The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Riki Lindhome

Episode Date: September 10, 2024

Riki Lindhome (Garfunkel & Oates, Wednesday) joins Andy Richter to discuss her road to comedy music, living in an old folk’s home in her early twenties, her one-woman show about her fertility journey, falling in love with her husband Fred Armisen while shooting “Wednesday” in Romania, and her new film, "AfrAId."Do you want to talk to Andy live on SiriusXM’s Conan O’Brien Radio? Leave a voicemail at 855-266-2604 or fill out our Google Form at BIT.LY/CALLANDYRICHTER. Listen to "The Andy Richter Call-In Show" every Wednesday at 1pm Pacific on SiriusXM's Conan O'Brien Channel.

Hi everyone, welcome back to The Three Questions. I'm your host Andy Richter, and this week I am here with Ricky Lindholm. Ricky is an actress, comedian, and musician. You know her from her work with Garfunkel and Oats or in the show Wednesday. You can see her in the new film, Afraid, and keep an eye out for her one-woman show, Dead Inside. Before my conversation with Ricky, I want to thank everyone who's called into the Andy Richter Call- Collins show so far. If you want to be a part of this new show, you can

find more information in the description of this episode. And now, here is my really great conversation with the wonderful Ricky Lindholm. Amazing. It's the problem of getting attached to things. That's the real problem. Just don't do it. Yeah, just if you just isolate yourself. Yeah, you'll be fine. And never get close to anything or anyone.

Yeah. By the way, we've started the podcast now. Okay. Once I put the headphones on. It's begun. We are podcasting. Yeah. By the way, we've started the podcast now. Okay. Once I put the headphones on. It's begun. We are podcasting. Okay. Ricky Lindholm is here, hooray!

Hi, thank you for having me. Thank you so much. We were just having a long talk about a sick dog that in our house. So, but let's talk about you now. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Thank you for being here. How are you? Thank you, I'm so talk about you now. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Thank you for being here.

How are you? Thank you, I'm so good. Thank you. And you're not here very much. Well, just recently. Just recently. I was in Edinburgh for a month doing Fringe. Oh, okay.

Have you ever done Fringe? I have never done that. It's awesome. It sounds like fun. The only thing I don't think I would like about it is doing the same show every night. Yeah. You know, over and over every single night. Like that, I think, I don't think I would like about it is doing the same show every night. Yeah. You know, over and over every single night.

Like that I think would, I don't know. I was doing two shows a day, which is crazy. I was doing 5pm. And this is a one woman show, correct? Well, I was doing my one woman show at 5pm and then at night, I'm writing the Broadway version of Drop Dead Gorgeous. Oh, cool.

We were doing previews of that. Just like, almost like. Are you and Kate doing that together? No, just me. Oh, just you? Wow. We started doing it together, but now she's focusing on kids music. Oh, I see.

So I'm just gonna run with it. But we were doing like previews of it at 11 p.m. So I was doing 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. every night. Are you in the show, in the Drop Did Gorgeous show? I was in the version that we did at Edinburgh. I will not be in the Broadway version. I wish I had that kind of voice. It was like, I didn't even do a solo in the Edinburgh show

because the other girls were like real singers, like capital S singers. So I would like sing in the group numbers and then introduce the songs and then be like, here's the real singer, you know? Yeah, it really is something to be able to kind of carry a tune and then be around real singers. Like, I've done karaoke around real singers

and like, I like karaoke and I'm like, yeah, sure, I'll do. I sound good, yeah. I've got a couple numbers, yeah, and then you see a real singer. I went once with, actually, it was Padgett Brewster, who is a wonderful singer. Oh, that doesn't surprise me. And she, it was in Gower Gulch. I don't know if it's still there. In the back of the Chinese restaurant?

Something like that. I used to go there all the time in Gower Gulch, yes. Yeah, but we were there and I was sitting next to some people and there were a couple other people in our group that, it was a large group of people that I was just, I didn't know a lot of them, but I knew a few of them well. And this lady next to us is just, she's like, this is not fair. These people should not be here. These professional singers should not be here. You know, these professional singers should not be here.

And it was Padgett. Yeah, it was Padgett. I'm belting the shit out of something. Well, that's what karaoke's about, fair. Yes, exactly. You want it to be fair. Exactly, right. You want everyone to be bad.

Yeah. That's really funny. I used to love Gower Gulch. I can't believe you used to. I loved that place. I mean, this is 20 years ago. Yeah, no, it was, I would say it was early 2000s. It was the back of that Chinese food restaurant

that no one was ever in the restaurant. And there was that back room. And you could go like 10 times because no one was back there. I loved it. No, and there used to be, when I first kind of spent an extended period of time in LA, which would have been about like 1991, 92,

something like 1991, 92, something like that. There was a on the West side on it was on either Pico or Olympic, just a little bit past the 405, there was a old Polynesian restaurant called Kelbo's, that they had pictures of Lucy and Desi picking up barbecued ribs, you know, but it had fallen completely into disrepair, but they had a karaoke night and we used to go there all the time. By we, I mean, I was here doing a show

with a bunch of people from Chicago and we would go and there was, it was really something to do, like something to go regularly to because like there was a cabbie who would pull up It was really something to do, like something to go regularly to, because there was a cabbie who would pull up and park in the red zone. The guy knew him and let him skip the line. And every time it was the same.

It was, there is a house in New Orleans. They call the rising sun. Oh, so boring. That's a terrible karaoke song. He'd sing the House of the Rising Sun, go back, get in his cab and drive away. Oh, he just didn't, he didn't want to watch.

No, he just got a quick hit. Like I'm gonna pull up the Kalbos and just sing House of the Rising Sun. He did it every week, every single week. Did you ever see this guy at Gower Gulch? Wait, am I, maybe I'm remembering the, I might remember, it might not have been at Gower Gulch, but the worst karaoke I would ever see

is this guy who did a repeated song. He would do that, ba da da ba da bang da ding ding. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. It's, that just does that, you do it 50 times. Yeah, yeah. So it was this like unenthusiastic man in a cowboy hat and he'd just go, ba da da ba da bang bang ba da da ding ding ding. Ba da da ba, but it goes da da da da da da da da.

Ba da da ba, but it goes on like 50 times. Yeah, yeah. It's a bad karaoke song. And he would do it over and over and over. Over and over. Wow. And then he'd go, my name is Kid Rock. But if you said, my name is not Kid Rock.

But I love that that guy would just leave. That's like, you have to watch someone. You can't just sing it leave. No, no, he just wanted, he needed to get his hit, you know, his fix. Wow. Yeah. No, no, he just wanted, he needed to get his hit, you know, his fix. Wow. Yeah. Well, let's talk about your show business beginnings. Oh, okay.

Well, you're not from a showbiz family or anything. No, no. Was it Upstate New York? Yeah, town of a thousand people. Wow. No connections or anything. Yeah, yeah. I just moved to Los Angeles, like, with nothing.

Yeah. Yeah, like I remember my one connection, quote unquote, or anything. I just moved to Los Angeles with nothing. I remember my one connection quote unquote is that a kid who went to my high school six years before me lived in Glendale. That was all I knew. They were like, no, this guy lives in Glendale. You know someone in LA. He's not in show business, but he does live in Glendale. And so-

You may have seen him in passing. Yes. And I was like, no, so I called him. I was like, hi. Oh, really? I went to your high school with you. I had no friends. I moved to Park La Brea and just tried to meet people. I knew nobody.

