The Three Questions with Andy Richter - The Sklar Brothers

Episode Date: December 27, 2022

Randy and Jason Sklar join Andy Richter to discuss the marriage of sports and comedy, finding their scene(s), going to the same college as your twin, and much more.

I was just talking to the guy that runs the podcast part and he asked me like, do you mind coming into the studio to record them? And I was like, I love anything that gets me out of the house. Yes. And he's like, well, why don't you just come hang out here? Yes. All right. Get stuff done.

Well, so in the pandemic, we all had to start to, so we were doing podcasts and we had to do our podcasts and Randy and I would look at each other and be like, yeah, this is why we got into comedy to be average engineers. Right. Yes. I don't know how to upload my thing to the thing. Why am I recording my sound? I'd rather go to a place where there are pros.

My former assistant is a producer on this. She had a whole thing. She told me once, your voice is much stronger than the guests. I was like, I don't know what you want me to do about it. I can't handle it.

I plugged in the microphone into a little amp thingy and there's two knobs on it and I go, okay. Three questions. The three questions and the two knobs. That could be the side podcast after the three questions. Or the description of this podcast. The three questions and the two knobs. Oh, yeah. There we go.

Oh, boy. Well, I'm talking to the Sklar brothers in case you guys didn't know, which everyone knows. You know, I mean, you tune into a pod. It's not like you stumble upon a podcast. Right. You were tuning across your podcast dial and you just wound up here. Yeah, I woke up and I heard the

Sklar. I figured it was, it's like when you smell toast and you're like, Oh, I'm having a stroke. Yeah. Yeah. Now, uh, you guys are originally from St. Louis, correct? Yeah. St. Louis, Missouri. And, uh, what was the family business? Dad's family. So dad originally worked at a company called tension envelope. And it wasn't even like Dave tension, like the tension family. It was literally just like, why would you put tension in the name of your workplace? We were, I work for a high blood pressure paper.

It's like just a guy. I thought like maybe a tension envelope was some sort of like physics thing for engineering. Or, you know, like, we'll come in and measure your printing presses tension envelope. No, no, no. He was like, it was just an envelope. Oh, wow. He worked at St. Louis's version of Dunder Mifflin. Tension envelope for no reason.

And what was the reason? There was no reason? So there was a pressure sensitive envelope that I think was their tension envelope that like, I don't know how it worked. You didn't have to lick it. You peeled off. All right, of course. But he, so he did that for a long time.

And then he bought the family business, which was his uncle, his mom's brother's business. And that was his father-in-law's business, which sold alteration supplies. Oh. They originally sold. Anxiety sewing machines. Right. Yeah, yeah. They originally sold nuns habits.

So it was like. No shit. In the 40s or the 30s. 1930s, they sold nuns habits. So it was these Jews who were just like cranking out the nuns habits. So it was like. No shit. In the 40s or the 30s. 1930s, they sold nuns habits. So it was these Jews who were just like cranking out the nuns habits. I love it. And then they moved to like, oh, we'll do needles and thread. And so they go to all the tailoring departments.

So he bought that business and went like a million dollars in debt right before we went to college. So in a weird sort of balls out way, it was like, he kind of said, bet on yourself. He showed us like, Hey, this is, this is how you do it. You, if you really believe that you can do something, bet on yourself, which he did. And then there were like five. So there are five of those companies and they all sell, sold the same crap. And so he would tell us these guys, we all have the same stuff. So the only way to get people to become your longtime customers is to build relationships with them and be funny. And he was a, he was a funny guy, not a guy who would like craft material. He just was a jolly, funny,

he was like a wonderful guy. Like we would go with him on errands on like a Saturday. He took us so that our mom like wouldn't have to like deal with us on there. We had two twins. And so like he took us so that our mom like wouldn't have to like deal with us deal with us on there we had two twins and so like he took us and he'd like go pick up his dry cleaning and we'd just be sitting in a car that was running you know like yeah sure come grab these kids yeah I remember my grandma I was I was like a tag along with my grandmother and like you know she'd go somewhere and I would like lay in the across the back window well of her Oldsmobile 98. That's right. I had an Oldsmobile 98.

And he would just go in and within like 30 seconds, we're just in the car. We can't obviously hear what they're saying. The person he was talking to would always start laughing. Yeah. So as a kid, you see that you're like, this guy is not doing anything in the world that we have nobody in the entertainment industry in our family at all. Yeah. But you're watching that and you're like, well, that's valuable. That's important.

Yeah. To be able to do that. Like, look at how happy the person is. He's talking to. Yeah. And he was, he walked in and they had this like an expressionless face. He says two things and the person starts cracking up and Randy and I are in the car just thinking that's really cool. That's important to do.

Yeah. So he was that. I had my grandfather, who died when I was fairly young. I mean, I knew him, but I only knew him as a very old man. But my mom says that I remind her of him. And he was like, you know, his father, they had a bunch of farmland that they had been given, you know, that they got. Yeah. Deeded to them after it had been Blackhawk Indian land.

Wow. So it was like early on, you know, colonial, you know, stuff. Yeah. Yeah. But his father just basically sold land for a living. He would just sell off, you know, like part of the farm. sold land for a living. He would just sell off, you know, like part of the farm. And so my grandfather, he worked on, like he worked on the farm, but he didn't have any real pressure until he got to be an adult. And then it was like, well, I like hanging out and I like talking to

people. So he's like, I guess I could do real estate and insurance. But most of the time that I ever went to my grandpa's office and I'm making air quotes, he was playing cards and drinking whiskey in the middle of the day, which, and it was just, that's what insurance is doing here in this. Yeah. He just liked hanging out with people. And that's, and I, and I do feel like it's, I, in the same way, I just, when, no matter where I'm working, it's, I want to have fun. I like the product. I don't know. Okay.

Yeah. Whatever. TV show. All right. Podcast. Okay. Yeah. But the hang is, so we always say this about doing comedy, half of going up at the comedy

store, which we try and do every week or going out, you know, you're at a festival or something. Half of it is the set of comedy that you really care about how it comes out. But the other half is just hanging out with the other comics. The hang beforehand. I'll never forget the last time we did Conan, when you were like literally right before the whole world shut down. We were the last stand up on that show. Oh, I didn't even realize that we were the last ones.

Last ones to do stand up on your show. And we were like March like 8th. Yeah, yeah. 2020. Because I think the 13th was the day that I stopped leaving the house. So we, but we're on backstage and Jay and I are going over a set and whatnot. And then you came back and we

forgot that we had to do a set because we just, it was like shame on you for taking us out of the game face. But we just started hanging out. And I was like, oh man, we're just so calm. This is us just hanging out with Andy. No, whenever I have friends,

whenever I would have friends on, I would like to go back and just fuck with them a little bit. It was so good. You know, like he will get to do most of the talking. Right. And I want to get a little bit in, you know? It was so nice. But again, whenever we do a Hardwick show,

the At Midnight, there'd be like a moment on At Midnight when we're just riffing with Chris we do a Hardwick show, uh, the, uh, at midnight, we used to be like a moment on at midnight when we're just riffing with Chris and there's someone else usually with like a friend of ours on the thing. And I forgot we were doing a TV show. Yeah. It just felt like we were just hanging out. I'm like,

Oh wait, this is when it's at its best. Yes, exactly. You guys get the product of us just enjoying each other. And I think uptight people don't, you know, like they're uptight people in television that get nervous when that

happens. I mean, like TV professionals that don't understand, like, no, no, no. I mean,

maybe if you're doing Grey's Anatomy, that's not the way to do it, which we did. I don't know. Which we did. Oh, did you really? We did an episode of Grey's Anatomy and it was crazy.

