The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Retta

Episode Date: November 10, 2020

Comedian and actress Retta talks with Andy Richter about switching careers from chemistry to stand-up, cementing herself as a series regular on Parks & Rec, and achieving her dream of heading her own sitcom with Good Girls.

Hello, podcast world. It's Andy Richter. You're listening to The Three Questions. And I'm very excited to have the very, very funny and talented and lovely and kind and active and important. Retta. Active and important. Important.

Well, I do feel, I mean, because you do a lot of kind of political stuff, you come from a political family. Somewhat. Well, I mean, I've never been, I've never been political. I mean, I saw that you are related to a former president of Liberia. How are you related to this woman? And the first African female head of state. Yes.

She was married to my dad's cousin. I see. married to my dad's cousin. I see. So, but, and honestly, on that side of the family, I feel like they've always been pretty political and, you know, involved. Right. In some way. But I never lived. I mean, I was in Liberia when I was little, but I never lived there. I didn't grow up there. Right. right so so you don't really you're not soaked in it no so politics really wasn't you know something that was a part of my childhood or what have you um you know my dad would make comments every once in a while and then you know when when the friends and family gathered for different things, the adults would talk about what's going on home and home and stuff like that.

But that was never a part of my life. And I remember when she was running the last time before she actually won or the first time, I got a text from a friend of mine from college who was like, is your auntie running for president? And I was like, I really was like, what are you talking about? I don't know. Maybe. I was like, I don't understand what this text means. Yeah, yeah.

She was like, I didn't even know. And I told my mom. My mom was like, oh, yeah, she's run before, you know, but that year she won. Wow. And is it someone that you know, like when you've been back, do you meet her or anything? I've never met her. I haven't I haven't been back since I was in first grade. Oh, wow.

My dad goes back. My dad. It's a tumultuous country. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've always been like never been like we need to go back my father

um he wants to retire there and so he was building a house which is why he kept going back you know to check on the progress of the house but now my parents have become grandparents and so my mother is like we ain't going nowhere yeah we're not going to fucking liberia so but my dad does want us all to go back you know so we can go visit yeah but they're not going to retire there yeah yeah i don't well you know at least i don't think they will now that's the other thing about this this time is like and I realized into this pandemic, like there's no planning. There's no like, what am I going to do after this? What's my life going to be like after this?

And there's so many variables going into it. You know, not to mention like our state is on fire. Like, you know, from the politics to the environment to. Raining ash. Yeah, to a pandemic. You just, you know, like has no end in sight. It's it's just, you know, the notion of like, I know where I'm going to retire right now is hilarious. The notion to think that I have the privilege to retire. Yeah, yeah. It's hilarious. Right, yeah. It is hilarious.

Right, right. Right, exactly. Like, who knows? I might just be looking for a cave to hide in, you know? I'm literally, you know, I bought a house three years ago, moved in two years ago. And I, it happened, like, it had all the things that I needed and I knew I could do the things I wanted to get what I wanted out of this house. And serendipitously, there is a, an ADU, you know, I call it the pool house, but it's pretty much a storage room right now.

But in my head was anything goes down with my parents. This is where they're coming they have right but you know what i mean um and that is becoming more and more of a like i better clean this place up i got a you know what i mean because i'm like it is a shit show out there i don't know that i want them so far away because they're on the east coast um i i want all of my family to move um we just got to convince my one brother you know so, to come out my other one. They're all in Jersey. They're all in Jersey, yeah.

Yeah, we, I mean, what's now, I mean, I still own half of it, but my ex-wife's house, we had a, it's in a horsey area of Burbank. And we had a stable that we converted into a guest house and there was talk about my wife's mom moving in there um which I would have been fine with I get along fine with my with my ex-mother-in-law but she was my ex-mother I was like no I'm not I don't want to live with you guys so now it's you know now it's like where I mean it's where my son and his friends would get high uh that's what it became you know like our our little pool house because it's like where, I mean, it's where my son and his friends would get high. That's what it became, you know, like our little pool house. Because it used to have horses and now it's got teenagers.

So you're from Jersey. You're a Jersey girl. I am. In Newark? Is that it? I was born in Newark. Yeah, yeah. And then we lived in Edison.

And then we moved to Cliffwood Beach. And there were lots of people. There were lots of people in your family. Well, so I have two brothers, two brothers and two parents. But there were a lot of people going through. I had a lot of cousins that lived with us. So, you know, there was a cycling through of cousins and God, mother and, you know, their kid, that kind of thing. My mother grew up with a father who had a lot of kids go through his house, even though he only had two daughters. Right. So my mother grew up basically, you know, with her cousin as to her as her sister. But he had a lot of and so that's

what she was used to. Yeah. Like you help family out, you know, when the family was going through something and they're having issues. My grandfather would take in the kids, put them in there in school and private school because my mom went to Catholic school and pay for their school while the family was dealing with whatever. So that's what my mother's used to. And so that's what she was. That's what she did. Yeah, yeah. Even like my one of my brother's girlfriends lived with us for a hot second because I think she was having issues at home. This is when I was away at college. Our house was kind of like that. Like a friend of my brother's lived with us for a very long time. Another lived with us for, you know, just like

he and his, it became untenable between him and his parents. And so he just moved in with us and we had an extra kid. And then we had another one for a while. and at our house we had a you know my my sister-in-law lived with us for a fairly long time it's yeah it just kind of happens and you just kind of used to you don't think about it yeah i think because when we were little you know when we were young it started when we were younger so it didn't seem weird we our cousin just lived with us yeah um i will say my mother brought up recently that we complained about getting less christmas gifts one year because we have so many people and i was like well what did you expect yeah no shit well you you got you all had a solid point

like come on like what why do we have to pay for these fuckers? Now, were all your elder, did you have people that had been here for a while or were all your elder relatives Liberian and sort of more recent? Oh, we have a lot of family. Well, we have family that's been here as long as my parents, you know, as long as I know. But we have a, especially on my father's side, they have a big family. The Sirleafs are a huge family. And there's a lot here in the States. So many, I've met cousins randomly, like- On the street. Happened. I was, when my cousin was dating this guy, we had gone to a friend of his a friend of his house and his girlfriend was a surly. Yeah.