For people that don't know, Park La Brea is this really weird. I mean, to me, it's really weird. It's one of the most, the biggest and most successful high-rise housing communities in the world. And it's very nice, but it is its own like, sci-fi bubble of a community. But it's nicer now. When I moved in there, there was no Grove.

So there was nothing to walk to. Oh, that's right. It was just in the middle of nowhere. And those housing things, it was just the tall buildings. There was one of those. Oh, there were those, yeah, yeah. So just the tall buildings. There was none of those. Oh, there were those like, yeah, yeah. So it was sort of. Like Italian looking condos.

Yeah, yeah. There was no like, cheesecake factory looking villas at the time, it was just those high buildings. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so. No, cause I've been in there a couple of times to do, like to do a podcast. I went there to do some guys' podcasts.

I was like, I've never been inside here, but it really does. It almost feels like you could be in Bulgaria or somewhere. Totally, and it's totally nice. There's nothing wrong. No, nothing wrong with it at all. It's just that I just felt isolated.

Yeah. It's just, it's strange. And I think it was, I think it was a post-war thing. Yes. Yeah, it was post-war housing. But how did you pick there when you came out to live here? Literally driving around. I didn't know where.

It was like before internet really. Yeah, yeah. Where before you could get all the information. So I kind of drove around and it was just like there was a sign. And I'm like, well, it looks like they have a lot of apartments there. Vacancies, yeah.

Yeah, so I just drove in. I think it was the only place I looked. Did you drive here by yourself or did somebody come with you? Well, I lived in San Francisco. Oh, okay. And then for like a year. And I found my housing in San Francisco.

This is even worse. So I went there to go to like an acting program, like a summer program, and didn't have any money and didn't know where to live. And was like looking on Craigslist for roommates things. And I would go and it was, there was no housing and you'd stand in line, like 50 people online to try to interview to be a roommate.

And so I was- At one place? Yeah. Oh, wow. And I I was... At one place? Yeah. Oh, wow. And I was just walking around San Francisco, and there was a vacancy sign, and I walk in, and it was like Tenderloin adjacent. And they said, well, this is an elderly residence facility.

Everyone here is over 65. And I was like, well, do you have an age limit? And they were like, no. And I was like, well, can I live here? Because it was very affordable, and it was not that far from the acting school. And they were like, no. And I was like, well, can I live here? Because it was very affordable. And it was not that far from the acting school. And they were like, well, you can. And so I did.

So I lived in an elderly residence facility. See, I would think that that would actually be kind of peaceful. It was fine. Yeah, there's no loud music. You don't have to worry about people partying. Yeah. Just dying is all.

There was a lot of ambulances. So I would come home, and they'd have happy hour every day at four. And I was totally happy. It wasn't that nice of ambulances. So I would come home and they'd have happy hour every day at four. And I was totally happy. It wasn't like that nice of a place, but it was, you know, it was, there was food included. Yeah, yeah. It's a sitcom waiting to happen. In fact, I think there was one about like a younger person that moved into an old person community down in Florida.

Remember the pilot of Golden Girls? There was that younger guy in it? Oh, yeah, yeah. Do you remember that? And then they just got rid of him. I think episode two, he was just gone. community down in Florida. Remember the pilot of Golden Girls? There was that younger guy in it? Oh yeah, yeah. Do you remember that? Yeah, I do. And then they just got rid of him. I think episode two he was just gone.

Yeah, he was murdered. Yeah, yeah. Rose killed him. Oh yeah. Well, I want to back up just a little bit to be like, were you always like a demonstrative theatrical child? Yeah, I was. I was.

We moved around a lot. Getting on shows and stuff. Yes, yes. But the arts programs got canceled in my high school, so we didn't have plays after my freshman year. So I kind of wanted to do stuff, but I didn't know if I was good at it. I just didn't know.

I played the flute and sang, but there was just not opportunities really to do anything. So I just kind of, I didn't know what to do. Yeah, you really, if there's nothing, if there's nowhere to do it, then you really have to be like an extrovert. Yeah, I have to believe in myself based on nothing.

Yeah, like when people come over for dinner, like, hey everybody, gather around. Yeah, and then I went to college for a couple of years, didn't really love it. And then- Where'd you go to college? Syracuse. Oh yeah.

It just wasn't for me. Because that was kind of close. Yes. Yeah, it's not far from- Yes. I just didn't know what to, I majored in communications, which is like, AKA I didn't know what I wanted to be. I was just a little lost, and then I'm like,

well I'm gonna go to this acting program in San Francisco. So then I moved into an elderly residence facility. And was everybody okay with that? Were your folks okay with, I'm gonna drop out of college? Cause you didn't graduate. Well, I did graduate. Oh, you did graduate.

So I said I was gonna drop out. My mom's like, okay, I figured something out. My mom's a planner. And she's like, okay. Cause I had a bunch of credits going into college because all the programs at my high school got canceled. So my senior year of high school, I just went to college at the local college.

Cause there was no, my only classes available to me in my school were government and gym. There was nothing else. So I didn't even, I couldn't even go to school three days a week. So I had all these credits. And so she kind of figured out a way for me to graduate in two and a half years.

And she's like, if you stay one more year, you can do one semester in London and you can see all these plays you've been wanting to see. And so I was like, okay, so I stayed. But so I did, I do have a degree. And so I was like, okay, so I stayed. But so I did, I do have a degree. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow, that's amazing.

And that's like, that is like, I don't think people realize like how limiting small town public schools can be. And before the internet, like now I could have maybe researched going somewhere, like learn things on my own. Like we didn't have cable until I was later in high school. We didn't have blockbuster. I didn't have any access to anything.

So I was just kind of like a little lost. And then once I got to college, I was like, I want to go try this because why not? Yeah. Was it daunting? Like were there times when you thought you might quit or were you always kind of? I was a little, I think I had the advantage

of being from such a small town and not knowing what I was up against. Yeah. I had no, like, it seemed very far away. Yeah. But it was so impractical that I had that going for me. I didn't have any realistic, I was just like, well, I don't know, this person did it and this, like,

it just seemed attainable to me. It wasn't until like five years in that I was like, this was impossible. What was I doing? Why did I, who do I think I am? What am I talking about? Like, this is crazy that I ever thought this could work. And... Yeah, well, I think, I mean,

did you get good feedback from people? Like, was there always encouragement as you went through? Not particularly. Really? Really? Well, I mean, not you get good feedback from people? Like, was there always encouragement as you went through? Not particularly. Really, really? Well, I was just like trying to find an acting class and a waitressing job and I just was, no, I guess no. But I mean, within say like the acting program that went to San Francisco.

Yes, yes, I did, I did. Yeah, you feel like, okay, I know what I'm, cause you can tell. Yes, yes. You know, when you compare yourself to like, well, that person's a little better than me, but that person's awful, you know. You kind of know when your scenes are going well.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, that kind of stuff was good. Yeah. But then I struggled to find an acting class I liked in Los Angeles, so I just started applying to theater companies, like just like local, and then I like got into one of those and that's how everything started.

Wow. Yeah, the Actors Gang. That was kind of my first thing. I know, yeah. Cause I, Jack Black and- Right, and Terrell Gass. And John C. Reilly all did stuff from there. Yeah, so that was my first real thing.