I mean, it was, it was nuts. Like we went on. All right, let's go on this tangent. It was the week We went on. Alright, let's go on this tangent. It was the week after Isaiah Washington

said those homophobic things and he was asked to leave the show for a week. And we're like, alright, what are we walking into? Let's go into this dysfunctional household. Yeah, let's walk in here. I'm sure everyone will be happy we're there. And so we come in or we read for the part and it was

originally for, I think like, it was for twins, but like 60 year old twins because they had cast the girlfriend. So they were, they were Siamese twins who were in a love triangle.

I read about this. I read about this. Love triangle. And then they wanted to be separated because one of them wanted to, no, because not the one who was in the relationship

with the other one wanted to be with her. And then in the end, spoiler alert, they chose to be friends and they gave up the woman and they wanted to have a relationship with each other as brothers who were separated so oh so they did get they did go through with the separation they go through the separation and so where were you guys attached at the kind of way it would have been better if it was like at the face. Disaster. We've always wanted to do identical twins that are connected at the finger in the easiest way possible.

And they're like, look, you could have this thing separate. And they're like, wait, but I'll lose my identity. I'll lose who I am. It's just a layer of skin.

And they're like, I do. We, one of us could die. One of us could die. We used to do a bit of conjoined twins on the show, and it was just like a six-foot-tall guy and a five-foot-four guy wearing the same big pair of underwear. Yes. And they would usually have like Tom of Finland vests and Leather Daddy hats on.

It's like, are you sure you're conjoined twins? Yes. We are. Born this way. Yes. We are. Born this way. Yes, we are. So we get on the set, and I remember it was like, the director was awesome. He had just done a really impactful episode of The Wire, the one from the education season where someone slit someone's throat in the gaze.

He was an intense, young director, and he was amazing. And he would like, Randy and I are connected and we hate touching each other. And so we're literally touching each other. What we just did right there bothered us to no end. So they touch fingers. And Randy and I are touching each other the whole time. And he would like come in and whisper like a little piece of direction in my ear that was on the opposite side of Randy. And then he'd whisper something to Randy and then we'd put it in the scene and it was really fun and it was cool.

We had this massive scene with all the actors. Everybody. McDreamy. Wow. Who else? Katherine Heigl. Every single character in the show.

It was Ellen Pompeo. Was Mike Pompeo on that show? I think he was. He and her brother. He was in the scene. Yeah, yeah. He was McLie.

So then we are all sitting around and Randy and I are in the bed and they're all like examining us and they asked him to say, and you know, they shoot the master,

which for those who don't know is they shoot kind of far away, get the whole scene. And then they go in and start getting individual coverage, meaning they get this guy, single them, these, this woman's single than this and this and this. And then we're,

of course we're last because we're the guest stars and we're going to be there till three in the morning, but who cares? Yeah. That was the sentiment on the morning. But who cares? Yeah. That was the sentiment on the set. It was just intense and crazy. So we do this whole thing talking about our dad. The show comes out. Are you guys connected like during when they shut down to change the cameras?

So they you unconnect or you're stuck together? No, because you pull it up. They built a prosthetic that is almost like a really tight pair of like leggings that only go to the kneecap. And it's like a three-legged thing. Like we slide it up. And it's under your wardrobe, so you can't take it off. You can't take it off. You can't unlink.

I'm touching my brother for like 49 minutes. Getting clammy. It's so awful. It's so clammy. Terrible. And so we get on the show and like 29 million people watch this episode. It was at the heyday and the height of the show. Our dad calls us.

We were like, dad, did you watch the episode? And he said, I watched it. He's like, I have an idea for you to tell Shonda Rhimes. We're like, sure. We'll call her up. Now that we're best friends. Yeah. I mean, that's how this works.

We're on the show. I don't think she even came by the set once. I think you guys should go back on next week. We're like, they already shot next week's episode. He's like, I think you should go back on the show and try to get reconnected, like reconjoined. Like you want to get sewn back up together. And we're like, dad is the dumbest.

And we're like, no, that is the most Grey's Anatomy thing ever. Dad, you should write for Grey's Anatomy. Is our dad like a Grey's Anatomy savant? I mean, that is actually the most Grey's Anatomy storyline ever. The two brothers who were disconnected want to be connected again. But the crazy thing about Grey's Anatomy

is that all of my daughter, like now she's 17, but when she was 14, all of their friends watched all of Grey's Anatomy on Netflix when it was like three years ago. So they watched everything. So all of her friends like then saw me in a new light because I was on their favorite show.

Like I'm watching that thing and I was like, oh my God, God bless this post, the resurgence of Grey's Anatomy in that way. That was crazy. Oh, that's hilarious. We had you come do a thing on our set for our new show for The Nosebleeds, which is a reboot of our Cheap Seed show. And we couldn't wait till you came in because we knew we would just goof around and have fun. And it came through.

It was hilarious. Oh, good. Thanks. Oh, my God. It was hilarious. Oh, good. Thanks. Oh, my God. It came out so good. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. And that show, that's on like some UFC channel, right?

It's on, so all the episodes are on Fight Pass. Fight Pass. Your episode is on Fight Pass, which is a streaming service for UFC. Kind of like they're, it's like Netflix for fighting. That's the only way I can describe it. But yeah. Or if you want to kick back and see men pummeling.

Well, women too. Women too. Yeah, yeah. All right. I don't mean to be, you know. So you can watch it on that. But the first episode, if you want a taste of what it is,

is available on UFC's YouTube page. Anybody can watch it for free. So if you just look up the Nosebleed Sklar Brothers on YouTube, you can find it or go to our Instagram, which is at Sklar Brothers. We have the link in our thing.

But it is so fun. It's just us, Mystery Science Theater 3000. Yeah. Like all the footage. All the jokes. You guys had a show before the cheap seats. It was like the same sort of thing. Like basically commenting on sports clips.

That was it. It was on old, all weird, old sporting events for ESPN. And that was the thing for us. That's the thing that the most people to this day are like, please bring that back. Can you please bring that back? Or that's the way I connected with you guys on TV is when I watched that show. Yeah. And for us, what was interesting at the time, you know, obviously Conan, your show was a huge show. I mean, that, that late night show, when we went in to talk to them and pitch what we said was going to be the show for ESPN,

because they had a loose idea and then we came in and filled it in. And we said, look, we want people to say our favorite show is not Cheap Seats and then also SportsCenter. We want people to say our favorite shows are Cheap Seats, Conan, The Daily Show. In other words, we need to create the kind of comedy

that is standing right next to the thing. So we called up John Glazer, who's such a great writer and so talented and be like, will you help us write this? Former Conan writer and he's done his own stuff. Delocated, such a classic show. Hilarious, everything he's done. John Glazer loves gear.