Like so I met a cousin. Just because I happened to tag along to this friend's house. Yeah. And if there's a surly, if there's a surly, you're related to it. Yes. It's not like Johnson or something. Yeah. Yeah. And if there's a surly, if there's a surly, you're related to it. Yes. It's not like Johnson or something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's I mean, but it's a big it's a it's a pretty big family. Yeah. As far as I know. Right. Right. And how long had your folks been here before? Like they started having kids here. Had you been here a while?

No. I think they my mother came for school. Yeah. And they I mean, they they came, they got married. My mother started going to school and had me. So they yeah, they weren't childless long while they were here in the States. What did they do? What jobs did they have or do they have? Well, they're both retired, I guess, officially. My dad worked for Conair Corporation. He ran a line at Conair. And my mother worked in insurance. So she was an insurance adjuster. So showbiz was a natural. Like manufacturing and insurance?

Stand-up comedy. That makes sense. I mean, my big thing, you know, I was very much a school nerd. Like, I lived for school. It was very important to do well for me. And, you know, you were supposed to was very important to do well for me. And, you know, you were supposed to do your homework and do well. Right. And and then my big thing was and then I was going to be a doctor. Obviously, that was something that was always in my head and all of that. So show business was definitely a bit of a curveball for the parentals.

But they were pretty good about it. But they adjusted, yeah. Yeah. Now, were they the kind of parent, like, were you expected to excel academically and they just kind of left you to it? Or were they, like, really looking over your shoulder and involved? No, they left me to it.

I mean, my mother, she was like this one she's about it about it with regard to school it was my brother my middle brother that she kind of had to stay on to do the homework and that kind of thing and then my younger brother he was kind of the same as me he was like he's smarter than all of us um He wasn't as much of a nerd. Like, I, you know, we threw physics parties and calculus parties. He didn't do that. But he, but I was also, but I was, I mean, there were parties in that we were studying. And then, but our parents let a bunch of people come over.

What is a physics party? It was a study party. Yeah, yeah. But it was um it was like 10 to 12 of us yeah and so the you know parents got the pizza yeah yeah and the cake with einstein's face on it so it was it was a fun study group yeah yeah and probably social and you're talking yeah yeah but it was it was all in an effort to do well on the upcoming exam yeah yeah was it a funny family like was it a happy funny family or yeah like my middle brother is really funny yeah he you know he cracks us up

but we i think we all we all enjoy a laugh. My parents aren't really like, my mother says we get it from her mother. My parents aren't necessarily hilarious, but they're okay with us and how much we like to clown. Yeah, all they got to do is be good audience members. Yeah, exactly. Parents of funny kids. They just got to laugh, you know? Yeah. They just got to be there.

members yeah parents of funny kids they just gotta laugh you know they just gotta be there so um was this was this doctor this desire to be a doctor was that kind of consuming was that you didn't really stray from that you just kind of felt like that's what i'm gonna do it was it was yeah it was that was the path like all through high school when I got to college and it was still the path when I was in college in that you know I did all the prerequisites for pre-med um so that you know I was ready when it came time to take the MCATs and go to college I mean mean, go to med school. But college is where I kind of found myself because I didn't have parentals around me. You know, I didn't have, I wasn't, I didn't have, because I grew up in a strict household.

My mother was very strict. So that was when I found my first freedoms. So by the time I found my first freedoms. So by the time I left college, I was like, I'm still going to go to medical school, but I'm not ready to go jump right back right into school having just left school. So, you know, what's that? What's that? That that year that the. Oh, young spring of it. Yeah. Yeah. What's that? What's that? That that year that the young Springer, the.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. My my young Springer or whatever was taking a job at a pharmaceutical firm and doing chemistry. Like I was like, I'm going to take this break. I'm going to take this year off. But I. Yeah, but I feared leaving science. Yeah. Because I was like, I want to go. I know I want to go to med school. I know I'm going to take these MCATs. So I was like, let me just get a job doing chemistry. At least I'm still kind of in school, but I get to – I don't have to study every night and that kind of thing. The med school won't look at you having left and gone and parted. They won't think it's a young springer. They will think it's like she's serious-minded and has business, you know, sense and blah, blah, blah.

Yeah. So I took my year off. And in that year, while doing chemistry, while doing peptide chemistry, and then working with small molecules, I ended up being like, I think I want to be on TV. Now, see, this is like, this is one of the things that amazes me because most comedy people I know have very little outside skills. But you were in a fucking, now, were you like in a lab with test tubes and shit? Like, wow.

That blows my mind to be able to know how to do that. I don't remember. Any of it? Any of that shit. Yeah. It's all, it's not like I was coming up with, well, I helped with different things, but that's because they essentially taught me. It was, it's just like cooking. I just followed recipes.