Wow. Yeah. And did you like acting class? I did just because I was craving it so badly because I didn't have that, I wanted to do arts and I couldn't, there was no opportunities so I loved it. I loved just all of it. I was like whatever, anything I wanted to do it. Yeah, yeah. But I didn't find anything in Los Angeles that I loved.

I couldn't, like I loved the acting program in San Francisco but I couldn't, did you take acting classes here? No, I've barely taken acting classes, honestly. No, seriously, I mean, I took a couple acting classes. And when I say a couple, it may have just been one, I don't exactly remember, but it was at the University of Illinois after I had decided, well, I think I took a couple, because I always wanted to be an actor,

and I just wasn't admitting it to myself, or, you know, it just was like, it was like saying, you know, like, you know... I want to be president. I want everyone to look at me. You know, I want to be pretty. Yeah. -♪

-♪ Can't you tell my love's a grown woman? It just felt so self-indulgent and so not small town, midwesterner, you know. But I took a couple acting classes and did not, I really felt, Charles Brodin wrote a, he wrote a couple of books, but he wrote a kind of an acting memoir. Oh, he did? Yeah. Oh, I gotta read that. I love that.

It's called, it's called, it would be so nice if you weren't here. Which is what he was, he was filming a movie in a castle and there was nowhere, he just sat down in a chair in a side room where no one was and the lady that ran the castle said, it would be so nice if you weren't here. So that's what he called it. But he said that he started taking acting classes and that he was such an asshole anyway. Such a wonderful asshole in so many ways.

And I say asshole with love. But he would go, why? Like they'd give him like something to do and be like, why? How is this helping? What is this doing? And that was my burning question through all of acting classes.

Except for like when, you know, memorize the scene and do the scene. Right. Okay. That's the thing. But and I, and I sort of get like how exercises can take you out of yourself and you can stop worrying about how you look or how you sound or whatever you can just kind of, you know, but that's kind of anything. That's like, you know,

trying to get someone to fall in love with you, you know? Like, yes, stop thinking about yourself all the time and just live, you know? And hope it happens. Yeah. And so like that part of it I liked, but the rest of it, I was just like, I don't get how this is helping.

I basically found good audition coaches. That helped me. Yes. Just cause I was so like, I don't get how this is helping. I basically found good audition coaches. That helped me. Yes. Just because I was so green. And because someone helping me shape an actual audition, that was incredibly helpful. And there are definitely, like, it's a business transaction.

Yes. And they are looking, it's like you are a salesperson for the product of you. Yes. And they know what works with the buyers. Totally. And you don't know how to break down a script yet. They're like, you know, you get a sitcom script,

you don't know that it's set up, set up jokes, set up, set up, you don't know that yet. So you could miss a joke, you could miss it, and then you just get an expert to help you. Yeah, that helped me a lot. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, see, I mean, sometimes it's, I feel, you know, I mean, I'm an actor because I got hired as an actor. Well, I mean, I'm an actor because I got hired as an actor. Well, I mean, I did improv, but that's not,

but that's not really acting, acting, you know, I mean, and then I just always was just kinda like, well, this guy's dumb. What would be a funny way to be dumb? You know, it was more of an- That's also my favorite thing to do. Yes, oh my God, it's the greatest. I love playing dumb, it's my favorite.

It's the best, it was more of an... That's also my favorite thing to do. It is. Oh my God. It's the greatest. It's my favorite. It's the best. It's the best. I came out here and I had a... I got a little agent that I had gotten in New York from doing a silly show we were doing in New York. They had somebody here.

So I came out here with not exactly an agent, but pretty close to an agent who then did become my agent. That's amazing. And they were sending me out on all kinds of things. not exactly an agent, but pretty close to an agent who then did become my agent. That's amazing. And they were sending me out on all kinds of things. Like, in fact, you mentioned Golden Girls. There was a spin-off, like when one of them wouldn't do it anymore,

I can't remember who, I think it was Bea Arthur said, "'Fuck this' and left.' I mean, and actually did say kind of, "'Fuck this' and left.' Wow. And, but it was like called Golden Palace. It was- Wow, I never saw this.

It was everyone but beef? The girls, yeah, and the girls ran a hotel. Oh, I thought so. Yeah, and there was a part of like a crazy foreign chef that they sent me on and I was like, okay. I like that they're sending me on crazy foreign chef. But I didn't, and so I got sent on all kinds of different things and I really liked it.

And then I got the part in Cabin Boy, which is like someone who can barely feed himself. And then that was all I saw from that. From that point on, they just set me on idiot after idiot after idiot audition, which is, you know, it was fun, but I was kind of like, all right, I see how it works. You know, they throw whatever noodle

you throw at the wall that sticks, they're like, okay, that's what you do now. So. I feel like typecast is better than not cast. Yeah, yeah. I take it. Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, it's, you know,

I just had Tom Lennon on my radio show and he's often said, yeah, yeah. It's, you know, I just had Tom Lennon on my radio show and he's often said, like, he just plays like little Nazis. You know, he's like, is the guy an awful jerk? That's me, that's who I get to play. He's like a duke from another era. He's so perfect for, he plays that kind of guy. But you know, the thing is, and it can be maddening. Like when I first started in television and people would talk about, it's got to be likable. You got to be likable,

likable. And it just seemed like, really? I don't know. You know, it just seemed like eat your vegetables. But it is like, yeah, it does kind of map. Like you do kind of. And Tom, he can be the biggest jerk in the world and you just, but you still kind of love, like you do kind of, and Tom, he can be the biggest jerk in the world and you just, but you still kind of love him, you know? He was on a TV show I created called Another Period. He played the Marquis de Sainsbury, that was his name. And he was one of the, a couple people could do it, but he was one of the only people who could improvise

in 1900 dialect without ever putting in a like or a but, he just could just do it. And it was not surprising. Yeah, yeah. That was a great show. Thank you. That was such a funny concept too. Thank you. And so, like, it just really...

Oh my gosh. We had so much fun doing it. It's so funny to just think, to just go with the idea that the oldie times were just awful. Like, everyone was just absolutely awful to each other and had horrible teeth while they were doing it. Well, we were kind of thinking, what if it was me and Natasha Lazzaro, and we were, like, watching Downton Abbey at the time, and we were like, but what if that was in America

and it was just regular Americans, like, but just, like, just as bad? Yeah, yeah. And it just made us laugh. Yeah, yeah. I'm like, I wonder if anyone would make that, and then they did. They did. How many seasons did that get?

Three. Three? Oh, that's great. Yeah. That's really fun were like, okay. How many seasons did that get? Three. Three, oh, that's great. Yeah. That's really fun. We were excited. We couldn't believe they ever said yes. Yeah, yeah. It just, but.

You don't let them onto that though. No. Yeah, yeah. No. Well, of course you said yes. I can say it now. Yeah, yeah, right. Yeah.

Well, when you got out here and you started, were you also sort of like getting into sort of the, you know, comedy scene, the UCB-ish kind of scene? No, not at all. Really? I was writing a funny- And why was that? It didn't occur to me.

I just was really like, had no guidance. I had no one, I knew no one in show business. I knew nothing. Like, I think that's part of the, like the people who criticize like Neppo babies, I think that's part of the problem is they don't realize how much access they have just by seeing it. They see that it's modeled for them.