I love that show. He's so funny. And he was like, yeah, yeah, he was in New York. And talk about a guy who just follows his own, like the shit he does is so, so John Glazer and so wonderfully does, he does not

care. Like, it's like, I'm going to do this thing and you come with me or don't. And I just love it so much. People come, people come. And he added that. He sort added that he sort of grounded a lot of the things we were doing on our show. And you could tell his influence on, on our show. It was great. And people saw him in our show and they're like, Hey, it's the guy who did the bits on Cone. Oh, it's that guy. And all of a sudden our shows were being sort of spoken

about in the same breath. And we were like, that's exactly our dream. What we were trying to do. Did you guys set out to be like, to like incorporate sports into your comedy? And I mean, you know, cause it's not, well, I guess there's some people that kind of do that. I mean, it is, it is, I mean, it's a natural hybrid, you know, totally, but I don't think anyone's done it because for, and this is what we were saying. I don't think people have looked at it and said, I need this to be as funny as the funniest comedies. I think in the past people have been like, let's just do a funny sports show.

And it's like, well, that's a very crucial point. Totally. Cause then all the sports people are like, it's not sportsy enough. And all the comedy people are like, it's not funny enough. And you're like, well, wait a minute. It's got to fit that.

And so we like putting our lens on that. I'd say if you came to see us do standup, an hour of standup wouldn't have a lot of sports in it. It just doesn't because that's, that's not what we're talking about so much. But some of it does, but like, I don't know, we grew up in St. Louis. We were huge sports fans, Cardinals fans. We went to the university of Michigan, huge sports fans. There's always something so funny about how serious people are about their sports. Sports is literally the lowest stakes thing in your life. I mean, I was talking to my wife. It's just going through breast cancer.

You know, we've been through that for the last year and a half. That's a real thing. Yeah, that's real life. Yeah. Lose if Alabama loses like the Crimson Tide fans like lose their brains and they, and they're like, wait, that's the lowest stakes in your life, but it's managed to trick you into thinking it is the highest stakes thing. And you're like, that to us is hilarious. It's so funny. That's so funny. Right. Like you just took,

you trick someone in their brain fans who are like ready to jump off the Verrazano bridge right now because they're having a bad September and they're finally good again. And like we lived through the time in new york when they were unbeatable and so now like those people are like we can't do anything this was supposed to be our year and they're having like they're ruining my fall and you're like well no one's ruining your fall my younger brother when the cubs finally won the world series 2016 he had had such a complicated love hate relationship with that team since like infancy, basically that he told me, I said, aren't you happy? And he said like, yes, I'm happy because

he said, I feel like I've been in a bad marriage and now I can get a divorce. He's like, now I can just move on with my life. Closure. Yeah. Closure. They gave him closure. And now I can quit. But in the same, by the same token, we have a reverence for it and appreciation for it. So, cause we act like that. And for that same Cubs victory,

our buddy, Dan Van Kirk, who wrote on our, he was, he's our cohost of dumb people town, which you've done. He's from Rochelle, Illinois,

big, big Chicago Cubs fan. And he went to a world. We helped him like get to a world series game and just a wonderful, wonderful guy. And they win the World Series. And he's at a bar and he sees a guy with a bottle of champagne and two flutes, two flutes. And Dan's like comes over to him. Cause what's up, buddy?

And he is like, there's a tear in his eye. And he's like, I just, I lost my, I'm going to get this on my dad. And then all we wanted to do was see the Cubs win. That's the only thing we want to do. And he's like, I just, I lost my, I'm going to get this on my dad. And then all we wanted to do was see the Cubs win. That's the only thing we want to do. And he died before it could happen. And damn. Like in the bar.

Wow. That is a bummer. Here's your champagne. Oh my God. He's like, do I watch the end of the game or do I? This is more. Do I resuscitate? I mean, the Cubs are on the verge. Death happens all the time.

This only happens every hundred years. And so, no, but he was like, I just need someone to toast to. And Dan, Dan started to break down in tears. Oh my gosh. And he's like, I'll do it. I'll toast your dad with you. And he toasted this guy.

And here's this moment with this stranger in like two, and they were just so happy because this thing. And I'm like, well, it, it tricked you in the right way right there. You know, there's like, you tricked you guys into having a real connective moment. Yeah. God, it is connective. It's beautiful. You do go into the stands and it's like, oh, wait, this is the diversity relationships that we're all trying to create everywhere.

That's my favorite thing about Dodgers games. Yes. Is it just feels like one big LA family barbecue. A hundred percent. Multi-generational families of all different kinds. And, you know, it's probably the only time I feel comfortable around people with face tattoos. Yes. Like there's a teardrop.

He may have killed a guy in prison. But he just sci-fi'd. Go Dodgers. Go mean I just but that is that is truthfully it that you turn to someone and high five someone you've never met before give someone a I mean like we've done it at games so that aspect of it gives us the love

that we have for it and the reverence because what we've learned just through doing comedy and like roast battle comedy and stuff with Jeff Ross is like, you gotta, there's gotta be love in it. If there's no love in it, if you're not, cause when the best roaster, when you roast or when you're roasting people that you love, you're with your friends. And if we were like snobs who are like sports, those meathead losers, it's like, you can only go so far in your like understanding of what

they're going through and critique. But if you're like, Hey, we actually love it too. Right. We make those weird, you know, mistakes and giving it more weight than it deserves. And then it also works. Yeah. Connects people. Yeah. So that's, I think what sort of got us in that direction. And then, you know, we were lucky enough to do that show on ESPN cheap seats for 77 episodes. I mean, when do you get a chance to do a half hour scripted comedy for 77 episodes that has sketches in it and all these jobs? I mean, it was just joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, which is just so much fun. And so we were like, man, I, we want to do it again. And people tweeted us, you know, I'm sure you have the projects. We were like, please do this. Please do this again. Your Christmas special. I'm like, why I want you to do one every year.

Oh, the UCB thing? That was the funniest, most insane thing. I'm like, that needs to happen every year. For every holiday. I would be tweeting at you if I didn't know you just said that. For every holiday. I went in to do Jesse Thorne's podcast. I love him.

And Bullseye. And Bullseye. I don't know if it was Bullseye. Oh, maybe it was. Because he does different ones. George Desigo, yeah. Yeah, but it was bullseye maybe he does different ones or jessica yeah but it was he was i was promoting this i got hired to do this ucb christmas special and hosted and it was basically a collection of a bunch of different christmas bits that ucb had done over

the years and it's ucb so yeah there's a lot of just like gross, offensive, crazy shit in it. And Jesse and Lauren, you know, chit-chat, chit-chat. We was like, okay, well, let's talk about this Christmas special. He goes like, I found it grotesque. What do you want from me, buddy? They hired me to do it, you know.

In the best possible way. It's grotesque. He was like, I think his thing was like, it wasn't Christmassy. I'm like, yes, that's the point. I don't know what to tell you. I'm sorry. I love Jesse Thorne. Yeah.

So funny. You guys, you mentioned that you guys went to college together. Yeah. And it's, I mean, and it touches upon something I'm sure you've been asked a million times is. Why not separate from each other? Well, I mean, but how just, I'm interested in how that starts. I mean, my younger brother and sister are twins, so I understand the twin dynamic. Yeah.

I think it's even more so when you're identical, like you guys are, because they're not. I mean, because one of them is male and one of them is female. If they were, that'd be remarkably. Yes. Incredible. It would be crazy. Scientific female. If they were, that'd be remarkably. Yes. Incredible. It would be crazy. Scientific breakthrough. Honestly, I bet you that's happened.

I bet you there's been a trans member of it. You know, it is really interesting too. It's such a, there's such a high propensity. And in my own life, I've seen it. If one identical twin is gay, it's very likely that the other one is gay too. Yes. Yeah. It's just kind of, I mean, it's very likely that the other one is gay, too. Yeah.