Yeah, yeah. They're like, we're going to do this. We're going to do that. We're going to make these peptides, blah, blah, blah. You know, and this is the order that you put it in and blah, blah, blah. And that kind of thing. So it was, it was, it was me kind of still learning. Cause I never did peptide chemistry in college. That was all new. So they tell you what to do. You kind of learn some things. You end up being like, well, should we try this? Should we try this medium? But I wasn't making the final call on anything. Well, and because I imagine it was in that world, an entry level job. Yes. What I was doing. Absolutely. And if you'd stayed doing that,

I mean, do you think you would have? I mean, what's the likelihood of you becoming a doctor? Do you think that that was really possibly in the cards? I had, I mean, not like that you could do it, just that you would do it. You know what I mean? Yes. Well, I mean, not once I decided that I was going to try stand up as a way into Hollywood, but I still have my my study guides, my MCAT study guides. Oh, really? I just won't let let it go. I have this thing that's just like, but now I'm like, are these even valid at this point? I know things have changed. You know, technology changes, medicine changes. Are these things even valid but whatever the case i still have in the back of my head that if this all goes to shit i gotta sell

this house and move in with my parents i'm going to take that going back it's not an i mean there are people that have done it you know you hear about people having a whole career and then going back to get a degree in something and finishing it out. Sometimes there are some times when I, well, I mean, just mainly because I've been through so much fucking therapy, but I feel like, you know, it's like if you have a car that breaks down all the time, you end up knowing how a car works and you feel like, Hey, maybe I could be a mechanic. So I, I, there, i do sometimes have feelings and especially too because i don't know how you are but there are days when it's like what am i doing in this

business you know like just like oh this fucking phony shit show of show business and i think like yeah i wouldn't mind like you know being a family counselor like that would you know i would feel like at least at the end of the day i sort of maybe did something you know um well now how does that how does that transition from serious you know sort of student go now you went to duke right in north carolina and that's a that's a that's a good school. That's not a party school or anything. Yeah. So, you know, it was fun. Yeah. Yeah. At first, I only applied to Duke. And when my mother found out that I only applied to Duke, she was like, I'm sorry, what? She's like, what happens if you don't get in?

And I was like, she's like, because you're not living here. And I was like, I mean, she requested the application from Brown. Mind you, their deadline had already passed. She was like, send it anyway. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so I got into Bucknell, into Rutgers. Rutgers gave me a lot of money. I got into UCLA, but UCLA was super expensive.

But I got into Duke. And so I was like, I want to go to Duke. Yeah. My son is in his second year of college and went through a whole. it's just it's so different now because kids are like, how many – he asked me like, how many colleges did you apply to? And I was like, one? The one I went to? Because he applied like eight or something like that. Yeah. And their kids are applying to 12. I know. It's crazy.

I'm like, who's got that kind of application money? I know, I know. Well, private school LA kids. Yeah, yeah. I mean, private school LA kids got their parents taking pictures of them on the volleyball team to get them into places, writing checks, writing bribe checks.

Well, now, how do you, you're at the, is it one of those things where you're at a club writing checks, writing bride checks. Well, now, how do you, you're at the, is it one of those things where you're at a club and somebody says, or, well, there's two questions. How does that start? How do you first get on stage? And also, is there something that you're watching that you say like, I want to be on TV? Is there like a particular moment?

That's two questions, but you know. So one thing for me was when I graduated from college and I lived by myself for the first time in my first apartment, TV was my roommate. And I was always obsessed with television. TV was very important in my life. TV, you know, I was a latchkey kid, so I just watched a lot of television. So when I lived by myself, I watched TV a lot and I was watching Central Park West, which is a...

It was kind of a soap opera-y kind of thing on Fox, I think. And I remember thinking, I can do this. At the very least, I can do this. Yeah, yeah. And then when I thought about it more, I kind of leaned more towards comedy. And so I was like, so I, then I, in my head, I decided I want my own sitcom. And I knew having watched a lot of TV that a great majority of sitcoms, the leads were comedians, standup comics.

So I figured that was the formula. Do stand-up comedy, go to LA, get a sitcom. Yeah, it used to be. Yeah. So I started, I mean, I didn't know there were one million and one stand-up comics with that same volume. Yeah, yeah.

So that's why I started stand-up. It wasn't, I wasn't like a big I loved watching. When I was in when I was in school and actually when I'm more more when I was working at Glaxo doing chemistry, I still lived with friends who were still in college. We rented a house in Durham and I watched a lot of deaf comedy jam, a lot of Comedy Central. And that's this. I just loved standup. Yeah. I, it never dawned on me that that would be my future. It was just something that I loved. That was funny. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so once I decided that I wanted to be on TV and I knew that a lot of sitcoms were headed by standups. Then I was like, oh, this is the path I'm supposed to take.

Yeah. So I started doing standup. And did you, did you, what was that process like? Did you, did you like look for a club where there was an open mic or did you? So I lived, so I, you know, I lived in Durham and next to Raleigh, next to Durham is Raleigh and Raleigh had Charlie Goodnights, which was one of the really big clubs in North America. I didn't know that. I just knew that there was a club. That was the club.

Yeah. In the next town over. So I, I first, my first thing was I saw in the newspaper that there was a, uh, an agency from, I think from South Carolina or Georgia coming to town looking for talent. And so, and it was a big scam. You had to sell tickets and that whole thing yeah yeah if you won the night they would rep you oh all you had to do was bring the most people so what all you had to do was sell the most tickets yeah yeah it was a scam whatever but it was the first time i And I was so nervous, I drank an entire six-pack of Bud Ice. So I was sweating on stage. But I did okay.

I mean, when I watch it, if I were to watch it now, I would be mortified because I've seen it. I've seen the tape. So a tape does exist. Yes. So there was a kid who came who sang, but he brought his whole church. So he won, but the agency still wanted to rep me. Luckily, I didn't like kind of follow up with them. Yeah, yeah.

But because I'd done it, then I was okay i'm gonna keep trying and so then i found an open mic which was at charlotte goodnight yeah and that once you meet any comic at an open mic you find out about all the other places you can get get on stage yeah and so that's pretty much how i started it well and also to even because I found through doing, you know, you don't, you know, you like doing these things, you like performing, but you don't really know. You know, it's such a scary thing and it's such a long shot and such a just preposterous dream to even think that you're going to get to do this for a living. And I think, you know, everyone talks about believing in yourself. Yeah, you got to believe in yourself. But you also got to have somebody tell you, hey, yeah, you're good at this.