Even if they're not, even if they're given nothing, they have the intel. They have the special information of a path. They have stood next to the structure. Yes, they've seen the path. And I'm like, and I was just lost. I was like, well, I'm waitressing, I'm sending headshots to theater companies,

I get Backstage West, and then I started taking those casting director workshops. Do you remember those you would pay to audition? Yeah, I remember, yeah. Then got outlawed, which I do not understand. Like, I get- Outlawed in what sense? They stopped being allowed to do it. Because they thought it was a racket.

Yeah, because they would say you shouldn't have to pay to audition, which I get, and maybe some people were taking advantage of it. Maybe there's information I don't know. But the places I was going, you pay like twenty five dollars and you would meet with the person who was casting CSI and you auditioned for them. And then they would call me in and give me auditions.

And I was like, well, what's the where's the scam? Like I I'm happy to like get the chance to hear their wisdom. It was like for 30 bucks. And they tell you about auditioning. And I'm like, get the chance to hear their wisdom. It was like 30 bucks and they tell you about auditioning and I'm like, this is great. And so I did that kind of just religiously. I would just go to a bunch of those and then I started working.

Wow. Yeah, I started just getting- It does seem shady though. Yeah, but not the ones I was going to. There's probably ones that were bad. No, I mean, but I just can't imagine being a casting person and taking 30 bucks off of some young person. Right.

You know? But for someone like me who like, there was no information online, like, oh, this is so crazy. I remember I drove to the Borders Bookstore in Buffalo two hours in the snow and got a book called, like, How to Make It in Hollywood. That's how little I knew.

And then when I got cast- I'll go to Buffalo. There's gotta be a clue there somewhere. And there was like one book and I was like, so that was my Bible, that's all I had. And then I got cast in Knives Out, you know, 20 years later and this woman's like, oh hi, I'm Kate Callan.

I'm like, no, you're not. She's like, what? I'm like, I bought your book in 1999 and it helped me come to Los Angeles. And she's like, no way. I was like, you have that- What was she on the movie? She was like the older woman in the family.

She was like sort of the older lady. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was her. Wow. Yeah, and I was like, I know exactly who you are. I bought your book. It was my only book I had about acting.

I bet that made you her best friend the whole time. Yeah, she was like, wow, I'm glad it was so helpful. And I get really, I didn't have any other information. Yeah, yeah. So those workshops were very helpful to me. With someone with no information. And I started working. I got a bunch of jobs.

I got a recurring role in Gilmore Girls. I got like, I was like, this is great. I would have no way of doing that otherwise. Right. Well, are you meeting other, I mean, are you sort of forming a group of performer friends at that time, or are you just going to work and coming home and sort of forming a group of performer friends at that time? Or are you just going to work and coming home and...

Yeah, a little bit. A little bit. I was just a little adrift, I think. I was just trying to make money and pay my rent. I sort of had my head down just like trying everything. But then, yeah, but then after those you know, those casting workshops and then joining the Actors Gang, the son of a, of Phyllis Huffman, who was a big casting director, Matt Huffman, who was in Actors Gang with me, introduced me to his mom, and that's how I got Million Dollar Baby, which was my first movie. Wow. So it was that connection. So after that, things started, you know, because Million Dollar Baby obviously did well.

Right, right, right. After it won the Oscar, I got an agent. Yeah, and when they look at your resume and they see that, they're like, oh, okay, yeah. I was already recurring on some TV shows and in the Oscar-winning movie before I had any representation. Wow. So then I finally got an agent after that

and it was like easier. Then you had to shell out that 10% that you were getting to keep to yourself. Because I made so much. That's amazing that you had a recurring on a network show with no representation. Yeah. I've never even heard of that happening.

Yeah, no, I really did know zero people. Wow. Yeah, so those, like for me, it was those were, but now you have like, people have more access and more information. Oh, absolutely. You can have a YouTube channel. Absoluti. Absoluti. Abs YouTube channel. You can put yourself out there.

I just had no method to put myself out there. So now it's different. It's really remarkable. And you're right. There is like now you can, if you Google how to make it in Hollywood, there's probably 6,000, like on our phone sitting right here, there's probably 6,000 on our phones sitting right here.

There's all that information. You don't have one book from Buffalo and be like, I think it's this. And you can do characters and put them on your Instagram. You can showcase yourself. Yeah, and so many people, especially women. That's the main thing that I think, like Twitter and Instagram have been been in terms of show business,

is there so many funny women that would not have gotten known without making videos for the internet. They just wouldn't have had the access. Yeah, or just funny joke writers. I mean, from my, I think I got on Twitter in 2010 and that was the main, that to me was like the most interesting part of it is that you're seeing so many funny women that didn't have to go through some, you know, Harvard lampoon gatekeeper to get their funny

jokes out in front of people, you know. Yeah. When you get that representation, I mean, is it settling people back home? Like are they, or were they already kind of like, well, she's out there doing it, you know? I think my parents knew that if it didn't work out, I'd figure something else out.

Like I try very hard at everything and they'd do, like I always did. If that didn't work, I was gonna figure out something. Like something, it would be fine. Right. I think that was kind of the general idea. My dad's an entrepreneur. Like he's always creating a different idea for himself.

He's always creating his own opportunities. And I think they just were like, yeah, she'll figure it out. And if not, you know, she waitresses. Come home. Yeah. But you know what I mean? I would, my first job was a McDonald's inside a Walmart. Like I will do the absolute whatever job.

Like I will pay my rent. I will do it. It will happen. But if I sum, whatever means necessary. Yeah. Were you doing music during this whole time too? Sort of. Well, it's so funny because I was kind of just

not realizing that that could be a career. Cause when I went to that school in San Francisco, we all did these scenes as our final project. And then I was playing these funny songs just for myself, and they had me come and play a funny song as like the finale. And like it went, my scene went totally fine. The funny song was like the hit of the thing. And I was like, well, I'm just going to ignore that

and pretend that doesn't mean anything and focus on Shakespeare or something. Yeah, yeah. And then I would play funny songs at parties. It always went well, but I never was like, oh, that's like a hint from the world that like maybe that's what I should follow. I just didn't think of it.

Well, now you say, I played a funny song, totally skipping over the fact that you're sitting somewhere writing funny songs for yourself. Yeah. And how long have you been doing that and where did that come from? Since like, since early in college.

I don't know. I just like, my first funny songs, I didn't actually write. I would, you know, do like Weird Al Yankovic songs or something. I would just play covers of funny songs. Yeah, yeah. But I could deliver them well.

And then I would turn like show tunes that like, weren't funny, I would change one word and make it of funny songs. But I could deliver them well, and then I would turn, like, show tunes that, like, weren't funny. I would change one word and make it a funny song. And then, so it sort of evolved that way. And then I just started writing about dating or something. And yeah, it just, like, evolved slowly like that. But I never thought of it as something I could do as a career. Just for fun.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Wow. And no agent either. People are gonna hate you after this interview. Oh, yeah, They're like, I wish I worked at McDonald's and lived in an elderly residence facility. That's the path I wanted. Yeah. No, I just mean no, I mean, I mean, I'm kidding. I just mean it as a compliment because it's like,

it's really fantastic that you know, that through drive and just your own sort of lack of information. Yeah, I did not know what I was up against. I was like, I could get into a movie. Yeah, why not? I could do that. That and just your own sort of... Lack of information. Yeah, yeah. I did not know what I was up against. I was like, I could get into a movie. Why not? I could do that. That was just my thing. I didn't see the limits. Yeah, no, I totally get that

because starting doing improv in Chicago, it was weird cause I'd sit next, like I'd sat next to a kid in an improv class. It was like in the upstairs of a blues club, you know, on a Wednesday afternoon or whatever. And this kid had moved there from, I think, Arizona and he's like, I want to get on SNL. And I was like, what? Like, wow. Is that something we can do? Yeah, no, I just, because I was just doing it for the doing it. And, and so, and along

the way is other people would be like, I gotta get an agent and all this stuff. I just kinda, I don't know, I just kinda following it, and not thinking about it too much. But also too, that's why I asked you before, getting good feedback. Yes. You know, not people saying, hey, you're pretty good at this.