It's just kind of... Genetic. Genetic. Yeah, exactly. It's your nature versus nurture, and it certainly points towards nature. But I know you guys supposedly aren't gay, but that wasn't why I was bringing it up. No, just why did we go to college together? What started that together?

What started... I mean, and was it a difficult, like, cause you know, when you're young, you're two, you're one of the main things is striving to find your own identity. So our parents to their credit were very specific with us about the way we sort of handled this relationship. They're like, first of all, we were lucky enough, we lived in St. Louis and we had a house that was built in 1977. It wasn't a big house, but we had enough rooms where I could have a room and Jason could have a room.

That was huge. It just means you can shut the door and masturbate on your own. It just means that you could- In each other's rooms. Yes. Please get out of my room. What are you doing in there?

This is weirdly hostile, boys. That's an act of aggression. So no, but it, you know, like we could be separate on in our own and sort of develop who we were as people on our own and not have to be in each other's space. That was huge. Then they were like, look, you guys should rely on each other, but not be dependent on each other. And that's such a like sliver of, I can't believe they knew this. You know, how did they understand this?

I don't even know. I don't even know how they got it. So they're like- It's called good parenting. Yeah, but they weren't reading parenting books. Yeah, I know, but you just anticipate. And if you're naturally empathetic and it sounds like they were.

Good instincts. And, you know, and again, our dad was kind of this old school guy from St. Louis, a businessman, a jolly guy who just, you know, he wasn't that like all hit. They kind of were a little before the hippie. They were like early sixties, like Beatles, 64 before like the early Beatles albums. That's what they were. They were like Beatles before Sergeant Pepper. So they just weren't into the feelings of this and that, but they were very into, I mean, we actually, the truth, and we'll get to it when we talk about our questions, but like the, they were very much like you guys just rely on each other, but don't be

dependent on each other. And I think that informed how we sort of looked at it moving forwards. And then when we sort of looked at schools, we said, okay, where do, where do you want to apply? Our parents are also like, you can each apply to three schools because we can't afford to, remember our dad's a million dollars in debt. He's like, we're not applying to 50 schools. And each application costs money. So pick three.

And preferably both pick the same three so that you can take three trips together. So we're not flying to different places around the country. That's not what we're doing. So he kind of helped us narrow it. So we're thinking about it. We're like, all right, let's shoot for the moon on one of them. Let's go for an Ivy league school. And we had some friends who had gone to Penn and we're like, let's, we're from St. Louis. We knew a couple of people who went to Penn. We're like,

let's, let's apply there. Then our cousin went to Michigan the year before and we had a family friend whose daughter went there and loved it. She loved it. Like would raved about it, talked about it so much. And again, it's a great school. Great school. And it was like, I don't know. There was like a weird flight from St. Louis to Detroit on Northwest Airlines. It was like $39 round trip.

So you're like, oh, well, it's only 40 bucks to fly round trip. Like we can come back and forth. It was like even that math kind of entered into it. And we're like, for people who are watching their money, we were like, well, it's kind of close. It's in the Midwest.

We have family in Detroit. Like, all right, let's Michigan's. And that's a really good school. Then we're like, all right, if we can't get into Michigan or Penn,

let's apply to Wisconsin because that's also another great state school. And we should probably be able to get in with based on what we've done. Yeah. Cause you're a good students and whatnot. And so we applied to those three. And then we said, you, if we get into all three, make your decision on your own and I'll make my decision on my own and we'll live with it. Whatever it's going to be.

We each talked to our parents separately and we talked to friends separately and we both got into all three. Luckily, that was amazing. And then we both, you know, ended up coming back to Michigan for different reasons. We went to Penn to visit it and we saw our friends there and people there and we're like, these kids are not having fun. They look like stressed out. They look like they work at offices already. They were stressed about exams and they were all cool.

Like the kids were really cool and smart and dynamic, but they looked like they had aged. We're like Mike Mishkin, man, you were a kid last year. What's wrong with you? And like, he just did aged and we're like, God, what, what is this? And then we went to Michigan and people were like, yeah, this is great. Yeah. I, we love learning. We love, there was like a different attitude there. And then there was all the sports and stuff, which we love too. And we're like, for me, I said, that's where I want to go. I'm actually having fun. And you know, it's like that feeling. I'm just, you feel like you're at home. And it's such a college-y feeling. It's like, so, you know, I went to U of I for two years and it was kind of the same thing. University of Illinois. Same thing. Yeah. Same

thing. It's very, this is like you gather and you're like, okay, this is college. This is first time we got drunk, both of us, 15 years old. I don't have a, my youngest daughter is 15. I can't imagine this. At a college party at U of I. So we're at an apartment complex with our family friend who she was so cute. And she had like her friends were there.

We were 15 with all these like college kids. College kids, they were like 19. Okay. So they're like a little bit older than us. It was a statutory situation. All of it is like me too to the max. Right. But we go to this thing and we're playing quarters and we're drinking and I'll never

forget. Cause I like, as I'm drinking beer and I'd never really drank that much beer. Every time I went to the bathroom, I'd look at myself in the mirror and it would start to like, it started to go a little bit like this. Best thing is there was a guy named Duke. It was his nickname was Duke. Friends of friends and friends of a camp counselor or whatever. So Jay, so drunk, couldn't stay at the place.

Like 40 minutes in, I'm like laying on someone's waterbed in the room, just like trying to. The worst place to go. I don't think I'll go lay on the ocean. Throw up over the side on the floor. And this dude Duke comes into the room. And I just remember, even at 15, I was like, I'm going to do jokes. Even if I'm like, lose it. Even if I lose it.

The room is like spinning around. And they kept calling him Duke. Like that was like his name in the. He's like, Duke. I'm like, Duke comes in. And I'm like, Duke, you're standing in my puka. He came right by the bed. He laughed. And he's like, seriously? And by the bed. He laughed and he's like,

seriously? And I'm like, yes. And he's like, freaked out and left. And then I passed out. I missed the whole night. And that was my whole night in Champaign.

But great kids at that school. And I think, you know, we were public school kids. And I think there was that little, you know, Michigan's a public school. U of I is a public school.

There just was a little bit of a vibe of like, this is public school. You got to advocate for yourself. You got to like, there's a scrappy. There just was a little bit of a vibe of like, this is public school. You got to advocate for yourself. You got to like, there's a scrappy. And there's everybody. Everybody's there. It's not just one kind of person. Exactly.

And so we felt, I don't know, we just felt more at home. I sort of felt more at home in the public school aspect of it. Randy felt more at home with the sports and the spirit of the place. And so we kind of came to it from different reasons, but then we're like, okay, I think this will be.

And then there was a little element of like, if we go to the same place, our parents don't have to go to two places to visit. That's what I was going to say. I mean, was it just logistics or was there also a comfort in knowing that you'll be going into this together? We definitely appreciated that.

And we live together our freshman year in the dorm because it just made like, it took out the element of like, what if we get a bad roommate? Yes. Which people did. People got roommates that were like, oh my God, I hate this woman. Oh my God, I hate this guy. Our room kind of became the room where our friends who had a horrible roommate would just come and be. And so it became a very communal

place. Yeah, we were like, let's have our room be the place where everybody hangs out. That's who we are. We're community builders. That's with the show cheap seats with the nose bleeds. We're like, let's gather all of our friends and do a show. Let's bring everybody in. That's kind of the way we've always been. So we were that way in college and it just made for a really great freshman year. Then as we moved forward, we kind of had different roommates and we were, you know, as we sort of established ourselves and the best part about being at a huge school like that is that there, I would have all

my classes and Jay would have all of his, and there'd be all these people who didn't know that we were twins. Didn't even know that you had a twin. So they'd walk on campus and see Jay. He didn't have glasses at the time. Say hi to me. And I'd be like, who the fuck is this person? And they'd come back to me like, what's up?