And even though that was a scammy agency, the fact that they said, hey, you're good enough that even though you didn't win, we want to rep you. That probably was enough to make you go, well, I'm going to do this again because, you know. But it was also, it was also, I did have a belief. I didn't necessarily have a belief in my abilities as a stand-up, but I did believe if I work hard enough at stand-up, it will get me to where I want to go. To be a comedic actress on television. Yes. So I believed in my capabilities as a performer. I did plays all throughout high school and college. So I knew I could perform. Stand-up was the, you know, the, I don't know. I just, I wasn't sure about that until you get that first kill.

Yeah. Then you're like, oh, right, right, right, right. Okay, I know what I'm doing. Yeah, yeah. So it took a while to get to that place. But enough people say, good set, good set you're like okay at least i'm my trajectory trajectory is going in the direction that i right and i'm not i'm not embarrassing myself i'm in the right place you know right and uh and i imagine too

the i'm just i'm imagining the quality of your life goes up because you're around funnier people. Is that the case? Well, yes. I mean, I wasn't around them a lot because I didn't really make close friends with comics. So I only saw them at the open mics. I see. And I don't think I ever realized this. I feel like I was the only girl that did the open mics. The only other time I saw female comics was when people were coming, touring, coming in through.

So I didn't, you know, I didn't make any. Yeah, yeah. I had two good friends that I made one good friend. He ended up following following me out here, like moving out here after I did. And then the rest were just these were the guys that I saw at the club. I mean, I was friends. I made, I made friends obviously with the, um, my, the guy that, uh, he was the MC the first time I went on stage, Dan French. Do you know Dan French? I don't. Dan used to, he wrote for a bunch of different shows out here. Um, but he, but I met him in North Carolina. He was the MC of the show that I did. I did my first set and he said, I do a class. I do

a comedy class. I think you have potential. He's really the one that made me feel like, oh, okay, I know what I'm doing. He goes, I want you to take my class. I won't charge you for it. And so, so I took his class and I ended up writing one of my strongest bits that I still, I still would do if I was doing standup. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, so I became friends with Dan. I became friends with Andrew. So those are the only two people that I really became friends with, um, in that I saw them outside of being at that club. Being at, yeah. outside of being at that club. Being at, yeah.

So I wasn't really around comics a lot. The comics that I was around were the ones on HBO that I would rewatch over and over again. Yeah, yeah. How do you handle this transition from civilian life to show business with your parents? Do you tell them that you're doing this or you kind of hold off until it seems like something viable?

Well, they knew that I was not following the medical path because when I was getting ready to move cross country, I said, I think I'm going to move to Los Angeles. You know, I want to be an actor. So I'm going to do this standup thing. They, they knew I'd been doing standup in North Carolina while I was working at the pharmaceutical firm. They'd come down one time. So they saw me on stage once. And they were, I was like, really? It was like, yeah. So my dad's big thing was, whatever you do, just get health insurance. We can't afford

to take care of you if something happens. And then my mom was like, if you're going to do it, do it. Don't half-ass it. If, you know, she's like, you're carrying around your father's name, which is part of the reason why I stopped. I never used my last name on stage. Yeah, yeah. She's like, if you're going to do it, do it. Don't waste time bullshitting, essentially. Half-assing, yeah. Yeah.

So they were, you know, not that they were like, yes! My father was just like, don't lose a leg and think you're coming to live with me. Yeah. But now they're into it. Yeah, yeah. How was it having them come watch you do stand-up? I mean, they'd seen you in plays, so I guess it wasn't that different. They'd never seen me in a play.

Oh, they never? What? They'd never seen me in a play. Why? It wasn't like I was a cheerleader. They'd never saw me cheerlead. They did see me singing, like, choir. Yeah.

They'd come to a show. They worked so many jobs they didn't have time to come you know the only time that they saw any of us like my my middle brother he played football i think my dad may have seen him play once maybe i'm not even sure my youngest brother that was when they weren't working as hard so they would go see his plays, you know, they would see this and his, and his choir shows and my brother sang as well. And it's why you resent him to this day. It was too, but no, cause my,

I felt like my youngest brother kind of like followed in my footsteps in school, like all the teachers, you know, knew, you know, you know, knew me. Yeah. So, and then he was in, you know, knew, you know, knew me. Yeah. So and then he was in I was I in Lil Abner. I played. I had a couple of different parts, but I played one of the secretaries to General Bull Moose. And then when my little brother was in Lil Abner, he played General Bull Moose.

Oh, OK. So I felt like, you know, it was meant to be. Even though everybody else in our family were performers, it was in our blood. Now, was it just a year that you were out of school and you moved to L.A.? No, four years. Oh, four years. Okay. I was a teacher for four years. And was there anything that triggered the move to LA? Any one thing? Or was it just kind of like, so i used to have an antenna and you know how

you're always like manipulating an antenna yeah yeah every time you change the channel you got to move the antenna yeah and so i uh i remember i would hang it off on the side of the tv sit on the floor and you know if you're touching it, you get better reception. So I would hold it between my toes. I remember exactly that sort of thing. Yeah. And I was sitting on the floor and I had a moment of. I need to just go do it. I was like, you don't have kids.

There's nothing tying you to this state, to this space, to this place, to this apartment. I was like, you're young. You can drive cross country. You can do. I had to give myself and I do it more and more now. I even do it with like little things where I just tell myself, you can do whatever you want. Just you make the plan and do it. Yeah.

If you run into a problem, you figure it out. And you have friends and you know people that are willing to help you. I still go through that kind of thought process. Yeah. The first time, because I never really traveled that. I traveled to see relatives and stuff. But like after my wife and I got married, we went to France to visit her sister who was living there, going to school and being an au pair. And when we landed in Paris, I had like a panic attack, like, like, I don't know how to speak this language.