Right. You know, not whether explicitly or implicitly, you know. Right, like you don't get in the Clint Eastwood movie with no credits if you're bad. Yes, exactly. Not saying like I was amazing, but you don't get it if you're bad at it. Right, if you're bad and also if you have,

like if up until that point, no one has given you any positive sort of feedback. Yes, no, no. It all builds on itself to where you just, you get the confidence of it. But I just, I don't know, I just love because they're so, especially now when every, it seems like people are so desperate,

especially with online, that like writing a funny song just for its own sake, I don't think there's anyone doing that anymore. No, cause yeah, it like, I'll put this on the internet. And if I, you know, there's something behind everything as opposed to just its own enjoyment. Yeah. Well, ours, we, Garfunkel Notes became, you know, YouTube stars by accident. Oh, really?

Yeah, that was real. So we were making, it was the writer's strike, the 2007 writer's strike. And I wanted to make a short and Kate and Mukujy and I were both writing funny songs. So I'm like, what if we make a musical? And so we wrote songs for this musical short, and I got cast in this movie, and I was about to go to South Africa for like three months, and I wanted my parents to see the songs we wrote.

So we just sang them on my couch, and email wouldn't, it was too big, the video was too big. Someone's like, oh, there's this file sharing service, YouTube. So I uploaded it to YouTube. It was, my channel name was my email address. That's how little I knew. Yeah, it was my email address.

And I sent it to my parents. And then when I came back from doing the movie, it was like a thousand people had watched it. And I was like, what? That was so many people to me. I was like, what is going on? A thousand people know my email. And I was like, what? That was so many people to me. I was like, what is going on? A thousand people know my email. Yeah, I changed my channel name quickly.

But I was like, that was crazy. And then Cait and I were both like, whoa, this is huge. Cause it felt huge. And then we're like, I guess we pursue this. And then we pursued it in a more serious way after that. And so you guys really hadn't done anything with each other up to that point? No, we were just friends.

How did you guys know each other? Where did you guys meet? We knew each other because there was a period, tell me if you remember this, there was a period of time in commercials where every woman had like enormous eyes. Do you remember this? It was like 2004 to 2006.

And it was like all, we would just see the same six women. The same large eyed women. Yeah, it would be indicated every call back, we're like, hi again. Like we would just see the same six women. The same large eyed women. Yeah, it would be located every callback. We're like, hi again. Like it would just see the same chicks every time. And I'm like, this is really funny. And then one of us would get it and it would be another, it was like, it was like sort of average guys

with like a lot of messy hair and then women with huge eyes. That was just every, that was who was cast period. And so I would constantly see her at commercial callbacks. I believe, I don't particularly remember that one. And so I would constantly see her at commercial callbacks. I believe, I don't particularly remember that one. You know, I wasn't looking at that, but I know what you mean because it is like, like beards now, like you cannot get in,

men cannot get in a commercial unless they have a big stupid beard. It's like you have to, like a trend, and like before that it was sort of like the Maxim type girls, it was like the Doritos girl, and like, and then it just switched and it was sort of like precocious looking women it was like the Doritos girl. And then it just switched and it was sort of like precocious looking women with big eyes.

Yeah. So. Yeah, yeah. It's a very creative business. So there we were. Get me that. That thing that worked, get me more. Yes, yeah.

So you guys just met like in sitting around in casting rooms. Yeah. Oh, that's great. And we were like young, so we were both like had openings for friends, you know, we were both from small towns. And then we realized that we had gone

to the same music camp in fifth grade. Wow. And we were like, whoa, because we're from just like the same part of the world. And they were like, whoa, that's so crazy. And then, yeah, and just started hanging out and, oh, I write funny songs, I write funny songs. And then we'd play each other our funny songs.

And it kind of evolved from there. Wow. Yeah. And you weren't, so until you did that, you weren't really, were you thinking of yourself as a comedic actress? Yeah, that was more, I was working more in comedy than I was in drama.

Oh, you were, okay. Yeah, so I liked both, but then I was booking like a lot of sitcom pilots. Okay. Like I was sort of working, like none that went, but I was booking them consistently. And that's what, yeah, yeah. So I was like, oh, I think that might be more of my thing.

Yeah. So I was doing more comedy. But then, yeah, and then just YouTube changed my life. When do you start doing live shows? Kind of right after. We were like, we just couldn't believe that people were watching and that people were calling us. Cause we were like, okay, we quickly started

a MySpace page and then we started getting offers for shows. Like we had been in the outgoing business for years, both of us just auditioning and trying, and then people were offering us performing opportunities and we're like, yes, yes, where? And so we just like ran with it. Yeah. Did you take to that right away doing live singing?

Amazing. We were like so out of tune, and we were just really green when we looked back at it, but it was amazing. We just had, we had a blast. We went anywhere, we would play it, but it was amazing. We just had, we had a blast. We went anywhere. We would play anytime. We'd do anything.

We'd be like, we have a gig in a library in downtown Cleveland. We're like, sign us up. Like we did anything. We loved it. How long did you guys, how long were you guys together doing that? Well, we haven't broken up.

We're still together technically. Right, I know, but I mean, but I mean with that sort of heavy schedule of it. That was like probably like seven or eight years of like consistent, like nothing but that. Right, right. Which is, you know, have you, you guys, you've toured. We did a short thing in between the Tonight Show ending

and the TBS show starting. But that was like an intense tour, wasn't it? Yeah, it was, yeah, it felt like it. It was a little over two months, I think, but it felt like a lot more than that. And I also realized that it's not my, I could not, it's tough, it's really hard. I like, it would be, I would just be too depressed

going from, because there were times when it's just the hotel room, and these are nice hotel rooms. These aren't even like shitty hotel rooms. But just being, staying in five different hotels and five nights, it seems sexy, but by the fifth one, and when you wake up in the middle of the night to pee and you don't know where the bathroom is. You know?

Yeah, you break your toe. I did that once on tour. Really? Yeah, because I walked into a dresser. Right, right, because you're like, I think it's over here. Oh no, wait, that was yesterday, you know? But yeah, it's, it is, it's its own thing, you know?

I really liked it. I couldn't really do it now just because I have a two-year-old. Right, of course. So that's not really, it's just not my touring time. Yeah, yeah. I've done a couple one-off shows and I will bring my son with me, which is fun. But I'll just go for like two days. Yeah, yeah.

And he's young enough where I'll just bring him with me. He's, yeah, two you can do. Yeah. Two is fairly portable with, you have someone that helps, you know. Yep. Then yeah, you can do that. But then it's like, then they start getting into school and it, they ruin everything.

I'm taking advantage of it now. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Because he's so young, I brought him with me to Scotland and he loved it. Yeah, well, yeah, if you're gonna go on a long location with that, because wasn't the Wednesday, was that, isn't that? That was in Romania for seven months.