Why are you an asshole every other day? Why are you being such a dick? And I was like, um, no, I saw my brother. What are you talking about? You probably saw my brother. Oh, wow. Crazy. Can't you tell my love's a-growing?

Were you doing comedy like as kids? Like were you doing it throughout your whole life? Were you a comedy as kids? Were you doing it throughout your whole life? Were you a comedy duo? Yeah, so we had cable in our house before a lot of other people. I don't know why we got cable so early. We were on the second wave of early adapters. There was that one that was like the AB switch

and had all the channels and stuff. We had that called On TV in Chicago. So then there was the next wave of it and we had it and we just got really into like Rodney Dangerfield's young comedian special. There was the one with Seinfeld and Rita Rudner and Bob Saget and, you know, and Robert Townsend who came out for the first two minutes, Robert Townsend came out for the first two minutes of his set and spoke in a

British accent. And then it was like, I'm from the South side of Chicago. We were like, Oh my God. It was like an alti bit. It was an alti bit. And then Kinison and I mean, there were all these people on it. It was that transformed us because we're like, Oh my God, this is,

what is this? We'd seen Carson and we'd seen some older standup stuff, but didn't really understand it. This really changed us. And so then we kind of learned everybody's act and, you know, our parents, friends would be playing bridge in the basement and they'd be like, what's going on with you guys? And then we'd launch into a Seinfeld bit. Uh, what's the deal with the shower radio? I mean, who wants to dance on a slick surface next to a glass door? I mean, just huge laughs. And we're like, Oh yeah, of course it's

huge laughs. It's like a great comedy premise from a legend. And we're ripping off from someone really good. And none of these people have seen it. So like, here we, I mean, we're so spouting off all these. I mean, I just remember an old Richard Belzer bit that we used to do all the time that our older cousin who's now about 70, who lives in Chicago,

great dude. We used to do this bit and it would destroy him. And it was a Richard Belzer bit. We're like, no, I kid God because I think God has a good sense of humor. Yeah. Just over and over finding different ways to have a heart attack and fall to the floor. But imagine that as like 14 year old kids at a bar mitzvah

and like, you know, the older relatives is like, I don't want to be at this bar mitzvah. And you're like, eh, it's fine. You're with a bunch of people and you're with other like regular people who are insurance salesmen. And they're just hanging out. And we're like, you know what we kid God, cause God has good sense. And he loved it. And we're like, this is, we're doing this. It was so fun. It was so fun. And then in a crazy twist, we, we decided to do a talent show in high school at 15. We were

14 at the time. And we did this fall follies at our high school. And they're like, what do you want to do? And we're like, I want to do stand-up. We're so into stand-up. And it wasn't even a question of like, should I go on stage and then you go on stage? And we didn't even say, should we do it together? That wasn't even a question.

We're going to go up. And we weren't even like, you be dumb and I'll try to reign up. Yeah. Yeah. And we weren't even like, you be dumb and I'll try to reign you back in. Why don't you be a character? Right. Like the Smothers Brothers did so beautifully. We weren't, we weren't even thinking that we're just like, we like comedy and we're twins and we'll kind of like bounce off each other.

The way we tell stories, the way we just are funny around each other. And so we wrote some material specific for the show about our school, which ironically did the best. And then we did some other material of other comedians because that's what you do when you're sure. Yeah. But we wrote a whole bit about,

I'll never forget. It's about our math club, how the math club had no, like it was so poorly attended and we're like, they need like better marketing. That was our thing. So like they need to get the guy who does like truck and tractor pull commercials. Like the guy, like there's a guy.

So they just need to get the announcer guy. And so then we did like a, a act out of truck and tractor pull. Awesome. Truck and pro tractor pull. Solid stuff. It's a great bit. It's a premise bit. Act out.

It's sort of what we still do a little bit today. Hopefully better. But like that, that was the beginning of us. And we got good response. And we walked on stage and we're like, that was something that felt kind of interesting. And then our friend in Kansas city who was doing comedy sports at the time, he was 15, 15 and damn privacy walks into the club and he's like, wait a minute. He's like, there's a, there was like a flyer on the wall that said for the Disney channel, which is brand new Disney channel is doing a young, young comedian special.

So we were like huge fans of the Rodney Dangerfield, young comedian special, young, young, under 16. If you have a standup tape of you doing standup, send it into this production company in Los Angeles, Rubin and core. That was the name of the company. And they were on Beverly Boulevard. It's crazy. It's like right here, send it in and they'll, and whatever, they'll make a decision. That was like kind of the company. And they were on Beverly Boulevard. It's crazy. It's like right over here. Send it in and they'll, and whatever, they'll make a decision.

That was like kind of your audition. So he said, do you guys have a tape of you doing standup? We're like, actually we do. We just did it. Yeah. So we send it in and thinking like, you're basically throwing something into a black hole. Like you're never going to, we got the guy who taped our bar mitzvah to make a copy of the videotape. Like this is like the biggest...

He had like two giant towers of equipment. He does it. It was like the hardest process ever. Decoding the Rosetta Stone was easier than making a copy of the Rosetta Stone or the... Was that the Rosetta Stone?

Whatever. The Rosetta stone works. Yeah. So then he, so we send it off and we're thinking, we're never going to get a call. Then we're like in our house, like a month later,

or no, two months later. Right. There's a phone call and it's like, yeah, there isn't like caller ID yet. So we just, you know,

you just answer the phone. And, and they're like, yeah, there's a Randy and Jason here. Our mom's like, it's for you. We answer.

And it's this woman who's like, hey, so we're Ruben and Cor. I don't know if you know who we are. We watched your tape and we really like it. And we were like freaking out. We were like, oh my God, this is insane. They're like, we've seen hundreds and hundreds of tapes. This is like definitely in the top 10 of the tapes.

Oh wow. So here's the deal. You can't steal material from other people. And you also should go up to your local comedy club next Tuesday, rerecord the tape, and you should work on this, this, this, this, and this, all things that took us like 12 years to figure out on stage. But we said, okay, what do we do? They're like, call the funny bone in St. Louis and tell them you're going up. You need to make a tape next Tuesday. We call the funny bone. They're like,

how old are you? We said 15. They're like, goodbye. Goodbye. You can't come. Yeah, yeah. So we call them back and we're like, they said we can't do it. They're like, hang on a second. They call them. And then the Funny Bone calls us and is like, you're on Tuesday.

Oh, wow. So we got to now write all this new stuff that replaces the stuff that we stole. Sure. And we go up in a regular night of comedy in St. Louis in 1985. With paying customers. Paying 1985. With paying customers. Paying customers. Two drink minimum. Adults who don't want to hear what these two kids have to say.

And we did a whole conceptual ending, like very alt-y bit at the end that we thought was hilarious that met with like the most lukewarm reaction ever. It was a bit about how at the time, all these comedians were doing big rap song parody finishes. Barry Sobel had the best one of them, but a bunch of people were doing that.