And what if I get separated? And I don't, you know, and I had to say to myself, you you got a credit card in your pocket you buy a plane ticket and you fly home like just calm the fuck down I got stuck in Italy by myself yeah I got stuck in Italy by myself and I had to figure it out yeah and I did not speak I did. I did not. I did not speak Italian. I did not speak Italian. I I have made some Italian friends while I was there. And so, you know, I called them and they kind of came and would spend the time with me during the day until, you know, while I and then I would, you know, call my dad and my dad tried to figure out getting me a ticket to get back. Yeah. But I do it with. Even with little shit like I'm hungry and I have this thing where I'm like, I don't know what to eat.

When you get really hungry and you're like, I want to eat something. What a shot. And I'm like, calm down. Right. What do you want? Right. you can have anything that you want yeah you have you have postmates yeah you have instacart anything you want calm down think about it yeah what do you want to do and then do it yeah and if you don't like it put it aside get something else i really have to talk myself through every little thing. Like when I get, because this fucking quarantine, dude, it is like anxiety inducing. My anxiety is through the root or has been.

I'm so much better now. And I really have to take moments and say, okay, you're upset. It's fine. It's fine. Because by the way way you're not the only person and and you only have to deal with you right now you don't have three kids in this house you don't have an abusive husband in this house you don't have you know what i mean like it's just you and you just have to deal with this. So take a breath, sit down, calm down, and figure it out. Can't you tell my loves are growing? So do you, when you come to L.A., do you have any connections?

Are you just coming out here like getting off the bus in your cardboard suitcase? I had some friends in cardboard suitcases. I had a flowered hat, yes. Yes. If only I had a flowered hat. I had some friends from college, and we weren't tight in college. We became tight once I moved here. But I had friends who were in law school from college. So I moved in with them. And then I make friends very easily. And so- I believe it. So, you know, going to the clubs, that's how I started making my friends.

That's where I made my comedian friends was there were a lot more women in standup here in LA. So that's where I started making my friends. And then, you know, going out to a bar afterwards, the one bar that we used to go to Red Rock. And that's where I, I literally made so many friends from that bar. So I went to so many weddings of people who worked at that bar because that's where I lived essentially. Is it still – I don't know that bar. Where is it? It's not there anymore.

It became State. It's on Sunset. Okay. It was Caddy Corner to Tower Records. Yeah, my L.A la bar knowledge is never you know i was kind of like already when i moved here to live here well i lived here when i didn't have any money and so like bar hopping was kind of like not really an option and then when i moved here then the next time i already had a a baby. So it's like, ugh.

People's talking about L.A. nightlife and their romantic days. I was like, I always had a baby. I never got that. I didn't really do the nightlife. I literally just went to that bar. It was the first bar I ever went to. I wasn't really a drinker when I first came. I became one.

But I wasn't really a drinker when I first became one, but I wasn't really a drinker when I first, I just went to the bar because that's where everybody, you know, that's where the, after we did, you know, open mic at the comedy store, we walked down sunset and went to this bar and it was the only one that I

knew. So that's where I went. I had the same thing with improv and I probably enjoyed the going to the bar afterwards right then the actual doing the shows because right it was more like there it was funnier like you know like us just fucking around was way funnier than us and on a show most of the times when i went to the improv i didn't i wasn't on a show. Most of the times when I went to the improv, I didn't, I wasn't on the show. Yeah. I just went for the camaraderie to be around comics. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Did you, where did you live? Did you move like kind of into that West Hollywood kind of neighborhood? No. I was down in, I was down at Rodeo and La Brea. Oh, okay. Down by the airport more? Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, close to the airport. I was over by that Target. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was over there. And then I ended up, I lived. And then, so we ended up having to move out of that apartment. It was a surprise. We had an aunt issue and they wouldn't deal with it. And we were like, we were out, went to court and everything.

So I ended up living on a friend's floor for a couple of months. Yeah. And so, you know, and she had a regular job. So during the week, I'd stay at her place, studio apartment. I would sleep on her floor. And then on the weekends, one of my friends from college had moved to California and was in Temecula. So then on the weekends, I would stay in Temecula

and sleep on their couch. So I would be out of my friend's hair. Yeah, yeah. You know, when she was off what a stressful way to do it that i just but i had also started started touring a little bit so part of it was like me going to the airport and being on the road so it wasn't always there and then once i started uh touring and getting a little money then I got a little studio apartment. Yeah.

How do you transition from coming out here and just starting out and getting touring? Do you have a manager that sees you? So when I was doing stand-up in North Carolina, one of the comics, Frank. Oh, my God. What's Frank's last name? I can't think of what I was going to say. Caliendo, but it wasn't Frank Caliendo. I met Frank in North Carolina, but it wasn't Frank.

He he used to he used to do corporate and he used to tour colleges. And so he told his college agent about me. He's like, you don't have anybody like her on your roster. You should really check her out. And so when I moved to L.A., he had told his agent who lived in Chicago at the time, Joey Edmonds. Did you know Joey Edmonds? No. I never worked in Chicago.

I just, you know, I did mostly shows for free. Yeah. Oh, OK. You know what I mean? But he was pretty known on the college circuit, you know, agency-wise. Yeah. And so he took me on. And so I started touring colleges.

That was the first thing I did. I didn't do clubs. I did some clubs later, having done the college circuit for a while. But I didn't tour the clubs. I toured colleges. Which do you prefer? Now I would prefer the clubs. Yeah.

But then I preferred the colleges. Colleges, yeah. Yeah. It was the best way to start. Yeah, when I started working on Conan, I would do some weekend college dates. And it's a weird little niche of going and making a few bucks, you know? Yeah. And very, you know, like little college towns where you get done with your show and then you're like, all right, I think I'll have some dinner.

And they're like, oh, there's nowhere to get dinner. Yeah. It was challenging, to say the least. And Nooners, having to do Nooners was, nothing made me more sick to my stomach than knowing that I had to do an afternoon show. It was just, because once you've done it once, you're like, I hate this so much.

But they're still paying the money. Kids milling in and out. Yeah, yeah. Is it hard for you during this point to keep your spirits up, to keep going, to keep fighting at it? Are you enjoying enough success that it's self-sustaining? For me, it was exciting. I thought it was cool that my job required me to get on an airplane and to sleep in hotels.