Right, and he, I mean, he obviously. He was not born yet. He was that, that isn't it? That was in Romania for seven months. Right, and he, I mean, he obviously. He was not born yet. He was not born yet. Yes. But was there, now, isn't there been a second season? Yes, but I'm not in it, because my character, spoiler alert,

does not make it through the first season. So I make, my character dies in the first season. I thought I, well, I don't remember. I mean, I saw a few of them. It's one of those shows that I feel a little bit like I should not be a 57-year-old man watching this show. This show is for young, primarily for young women, and I should not be watching it.

I understand that, but it's like the quality of it and the timbre-ness of it, I think, elevates it to a more all-ages thing. It's really good. It's really, of like the ones that, and I don't want to shit on other shows, but like of the It's really, of like the ones that, and I don't wanna shit on other shows, but like of the ones that are sort of like modernizations of spooky old kind of kid thing,

it's by far the best one. Yeah, yeah. I loved it, I loved being in it. And that was the time in my life where I could totally go to Romania for seven months and nobody even missed me, like I was fine. Well, don't say it like that. No, as far as, it was during the pandemic,

like no one was seeing each other. Oh, I see what you mean. It was like, I'm saying like- I was gonna say somebody missed you. Like I wasn't in a relationship and didn't have a child. So it was very easy to- Yeah, yeah. Go be in Romania.

Yes, I just mean like that. Like, yes, like my mom missed me, et cetera. But yeah. Now, is that kind of, because you do act and you go away on location, that's your, because you do acts, you go away on location, that's your job. So much of the acting that you do has been doing things like that.

I mean, there's another period thrown in there too, which is all local here, I take, yeah. But is that, do you still respond to that? Do you still? I need to figure it out. I mean, I've sort of been, I Do you still? I need to figure it out. I mean, I've sort of, you know, been, I guess, God, I don't know, not lucky,

but you know, we had that long strike, so I just stayed at home with my son. Like, I'm so, I'm curious to see if an opportunity arises, like how we would make that work. Because I'm still open to it, I still want to work. I just, I know it would be harder. But. But we made Edinburgh work, so it's possible. Yeah. Now you, do you mind talking about having a kid?

No, I love it. Yeah, because you tried for a long time IVF, right? That's what my show's about, my show in Edinburgh. It's all about my whole fertility journey. I talk about everything. Yeah. It's like, I made, there was just kind of signs everywhere, like trigger warning, because if people didn't want to listen to that subject,

if they were in maybe a fertility journey, and you know, and I actually decided, I'm going to continue doing the show here in LA. And I decided that I'm going to say at the beginning, this is a walkout's welcome. If you, it's like self care. If you, if this isn't something that you're emotionally in a position to hear about, you can walk out anytime.

Don't feel like, cause you know, women like don't wanna be rude to another woman who's performing. And I'm like, you're not rude. I won't care. You can, anytime you wanna leave, you're welcome to and not gonna look twice. I get it, but they know sort of, you know, where the story's gonna lead, you know?

Yes. It's not, you know, it's like they know you have a child, so... Right, right. Or they don't. Like, some people don't know. They come to do a cold and they don't know? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. I just talk about all sorts of infertility stuff. Yeah.

And it gets sad and dark and yeah, there's always like, I always hear lots of tears during the show, which is new for me. Oh wow. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. It was... Did you, was it like, was it a struggle for a while? Decide to have a child, to just make the decision of like,

I'm gonna have a kid on my own. Yeah, well, I first froze my eggs when I was 34. And so I did it three times. The first time didn't go well at all. And we actually had a TV show, The Garfunkel and Oates Show, and did an episode about how my IVF went so poorly. So we did that so long ago, which is so weird, because I play it in my show.

I'm like, this is how long I've been talking about this. Wow, wow. What year was that? Gosh, 2010 or something, or 2011. I got him so bad with years. That's all right. But it ishh, like it was a long time ago. And then, yeah, and so, and I had a partner for a long time. We were trying to have a baby.

And then he changed his mind about wanting one. And so I was like, I guess it's me. And so I just started trying on my own and tried to adopt for a long time. I tried everything. You know, it just was like, it was just a lot of red flags. It was a lot of no's.

Yeah, yeah. Was the adoption just because you were a single woman? Is it, you know, I'm not familiar with the difficulties in that area. Well, it was hard, it was hard for a lot of reasons because I started trying to adopt in March, 2020. Wow. So a lot of things were a little bit on pause. Yeah, yeah.

Like it was a little bit, we weren't sure what was going on with international adoption and it was, you know, it was a little, like everything was a little slower. It was just kind of, it was harder and I had some adoption matches fall through and it's just emotionally a difficult thing to go through alone, I think.

Yeah. And I do think it's harder as a single parent, like getting chosen as the family. You know, you make these pamphlets about you're like selling yourself as a parent. And it's weird when all the pictures are just you. Like it's a little like, oh, I don't look like, you know, this family on the farm with all the dogs.

It's like me in my apartment. I'm like, gosh, I wouldn't pick me either. And I also, I think I wouldn't pick me either. Yeah. And I also, I think I didn't know how to make myself seem more palatable. Yeah, no, I don't, I wouldn't know how to, I mean, I didn't, like, the couple times that I was on dating websites, just doing that was awful.

Right, it's so hard. Like, here, make it, like you said, make a brochure of yourself. And I was like, ugh. Sell yourself as my husband, go. My least favorite subject. But yeah, they're like, sell yourself as a husband, sell yourself as a boyfriend, sell yourself as a mom.

And it's hard. And I couldn't do a professional photo shoot because it was COVID and no one was really doing that. So I had to kind of like Photoshop out the glass of wine I was holding. And like, you know, like I had to like really turn like doctor this profile. It wasn't that effective.

Yeah. Yeah. So I ended up having a baby via surrogate and that process was amazing. It was? Yeah. That process, I'm still good friends with her. I have a song about her in my show.

Oh wow. Yeah. The surrogacy process was awesome. It was. Is she gonna come see the show? She did already. Oh, she did already. gonna come see the show? She did already. Oh, she did already? And what did she think?

She loved it. Yeah, yeah. Like I sent her the song before she came to see the show just to like get her approval and be like, is it okay if I, cause I don't say her name or anything. Right. And she, yeah, but she loved it.

And then she came, I did two sort of like pre-reads of the show, just like tech run-throughs in LA and she came to one of those. Yeah. So yeah, she loved it. And has she seen your son? Is that? Oh yeah. Yeah, and that's like, it's not awkward one of those. So yeah, she loved it. And has she seen your son? Is that?

Oh yeah. Yeah, and that's like, it's not awkward or it's not? No, it's not at all. Well, it's like, it's interesting because I took all these parenting classes when I was trying to adopt, and they were really helpful as far as like explaining a non-traditional family to a kid.

You take a lot of classes like reframing it, because it's basically the stance has changed about when to tell a kid, like the research has changed, where basically now they're like, like reframing it. Cause it's basically the stance has changed about when to tell a kid, like the research has changed. Where basically now they're like, just be honest from the top. Because they will, like they might do a DNA swab when they're four now, who knows? Like the technology's going so fast

that they're like, just you reframe it as like, we wanted you so badly that we did this and this and that just to have you like, and you just, you know, like, you know, she carried you in her tummy and we, like, and you just reframe it like that. So he's kind of known that since he was born. Are you supposed to tell him that? Because I have a four-year-old now and my wife went through,

she had IVF in it, but it worked. And so I, you know, I started dating a single mom. And I've adopted her. She's my legal daughter now. But I don't go around telling her, you know, I mean, it's just mommy and daddy. I don't tell her, like, by the way, mommy had you alone. I'm a latecomer to this deal. Well, I had a latecomer too, and it's fine.