We're like, look, we're really into rapping, and we're going to close tonight on a big rapping thing. It's our big rap finish. We've been working on this big rap finish for a while. Do you guys like rapping? You like rapping? We were going on and on and on like this. We're going to rap this out for you guys. So then we reached out and picked up a bunch of boxes.

And we just started rapping. So it's a very non-punchline ending, but it was funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We sent off the tape and we never heard anything ever again. But that moment of them calling us saying, we looked at you in comparison to other people

was a moment that we were like, all right, maybe there was something there. That's all it takes. Maybe there is something there. Sometimes just that little validation of like, you know, because you know you're funny or whatever, but it's like. To hear it. Yeah, it's like with an improv group that I was with, some New Year's Eve,

somebody in the group was like, hey, let's give out awards. And they went to the dollar store and bought a bunch of duck candles and called them the duckies and i won a couple of duckies and it really that was like a turning point for me that because at that point i was just doing improv because i liked it and i thought it was fun and i but i didn't really you know i didn't have yeah i mean i was you know there were kids that came to chicago to be in improv classes because they wanted to be on SNL. And I always was like, really? Oh, Jesus.

I'm like, I'm a slacker. Yeah. You know, because I don't have fun. Yeah. I was just kind of like, this is what I want to do. And I don't know, maybe something will come of it. And I, some people are getting work in commercials and we'll see. And, but getting that, those, that validation from my peers and being very surprised

by it, you know, it was like, it makes a big difference. And you feel like, okay, you know, this is a job. Uh, and I, someone just told me I can do this job. I can do it. It's valid. It's that validation was so important. So that, that kind of helped us and pushed us to want to do it further. Was that the idea when you went to college? Was it, was comedy in your guys' minds? No. What did you, did you all manage and major in different things? English.

We were English majors, which really. Just because we love to write. And we were very like, we were not math people. We had great English teachers in high school. Like three great English teachers that really got us excited about literature and old school writing and, and, and how to write really well and really to focus on how to communicate. Like an English paper, a good English paper about literature is a lot like a standup bit. Yeah. You have a thesis, i.e. the premise, you have your support, your backup reasons. And we would always try and make our things funny.

Like we'd always add humor into the essays, no matter if we're talking about death in Venice or whatever you're talking about, you're like, can we make this, can we add something funny about it? And so they really helped us out. So we're like, let's go to Michigan.

And if we decided both to go and we're like, let's try and be English majors. It taught us how to read even better and taught us how to write in a, in a more concise way. And then we were doing standup. We're doing standup for the, at the university as part of like, you know, the university, you way. And then we were doing standup. We were doing standup at the university as part of like, you know, the university U club.

Yeah, the U. John Glazer did stand up at that. She was a Michigan guy a couple of years before us. He did there. He was in like the comedy company there. He also did some standup. And then we started doing, we were seniors.

We were doing it like in Ann Arbor at the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase, which was the local club. And then we started going into Detroit and doing it like in Ann Arbor at the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase, which was the local club. And then we started going into Detroit and doing it at Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle. Wow. I just remember driving into Detroit. And by the way, we're not good. Like we're new

and bad. Right. I think you guys are fine. Aww. I mean, you know. That's weird. I love that even in his compliment, he made it very mediocre. You guys are all right. Yeah. You guys are all right.

You guys are all right. So, no, but back then we were terrible. And I just remember driving in the car, you know, from Ann Arbor. It's cold. We're going into Detroit. All our friends are like, party. Going out. Hanging out.

We're going to a job. It feels like we're going into the salt mines. And we're like, what are we doing? And we're not like excited about what we're about to a job. It feels like we're going into the salt mines. I'm like, what are we doing? We're not like excited about what we're about to bring to the stage. We knew we had some laughs in there and it was fun. And we like certain elements. Going into a group of very competitive grownups. Yeah,

exactly. Like everybody on that stage is like, fuck you kids. Right. Get out of here. You too. And they were not happy about it. And so,

yeah, it was, it was a weird environment to like want to be in. But again, if you go through that and you still want to be there, that says something about what you're doing. After college, you graduate. You go back to St. Louis? No. So when in college, we brought Andy Kindler, who I'm sure you know and love.

Andy Kindler. And it was interesting. You met him? No, no. So we went to, we were huge fans of Kindler's comedy. Yeah. From, we were like. I mean, you know and love Andy Kindler. And it was interesting. You met him? No, no. So we went to, we were huge fans of Kindler's comedy. Yeah. From, we were like. I mean, you say comedy, there's air quotes implied.

Andy's so funny. Andy's joke, the one joke that like, you know, like a comedian does one thing or someone, an improviser does one thing and you're like, oh, you're mine for life. Yeah, yeah. He had an old bit that he used to do about a crock pot. And he was like, crock pot, that's a great item. If I'm hungry in 18 hours, then he, then he goes and he's like,

I need some crackers. Okay. And he does this and he does this motion. And then he stops. We'd never seen a comedian do this before. And he's like eight years of mime lessons. And I still open the cabinet door into my face. Like he did on a TV special. We're like, that's the funniest thing I've ever seen. So we love it. I remember he's one of my,

he, he was on kind of late in Letterman CBS run. It was like towards the end to go regularly. Yeah. And, and he, but it was very, it was like towards the end.

Yeah. And he comes out and, you know, the audience cheers. He said, thank you. Thank you. He said, I recently, I lost a lot of weight. And everyone gives him applause.

And he goes, I've been very ill. Like, mazing the applause for a minute. And then he's like, I love, like, in order to get the, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, a new comedy club. This is the early 90s, the comedy boom. There were like way too many comedy clubs in every city. He's there. We lose our shit. And we're like, we're going to this show. We grab a friend.

We go to the show. Like this is our New Year's Eve, the best New Year's Eve ever. He proceeds to do his act to a room full of St. Louis people who are not having it. They cannot stand this. Classic Kindler. Classic Kindler. And like people are leaving and people are angry because this is not what they expected when they

went to go to New Year's. Like they would hate everyone we like. Someone was talking back to him and he said, where's your HBO special lady? Oh, you don't have one? I've got one. We were dying. It was like weirdest set ever. So Jay and I come up and now that we understand

that we've done a couple of New Year's Eve shows, just how horrific. Yeah. It's like doing somebody's wedding or something. It is. There is no good reason to do it. Except there'd be a letter. Better be a lot of zeros at the end. So we go up to him after the show.

I mean, he's like in the hallway out there and we're like, oh, my God. Next to the stage, Randy. We're like, oh, my God, we are the biggest fans. I mean, there's no way he thought after that set, he was going to get work. Yeah. Yeah.

And we're like, we're the biggest fans years. We love you so much. Would you come and perform at the university of Michigan? We can probably get you a couple grand, which, you know, again,

in like 93 is like $3. It's worth going to Ann Arbor. 3000 in 1993 is worth 23,000 today. Right. Is that the other one? I don't know. But anyway, it's like worth 23,000 today, right? Is that how the American market goes? I don't know. But anyway, it's like, we were like, we can get you some money. And he's like, oh my God, that'd be great.