I thought that was the coolest thing. Yeah, yeah. For a good two years I was very into it I just felt so metropolitan and chic that my commute

was on a 747 you know what I mean and granted I had a lot of like driving around you know because I did block bookings to get more money. So I rented a lot of cars and drove around. And when I think about it now, I'm like, you saw a lot of the country.

That's cool. I mean, at the time I hated I hated the driving by myself. Yeah, yeah. But staying in a hotel and somebody else makes the bed and you know what I mean? Like, I thought that was so cool. Yeah, yeah. at one night i'm okay in a hotel and then the next time like this is so depressing right i mean it's got you know now i'm in a position where i'm like i i choose the hotels it's gonna be a nice hotel it's gotta have decent food because i that was another thing like some hotels they're nice but their food is shite and i'm like this place sucks my friend's like, this is a really nice hotel. I was like, try to get yourself a lunch.

You know what I mean? I wasn't the kind of person that wanted to go sightseeing, that was so pressed to be out in the city. I was like, I saw enough of it when I drove in. I want to get a good meal.

I want to either read my book or I want to, you know, either read my book or watch something on TV and go to sleep and get up on time to catch the flight out. Yeah, yeah. I wasn't. You weren't fucking around. Yeah, I was like, let's do this. But, but I really did enjoy flying. And I really did enjoy the idea of living in a space that you don't have to take care of. Yeah, yeah.

You're almost like a business lady. Yeah, exactly. I really felt like I was like a traveling businesswoman. Yeah. Now, how do you, when does the acting start? When do, um. um i my first uh gig was on moesha and i was this was i hadn't really been touring then i was um is this prior your comedy central special yes yeah yeah yeah. I did stand up in LA obviously, but I didn't tour. I, I had gotten the job because Mara Brock Akil, who was a writer on the show, she had dated a friend of mine in

college. And I, when I had said that I wanted to go to LA and do standup and I was going to do standup as a means to getting into acting. My friend who she had dated, his roommate was like, oh, you know, Brian used to date this girl who's a writer in Hollywood. And we met on the phone. We talked for like two hours. So cool. And so she had me come in and audition for Moesha, a show that she was on. had me come in and audition for maisha a show that she was on um and so i got my first acting job that way but then i started touring and so i was always on the road and i ended up getting a manager and maybe got a few auditions here and there but you're not here enough to really keep that up on a regular basis. Yeah. So it wasn't until I had done Comedy Central's first stand-up competition and won that industry people saw me.

And so they were thinking about me. They take notice, yeah. saw me and so they were thinking about me they take notice yeah ended up getting an agent um ended up going to Montreal comedy festival yeah yeah doing new faces um and getting a deal and so then I was like, I can't travel as much. Also, 9-11 happened. And so it slowed things really down on the road. And so I was in town more. So then I had more opportunity to actually audition for things and be available for it. And is Parks and Rec, is that like the first sort of like, it and it's parks and rec is that like the the first sort of like now it started out as a as a uh you were a recurrent i was a co-star i was yeah i was a co-star first season um guest star second season regular third so yeah i that i had i was it was downtime yeah i had an audition um and so my manager was like uh you know you have the audition for this pilot. I went in and I wasn't a good auditioner. I still get a little bit of nerves. Now, obviously, I've been on TV shows. And so it's a little bit different. And I'm familiar with what goes on in the room after people leave.

Yeah. And so it's not as intimidating anymore. Yeah. But at the time, the fear was all consuming. But when I went in for Parks, I do the audition. But then Mike Shore asked me a question. He noticed my watch. He asked me something about my watch. And get me yeah that's a whole different thing yeah i was like i was so geeked about this

watch that i was like oh my god i got it from this thing i got an email from this new thing you have to be invited if you'd like to be invited i can give them your email if you want to give it to me uh but they have all these sales and all these like i was a crazy person yeah yeah really i tell like all the time i was like i feel like he was like she's insane we have to put her on yeah i felt that he was like we need this character on this show she would fit into pony yeah perfectly well good for him i mean that's it's good that he got you talking because those things are just the weirdest, most unnatural situation. It is. And I always feel like it feels like not far from sex work. You know, like you're going into a room and you're putting on a little show and people are just sitting there quietly watching you and judging you.

You know, it's like and now it's very unnatural it just so as is acting yeah yeah it's you have to be you have to be willing to be vulnerable to do it um for me you know getting on audition made me sick getting a meeting i was like you bitch you are ready to listen fireworks it's about to be a party you will not be upset you're gonna you're gonna walk out of that room like where the fuck has this bitch been all my life i love a meeting yeah yeah yeah i know it is it's like hey come on in here and entertain us. Exactly. You become instantly aware of that when you go on these things like, oh, these people have been sitting in their offices all day, all week, and then here comes a funny person. I never have, like, nothing makes me crazier than a comedian when you're chatting doing bits like you're like

motherfucker i know you're doing a bit yes yes but when i'm in a meeting and they're like you do stand up sure do yeah i want to hear something let me tell you something about when i went to kfc these motherfuckers didn't have chicken how you gonna how you gonna be kfc and not have chicken i literally i was had no problem doing bits right in a meeting right yeah yeah no i yeah that's insane you know it's like it's like being on a talk show like so much of yeah you get to do stand-up and then if you come on a few times then you get to come sit on the couch and do stand-up. Except with him going like, now, I understand you like zoos.

Oh my God. I panic about the wording of questions because I'm like, am I supposed to be talking about this or this? Which bit is he leading me into? Yeah, exactly. I imagine

Parks and Rec. I mean, I'm an old friend of Amy, so I know Amy pretty well. I imagine that's a pretty happy place to work. I mean, Mike. Oh, my God. It was great. You know, it was. Yeah, it was.