There's like bio dad and real dad and bio mom and real mom, and we just say it like it's all normal. But you tell him before he asks, or is he? Yes. Which, you know, maybe the research in five years will be like, you should never have done that. You know, and I'm like, oh gosh,

they'll be like, you ruined his life. But yeah, you know, because we'll have the surrogate and her. And I'm like, oh gosh, they'll be like, you ruined his life. But yeah, you know, cause you know, we'll have the surrogate and her husband over and be like, look, this is where you were a baby. And you know, so yeah. So I've gone with that thing that I learned in that class. Who knows if that's correct, but that's what we went with. I mean, if that's what they say, but that's why, you know,

you just got me thinking like, oh shit, should I be telling my kid like, you know, that, you know, cause I don't even, I'm not aware, cause she was a little, you know, she's a year and a half-ish. I'm not even aware of, she's like, if she has any sort of idea of the world without me in it. Cause I've been, you know what I mean? No chance.

Yeah, I don't think so. Cause she's four and a half now. Real dad's way more important than bio dad. Because I've been, you know what I mean? No chance. Yeah, I don't think so. No, your real dad. Because he's four and a half now. Yeah. Real dad's way more important than bio dad. I'm just daddy, you know, so. Your dad and there's bio dad and it's just, you know, there's gonna be so many people

with those kind of stories that. Yeah. Yeah. And Fred, who I love, your husband, you guys got married, yes? Yeah, we've been married for two years. We just like didn't ever. You didn't tell anybody. No, we just never married for two years. We just like didn't ever. You didn't tell anybody?

No, we just never announced it. We just went and did it and then. Tell us about your love. Tell us how it unfolded. Well, we started dating when my surrogate was pregnant. So similar, you know, he, he, he, you married a single mom. He married someone who was intending to be a single mom. I never quite got there.

So he knew it was, he knew it was coming. Could you imagine if he didn't? I'd be like, by the way. Oh shit, I forgot to tell you. I'm having a baby next week. I'm getting a delivery. Oh, next week. Now wait, was the baby, you were here to get the baby, right?

Yes, I finished in Romania about a week before he was born. Flew back from Romania and just started. And Fred was, he was happy to have it, because you guys knew each other for a long time. For like 15 years. We were friends for a very long time. And then, you know, started dating in Romania. Right, right. As one does. Yes.

And, you know, the land of Dracula. Yes, exactly. It's where romance blooms. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, I'm sure he had reservations and things, and, um, but he didn't come into it as dad. He came into it as a guy I was dating. Right.

And then it evolved, you know, naturally. But I'm sure you didn't begin as dad. You begin as... No. You begin with dinner. Yeah, and yeah, exactly. And I, and as I've said, you know, I chose. I, you know, it's not, nobody forced me into anything.

And even, I chose her, my daughter, to be my daughter's father also by familiarizing myself with her. And I had the opportunity to not go for it. Which is like, just in my mind is a little bit blown by it, cause you don't get that. You have a kid, that thing comes out, it's yours. It's yours.

That's your assignment. Yeah, yeah. I picked it. Yeah, and I had, you know, first of all, it's a man's world, it just is. Cause I, you know, if I decided, yeah, if I decided, man, I don't like this kid. Sorry, lady, bye. Totally, totally. But no, but you know, if I decided, yeah, if I decided, man, I don't like this kid. Sorry, lady, bye.

But no, but, you know, and I also too, you know, you gotta, I don't know where Fred was at in terms of, you know, wanting to have a child, not wanting to have a child, but I, you know, somebody came and put a kid in my arms right now, I'd be like, and they said, you gotta raise this thing. I'd be like, yeah, all right. I think he's more like that.

Okay, I like kids, you know? And I like raising them. Yeah, I remember with him, it was, he didn't get to meet the baby until like, he was like three weeks old. And I just remember being like, all I want is the truth. It doesn't make you a jerk. If you are with the baby and this is not for you,

I won't be mad at you, like no one even knows we're dating. Like this is scot-free, like you are not a jerk if you don't, if this is not for you. And then he had the opposite reaction. He was very like, oh, yeah, he was like you. Like he was like, oh, interesting. Like this is his, I'm like, if your gut is like, no, that's fine. But I just want the truth.

Because I don't need someone to be in my son's life and then change their mind or out of obligation. Right, out of sense of obligation or something. I'll date someone else. I'm not limiting myself by being a single mom. I'll date someone who likes that about me. Yeah, I'll date someone else. Like, I'm not limiting myself by being a single mom. I'll date someone who likes that about me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, it's a beautiful story.

Yeah. It's a lovely story. It was so unexpected. And I relate to it in many obvious ways, because I have, and I have older kids too, so that's the, for me- How old are your older kids? 23 and 18.

Okay. And so for me, it was sort of callback, you know? It was a callback to a different time. An earlier joke. Yeah, yeah, so an earlier joke. But yeah, but I, you know, it's wonderful. And I, you know, not too, I feel in, I feel in these, in these fraught days, if you talk about like, parenthood is great.

It's like, what am I, JD Vant? Yeah. You know? And it's like, and I, you know, it's like, no, I mean, you, you've got, first of all, you want to have them. Yeah. You know, you gotta want to have a kid. Yes.

That's the whole key. It's like, it's just not like they, cause they certainly are not the ticket to self fulfillment. No. You know, like to think- It's a whole different life. It's a ticket to a brand new life.

Yes, absolutely. And, but yeah, but there's plenty that's, I mean, the whole thing about like, you know, procreating and the classic family structure, that's what's fulfilling, which is you just hear so much bullshit about that nowadays. Like for you maybe, I guess.

Well, but also like, no, it isn't always that way. And even, you know, even the happiest parent has moments of existential crisis, you know? It's not, it's like- I have to do this forever? Yeah, it's not, it's like, there's plenty of unhappy parents out there. It's not the panacea that they make it to be.

And it's not even like, and to think of it as an obligation to like, I don't know, Jesus. Right. You know, get out of here, Jesus. Let me live my life, you know. Let me be happy. Yeah, yeah. I'm very curious if I'm gonna get blow back for my show

once I start touring it and my Edinburgh show. Cause it was sort of isolated in this community of fringe performers. Right, and that was where it debuted. You didn't do it live anywhere before that. No, I did two sort of tech read throughs in LA just twice and then went there for a month. But I'm curious if I'm gonna get that kind of blow,

I'm assuming I will. Get people who are anti-IVF. Yeah, yeah. When do you start touring it? I'm not sure. Hopefully soon-ish. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we're still.

Because it's a very timely, it's a very timely thing. And it's absolutely bananas that IVF is even in any way controversial. And it's just because crazy people have been like let run wild. Yeah. You know, like just really retrograde ideas. I also feel like they would do IVF for themselves.

Like if they're like, if they find out they can't have kids, they're not just going to be like, oh, that's fine. Absolutely. They'll be like, fine, I won't have a family. But that's, you know, I mean, it's the same way, you know, with abortion that, you know, abortion's fine for... My ex-wife used to, you know, escort people. Wow.