Gave us his agent at Omnipop, Tom Ingenio. We call him up and we like set the whole thing up. We're so excited because he's our favorite comic. He comes and we're like, we'll open for you. Just all we ask is you just watch our set and just tell us what you think. That's all we ask. So afterwards, we're taking him to like pancakes afterwards. We're hanging out with him and we're on our way to law school. We had, Jay and I just got into law schools. I got into, and this, we were got into different law schools. So I got into, uh, George Washington,

Jay got into Emory in Atlanta. We're like, this is where we're going. We're going to law school and we're going in different cities and this is where we part. And this is after doing standup, you know, all that standup. And we said, Andy, just, you know, shoot it straight. What do you think? And he's like, first of all, you guys are so funny.

And mostly when we're hanging out, you're funny. You're going to have to lose all the material you're doing right now because it's just not ready to be amongst the material of the other people that are out there doing it.

But I believe that if you guys went to New York, I'm in LA. If you go to New York, there's a great scene in New York. I'm in LA. There's a great scene in LA. If you go to either of the coasts and you're hanging around really smart, funny people, you guys will ultimately find your way and write great material. And because you've got it and you've got it. And we're like, that's all we need to hear.

We go back home that night. We call our parents. We're like, we're not going to law school. Andy Kindler said we don't have to go to law school. And they're like, who the hell is that? F is that? So boy, nobody better to set your life course. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Andy, we told Andy that story later in life. And he's like, and I haven't seen a dime yet. I thought there'd be a monetary compensation. So we, I guess you get a taste. So we are like, you want, look, nothing of nothing is nothing. So we, so anyway, it was like a very, you went to New York, right? So we went to New York and Andy came shortly after we had moved to New York and he's like, I don't know how we got in touch to do Conan.

Oh, so he was coming to do a set of Conan. He's like, I'm running my set around town. Why don't you come to come see the set? And so we went on the Boston comedy club in New York and the village. And you know, he does his set and we're watching. It's so fun. And he's at the door with the guy who booked it.

Was it Masavi Masavi and Steinberg? I think was there too. And he said, uh, you know, these guys, they're so funny. Have you seen these guys?

They're great. You should book them at the club. He did not have to do that. He did not have to say anything. I mean, and they're like, no, we don't know you guys, obviously, because we'd never done anything. And so they're like, come on down on a night. And then all of a sudden we're starting to perform at that club. And he's like, you want to do a set at my show out at Governor's in Long Island? Sure, let's go. So we went out there and he was just so unnecessarily generous with us. And I think as a result of that, we have in turn tried to do that for so many comedians after us. And it really was just an act of generosity that, but he said, if you get to a coast and you really dig in and you get into a scene and you really let the scene push you to

do better stuff, uh, he's like, you'll be on TV in three years. Like by the time we're 25, we're like, really? That's all we really needed to hear. And he was right. I can't believe he was right. So like we worked really hard and we got into the alternatives. He took us to Rebar, which ultimately became Eating It, Luna, Lounge down below there.

But we saw it in the very beginning when it was like Liz Winstead and Louis C.K. and Marc Maron and Jeff Ross and Mark Cohen. And I mean, it was like Janine, probably. And John Benjamin and Michael Ian Black. John Benjamin and Sam Seder did the funniest thing ever. They came up like they were running for president of Rebar. And like they were giving speeches like they were trying to run for president and disparaging each other.

And like, and we were like, wait, this is comedy. Wait, this can be, it's almost like the tunnel got blown wide open and you saw the entire expanse of what comedy could be.

Yeah. And we're like, this is how we're funny with our friends. Yep. This is it. We don't need to get on stage and talk about being twins. We don't need to make that. If you go to the alternative room and we start talking about, well, I'm this and he's that, no one's going to laugh.

Right. You have to surprise people. So this is what Andy was talking about. Like, get to a place where it pushes you to write the stuff that makes you and is the reason why you're funny when we're hanging out. And we did. And then in three years, we got our show on MTV, Apartment 2F, which was like, you know, sitcom with, you know, standup and short films and sketches in it is in the whole thing. And so we were entirely too young to get it and we didn't know what we were doing and we let them develop it in a way that wasn't great. And we vowed if we ever got a chance to do

something like this again, we would take more control and do it our way. And we thought as soon as it ended after one season, we're like, yeah, we're never going to get a chance. Then we got to do cheap seats. And that was the chance. That was where we took advantage. How many years were in between those two? So 97 is when that ended. And then cheap, it was five years to the next thing to, to the big show cheap seats. But we had done a few things in between. We'd moved out to LA, moved out to LA in 99. And so we were in New York for like five and a half years and done a, did a bunch of stuff there. And then move. And we're like, we got to move out to LA. If we're going to do this, we really have to go out there.

And we were developing a show out here that never went for like NBC, but it was taking us out for a week every month. And we would like go and perform at the improv and then go to Largo on a Monday night and like get up and perform there every month. And we were like, oh my God, there's a great comedy scene out here.

Like the comedy scene there, just a little bit different with a more of an LA sort of vibe to it. And we're like, we could do it out here if we, if we really wanted to come. And this is where more of the work is. And so we moved out in the summer of 99. And then three years later in 2002, we got Cheap Seats, which was shot in New York. So we flew back to New York to do that show. Oopsie.

In that day? Every month for a week. Yeah, yeah. But then it put us in that comedy scene. Back in New York, because we'd shoot the show all day, and then we'd go to do Invite Them Up, that show in New York, and where we met Nick Kroll, and we met Reggie Watts, and Nick Kroll, and Eugene Merman, and Bobby, you know, we knew Bobby. John Daly, probably. Yes, Daly, and then Mulaney, and Pete Holmes Holmes and all those guys, that scene and Kristen Schaal,

all those people were sort of rising up in that moment. And we were kind of weirdly part of that scene because once a month we would go to that show and we would use all them on the show. Like we use Kristen Schaal on her first TV appearance. She did a thing on cheap seats and Nick Kroll did a really funny thing on cheap seats. There was a quarterback for Michigan named Elvis Gerback. And Kroll played an Elvis Gerback impersonator. Who looks a lot like him when he has the helmet on,

but he forgot the helmet. So he's like just making excuses about how I look. Normally when I have the helmet on, it's so much better. So funny. Awesome. So dumb. Well, you guys kind of answered the third question. So we'll finish with the second one, which is where are you going? What are you guys hoping to do with, you know, the rest of this slog of a life?

Well, I'm not going to slog it. That's for me. I think our goal is to just to be able to continue to create stuff that, because I think when you get in this business, you're like, I'm going to make it. You stand up on Runyon Canyon in LA and you're like, I'm going to get that house. I'm going to take this town down and these won't believe you didn't know my name. Like you start coming with that attitude and then it shifts

and like, I think our thing is like, hey, we just want to keep making things that we are proud of, that we love, that bring joy to some people.

Yeah. It'll never bring joy to all the people because we know that we don't have, I don't know if we even can do that. Yeah.

But we're like, let's just keep stay in the game. We've somehow managed to stay in this business for like 25 years without having a massive success. That's almost as improbable as having a massive success is to still be around, to have not been on a like long running show or anything or whatever. We've just found a way to keep making things. And that's mostly because we don't stop creating things. And so I'm like, if we can do that for another 10 or 15 years, I mean, I also look at people like George Burns and Bob Newhart.

Mel Brooks. Mel Brooks. Carl Reiner. Carl Reiner, Bob Newhart, Don Rickles. Who just turned 100. Just turned 100. Norman Lear. Norman Lear just turned 100. Just turned 100. Norman Lear. Norman Lear just turned 100.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm like, comedy kind of keeps you young in a way because if you keep creating comedy, like that's when I'm like, there are certain times I'm like, we made the wrong choice of business because we're 50 years old and we don't know what next year is going to be. We don't know what our job's going to be. Right, right. We have to tell these kids like, hey, let's cool it with this, that, you know, like there are times we have to do that and it's stressful.