It was. I almost feel like it was one of those things where you're like, is it good or bad that that was my first experience? Yeah. I mean, I know exactly what you mean. You go someplace else and you're like, oh, this isn't run the same way. Right. You know, it's it's not that funny. You know.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, I'm on a you know, my my job now, it's very different. But luckily, I get along with the girls. We enjoy each other. We laugh a lot. I imagine that show is fun. It looks like it's, you know, you can tell.

Like, that show's no fun. That show looks like fun. You know what I mean? Yes. Yeah. So I have to say I'm super, super lucky in that I got to be on a show that was so fun. And I learned because I was so scared of improv. And being on a show where people, they live and breathe improvisation was probably the best thing for me.

And so now I don't fear it you know i don't i don't want to do an improv show right but i don't mind improving i know it's yeah on set um and then now i'm on a show and i love our eps and i love you know my cast i'm like thank god you know hopefully this will go on for a little more and then my next one will be pretty great too so yeah because i i know people who have been on shows and they were fucking miserable yep they're like well at least i have work you know yeah yeah absolutely no i mean i i was never miserable on shows, but I certainly have been on shows of varying

quality of the product, varying sort of like happiness of the set, you know, which I always... The two are so often interlinked that I just am amazed

by the people that don't get that. Like, if you make this a happy place to work, the show's going to be better. Like, doy, how fucking hard is that to figure out? But for some people, it's apparently very difficult. Now, Good Girls is back, right? Or it's coming back? It's coming back for season four but we have you shot it or no we haven't we start shooting end of the month oh and how are you feeling about that i want

to go back to work yeah yeah but i mean but in terms of like the safety of it and everything you well because that's been a huge topic of conversation in just the last couple of weeks because things are starting again and i just was you know I just was on like a four day email chain of people like, have you worked? Where have you worked? Do you feel like, you know? Right. Well, I have friends on other shows and they're like, it's a hassle, but it's been fine.

Because, you know, my like one of my things was I had heard that, you know, you only they only test every three days. And I was like, what? Like, you only they only test every three days. And I was like, what? Like, I was like, test me every day. I need to know every single day, every moment. And it turns out that the actors do get will get tested every day. So I was like, thank God. Yeah.

So that made me feel better. And and because, you know, this idleness, this just being stuck in this house, I cannot rearrange my pantry anymore. I understand. Like, get me out. Right. So because people have gone back and they're saying, I have so many friends that have done movies a little bit different, which I feel like I don't know that their protocols are more stringent than what series protocols are. And they said it's been fine. It's been great.

And I'm not going somewhere. So I'm not going to Atlanta. I'm not going to Vancouver. So I don't have to do the two weeks of just being in a hotel room beforehand. So I'm looking forward to going back to work. Yeah. A friend of mine, they're trying to get him to do two days of reshoots in Canada, which means go to Canada. Two weeks before.

Be two-week quarantine. Shoot for two days. Come home two weeks of quarantine away from your family. So a month of quarantine for two days of shooting. Yeah. And I'm just so glad I'm not in that position, you know? I mean, unless you're hiring me as Wonder Woman. Right.

I don't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You might have to fix it in post-digital. And does quarantine mean I can't walk around the city? I guess it probably does. You got to stay in a fucking room like a witness protection program. She doesn't even have a key to her room. So she can out she can't back in oh my word so if there's a fire she can get out but she can't get in her room so fucking weird isn't that crazy oh and i imagine bad for hygiene

too you probably like why should i brush my teeth what does it matter she took She took all her wigs and her green screen and is doing like her characters. Oh, my God. That's so awesome. Oh, I didn't even think about that. Yeah, why not? Put on some shows for yourself. She's like, I'm living with eight roommates all inside of me. Oh, my God.

That's funny. That's great. Yeah, because I'm lucky to, lucky to you know well first of all to have a steady job i cannot get over how lucky i felt about that through this whole thing that i that i have a gig and i'm getting paid and i just uh will be it's certainly like any kind of like minor grumbles i might have had about my job now they're just i'm just like oh no i love my job i love my job it's great i know and now that we're back actually doing shows at largo we're doing you know in the theater there yeah we're we get

tested weekly and there's only about maybe 10 people in there and when we're not shooting you know i'm thinking about this because i don't know when this is going to be on air but this but just last night was when we heard that trump had covid or tested positive for covid but we've you know and it made me think about how they their whole complacency was based on the fact that they were tested all the time but they felt like when they were around each other they don't need to keep masks on at our you know at the conan showgo, we're all tested every week. But we still, if we're not on camera, we got masks on. And if we're, you know, except for like when lunch comes and then everybody runs into a corner and takes their mask off and eats their sandwich.

Don't breathe their lunch air on me, honey. Yeah. um so breathe their lunch air on me yeah but yeah it's i mean i can't i when when this like i said this email chain of friends of mine who kind of you know they're they all work but they work at lots of different things i just felt so relieved and blessed because the only other thing that i've done i've done a few voiceover things and voice voiceover studios, they're like, at least the ones I've been to, they don't even let you touch the door. They'll be like, no, no, no, don't touch that door handle. Yeah, I've only gone to one place. I didn't have to touch anything.

You go and you just kind of keep your hands to yourself and you take your mask off and talk into the mic and then they come in and spray everything down. So it's, you know know it seems like we're sort of figuring it figuring it out yeah and um but but so we um when is the show do you have an air date no no yeah yeah yeah and does the show do pretty well um it does okay yeah but it does really well on netflix ah it does really well on netflix um and so we we have a partnership with netflix because they i think they they pay some money to help right right so so as long as it does well i think they'll still well good giving us money yeah yeah it's such a weird it's you know when i say like does the show do well that means such a different thing than what it's meant it's such

a different world and it's kind of like i don't know you know and even with parks parks was we never knew when we were coming back the only time we ever knew when we were coming back was at the end of season six and we knew that season seven was going to be our last season. Every season I found out on Twitter if we came back. And people were like, so you were on such a successful show and I was like, I was on a show

that came back. Yeah. It didn't feel like it. Yeah. It's more successful now than it was then because it's lit. Well, now it just got moved to peacock people are like this that they can't they go to netflix and they can't find it oh just it just moved yesterday well the peacock is easy peacock is free once people are used to it it'll be fine i don't know if it is around the world oh so i'm not sure how that works. Yeah.