And, you know, and I think, and I've had other friends that used to escort people at abortion clinics and they all have a story about one of the protestors' daughters or one of the protestors eventually coming and getting an abortion themselves. Of course. I mean, it's, you know. Of course. I mean, I don't mean that everybody had it,

but I know at least two. When my show was a, at first it was gonna be like a, not a one-woman show, but like a big musical. There was a scene where one of the characters was going to abortion clinic and there was all these protesters and she was and she tells the protesters she goes it's crazy because i'm actually a lawyer and i have these papers here i will have the baby if you sign right now that you'll be the legal guardian and everyone's like oh no not me not me and she's like why because you want the choice of when to do it and how and they're like uh, uh, and just like, exactly.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, there's all kinds of great videos of like, don't aboard adopt and like, well, yeah. Well, have you ever adopted? No, no, no, not me. I mean, I would, why don't you? I just can't, you know, anyhow. That sounds inconvenient for me.

Yeah, well, I wasn't talking about me. Yeah. Well, the show, let me get it out here. Dead Inside. Yeah. The happy name. I know. The title itself is a trigger warning.

You know, it's sort of, if people don't want that subject, they can not come. Yeah. Yeah. My polluted womb, you didn't decide to grab. No, it's going not come. Yeah. My polluted womb. You didn't decide to grab it. No, it's gonna be dead inside colon, my polluted womb. Yeah. That's just that, it's the best line, Tony. Your womb was polluted.

It's just, I hear that in my head about once a month. So that will be starting soon. Yes, yes. And then you have this other drop dead gorgeous. When does that, when are we gonna see that? Is that gonna tour somewhere? I'm not exactly sure how it works either. I'm going to New York to figure all this out

with the companies. And I have this great company putting it up. Like they did Book of Mormon and all these things. And so like, I don't know the second step. I don't know, I've done step one and now I don't know what happens. How did that start? Did somebody come to you with the idea to do that?

No, I got this songwriting agent during the pandemic and he's like, what do you wanna do? And I was like, I wanna do Drop Dead Gorgeous. And then he's like, what's that? I'm like, it's this movie from 1999, it's about beauty pageants, I wanna do that as a Broadway musical. And he called Warner Brothers to see if it was available IP.

And it was like the day before or something, it had become available. So it was like right... It was exactly when I reached out about it. And so, yeah, just... So you swooped in and picked it up. Wow, what a great idea. Yeah, it was really fortuitous timing. That could make you rich.

I mean, that would be nice. Oh, that would be so nice. But you know, theaters, a crapshoot, I guess like everything else. Yeah, no. Yeah, exactly. But still, it's like, But it's like, I want it to be like Book of Mormon for women.

Yeah. All female cast. Oh, that's great. Like all comedy songs. Yeah, yeah. Just fun. Awesome. And then you're in the comedy songs, just fun. Awesome. And then you're in the horror movie, Afraid.

Yes, yeah. Which is? Came out on Friday. Oh, it came out on Friday, yeah, August 30th. Yeah, I love doing horror movies. Have you done a number of them? I've done like three or four, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

It's so fun. I guess Wednesday kind of counts. Yeah, but remember I said I did a movie in South Africa when our YouTube channel started? That was Last House on the Left. That was a horror movie. Oh, wow. So fun, yeah.

Oh, wow. I love doing it. I love playing bad guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the best. That's great. And you recently released the song Middle-Age Love. Yeah.

And your sweetheart plays the sax in the music video. Yes, yes. Yes. I was like, can you come down and mime playing saxophone? Yeah, that's great. He's like, okay. That's great. Yeah.

So you know, I mean, there's not really much left undone here, aside from figuring out when that kid gets into school what you're going to do with yourself. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I guess I just, I do music and hang out with my baby. Yeah. You know, that's all I really want to do music and hang out with my baby.

That's all I really wanna do right now. That's great. Do you have any words of wisdom for people? About life or parenting? About anything. This is the three questions and the last one is, they're all hidden in this conversation. But the last one's kind of hard to hide.

Well, I think I've had the good fortune of being like the last one of my friends to have a baby. So I got to see everyone go before me and everyone was such a different parent and all of them have great kids. And I'm like, oh, everyone's just guessing. Yeah. It's everyone's guessing. Oh, absolutely.

And like everyone's fine. Like, I was like, oh, everyone's just guessing. Yeah. It's everyone's guessing. Oh, absolutely. And like everyone's fine. Like it's, you're fine. Like I was like, oh, I'm fine. Like if I do, you know, no screen time or two minutes of screen time or one lollipop or what, like it's fine. Yeah. Like, and I just, I got to see everyone sort of

go through that and then I see them all have these incredible kids. I'm like, I would be so happy if I had any of their kids. I'm like, this is, it's fine. Everyone's just guessing. We're all doing our best. Absolutely. And people, yeah.

And honestly, the stressing out is not, my ex-wife used to hate when I, cause she had a fear of flying. And I'd say, your anxiety isn't holding the plane up. Cause I'm an asshole. And, but it's kind of the same thing. It's with parenting. It's like, honestly, you're freaking out about it

and being stressed out about it, might actually be hurting the whole endeavor. Yes. Because yeah, it's like, whenever, like the people that I see that I think that's a good parent are the people with a light touch. Yeah. You know, because it's, you know, you're making a person

and you gotta let that person come out. You can't, you know, molding them doesn't work. No, I try. I try to, you know what I mean? I'm like, do you wanna play the piano? He's like, nope. But I'm like, okay. I like put the, I get him a keyboard, but that's all I mean? I'm like, do you want to play the piano? He's like, nope. But I'm like, okay.

I like put the, I get him a keyboard, but that's all, that's the closest I can do. I put it out there. Do you want that? Nope, I want a car. And I'm like, okay. But I try, but he picks what he likes. See, that is one aspect of having older kids

and being a parent that I'm not sure, I'm not sure what you do. Like where you, when a kid says, I don't wanna do this thing, and like say piano lessons. And you're like, well, too bad, you're doing piano lessons. Like, I don't know.

I don't know either. Everyone's, but you know what? I'm always on their side. But everyone's fine. No one's like, I took too many piano lessons when I was eight, so my life is over. It's fine. I bet you on their side. But everyone's fine. Yeah. No one's like, I took too many piano lessons when I was eight, so my life is over. It's fine.

I bet you some people are. Well, maybe. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, because there are, you know, helicopter parents can be rough. That's true. I'm not that. I'm a pretty high-strung person,

but I'm not really a high-strung parent. That's good. That's good, yeah. Yeah, you don't need to give them that. No, he's fine. Yeah. He's a cool dude. Awesome. He likes what he likes.

That's the idea. Well, Ricky, thank you so much for coming in and doing this. And thank all of you out there for listening. And I'll be back next week with more conversation. The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a Team Coco production. It is produced by Sean Doherty and engineered by Rich Garcia. Additional engineering support by Eduardo Perez and Joanna Samuel. Executive produced by Nick Leow, Adam Sachs, and Jeff Ross. Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Battista, with assistance from Maddie Ogden,

researched by Alyssa Grahl. Don't forget to rate and review and subscribe to The Three Questions with Andy Richter wherever you get your podcasts. And do you have a favorite question you always like to ask people? Let us know in the review section. Can't you tell my love's a-growing? Can't you feel it ain't a-showin'? Oh, you must be a-knowin'.

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