But the flip side is we are in this thing that we could do for the rest of our lives and keep writing comedy. I hope we make up, I hope we perform until we're dead. I mean, that would be phenomenal. So we're lucky like that. Yeah. And you got to, and you got to stay in touch with what's happening now too, because comedy is the most, it has the shortest shelf life, you know, like there's things, I mean, I even, you know, I look at some old Conan bits, you know, I'll see, and I'll just be like, Oh my God, this is taking forever. You know,

I would never make that joke now, you know? And, and I think it's only the people that get stuck in their ways that sort of it becomes stale and and you know and like people like you you know carl reiner we we did this bit on the show it was just like one of our one of those bits that the what's so hilarious about is just how long and how indulgent it is. And it was called Nut Spoon. And look it up if you have people out there. I will, for sure. But it's just that the guys backstage are unhappy with the spoon that they pick up nuts with. And then it ends into like this big, like a song or something.

It just goes on and on and on about Nut Spoon. There's an award for Nut Spoon. It's great. And Carl Reiner came on a few days after Nut Spoon. goes on and on and on about nutspoon there's an award for nutspoon it's great and carl reiner came on a few days after nutspoon and the first thing he says is nutspoon i love it mel and i saw nutspoon and we just and it's like of course she's so fantastic and so and to me was so because you know i'm i look at the old people in my life, they're not that interested in keeping in touch. And so to see those guys still like thinking what young people think is funny and going, I know what that is and I appreciate what that is.

It's so great. It's awesome. So I agree with that too. And I just, to me, I just want to live those experiences on stage. Jay and I just presented at the Creative Arts Emmys this past week. Yeah, yeah. It goes back to the thing I was talking about

in terms of you gotta want it. You gotta love doing it and you gotta want it. So we're down in Mission Viejo with our cousins and with our families, like for the weekend. It's Labor Day weekend. We're there without being, that's supposed to work. That's supposed to work. On Sunday, who has an award show on a Sunday?

We got to drive back up to LA. My air conditioning in my house broke. My dog sitter is gone, and I've got an English bulldog and a French bulldog that can barely breathe when there's air conditioning in 100-degree heat. And they're in the basement, and I'm like, okay. I pull out my tuxedo that I wore last year, and moths have eaten the corners of it off. Like, moths have eaten it. I get out. I'm drenched in sweat. We get to the car service, and I forgot my belt. But whatever have eaten the corners of it off. Like moths have eaten it. I get out, I'm drenched in sweat.

We get to the car service and I forgot my belt, but whatever, screw it. We're going, we get to the place. We're like, okay, we'll,

we'll see where we're supposed to do. Let us rehearse. Let us rehearse. And we'll know what we got. We get in there and the show has already started. We were now sitting at a table and we're like, where are we going? We don't know what stage are we presenting at?

How many awards are we doing? We have no idea in between each package, Jay and I are like going over our bits, going over the jokes and the ideas and whatnot. And we love kind of what we're doing. We get to the point where we're like, we got it. They pull us. We go to the VIP room. We go to the area where you're speaking into a microphone and there's the teleprompter. And we're going through

the jokes and we're like, well, where's this, our free solo joke? We did a joke about free solo. We were supposed to come out and say like, Jay said, you can do it. You were going to say. What's the best thing you saw on TV last year? Best thing I saw on TV last year? Free Solo.

And I'm like, the movie that came out years ago? Yeah, I saw it on TV last year. Whatever. It's an amazing movie about a man trying to climb out of a relationship. So that's what I said. And I say, that's what you thought that movie was about? Yeah, what'd you think of it?

I thought it was a movie about a woman trying to summit to the top of a man's priorities list. Same joke. Same joke. It just came around and told it from the North Face. But we're not here to talk about whether or not this professional

climber disrespected his girlfriend. He did. We're here to give out the award. So we developed that whole thing. We get there and we're like, where is it in the prompter? And they come up to us and they're like,

the Academy won't let you do it because that movie won an Emmy and we can't crap all over that thing. So you got to come up with a new thing. So here we are five minutes before we're supposed to get on stage. Moss have eaten my thing. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. He, he went and asked the TV, the head of the television Academy again, president, can they do this joke? Please? He begged. I got to give that guy credit. And the guy's like, no. So we got to come up with a new one. So we'd come up with a new thing and we thing and we do this new thing and we insert another little part.

The new bit is that we came out and we're like, guys, this is so crazy. We just found out from the producers. And this is like an hour and 40 minutes or two hours into the show. We're like, show's running. Apparently the show's really short tonight. First time this has ever happened on one of these shows. So they want us to go really long. There's literally a guy making the stretching thing.

Like, I guess we got to go long. And so we just start going into our bid and then we get into a whole, whatever. We get into the whole bid. Our whole bid was for main title design. And so the bit was that there, that we got mad at everybody because they hit the skip intro button every time.

And that's just slapping the face of all these people who work so hard on this thing. So we get into the, and we do the whole bid and it's great. And then Severance wins, Severance wins for the main title design. Unbelievable main title sequence. They come up and the guy's wearing slides and no shoes and socks

and I'm like, we're standing a foot away and we have to give an award afterwards. And I'm like, we got to make a joke about this guy in his shower shoes. And I was like, no, no, no. I got the joke. So have you seen Severance? Have you watched it? I have not yet seen it yet. Unbelievable movie. You're great. So it's a whole show about how, you know, they separate work life and home life. So through an

operation and a thing. So we get up to the mic and I'm like the clap for them. And I'm like, the saddest thing about that is that the severed versions of themselves will never know that they won those awards. Good job. Great job. And it was, it was so fun. So all the angst of leaving our families and driving up from Mission Viejo and sweating in a hundred degree heat and dogs that you don't know if they're alive. By the time you get home, moss eating your thing.

I don't have a belt. We don't know where we're going. We don't understand. We get on stage and we make that joke and we do it. We deliver our thing and they get cut the first joke. We get to the second joke. We make it. It's great. We to the second joke. We make it. It's great.

We deliver the seventh joke. It's great. We do another little thing. It's great. We walk off stage like we own the place. Yeah. And I'm like, that's why we're in this business.

Yeah. That's what we're doing. And I want a million more of those moments from now until the end of our lives. I'm like, that's what I want to do. That's where I'm going to do more of that. And I feel like right now we're in a moment where we can do that and we're just going to keep going. That's great. That's what I want to do. That's where I'm going to do more of that. And I feel like right now we're in a moment where we can do that and we're just going to keep going.

That's great. That's great. Well, thank you so much, guys. Thank you. Jason, Randy, thank you so much. Thanks, Andy. All right. Thanks, everybody, for listening.

I'll be back next week with more three questions. The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a Team Coco production. It is produced by Sean Doherty and engineered by Rob Schulte. Additional engineering support by Eduardo Perez and Joanna Samuel. Executive produced by Joanna Salitaroff, Adam Sachs, and Jeff Ross. Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Maddie Ogden. Research by Alyssa Grahl. Don't forget to rate and review and subscribe to the three questions with

Andy Richter, wherever you get your podcasts. Can't you tell my loves are growing? Can't you feel it? It is showing. Oh, you must be a door. I've got a big,

big love. This has been a team Coco production in association with Earwolf.