those shows they were you know they they had their message in them but they were universal and funny. No, yeah. He's one of my heroes, one of my comedy heroes, Paul Rubin's Pee-wee, for Pee-wee Herman, for people that don't know. All right, for showbiz. Is there anything, I mean, is there any particular thing that you feel like you've left undone in, I was going gonna say in you know in comedy or in show business uh but it could be in anything you know i mean well yeah i think i i haven't uh you know

i haven't had my a chance to do my own show yet yeah so i think that's uh definitely a goal of mine you know i was actually you know kidding all kidding aside i did have therapy this morning and you know the one thing that i have to deal with this isn't that funny or anything it's is being real with you one thing i gotta figure out is is how to cut cut those last 30 pounds off yeah you know it's i think i've spent so much of my life doing showbiz and and living a certain way now that i'm older i'm like shit i actually have to pay attention to my health and i think what would you tell kids when you were younger like i would be like you know what take better care of yourself you know i didn't need to eat and drink

and smoke and do all that yeah you know and you know i feel it now i'm 57 and i'm right there with you i'm really like i always felt like i'm gonna you know like but i mean i'm 57 there's all kinds of shit that like i'll eventually get and get around to being better at that you know like working harder at writing my own stuff or being more organized or you know just all kinds of things that like, I'm going to get around to doing that. And it's like, well, honey, you better start now. Cause the clock is ticking. Right. Because now I've always had, I'll get around to it too.

Yeah. You know, I was just done. It's not out yet, but I was just on celebrity family feud with Steve Harvey. Yeah. And I think he's 65 or something. Yep. You know, he's, yeah, he's probably a billionaire at this point but you know his whole thing and you know he didn't take care of himself he's always working always doing showbiz eating drinking doing all kinds of

and you know he said when he got into his 50s he was like i realized that i wanted to enjoy the fruits of my labor yeah oh and not feel pain in the ass every time you get out of bed like i do it like you said you did and also that he wanted to be around for his family and his friends yeah so it's like that's that's a mentality that i relate to now but i definitely did it when i was younger yeah yeah that's that's the answer is like i want to i want to do my steve harvey you know second chance at health at 51 i agree with you and it is i mean because you know it's like it's like when people tell people to stop smoking you know it's like it's not good for you oh really no shit i didn't know that like i never i didn't read on the side of the package that this will kill me but it's's, it's another thing to quit it. And that's with me, like there's, you know, in terms of losing weight and exercising more, I know, I know everything we just talked about. I know all

that. And yet when it comes down to it, there's a lot of times where I'm like, well, I could get on that treadmill right now, or, you know, I could read a book and I read the book, you know, or, or do a crossword or whatever. And I, I hear you. I got it. I got it. Fucking figure it out. I was actually, I did a live version of this podcast, uh, in San Francisco at Cobb's comedy

club for part of the San Francisco sketch fest. And it was Rachel Dratch was the guest. And at the end, they asked us like, what would you tell your younger self? And my thing was learn to love cardio. And everyone laughed. I was like,

I'm not fucking kidding. I mean it. I really, and I've told my kids, I'm like, just, I forced yourself. I don't know because I feel it's too late for me, but not for you.

You know, like just get on a treadmill and just push through like hating it. Cause I've never, you know, I, I've gone to the gym as long as I've made money. Cause that's the only way I could go to the gym was make sure that somebody was waiting for me there, pay a trainer to do it. And I understand what a little Lord Fauntleroy routine that is, but that's the way. And I never got to the point like where I hear people say like, ah, I got to work out. I haven't worked out in a while. I'm like, what do you mean? You haven't, you know, you haven't taken cough medicine in a while you know it's like yeah jesus christ i but i got it you know it's just i'm i'm just really hoping that science advances to where we can finally just be that brain in a jar keep the fun rolling getting close with that with that diabetes thing everybody's taking in la yeah yeah oh the oz yeah yeah that ozempic i actually i had a my dot my cardiologist said you know there's a drug that you can use for that and i was like oh okay and he had me go consult with somebody on it and

then it's like i found out how much it fucking costs and you know sag insurance is not picking it up i was like that's all right i i think i'll stick with my weight watchers app and see how i how i do on my own so i have faith in us andy i do too i do too late when we see each other next people are going to be like i'm i'm worried about them they're both too skinny there's something wrong um well marie it's been so great having you um i want the the final you know these the gimmick of this thing is the three questions and the last one is what have you learned and i wonder you know do you have something to tell people when they ask like what's the point of it all? Or do you have advice for people?

And what would be your answer for that? You know, I've definitely had a lot of ups and a lot of downs and a lot of down downs. And then, you know, my shrink made a joke. He said, Murray, you know, with every back door, there's a trap door to another back door. You know, so the low point can get lower and lower and lower yeah yeah and you know so i've been in that space and it's kind of simple but you know i feel like you can get through anything and you never think you know you never think that you can get through anything when you're in it yeah and you don't have that perspective, but you know, life unfortunately is full of ups and downs and that's actually part of it. And it's never going to be great all the time. It's never going to be bad all the time. And to just, you know, in my career and in my personal life, you know, I'm like the guy that doesn't quit. quit yeah you know i keep going it you know it's like rocky getting pounded you know i'm like rocky how many damn movies do we have to have come out 50 yeah yeah and then when those movies that are

never going to do creed what are we on the 10th creed film something like that yeah yeah you know it doesn't it's now it's now it's like a superhero universe yeah and that's just to stay in the ring you know yeah you you can survive the punches. And, you know, you can get that championship belt. You just got to hang in there. That's the advice, Andy. And for you and I personally to get on the treadmill. To get on the treadmill.

Or the bike. Depending on how the knees feel. Well, Murray Hill, thank you so much for the time. And I hope our paths cross soon. I'm a big fan of yours. Thank you. And I'm a big fan of yours too. I'd love to buy you a drink sometime, maybe. Yeah, we'll go to the gym and then we'll go to the gym.

Get a smoothie, right. Or, you know, some kind of juice, you know. And we'll walk in West Hollywood with tight shorts and see what happens. Well, chafing, I imagine. Chafing would be the main thing. All right. Well, thank you. You got to end on your best joke.

That's right. That's a good one. Thanks for tuning in, folks. I'll be back next week. And that was the three questions. Goodbye. Showbiz. 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 Graal. Don't forget to rate and review and subscribe to The Three Questions with Andy Richter wherever you get your podcasts. And do you have a favorite question you always like to ask people? Let us know in the review section. Can't you feel it ain't showing Oh, you must be a-knowing

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