So I don't know if it's on Netflix Around the World and maybe just not in the U.S. The world audience is weird that way because I had a recurring on Santa Clarita Diet, which was created by the guy that created Andy Richter Controls the Universe. And I just kind of would adhere it vicariously. And it, you know, like, cause for the first season and it also like those shows take a little bit for people to start to notice them. Cause the first season, it didn't seem like anybody really knew about it.

And I knew it was good. And I thought it was, you know, I was kind of surprised and I, you know, I was like, oh, people should know more. And then they started to know about it. And once they were like oh this thing is huge and and they would be like you know this thing was in brazil well in brazil and then i i remember specifically um uh uh um serbia like a giant in serbia turkey egypt like they're like and then a couple asian countries and i'm like okay all right i guess you know and it's so fun to think that way we're popular in

brazil australia canada the uk yeah but brazil like i'm a fucking rock star in Brazil. I've never stepped foot in Brazil, and I'm a rock star in Brazil. Wow, that's great. That's great. Yeah. I remember we did it, Conan did a travel remote in Germany, and there was a Santa Clarita Diet bus enclosure posters, and they weren't here, which know, which I just was, it struck me so much.

Exactly. So, well, I mean, do you have any, is there something burning a hole in your heart that you want to get out there into the world? I mean, is there a project that you're not doing? Do you have a dream thing? Have you let go of that you're the star of your own sitcom? Have you let go of that dream? I have. Yeah.

I have because. It's different now. It's just different. Well, because I also enjoy, I think I enjoy dramedy better. I like the option. It's like free therapy. I get to go someplace and cry, cry, cry, cry, and pick up a check. Yeah. You could do that at the bus station. I can. I get to go someplace and cry and cry and cry and cry and pick up a check. You could do that at the bus

station. I can. But I do enjoy doing both. So this job is the sweet spot for me. Yeah, that's great. So I hope my next thing...

I don't know. I always say that I want to I would like the opportunity to play a femme fatale. That would be interesting. But I love being able to do the drama and the comedy. Yeah. It makes me really happy because that's the kind of shows that I like to watch. Yeah. Yeah.

So the fact that I get to do one is great. Yeah. I had because, you know, well, I was the quote-unquote star of different sitcoms. And I came to the conclusion that I like being part of the team. Honestly, you know, I mean, honestly, obviously, if one of those shows had been a runaway hit, I think I could deal with it. I'd be okay with it right um but ultimately i do feel like the notion of uh you know i actually did a pilot for fox a few years ago uh that evil

on gorya was the star of and i was like good. Right. Let her catch all that. You know, like she gets the main blast of all that attention and need from. And then the rest of us just kind of got to play like the team behind her and got to just be funny and got to just do the work. I mean, yeah, that was Parks for me. Yeah. I got to I got some days off. I get to I got to watch really funny people. Yeah. I got some days off. I got to watch really funny people a lot. You know, sit in the background and pretend to type.

Yeah, yeah. Nice people, too. That was the dream at the time. Yeah. Well, you know, the third of these three questions is the what have you learned? And is there sort of a moral to your story at this point? Is it ongoing? I mean, do you – people answer this often in the form of advice, you know,

because people say, you know, what should I do? Yeah, I think the thing that I tell people, especially with regard to show business and becoming a performer, is that I feel like you kind of just have to believe it. You have to know in your heart that it's going to happen. And then everything that you do, one of the things I would say every day, do something towards your goal. Do something that's going to help your career. So like before I was doing stand up and then like I would send out postcards to invite industry to shows and stuff like that. I don't obviously that's not the way I do it anymore. Right.

industry to shows and stuff like that. I don't, obviously that's not the way I do it anymore. Right. But, you know, the way I do it now is I get on the phone with my manager and I'm like, what's up? I'm not working. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What's up? What's out there? You know, what scripts can I read? You know, like you have to be proactive, but you also just have to believe. Obviously, I believe I've gotten to a place where, you know, I've gotten to a place where I've gotten to a place where there have been scripts or auditions where they're looking for a Retta type. All right, so now your name is out there. When they start asking for your type, you know you're out there. So now, look for Retta.

Just ask Retta. i'm on hiatus yeah have you ever not been hired for a specific like have they said like we're looking for a reddit type and then you go in and you don't get it yes and this was this was the first time i heard that it was ages ago but i think i mean i was on parks and i think the part was like for a series regular and so they didn't know if i was going to be available so i did not get the red type art um at the time but it did feel good to know that it was a thing yeah you know i've had i've had friends that you know they're not big stars but they're certainly known in the comedy community and they're known to casting people.

And it'll be like, we're looking for this guy and then this guy comes in and doesn't get it. You know, that's, that's happening. Yeah, that's, that's gotta be tough. Yeah, those stories aren't great. No. Well, thank you so much for taking this time. I mean, you know, I didn't have anything else going on,

but it was a lovely, you know, I didn't have anything else going on, but it was lovely. You know, it was lovely to talk to you. Thanks for having me. Sure. And good luck with the new season and, you know, be safe out there on the sets. Think of me. You too. Think of me when they're delivering your craft service to your trailer because they won't let you have a table of it.

It's all good. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you, Retta, and thank all of you out there for listening. We will see you next week with more Three Questions. I've got a big, big love for you. 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 Galit Zahayek, and engineered by Will Becton. And if you haven't already, make sure to rate and review The Three Questions with Andy Richter on Apple Podcasts. Apple Podcasts.